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On almost every season of The Bachelor, there are repeat names, and Matt James’ upcoming season is no different. Fans recently discussed the lack of name variety throughout the contestants over the years. They found that Matt James will meet the 17th Lauren in the history of the show, and analyzed several other unique name discrepancies within the franchise. 

'The Bachelor' lead Matt James and contestant Lauren
‘The Bachelor’ lead Matt James and contestant Lauren | Craig Sjodin via Getty Images

Matt James will meet the 17th Lauren in the history of ‘The Bachelor’

On Monday, Jan. 4, 2020, Matt James will begin his journey as the lead of The Bachelor. ABC will air the footage of the 28-year-old real estate broker meeting his 32 contestants at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Pennsylvania. James was not on a prior season of The Bachelorette like most of the leads. Instead ABC chose the entrepreneur because of the fans’ positive reaction to him as a potential contestant on Clare Crawley and Tayshia Adams’ season of The Bachelorette. 

“Thousands of fans swooned over the would-be cast member,” his ABC bio reads. “He is the total package. He has strong family values, a great career, and over the past few months, he has used his growing platform for good.”

Although the franchise also boasts the most diverse cast of women than ever before, there are still two ladies named Serena. The franchise also introduces the 17th Lauren to the show. It is a long-running joke amongst fans that the producers choose repeat names purposely. Lauren Maddox is a 29-year-old corporate attorney from Miami, Florida.  

‘The Bachelor’ fans wonder why there are so many Laurens on the show

“A couple years ago when Arie’s season had 4 Laurens, I was curious to see if the number of Laurens on the show was proportional to Laurens in the US population,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “It turns out Laurens are way overrepresented on The Bachelor!”

Fans found the Redditor’s post funny and informative, upvoting it over 1000 times. 

“Just this title alone had me cackling,” another fan wrote.

With so many unique names in the United States population, it is odd that so many names are repeated on the show.

Related

‘The Bachelorette’: Tayshia Adams’ Fans Are Disappointed by the ‘Same Old Recycled’ Dates

“Do you think it’s possible that [The Bachelor producers] will ever have a future season with no repeat names?”

Is it some sort of Easter egg that the producers slip in so many women with the same name? Many journalists have asked this same question. However, there still isn’t an answer. Maybe they are hoping the lead gets confused? Or the producers want fans to feel comfortable with the repeated names every season.

Fans are surprised there aren’t more women named Jennifer on the show

“I was also surprised by how underrepresented Jennifers are,” the original poster continued. “If you count Jenny, Jenni, Jenn, and Jen, there are 14 total, which is still less than the 17 Laurens!”


Although it is surprising that there are more Laurens than Jennifers, it still adds to the question of the repeated names. Luckily, there was only ever one woman named Tayshia, and the pleas from fans to add more diversity to the program are beginning to work.

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