History Main / DebatingNames

* ''Film/SeedOfChucky'': After their child has brought them back to life, Chucky and Tiffany have to give them a name since they couldn't tell by their gender. Tiffany wants to call their child "Glenda" leaning towards girl, while Chucky prefers "Glen" leaning towards female. Glen themselves feels like they are both.

* {{ComicBook/Preacher}}: The SerialKiller known as the Reaver-Cleaver got his name due to competing newspapers calling him either the Hacker or the Slasher.

* {{ComicBook/Preacher}}: The SerialKiller known as the Hacker-Slasher got his name due to competing newspapers calling him either the Hacker or the Slasher.

* In the ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'' AU Fic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/41798808/chapters/104870145 Don't Touch the Sun]] David and Lucy debate on whether or not to name their baby daughter after the former?s late mother Gloria since it keeps reminding him of her death, so they settled on calling her Luna.

* ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'': The characters at one point argue over what they should refer the robot invaders as. Their suggestions include "nobots," "fauxbots," "blue bloods," and "Smashy-Smashy Egg Men." They eventually settle on "blanks."

* ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'': "Mixed Blessings" has Dorothy's son Michael get engaged to an older black woman named Lorraine. Dorothy and Lorraine's mother Greta both disapprove of this (Dorothy because of the age gap, Greta because Michael is white), but at the end of the episode, Michael and Lorraine elope and reveal Lorraine is pregnant. Dorothy and Greta bury the hatchet... until they start arguing over what to name their grandson.

* ''[[Film/FatherOfTheBride1991 Father of the Bride - Part II]]'': Has a scene where the Banks family and the Mackenzie family argue over what name to give to the baby of Annie Banks-Mackenzie and Bryan Mackenzie. If it's a boy the Mackenzie's want to name it after Bryan's father, John whereas the Banks think said baby should be named after George. Bryan and Annie favour the name Cooper, but Annie's little brother says being called "Cooper Banks-Mackenzie" would make the "the kid sound like a law firm". Then the added extra wrinkle of Bryan and Annie considering giving the kid a {{portmanteau}} surname makes even ''more'' of a debate.

* ''Film/SeedOfChucky'': After their child has brought them back to life, Chucky and Tiffany have to give them a name since they couldn't tell by his gender. Tiffany wants to call their child "Glenda" thinking it's a girl, while Chucky names him "Glen".

* ''Film/SeedOfChucky'': After their child has brought them back to life, Chucky and Tiffany have to give him a name since they couldn't tell by his gender. Tiffany wants to call their child "Glenda" thinking it's a girl, while Chucky names him "Glen".

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* ''[[Literature/{{Peeps}} The Last Days]]'': The protagonists spend the entire novel trying to come up with a name for their new band. In the last line of the book, they decide on a name: [[spoiler: The Last Days]].

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': In season 10, Daphne and Niles want to send their (as yet unborn) child to a super-exclusive preschool; the standards are so high that they have to begin submitting their application while Daphne is still pregnant. That naturally leads them to fill out various forms, which sparks a debate about what to name the child. They ultimately realize they can't choose and ask Roz to fill out the form as a neutral third party. [[spoiler: In what ''she'' thinks is a stroke of brilliance, Roz decides on Ichabod, making the baby [[Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow "Ichabod Crane"]]; TheStinger of the episode shows the committee of the preschool reading the application and immediately rejecting it over the terrible joke.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'': At the beginning, Marlin and Coral are debating what to name their unhatched children. Marlin wants to name half of them (presumably the boys) Marlin Jr. and the rest Coral Jr., but Coral wants to name one of the sons Nemo. When a predatory fish eats all but one of the eggs, and the resulting child is a boy, Marlin names the son Nemo.

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': During seasons 4 and 5, as Keiko was pregnant with a son, the O'Briens thought about naming their son Sean, but decided not to [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike because it's also the Bajoran word for "swamp"]]. They ultimately settled on Kirayoshi, named after his surrogate mother, Major Kira Nerys.

* ''Literature/RoysBedoys'': In "Meet the Baby, Roys Bedoys!", when the Bedoys brothers learn that their mother is pregnant, they try to think of a name. Roys thinks of "Toyler" for a boy, but Loys thinks that [[UnfortunateName sounds too much like "toilet"]]. Then, Roys suggests "Toys" if it's a girl to [[RhymeThemeNaming rhyme with their names]], but Loys thinks that's ridiculous and thinks Joys would be a better name. This does end up being her name.

* In Videogame/{{Stellaris}} you might come across a lost [[SpaceWhale Space Amoeba]] spawn, which imprints on the science ship that discovered it believing it to be its mother and following it around. After a few years of growth, the science team comes up with many different names from which you can select -- and you can reject them a few times on the grounds that the names are all terrible until you ''have'' to settle on something.

* There is a famous Japanese ''rakugo'' (spoken entertainment) story where a couple is trying to come up with a name for their newborn son. They visit a temple and ask the chief priest for a suggestion. The priest gives many suggestions, and the parents can't decide, so they use all of them for their son, who ends up being named [[OverlyLongName Jugemu Jugemu Gok?-no surikire Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigy?matsu Unraimatsu F?raimatsu Kuunerutokoro-ni Sumutokoro Yaburak?ji-no burak?ji Paipopaipo Paipo-no-sh?ringan Sh?ringan-no G?rindai G?rindai-no Ponpokop?-no Ponpokon?-no Ch?ky?mei-no Ch?suke.]]

*** In "Disaster", Keiko is pregnant, and she and her husband Miles argue over whose father to name the baby after, while William wants him to be named after himself. Eventually, the baby turns out to be a girl, so they name her Molly.

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': In season 10, Daphne and Niles are having a baby, and have a debate about the sound of possible names.

** Doug and his older sister, Judy, get into an argument over whether their mother's newly expected child should be named "Cleopatra" or "Dirtbike." When the Funnies' third child arrives, it's a baby girl, and they give her both names, making her Cleopatra Dirtbike Funnie.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** In "Disaster", Keiko is pregnant, and she and her husband Miles argue over whose father to name the baby after, while William wants him to be named after himself. Eventually, the baby turns out to be a girl, so they name her Molly.
** In "Imaginary Friend", some men can't agree on what to name a nebula. Mr. Sutter wants to name it "Sutter's Cloud", Geordi [=LaForge=] wants to name it the "[=LaForge=] Nebula", while Data wants to name it a number.

-->'''Anti-Cosmo:''' Now if you'll excuse us, we must go and harness Fauntleroy's magic here and commence our evil plot of doom.\\

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': In "Fairly Odd Baby", everybody keeps giving different names to Cosmo and Wanda's new baby. Wanda calls him "Talulah," Timmy calls him "Li'l T" (short for "Li'l Timmy"), and Cosmo calls him "Barfolomew" (due to the intense MorningSickness he had during [[MisterSeahorse pregnancy]]) and "Keanu," and Jorgen calls him "Kajagoogoo" and then quickly changes to "Elvis." Even Anti-Cosmo and the Head Pixie argue over what to name the baby when they kidnap him. Eventually, they go with "Poof" because [[PokemonSpeak it's the one thing he can say]].

* In the ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'' AU Fic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/41798808/chapters/104870145 Don?t Touch the Sun]] David and Lucy debate on whether or not to name their baby daughter after the former?s late mother Gloria since it keeps reminding him of her death, so they settled on calling her Luna.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheWilloughbys'': As the Willoughby children were about to leave an orphan baby girl on the doorstep of Commander Meleonhoff, Tim and Jane debated on giving her a name. Jane suggest to name the baby "Tiffinilla", but Tim names her "Ruth" since he and his siblings are the ruthless Willoughbys.

* ''Film/SeedOfChucky'': After their child has brought them back to life, Chucky and Tiffany has to give him a name since they couldn't tell by his gender. Tiffany wants to call their child "Glenda" thinking it's a girl, while Chucky names him "Glen".

* ''[[Literature/{{Peeps}} The Last Days]]'': The protagonists spend the entire novel trying to come up with a name for their new band. In the last line of the book they decide on a name: [[spoiler: The Last Days]].

* ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'': "Mixed Blessings" has Dorothy's son Michael get engaged to an older black woman named Lorraine. Dorothy and Lorraine's mother, Greta, both disapprove of this (Dorothy because of the age gap, Greta because Michael is white), but at the end of the episode, Michael and Lorraine elope and reveal Lorraine is pregnant. Dorothy and Greta bury the hatchet... until they start arguing over what to name their grandson.

* ''Series/NickyRickyDickyAndDawn'': In "The Sad Tail of Gary-Chip-Tiny-Elvis-Squishy-Paws", the quads disagree over what to name their pet dog, who has went unnamed since the first episode. The dog's original owner claims its real name is Lord Timothy, but decides to give him up back to the quads seeing how much love and care they give him. In the end, they decide to let the dog pick his name by choosing either one of the five named food bowls; the dog ends up picking the name Dawn suggested, Squishy Paws, which becomes his new name for the rest of the show.

* Becomes a running gag in the ''Series/ThatSeventiesShow'' episode, "You Can't Always Get What You Want." The main characters repeatedly trying to come up with a name for Hyde's new record store while high, eventually settling on "The Head" until they forget it in their inebriated state. It turns out that the store already had a name, as it was part of a chain.

* In the ''Series/DonkeyHodie'' episode "Squibbit", Donkey Hodie and Purple Panda can't agree on their new band's name because they cannot decide whose name should come first. After not knowing if they should call it "Donkey Panda" or "Panda Donkey", Donkey suggests that "Danda Ponkey" should be the name, but there's somewhat of a disagreement on this, until Panda notices how good it sounds.

* A RunningGag in ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' with [[TheProtagonist Traveler]]'s Paimon, his/her companion who's also TheNicknamer. Paimon usually got nicknames to almost everyone they met, but sometimes she debates with the Traveler and friends to decide which nickname would be better for the character they met recently.

** In "Doug's New School", it's the first day of seventh grade at the new middle school, but the school doesn't have a name, so a "Name Your School" student contest is created, which leads to fierce competition between Patti and Doug when they don't like each other's school name suggestions. In the end, neither of them win the contest, and the school gets named after Beebe Bluff.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': Fred and Barney win a contest in which the prize is a new pleasure boat. Fred wants to name it "Nautical Princess," while Barney prefers "Queen of the Sea." They compromise a la BreadEggsBreadedEggs, and have [=NauSea=] chiseled onto the stern. Their wives instantly recognize what a mistake this is, but elect to let their men learn the hard way.

* In the ''Series/DonkeyHodie'' episode "Squibbit", Donkey Hodie and Purple Panda can't agree on their new band's name because they cannot decide whose name should come first. After not knowing if they should call it "Donkey Panda" or "Panda Donkey", Donkey suggests that "Danda Ponkey" should be the name, but there's somewhat of a disagreement on this, until Panda notices how good it sounds.

* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
** At the end of one "Ernie and Bert" sketch, they argue over what to name their puppy -- Bert wants to call him "Norman", but Ernie prefers the name "Godzilla the Wonder Dog".
** In one episode, Mama Bear gives birth to a girl. Papa Bear wonders if they should call her Grizzly, but Baby Bear thinks it doesn't suit her and names her Curly instead due to her curly facial fur.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Film -- Live Action]]

-->''And the Toad had no more to say,''
-->''And the Kangaroo just hopped away.''
-->''And they never married or had a child''
-->''That could jump a mountain or hop a mile.''
-->''What a loss--what a shame--''
-->''Just 'cause they couldn't agree on a name.''

* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'': When Mike and Gloria Stivik welcome their new son home, Mike wants to name him Stanislaus, after his father. Archie grimaces at the name, not because it's Polish, but knowing that school kids can be cruel, and will truncate Stanislaus to "Louse." Eventually, everyone agrees on Joseph, and he's called Joey thereafter.

-->'''Niles:''' How about Desmond?
-->'''Daphne:''' Hmm. "Desmond Crane, you are hereby sentenced to..." No, I don't like it. What about Jack?
-->'''Niles:''' 'Fraid not. The first name ends with the same sound that begins the last name, so you either end up running them together - Jackrane - or you face the dreaded glottal stop. Jack-Crane. Jack-Crane. It's unpleasant for the throat.
-->'''Daphne:''' This conversation's unpleasant for the throat.

-->'''Greta''': I can't believe it. A grandchild.
-->'''Dorothy''': Little Roger.
-->'''Greta''': Roger? What do you want him to be, a choreographer? It's Lamar.
-->'''Dorothy''': Lamar Zbornak. Why don't we just pin a "kick me" sign on the kid? It's Roger.
-->'''Greta''': Lamar.
-->'''Dorothy''': Roger.
-->'''Greta''': Lamar.
-->'''Dorothy''': Roger.
-->'''Greta''': Lamar.
-->'''Sophia''': Fabulous. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving already.

--> '''Science team''': We have developed the ability to break the boundaries of space and time, to travel faster than the speed of light. Yet we cannot decide upon a name for this amoeba.
--> '''Empire Ruler''': Enough! Just call it {{Fluffy|TheTerrible}} and be done with it!

-->'''Anti-Cosmo''': Now if you'll excuse us, we must go and harness Fauntleroy's magic here and commence our evil plot of doom.
-->'''Head Pixie''': Fauntleroy? We are not calling the baby Fauntleroy. I was thinking Bill. Bill's a guy you trust with your business portfolio.

-->'''Marge:''' Homer, I've been thinking. If the baby's a boy, what do you think of the name "Larry"?
-->'''Homer:''' Marge, we can't do that! All the kids'll call him "Larry Fairy".
-->'''Marge:''' Well, how about "Louie"?
-->'''Homer:''' They'll call him "Screwy Louie".
-->'''Marge:''' Bob?
-->'''Homer:''' Flob.
-->'''Marge:''' Luke?
-->'''Homer:''' Puke.
-->'''Marge:''' Marcus?
-->'''Homer:''' Mucus.
-->'''Marge:''' How about "Bart"?
-->'''Homer:''' Let's see. ''(counting on his fingers)'' Bart, Cart, Dart, Eart... ''[[FourFingeredHands (runs out of fingers)]]'' [[CurseCutShort Nope, can't see any problem with that.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':

->"[[SelfDemonstratingArticle I think 'The Great Name Debate' would be a better name for this trope.]]"
->"That's too dramatic -- everyone will make fun of it. Just call it 'Name-to-Name Combat' -- clear, concise, and witty."
->"More like a bad snowclone! We should call it IHaveManyNames."
->"That's already a trope, you buffoon!"
->"I always liked the name 'Steve' for a trope."
->"Not ''this'' again..."