Why is Biblatex giving an inconsistent number/format of authors for citations?

I am currently writing a scientific report using Latex for the first time. I am using Overleaf. I am using Zotero as a reference manager, with the Better BibTeX plugin. I periodically export my Zotero library as a BibTeX document and upload to overleaf.

I am struggling with my text citations being inconsistent. Most are formatted correctly e.g (Albert et al. 2019), however some show too many names e.g. (Mirbaha, Chen, Mullapudi, et al., 2022), one and a half names (Goedert, M. Spillantini, et al., 1989), or one author initials (Goedert and M. G. Spillantini, 2017).

Here is a MWE (I hope) with the offending citations, and one as expected citation.

The main.tex file:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[backend = biber,
style = authoryear, 
citestyle = authoryear-comp,
natbib = true,
sorting = nyt, 
isbn = false, 
url = false,
eprint = false,
date = year, 
mincitenames = 1,
maxcitenames = 2, 
minbibnames = 3, 
giveninits=true]{biblatex}
\renewbibmacro{in:}{}
\DeclareNameAlias{author}{family-given}
\addbibresource{references.bib}

\begin{document}

As expected (\cite{albertPreventionTauSeeding2019}).

Too many names (\cite{mirbahaInertSeedcompetentTau2018, mirbahaSeedcompetentTauMonomer2022}).

One and a half names (\cite{goedertMultipleIsoformsHuman1989}).

Unwanted initials (\cite{goedertPropagationTauAggregates2017}).

\printbibliography[
title={References}
]

\end{document}

The references.bib file:

@article{mirbahaInertSeedcompetentTau2018,
  title = {Inert and Seed-Competent Tau Monomers Suggest Structural Origins of Aggregation},
  author = {Mirbaha, Hilda and Chen, Dailu and Morazova, Olga A and Ruff, Kiersten M and Sharma, Apurwa M and Liu, Xiaohua and Goodarzi, Mohammad and Pappu, Rohit V and Colby, David W and Mirzaei, Hamid and Joachimiak, Lukasz A and Diamond, Marc I},
  date = {2018-07-10},
  journaltitle = {eLife},
  volume = {7},
  pages = {e36584},
  issn = {2050-084X},
  doi = {10.7554/eLife.36584},
  url = {https://elifesciences.org/articles/36584},
  urldate = {2023-09-07},
  langid = {english}
}

@article{goedertMultipleIsoformsHuman1989,
  title = {Multiple Isoforms of Human Microtubule-Associated Protein Tau: Sequences and Localization in Neurofibrillary Tangles of {{Alzheimer}}'s Disease},
  shorttitle = {Multiple Isoforms of Human Microtubule-Associated Protein Tau},
  author = {Goedert, M. and Spillantini, M.G. and Jakes, R. and Rutherford, D. and Crowther, R.A.},
  date = {1989-10},
  journaltitle = {Neuron},
  shortjournal = {Neuron},
  volume = {3},
  number = {4},
  pages = {519--526},
  issn = {08966273},
  doi = {10.1016/0896-6273(89)90210-9},
  url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0896627389902109},
  urldate = {2023-09-06},
  langid = {english}
}

@article{goedertPropagationTauAggregates2017,
  title = {Propagation of {{Tau}} Aggregates},
  author = {Goedert, Michel and Spillantini, Maria Grazia},
  date = {2017-12},
  journaltitle = {Molecular Brain},
  shortjournal = {Mol Brain},
  volume = {10},
  number = {1},
  pages = {18},
  issn = {1756-6606},
  doi = {10.1186/s13041-017-0298-7},
  url = {http://molecularbrain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13041-017-0298-7},
  urldate = {2023-09-06},
  langid = {english}
}

@article{mirbahaSeedcompetentTauMonomer2022,
  title = {Seed-Competent Tau Monomer Initiates Pathology in a Tauopathy Mouse Model},
  author = {Mirbaha, Hilda and Chen, Dailu and Mullapudi, Vishruth and Terpack, Sandi Jo and White, Charles L. and Joachimiak, Lukasz A. and Diamond, Marc I.},
  date = {2022-08},
  journaltitle = {Journal of Biological Chemistry},
  shortjournal = {Journal of Biological Chemistry},
  volume = {298},
  number = {8},
  pages = {102163},
  issn = {00219258},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102163},
  url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0021925822006056},
  urldate = {2023-09-07},
  langid = {english},
  file = {C\:\\Users\\annab\\Zotero\\storage\\IGLU5IGM\\Mirbaha et al. - 2022 - Seed-competent tau monomer initiates pathology in .pdf}
}

@article{albertPreventionTauSeeding2019,
  title = {Prevention of Tau Seeding and Propagation by Immunotherapy with a Central Tau Epitope Antibody},
  author = {Albert, Marie and Mairet-Coello, Georges and Danis, Clément and Lieger, Sarah and Caillierez, Raphaëlle and Carrier, Sébastien and Skrobala, Emilie and Landrieu, Isabelle and Michel, Anne and Schmitt, Mathieu and Citron, Martin and Downey, Patrick and Courade, Jean-Philippe and Buée, Luc and Colin, Morvane},
  date = {2019-06-01},
  journaltitle = {Brain: A Journal of Neurology},
  shortjournal = {Brain},
  volume = {142},
  number = {6},
  eprint = {31038156},
  eprinttype = {pmid},
  pages = {1736--1750},
  issn = {1460-2156},
  doi = {10.1093/brain/awz100},
  langid = {english},
  pmcid = {PMC6536853}
}

If anyone can see why I am getting inconsistent citations I will be very appreciative!!

Solution

The additional names and initials are there to distinguish between names which would otherwise look the same.

You can switch this off with the options uniquename=false and uniquelist=false:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[backend = biber,
style = authoryear, 
citestyle = authoryear-comp,
natbib = true,
sorting = nyt, 
isbn = false, 
url = false,
eprint = false,
date = year, 
mincitenames = 1,
maxcitenames = 2, 
minbibnames = 3, 
uniquename=false,
uniquelist=false,
giveninits=true]{biblatex}
\renewbibmacro{in:}{}
\DeclareNameAlias{author}{family-given}

\begin{filecontents*}[overwrite]{\jobname.bib}
@article{mirbahaInertSeedcompetentTau2018,
  title = {Inert and Seed-Competent Tau Monomers Suggest Structural Origins of Aggregation},
  author = {Mirbaha, Hilda and Chen, Dailu and Morazova, Olga A and Ruff, Kiersten M and Sharma, Apurwa M and Liu, Xiaohua and Goodarzi, Mohammad and Pappu, Rohit V and Colby, David W and Mirzaei, Hamid and Joachimiak, Lukasz A and Diamond, Marc I},
  date = {2018-07-10},
  journaltitle = {eLife},
  volume = {7},
  pages = {e36584},
  issn = {2050-084X},
  doi = {10.7554/eLife.36584},
  url = {https://elifesciences.org/articles/36584},
  urldate = {2023-09-07},
  langid = {english}
}

@article{goedertMultipleIsoformsHuman1989,
  title = {Multiple Isoforms of Human Microtubule-Associated Protein Tau: Sequences and Localization in Neurofibrillary Tangles of {{Alzheimer}}'s Disease},
  shorttitle = {Multiple Isoforms of Human Microtubule-Associated Protein Tau},
  author = {Goedert, M. and Spillantini, M.G. and Jakes, R. and Rutherford, D. and Crowther, R.A.},
  date = {1989-10},
  journaltitle = {Neuron},
  shortjournal = {Neuron},
  volume = {3},
  number = {4},
  pages = {519--526},
  issn = {08966273},
  doi = {10.1016/0896-6273(89)90210-9},
  url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0896627389902109},
  urldate = {2023-09-06},
  langid = {english}
}

@article{goedertPropagationTauAggregates2017,
  title = {Propagation of {{Tau}} Aggregates},
  author = {Goedert, Michel and Spillantini, Maria Grazia},
  date = {2017-12},
  journaltitle = {Molecular Brain},
  shortjournal = {Mol Brain},
  volume = {10},
  number = {1},
  pages = {18},
  issn = {1756-6606},
  doi = {10.1186/s13041-017-0298-7},
  url = {http://molecularbrain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13041-017-0298-7},
  urldate = {2023-09-06},
  langid = {english}
}

@article{mirbahaSeedcompetentTauMonomer2022,
  title = {Seed-Competent Tau Monomer Initiates Pathology in a Tauopathy Mouse Model},
  author = {Mirbaha, Hilda and Chen, Dailu and Mullapudi, Vishruth and Terpack, Sandi Jo and White, Charles L. and Joachimiak, Lukasz A. and Diamond, Marc I.},
  date = {2022-08},
  journaltitle = {Journal of Biological Chemistry},
  shortjournal = {Journal of Biological Chemistry},
  volume = {298},
  number = {8},
  pages = {102163},
  issn = {00219258},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102163},
  url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0021925822006056},
  urldate = {2023-09-07},
  langid = {english},
  file = {C\:\\Users\\annab\\Zotero\\storage\\IGLU5IGM\\Mirbaha et al. - 2022 - Seed-competent tau monomer initiates pathology in .pdf}
}

@article{albertPreventionTauSeeding2019,
  title = {Prevention of Tau Seeding and Propagation by Immunotherapy with a Central Tau Epitope Antibody},
  author = {Albert, Marie and Mairet-Coello, Georges and Danis, Clément and Lieger, Sarah and Caillierez, Raphaëlle and Carrier, Sébastien and Skrobala, Emilie and Landrieu, Isabelle and Michel, Anne and Schmitt, Mathieu and Citron, Martin and Downey, Patrick and Courade, Jean-Philippe and Buée, Luc and Colin, Morvane},
  date = {2019-06-01},
  journaltitle = {Brain: A Journal of Neurology},
  shortjournal = {Brain},
  volume = {142},
  number = {6},
  eprint = {31038156},
  eprinttype = {pmid},
  pages = {1736--1750},
  issn = {1460-2156},
  doi = {10.1093/brain/awz100},
  langid = {english},
  pmcid = {PMC6536853}
}

\end{filecontents*}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}

\begin{document}

As expected (\cite{albertPreventionTauSeeding2019}).

Too many names (\cite{mirbahaInertSeedcompetentTau2018, mirbahaSeedcompetentTauMonomer2022}).

One and a half names (\cite{goedertMultipleIsoformsHuman1989}).

Unwanted initials (\cite{goedertPropagationTauAggregates2017}).

\printbibliography[
title={References}
]

\end{document}