# Did the creator of Superman have an obsession with L names?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 10, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233 "2009-02-10T16:19:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/1 "2009-02-10T16:19:16Z")
Lex Luthor
Lois Lane
Lana Lang
It cant all be coincidences! :eek:
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/2 "2009-02-10T16:24:28Z")
Oh, you’re barely scratching the surface of the Superman/DC “LL” obsession. The comics themselves often devoted space to showing all the "LL"s in their univrerse.
But I don’t think you can blame it all on Siegel and Scguster – I suspect it’s mostly the fault of the later writers, who noticed a trend beginning and kept it up. “Luthor” was just a single-name character at first, IIRC. And Lana was added long afterwards.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/3 "2009-02-10T16:27:15Z")
Let’s not forget Lori Lamaris, Lenora Lemaris, Linda Lee Danvers…
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/4 "2009-02-10T16:36:09Z")
Superman’s mom Lara-El.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/5 "2009-02-10T17:10:46Z")
Whose maiden name was Lara Lor-Van.
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/6 "2009-02-10T17:22:24Z")
In the Smallville universe Lex’s dad is Lionel Luther.
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/7 "2009-02-10T17:25:24Z")
Lightning Lad was prominently featured in what I believe was the first Superman (actually Superboy) story to point out the “LL” thing on-panel. (Superboy # 86, if my geek-memory is correct)
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/8 "2009-02-10T17:28:28Z")
When the Legion first appeared in Adventure #247, the character was called “Lightning Boy.” He later became Lightning Lad, and they added his twin sister Lightning/Light Lass and their evil older brother Lightning Lord.
In the Smallville Universe, Supergirl is passed off as the daughter of Jonathan Kent’s brother, and is called Kara Kent. Missed it by one letter.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/9 "2009-02-10T17:45:11Z")
Jerry Seigel (sometimes with Joe Schuster, sometimes not) is responsible for a lot of them -
Lois, Luthor\*, Lori Lemaris, Lena Luthor, Lyla Lerrol, and Luma Lynai, that I’m sure of.
Others, though, came from later writers.
Otto Binger gave us Linda Lee (Danvers was a later addition after ‘Linda’ was adopted) and Lucy Lane.
Lana Lang was Bill Finger.
Modern installments of the joke include Lionel Luthor (created for Smallville), Letitia Lerner (created by Kyle Baker), Carolyn Llewellyn (check the last name - created by Kurt Buseik), and Linda Lang (a secret identity briefly used by Supergirl - ‘created’ by Sterling Gates).
- Although, as mentioned, Luthor wasn’t originally named Lex, so I’m not sure if the first name was Seigel’s doing or not.
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/10 "2009-02-10T17:48:55Z")
Was it an obsession with “LL” in particular, or a general comic book tradition of using alliterative names?
In the early Sixties, Marvel comics used a host of alliterative names (Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, Scott Summers, J. Jonah Jameson, et al.). I’ve heard that was, in part, because Stan Lee and Co. were juggling a large number of titles, and alliteration made it easier to remember character names,
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/11 "2009-02-10T18:09:07Z")
The Superman and Superboy comics are actually fairly low on alliteration, aside from the LLs.
In fact, Clark Kent is the only non-LL alliteration I can think of among the main characters, until Chris Kent (Clark and Lois’s adopted son, AKA Lor-Zod, currently lost in the Phantom Zone).
Jimmy Olsen, Pete Ross, Perry White, George Taylor (the editor of the Star, the paper Clark and Lois originally worked at), Jon Kent, Martha Kent, Mary Kent (the original name of Clark’s adoptive mother), the Ultra-Humanite (Superman’s nemesis before Luthor)…Krypto… No alliteration among them.
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### Author:  [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/12 "2009-02-10T18:31:57Z")
The name “Lois Lane” was inspired by Lola Lane, an actress who played investigative reporter Torchy Blane in a movie that came out the same year Lois made her debut; and Lois Amster, Jerry Siegel’s high-school crush. (Cite: I read it on the Internet somewhere.) There was also Margo Lane from the radio version of “The Shadow.”
“Lori Lemaris”, the name of Superman’s one-time mermaid girlfriend, looks like it’s derived from Lorelei + maris: siren of the sea.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/13 "2009-02-10T18:52:25Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> Was it an obsession with “LL” in particular, or a general comic book tradition of using alliterative names?
>
> In the early Sixties, Marvel comics used a host of alliterative names (Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Reed Richards, Scott Summers, J. Jonah Jameson, et al.). I’ve heard that was, in part, because Stan Lee and Co. were juggling a large number of titles, and alliteration made it easier to remember character names,
According to TV producer Kenneth Johnson, that’s why he renamed Bruce Banner to David Banner in the [Incredible Hulk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Hulk_(TV_series)#Development) TV series. He wanted the show to seem less like a comic book, so he wanted to get away from the alliterative names commonly used by Marvel and named him David Bruce Banner (as seen on the tombstone).
As to why he didn’t go with Robert Bruce Banner, the character’s real name in the comics, Johnson also says David Banner was named partly in honor of his son. Also, Robert Banner might have led into the inevitable “Bob Banner”.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/14 "2009-02-10T20:46:17Z")
Li lnever lnoticed lany lobsession lwith lthat lparticular lletter. Lwhy ldo lyou lthink lso?
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/15 "2009-02-10T21:00:23Z")
There was, however, Kal-El, Dev-Em, and the Animated Supergirl’s mom, Kala In-Ze.
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-creator-of-superman-have-an-obsession-with-l-names/485233/16 "2009-02-10T21:56:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Li lnever lnoticed lany lobsession lwith lthat lparticular lletter. Lwhy ldo lyou lthink lso?
So does that mean your real name is Ittle Nemo?