Overused and Underused Character Names on Soaps

[soapfan770]

 

Mike and Carly named were going to name/named their deceased daughter Nora on ATWT after Mike's mother, but no I can't think of anyone else named Nora. 

[DRW50]

There was a Nora on Edge of Night - a huge bitch. I mostly know that thanks to the old EON page as they had her as one of the show's best villianesses.

 

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[Faulkner]

As was alluded to, Jake was a popular man’s name in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s on soaps.

 

Jake McKinnon (AW)

Jake Maclaine (B&B)

Jake Morton (Santa Barbara)

Jake Martin (AMC, although I think he was known as Joey up until Michael Lowry took the role)

Jake Harrison (OLTL)

 

Being named Jake clearly meant “studly” back in the day. Tom Eplin, Todd McKee, Rick Edwards, Joe Lando, not to mention Lowry and J. Eddie Peck. All sold as beefcake.

[Scrapple]

And then there's the Ridiculous Name Hall Of Fame: Ridge, Thorne, Storm, etc

[Faulkner]

B&B’s male characters had porn star names. 

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[robbwolff]

The Edge of Night had Bobbie Gerard in 1981. 

 

Sure was. The Doctors had Maggie's sister Nora in the 1960s. And Edge had villainess Nora Fulton, played by the divine Catherine Bruno.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

 

And there's only one Maxie as far as I know.

 

But, her first name is Mariah. Meh. 

 

Thank you for that info!

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[kalbir]

 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sure I read that Bill Bell took the name Ridge from a college classmate of Bradley Bell. 

[Faulkner]

Certainly wouldn’t surprise me, but they did seem like caricatures of names for lacrosse-playing Andover students.

[SoapDope]

I remember Bill Bell saying he and Lee were friends with a couple who had sons named Ridge and Thorne and he promised himself that someday he would use those names. The same for Snapper. He said friends of theirs had a snotty little son named that and he used it. He also named characters after his wife and children Lauralee ( Lauralee "Lorie" Brooks), Bradley (Brad Eliot, Brad Carlton), William Jr (William Foster Sr. & Jr.. WIlliam Foster Abbott(Billy). Philip Chancellor II, III, IV (Lee Philip Bell's maiden name of Philip). The set decorator on Y&R in the 70's was named Brock Broughton (so I assume Brock was named for him). 

 

Two old names that were used a lot on old shows and movies in the 70's was Boris and Byron. I can't recall off hand soap characters with those names. 

[YRfan23]

Y&R had a character Named Selena in the 80s/90s...she was the female cop who helped Carl Williams with the Cassandra Rawlins case among others...

[Paul Raven]

There was female cop on Y&R throughout the 80's named Salena.

 

Each of the shows  had lead females whose names were pretty much off limits for other shows

 

AMC

Erica, Tara, Anne, Nina, 

 

AW

Rachel, Iris, Lenore, 

 

ATWT

Lisa, Kim, Joyce. Penny

 

EON

Nicole

 

DOOL

Marie, Trish

 

TD

Althea, 

 

GH

Audrey, Jessie, Diana

 

GL

Sara, Holly, 

 

OLTL

Dorian, Melinda

 

RH

Faith, Delia.

 

SFT

Jo, Eunice, Kathy

 

Y&R

Lorie, Nikki, Chris

 

That's just a quick list. I'm sure there are many more.

[DaytimeFan]

The only "Donna" I can think of is AW's Donna Love.

 

Bobbie, Jill, Erica, Lisa, Iris, Dorian - all iconic signature character names. 

 

It's the men's names that are so repetitive with "Jack" being the worst offender. Every soap has one or two.

[Faulkner]

I know she’s better off forgotten at this point...

 

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There was also Donna Beck from AMC.

[Wendy]

AMC also had Donna Beck Sago Cortlandt Tyler (may have mixed up the order!) played by Candice Earley back in the '70s and '80s. And besides AMC, Y&R also had its own Nina.