pbray

My writing status is still amateur, and so this advice may be worth exactly what you paid for it. Still, I don't think the coincidence of a bunch of monograms in common is that worrisome. Let's take a look at real life for a moment: My husband's best friend is Gary. My husband's supervisor is also named Gary. My husband's teacher is Gary. Half the time when he's telling me something funny that "Gary" said, I've no idea which one. And yet, books rarely have characters with the same name even though it happens all the time.

Want a better example. I go by the name Beth. In college I was in a swing choir called General Delivery, which was a small group between 15-20 singers each year. My first day I was assigned to the alto section next to another brunette girl whose name happened to be Beth. Our director glanced up and said, "So we'll call you Beth Ann and you Beth," while only sort of nodding in our general direction, but we were sitting right next to each other. I had no idea how he'd known my middle name, but figuring that I was the newby and she wasn't, I imagined I'd be the one using the longer name. So when he said, "Beth Ann, sing that section," both of us stood up and sang. And the worst part? Both our last names began with T at that time.

I figure if it happens in real life, you shouldn't sweat it in your stories. But if it really bothers you, you can work it into the story somehow. Coincidences can be advantageous. Since people are often assigned to things alphabetically, your characters might have a reason to interact when they might not have otherwise.