# Works in which two different characters have the same name **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2024, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022 "2024-09-09T17:27:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/1 "2024-09-09T17:27:31Z")
This came up in the Beowulf thread. What examples are there of works of fiction in which two different characters have the same name? I imagine in most cases this is done deliberately for some plot-related purpose, like the two Quentins in _The Sound and Fury_ (which greatly confused me when I first read it). I wouldn’t expect it to happen very often just by carelessness on the part of the author, but perhaps there are cases of that too. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/2 "2024-09-09T18:37:37Z")
It has been 50+ years since I was forced to read it, but IIRC there was more than one Catherine in _Wuthering Heights._ I could be misremembering however. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/3 "2024-09-09T18:47:38Z")
The Big Lebowski ---
**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:** [September 9, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/4 "2024-09-09T18:53:20Z")
_Crazy Ex-Girlfriend_ had Josh and “White Josh.” ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/5 "2024-09-09T18:56:08Z")
Bobs Burgers has Regular-sized Rudy and Pocket-sized Rudy. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/6 "2024-09-09T18:56:15Z")
I vaguely remember that one of Asimov’s stories had two characters with the same or very similar names, and that Asimov actually apologized for this in an introduction to the story in some collection. I can’t remember the specific story though. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/7 "2024-09-09T18:56:53Z")
As mentioned in the Beowulf thread, The _Iliad_ has Greater Ajax and Lesser Ajax (I myself like Fitzgerald’s transliteration “Aias”, if only because I no longer think of cans of cleanser). In the John Gardner James Bond novel **Death is Forever** there are the hitmen “Big Hans” and “Bigger Hans”, but those aren’t really their names. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/8 "2024-09-09T19:09:57Z")
Sherlock Holmes’ arch-enemy James Moriarty had a brother also named James. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/9 "2024-09-09T19:14:55Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Bobs Burgers has Regular-sized Rudy and Pocket-sized Rudy. Also Bob and Big Bob. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/10 "2024-09-09T19:19:26Z")
Robert Louis Stevenson’s unfinished novel _The Weir of Hermiston._ From the wiki summary: “Archie meets and falls in love with Kirstie (Christina). As the two are deepening their relationship, the book breaks off. Confusingly, there are two characters in the novel called Christina, the younger of whom is Archie’s sweetheart.” And yes, there are two Catherines in _Wuthering Heights._ Chronologically, there’s Catherine Earnshaw, who’s in love with Heathcliff but marries Edgar Linton, and there’s Catherine and Edgar’s daughter, Catherine Linton. ---
**Author:** ![GailForce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/dfb087/32.png) [@GailForce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GailForce)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/11 "2024-09-09T19:20:50Z")
One Hundred Years of Solitude had some of this, as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/12 "2024-09-09T19:42:41Z")
In the Paksenarrion series there’s a deliberate example, where Paksenarrion has a moment of angst when a recent recruit is called by the name of one of her dead friends. And I’m pretty sure there were several other cases of different people with the same name. In the Fallout games, Vault 108 is filled with violently insane clones _all_ named Gary, and who only say their name. After the character Gav in the webcomic Schlock Mercenary was copied 950 million times (thus becoming his very own major demographic) they still had all the same name, at least initially. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/13 "2024-09-09T19:43:58Z")
The “Newhart” show had two brothers who were both named Darryl. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/14 "2024-09-09T19:55:36Z")
Shakespeare’s _As You Like It_ has two characters named Oliver and two named Jaques, for no apparent reason. (He’s got several other plays with multiple characters who have the same name, but usually there IS a reason – either they’re historical figures and those were their actual names, or they’re long-separated identical twins who have to have the same name to maximize the potential for comedic mix-ups. And then there’s _Henry IV, Part 2_, where there’s a Lord Bardolph who _is_ a historical figure and a plain old regular guy named Bardolph who isn’t, except Shakespeare had already invented Regular-Guy Bardolph and committed to his name back in Part 1.) ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/15 "2024-09-09T19:56:35Z")
Thomson and Thompson. I also like the French Dupond and Dumond. > **[Thomson and Thompson](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson_and_Thompson)** > > Thomson and Thompson (French: Dupont et Dupond \[dypɔ̃ e dypɔ̃\]) are fictional characters in The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. They are two detectives who provide much of the comic relief throughout the series. Hergé twice calls them "brothers" in the original French-language text. They are afflicted with chronic spoonerisms, are extremely clumsy, thoroughly clueless, frequently arresting the wrong person (usually someone important). In spite of this, t... > **[File:Tintin - Thomson & Thompson.png](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tintin_-_Thomson_%26_Thompson.png)** > > Tintin\_-\_Thomson\_&\_Thompson.png ‎(284 × 351 pixels, file size: 68 KB, MIME type: image/png) > Reproduction of a comic panel from an official website. Uploading for illustration of Thomson and Thompson. > The Adventures of Tintin > Illustration of the "Thomson and Thompson" section of the main Tintin article. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/16 "2024-09-09T19:58:57Z")
Oscar Wilde’s _The Importance of Being Ernest_. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/17 "2024-09-09T20:22:29Z")
In season 5 _The Sopranos_ had two Tonys. Tony Blundetto, usually referred to as “Tony B” by the characters, and of course Tony Soprano, who needed no last initial. ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/18 "2024-09-09T20:31:32Z")
I thought I remembered Tom Clancy’s Op-Center having two characters named Kim Lee. Looking it up, there’s a Kim Hwan and a Kim Lee. ---
**Author:** ![truthseeker3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e68b1a/32.png) [@truthseeker3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthseeker3)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/19 "2024-09-09T20:38:47Z")
_Saving Private Ryan_ - one Private Ryan played by Matt Damon and one played by Nathan Fillion. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022/20 "2024-09-09T23:03:16Z")
_The Hangove_r has Doug and Black Doug. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-in-which-two-different-characters-have-the-same-name/1007022.md?page=2)