Backgrounder
Backgrounder is old fandom slang for the background characters in each episode, after TAG's website Backgrounders which researched them. Some of these, mainly by accident, have names (like through a seating chart in "Cafe Disaffecto") but they almost all lack a voice - and if they have names, our main cast never refer to them. They rarely, if ever, interact with the main cast but can implicitly have been people the cast talked to 'off screen', such as the backgrounders filling up the Lawndale High Track Team with Jane.
Because the backgrounders appeared often enough to be recognisable, Guy Moore pitched an episode where we'd follow the backgrounders' stories and Daria and Jane would be the voiceless background people. Karen Disher believed they couldn't do it because fans complained whenever Daria & Jane weren't the focus.
They are extremely useful for fanfic writers: a source of ready-made people with an existing image, that your fellow obsessives may know! Their names are usually based on appearance, an in-joke, or simply whoever got to them first in a fanfic.
(This page will not focus on the backgrounders who do have canon/sort-of-canon names, like Burnout Girl or Bob)
List of Daria backgrounders
Green Cap Dude
[[Image:|thumb|250px|right|Green Cap]]
Green Cap Dude is a black student in Daria's year, recognisable by his nickname-gaining green cap. He dresses in a slightly hip-hop style.
He's one of the Fashion Club's fans, especially Quinn: he picked up their newsletter in "The Story of D" solely because they wrote it, queued for the chance to be Quinn's boyfriend in "One J at a Time", and cheered the idea of Sandi's party and Quinn hosting the school dance in "Daria Dance Party". (He chose the party, then ran off to the dance) He's mates with the Three Js and Pie Cap & Jade Hoodie, hanging with them after school ("Dance Party").
He was once seen hanging a casual chat with Scarlett by his locker, and was a witness when Daria admitted kissing Tom Sloane.
Jade Hoodie
Jade Hoodie is named for his jade-coloured hoodie; he has swept-back light brown hair and is an easy going, oft-happy dude. He's in Daria's year, and also in her classes. Friends with the Three Js (and shares Jamie White's hairstyle), Green Cap, and Pie Cap. Has been seen once or twice next to Jennifer, and may be friends with her too. He was really pleased with his results from the test to work out your future career in "It Happened One Nut".
One of the Fashion Club's fans; when caught in the Sandi/Quinn spat in "Daria Dance Party", was the second to admit his head hurt. He was the most bored of them all at Sandi's party, lying on the floor.
In "Pinch Sitter", he somehow teleported from DeMartino's classroom to some distance down the corridor walking back to the class...
Nerds
These three guys are friends of The Head, and they sit together with him at lunch. They were first pointed out to us in "Quinn the Brain"; Daria and Jane used their existence as a taunt to Quinn, and presumably aren't too impressed with them either. From left to right, Nerd 1 (blond), Nerd 2 (fat), and Nerd 3 (black male). They're rarely seen, presumably avoiding everyone else; Nerd 2 did witness Ms Li's freakout in "Fizz Ed". Nerd 2 can sneeze milk from his nose, which the others find hilarious.
Appearances in fanfic
In "A Hard Days' Night" by The Angst Guy, they're part of the Irregulars: boy genius crime fighters. They use codenames based on three fanfic writers (Bug Guy, Penguin Guy, and Brother Grimace respectively).
White Sweater
Long haired Asian-American girl, in several of Daria and Jane's classes; wears a light green T-shirt, tan jeans, and a necklace most of the time. Named by TAG for her distinctive white blazer. A fan of Mental in the Morning, based on "Jake of Hearts".
"White Sweater" has been seen hanging around a lot of people when outside of class, a number of them popular and photogenic: Jennifer, Joey, and she was also part of the in-crowd admiring a newly-thin Sandi in "Fat Like Me". She was also flirted with by Les in that episode, himself a Lawndale High Track Team dude. She's also been seen with less popular people, including sitting with Shaggy and Burnout Girl in "Cafe Disaffecto". "White Sweater" appears to be both popular and a nice, sociable person.
Appearances in fanfic
Named Woot in "Scarlett" by TAG, where she's a member of the Lawndale Leopards hockey team.