History Main / EarnYourTitle

** The monarchs of England mostly earned theirs: William the Conqueror conquered England; Richard the Lionhearted was a valiant soldier; Alfred the Great saved his people from being wiped out by invading hordes of HornyVikings; and [[Film/{{Braveheart}} Edward the Hammer of the Scots]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin hammered the Scots]] (and the Welsh; and the Irish; and [[CompleteMonster the Jews]]...) However, YMMV as to whether ''Bloody'' Mary and ''Good'' Queen Bess deserve those nicknames.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fable I}}'' you can either earn your title, or you can buy them from the appropriately named "Title Vendor".

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', the PC is referred to as the Champion of Kirkwall, although due to the {{How We Got Here}} framing device, the player doesn't find out how they earned that title until about 2/3 of the way through the game.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Mass Effect|1}}'', two of the choices for Shepard's service history work like this. Picking "War Hero" causes you to be occasionally hailed as "the Hero of the Skyllian Blitz", while "Ruthless" gains you infamy as "{{the Butcher}} of Torfan".

** The monarchs of England mostly earned theirs: William the Conqueror conquered England; Richard the Lionhearted was a valiant soldier; Alfred the Great saved his people from being wiped out by invading hordes of HornyVikings; and [[BraveHeart Edward the Hammer of the Scots]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin hammered the Scots]] (and the Welsh; and the Irish; and [[CompleteMonster the Jews]]...) However, YMMV as to whether ''Bloody'' Mary and ''Good'' Queen Bess deserve those nicknames.

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* In {{Dragon Age 2}}, the PC is referred to as the Champion of Kirkwall, although due to the {{How We Got Here}} framing device, the player doesn't find out how they earned that title until about 2/3 of the way through the game.

* The ''DirtyPair'' get their ''show'' named after their infamy. [[BerserkButton Just don't call them that to their faces]].

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* Often the case with nicknames one earns from one's peers in the military, as is the case with this troper being nicknamed {{Rambo}}, [[SerialRomeo Mac Daddy]], and [[NiccoloMachiavelli Machiavelli]] by his Air Force buddies (and even his superiors), each for a [[NoodleIncident good reason]].

* In ''{{Fable}}'' you can either earn your title, or you can buy them from the appropriately named "Title Vendor".

* Both ''[[WorldOfDarkness Werewolf]]'' games feature the idea of "deed names" -- that is, werewolves who've attained deeds of great Renown will often take on a name to reflect it, such as "Evan Heals-the-Past" or "Dares-the-Night."

** [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that he earned it by killing a guest in his house one hour before the three day period of SacredHospitality was up. He'd amassed enough evidence to determine that the man had poisoned a well in a desert, and didn't see a reason to wait the extra hour.]]

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* Beka Cooper of the TortallUniverse eventually earns the nickname Terrier for her tendency to never let any case go.

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* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' the team escapes an alien prison with a wise and helpful old woman; then they learn she is known as the "Destroyer of Worlds".

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* Both ''[[WorldOfDarkness Werewolf]]'' games feature the idea of "deed names" -- that is, werewolves who've attained deeds of great Renown will often take on a name to reflect it, such as "Evan Heals-the-Past" or "Dares-the-Night."

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* In {{Dragon Age 2}}, the PC is referred to as the Champion of Kirkwall, although due to the {{How We Got Here}} framing device, the player doesn't find out how they earned that title until about 2/3 of the way through the game.

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Related to TheMagnificent but the title tends to describe the person and more often than not gives at least a little backstory. See also ButYouScrewOneGoat. Sufficiently awesome ones are the RedBaron.

---> Vimes: "Well, that's an unusual name."
---> Prince Khufurah: (deadpan) "No, the name Ahmed is actually very common where we come from."

* In ''{{Overlord}}'' your jester follows you around in your castle and hails you with various titles depending on your actions ("Saviour of Elves", "Abuser of jesters" etc). In the sequel he also makes little songs to go along with the titles once you take a Harp from the Elves, from which he'll start a band with.

* [[{{World of Warcraft}} World of Warcraft]] lets you earn titles by completing achievements, which you can then chose which one to show, if any. This is just to show off, as NPC's won't care if you conquered Ulduar or became exalted by your factions capital cities.

-->'''Mab:''' Friend of beer-wenches?
-->'''Dan:''' Hey, now! I earned that title just like the rest!

* Boris the Bullet Dodger from ''Snatch''. He dodges bullets.

* ''TheElderScrolls IV'' get's you "The Hero of [[spoiler: Kvatch]]" and "The Hero Of Tamriel" from the main quest, Arch Mage (and lesser titles you get as you rise in the guild before that) from the Mages Guild quest, Head of the Fighter's guild, [[spoiler: Grey Fox]] from the Thieves Guild, Knight Of The Nine for the quests from the Knights of the Nine expansion and [[spoiler: Sheograph, god of madness]] from the Shivering Isles expansion. When you get them, certain NPCs will mention them (most notably the first, which causes the vast majority of NPCs to say "You're the one who closed the gate! The Hero Of Kvatch!?" as their default line and the Mages guild titles, which make everyone in the guild greet you with "Hello [rank]").