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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28028
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28028
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The problem you're describing actually has an associated TV Trope: the [One Mario Limit](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OneMarioLimit) ( **obligatory warning** , now that I've added a link). Some names become so strongly associated with one character/person, that any other characters/people with the same name will inevitably be compared with them. Mario is a well-known example: the only other famous Mario I can think of right now is Mario Balotelli, who is in fact nicknamed "Super Mario".

I only believe this trope is a problem if:

- There really **is** only one well-known character/person with that name. Plenty of people are named 'Snow'. I actually have a character myself named 'Snow'. Nobody outside of _Game of Thrones_ (that I know of) is named 'Lannister'.
- The person that name is associated with is not a person you want your character to be associated with (@HvG made a similar point in their answer). You'll notice that nobody these days is named "Adolf", for example.
- Your character isn't distinct enough. If your character 'Logan Evans' is a friendly, outgoing guy who solves his problems with his sharp wits, nobody will notice he shares his name with Wolverine. If he's a loner who solves his problems with his fists, _everyone_ will notice.

Other than that, I would say this isn't worth worrying about, because there are _so many_ famous people and famous works out there that it's almost impossible to come up with a name that hasn't been used by one of them (unless you're writing a fantasy work like _GoT_ and can just make one up). When naming the protagonist of one of my stories, I plucked the name "Samantha Smith" out of thin air - when I found out that was the name of [an actual famous person](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith), rather than change it, I simply had another character make a remark about it.

Original score: 21