# How Many People Do You Know Who Were Named For TV Characters/Actors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246 "2006-06-10T23:25:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246/41 "2006-06-11T16:39:23Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] As I recently confessed in the latest Joss Whedon Lovefest thred, our daughter is named after Kaylee, the mechanic on Firefly. We pretend she isn’t, and that pretense is shored up a bit by the fact that my husband insisted we spell it the “real Celtic way”: Caileigh. Which just means we’ll be spelling it for everyone and they’ll still get it wrong for the next 18 years. Maybe we should have gone with Kaylee. At least it’s phonetic. [/QUOTE] Heh. My daughter (if I had gotten one) would have ended up as either Kate or Siobhan. I would have steadfastly refused to spell it “Shevawn!” I wanted the name Caileigh (still not sure that’s the correct spelling IIRC) back in 1979, when I was in the 7th grade. Sure missed the boat on that one- imagine my horror over the years as I watched my unique name choice being bastardized into the latest baby craze! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246/42 "2006-06-11T21:39:53Z")
I recently met a couple and their new baby girl, Serenity. We spent most of the evening talking about Firefly. When I was I was doing after school tutoring, I taught the multiplication tables to a Kuntakinte. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246/43 "2006-06-11T22:53:01Z")
Ooooh, another famous one: Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jeane Baker) was named after Norma Talmadge (but _not_ after Jean Harlow, who did not become famous till little Norma Jeane was six years old). And “Marilyn Monroe” was after Marilyn Miller (ironically, her name when she married Arthur Miller). ---
**Author:** ![2MuchTrivia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e9bcb4/32.png) [@2MuchTrivia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2MuchTrivia)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246/44 "2006-06-12T00:39:01Z")
I used to know a man who named one of his boys “Connor McLeod [last name]”. Named after the TV/Movie character from _Highlander_. Not a guess, he told me. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246/45 "2006-06-12T01:40:18Z")
I was toying with the idea of naming a third son Patrick Tillman Last-Name. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246/46 "2006-06-12T02:01:42Z")
[QUOTE=cazzle] I knew one, a Jeremy (born 1979) who was named after a character in a tv show that we were both too young to remember… and that’s why I can’t remember what the show was called. [/QUOTE] _Here Comes The Brides_ maybe? A _Seven Brides For Seven Brothers_ knockoff featuring the three studly Bolt brothers – Jason, Joshua, and Jeremy. The oldest (Jason, played by Robert Brown, who was gorgeous but never did anything else much with his acting career), was my favorite, but baby brother Jeremy (played by Bobby Sherman) had his advocates. The middle brother was played by a pre-_Starsky & Hutch_ (and pre-wife beating) David Soul. It ran for 2 or so seasons in the late '60s in the US. It may have taken a bit longer to make it to Australia, but would still have been well before your time and that of your friend. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246/47 "2006-06-12T02:16:00Z")
My parents’ song when they were dating was “Rhinestone Cowboy”. My dad’s last name is Stone. So when I was born, they went and named me … Ryan. To this day they swear it’s a coincidence. :dubious: It’s not so bad, really. Only one person has ever made the connection. That person called me Rhinestone for the rest of the year, but fortunately by that point Rysto was already firmly entrenched as my nickname. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246/48 "2006-06-12T02:34:58Z")
[QUOTE=Jess] [… but baby brother Jeremy (played by Bobby Sherman) had his advocates. [/QUOTE] Hell yes he did! 😃 I had a Bobby Sherman lunchbox when I was 5… ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246/49 "2006-06-12T02:54:20Z")
I’m not sure they will admit this now, but my little sister’s (b. 1981) name was apparently inspired by Melanie Chartoff, the little-remembered fake newscaster on the SNL ripoff “Fridays.” Or was it “Friday Night?” I actually don’t remember the name of the show now… They had a boys name all picked out for months (Lennon John, of course), and apparently on the way to the hospital they were thinking, “well, maybe it will be a girl?” ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246/50 "2006-06-12T03:11:26Z")
Er…“they” being my mom & stepdad of course. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246/51 "2006-06-12T03:23:23Z")
I forgot to mention one in my OP. A young, seventeen-or-so, girl was a cashier at my local grocery store a couple years back. Noticed her name tag right off – Rhiannon – and said to her, “Your parents must be Fleetwood Mac fans.” She smiled and said, “Yeah, most people my age don’t get it…,” then innocently continued, “…just old people.” Sir Rhosis [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-people-do-you-know-who-were-named-for-tv-characters-actors/360246.md?page=2)