So a VB interface can't have shared functions. Is there an alternative to creating dummy objects?

To avoid getting into the weeds on my particular program, let me just create a simplified case.

I have a generic class that should work on a variety of objects. Each of those objects must implement a certain interface.

What I WANT to say is something like:

Public Interface GenThing
    Shared Function thing_name() As String ' This doesn't work! Can't be shared!
    Sub FillOne(row As DataRow)
End Interface

public class Thing1
  implements GenThing
    public shared function thing_name() as string implements GenThing.thing_name
        return "thing number one"
    end function

    public sub FillOne(row as DataRow) implements GenThing.MakeOne
        ... bunch of work ...
    end sub
end class

public class ThingUtil(of T as {GenThing,New})
    public function GetList(id as integer) as List(of T)
      dim name=T.thing_name() ' This doesn't work!
      dim ds as DataSet=GetData(name,id) ' bunch of work here that's the whole point of the class but not relevant to the question
      dim my_list = new List(of T)
      for each row as DataRow in ds.tables(0).rows
          dim my_t = new T()
          my_t.FillOne(row)
          my_list.add(my_t)
      next
      return my_list
    end function
end class

Do you get my problem? I need every class that implements the interface to have a function that returns a "name" that is used to get the data that is needed to create an instance of the object. But I need to know this name BEFORE I create the instance, because I need it to be able to create the instance. But VB doesn't allow an interface to have a shared function, so what I want to write doesn't work.

So what I've done is this:

I make thing_name not shared.

Then instead of simply "dim name=T.thing_name()", I write

dim dummy = new T()
dim name = dummy.thing_name()

Okay, it works, but it seems really ugly. I create an instance of the object, with all the overhead that that involves, just to get a piece of constant text.

Is there a better way? Or am I making a big deal out of nothing?

Update

I see that two people voted to close this question on the grounds that it is the same as "Why can't we have shared functions in an interface?"

I am not asking why I can't have a shared. I am saying, GIVEN that I can't, how do I solve this particular problem?