# Character names that become distracting in reruns **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271 "2021-02-05T16:22:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/21 "2021-02-08T19:29:52Z")
Raymond Burr’s character in the American adaptation **Godzilla** is named Steve Martin. Okay, in 1956 they couldn’t have predicted the rise of a banjo-playing, play-writing comedian of the same name. But it’s notable that when Burr reprised the role in the US edit of **Godzilla 1985** he STILL was called “Steve Martin”. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/22 "2021-02-08T20:02:41Z")
In The Philadelphia Story there was Tracy Lord (and C.K. Dexter Haven). This is similar to Traci Lords. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/23 "2021-02-08T20:09:44Z")
E. B. White’s **The Trumpet of the Swan** briefly features a little boy named Alfred Gore. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/24 "2021-02-08T20:13:09Z")
A book rather than TV. [Follow My Leader.](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/648958.Follow_My_Leader) A young boy named Jimmy Carter is blinded in an accident. Written by James (B.) Garfield. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/25 "2021-02-08T20:13:57Z")
Recent series _Mindhunter_, which is generally excellent, has a lead character called Holden Ford. The two main rival Australian car companies over the past half century have been Holden (taken over by GM) and Ford. Its like having a character called Dr V.H.S. Betamax. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/26 "2021-02-08T20:16:51Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I’m no expert on the Kardashians but isn’t the patriarch of the whole clan a high-powered Hollywood lawyer? (He was on OJ’s defense team, right?) I’m sure he was well-known at the time of ST:TNG and DS9, even if the rest of the family had not yet achieved notoriety. > > And even if it wasn’t intentional, it’s certainly distracting now. It doesn’t seem likely, for a couple of reasons (though, I agree, it’s now distracting). The Cardassians [were introduced](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardassian#%22The_Wounded%22:_1991) in ST:TNG in 1991, four years before Simpson’s trial. While Robert Kardashian got his JD in the late '60s or early '70s, he had stopped practicing law by sometime in the '70s, to pursue a business career, and while he was involved in several companies connected to the entertainment industry, it doesn’t look like he was a particularly big name in entertainment ([source: Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kardashian#Early_life)). Kardashian reactivated his law license (which he had allowed to lapse) in '94, to serve on Simpson’s defense team. Up until then, I don’t get the sense that he was particularly well-known. Also, there’s this note on the origin of the Cardassian name on [Memory Alpha](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Cardassian#Name) (the Star Trek wiki): > [@](#): > > [Jeri Taylor](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jeri_Taylor) – an executive producer for [TNG](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/TNG) and the writer of “[The Wounded](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Wounded_(episode))”, the first episode to feature the Cardassians – invented the group name for the species. " _I came up with ‘Circassians’ which I thought had a vaguely alien sound, though something in the back of my mind thought it came too easily,_ " Taylor explained. " _And someone (probably [Joe Menosky](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Joe_Menosky)) pointed out that the Circassians were a real people on Earth, in antiquity. So I just played around with the sounds and ‘Cardassian’ kind of fell into place._ " ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/27 "2021-02-08T20:20:30Z")
My god. This was my absolute favorite book when I was in 3rd grade. I can’t believe that anyone else remembers it. P.S. I can’t quite define mid 20th century, but when I read it, it was around 1979… ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/28 "2021-02-08T20:31:02Z")
It was written in 1957, by an author who became blind in his 50s. I read it about 1976. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/29 "2021-02-08T20:33:54Z")
That’s about when I read it, too – I remember ordering it from the Scholastic book club when I was in 5th or 6th grade. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/30 "2021-02-08T22:24:35Z")
My 3rd grade teacher knew how much I loved it and gave the book to me as a gift. I still have it 40+ years later… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/31 "2021-02-08T22:49:39Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > Its like having a character called Dr V.H.S. Betamax. That’s a great name. I’m writing that down. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/32 "2021-02-08T22:56:40Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > In The Philadelphia Story there was Tracy Lord (and C.K. Dexter Haven). This is similar to Traci Lords. The first time I watched that movie, I instantly thought of CK Dexter Haven from here. I actually just watched again last week. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/33 "2021-02-08T22:58:08Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > Recent series _Mindhunter_, which is generally excellent, has a lead character called Holden Ford. The two main rival Australian car companies over the past half century have been Holden (taken over by GM) and Ford. IIRC they acknowledged that at one point in season two. Agent Ford introduces himself to someone, and says his name sounds like a “bad joke in Australia.” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/34 "2021-02-08T22:58:33Z")
One of Anne McCaffrey’s early books had a villain named “Fax” ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2021, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/35 "2021-02-08T23:06:14Z")
The hard hitting District Attorney in the first ten seasons of Law And Order was named _ **Adam Schiff** _. I find that one really distracting, especially when I have the TV on for noise and I’m not really watching. I hear the name and think I must’ve bumped the remote and changed to a news channel. Once, I read a detective novel where the star detective had the same name, first and last, as my father. And it’s not a common name. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/36 "2021-02-09T01:42:26Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Once, I read a detective novel where the star detective had the same name, first and last, as my father. And it’s not a common name. There was a fictional book here in Australia, where due to carelessness, they forgot to change the names of all the ‘fictional’ characters before publication. They had to pulp the production run and pay damages. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/37 "2021-02-09T01:58:54Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > It was written in 1957, by an author who became blind in his 50s. I read it about 1976. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > That’s about when I read it, too – I remember ordering it from the Scholastic book club when I was in 5th or 6th grade. Can’t remember if I got it from Scholastic or the school library, but I think it was around 1965 when I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/38 "2021-02-09T02:00:04Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > Once, I read a detective novel where the star detective had the same name, first and last, as my father. My brother was a villian in a Law and Order episode. At least, his name was. IMDB shows they spelled our last name the more common “alternate” way, but they pronounced it the same. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/39 "2021-02-09T02:44:51Z")
I knew a guy in high school (in the early 80s) who has the same name as a Simpsons’ character (well, exactly the same last name, and the nickname the guy used all through school is the same as the real first name of the Simpsons’ character). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2021, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271/40 "2021-02-09T02:56:12Z")
His last name was Shabadoo, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-names-that-become-distracting-in-reruns/932271.md?page=3)