History IHaveManyNames / Literature

** Then there's Silk. As a spy, he naturally assumes aliases, the most common being Radek of Boktor and Ambar of Kotu. His birth name is Kheldar and he's generally known as Silk, his spy academy codename. Interestingly, he is also treated thus in the prophecies, unlike the other characters, who have one prophetic name each. In the first book he is called the Rat; in the second, the Guide; and in the third, the Nimble Thief. He reverts back to the Guide for the rest of the books.

* Jay from ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' uses a variety of aliases interchangeably as the situation demands. Justified in that in the Taysan Empire some names seem to be appropriate for different castes, and his job as spy usually involves impersonating a suitable identity. Jay isn't even his real name, but it's probable that he doesn't use his birth name - Jhal - because it reveals his working-class origins.

-->'''Oz:''' I was born in Omaha, and my father, [[AcceptableTargets who was a politician]], named me Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, Diggs being the last name because he could think of no more to go before it. Taken altogether, it was a dreadfully long name to weigh down a poor innocent child, and one of the hardest lessons I ever learned was to remember my own name. When I grew up I just called myself O. Z., because the other initials were [[FunWithAcronyms P-I-N-H-E-A-D]]; [[DontExplainTheJoke and that spelled 'pinhead', which was a reflection on my intelligence]].

** Hoid, the mysterious traveller who appears in almost all of the works in the metaseries. He's extremely long-lived and has been to many worlds, so the names stack up. Some of the most prominent are Cephandrius ([[spoiler:implied to be his original name]]) and Wit, the name he goes by in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' ([[CourtJester although Wit is more of a job title]],[[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep but is what everyone calls him regardless]]).

** Hoid, the mysterious traveller who appears in almost all of the works in the metaseries. He's extremely long-lived and has been to many worlds, so the names stack up. Some of the most prominent are Cephandrius ([[spoiler:implied to be his original name]]) and Wit, the name he goes by in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''.

* In ''Literature/{{Everworld}},'' gods tend to have this, as they do in RealLife. In [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Everworld-Egypt]] take this UpToEleven; Sobek won't even ''talk'' to you if you don't address him by his full title ("Lord Sobek, god of the crocodiles of the Nile, called Rager, son of Seth and his consort Neith, called the nurse of crocodiles"), and the Pharaoh's herald spends at least five minutes reciting incarnations of Ra [[FantasyKitchenSink before the Amazons]] lead the protagonists away.

** Entish names are the full and long-winded description of the named object, so, if they could be translated, they would most likely be this trope taken UpToEleven.

* Radio/TheShadow had numerous alternate identities such as John Haverson, Henry Arnaud, Lamont Cranston, George Clarendon, Fritz, Clifford Gage, etc. Of course, anonymity was ''much'' more his MO than it usually is with masked heroes. The Gray Seal had the alternate identity of Larry the Bat. The Spider had the alternate identity of Blinky [=McQuade=].