Outside of the fandom, Misty is the "Default" Pokemon girl. If I look up Pokemon cosplays on Instagram, facebook, or any other social media site, Misty is the first result and sometimes the only result. She's basically "The" Pokemon girl everywhere else.

But not in the fandom.

But here she isn't common. She isn't popular.
My elder millenial friends thought she was Ash's girlfriend. One of them started making fun of me when I said that isn't true at all. But here everyone knows that the shipping isn't real. She should have scored Red in the manga though.