History Main / FamousNamedForeigner

[[folder: razilian]]

[[folder: Albanian]]
* Hoxha. Usually named for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enver_Hoxha Enver Hoxha,]] the communist leader of Albania for 40 years.
** The exchange student from the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E11TheCrepesOfWrath The Crepes of Wrath]]", is named Adil Hoxha. Bonus for also being named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adil_%C3%87ar%C3%A7ani Adil Carcani,]] Albania's last communist prime minister.

[[folder: American]]

[[folder: Aboriginal Australian]]

[[folder: Belgian]]

[[folder: Brazilian]]
* ''Film/TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou'': has Pelé Dos Santos, the Brazilian in the movie's ''FiveTokenBand''. Named, of course, after perhaps the most prominent Brazilian of all time (Complete with the last name, which despite being very common, possibly refers to the team Pelé played for (Santos)).

[[folder: Bulgarian]]

[[folder: Burmese]]

[[folder: Corsican]]

[[folder: Costa Rican]]

[[folder: Chinese]]
* Mao (as in Mao Tse-Tung) is fairly common, especially in anime. Note that Mao could be written several different ways in Chinese, and is a common enough surname.

** ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'': Justified in that Mao literally means cat and the character in question is a [[TalkingAnimal guy trapped in a cat body]]- and it's a code name, not his real name.

[[folder: Czech]]

[[folder: English]]

[[folder: Filipino]]

[[folder: Finnish]]

[[folder: French]]
* ''Film/{{St Trinians|2007}}'' school, in the 2007 film, has a French teacher called Miss [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maupassant Maupassant]]

[[folder: German]]

[[folder: Greek]]

[[folder: Indian]]

[[folder: Indonesian]]

[[folder: Israeli]]

[[folder: Italian]]

[[folder: Japanese]]

[[folder: Korean]]

[[folder: Mongolian]]

[[folder: Nepalese]]

[[folder: Norse]]

[[folder: Norwegian]]

[[folder: Pakistani]]

[[folder: Polish]]

[[folder: Romanian]]

[[folder: Russian]]

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchess_Tatiana_Nikolaevna_of_Russia Tatiana Romanova]] in ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove''. This one, at least, was {{Lampshaded}} / [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in the original novel. The Soviets viewed her with suspicion because of her surname, even though she wasn't actually related to the ex-royal family ("Romanov" is a pretty common surname and so the Soviets would have had no reason to suspect anyone solely because of their surname).

[[folder: Serbian]]

[[folder: Spanish]]

[[folder: Tibetan]]

[[folder: Turkish]]

[[folder: Other / Multiple]]

** Italy’s name is "Feliciano Vargas"; bizarrely, Feliciano is a [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felice_Feliciano Renaissance man’s]] ''surname'' (while there are some notable people with that first name, none of them are Italian), and Vargas is [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign not an Italian surname (it is a Spanish one).]]

** Greece is named "Herakles."
** Hungary is named "Elizabeta," presumably after Elizabeth Bathory, despite the fact that that’s not how it’s pronounced in Hungarian.

** Finland’s surname is "Väinämöinen," the name of a hero from Pre-Christian Finnish mythology.
** Switzerland’s surname is [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huldrych_Zwingli "Zwingli."]]

[[folder: Hungarian]]
* ''Series/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'' episode "Masks of Evil" has an inkeeper named Nicholas [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hunyadi Hunyadi]] as Indy's link in Transylvania.
[[/folder]]

* One of the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' novels has two Mongolian characters named ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamukha Jamukka]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borte Bortay.]]''

* Hoxha. Usually named for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enver_Hoxha Enver Hoxha,]] the socialist leader of Albania for 40 years.
** The exchange student from the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E11TheCrepesOfWrath The Crepes of Wrath]]", is named Adil Hoxha. Bonus for also being named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adil_%C3%87ar%C3%A7ani Adil Carcani,]] Albania's last Socialist Prime Minister.

* Paz in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' is named Paz Ortega Andrade, referencing the Nicaraguan socialist Daniel Ortega, and her own idealistic politics.

* ''VideoGame/WorldHeroes'': [[UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk Rasputin]]. Note that this character is ''not'' the RealLife Grigoriy Rasputin, as some may think. According to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, the ''World Heroes'' Rasputin is "a philosopher of XIII century Russia, was also a known alchemist and sorcerer".

* As quoted at the top of this page, in Creator/RudyardKipling's poem ''Mandalay'', the narrator's Burmese girlfriend is named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supayalat Supilawyat]]

[[folder: Albanian ]]

[[folder: American ]]

[[folder: Aboriginal Australian ]]

[[folder: Belgian ]]

[[folder: Brazilian ]]

[[folder: Bulgarian ]]

[[folder: Corsican ]]

[[folder: Chinese ]]

[[folder: Czech ]]

[[folder: English ]]

[[folder: Filipino ]]

[[folder: Finnish ]]

[[folder: French ]]

[[folder: German ]]

[[folder: Greek ]]

[[folder: Indian ]]

[[folder: Indonesian ]]

[[folder: Israeli ]]

[[folder: Italian ]]

[[folder: Japanese ]]

[[folder: Korean ]]

[[folder: Mongolian ]]

[[folder: Nepalese ]]

[[folder: Norse ]]

[[folder: Norwegian ]]

[[folder: Pakistani ]]

[[folder: Polish ]]

[[folder: Romanian ]]

[[folder: Russian ]]

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Pavel [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov Chekov/]]
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Colonel [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Chekov Chekov/]]

** Nene [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Romanov Romanova]]. Note that Romanov(a) is a common Russian surname, and most Romanovs in real life has absolutely no connection to the royal dynasty. On the other hand, Nene [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign isn't a proper Russian name]], but [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nene_%28person%29 a Japanese name]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchess_Helene_in_Bavaria a Bavarian nickname]].

** Pyotr [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Bulganin Bulganin]].

* ''ComicBook/FiendsOfTheEasternFront'': Grigori [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Eisenstein Eisenstein]]. Eisenstein is actually a ''[[YiddishAsASecondLanguage Jewish]]'' name, but still...

* ''Eye of the Red Tsar'' also features a Mayakovsky, as well as a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Kirov Kirov]], a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Kolchak Kolchak]], and a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin Kropotkin]].

* One of the campers in ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' is named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bulgakov Mikhail Bulgakov]].
* In ''The Code of Dusty Fog'' by Creator/JTEdson, three trouble-making Russian members of a rail gang are named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kruschev Kruschev]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorbachev Gorbachev]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_Gorky Gorki]]. That last one isn't even a real Russian surname. Likely a reference to Maxim Gorky (almost always anglicised with a 'y'), even though Gorky was actually a pen name (it means 'bitter') and the author's real surname was Peshkov. Possibly named after the city of Gorki, east of Moscow on the intersection of the Volga and Oka rivers - which was renamed to Nizhny Novgorod two years after the story was written.

* In the ''Series/{{Tatort}}'' set in Münster, Frank Thiel's assistant, Nadeshda [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Johann_von_Krusenstern Krusenstern]], was born in the former Soviet Union to a family of German extraction. Her family name is that of the commander of the first Russian circumnavigation of the world (in Russian he was called Ivan Fyodorovich Kruzenshtern), and Nadezhda ("Hope", which actually is a very common Russian given name for women) was the name of one of his two ships.

[[folder: Serbian ]]

** Not to mention Lazarevic has a historical name of his own.

[[folder: Spanish ]]
* De Leon, often used for noblemen and/or conquistadors, after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Ponce_de_Leon Juan Ponce de León]]. Notice that "Ponce de León" is actually just one surname in this case, although "Ponce", "León", and "de León" also exist. Also, that Juan Ponce de León and his [[HollywoodHistory supposed search]] for the FountainOfYouth is [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff much more known]] in Puerto Rico and the United States for obvious reasons, while in other Spanish-speaking countries people are likelier to think of other members of the Ponce de León family or the family at large when they hear "Ponce de León".

* Vega is neither nearly as common a surname in Spain as it would seem from American fiction. Only some 65,000 had it as their first surname in 2019, and only 5,000 had "de la Vega"[[note]]About the same numbers had them as their second surname, which is inherited from the mother. TheMaidenNameDebate does not exist in Spain[[/note]]. However, it keeps popping in media because of Literature/{{Zorro}}'s real name, Don Diego de la Vega. The only famous living Spaniard with the surname Vega, actress Creator/PazVega, chose it as a stage name (her real surname is Campos).

* [[{{Spexico}} For some]] [[LatinLand reason]], two Spanish generals in ''Op-center: Balance of Power'' are named after Argentinian visual artists, the BigBad [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Cesar_Amadori Amadori]] and a fleetingly-referenced [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americo_Hoss Americo Hoss]]. However, the real Amadori was born in Italy, and the real Americo Hoss was born in Hungary. You would never expect a Spaniard to have the surname Amadori or Hoss, let alone some supposed "Castilian [[ANaziByAnyOtherName nationalist]]". The third general is named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lope_de_Aguirre Aguirre]].
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Pizarro Pisarro]].
* Several characters called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernan_Cortes Cortez]], although it is a rather common Spanish surname.[[note]]Note, however, that the original spelling is ''Cortés'' (Spanish for "Polite" or "[[CourtlyLove Courtly]]") and remains the one common in Spain, while the alternate Cortez developed in Latin America after the Conquest, as a mirror of surnames with the patronymic ending -ez.[[/note]]

** The pirate in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'.

** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': Captain Cortez of the Crimson Fists and Lord Inquisitor [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomas_de_Torquemada Torquemada]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernan_Cortes Coteaz]], High Protector of the Formosa Sector.
** Not Cortez but obviously related: ''Series/TheBorgias'' replaces the historical "Great Captain", [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_Fernandez_de_Cordoba Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba]], with a fictional veteran of the American conquest named ''Hernan''do de Caballos.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Sealab 2021}}'': Marco's full name is Marco [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garcia_Marquez Gabriel Garcia Marquez]]. Note that this is [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign a horrible mangling of actual Spanish naming practices]], but then, RuleOfFunny.

** The [[UnfortunateImplications merry]] [[BlackAndWhiteMorality band]] of LovableRogue Basque terrorists are named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Miro J. Miró]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lope_de_Vega Felix Carpio]], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Gutierrez_Mellado R. Mellado]]. [[CriticalResearchFailure None of these names are Basque in origin]], and are uncommon in the Basque Country.
** The [[PresidentEvil evil Spanish prime minister]] Leopoldo Martinez's physical description is a dead-ringer for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldo_Calvo-Sotelo Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo]], the only notable Leopoldo in 1980s Spain.

** The SerialKiller in "El Toro Bravo" is named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavi Xavi]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xabi_Alonso Alonso]]. Alonso is a rather common name in Spain, but WordOfGod is that he was named after the Basque footballer. However, this choice rather works against the show: Xavi (or Xabi) is actually short for Xavier (or Xabier), not a full given name as used in the show; and Alonso, while found in the Basque Country, is not originally Basque, yet the Alonsos are supposed to be local celebrities and possibly small nobility. In such case Alonso would probably have a more uncommon or compound last name, like the real [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alava Alavese]] surname Alonso de Mezquía.
** The same episode has a Spanish priest named "Consolmango". Given all the references to Jesuits, he is probably named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Consolmagno Guy Consolmagno]], who is actually American (and his surname, Italian).

* ''Film/TheMission'': Given the story's setting in colonial Río de la Plata, it is hard to not see the surnames Mendoza and Cabeza being based on some of the first Spanish governors of the region, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_de_Mendoza Pedro de Mendoza]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvar_Nunez_Cabeza_de_Vaca Cabeza de Vaca]].
* [[RichardNixonTheUsedCarSalesman Lope de Vega]]'s PointyHairedBoss in ''Literature/RuledBritannia'' is named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltasar_de_Zuniga,_1st_Duke_of_Arion Baltasar Guzmán]]. De Vega wonders if he got the position from being related to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonso_Perez_de_Guzman_y_Sotomayor,_7th_Duke_of_Medina_Sidonia Alonso Pérez de Guzmán]], the conqueror of England in the AlternateHistory.

[[folder: Tibetan ]]

* The Tibetian bicycle repairman reincarnated as a supercomputer in ''Literature/TheLongEarth'' is also named Lobsang. As Sir Creator/TerryPratchett [[https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/witches-abroad.html once said]], in regard to Lobsang Dibbler:

[[folder: Turkish ]]

[[folder: Other / Multiple ]]

** Russia, AKA Ivan [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Braginsky Braginsky]]. This is despite the fact Braginsky is a Jewish surname derived with mostly Polish suffix from a toponym of Belarus. Well, for Japan, it's [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Russian enough]].
** Greece is named “Herakles”.
** Hungary is named “Elizabeta”, presumably after Elizabeth Bathory, despite the fact that that’s not how it’s pronounced in Hungarian.
** Sweden is named “[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Berwald Berwald]] [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxenstierna Oxenstierna]]”. Both of which just happen to be surnames.
** Finland’s surname is “Väinämöinen”, the name of a hero from Pre-Christian Finnish mythology.
** Switzerland’s surname is “[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huldrych_Zwingli Zwingli]]”.
** Norway got a list of possible names, which includes the likes of "[[Myth/NorseMythology Sigurd]]", "Knut", and the surname "[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjell_Magne_Bondevik Bonde]][[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjell_Bondevik vik]]".

* Apparently Jerry Jenkins and Ann M. Martin took the same creative writing class. Mallory of ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'' gets a boyfriend in Australian Ben [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobart Hobart]].

** In ''VideoGame/BloodRayne'' you have to kill Dr. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bathory Bathory]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele Mengele]].

* Hoxha. Usually named for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enver_Hoxha Enver Hoxha]], the socialist leader of Albania for 40 years.
** The exchange student from the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E11TheCrepesOfWrath The Crepes of Wrath]]", is named Adil Hoxha. Bonus for also being named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adil_%C3%87ar%C3%A7ani Adil Carcani]], Albania's last Socialist Prime Minister.

* ''ComicBook/GlobalFrequency'': Danny [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gulpilil Gulpilil]]

* Early in the movie ''Film/{{Swordfish}}'', a Finnish hacker is arrested. His first name, Axl, is not a commonly used Finnish name, but his last name is Torvalds - just like a certain other [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds Finnish hacker]].

* Invisible Kid II from the ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' was named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Foccart Jacques Foccart]]. For added irony appeal, he was also black.

* ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'': The two main players of the French team are named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Cid El Sid]] Pierre, and Louis [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France Napoléon]].

* An ArcVillain in ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'' was a Frenchman named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon Napoleon]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France Vichy]].

* ''Series/CriminalMindsBeyondBorders'': In "The Lonely Heart", the first French victim of SerialKiller Paul Mossier is named Alexandra [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette Lafayette]]. However, the real Lafayette's surname was du Motier. His title was Marquis of Lafayette.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck Bismarck]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Sonata_No._21_(Beethoven) Waldstein]]. Or perhaps [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_von_Wallenstein this one]], though the two were related.
** Jeremiah [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klement_Gottwald Gottwald]].

* ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' V3's: martial arts "[[InformedAbility expert]]" Adonis Zorba, named for both the Greek God of beauty and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorba_the_Greek Zorba the Greek]].

* Indian characters named "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma Mahatma]]" after UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi are a particularly JustForFun/{{egregious}} example, as "Mahatma" is an honorific, not a first name.

* [[http://ignisart.com/camdenhouse/canon/sign-12.htm Mahomet Singh]] in the ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' novel ''The Sign of the Four''. "Mahomet" is an Anglicization of the Islamic name Muhammad, and "Singh" is a Sikh surname [[PlanetOfSteves taken by all male members of the faith]], making "Mahomet Singh" a highly improbable name combination (akin to "[[Franchise/StarTrek Khan Noonien Singh]]"). The Penguin Books annotation of ''The Sign of the Four'' calls this a solecism, and blandly remarks that "the two names would not be found together." This annotation should be accompanied by bells, whistles, flashing lights, and a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon_%28rocket%29 maroon]]. Especially a maroon.

* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'' named the BigBad after the influential Indian painter [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mola_Ram Mola Ram]].

* PlayedForLaughs in the ''Series/StrangersWithCandy'' [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369994/ movie]], when Jerri's new friend introduces himself as "Megawatti Sukarnoputri. Not ''that'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megawati_Sukarnoputri Megawati Sukarnoputri]]."

* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Captain Italy: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umberto_Eco Umberto]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefano_Landi Landi]].
* The Italian Vellian Crowler in the Japanese version of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' was named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronos Chronos]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_de_Medici de Medici]].
* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', one of the characters is Michael [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Garibaldi Garibaldi]], despite Garibaldi being an uncommon surname. To reduce the perceived oddity of this choice, in the Italian dubbed version the name becomes Gariboldi.

* ''VisualNovel/LuckyDog1'' has Giancarlo [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Maria_Del_Monte Bourbon del Monte]], Giulio [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giotto di Bondone]] and possibly Alessandro [[SpellMyNameWithAnS del Salto]] / [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_del_Sarto del Sarto]].

** Averted with Kenzo Suzuki[[note]]that doesn't count, it's his actual name[[/note]], who originally was going to be called Hirohito and come in as if he was related to the Emperor of Japan.
* The protagonist of Shaena Lambert's novel ''Radiance'' is called Keiko Kitigawa, just one letter different from the name of actress [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiko_Kitagawa Keiko Kitagawa]]. Incidentally, "ti" is not a native Japanese syllable and would never show up in any real Japanese name, though it is an entirely legal rendering of a 「ち」 syllable in the official Kunrei romanisation system. (The better known Hepburn system renders it as "chi".)

* One of the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' novels has two Mongolian characters named ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamukha Jamukka]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borte Bortay]]''.

* Tenzing Tharkay of the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series, presumably named after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ang_Tharkay Ang Tharkay]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzing_Norgay Tenzing Norgay]].

* ''VideoGame/WorldHeroes'': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_the_Red Erick]], [[JustifiedTrope justifiable]] in that Erik is still a very common Norse name.

* The Pakistani boy who comes to live with the American family in ''AliensInAmerica'' is named Raja [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervez_Musharraf Musharraf]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Blackhawk}}'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janos_Prohaska Janos Prohaska]]. [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Note that Blackhawk is Polish, the RealLife Janos Prohaska was Hungarian, the surname is Czech (Slovakia was part of Hungary until 1918), and the first name isn't Polish either (that would be Janusz)]].
* The creators of ''VideoGame/CombatMission: Beyond Overlord'' decided to be nice enough to give Polish soldiers Polish names (every individual in the game had an individual name). They gave them ones they could find in the Internet quickly, though. So you could commandeer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Krzaklewski Marian Krzaklewski]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerzy_Buzek Jerzy Buzek]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksander_Kwasniewski Aleksander Kwasniewski]]. It could be quite fun for some people to send them to their death, as the first two were not so popular at the time. Good enough that they didn't use [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karol_Wojtyla Karol Wojtyla]].

* The AntiChrist from the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series is named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Ceau%C5%9Fescu Nicolae]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpathian_Mountains Carpathia]]. To be absolutely fair, his other name is [[EmbarrassingMiddleName "Jetty" (?!?!)]] and this is hardly the only offensive moment in these novels.

** Major Vladimir [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Kosygin Kosygin]].
** Yuri & Daniel [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyacheslav_Molotov Molotov]].

** [[ComicBook/BlackWidow Natasha]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Romanov Romanova]].

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Pavel [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov Chekov]].
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Colonel [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Chekov Chekov]].

* In season one of ''Series/DowntonAbbey'', the family is visited by the Turkish gentleman Mr. Kemal Pamuk, a combination of two famous Turks: Mustafa Kemal (a.k.a. Atatürk), founder of the Turkish Republic and the Nobel-prize winning autor Orhan Pamuk. This is a specially poor choice because besides having a name made of two surnames, the episode takes place in 1913, and Turkish Muslims didn't have surnames until Atatürk's "Surname Law" in 1934. Mustafa's own "Kemal" ("[[AwesomeMcCoolname Perfection]]") was a nickname originally given to him by his school teacher.

* ''Film/StTrinians'' school, in the 2007 film, has a French teacher called Miss [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maupassant Maupassant]]

* Several members of the Bulgarian Quidditch team in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' bear the names of notable historical figures; Zograf is a 19th-century painter (as well as painters in general), Levski a revolutionary hero. Krum was a king who killed the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros, and is also famous for being the first to introduce written laws. Zograf, being a nickname for a painter rather than a real surname is obsolete today, "Levski" is considered off-limits[[labelnote:*]]like naming a person "Lionheart" after King Richard I[[/labelnote]] and "Krum" is outright impossible as a surname (it has to get a suffix to become one), though it has some popularity as a given name.

* In ''Film/TheCheetahGirls'' sequel the girls befriend a rising Spanish pop star named Marisol. In reality no 21st-century Spanish audience would take such name seriously, due to a child singer named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marisol_(actress) Marisol]] from TheSixties who was infamously NotAllowedToGrowUp.

* In ''Film/TheCheetahGirls'' sequel the girls befriend a rising Spanish pop star named Marisol. No 21st-century Spanish audience could take this name seriously, because [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marisol_(actress) Marisol]] was a real child singer and actress in TheSixties who was infamously NotAllowedToGrowUp.

* In the [[Literature/NightWatchSeries ''Night Watch'']] of novels, there is the Czech vampire Vítězslav Hrubín. While "Vítězslav" is a common name, this combination obviously is merging names of two famous Czech poets, Vítězslav Nezval and František Hrubín.

* In the ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'' of novels, there is the Czech vampire Vítězslav Hrubín. While "Vítězslav" is a common name, this combination obviously is merging names of two famous Czech poets, Vítězslav Nezval and František Hrubín.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'': Bill is modeled after American foreigner stereotypes, and is named after Bill Clinton, US president at the time the Tamagotchi toys launched.

** The [[TheyJustDidntCare lazily-done]], [[AcceptableTargets hispanophobic]] episode "American Optimism" in ''Series/FBIInternational'' has a woman named "De Leon" in the credits. Perhaps not coincidentally, also a [[AristocratsAreEvil noble]](?) family Delgado and a police inspector [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Cid Diaz]].

** Not Cortez but obviously related: ''Series/TheBorgias'' replaces the historical "Great Captain", [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_Fernandez_de_Cordoba Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba]], with a fictional veteran of the American conquest named Hernando de Caballos.

* De Leon, often used for noblemen and/or conquistadors, after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Ponce_de_Leon Juan Ponce de León]]. Notice that "Ponce de León" is actually just one surname in this case, although "Ponce", "León", and "de León" also exist. Also, that Juan Ponce de León and his [[HollywoodHistory supposed search]] for the FountainOfYouth is much more known in Puerto Rico and the United States for obvious reasons, while in other Spanish-speaking countries people are likelier to think of other members of the Ponce de León family or the family at large when they hear "Ponce de León".

* In ''The Code of Dusty Fog'' by Creator/JTEdson, three trouble-making Russian members of a rail gang are named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kruschev Kruschev]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorbachev Gorbachev]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_Gorky Gorki]]. That last one isn't even a real Russian surname. Undoubtedly a reference to Maxim Gorky (almost always anglicised with a 'y'), Gorky was actually a pen name (it means 'bitter') and the author's real surname was Peshkov.

* ''ComicBook/WildCATs'': Adrianna [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova Tereshkova]] (The Void).

* Invisible Kid II from the ''Comicbook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}'' was named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Foccart Jacques Foccart]]. For added irony appeal, he was also black.