Genie,

Hmm...I thought I was staying away from real life people (for example, avoiding a song like Jesse James.)

But now that I look at my list again, I'm not so sure, since I don't really know all the origins of the songs I listed. Some of them may in fact be about real people.

Now that I'm home with my iTunes song library open, I can make a few more comments.

First, let me correct a song title up there - it's "Andy's Gone With Cattle", not for cattle. Oops!

How about a combination song, although common names:

Get up Jack, John sit Down.

Here's a less common name: A song called "When Barney flew over the hills" recorded by the group Relativity.

How about Brennan on the Moor?

I see Donald or Donal do show up in a number of Irish and Scottish songs.

Mostly, I see Genie's original statement highly confirmed. Lots of Johns, Joes, and every possible form of William.