History Main / AerithandBob

** In the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms, naming conventions are different for different races. Notably, halflings tend to have common English names, which stand out as this trope alongside the Nordic-sounding dwarf names and wholly-fantastic elvish names.
** Warforged in ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' were created without names, only numerical designations. As they realized names make it easier to socialize with other races, they have begun taking some, or having names given to them by people they interact with, but without any fixed pattern, this can be generic name humans/elves/dwarves/some other races would use, a word for a concept they feel fits them (Bulwark, Vanguard, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Lord of Blades]]), the name of an object, or even words that aren't in common. Some Warforged also retain their numerical designation as they still look for an "ideal" name.
** Untwisted in not just ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', but many games which use a FantasyCounterpartCulture in some manner. Suppose a fantasy game uses an analog to Spain, so the names sound exotic like Eugenia, Arcelia, Allewyn the elf, and Kolgran the dwarf. You've averted Aerith and Bob right until a friend at the table says, "Arcelia's my niece's name." This can happen with pretty much any culture. Vasily and Koichi sound like Aerith, but if you speak Russian and Japanese, they suddenly become Bob.

* The Hyenas in ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}''. We've got [[DarkChick Shenzi]], whose name is Swahili for ''demon'' or ''savage'', [[TheBrute Banzai]], Swahili for ''skulk'' or ''lurk'', and our [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} third hyena]] is named... Ed.

* Many kinds of mythology and old literature now seem like this to the modern reader because certain names have caught on and certain names have not. While Patroclus and Thrasymedes wouldn't have stood out at the time, they now seem odd in contrast to names like Helen, Hector and Cassandra. However at the time of writing all of these sorts of names were common in one form of another. Sometimes it is worsened by varying degrees of Anglicisation such as "Jonathan" would be transcribed more accurately as "Yonatan" if one were to translate directly from the Bible. In the ballad of Tam Lin, his true love is either called Margaret or Janet.

* In the Greek dub of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'', all the characters keep their original English names (Bob, Helen, Dash, Lucius). However, Frozone's wife is named Soula, a common Greek name, while in the original version her name is Honey.

* ''Series/ItsABigBigWorld'': The only residents of the World Tree with normal names are Madge, Bob, and Winslow.

* ''Series/TheMuppets2015'' has names like Sam and Kermit (a real name, if rare) alongside names like Fozzie and Gonzo.

* In the films of Creator/MarxBrothers, Zeppo, TheGenericGuy, usually had more conventional names than his three wacky brothers. In his last film as part of the act, ''Film/DuckSoup'', his character is named Bob Roland while the other three are [[WackyAmericansHaveWackyNames Rufus T. Firefly]], Chicolini and Pinky.

Don't expect the characters to [[LampshadeHanging acknowledge the distinction]]. Note that this doesn't count if the author ''is'' making a distinction e.g. as a TranslationConvention for different cultures (cf. ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', where the hobbits' and the nearby Men's Westron-language names are "translated" as more real-world ones, but no others are), or in a cosmopolitan setting where characters might be reasonably expected to have diverse cultural backgrounds without this necessarily being explicitly stated. This is very prevalent in fantasy settings, as those settings have less of a real-life grounding, facilitate the existing of a cultural melting pot.

* In ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'', everybody has a PunnyName... except [[FriendlyPirate Russell]] and [[SuperOCD Petunia]]. Even with Petunia, the flower on her head gives away her name's reasoning. Russell, however, is a very standard name for a bunch of characters whose usual names go from [[MeaningfulName Flippy]] to [[IronicName Handy]], to [[ADogNamedDog Cub]]. Granted, there's a StealthPun in Russell's naming convention as well, since it rhymes with mussel, a food Russell likes to eat.

* In ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'', everybody has a PunnyName... except [[FriendlyPirate Russell]] and [[SuperOCD Petunia]]. Even with Petunia, the flower on her head gives away her name's reasoning. Russell, however, is a very standard name for a bunch of characters whose usual names go from [[MeaningfulName Flippy]] to [[IronicName Handy]], to [[ADogNameDog Cub]]. Granted, there's a StealthPun in Russell's naming convention as well, since it rhymes with mussel, a food Russell likes to eat.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' has an odd, downright comedic name on each of the title's teams: Sarge, Grif, Simmons, Lopez and ''Donut'' are the Reds; and the Blues, Church, Tucker, and ''Caboose'' (even later additions Tex, Sister and Washington don't seem as weird). It gets even more bizarre considering Donut and Caboose’s first names are utterly unremarkable (Franklin and Michael, respectively.)

* ''[[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' and ''Machinima/GuardsNRetards'' feature [[ThoseTwoGuys the videogame guards]] known as Chris and [=SwagMaster696969696969=] (Or "Swag" for short). The former also has [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario and Luigi coexisting with Bowser, Wario, and Waluigi]], but has part of its main cast [=SMG4=], Meggy, Saiko, [[WebAnimation/MetaRunner Tari]], Fishy Boopkins, Melony, and Bob.

** One episode of the spin-off ''Series/DonkeyHodie'' had Tater Buddies, dolls shaped like potatoes that had names like Percival, Petunia and Petey...and then there was one named Pippy Pointyschnozzle.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' has an odd, downright comedic name on each of the title's teams: Sarge, Grif, Simmons, Lopez and ''Donut'' are the Reds; and the Blues, Church, Tucker, and ''Caboose'' (even later additions Tex, Sister and Washington don't seem as weird). It gets even more bizarre considering Donut and Caboose’s first names are utterly unremarkable (Franklin and Michael, respectively.)

* ''[[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' and ''Machinima/GuardsNRetards'' feature [[ThoseTwoGuys the videogame guards]] known as Chris and [=SwagMaster696969696969=] (Or "Swag" for short).
* The lineup of villains in ''WebAnimation/MetaRunner'' include Derek Lucks, Belle Fontiere, Evelyn Claythorne and… [[spoiler:Sheridan]].
* ''WebAnimation/WeeblAndBob''

* ''Series/TheMuppets'' has names like Sam and Kermit (a real name, if rare) alongside names like Fozzie and Gonzo.

* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' has this all over the place [[JustifiedTrope thanks to the fact that Kinzo felt the need to give his children and grandchildren western names, due to his obsession with Western culture.]] Outside of the family a number of servants and Kinzo himself have Japanese names. And then you have [[OddNameOut Battler]], which is neither Japanese nor a normal English name. And that doesn't even get into the magical characters, who range from anything to biblical to odd, meaningful names. Just for an example, Umineko contains characters named Rosa, Genji, Lucifer, Lambdadelta and [[OddNameOut George]]. Plus, more directly, the main Ushiromiya siblings each (Presumably Rosa too, though her husband is unnamed) have a spouse with a Japanese name: Krauss/Natsuhi, Eva/Hideyoshi, and Rudolf/Kyrie.

** Obi Wan Kenobi's nickname on Tatooine is Ben.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Home}}'':