: Intentional, Subconscious, or Coincidence? The original "kick ass" government operative was James Bond. Since then we've had Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer. James Bond Jason Bourne Jack Bauer Seriously?

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Sometimes this is an intentional clue; for example in The Green Mile, the miracle-performing character is named John Coffey; and Stephen King says he intentionally gave him the same initials as Jesus Christ.

I think other times it is subconscious; writers prefer the "J" sound for heroes, and in your examples notice the first names are very common for their time. In writing, this is often done for contrast: The first name is common as dirt but the character is literally the best in the world at their job. Or take another name chosen for contrast: Bilbo Baggins; a tiny person in middle age with a ridiculous sounding name that must save the whole frikkin' world from a massively powerful evil.

But at least for "Bond" and "Bourne" the last names are uncommon; and probably chosen for symbolism. "Bond" implies trust and certainty. I think "Bourne" was chosen as a homonym for "Born" in the title character and even the original plot: Remember Jason was an amnesiac secret agent; in a sense "born again". The Bourne Identity is much of the plot if taken as "The Born Identity" because not only does he fail to remember his life as Jason Bourne, his real name and birth identity is not even "Jason Bourne", and he is trying to figure out who the hell he is (his identity) and why everyone is trying to kill him!

To me that is an awful lot of coincidence, so I reject coincidence: I think in that case the JB was less about intentional initials and more about the homonym aspect of Bourne.

Apropos of Nothing, another common naming trick: Notice how often strong female heroes are given male names? Charlie for Charlene, Alex, Chris, Peyton, Cam (for Cameron), Kelly, Sam (Samantha Carter on Stargate).

The best female hero name of all time (for contrast): Buffy!

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