It's a Good, Solid Name

[taste_is_sweet]

Meet John: biblical, dependable, easy to pronounce and one of the most popular American names for the last 100 years. Name of kings, princes, presidents, philosophers and my brother-in-law, it conjures up thoughts of loyalty and steadfastness, simplicity and quiet strength. John will always pull kitties out of wells and get his gun and come marching home (hurrah!) and hold the line.

I'm sure it's for those reasons that John is also a name given to a hilariously astonishing number of fictional characters (There was even a John Doe TV series, but I'm not sure that counts). What I find especially interesting is that John is so often used as a first name for the lead character, when the fact its such a common name would imply that the author couldn't think of anything more interesting. Though I suppose that also works in the name's favor, since you could also argue that a John will be instantly more familiar with the audience than, say, an Anthony or Rodney.

A couple of weeks ago, brumeier and I spent a good half-hour coming up with as many fictional Johns as we could. We eventually branched into Jack as well, because Jack used to be a nickname for John.

Here, with a very few more recent additions, were what we came up with off the top of our heads:

(All the links go to Wikipedia, because that was easiest and there are a hell of a lot of links.)

John Sheppard (Stargate: Atlantis)
John Kennex (Almost Human)
John Diggle (Arrow)
John Garrett (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
John Dunne (Magnificent Seven)
John Connor (Terminator Franchise)
John Chricton (Farscape)
Johann Schmidt (Captain America Franchise)
John Constantine (Hellblazer Comic)
John Carter (John Carter of Mars Franchise)
John Snow (A Song of Ice and Fire Series/Game of Thrones)
John Winchester (Supernatural)
John Locke (Lost)
John Watson (Sherlock Holmes)
Little John (Robin Hood)
Johnny Blaze (Ghost Rider Franchise)
Johnny Storm (Fantastic Four Franchise)
Johnny Mnemonic (Johnny Mnemonic)

Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise)
Jack Harkness (Torchwood)
Jack O'Neill (Stargate: SG-1)
Jack Carter (Eureka)
Jack (Jack the Giant Slayer/Killer and many, many other versions)
Jaq-Jaq (Disney's Cinderella)
Jack (Oblivion)
Jack Burton (Big Trouble in Little China)
Jack Shephard (Lost)
Jack Power (Power Pack Comic)

Crazy, right? And that's just off the top of our heads. I'm sure you guys know even more Johns and Jacks we haven't thought of, and that's not including the countless Johns and Jacks who appear in fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

I also find it hilarious how SyFy named two characters Jack and two characters John in four different series, and that Lost had a John and a Jack (and a James!). I also love how Jack's last name was 'Shephard', likely for the same reason as John Sheppard on SGA. They roll trippingly off the tongue, do those J names.

So, did we miss any Johns or Jacks, O Best-Beloveds? Any other names that you see on fictional characters all the time? (James seems pretty popular too, as does Peter and Steve.) Any non-American ones? I'd love to hear 'em.

Comments

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

All of the men in my dad's family have James as their middle name and all of the men in my step-father's family have John as their middle name.

MG came very close to being a James III thanks to his mother but his dad said two of them were enough. *g*

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

My hubby's middle name is John and so is my brother's. Your family sure likes to carry on naming traditions. LOL!

Hubby wouldn't let me name my boy Joseph because he said it wasn't fair for the kid not to have his own name. No jrs allowed. Funny thing is, before I met my hubby whenever I dreamed I had a baby it was always a boy named Joseph. Spooky!

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

In England it's extremely rare to name a boy after his father as a Jr, etc. I only knew one in my entire life there and it was considered unusual. What is common though is to get the same middle name as your dad had.

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that, how interesting! Unfortunately it's all too prevalent right in my own family.

We have Uncle Andy and Little Andy, Big Matt and Little Matt, and my Uncle Jerry will forever be called Junior by my grandparents.

My mom wanted to name my brother after my dad, so we'd have two Johns. He said no way. He wouldn't even agree to Ian, which is a form of John. So my poor bro got stuck with Elisha.

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

That is spooky! Is Joseph Xander's middle name?

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

It sure is!

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Cooooool.

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

In my bro-in-law's family, each male generation is either John Daniel or Daniel John. His dad is Daniel, and he's John.

They changed it up for their son, though--he's Jonah Daniel. :)

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

...Actually, he's not. :( I mis-remembered that from when my sister would make up names for her kids to holler across the playground. Jonah was 'Joseph Daniel Berkowitz'. I need to ask her what his middle name actually is.

[(Anonymous)]

Hey sis!

Jonah's middle name is 'Aubrey' after our grandfather, and he's called 'Jonah' to reflect the 'J' of his dad, John.

We had a very short debate about giving him the middle name Daniel, which went like this:

Me: "Should we use Daniel as his middle name?"

John: "No."

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Hi! Sorry about that! At least I remembered in time to correct it before you had to remind me. ;)