What are your overused names?

What names do you find yourself using a lot in short stories/novels?

When I was younger, there was
[name_f]Renae[/name_f]
[name_f]Jaelynn[/name_f]
[name_f]Raelynn[/name_f]

I’m not sure why I used them so much but I did! Now I tend to use:
[name_f]Alexandra[/name_f]/any variant
[name_u]Revere[/name_u]
[name_f]Octavia[/name_f]
[name_f]Venezia[/name_f]
[name_f]Amadea[/name_f]

In terms of surnames I ALWAYS use:
[name_u]Haven[/name_u]
Norcross
[name_m]Forrester[/name_m]
Glaucia

What about you?

I use too much names from Greek and [name_m]Roman[/name_m] mythology: [name_f]Pandora[/name_f], [name_f]Aurora[/name_f], [name_f]Luna[/name_f], [name_u]Artemis[/name_u], [name_m]Apollo[/name_m], [name_m]Perseus[/name_m], etc.

These are the names I’m drawn to:
[name_f]Adelaide[/name_f]
[name_f]Freya[/name_f]
[name_f]Marigold[/name_f]
[name_f]Aurelia[/name_f]
[name_f]Arianell[/name_f]

[name_u]Emery[/name_u]
[name_m]Collier[/name_m]
[name_m]Martin[/name_m]
[name_u]Evan[/name_u]
[name_m]Lucas[/name_m]

Christina. I use [name_f]Christina[/name_f] all the time.

When I was little I used [name_f]Maddie[/name_f], [name_f]Bella[/name_f] and [name_u]Abby[/name_u] a lot but I keep finding myself using [name_u]Everly[/name_u] for some reason.

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Jane! I seem to find a place for it in every story. I guess it’s my comfort name?.. or just an easy name that fits a lot of genres, characters, and time periods.

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Evander. I feel like [name_m]Evander[/name_m] fits in every story. But I try not to put the same names in most of my stories. It’s also my number one boys name soooooo

Anna and [name_m]Ben[/name_m]!!

I went through a big [name_f]Aria[/name_f]/Bella phase. I used [name_u]Winter[/name_u] as a surname lots too

Can’t blame you! [name_f]Anna[/name_f] is a lovely name! (slightly biased here!)

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I like to think I don’t repeat names but in the story with [name_m]Johann[/name_m] for my protagonist I used [name_m]John[/name_m], [name_m]Hans[/name_m], [name_m]Jack[/name_m], [name_f]Johanna[/name_f] and [name_m]Johnson[/name_m] as a surname and it took me way too long to even notice.

Hmm, I don’t think I repeat protagonist names, because each time I choose a name for a protagonist, it’s such a long process, it’s almost like naming a real child. I do find that there are certain names that I always accidentally repeat for minor characters, then I have to go back and change them. In my book, I accidentally had two Martins and two Lewises

For boys:
[name_m]Martin[/name_m] (I don’t even like the name all that much, so…?)
[name_m]Lewis[/name_m] (Or as a surname)

For girl:
[name_f]Savannah[/name_f]
[name_f]Samantha[/name_f]

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I don’t really repeat names in stories, but in things like writing math word problems (random example of on-the-spot naming :joy:) I use the name [name_f]Katie[/name_f] all the time. It’s just what pops into my head first!

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I’m using [name_u]Everly[/name_u] too a lot for some reason…

I was looking back at some of my writing and I found that I ALWAYS use the name [name_m]Thomas[/name_m]! I don’t know why. Now I find myself going out my way to not use that name.
I also use [name_f]Alice[/name_f], [name_m]Joshua[/name_m], [name_u]Jesse[/name_u], [name_f]Ada[/name_f], and [name_m]Nate[/name_m] a lot.

I’ve started using [name_f]Amara[/name_f] all the time… I have no idea why!

I have a new one: [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f]/Scarlet. That makes a lot of sense though because I the first place I look when I’m stuck for a name are at names that I like but can’t use for a future child. I love [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f]/Scarlet but the popularity bothers me too much to put it on my baby names list, thus it ends up at the top of my character names list.

@BookSneakersMovie, one of my MCs is [name_f]Amara[/name_f]! She’s my first though :grin:

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When I was younger I always used [name_f]Kayla[/name_f]/Kaylah.

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For some reason, [name_f]Emily[/name_f], [name_m]David[/name_m]/Dave, [name_m]Daniel[/name_m]/Dan/Danny, [name_u]Jordan[/name_u], and [name_f]Kate[/name_f]/Katie. I guess it’s because they’re kind of generic and commonplace?

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I usually don’t reuse names, but I do have a lot of characters with a lot of similar sounding names. The one exception is [name_m]Shepherd[/name_m], which I’ve been trying to use for years now. Used it once on a story when I was twelve-ish, then on my character in a very short lived ttrpg campaign. I swear, my next story will probably have a [name_m]Shepherd[/name_m] in it, maybe this time one I actually get to finish the story of.

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