History Main / AerithandBob

* ''{{A Song of Ice and Fire}}'' features a more-or-less justified version. You get some real modern names (Robert, Jon, Jaime, Arya), some [[MyNaymeIs unusual spellyngs]] of real names (Catelyn, Margaery, Eddard), some medieval European names (Cersei, Tywin, Ygritte, Bran) ...and then several straight-up fantasy names, (Daenerys, Viserys, Qhorin), which often appear to be assembled from other European languages. Eventually, though, it becomes clear that most of the weirder names just come from cultures outside mainstream Westeros. (If the name contains the letters "ae" or "rys", the bearer is probably Valyrian; if it's short, harsh and vaguely Norse they're from the far north or a Wildling and ''not'' a member of House Stark; if it ends with "io" it's from the Free Cities; names with an X in them are usually Summer Islander. etc.)

*** To be fair, that's only in the manga, and they were named [[MerchandiseDriven after the successive series of games]]. That's ''Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl & Platinum''. Of these, pretty much only Ruby, Crystal and Emerald would be real-world names. And Ruby & Emerald are guys.

*** To be fair, that's only in the manga, and they were named [[MerchandiseDriven after the succesive series of games]]. That's ''Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Saphire, Emerald, Leaf, Fire, Diamond, Pearl & Platinum''. Of these, pretty much only Ruby, Crystal and Emerald would be real-world names. And Ruby & Emerald are guys. It also stands to reason that there will soon be a couple kids called ''Heart'' and ''Soul''.

*** As well, several other characters have ''slightly'' less weird-sounding ones. For example, Ricardo von Britannia uses the German "von", meaning "from". As well, Schneizel, for all his silly first name, uses el Britannia, which is found in Spanish (taken from Arabic)... which is actually pretty weird in its own right. Clovis la Britannia and Karine le Britannia use French... again, weird, but not made up. However, Odysseus eu Britannia, Guinevere su Britannia, and several others are just plain weird (I'm looking at you Castor and Pullux ''rui'' Britannia). And since there was once, according to outside materials, a Carl, duke of Britannia, its likely they didn't even start with the matronymics until the emperor began taking multiple wives.

*** As well, several other characters have ''slightly'' less weird-sounding ones. For example, Ricardo von Britannia uses the German "von", meaning "from". As well, Schneizel, for all his silly first name, uses el Britannia, which is found in Spanish (taken from Arabic)... which is actually pretty weird in its own right. Clovis la Britannia and Karine le Britannia use French... again, weird, but not made up. However, Odysseus eu Britannia, Guinevere su Britannia, and several others are just plain weird. And since there was once, according to outside materials, a Carl, duke of Britannia, its likely they didn't even start with the matronymics until the emperor began taking multiple wives.

*** Clovis was the name of the first king of the unified ''Franks'', which technically wasn't France yet, and actually fits well since the first Britannian emperor did the Britannian tribes in CG-verse Earth. It was also a ''royal'' French name, not a revolutionary one, like the French who ended up forcing Britannia out of Europe. It would have been weirder if Charles named him after Napoleon, or something. It also fits, since most of the royals appear to be named after legendary or semi-historical rulers from Europe, hence Odysseus, Guinevere, Cornelia, Euphemia, Clovis, etc. At least Clovis is a real name, Schneizel is actually worse since it is made up to sound German to the Japanese.

* Clovis was the name of the first king of the unified ''Franks'', which technically wasn't France yet, and actually fits well since the first Britannian emperor did the Britannian tribes in CG-verse Earth. It was also a ''royal'' French name, not a revolutionary one, like the French who ended up forcing Britannia out of Europe. It would have been weirder if Charles named him after Napoleon, or something. It also fits, since most of the royals appear to be named after legendary or semi-historical rulers from Europe, hence Odysseus, Guinevere, Cornelia, Euphemia, Clovis, etc.

** The reverse was often worse, where we would make up a name that sounded Japanese. Popular examples such as Oroku Saki and Yakamoto being names that do not actually exist. The latter was originally [[RuleOfFunny justified]], being from a MontyPython skit. Unfortunately nobody realized it was a joke.

*** Since the village has Japanese names like Shimon and Kamina, it's probably Jou, which isn't unheard of. And Viral is actually Bilal, named after Enki Bilal, the French comics writer (that's why his Ganmen is called Enki (du)(du), and why his theme's title is "Nikopol").
*** In fact not only does [[spoiler: Joe]] or Jou work as a Japanese name, it fits the series' naming themes. Kamina and his father are named after [[MeaningfulName the direction they aspire to]]. Viral actually being an exotic creation from an entirely different culture is also justified; he wasn't exactly Simon's neighbor.

* Given the scattershot nature of how [[GunXSword Endless Illusion]] was populated, one can't be too surprised at how the names work. Our heroes are Van, Wendy, Carul ([[InsistentTerminology "Carmen 99!"]], Ray, and Joshua. Our villains include Gadved, Carossa, and Fasalina. [[spoiler:And Michael.]]

* ''SoulEater'' has Western names such as Liz, Patty, Justin, Blaire, Kim, Jaqueline, Angela... and some Japanese names like Tsubaki, Mifune, and Maka (an anagram for "kama", or "scythe"). Then you have some very random names like Black&# 9734;Star, Death the Kid, Harvar, Kirikou (looks Japanese, but isn't), Spirit... However, the manga mentions the characters being from different countries. Kirikou is ethnically African in appearance, Maka and Tsubaki have been mentioned to be Japanese, and it's likely Liz and Patty Thompson are American. Plus, the author just [[{{Understatement}} adores]] theme naming.

* In {{Bleach}}, Ganju's gang's boars are named Bonny, Connie, Tony, Annie, Sunny, Honey, Manny, Nanny ... and Kanbei. Ichigo points it out but no one else seems to notice. (Episode 94)

* A classic newspaper comic strip's supporting cast includes Fritzi, Sluggo, Rollo, and Oona Goosepimple. The character after whom the strip is named? "Nancy."

*** While Kenobi most likely came from the Japanese words for "ken" (sword) and "obi" (sash), in their language it sounds like "Obi Wan Hairgrowth." They still chuckle when they hear it.

** And let us not forget that the Queen had Maisy in her nest of names, and the King had Sidney. Each time, the Herald is asked by someone (a little girl for the queen, and the entire chorus for the king) to confirm that, yes, that is one of their names.

** Except Hermann (Latinized as Arminius) was the name of the warlord in charge of the army that destroyed three full Roman Legions (Legio XVII, Legio XVIII, Legio XIX) the 9th through 11th of September, 9 AD. As names go, it's rather more old-fashioned than "Christopher", which, of course, would not have been an exceedingly common name around the time of Jesus' tenth birthday.
* Intentionally used in ''TheMatrix'' Trilogy, where the free human characters have unusual, often [[ThemeNaming mythology-based names]] such as Morpheus or Niobe. On the other hand, if you run into a character with [[OddNameOut a boring last name]] like Jones or Smith, you'd better start running.

* Lampshaded a little in ''[[DieHard Die Hard with a Vengeance]]'', where John [=McClane=], archetypal New York [=EveryCop=], runs into a militant black man played by [[SamuelLJackson Samuel L. Jackson]]. His name? "ZEUS! AS IN FATHER OF APOLLO? MOUNT OLYMPUS? DON'T-FUCK-WITH-ME-OR-I'LL-SHOVE-A-LIGHTNING-BOLT-UP-YOUR-ASS ZEUS!"

** To be fair, in ''Redwall'' (the novel), most characters were Bobs, and as the setting evolved from more or less real world to completely different world, the names drifted further from Bob and closer to Aeris. In fact, most of the Bobs occurred in ''Redwall'', and the few that are left are mainly holdovers.

** William, Fred, Charlie, George, Percy, Ronald, and Ginevra (Ginny). Of course, the Author's habit of ThemeNaming characters within families often leads to this (such as the Blacks being named after celestial bodies).
** William, Frederic, Charles, George, Guenevere and Percival Ronald (translates to ruler in Old English and Norse) are sort-of royalty themed names, which would make sense since their father ''[[KingArthur Arthur]]'' Weasley loved Muggles so much. It may also have been ironic foreshadowing: the one name not obviously related to British royalty gets hailed by the song Weasley Is Our King in ''Order of the Phoenix''.

* {{The Wheel of Time}} does this a lot. The men tend to have more normal names, while the womens are feats of imagination and pronunciation. You have Rand, Mat and Perrin, Verin, Elaine, Min and then you have names like Egwene, Egeanin, Nynaeve, Aviendha, Mazrim Taim, and Cadsuane Melhaidrin. There are also some names that sound like they're from our world, but aren't, such as Liandrin, Galina, Amys, Anaiya and Myrelle.

* {{Lampshaded}} in ''{{The Underland Chronicles}}''. After landing in a strange world with giant animals and meeting characters named Luxa, Vikus, Solovet, Dulcet, [[KidHero Gregor]] is introduced to - Henry. Gregor almost laughs that "among all these strange names, there's a Henry."

* ShannonHale's ''Books of Bayern'' do this a lot. Take [[OverlyLongName Anidori-Kiladra Taliana Isilee]] and her best friend, Enna. Somewhat {{justified}}, as Ani is a princess who takes the names of her foremothers and Enna is a commoner, but still.

* In the novel ''The Joy Luck Club'' by {{Amy Tan}}, one character has four brothers named Matthew, Mark, Luke and Bing. Guess which one [[spoiler:dies tragically.]]

* ''GoodOmens''. Granted, the cast is comprised of both humans and supernatural beings, so it should come as no surprise that the latter get names like Hastur and Metatron. As for the humans, there are names like Adam, Brian, Tracy and Newton on the one hand and Anathema, Warlock, Pippin Galadriel Moonchild and Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery on the other. (Yes, you read that last one right). Of course, the weirder names are explained and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]. What really fits this trope is the two protagonists - an angel and a demon - who are named, respectively, Aziraphale and Anthony J. Crowley. To be fair, Crowley's real name is something [[NoNameGiven quite different]], and his previous moniker had been "Crawly", seeing as how he was the snake in the Garden of Eden. Yes, ''that'' snake.

* Jim Hawkin's kids in Tennis Shoes Advenure have the following names- Melody, Steffanie, Harrison/Harry...and then little Giddgidonihah Teancum.

* In ''SaluteYourShorts'', the campers are named or nicknamed: Zizi, Telly, Dina, Donkeylips, Sponge, Budnick, Ug (the counselor), and... Michael. This was probably done to show that he didn't really fit in, as he was the last to arrive and the others already had established relationships. Eventually, Michael got replaced with the obnoxious [[ReplacementScrappy Pinsky]].

* In the short lived 80s series {{Otherworld}}, one of the sons of the family trapped in a foreign dimension is apparently named 'Smith'.

** ''FinalFantasyX'' has Lulu and Seymour amidst Auron, Rikku, Braska, Kimahri, and Wakka. [[SeriousBusiness Depending on which pronunciation you use]], Tidus can be pronounced like "Titus"--a bit uncommon, but nothing people would actually remark on. Yuna is a bit of a gray area--it's one of the "Aerith" counterparts to Western audiences, but in reality is a perfectly normal Japanese name.
** Let's not forget [[FinalFantasyXII Fran and her sister Mjrn]]. Thank God they included that second name in the voice-acting or we'd have [[NoPronunciationGuide no idea how to pronounce it]]. ("m'Jern?") Also in Final Fantasy XII are [[spoiler:the fon Ronsenburg brothers - Basch and Noah]].
*** ''You'd'' have no idea how to pronounce it; Slavic speakers know "j" as a vowel is an "i" that doesn't get accented. It's "Mirn".

** Averted, as her name is actually [[spoiler:Marybelle Radan Gardios]]. IIRC, her brother and father are also named after flowers, as is their Emperor. The people of Hod tend to use shortened forms of their names, at least around outsiders.

* The main characters of the ''GoldenSun'' games: Isaac, Garet, Ivan, Mia, Felix, Jenna, Sheba, Piers. Only the last two could be considered slightly unusual. On the other hand, Saturos, Menardi, Karst, Agatio...and then Alex. Granted, the first four of those are from [[spoiler:a specific town, and are also kinda a different race]]. And hilariously, Alex is [[spoiler:the closest thing the games have to a BigBad]].

* While the KingOfAllCosmos and his immediate family in ''KatamariDamacy'' are simply known by their title, the Royal Cousins run into this. So you have Ace, Colombo, Marcy and Velvet alongside Ichigo, Miki, Odeko and Fujio... Then you get into the ''really'' odd names like Ban-Ban, Pokkle, Nutsuo and Dangle.

* ''DragonAge'' is MADE of this trope. You've got Oghren, Leliana, Zevran, Loghain, and Anora mixed in with Alistair, Morrigan, Isolde, Fergus, Levi, and Bryce. And that's just a small sample.

* ''VagrantStory'' has characters with really normal first names - Ashley, Sydney, Joshua, Romeo, Samantha, Duane, Grissom... coupled with really awesome surnames: Riot, Losstarot, Merlose, Guildstern, Bardorba...etc,
* ''ResonanceOfFate'' has three playable characters: Zephyr, Vashyron, and... Leanne? The NPCs also follow this trend, with Theresa and Bobby living alongside Barbarella and Garigliano. It's worth noting that in the Japanese version, Leanne was Reanbelle.

* The names of all of the party members aquired in the first ''{{Grandia}}'' game, in order: Justin, Sue, Feena, Gadwin, Rapp, Milda, Guido, Liete. I believe no further explanation is necessary.

* Names in the ''[[ShiningForce Shining]]'' franchise can be all over the place, and unlike most RPG series, there's no OneSteveLimit in effect. So you have names like Max and Arthur intermingling with those like Synbios, Bleu or Xion, and occasionally getting ''recycled''.

* {{Furry Comic}}s in general tend to be bad about this, often due to the inclusion of characters created by other people. ''{{Jack}}'' mixes realistic names (like "Jack") with exotic ones (the pretty if unpronounceable "Arloest"), and a handful of absolutely ridiculous ones ("Central" and "Silverblue"). To be fair, most of them are {{Meaningful Name}}s including Jack himself, since he is a jackrabbit. (And apparently, parents don't name their children Jack anymore...)

** Considering this trope's prominence in Furry Comics, the comics ''TheClassMenagerie'' and ''{{ISO}}'' avert this trope almost without fail, with a parade of ordinary names for not-so-ordinary characters: Allie, Boris, Brad, Cindy, Cody, Damon, Dani, Doug, Jake, Jeanne, Jeff, Kevin, Lisa, Maureen, Mikey, Robbie, Sam, Scott, Thor, Todd, Tony, Trevor, Tyrone, Wendell, Zach, etc. And their surnames are largely just as ordinary too. It's actually harder to think of an unusual name in these series, and most of the ones that come to mind are TheCameo of other creators' characters.

* ''Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series''. The male ducks who appear are named Wildwing, Nosedive, Duke, Canard, and Grin (whose real name is Check). The female ducks who appear are Tanya, Mallory, and Lucretia. Okay then.

* In {{Avatar The Last Airbender}}, Most of the names come from Chinese and Japanese, so any Japanese viewers can get this reaction. There are also a few "normal" English names thrown in there: Lee, June, Song and Mai (though they all come from and Asian language). There was also a name established in canon as out-of-place: Hope.
* An episode of {{Aqua Teen Hunger Force}} has an example. Meatwad gets a T-Shirt that basically makes him a god. His first act of power is to summon the Easter Bunny. He then proceeds to summon the Easter Bunny's twin brother, Darryl.

* Mormons are frequently stereotyped as being prone to giving their kids really strange names. Frequently the names are archaic, or [[{{Twilight}} created by combining two or more regular names into something un-regular.]]

* Happens from time to time in the music world when band members don't unanimously decide to adopt stage names. Prominent examples include {{U2}} (Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry), GreenDay (Billie Joe, Tre Cool and Mike) and Korn (the original lineup of Munky, Head, Fieldy, Jonathan and David).

* While many of it's citizens don't realize it, the U.S.A. is a prime example of this, being a nation of immigrants. Even disregarding the increasingly-common mixing of Eastern and Western names ("Ben Song" or "James Miyamoto"), European names from completely different roots are combined pretty freely as well. And don't forget the growing ranks of "Sheniqua Jones"es - or how about Aisha Tyler?

** The reverse was often worse, where we would make up a name that sounded Japanese. Popular examples such as Oroku Saki and Yakamoto being names that do not actually exist. The latter was originally [[RuleOfFunny justified]], being from a MontyPython skit. Unfortunately nobody realized it was a joke.

*** Since the village has Japanese names like Shimon and Kamina, it's probably Jou, which isn't unheard of. And Viral is actually Bilal, named after Enki Bilal, the French comics writer (that's why his Ganmen is called Enki (du)(du), and why his theme's title is "Nikopol").
*** In fact not only does [[spoiler: Joe]] or Jou work as a Japanese name, it fits the series' naming themes. Kamina and his father are named after [[MeaningfulName the direction they aspire to]]. Viral actually being an exotic creation from an entirely different culture is also justified; he wasn't exactly Simon's neighbor.

* Given the scattershot nature of how [[GunXSword Endless Illusion]] was populated, one can't be too surprised at how the names work. Our heroes are Van, Wendy, Carul ([[InsistentTerminology "Carmen 99!"]], Ray, and Joshua. Our villains include Gadved, Carossa, and Fasalina. [[spoiler:And Michael.]]

* ''SoulEater'' has Western names such as Liz, Patty, Justin, Blaire, Kim, Jaqueline, Angela... and some Japanese names like Tsubaki, Mifune, and Maka (an anagram for "kama", or "scythe"). Then you have some very random names like Black&# 9734;Star, Death the Kid, Harvar, Kirikou (looks Japanese, but isn't), Spirit... However, the manga mentions the characters being from different countries. Kirikou is ethnically African in appearance, Maka and Tsubaki have been mentioned to be Japanese, and it's likely Liz and Patty Thompson are American. Plus, the author just [[{{Understatement}} adores]] theme naming.

* In {{Bleach}}, Ganju's gang's boars are named Bonny, Connie, Tony, Annie, Sunny, Honey, Manny, Nanny ... and Kanbei. Ichigo points it out but no one else seems to notice. (Episode 94)

* A classic newspaper comic strip's supporting cast includes Fritzi, Sluggo, Rollo, and Oona Goosepimple. The character after whom the strip is named? "Nancy."

*** While Kenobi most likely came from the Japanese words for "ken" (sword) and "obi" (sash), in their language it sounds like "Obi Wan Hairgrowth." They still chuckle when they hear it.

** And let us not forget that the Queen had Maisy in her nest of names, and the King had Sidney. Each time, the Herald is asked by someone (a little girl for the queen, and the entire chorus for the king) to confirm that, yes, that is one of their names.

** Except Hermann (Latinized as Arminius) was the name of the warlord in charge of the army that destroyed three full Roman Legions (Legio XVII, Legio XVIII, Legio XIX) the 9th through 11th of September, 9 AD. As names go, it's rather more old-fashioned than "Christopher", which, of course, would not have been an exceedingly common name around the time of Jesus' tenth birthday.
* Intentionally used in ''TheMatrix'' Trilogy, where the free human characters have unusual, often [[ThemeNaming mythology-based names]] such as Morpheus or Niobe. On the other hand, if you run into a character with [[OddNameOut a boring last name]] like Jones or Smith, you'd better start running.

* Lampshaded a little in ''[[DieHard Die Hard with a Vengeance]]'', where John [=McClane=], archetypal New York [=EveryCop=], runs into a militant black man played by [[SamuelLJackson Samuel L. Jackson]]. His name? "ZEUS! AS IN FATHER OF APOLLO? MOUNT OLYMPUS? DON'T-FUCK-WITH-ME-OR-I'LL-SHOVE-A-LIGHTNING-BOLT-UP-YOUR-ASS ZEUS!"

** To be fair, in ''Redwall'' (the novel), most characters were Bobs, and as the setting evolved from more or less real world to completely different world, the names drifted further from Bob and closer to Aeris. In fact, most of the Bobs occurred in ''Redwall'', and the few that are left are mainly holdovers.

** William, Fred, Charlie, George, Percy, Ronald, and Ginevra (Ginny). Of course, the Author's habit of ThemeNaming characters within families often leads to this (such as the Blacks being named after celestial bodies).
** William, Frederic, Charles, George, Guenevere and Percival Ronald (translates to ruler in Old English and Norse) are sort-of royalty themed names, which would make sense since their father ''[[KingArthur Arthur]]'' Weasley loved Muggles so much. It may also have been ironic foreshadowing: the one name not obviously related to British royalty gets hailed by the song Weasley Is Our King in ''Order of the Phoenix''.

* {{The Wheel of Time}} does this a lot. The men tend to have more normal names, while the womens are feats of imagination and pronunciation. You have Rand, Mat and Perrin, Verin, Elaine, Min and then you have names like Egwene, Egeanin, Nynaeve, Aviendha, Mazrim Taim, and Cadsuane Melhaidrin. There are also some names that sound like they're from our world, but aren't, such as Liandrin, Galina, Amys, Anaiya and Myrelle.

* {{Lampshaded}} in ''{{The Underland Chronicles}}''. After landing in a strange world with giant animals and meeting characters named Luxa, Vikus, Solovet, Dulcet, [[KidHero Gregor]] is introduced to - Henry. Gregor almost laughs that "among all these strange names, there's a Henry."

* ShannonHale's ''Books of Bayern'' do this a lot. Take [[OverlyLongName Anidori-Kiladra Taliana Isilee]] and her best friend, Enna. Somewhat {{justified}}, as Ani is a princess who takes the names of her foremothers and Enna is a commoner, but still.

* In the novel ''The Joy Luck Club'' by {{Amy Tan}}, one character has four brothers named Matthew, Mark, Luke and Bing. Guess which one [[spoiler:dies tragically.]]

* ''GoodOmens''. Granted, the cast is comprised of both humans and supernatural beings, so it should come as no surprise that the latter get names like Hastur and Metatron. As for the humans, there are names like Adam, Brian, Tracy and Newton on the one hand and Anathema, Warlock, Pippin Galadriel Moonchild and Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery on the other. (Yes, you read that last one right). Of course, the weirder names are explained and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]. What really fits this trope is the two protagonists - an angel and a demon - who are named, respectively, Aziraphale and Anthony J. Crowley. To be fair, Crowley's real name is something [[NoNameGiven quite different]], and his previous moniker had been "Crawly", seeing as how he was the snake in the Garden of Eden. Yes, ''that'' snake.

* Jim Hawkin's kids in Tennis Shoes Advenure have the following names- Melody, Steffanie, Harrison/Harry...and then little Giddgidonihah Teancum.

* In ''SaluteYourShorts'', the campers are named or nicknamed: Zizi, Telly, Dina, Donkeylips, Sponge, Budnick, Ug (the counselor), and... Michael. This was probably done to show that he didn't really fit in, as he was the last to arrive and the others already had established relationships. Eventually, Michael got replaced with the obnoxious [[ReplacementScrappy Pinsky]].

* In the short lived 80s series {{Otherworld}}, one of the sons of the family trapped in a foreign dimension is apparently named 'Smith'.

** ''FinalFantasyX'' has Lulu and Seymour amidst Auron, Rikku, Braska, Kimahri, and Wakka. [[SeriousBusiness Depending on which pronunciation you use]], Tidus can be pronounced like "Titus"--a bit uncommon, but nothing people would actually remark on. Yuna is a bit of a gray area--it's one of the "Aerith" counterparts to Western audiences, but in reality is a perfectly normal Japanese name.
** Let's not forget [[FinalFantasyXII Fran and her sister Mjrn]]. Thank God they included that second name in the voice-acting or we'd have [[NoPronunciationGuide no idea how to pronounce it]]. ("m'Jern?") Also in Final Fantasy XII are [[spoiler:the fon Ronsenburg brothers - Basch and Noah]].
*** ''You'd'' have no idea how to pronounce it; Slavic speakers know "j" as a vowel is an "i" that doesn't get accented. It's "Mirn".

** Averted, as her name is actually [[spoiler:Marybelle Radan Gardios]]. IIRC, her brother and father are also named after flowers, as is their Emperor. The people of Hod tend to use shortened forms of their names, at least around outsiders.

* The main characters of the ''GoldenSun'' games: Isaac, Garet, Ivan, Mia, Felix, Jenna, Sheba, Piers. Only the last two could be considered slightly unusual. On the other hand, Saturos, Menardi, Karst, Agatio...and then Alex. Granted, the first four of those are from [[spoiler:a specific town, and are also kinda a different race]]. And hilariously, Alex is [[spoiler:the closest thing the games have to a BigBad]].

* While the KingOfAllCosmos and his immediate family in ''KatamariDamacy'' are simply known by their title, the Royal Cousins run into this. So you have Ace, Colombo, Marcy and Velvet alongside Ichigo, Miki, Odeko and Fujio... Then you get into the ''really'' odd names like Ban-Ban, Pokkle, Nutsuo and Dangle.

* ''DragonAge'' is MADE of this trope. You've got Oghren, Leliana, Zevran, Loghain, and Anora mixed in with Alistair, Morrigan, Isolde, Fergus, Levi, and Bryce. And that's just a small sample.

* ''VagrantStory'' has characters with really normal first names - Ashley, Sydney, Joshua, Romeo, Samantha, Duane, Grissom... coupled with really awesome surnames: Riot, Losstarot, Merlose, Guildstern, Bardorba...etc,
* ''ResonanceOfFate'' has three playable characters: Zephyr, Vashyron, and... Leanne? The NPCs also follow this trend, with Theresa and Bobby living alongside Barbarella and Garigliano. It's worth noting that in the Japanese version, Leanne was Reanbelle.

* The names of all of the party members aquired in the first ''{{Grandia}}'' game, in order: Justin, Sue, Feena, Gadwin, Rapp, Milda, Guido, Liete. I believe no further explanation is necessary.

* Names in the ''[[ShiningForce Shining]]'' franchise can be all over the place, and unlike most RPG series, there's no OneSteveLimit in effect. So you have names like Max and Arthur intermingling with those like Synbios, Bleu or Xion, and occasionally getting ''recycled''.

* {{Furry Comic}}s in general tend to be bad about this, often due to the inclusion of characters created by other people. ''{{Jack}}'' mixes realistic names (like "Jack") with exotic ones (the pretty if unpronounceable "Arloest"), and a handful of absolutely ridiculous ones ("Central" and "Silverblue"). To be fair, most of them are {{Meaningful Name}}s including Jack himself, since he is a jackrabbit. (And apparently, parents don't name their children Jack anymore...)

** Considering this trope's prominence in Furry Comics, the comics ''TheClassMenagerie'' and ''{{ISO}}'' avert this trope almost without fail, with a parade of ordinary names for not-so-ordinary characters: Allie, Boris, Brad, Cindy, Cody, Damon, Dani, Doug, Jake, Jeanne, Jeff, Kevin, Lisa, Maureen, Mikey, Robbie, Sam, Scott, Thor, Todd, Tony, Trevor, Tyrone, Wendell, Zach, etc. And their surnames are largely just as ordinary too. It's actually harder to think of an unusual name in these series, and most of the ones that come to mind are TheCameo of other creators' characters.

* ''Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series''. The male ducks who appear are named Wildwing, Nosedive, Duke, Canard, and Grin (whose real name is Check). The female ducks who appear are Tanya, Mallory, and Lucretia. Okay then.

* In {{Avatar The Last Airbender}}, Most of the names come from Chinese and Japanese, so any Japanese viewers can get this reaction. There are also a few "normal" English names thrown in there: Lee, June, Song and Mai (though they all come from and Asian language). There was also a name established in canon as out-of-place: Hope.
* An episode of {{Aqua Teen Hunger Force}} has an example. Meatwad gets a T-Shirt that basically makes him a god. His first act of power is to summon the Easter Bunny. He then proceeds to summon the Easter Bunny's twin brother, Darryl.

* Mormons are frequently stereotyped as being prone to giving their kids really strange names. Frequently the names are archaic, or [[{{Twilight}} created by combining two or more regular names into something un-regular.]]

* Happens from time to time in the music world when band members don't unanimously decide to adopt stage names. Prominent examples include {{U2}} (Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry), GreenDay (Billie Joe, Tre Cool and Mike) and Korn (the original lineup of Munky, Head, Fieldy, Jonathan and David).

* While many of it's citizens don't realize it, the U.S.A. is a prime example of this, being a nation of immigrants. Even disregarding the increasingly-common mixing of Eastern and Western names ("Ben Song" or "James Miyamoto"), European names from completely different roots are combined pretty freely as well. And don't forget the growing ranks of "Sheniqua Jones"es - or how about Aisha Tyler?

* During the 90s in Germany, it was very fashionable to give your kids english or french names. Unfortunately this phenomenon was mostly restricted to low-education low-income families, to the point that it's now considered to seriously hurt your chances to get a job if you're named Kevin or Jaqueline. Add to that the fact, that many of these parents didn't know the correct pronounciation of such names, which made "Shackelleenne" a very wide spread running gag.

** [[Naruto Naruto]] fanfics suffer this as well. It is downright painful to be reading about Naruto buying equipment from Dave the blacksmith.

** [[Main/Naruto Naruto]] fanfics suffer this as well. It is downright painful to be reading about Naruto buying equipment from Dave the blacksmith.

** [[Naruto]] fanfics suffer this as well. It is downright painful to be reading about Naruto buying equipment from Dave the blacksmith.

* In the Disney comic saga ''Wizards of Mickey'', [[ClassicDisneyShorts classic Disney characters]] Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Pete keep their mundane names, while original characters have "fantasy-style" names like Nereus and Fafnir.

*** [[IThoughtItMeant Oh, is ]] [[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow that what]] [[ICallHimMisterHappy he called]] [[FreudWasRight it now?]] I could probably work a few more PotHoles in there, but it's already getting ridiculous.

** Final Fantasy XIII introduces a cast with names like Snow, Vanille, Fang, and Sazh, not to mention [[GenderBenderName a boy named Hope]]. And then you get the two sisters Lightning and... Serah. To be fair, Lightning isn't her real name, that's just how everybody is calling her. [[spoiler: Her real name is, depending on what language you're playing, either Eclair or Claire]]

** Final Fantasy XIII introduces a cast with names like Snow, Hope, Vanille, Fang and, Sazh. And then you get the two sisters Lightning and... Serah. To be fair, Lightning isn't her real name, that's just how everybody is calling her. [[spoiler: Her real name is, depending on what language you're playing, either Eclair or Claire]]

* ''{{The Legend of Zelda}}'': You know that something is weird, when you have a Link standing side by side with a Midna, a Tetra, a Ruto, and a, perfectly normal, Zelda. Also, his sister goes by the name "Aryll", while the first king of Hyrule's name was "Gustaf". Well, probably normal names are a privilege of royalty.

*** Sabin is also Mash in Japan, which is supposedly based on "Matthew"