History Main / HometownNickname

* ''Anime/TenganToppaGurrenLagann'': All characters from Littner Village have the village's name as a surname of sorts, such as Yoko Littner.

* Almost ''every'' character in ''Film/{{Zombieland}}''. At first it's just something that Tallahassee [[EnforcedTrope insists on]] to [[JustifiedTrope avoid emotional ties with other survivors]], but through the course of the movie, almost every character ends up only being identified by where they are from (or, in the FlashBack, by their apartment numbers), with the only exceptions being TheCameo and, at the end of the movie, Wichita.

[[folder: Jokes]]

* Dennis Finnegan, a gangster who was framed for murder by corrupt cops in the ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'', is called Dublin because he's from Dublin Ireland.

Over 500 years ago, this was far more common than not - see Jesus of Nazareth (from Nazareth), Leonardo da Vinci (from Vinci), and many more. See also LordCountry, which overlaps with this often in the names of women who married from one royal family to another (like English queens Catherine of Aragon and Margaret of Anjou, or French queen Anne of Austria).

* UsefulNotes/LeonardoDaVinci.

* One sketch on ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'' deals with the "Cincinnati Kid" (not [[Film/TheCincinnatiKid that one]]), whose father was the Cincinnati Kid until he was born, and who will remain the Cincinnati Kid until he produces offspring of his own. He shows up at a bar in Toronto looking for the "Toronto Kid", and the two square off in a ZeroChops brawl until the Toronto Kid gets a phone call saying his wife has given birth to the ''new'' Toronto Kid... [[WouldHurtAChild and the Cincinnati Kid goes off in search of him.]]

* Nevada Smith, an Indy parody, in Apogee Software's ''Pharaoh's Tomb''.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' has Kent Paul (Paul from [[UsefulNotes/HomeCounties Kent]]).
* Subverted in the ''VideoGame/TexMurphy'' series, where the titular character's nickname comes from leaving a Texas-shaped hole in the ceiling after a childhood accident.
* Arizona Rose, heroine of two Big Fish games.

[[folder:Machinima]]
* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', the initial explanation for Tex's name is "because she's from Texas." Later it's retconned into being a shortening of her codename "Texas".
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** A few other names in the New Testament and early saints fit this pattern, which is not all that surprising due to some given names being extremely popular, e. g. Joseph of Arimathea and Mary of Egypt. In the case of Mary of Magdala, the HometownNickname became a name in its own right (Magdalena, Maddalena, Madeleine etc.). Averted by Saul of Tarsus, who changed his name to Paul - just Paul.

** Another example: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Swede]], who supplies [[KnifeNut Mississippi]] with his first gun, a SawedOffShotgun.

This is TruthInTelevision, if you look in historical documents, you will find that many people were distinguished by where they came from (other common identifiers included [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep trade or profession]] and distinguishing features). When surnames became common, towns of origin were often assigned as family names. If the person isn't actually ''from'' the place they are named for, it can become an IronicNickname. This is also one popular means for pen names.

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* Elie in ''Manga/RaveMaster'', who asumes the tattoo on her arm is her name after getting LaserGuidedAmnesia. It's actually both her home town and the ''coordinates'' of said town.
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' there's Kenpachi Zaraki and Yachiru Kusajishi, both of whom didn't have last names, and so they took [[WretchedHive the districts]] they originated from (Zaraki and Kusajishi, respectively). In Kenpachi's case, its even more so, since ''Kenpachi'' is a title given to the strongest {{Shinigami}}. [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep So he's really 'The Kenpachi from Zaraki'.]]


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-->"I'm Tino Väinämöinen," I said, hoping to get the full story right away.
-->"That's just your real name," the boy said casually. "We don't use them here at St. Hetalia. We call each other by the names of our countries, sort of like code names. Your name here is Finland."


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* ''Film/CoyoteUgly'' - When Violet first takes a job at the bar, she's known as Jersey, her home state.
* ''Film/ElDorado'': Mississippi, born on the river, and mostly called that because of his OverlyLongName, Alan Bourdillion Traherne.

* ''Film/PoolhallJunkies'' - The Greek.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* A fairly well-known example from ''Literature/TheBible'' is Jesus of Nazareth, sometimes also known as The Nazarene.

* Doc Pseudopolis is a high ranking member of Ankh-Morkpork's guild of gamblers on Terry Pratchett ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. He makes a living off of [[GenreBlind people whose fathers never warned them not to gamble with a man named Doc or anyone named after a city]].

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'': Brisco goes undercover using the name "Kansas Wily Stafford" ("Kansas" for short). Then the ''real'' Kansas Wily Stafford shows up...
** Brisco, however, is an inversion. People keep assuming Brisco County is where he's from, a point which he has to clarify not to be the case.

* Lois calls Clark this in ''Series/{{Smallville}}''
** Which, of course, came from [[Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse the cartoon]] (See WesternAnimation, below)
** Ditto in ''Series/LoisAndClark''.

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[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Yosemite Sam]], possibly.
** And his ''WesternAnimation/TinyToons'' {{Expy}} Montana Max.
* Lois calls Clark "Smallville" in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. This was later picked up in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' (see LiveActionTelevision, above).

[[AC:RealLife]]

* ''Film/ElDorado'': Mississippi, born on the river, and mostly called that because of his OverlyLongName.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "Shada", Chris Parsons introduces himself as "Chris Parsons, Bristol Grammer School". The Doctor refers to him as "Young Bristol" from then on.

* Kasuga Ayumu in ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' is only known as [[TheIdiotFromOsaka Osaka]].
** Trope was [[EnforcedTrope enforced]] in-universe by one of her new friends, whose idea the nickname originally was. Also lampshaded/discussed as said friend declared on the spot that shows have characters from Osaka only known as Osaka (and that such is funny). Never mind that Ayumu points out she spent only a year or so of her life in Osaka; the friend is a GiverOfLameNames.

* Giovanni Battista Bernardone was nicknamed ''Francesco'' (little Frenchman) by his merchant father, who had not been present at his birth as he was on a business trip to France. Francesco later became known as St. Francis of Assisi and his geographical nickname was adopted by lots of people as a Christian name.

ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: When a character is referred to pretty much exclusively by where he comes from. Or at least, where everyone assumes he's from. The entire name doesn't have to be shared with the place, the hometown can just be part of the nickname, i.e., Troperville Ted or Ted from/of Troperville.
This is TruthInTelevision, if you look in historical documents, you will find that many people were distinguished by where they came from (other common identifiers included [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep trade or profession]] and distinguishing features). When surnames became common, towns of origin were often assigned as family names. If the person isn't actually ''from'' the place he is named for, it can become an IronicNickname. This is also one popular means for pen names.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': It is unclear if Virginia True's first name is a nickname or her legal name given how the Holliday Girls treat nicknames, but either way the name originates from her home state.