Miles David Moore

In the White Pages for the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. (where I live), there is a Benjamin R. Stone and a Bennie W. Stone, as well as three other Stones with the first initial B, who are potentially if not actually Benjamins. I note this only because the lead male character in Judd Apatow's new movie, "Knocked Up," is named Ben Stone. He is only the latest in a series of cinematic and TV Ben Stones in Hollywood's apparent effort to have us believe that "Ben Stone" is as common a name as "John Smith." (There are 58 John Smiths in my phone book, including one I actually know.) Besides the Ben Stone played by Seth Rogen in "Knocked Up," there is the Ben Stone played by Michael Moriarty in "Law and Order;" the Ben Stone played by Michael J. Fox in "Doc Hollywood;" and the Benjy Stone (a/k/a Benjamin Steinberg) played by Mark Linn-Baker in "My Favorite Year." I also remember that Donna Reed's TV family was named Stone (no Bens that I remember, though).

There's no point to this rumination, except that "Ben Stone" seems to have become an all-purpose, shelf-friendly name for irritable screenwriters to reach for. I guess we should all be thankful that the names "Reginald Van Gleason," "Clem Kadiddlehopper" and "Gervase Brooke-Hamster" did not reach this level of ubiquitousness. Meanwhile, if anyone knows of any other Ben Stone characters from movies or TV, please provide them in the Comments section.