Many years ago, I knew a guy named Finn. He was the only one with that name that I’d met, and he never knew of anyone with that name, either. But now, there seems to be a plethora of Finns around on TV. Here are the top five!

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5. Riley Finn: The pioneer of people named Finn on TV, Riley Finn was the boyfriend of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and first appeared in 1999. People often called him “Finn” even though it is his last name. The character was created to be naive, wholesome and normal, in stark contrast to Buffy’s former boyfriend and the people she hangs around with. My guess is that he was named Finn because it is a name that is reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn. Indeed, he appears to be very normal, especially as compared with others Buffy has dated. He’s even from the American heartland. But everything is not as it initially appears, and it turns out he was into some weird shit and had some shocking secrets. Finn was a good guy, but he also appears to be the first member of the “League of Disappointing Boyfriends Named Finn.”

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4. Finn DeTrolio: First appeared on the Sopranos in 2002. He plays a naive Columbia student who is engaged to Meadow Soprano and is an aspiring dentist. He’s a very normal, wholesome, all-American person, who gets in way over his head when he starts dating Meadow. As compared with the mobbed up guys she grew up with, he’s wimpy and dull. He’s plainly terrified whenever he has any dealings with Meadow’s family and her father’s business associates, and he gets into trouble when he learns that one of Tony’s associates is secretly gay, resulting in the associate menacing Finn. Later, Finn is asked to “testify” to other mobsters about the guy’s sexual orientation, which Finn does, even though it will most likely result in the guy being murdered for being gay. He’s member #2 of the League of Disappointing Boyfriends Named Finn.

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3. Finn Hudson: First appeared in 2009 on Glee as the all-American, football playing, naive, popular jock on the show and the closest thing the ensemble show had to a male lead. He was dating the popular cheerleader Quinn, making them the cute couple of Finn and Quinn. His arm is twisted into joining the Glee Club at McKinley High, and he later becomes a central member of the club. Why Finn? I suspect it’s another Huckleberry Finn allusion, and it’s also convenient that it rhymes with Quinn. Quinn is the Queen Bee of the school as the show began, so she was likely named Quinn for its similarity to Queen.

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2. Finn the Human: First appeared in 2010 as a main character on the animated series Adventure Time. He has lots of adventures with Jake the Dog.Why Finn? The character was originally named Pen, after the creator of the show. Finn sounds very similar, but I have no idea why it was changed.

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1. Finn Walden: First appearance 2012. a character on the TV series Homeland. He’s the son of the vice-president, and also seems all-American and wholesome. But he’s definitely not as innocent as he first appears to be… In short, he becomes member #3 of the League of Disappointing Boyfriends Named Finn.