This is part 3 of a 3-part series

Okay. Okay. I get it. The name “Nathan” is popular. According to some baby name experts “Nathan” is far more popular than “Geoff” (talk about uncharted!) or even “Stephen” (which is plummeting in popularity).

But still. The “Bionic Commando” team had plenty of other options.

They didn’t have to name their guy Nathan Spencer, not with Nathan Drake and Nathan Hale already in the next-gen. And not with the original “BC” starring a character not named Nathan.

If anyone had some explaining to do, it was the people at Capcom. So I shined the proverbial bright light in their face and asked them the tough questions (over e-mail, naturally)

Multiplayer: Why did you choose the name Nathan for your lead character?

Ben Judd, Capcom producer: Choosing names is never easy. You have to consider how it sounds rhythmically, whether it fits the character image, and for titles that you are pushing on a worldwide scale, how it will sound culturally in each of the countries you are focusing on.

Multiplayer: What was the back-up name, if any?

Judd: The original character in “Bionic Commando” was named “Rad” or “Ladd” depending on how you translated it. To make matters worse, both of these names were used in two different versions so you have already confused some of your target audience. Of course we want this title to mean something to people who don’t fondly remember the culturally defining nuggets that they 80s gave us like the far under-appreciated term “Rad” so we were considering striking a balance of new and old and going with the name BRAD (B + RAD). However, during the naming process one of the constant pieces of feedback we got was that “Brad” sounded like a boorish accountant to Europeans so we ended up choosing Nathan as another common man’s name that would appeal more on a worldwide scale.

Multiplayer: Were you aware of this “trend” and, if so, what kinds of conversations have you had about it with fellow “Nathan” developers?

Judd: I didn’t know about the trend but then again, I still wear really tall white socks so it shows you how much I am in the know. I do think you will find common names that cross over though comics, games, and movies so it’s not too strange to see a name be used frequently. After all, how many “Ryu” characters have we seen?

Naughty Dog and Insomniac have their say in the rest of this series