How to create anim clips with the same name

Ive got multiple characters in the scene, I want them to have the same animation clip names, so that I can refer to them easily using the same script attached to all characters. i.e. each character would have clips:

idle
walk
jump
run

how do I do this in unity, as if i try to make a clip with a name that already exists, the file is overwritten? should i create a seperate folder within assets for each character?

[14115-screen+shot+2013-08-09+at+13.40.49.png|14115]

thanks

New folders should work fine