One Steve Limit/Fan Works

Inversions of, and exceptions to, a in  include:


 * Forward has three different criminal groups using the name "Talon" - two of whom are on the same space station. Apparently none of these criminals are terribly creative.
 * Kyon: Big Damn Hero, by including characters from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, ends up with two characters with the given name Keiichi, who are about the same age and have similar occupations. Though Tamaru Keiichi, the canonical Haruhi Suzumiya character, is extremely minor and may not even appear more than once.
 * Discussed in Grace Under Pressure, Courage Under Fire, when Kurt asks Dave why he uses his friend Azimio Adams' first name, but his other friend Anthony Rashad's last name. Dave explains that while there is only one Azimio at school, there are several Anthonys, so calling him Rashad is really just a way to avoid confusion. (Note that Anthony Rashad is the only Anthony mentioned in Canon.)
 * In the Daria series "Falling Into College", Quinn winds up dating a guy also named Quinn, who is called "Q" to avoid confusion.
 * Clearly in play in the Harry Potter/Sailor Moon/Ranma ½ crossover fic The Girl Who Loved: when Luna Lovegood moves into a prominent position in the narrative, cat!Luna all but disappears from the story.
 * Subverted in Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series, where Marik's Millennium Rod can only control people whose names are, of course, Steve. Given that Marik controls a bunch of one-shot characters with it, the series ends up with a lot of Steves.
 * It is revealed that only one of their names has to be Steve; "Steve" Arcana, Steve Jobs, and Keith Steve Howard (Bandit Keith) are all under his control at some point. Later, he mind controls.
 * At a convention, LK explained the background of the entire gag, mentioning that in his version, "Steve" has pretty much become another word for "henchman".
 * Repeatedly averted in the Mega Crossover shared-world story My Apartment Manager is not an Isekai Character, with over three dozen pairs or trios of characters with the same name listed on that work's page. The setting has five Sakuras: Sakura Kinomoto, Sakura Matou, Sakura Shinguuji, Kiyomi Sakura, and Miyuki Sakura