Why is John the Hero's name?

Cafe Society
1

Maybe it’s just action movies, but why is the hero’s first name John?

John Spartan - Demolition Man
John Connor - Terminator Series
John Matrix - Commando
John Rambo - Duhhh
John McClane - Die Hard Series
John Kruger - Eraser
John Book - Witness
John Cutter - Passenger 57

Jack Ryan -
Jack Slater - Last Action Hero

Ivan (Russian for John) Danko - Red Heat

Johnny Kelly - Johnny Dangerously
and uhhhh John Bender - Breakfast Club

Is it an actor thing? Hollywood laziness? What?

And did I forget any other Johns?

2

Because it’s common and generic, and because it’s like the color black, it matches with anything in terms of a last name.

3

John was the most common masculine given name in England and the U.S. for hundreds of years, and even now it’s in the top 20 names for baby boys in the U.S., so it has sort of a timeless everyman quality to it.

Jack isn’t always a nickname for John; it’s also a popular given name in its own right.

4

You got a couple of Jacks, but I suspect that you’d get a pretty even list between the two. (Jack Bauer, Jack Sparrow, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack Burton, Jack Skellington, Jack Shephard, etc.)

The reason is that they have come to signify a particular role. The name adds to the character.

5

Hero : Jack Aubrey

Villain: Jack the Ripper

6

Farscape: John Crichton

Babylon 5: John Sheridan

7

And it’s a good, solid-sounding name, that makes you think of good, solid, strong people. I’d have a hard time if we were to believe a Dustin or Shelby or Percy was in charge of saving the world, or my life. The Dustins, Percys and Shelbys I know, or knew as children, were not the hero types! How their mothers knew that before birth, I’ll never know.

8

In the book The Scarlet Pimpernel the name of the hero was Percy Blakenley. But you’re still right, it’s an exception to the general rule.

9

John Doe
John Q Public

10

Yes and he used a nom de guerre when engaging in heroics. When people called him Percy they were refering to the foppish british dandy Sir Percy Blankeny, Baronet. So I’m not quite sure it is a full exception.

11

John 117 (Master Chief) - Halo Series Video Game

12

Hence, John Doe, John Bull, John Q. Public, etc.

13

John Galt.

And don’t ask “Who?”

14

A is A; the universal truth

15

It’s also odd that all of those guys who get busted for soliciting a prostitute are all named John.

16

“Every Tom, Dick, and Harry’s named John.”

17

It’s about as Anglo as you can get, and Anglo = good in western culture.

18

And I loves me some Jonathon Mayer weiners.

19

When you get down to the framework of the mythology of the Hero, John fits right in. The name means “gift from God.” I looked it up long ago, because my parents were John and Jane, with identical meanings.

20

They might have known my parents, Jack and Jean.