“Hey Tiger, can you post something meaningful for once?” No.
Sooo basically what I did was I looked up all the mission candidates’ real names (from both movies) on the 1960s and 2000s (? they’d probably be old enough and Rooster did have his papers pulled) SSA lists and this was what I came back with:
*I’m not American which means I’ll most likely be horribly mistaken
Top Gun
Maverick: Pete (Peter 42)
Iceman: Tom (117, Thomas 9)
Goose: Nick (Nicholas 144)
Wolfman: Leonard (120)
Slider: Ron (Ronald 24)
Merlin: Sam (Samuel 85)
Sundown: Marcus (185)
Hollywood: Rick (129, Richard 8)
Chipper: Charles (17)
Top Gun: Maverick
Rooster: Bradley (173)
Hangman: Jake (106, Jacob 1)
Bob: Robert (36)
Phoenix: Natasha (200+)
Payback: Reuben (200+)
Fanboy: Mickey (Michael 2)
Coyote: Javy (Javier 168)
Fritz: Billy (William 10)
Omaha: Neil (200+)
Harvard: Brigham (200+)
Yale: Logan (28)
Halo: Callie (Caroline 77)
Findings:
-I’m surprised that Leonard (which I think is just becoming popular-or I’m just thinking about TUA) and Marcus (2000s?) ranked in the 60s. Also that Natasha, Mickey and Neil were unranked in the 2000s.
-People in the 60s used a LOT more nicknames than I thought they did. (Also, there are young adults named Billy. Let that sink in.)
-All of the names (or a longer form of them) from the first movie were in the 60s top 200, while only 2/3 of the second were in the 00s top 200.
-I don’t know if the writers were lazy and decided to name them after random people they met/knew or if this was a true reflection of society (I’m guessing the latter), but other than the aforementioned two and maybe Ronald, names from the first movie seem completely classic/grandpa to me while names from the second movie are all over the place in terms of era. Like I just said, we had a BiLlY mixed with trendy and rising names like Reuben, Logan and Callie, plus the practically-unheard-of (unless you’re obsessed with Mormon names like me) Brigham.
Thoughts? (actually you guys probably don’t care so nvm)