There’s a lot of common names that are very well-known. Some include James, William. Olivia, Mark, Andrew, Joshua, John, etc. 

When it comes to media, theater and literature, we often tend to pick random common names for characters that aren’t playing a huge part in a story because why should the name matter if the character won’t matter in the first place, right?

Of course, some main characters may have common names sometimes too, but that isn’t the point.

There’s something about this that bugs me a little bit, however.

It’s always best to pick names for characters that fit them. What name fits their personality? Or even their appearance? Does it match well.

I feel like this should also apply to common names. The name doesn’t have to be super ultra unique, but it should at least match. 

For example, I watched FX’s A Christmas Carol (2019) and a Little Caesars ad. Both of them have one thing in common; they both have a guy named Bob. But I don’t think the name fits.

This is just a personal opinion of mine over the name. When I think of the name Bob, I think of a portly guy with a somewhat goofy and somewhat grumpy personality. Good examples of this take are Bob Belcher from Bob’s Burgers and Bob Velseb from Spooky Month. They both are portly men that cook for others and are generally seen as a fatherly figure (of course, one of them is definitely more crazy than the other, but I’m pushing that aside).

I don’t like how the name Bob is placed in those other two works. It doesn’t feel like it fits. Even in an ad! I mean, Little Caesars should be focusing on their main product, not the characters, but even still, that guy didn’t look like a Bob to me!

For me, every name feels like it’s got some kind of personality tied to it. Bob feels more fatherly and goofy. Andrew feels athletic and sportsy, and so on and so forth. 

Maybe this is just a weird take, but common names shouldn’t just be tossed at someone and call it a day. If you’re gonna use a common name, make it match. Everyone obviously has different views on how a name sounds, but a Bob sure isn’t some random skinny guy for me.