History Main / HeHadAName

* In their [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles first movie]], the Shredder, the Turtles' enemy, uses this trope to imply that their master is dead. Fortunately for our heroes, he's wrong.

->'''[[TheMuppetShow Waldorf]]:''' How could that villain off that character like that?! He Had A Name!\\

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' Reimagined: When Saul Tigh and Caprica Six attempt to have a baby, they name him "Liam," after Admiral William Adama. When he dies ''en utero'', Tigh tells the Admiral the baby's name.

* Done twice in an episode of ''Series/TheFlash2014''. Energy-vampire Farooq goes after Dr. Harrison Wells for revenge. He was made the way he was when Wells' particle accelerator malfunctioned and exploded, and when his friends tried to resuscitate them, they were electrocuted. After stealing the Flash's powers and essentially making him useless, Farooq corners Wells, blaming him for the deaths of his friends. Wells not only agrees, he goes on to list their names, and the names of every other person who was killed due to his experimenting. Flash gets his powers back, and when Farooq tries to take absorb his energy, it becomes too much and kills him. When Cisco tries to give him his supervillain name "Blackout", Wells invokes the trope verbatim.

* In one episode of ''{{Hardcastle and McCormick}}'', Hardcastle has to deal with a police captain who, twenty years ago, shot an unarmed teenager and then covered it up; when the case came before Hardcastle's court, the man was ruled innocent for lack of evidence. Twenty years later, Hardcastle hasn't forgotten:

* Occasionally in ''{{Bones}}'', Booth implores Brennan to use the victim's name instead of "the victim" when talking to the bereaved family.
* An episode of ''{{Numb3rs}}'' had a rare example of the perpetrator remembering the names of all his victims, who died as the result of a virus he unleashed with the endgame of trying to save many more lives. He was on his way to light candles for them in a church when he was caught.
* ThePretender episode "Back from the Dead Again", Jarod is a Med professor beginning a class with a speech about his one big rule.

* Done twice in an episode of ''Series/TheFlash''. Energy-vampire Farooq goes after Dr. Harrison Wells for revenge. He was made the way he was when Wells' particle accelerator malfunctioned and exploded, and when his friends tried to resuscitate them, they were electrocuted. After stealing the Flash's powers and essentially making him useless, Farooq corners Wells, blaming him for the deaths of his friends. Wells not only agrees, he goes on to list their names, and the names of every other person who was killed due to his experimenting. Flash gets his powers back, and when Farooq tries to take absorb his energy, it becomes too much and kills him. When Cisco tries to give him his supervillain name "Blackout", Wells invokes the trope verbatim.

->'''Raphael:''' Where's [[{{Mentor}} Splinter]]?\\

'''Leonardo:''' [[ThatLiarLies YOU LIE!!]]\\

** In "The Poison Sky", the UNIT commander who refused to order a retreat keeps trying to raise the last man on his radio even though he's clearly been shot dead, and the Doctor tells him off:
-->"Greyhound Forty, come in! Greyhound Forty!"
-->"He wasn't Greyhound Forty. His name was Ross. Now listen to me, and [[LargeHam GET THEM OUT OF THERE!]]"
** In the next episode a character is dismissed as "collateral damage". To which Donna replies,
--> "Her name's Martha! And she's not collateral damage for anyone"
** A variation at the end of "The Satan Pit." Humans of the future have enslaved an alien race known as The Ood, which were treated like robots or cattle. When the humans evacuate the station, all the Ood are left to die, which clearly distresses The Doctor. When the surviving captain makes his report, he lists the deceased Ood individually. (By designation number.)
*** The Ood who dies at the beginning of "Planet of the Ood" gave his designation number when they asked for a name, and Donna used it comfortingly. It is unclear whether psychic natural Ood traffic much in names, but whenever the Doctor visits the Oodsphere afterward it seems [[MeaningfulName Ood Sigma]] is there to meet him.
** There's a variation in the episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E10Midnight Midnight]]". After the stewardess sacrifices herself to kill the monster, the other passengers are ashamed to realize that none of them... not even the Doctor... knew her name.
** The Eleventh Doctor appears to have retained it. In "The Vampires of Venice":
-->"[[BadassBoast This ends today. I will tear down the house of Calviera stone by stone.]] And you know why? You didn't know Isabella's name. You didn't know Isabella's name."
** Slightly subverted in "World War III": When a minor character dies and Harriet Jones admits that she doesn't know his name, even though she had a number of conversations with him throughout the day, the Ninth Doctor ''doesn't'' shame her for it (he just briefly apologises to the corpse and tries to arrange it in a more dignified position). Nothing more is made of it in that episode, it's just one of life's little injustices. However, later on, in "The Christmas Invasion", now-Primeminister Harriet Jones is shown making a point of asking even minor flunkies she talks to for their names. It's not explained why she does it, but it was probably meant as a ContinuityNod to show that, even without the Doctor getting all self-righteous about it, she learned her lesson.

-->"Not Greyhound Forty. Ross. His name was Ross. Now [[LargeHam GET THEM OUT OF THERE!]]"

* In their [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles first movie]], the Shredder, the Turtles' enemy, uses this trope to imply that their master is dead. [[spoiler: Fortunately for our heroes, he's wrong.]]

* There's a sort of inversion in ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' in which Mr. White breaks the no names rule, telling a dying Mr. Orange his name [[spoiler:without realising he's an undercover cop]].

** Inverted in the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut Series Six opener]] when a [[spoiler:Silent]] kills a woman in front of Amy for no clear reason other than her seeing it. Amy says that it didn't have to kill her, since she couldn't even remember it [[spoiler:(which is the Silent's power; you forget them as soon as you look away)]], to which it simply responds that the woman's name was Joy.

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' Reimagined: When Saul Tigh and Caprica Six attempt to have a baby, they name him "Liam," after Admiral William Adama. [[spoiler:When he dies ''en utero'', Tigh tells the Admiral the baby's name.]]

* This happens in ''AssassinsCreed III''. When Rebecca is talking about Subject 16, Desmond says [[spoiler: "His name was Clay."]]

* One of the [[{{Defictionalization}} defictionalized]] ''{{Castle}}'' books has the ''heroes'' be reminded that a victim had a name. The cops find a John Doe corpse that had been gnawed on by a coyote, and even after they determine his identity, they continue to call him "Coyote Man." They claim that this kind of BlackComedy is necessary in order for cops to cope with the number of dead people they have to think about all day, but after one cop interviews the dead man's nephew, he stops calling the man "Coyote Man" and snaps at anyone else who tries.

* Early in ''Film/FaceOff'' there's a variation in which the names of several dead people are not forgotten, but rather omitted. After capturing Castor Troy, Sean Archer angrily reacts to a bottle of champagne with a note reading "just for you" by listing the names of every agent who was killed in the operation.

* There's a sort of inversion in ''Film/ReservoirDogs'' in which Mr. White breaks the no names rule, telling a dying Mr. Orange his name without realising he's an undercover cop.

-->'''Stan:''' ''There's no time for names!''

* ''WebVideo/DragonBallAbridged'' - Nappa, being a PsychopathicManchild / {{Cloudcuckoolander}} in this universe, believes Chiaotzu to be a Pokemon. After Chiaotzu's unsuccessful self-destruct, Nappa calling him "that Pokemon" again pushes Tien over the edge.

* The trope name was quoted verbatim in ''FightClub'' by the Narrator after the death of his friend Robert Paulson, when one of the members of Project Mayhem suggests disposing of "the body" by burying it in the garden. The Narrator's speech [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally finishes turning Project Mayhem into a]] MartyrdomCulture: they reconcile it with Tyler's demand that the "Space Monkeys" [[YouAreNumberSix go without names]] by concluding that Robert ''earned'' his name in death.

* Variation in ''USMarshals'': As Noah lies mortally wounded in an ambulance, and the Emts work on him desperately, they say encouraging things like, "Stay with us, Buddy/Pardner/Pal." Gerard, sitting in the ambulance in the midst of a HeroicBSOD, says very quietly, "His name is Noah." The Emts immediately switch to using his real name. Unfortunately, it doesn't help.

* Played with for HypocriticalHumor in ''TheBreakfastClub'', in a rare non-fatal version:

--> "You ''stupid...ugly...son of a bitch.'' His name...was CHIAOTZU! KIKOHO!"

* Invoked in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]''. One of the protagonists asks an enemy leader how many countless soldiers he'll sacrifice. Said leader responds he ''has'' counted, and makes it a point to catalog and remember the name of every soldier he loses in the campaign so that their sacrifices won't be forgotten or in vain.

* In their [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles first movie]], the Shredder uses this trope to imply that their master is dead. [[spoiler: Fortunately for our heroes, he's wrong.]]

* In their [[Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles first movie]], the Shredder uses this trope. [[spoiler: Fortunately for our heroes, he's wrong.]]

->'''Raphael:''' Where's [[{{Mentor}} Splinter]]?
->'''Shredder:''' Ah, the rat! So it has a name! ... It HAD a name.
->'''Leonardo:''' [[ThatLiarLies YOU LIE!!]]
->'''Shredder:''' (''smiling evilly'') Do I?

* One of the [[{{Defictionalization}} defictionalized]] ''{{Castle}}'' books has the ''heroes'' be reminded that a victim [[HeHadAName had a name.]] The cops find a John Doe corpse that had been gnawed on by a coyote, and even after they determine his identity, they continue to call him "Coyote Man." They claim that this kind of BlackComedy is necessary in order for cops to cope with the number of dead people they have to think about all day, but after one cop interviews the dead man's nephew, he stops calling the man "Coyote Man" and snaps at anyone else who tries.

->'''[[TheMuppetShow Waldorf]]:''' How could that villain off that character like that?! HeHadAName!\\