Overused Names in YA?

Kate.

I'm gonna tar myself with this one, since it's my MC's name ...

but Isabelle ... and all the variations thereof.

Aiden, Haden, Jaden, Kaden...etc...

Bird names for girls like Lark or Wren.

Generally it irks me that so many YA characters have such obviously *odd* (to this British lady's ears) names, especially in contemp. I mean, sometimes people are just called Dave or Sarah.

bertrigby said:

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Generally it irks me that so many YA characters have such obviously *odd* (to this British lady's ears) names, especially in contemp. I mean, sometimes people are just called Dave or Sarah.

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lol ikr!

Samsonet said:

Kate.

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To be fair, Kate is an awesome name.

I've seen a lot of Noahs and Hunters hanging around.

I feel like I've seen a lot more Violets in YA books than I have in real life (which is zero).

Any girl's name that is subsequently shortened to a boy's name.

Charlotte = Charlie
Jaquelin = Jack
Andrea = Andy

Very tired.

Haaaaaaa my MC's name is Katie. It's a common name in real life!!!

Mine mostly have "normal" names. My current roster includes Katie, Amy, Chris, Evan, Naomi, and Jasmine.

The thing is those are all really common names for kids of the time period a contemporary YA book would be about. I think many authors check the lists of top names for the year their character would have been born in and then use those.

I worked at my local Health Department years ago and just about every baby at that time rhymed. Aiden, Jaden, Caiden, Braedon, etc.

Sage said:

Anything that can be shorted to Cat or Kat.

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As a Kat, I was super excited the first time I found a book with a Kat for an MC (considering I don't get mini-license plates or any other novelties with it on it). I am sad it's gotten so common that people notice though...

KateSmash said:

To be fair, Kate is an awesome name.

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Yes - and it gets mini-license plates.

I'll vote for one of my own. I can't believe how many Amelias (and particularly Mias) are in books right now.

I'd say Nathan and any permutation of it is overused.

I do think a lot of writers especially of contemp would take from 'most common name' lists... but do you really want your character to have the most common name of their generation? There are so, so many names to choose from and picking something less common might make a character more memorable.

Seems like I've seen a lot of Liams lately. I agree with Kat/Cat, though I forever love that nickname and will probably have a character with it someday.

wampuscat said:

Seems like I've seen a lot of Liams lately. I agree with Kat/Cat, though I forever love that nickname and will probably have a character with it someday.

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Wow you read my mind. I was going to suggest these exact two names lol.

Ah, I love Kate and Catherine, and its slightly less-used cousin, Caitlyn, but I must admit that I feel like I see a lot of them. Anna is another one - not Ann(e) or Annie, though.

As for dudes - I seem to see Noah around a lot.

I often refer to recently published books to see if the names I'm using are popping up a lot in whatever genre I'm writing. Not that I look extensively, make a list or anything but if I check out a dozen or so titles and if I find the hero in three of them is named Noah, then I'll go with something else.

My current fave is Brady and I've gone through the Tara, Leah, McKenzie phase. Trying Savanna with this one.

Yeah, I'm a little bored too. Time to get back to my ms.

I seem to encounter a lot of Abby/Abbie and Addy/Addie.

kenpochick said:

The thing is those are all really common names for kids of the time period a contemporary YA book would be about. I think many authors check the lists of top names for the year their character would have been born in and then use those.

I worked at my local Health Department years ago and just about every baby at that time rhymed. Aiden, Jaden, Caiden, Braedon, etc.

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^^^ I do this - looking up what's popular during certain years.

I also work with small children, and there are currently a gazillion Aidans, Isabellas, and Sophias.

I don't know that there's any particular name I can think of, but it seems like normal names are avoided in favor of the creative Skylar, Scarlet, Heaven type of names that I guess make characters more unique??

I see more of it in sci-fi, but names like Kira irk me. You know, those names that try to sound exotic and convey a femme fatal at the same time.
And I've only seen this name in Divergent, but Tris bugs the crap out of me (no offense to any of you actually named Tris). Beatrice is much better.
It's really just the names that try to sound dangerous and mysterious. Kind of removes me from the story.

RevanWright said:

I see more of it in sci-fi, but names like Kira irk me. You know, those names that try to sound exotic and convey a femme fatal at the same time.
And I've only seen this name in Divergent, but Tris bugs the crap out of me (no offense to any of you actually named Tris). Beatrice is much better.
It's really just the names that try to sound dangerous and mysterious. Kind of removes me from the story.

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Tris is also used in Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic books. She's a brainy redhead. I think she has weather powers...but it's been a long time since I read those books.

LIs named Finn. Girls named after birds (Wren, Lark).

RevanWright said:

I see more of it in sci-fi, but names like Kira irk me. You know, those names that try to sound exotic and convey a femme fatal at the same time.
And I've only seen this name in Divergent, but Tris bugs the crap out of me (no offense to any of you actually named Tris). Beatrice is much better. It's really just the names that try to sound dangerous and mysterious. Kind of removes me from the story.

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Ha! I don't actually mind Kira or Tris - and I don't think they're "exotic", exactly. I mean, sure, they're not run-of-the-mill, but Kira, for instance, reminds me of the common girls names (in England, at least), like Kerra and Kierra. Tris comes from Beatrice, too, so, obviously, that's a more "normal" name.

I must admit that, as a mostly contemporary reader, I struggle with sci-fi/fantasy names that are just "too different", esp. if I can't really pronounce them. Just to use this as an example, for me, from ASIOAF, Arya, Sansa, Cersei, Edmure, Lysa, Stannis and obviously names like Catelyn, Jon, Ned and Jaime are fine for me, because they're either "normal" names or very close to it, but I really struggle with Daenerys (though I found out from watching the GOT pilot a few weeks ago that I was pronouncing Daenerys right all this time and Arya wrong...), Viserys, Rhaella, Rhaegar...

And I looove Isabel/Isabella as a name, so it upsets me that I'll never 'be able' to name my kid that if I wanted, because there are just so many. My name is very common in my age group so I know the paaaain.

Well there's probably a good number of people who associate Kira with Death Note.

I do think there's a sweet-spot for names that are unusual but still recognizeable as names. But then a lot of these names get overused in fiction but not in real life -- Alice, Violet, Jack, etc.