7 minutes ago, dragonflies said:

Nora is underused, was there another Nora Besides the one on OLTL?

 

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. 

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.

 

 

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.

Edited July 21, 20187 yr by Faulkner

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

2 minutes ago, Scrapple said:

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

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

2 hours ago, SteelCity said:

I feel like Bobbie Spencer on GH might be the one ever.

The Edge of Night had Bobbie Gerard in 1981. 

 

1 hour ago, dragonflies said:

Nora is underused, was there another Nora Besides the one on OLTL?

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

3 hours ago, SteelCity said:

I feel like Bobbie Spencer on GH might be the one ever.

 

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

 

But, her first name is Mariah. Meh. 

6 hours ago, jam6242 said:

Selena Cross (played by Margaret Mason) was on Return to Peyton Place in the 70s (though the name was taken from the Peyton Place novels).

 

Thank you for that info!  

1 hour ago, Scrapple said:

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

 

1 hour ago, Faulkner said:

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

 

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. 

19 minutes ago, kalbir said:

 

 

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. 

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

1 hour ago, kalbir said:

 

 

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. 

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. 

Edited July 22, 20187 yr by SoapDope

11 hours ago, Ryan Chamberlain said:

Biased because of it being my name. But,  the only Selena I ever remember being on a soap was Patty D'Arbanville's character on GL. Would kinda like to have there be another one. Haha.

 

Also. Casey is underused for women. Can only think of Nikki's sister on GL and I know a bunch of lady Casey's IRL. Lauren is another one that someone said that I totally agree with. Not enough Lauren's.

 

Ashley is overused. As is Amanda, Hope, Faith, Samantha (and it's various nicknames) and the big one...Jennifer! 

 

As for men. Kevin, Chris, and Michael are used far too often. 

 

Can't really think of any underused male names. Maybe Tyler. 

 

 

 

 

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...

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.

Edited July 22, 20187 yr by Paul Raven

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.

22 minutes ago, DaytimeFan said:

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

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

 

 

There was also Donna Beck from AMC.

Edited July 22, 20187 yr by Faulkner

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.