Name, what’s in a name? We’re all stuck with our name from birth (Metta World Peace excluded) and most of us are lucky enough to have ones we like, or can at least live with, but it turns out, some are not. After doing a little digging into the most popular horror film villains, we were surprised to learn that there are actually a lot of unfortunate souls who share a name with some of the most well-known slashers of our time.
In celebration of Halloween today, here’s a listing of the most popular common names for horror movie villains:
1. Michael Myers – It turns out there are 16,829 listings for people named “Michael Myers,” making it the most popular “common” horror villain name. This one is pretty basic, so we’re guessing the only 1 out of every 4 (real scientific accuracy applied here) people who meet a “Mr. Meyers” crack a joke about it.
2. Carrie White – The blood drenched, high school slasher shares a name with 3326 listings across the US, according to Spokeo. 295 of them reside in Texas!
3. Norman Bates – There are 440 records for people who share a name with the original “Psycho” terrorizing the guests of the Bates Motel. (Bonus: Norma Bates reveals 336 listings!)
4. Jason Voorhees – This name is hard enough to spell, making it extra unfortunate for the people of the 129 listings who share a name with the “Halloween” masked murderer. (“Josh” was originally considered as the name for the villain, but it was deemed too “sweet.”)
5. Hannibal Lector – Being that this name is so unique, we’d assumed it would be a lot less popular, but according to 42 listings, there are apparently some people who hadn’t seen “Silence of the Lambs” prior to naming their children.
6. Jack Torrance – The 37 listings for gentleman named “Jack Torrance,” skew a bit older with an average age of 72. Given that 50% of the “Jack Torrance” listings are aged in their sixties, and “The Shining” came about in 1980 (novel released in 1977), we understand why there are so few.
7. Damien Thorn – According to Spokeo, which reveals 26 results, 100% of “Damien Thorn”s are in their 40’s, a stark contrast to the five-year-old “antichrist” Damien from “The Omen.”
8. Samara Morgan – She’s the creepy little girl from “The Ring” and she shares her name with people from 24 Spokeo listings. Hopefully none of them burn images into innocent minds or emerge from a TV screen.
9. Victor Frankenstein – This one has to be a JOKE! Most of the Victors of the four Spokeo listings live in malls; so we’re guessing someone’s been using a fake name here and filling out real listings for them!
10. Regan MacNeil – Officially the least popular antagonist name among the commoners, the little possessed girl from “The Exorcist” shares ZERO listings on Spokeo. The very horrifying movie rose to fame in the early sixties, so you’d have to be living under a rock to innocently name your child after her. And thank goodness no one has!
Happy Halloween!