Noticing Newbies

I suggest you assign one name to them as a group such as the four trekkers or something like that. When you are referring to them as a group use that same name, to not confuse your readers and for clarity's sake, especially in the beginning chapters. Then, when you talk about them singly, you can just say their personal names.
You might also make another character call them by that name first, and you use that name to refer to them. "You, four buddies, you always bunch together," etc.




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