How many ex-villagers can be on Main St at the same time?

[Titi]

I am wondering how many can be there at the same time?
Currently I have Colton, Monty, Dora and Rod all walking around there at the same time.
They are constantly there, but I'd like to see other villagers as well...
Can more appear? Will the current ones end up leaving for good?

 

[Ras]

Each time you move out another villager, the next one in line will appear. The current ones will leave for good when you have moved out 16 after each one, meaning they are erased from your town's memory and can then be moved back in.

Example:

In Alpine, I have moved Marshal, Alli, Drago, Chief, Pekoe, Phoebe, Cookie, Zucker, Poncho, Erik, and Static. When Pekoe left, Marshal appeared. When Phoebe moved, Alli joined him. When Cookie moved, Drago was back. And so on. When I move 6 more after Static (unlikely at this point), Marshal will no longer appear, and I could ask a Marshal to move in if I wanted to.

 

[RhinoK]

Will they always be there?

 

[Ras]

Once you move out five, you will always have at least one hanging around. If you do the 16-villager cycle, as I said, they will one by one start never appearing. But, you will always have the ones who have not fallen off yet due to the 16-villager cycle. If you don't want to see any of them, you can't move out more than four. And, some days, certain ones won't be there.

 

[RhinoK]

Once you move out five, you will always have at least one hanging around. If you do the 16-villager cycle, as I said, they will one by one start never appearing. But, you will always have the ones who have not fallen off yet due to the 16-villager cycle. If you don't want to see any of them, you can't move out more than four. And, some days, certain ones won't be there.

I always thought that, if they appeared on Main Street, you were able to move them out. I was wrong all this time then

 

[Titi]

Thank you Ras! That was very clear and helpful.