Overused and Underused Character Names on Soaps

[Paul Raven]

SFT had Donna Davis briefly in the late 70's.

[Wendy]

I think names are also at the mercy of the era. Just as some baby names rise and fall in popularity, so too do soap names.

[DaytimeFan]

Has there been another Vivian aside from DAYS?

[SFK]

 

SOD did a blurb on this back in the day. I forget who they spoke with at Y&R, but they talked about how it wouldn't be uncommon for there to be more than one John among a small canvas of people and how John Silva was almost always referred to by his full name.

 

Reminds me of Harry Morton and Harry Vonzell on Burns and Allen.

 

AW/Texas had Vivien Gorrow, Iris' maid

 

AMC had Vivienne Taylor Roxbury, Taylor Roxbury Cannon's mother

 

GL had Vivian Grant

[SFK]

 

AMC had Vivienne Taylor Roxbury and daughter Taylor Roxbury Cannon and Mary Greenlee Smythe and daughter Greenlee Smythe.

 

Added to my previous list, Victor Jr. who would someday become Adam. I was in high school when Hope had him and thought Victor Jr. was overkill then.

[Paul Raven]

Love of Life had Vivian Carlson for many years, Van's husbands mother in law.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

 

Thanks. More info I didn't know.

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 Maybe it's not that underused after all. 

[dragonflies]

Zach seems underused, I could be wrong

 

What about Greenlee LOL

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 That's probably one of the most original character names I've seen

 

 

[SteelCity]

Didn't GH have 3 characters naked named Lucas, or derivative and 3 or 4 Michael characters all at once?!

[You're Soaking in it]

 

GH has had partially naked characters named Lucas, but never a Lucas with full-on nudity.

[All My Shadows]

Unusual in soap land and not particularly common in real life, yes, but not really original as there have been notable people with the surname and also a county in Arizona.

Another World had two of my favorite unique soap names in the late 60s/early 70s: Lenore and Lahoma.

Based on my age and the names that were common throughout my K-12 school years, daytime should be filled with characters named Brittany, Jessica, Ashley, Courtney, Megan, Seth, Shane, Joshua, Justin, Jordan, Tyler, and Taylor right now. I think the problem is that maybe soaps helped spark the popularity of some of those names, so the most popular characters with those names are actually older (re: Taylor, Joshua, Ashley, Shane).

[SteelCity]

Seriously? For one, I obviously a typo. For two, I wouldn't want to see any of those characters nude anyway.

[You're Soaking in it]

 

It was a joke.

[SteelCity]

My insides are sore. You didn't reply to my comment though.

[Khan]

I grew up in an era where it seemed every African-American girl at school was named Erica.  So, while the name hasn't been overused in soaps, I feel it's DEFINITELY been overused IRL.

 

Also...?  Just because you name her Erica, all mothers out there, that doesn't mean she's gonna be like Erica Kane.  Just as being named after a former NFL player obviously did not ensure I would have a career on the gridiron.