I read a lot of supernatural romance YA — for the Mag, for the Guide, and for fun — and I've been noticing how many dreamy guys in recent series are named either Jared or Cole. Bonus points for a Jared/Cole in a love triangle with the female protagonist, or if the protagonist and said Jared/Cole have a heartbreaking misunderstanding. For your consideration:

In Kami Garcia's The Legion series, protagonist Kennedy must choose between Jared and his twin Lukas as they bust ghosts and come up against the demon Andras.

Kami is torn between Jared Lynburn and his half-brother Ash — both of whom she's been connected to telepathically — in Sarah Rees Brennan's Lynburn Legacy trilogy. Complicating their love lives further is the boys' seriously dysfunctional, magic-using family.

Nikki, protagonist of Brodi Ashton's Everneath series, is in true-love-always with boyfriend Jack, but finds herself drawn to dangerous (read: life-sucking) immortal Cole after she thinks Jack has cheated on her.

Ali, zombie-slaying protagonist of Gena Showalter's White Rabbit Chronicles, is on-again, off-again with fellow slayer (and soulmate) Cole.

This one is cheating a little... Cole St. Clair, rockstar/werewolf, is one of several narrators (including his love interest, Isabel) in Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. Cole gets his own story in spin-off Sinner.

Interestingly enough, the data from this small sample indicates that Jareds tend to be love-of-your-life types, while Coles tend to be bad boys with hearts of gold. Occasionally Cole is both the love of your life and the bad boy with a heart of gold.

Any Coles or Jareds I missed? Thoughts on what (or who) might have inspired the trend?