It certainly happens.

I have a long tirade of a post buried here someplace about how the agent managed to check my bags under someone else's name. I had done OLCI, but needed to check my bags. The person called up the wrong but similar name and I never noticed.

We disentangled the whole thing at LHR when my bags didn't appear in baggage claim. Turns out the person who's name they were checked in under was a no-show and they pulled them from the flight.