I’m interested in finding how many different US states have a fictional character with the same name. I’ve made up a list of those I can find. I’d like to hear about any additions to my list. I’m mostly interested in characters whose last names are the same as a state, but I’ll take a first name if we can’t find a last name. Here’s my list of last names:
[ul]
[li]Arizona – Arizona family (Nathan, Florence, quints) :: Raising Arizona :: movie[/li][li]California – Robert California :: The Office :: tv show[/li][li]Idaho – Duncan Idaho :: Dune et seq. :: novels :: Frank Herbert[/li][li]Maine – Norman Maine :: A Star is Born :: movie[/li][li]Montana – Hannah Montana :: Hannah Montana :: tv series/movie[/li][li]Nebraska – Steve Nebraska :: The Scout :: movie[/li][li]Oregon – Ukiah Oregon :: Alien Taste et seq. :: novels :: Wen Spencer[/li][li]Utah – Johnny Utah :: Point Break :: movie[/li][li]Washington – Martha Washington :: Give Me Liberty :: comic books :: Frank Miller[/li][/ul]
And of first names:
[ul]
[li]Alaska – Alaska Young :: Looking for Alaska :: novel :: John Green[/li][li]Georgia – Georgia Bottoms :: Georgia Bottoms :: novel :: Mark Childress[/li][li]Indiana – Indiana Jones :: Raiders of the Lost Ark :: movie[/li][li]Minnesota – Minnesota Fats :: The Hustler :: novel, movie :: Walter Tevis[/li][li]Nevada – Nevada Smith :: Nevada Smith :: movie [/li][li]Virginia – Virginia Otis :: The Canterville Ghost :: short story :: Oscar Wilde[/li][li]Wyoming – Wyoming Knott :: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress :: novel :: Robert Heinlein[/li][/ul]
Note that I only want one for each state. And the names must be the full name of the state. Partial names like Tex and Dakota are right out. Also, the character must be from an English language work.
Episode 4161 of Sesame Street, an Indiana Jones parody titled “The Golden Triangle of Destiny,” includes Minnesota Mel, Texas Telly, Wyoming Walt, and Virginia Virginia as characters.
So’s Minnesota Fats and probably a couple others in my list. Nicknames are OK as long as they’re the name the character mostly goes by.
Thanks for the additions everyone. Unfortunately no one found any last names, but I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised at that. I would like a better example for Texas, though. A one-episode character in a long-running show is less than ideal. – Found one: Texas Jack is a character in “The Great Race” (1965).
Reno Nevada, from Buckaroo Banzai (also an origin novel as well as the film).
Delaware was a name before it was a state, as well.
(ETA: A zillion years ago I had regular customer whose check address always cracked me up - he was John Boston who lived on Sacramento Street in San Francisco. So the three city names stacked neatly on the imprint.)
The Red vs. Blue series in the mid seasons had agents in Project Freelancer named after states, including North and South Dakota (Siblings), Carolina (sorry only one, so no North or South), Maine, York (without the New), Washington, Wyoming, and Texas (mostly went by Tex).
These were code names, but we do not know their real names except for Tex, (Allison in the series, Beth in the song Girl Named Tex).