You can count on a guy named Pignon

What’s in a name?

For French filmmaker Francis Veber, the name Francois Pignon has been a good luck charm.

Many of his film characters have been called Francois Pignon -- even though the character is different in each movie.

French singer-actor Jacques Brel played the first Pignon in the 1973 comedy “A Pain in the A...” Other actors who played a Pignon include Daniel Auteuil in “The Closet,” Jacques Villeret in “The Dinner Game” and Pierre Richard in “Les Fugitifs” and “Les Comperes.”

“I don’t know why I loved this name,” Veber says. “I started a new movie and I said to myself, ‘It’s not the same character, but I might call him Francois Pignon again.’

“When I start writing a screenplay, the fact that I know Pignon is expecting me in the story makes me more confident.”

Gad Elmaleh plays the latest Pignon, in “The Valet,” which opens Friday. In the frothy comedy, Pignon is a sad-sack valet who is depressed that the woman he’s loved for so long (Virginie Ledoyen) has refused to marry him.

After a series of outlandish events, Pignon ends up being paid a large sum of money by a crafty billionaire (Auteuil) to live with his mistress, a leggy fashion model (Alice Taglioni), so the billionaire avoids a nasty divorce.

Veber has had some surreal encounters, like scenes from “Stranger Than Fiction,” with real-life Pignons.

He recalls when he was at a beach in France writing a script when he heard a lifeguard call out for a missing boy who happened to be named Francois Pignon.

“I rushed to the little boy and kissed him on the head,” Veber says. “He was very surprised.”

At last count, Veber says, there are 11 Francois Pignons living in France. “There is a club of them,” he says. “One wrote me and said, ‘First I was a “Pain in the A...” and then I was gay in “The Closet” and now I’m a jerk in “The Dinner Game.” Stop that, please.’ ”

Veber, who is very protective of his Pignons, called the angry man.

“It was surrealistic to call your character,” he recounts. “I said to him, ‘I apologize if people are making jokes about you, but you are a nice man in the films. You are not Hitler!’ ”

Veber, who lives in Los Angeles, is working on a new script and -- of course -- it features another incarnation of Francois Pignon.