History Main / MyNameIsNotDurWood

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Only known by their InSeries nickname.

* AccidentalMisnaming: When someone calls mistakenly another the wrong name.
* MaliciousMisnaming: When someone calls maliciously another the wrong name.

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->'''Nebulous:''' They used to call me "the one musketeer".\\
'''Paula:''' Really?\\
'''Nebulous:''' No... they called me "Nobulous".
-->--''Radio/{{Nebulous}}''

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When Bob dislikes Alice, he may call her funny names. Of course sometimes Bob is actually just a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, and not actually being malicious. There are many different ways to do this and variations on how it's done in fiction:

[[AC:Malicious Variants]]

* One tactic is to either pretend to forget the person's name and call them by another legitimate name. For example Bob might call Alice "Alicia", which is similar to Alice, or "Alan", which is a masculine name (this seems to have more of a rub if Alice calls Bob "Becky" for [[MostWritersAreMale some reason]]), or "Mirabelle", which is completely unrelated to Alice and conventional wisdom says it has a slightly dorky ring to it. If they want to be really rude, they'll use "HeyYou".
* Another tactic is to corrupt Alice's name into something that isn't a name at all like "Malice" or "Callous" or not even a word like "Smalice" ("Smelly Alice"). This tactic is seen as a bit more childish than tactic '''A'''.

[[AC:Non-Malicious Variant]]

* Bob is actually a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, {{Malaproper}}, or TheDitz (or just when Bob doesn't know Alice well) who really has forgotten Alice's name, or has really mistaken it for another. This implies he genuinely finds Alice forgettable, which does feel a little malicious or at least has a sting to it.
* Bob actually likes Alice and just shows it in a really odd way.
* Bob simply has so many things in his head that stuff falls out and he simply gets Alice's name wrong by accident. Generally a one-shot gag.
* Alice's name is [[OverlyLongName long]] or [[TheUnpronounceable unusual]] or both, and easy for ''anyone'' to mess up the first time. But often Bob will mess it up repeatedly anyway, [[RuleOfFunny because it's funny]].

How Alice deals with this also varies. She may protest and say "My name is ''Alice'', Bob!"; she may ignore it, or she may reciprocate, "My name is ''Alice'', '''Dod'''!".

The trope name comes from ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'', where Endora (along with most of the rest of Samantha's family) frequently calls Darrin "Durwood" or "Darwood".

When a character is actually convinced that the character ''is'' someone else, ThoroughlyMistakenIdentity Ensues. Someone who makes a habit of this is TheNicknamer.

More often than not, it overlaps with the PhraseCatcher.

Do not confuse with DoNotCallMePaul, IAmNotShazam, or MyNameIsInigoMontoya. If everyone insists on calling Bob Durwood and he gives up he's been NamedByDemocracy.

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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* In a [=FedEx=] commercial, a guy walks into a [=FedEx=]/Kinko's and sets down a package that he says needs to be shipped to Pahonicks. The rep claims they can ship anything anywhere, but he's never heard of Pahonicks. The customer gets exasperated and says it's the largest city in Arizona, to which another customer says, "You mean ''Phoenix''?" Cue awkward laughter from stupid guy, as everyone looks on in pity.
* In a commercial for State Farm auto insurance, a man walks up to his car and finds that some jerk has scratched the name "Brad" into it. He phones up his insurance agent (with some company other than State Farm), only to be told by her "Oh, sorry, your policy only covers full names. Bradford would have been acceptable. Or Bradley. Or even Brady. That's 'Brad' with a y at the end!" As the commercial ends, she signs off by telling him "Well, have a super day, Brad!" then hangs up.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Osaka from ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' is an extreme example of this -- Tomo gave her the nickname when she arrived, and it's far more widely used than her real name, Ayumu Kasuga. In one episode, they can't find her on a list with exam results since she's not listed under K but under O.
** This may apply to Yomi too, since her first name is Koyomi but no one uses it.
* Mayoi Hachikuji can't stop mispronouncing Koyomi Ararararagi's name in ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}}''. I mean, Araragi. Sorry, I st-stuttered.
* In ''Anime/{{Basquash}}'', Dan twists Sela's nickname "Platinum Hurricane" into, among other things, "Platitude Hotpad" and "Plastic Candycane".
* In ''Anime/BlackRockShooter'', main character Mato reads Yomi's last name as "Kotori-asobi", which means "tiny bird's game". Yomi corrects her that it's actually supposed to be read "Takanashi", which means "no hawks", because "there are no hawks when little birds play". "Kotori-asobi" gets used later by a few characters as a nickname for her.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''
** Ichigo does this a lot according to Tatsuki, though not too frequently onscreen -- not only does he get names wrong, but he misread Uryu's name as a GIRL. He also manages to totally forget about a classmate who's been bugging him for years to join his club.
** Ichigo, upon meeting Yasutora Sado, misreads his name card, and keeps calling him "Chad" despite being corrected. The nickname eventually sticks, and in the dub and English manga (in which the classmates [[FirstNameBasis typically use first names]]), his classmates, teachers and Ichigo's other friends call him "Chad", when in the original, they had called him "Sado" -- only his grandfather calls him Yasutora.
** When Pesche was traveling with Uryu he constantly calls him "Ichigo" or mixes up his family and given names, as part of his general tendency to forget things a lot of the time ([[InvokedTrope which he really does intentionally]], as he's trying to set up a BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine with Uryu).
** "Don Panini!" "IT'S DORDONII!"
** It's ''[[RunningGag Hitsugaya]]''''[[InsistentTerminology -taicho!]]''
** Everyone calls Zennosuke "Afro-san", much to his annoyance.
** Orihime always calls Shishigawara "Shushigawara".
** Slightly sad version: Orihime tries to call Ulquiorra "Ulquiorra-kun" in the UNMASKED comic. He tells her "it's Ulquiorra" before reminding her that he isn't human and she shouldn't treat him like one.
* Non-malicious example in ''Manga/{{Club 9}}'': Haruo Hattori has such a thick country accent that when she introduces herself to Tokyo club hostesses, they immediately start calling her "Hello-chan".
* In the episode of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' where the crew finds Ed's father, he has an assistant named [=MacIntyre=]. He never gets it right, at times calling him [=MacIntosh=] or something else beginning with "Mac". Definitely a case of actually forgetting. At least he's ''aware'' of the problem, at one point referring to his assistant as "[=MacInwhatever=]" when he was in a particular hurry and didn't have time to even ''attempt'' to get it right. (The assistant, naturally, yells a correction even as they hurry off.)
* ''LightNovel/DenpaOnnaToSeishunOtoko'': [[CatchPhrase "The name's Ryuuko!"]]
* In the ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' dub, Davis calls TK "TE", "TJ", and pretty much every other combination. TK suspects he does it intentionally. In the original version, this was a none-too-translatable pronoun -- and honorific-related matter that basically amounts to Daisuke calling Takeru "HeyYou" with a bit of extra pointedness. It might not always be intentional. In one instance where a flustered Davis calls him "TA". TK questions it, and Kari giggles, "He can't even spell TK!" Though it was ''definitely'' intentional when he called him "[[ToiletHumour TP]]". And it's been confirmed that the script writers were brave enough to go through the whole alphabet.
* In the ''[[Manga/DragonBall DragonBall Z]]'' movie ''Broly: Legendary Super Saiyan'', Master Roshi powers up to confront the titular BigBad, and calls him "Broccoli". The Master is, of course, [[DrunkenMaster drunk off his turtle shell]]. But given the Saiyan race's [[PunnyName weird]] [[ThemeNaming naming]] conventions, he's not exactly wrong. Given that the character's name (which is actually supposed to be spelled "Broli") is a pun on taking the "ko" out of the word "Burokorii" (Japanese pronunciation of "broccoli") to make "Buroorii", this might actually be subtle lampshading.
* Because of some initial confusion, all of the Deimon Devil Bats in ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' think Raimon Taro's name is "Monta." This is a since Sena misread the kanji for his name as "Kaminari Montarou"; Hiruma later uses this mistake to his advantage by claiming it's a nickname derived from football legend Joe Montana (and lies to Monta by saying he played the same position).
* Drossel of ''Anime/{{Fireball}}'' always calls Gedächtnis by the wrong name, and ludicrously so.
* In ''Manga/FruitsBasket'', Kyou is often called Kyon-Kyon by his classmates, which he hates. He's also called Kyonkichi by Ayame.
* In the ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' manga (and therefore ''Brotherhood''), the second Greed tends to correct people whenever they call him [[spoiler:Ling]]. In fact, Ed remarks it's too confusing for him to tell which is which, and therefore calls him [[spoiler:[[InSeriesNickname Greeling]]]]. Greed is not happy about this.
* In ''Manga/GenkakuPicasso'', the main character, Hikari Hamura, accidentally writes his name as "Hikaso" on his school slippers by making the first line straight, leading some people to laugh and call him that. This leads him to being called "Picasso" because of constantly drawing.
* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}''
** "Zura Janai, Katsura daaa!" (It's not Zura, it's Katsura!) Parodied so many times by Katsura himself. It's also known as his {{Catchphrase}}, but Gin still hasn't caught on.
** This happens to Gintoki as well. Sakamoto always calls him Kintoki.
* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka''
** Onizuka frequently calls Principal Uchiyamada "Xavier", after monk Fransisco Xavier, because of Uchiyamada's bald head. He doesn't do it on purpose at all, he seems to just associate the two in his mind for some reason.
** He also can't seem to remember Teshigawara's name at all. His attempts to recall it don't even come close. Just to give an example of how bad it gets, he once refers to him as "''Toxic Socks Warrior''", without any sign that he doesn't think it's his actual name.
** And there's how everybody, even her younger brother, calls Tomoko "Toroko". That's because the "toro" in the nickname is short for "toroi" which means (dull; slow; stupid) referring to the fact that Tomoko has always been [[TheFool simple-minded]] since she was a child. This is also why she is nicknamed "Slo-mo-ko" in the English dub.
* ''Anime/{{Hamtaro}}'': Jingle/Tongari, the wandering minstrel hamster, is one of at least two characters who can never seem to call Hamtaro by his real name. In the original Japanese, Hamutarou always becomes Hamujirou or a similar name; in the dub, the title character is infuriated by being referred to as Hamsandwich, Hamblasto, Hambobo and the like.
* Assistant chief security maid Yashima Sanae in ''Anime/HanaukyoMaidTai La Vérité''. In Japan "Sanae" is normally a first name, so people often call her Sanae instead of Yashima even though they've known her for a long time. She [[InsistentTerminology always corrects them when they do so]], telling them that Yashima is her first name and Sanae is her last name.
* In his first appearance in ''Manga/HatenkouYuugi'', Rayborn refuses to tell Rahzel his name, so she decides to call him Spicy Diamond, shortened to Spicy or Spi. Even after they become friends, she sometimes calls him Spi if she's in a bad mood.
* It is hard to tell whether Izumi Segawa's frequent mispronouncing of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'''s title character as Hayata-kun is just her teasing him or right out cloudcuckoolander-ism. Considering how Risa and Miki have somewhat adopted it, it's probably just seen as a nickname. It's also part of her verbal tic (everyone has a semi-original name from her). Given how Hinagiku asks for people to use her {{first name|Basis}}, it might just be how they've gotten comfortable naming people.
* In episode 10 of ''Manga/HighSchoolGirls'', Ayano's boyfriend Shimotakatani went to meet her family. Her mother kept on mispronouncing Shimotakatani's name. Ayano's older sister even corrected her once.
* ''Anime/InfiniteRyvius'': Everyone calls Good Turtleland III "Charlie". Not that we blame them.
* ''Manga/InuYasha'': The title character and his rival Kōga rarely call one another by name; Inu-Yasha calls Kōga "''yasee ookami''" (variously translated as "wimpy wolf", "wolf boy", and the like), and Kōga calls Inu-Yasha "''inukkoro''" (translated as "dogface", "pup", or "dog crap"). This starts out as a sign of their active dislike for one another but gets less malicious as their rivalry does.
* In ''LightNovel/IsThisAZombie'', Orito always calls Yuki Yoshida "Tomonori", because the kanji for her name also mean "Tomonori". Yuki always gets pissed at this, and Orito can't get it through his skull that her name is "Yuki". Some other people end up calling her "Tomonori" because they hear Orito say it.
* In ''Anime/JinkiEXTEND'', Aoba Tsuzaki is contemptuously given the nickname "Ahobaka" by Ryouhei (''aho'' and ''baka'' both mean stupid). Later on, it becomes an affectionate nickname. In the English dub it is translated as "Aobimbo".
* The main character of ''LightNovel/JinruiWaSuitaiShimashita'' doesn't like people calling her the granddaughter (her grandfather is rather important). What she ''does'' like being called [[NoNameGiven isn't clear]].
* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', Joseph challenges D'Arby to a water tension match -- a glass is filled to the rim with water, and they have to take turns dropping in a number of coins of their choice, with the loser being the one who causes the water to spill. Joseph ''intentionally'' gets D'Arby's name wrong ("Barby" and "Obby") in order to agitate him, which means he'd be less focused on keeping the water tension from breaking. [[spoiler:It doesn't work -- D'Arby had ''already'' set a cheat while setting up the glass.]]
* ''Manga/KeroroGunsou'' is forever known as "bokegaeru" (dumb frog) to Natsumi.
* Early on in ''Anime/LastExile'', after seeing [[TheAce Claus]] perform the [[DoABarrelRoll Immelman Turn]] flawlessly, Dio takes an interest in the young vanship pilot and [[HoYay attaches himself]] to Claus, calling him "Immelman" endlessly. It's a rare (and often serious) instance whenever Dio drops the affectionate attitude and calls Claus by his real name.
* In ''Anime/LuckyStar'''s ''Lucky Channel'' segment, Akira Kogami forever refers to Minoru Shiraishi as "Sebastian" after Konata (acting like a character from ''[[LightNovel/MariaSamaGaMiteru Mari Mite]]'') calls him that once.
* Vita in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' always screwed up Nanoha's name before they became allies. "Nantoka" actually means "something" and is used when someone refers to something that they do not know the name of. Also a bit of a pun, since the ''nano'' in her actual name is basically something you stick at the end of a sentence when you're not sure (which was the main aspect of the first season's IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming).
-->'''Vita:''' Takamachi Nantoka!\\
'''Nanoha:''' It's Nanoha! NA! NO! HA!
* In ''Anime/{{Mai-Otome}}'', Sergey calls our lovely heroine Arika "arinko" ("ant girl") based on her name and how her [[GirlishPigtails hairstyle]] makes her braids look like antennae. It's fairly obvious the term is meant to be affectionately insulting, given his [[JerkAss immaturity]] and his [[MayDecemberRomance attraction]] to Arika [[spoiler: because of his infatuation with her mother, Lena.]]
** Mahya also uses this nickname on Arika in ''Anime/MaiOtomeZwei''.
* In ''Magical Domiko'', the ShowWithinAShow from ''NanakaSixSeventeen'', Domiko's sidekick is always referred to by her as Pikota... even though he constantly insists his name is Pikoto.
* Cruz from ''Manga/{{Needless}}'' is called "Yamada" by Eve, which annoys him. Teruyama gets the same treatment, ending up with "Uchida". In the flashback, Blade was called "Ishida" by her. She actually fantasizes about actually remembering people's names at one point (instead of making up names to use for them).
* ''Manga/OnePiece''
** Franky calls the villain Spandam "Spanda" (could be both B and C variants), much to the latter's annoyance. The fact that said character has marks on his face like that of a panda makes it kinda appropriate.
** This happens a fair bit. Luffy often calls people by distinguishing features, Sanji refers to Zoro as "Marimo" (a type of moss reminiscent of his hairstyle) and he often calls Sanji "Stupid Love Cook" and the like. Luffy also calls Boa Hancock "Hanmock" [[spoiler:though he called her by Hancock shortly before leaving her at Impel Down, prompting a [[HilarityEnsues rather funny response]].]]
* Kasanoda in ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' is better known as Casanova, anyway. [[RuleOfFunny It's just funnier]]. And if that's not enough, sometimes he's called Bossa Nova as well.
* In ''[[Anime/{{Persona4}} Persona 4: The Animation]]'' [[TheHero Yu]] calls, even registers her number in his phone, [[AlphaBitch Ai Ebihara]] with 'Ebi', which means shrimp in Japanese, after she makes him her rebound boyfriend. This being [[ComicallySerious Yu]], he doesn't do it out of malice, but because he thinks it's funny to see the local AlphaBitch flustered. He keeps calling her that as an AffectionateNickname after their mock dating ends and she keeps telling him to stop in return, even though she doesn't really care what he's calling her anymore.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''
** This happens to Butch a lot in both the English and Japanese versions of the anime. He's been called Botch, Biff, Hutch, Bob, Butcher, and many others. In the original Japanese, his name is Kosaburo, but he always gets called Kosanji. Seems to happen so often that he immediately replies "It's Butch!" when spoken to. In an episode of the spinoff ''Pokémon Chronicles'', Butch is actually called the correct name for a change, and he replies with "It's Bu-Oh, wait, that's what you said!" Another time, he called himself by the wrong name when attempting to correct someone when they got it right.
** His supervisor Dr. Number suffers from the same problem.
-->''[[RunningGag phone rings]]''\\
'''Namba:''' ''It's '''NAMBA!'''''
** Lyra, one of the representatives of the Johto Festival in Sinnoh, constantly refers to Dawn as Dane. While Dawn obviously tried to correct her, Lyra never seems to get it, and in the end, Dawn just didn't bother.
** And in Unova, there's Stephan (Kenyan), one of Ash's rivals. Ash continually pronounces it STEFF-in instead of ste-FON, which he is hasty to correct but tries not to take personally.
*** YTV even made an advertising short on that.
* In ''Manga/{{Pretear}}'', Himeno is sometimes referred to as "tsurippu-atama" (Tulip-Head), because of her haircut (and possibly because her motif seems to be the tulip anyway).
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': A rare written example: when Ranma meets Kunō for the first time, they fight. It's a short one, but not so short that Ranma can't show off by imprinting a kanji symbol on his forehead. In the following scene, Kunō is looking at the symbol in a mirror, and while Nabiki is impressed at Ranma's handiwork, Kunō is upset because "he spelled my name wrong!" The subtitles in the episode translate the symbol to "insufferable". Kunō then writes his name correctly ("capable"), and Nabiki writes it the way she had thought it was spelled ("incapable").
-->'''Kunō:''' I despise you.
** Sadly, we don't get this in the English translation of the manga. Instead, we have Ranma write "buffoon" on Kunō's forehead. Kunō then writes it the way he thought it was spelled, shouting "This is how you spell it!" Nabiki then spells it correctly. The "I despise you" line stayed the same, though.
* Main character Madoka in ''RinneNoLagrange'' cannot for the life of her get Villagullio's name right and he eventually gave up on trying to get her to say it right. Eventually so does Makoka and just calls him Guivi-nii, though she almost gets it when she tries again in the second season.
* Quite a few of the dolls from the ''Anime/RozenMaiden'' anime have trouble remembering fellow doll Kanaria's name.
* ''Manga/SailorMoon''
** [[TheDitz Usagi]] does this in a "Sailor Stars" episode with the VictimOfTheWeek, called Garayan, calling him ''Garapan'', which means ''colourful men's underwear'' in Japanese.
** A better example is her nickname of Odango-atama (literally, Dumpling Head -- or, if you go by the dub, [[{{Woolseyism}} Meatball Head]]) based on her hairstyle. She hates it at first and throughout the first season insists that "They're not odangos!" Once she and Mamoru start dating, it becomes a pet name (though Usa-ko is used far more often) and other masculine (though not male) characters, namely Haruka and Seiya, start using it as well.
* ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei''
** Nozomu's family is extremely prone to these, something made worse by the fact that their names lend themselves to be called "Despair", "Death", and "Unmatched in Sexual Prowess". To explain for those unfamiliar with how kanji work, the two characters that make up their surname (Itoshiki) can be combined into a single character that forms unfortunate phrases with their given names.
** Let's not forget the whole Momoiro Kakarichou thing.
* ''Anime/{{S-CRY-ed}}'': Straight Cougar kept getting Mimori's name wrong, this an example of C he's not doing it to be mean, he honestly can't remember her name because he's always in a rush. He also calls Kazuma "Kazuya" once or twice.
** In one of the last episodes, he breaks the gag by actually getting her name right. However, he's said it wrong so many times by then that she corrects him anyway out of habit. The very deliberate way that he says it implies that his getting-names-wrong problem is more a case of ObfuscatingStupidity than anything else.
* ''Anime/SDGundamForce'': Bakunetsumaru, poor poor Baku. Nobody ever gets his name right the first time around. The Zako's are still having trouble with it. Although only Guneagle has trouble pronouncing it on the good guy's side.
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}''
** In an early episode, Gourry and Lina do this to Zelgadis. They call him "Zagildoes" and "Zeldagis", which almost makes him lose it.
** Gourry also does this with early villain Shabranigdo, whom he calls Shabadingo.
** Gourry still does it to everyone save Lina.
-->'''Gourry:''' Just give me a moment. I will remember. I will get it. [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/slayers_revolution/v01/c001/10.html It's right at the tip of my tongue.]] \\
'''Amelia:''' You forgot our names again? \\
'''Zelgadis:''' Much worse. Lina said our names just a moment ago.
** Lina does it frequently, to mock enemies she doesn't respect. She called Zolf only "third-rate wizard" and "mummy-man". And played it even further with [[UnknownRival Naga]]: she pretended to forget her name, then asked again ''right after'' Naga gave her name anew, ''then'' suddenly turned another way -- "remembered" their last meeting and said she was joking and is not about to forget the name of a girl who managed to [[DidntThinkThisThrough fry her own butt]]. Just to exploit every possible avenue of humiliation.
* Okabe in ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' ''loves'' to call Kurisu "Christina" (probably due to the fact that "Kurisu" is exactly how one would render the name "Chris" in Japanese, albeit in katakana instead of kanji) or occasionally things like Assistant, Celeb Seventeen, Zombie or any number of other things that aren't her name, much to her annoyance. So much so that she's pleasantly surprised when he doesn't. He also does this occasionally with Daru, calling him a "suupaa hakaa" (usually rendered in subtitles as "Super Haker") instead of a "suupaa hakkaa" ("Super Hacker"), which Daru is always quick to correct. It's a very subtle difference, with only a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop glottal stop]] separating the (intentionally) incorrect pronunciation from the correct one.
* In ''[[Manga/TegamiBachi Letter Bee]]'', one older Letter Bee derides Lag for going beyond the call of duty, calls him "Lang" and "Lob" before departing and ignoring Lag as he calls out his actual name.
* Rossiu from ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' is always called "Dekosuke/[[ForeheadOfDoom Forehead]] Boy" by Kamina.
* Barnaby from ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'' is not happy about the EmbarrassingNickname his partner Kotetsu insists on calling him by. While he gives up on complaining around episode 5 or so, he still continues to dislike it enough [[spoiler:to snap out of a brainwashed state of sorts just to inform Kotetsu that "[his] name is not Bunny! It's ''Barnaby!''"]]
* In ''Manga/ToLoveRu'', several characters mis-pronounce Yui's family name, Kotegawa, instead calling her Ko''ke''gawa, to her great annoyance.
* ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'': Zonge, a wannabe gourmet hunter, is frequently mislabeled as Zombie or a varient by almost everyone except his two sidekicks- even the [[UpToEleven captions]] get it wrong.
* [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Fai/Fye]] from ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' can't seem to get Kurogane's name right, deforming it to "Kurotan", "Kurorin" and such. However it is implied Fai does it just because [[RuleOfFunny it's fun,]] since he reverts to calling Kurogane by his full name when he's made him upset.
* ''Anime/TransformersArmada''
** Megatron once spent an entire episode referring to Thrust as Squidhead. Thrust, despite being a YesMan, wasn't pleased.
-->'''Thrust:''' My name is Thrust! T-H-R-U-S-T, Thrust!
** Billy and Fred also have some trouble remembering the Decepticons' names. At least they try.
* Count Alses of ''LightNovel/{{Tytania}}'' always misremembers Fan Hyulick's name as "Fan Hyulen". He is corrected on a regular basis, but this only serves to irritate him.
* In {{Upotte}}, Jiisuri/G3's little sisters, HK And MP doesn't like being called Chuu-3 and Chi-3 respectively.
* Dita from ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'' is the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} version. Despite the fact that she's romantically interested in the male lead, she can't seem to remember his name and calls him "Uchuujin-[[{{Honorifics}} san]]" ("Mr. Alien") instead.
* Tozuwa from ''Anime/{{Witchblade}}'' jokingly refers to Masane as Masamune (big chest) because of her large breasts. In the English dub he calls her "Melanie", because of her "melons".
* In ''Manga/{{Working}}'' Popura cannot call her co-worker Souta Takanashi properly by his name, instead calling him "Katanashi." Inami got confused with that until she found out that he only lets Popura call him that.
** Later Popura meet three of Takanashis sister at their home:
-->'''Popura:''' You are all Katanashi-kun's family members!?
-->'''Kazue, Kozue and Nazuna:''' It's Ta-ka-na-shi.
* In ''Manga/YubisakiMilkTea'' Minamo decides to call Yoshinori's crossdressing alter-ego "Catherine", when she first meets "her". As a running gag she does it several times afterward just to tease her/him, but it ends when Minamo requests that they should be girlfriends.
* Wacky robot mamodo Koral Q in ''Manga/ZatchBell'' calls Kiyomaro "Piyomaro" much to his annoyance.
* In {{anime}} in general, an older woman might do this to a younger woman intentionally to show disrespect. As per Japanese customs it is considered best to stop correcting them after it's clear they're doing it deliberately and simply tolerate the insult.
** In example, in ''Anime/TheTwelveKingdoms'' the maid Suzu is called "Mokurin" (which means "Fool" in the local language) by her {{Jerkass}} mistress Riyo. ([[BreakTheCutie Aside of subjecting her to many other hardships]]). At some point, the poor girl has a breakdown and starts screaming, "I'm not Mokurin! My name is Suzu! SUZU!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''Adventures in the Rifle Brigade''
** Gestapo captain Venkschaft, whose name is never said properly by anyone he encounters; They all call him "Wankshaft". This causes him to eventually explode in fury at the next person to get his name wrong. That person happened to be AdolfHitler himself, causing Venkschaft to be sent to the Russian front with the rank of Cocksucker Third Class.
** There's also American superspy Maryland Smith, who goes absolutely insane when people call him "Mary". Which is roughly 100% of the time.
* {{Batman}} villain the Mad Hatter gets the names of his henchmen Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum wrong, and doesn't really care enough to get them right. Deever and Dumson are Dumdum, Dimsum, and Denver as far as he cares, though for some reason he doesn't get the two confused, nor does he call Dumson by his dead twin brother's name, Dumphrey.
* In ''WorldWarHulk Aftersmash: ComicBook/DamageControl'', the new Black Goliath is called the wrong name by everyone he meets. "Black Buck", "Big Brother" (although that one sounds sort of cool all things considered), "Big Black"... He curtails this by changing it to simply "Goliath".
* Brock Blueheart from ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' despises his previous handle of Stinky.
* In ''Hate'', when Valerie introduces Buddy to her parents, her mom asks Buddy what his real name is. Buddy reluctantly admits that it's Harold, and that's what she insists on calling him, much to his chagrin.
* In ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyMicroSeries'' #1 Jade keeps getting Twilight's name wrong, calling her things like "Try-right" and "Spotlight". She's apparently doing it on purpose, as when she finds Twilight with her muzzle in a book, she calls Twilight by her proper name to get her attention.
* In the ''ComicBook/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' comic "Fair Wind to Java", Sam gets incensed when a bartender dismissively refers to him as "[=McGruff=]".
-->'''Sam:''' Did you hear what he called me? I ''hate'' that! Let's sneak up to his room later and drain all the liquid out of his body.\\
'''Max:''' If he calls me "HelloKitty", I'll plug him.
* In the ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' spinoff comic "Sonic Universe," Shadow the Hedgehog calls Marine several variants of her name. Probably because Marine is universally recognized as incredibly annoying and he just can't bring himself to care to get it right.
* In the ''{{Superboy}}'' comic of the 1990s (the one with the clone), Superboy had a recurring villain named Sidearm to whom he'd misremember every time they met ("Sidestep", "Sidecar", "Sideways", "Sideline"...).
* In ''{{Tintin}}'', Bianca Castafiore just can't seem to get Captain Haddock's (or his butler, Nestor's) name quite right. The Captain gets his own back at one point. But what's funny is that she ''never gets it wrong the same way twice.''
* 'ComicBook/{{X-Men}}''
** From the CrisisCrossover book ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}/ComicBook/TeenTitans: Apokolips Now'':
-->'''Wolverine:''' ''(working out in the Danger Room)'' Hey, Charley -- how much longer we gotta keep up with this?\\
'''Xavier:''' Until you get it right, Wolverine. And for the umpteenth time, call me "Professor".\\
'''Wolverine:''' Sure thing, Chuck.
** They've been over that before. Early on, the Professor told Logan to call him Professor, or if he ''must'' be familiar, Charles. Logan responded pretty much as he did in the ''Teen Titans'' crossover, and the professor is "Chuck" to him to this day. Also, Xavier once tried to get ''Cyclops'' to call him ''Charles'', but poor Scott couldn't bring himself to (after several hilarious attempts).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Curtis}}''
** Gunther the barber can never remember Curtis's name. He refers to him as pretty much any other name that starts with a C, some quite obscure and possibly not male names, and Curtis always reminds him of his real name, but it never sticks.
** Curtis himself often addresses Michelle, the unrequited object of his affections, as "Shelley", to her great annoyance.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' has a newsletter written by Dogbert, that people can send questions to. Dogbert will invariably give an insulting answer, starting by punnily misstating their name.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}''
** In the last two decades of the comic strip, Snoopy often referred to Charlie Brown as "the round-headed kid".
** Similarly, when Charlie Brown first met Peppermint Patty, he was surprised to find himself repeatedly called "Chuck". (Of course, as everybody else calls him by his full name instead of just his first name, this seems to be a problem for him in general.)
** Peppermint Patty, in turn, is only addressed by Marcie as "Sir". (Marcie also typically calls Charlie Brown "Charles".) At the end of the 1971 storyline in which Marcie was introduced, Peppermint Patty tops this running gag by asking Marcie if she has any idea how annoying it is, to which she replies, "No, ma'am!" At first, Patty would often tell Marcie "Stop calling me 'sir'!", but she eventually gave up.
** In the TV special ''A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving'', Marcie addresses Peppermint Patty as "Priscilla" at one point.
** In a neat reversal, Peppermint Patty also habitually addresses Lucy by her full name "Lucille".
** Peppermint Patty also regarded Snoopy as "that funny-looking kid with the big nose". Although this wasn't this trope so much as [[IAmNotWeasel this one]], because apparently it took Peppermint Patty a long time to realize Snoopy ''wasn't'' a normal kid.
** It is also worth noting that Peppermint Patty and Marcie live on the other side of town and are therefore usually depicted as only peripheral members of Charlie Brown's normal circle of friends, and that unlike practically everyone else in the strip except for Linus, Patty and Marcie genuinely like him and are therefore somewhat setting themselves apart.
** In an ironic twist, when Charlie Brown met Peggy Jean in 1990, he mistakenly introduced himself as "Brownie Charles", which she would call him in all of her subsequent appearances.
** "[[BerserkButton I AM NOT YOUR 'SWEET BABOO'!!!]]"
* ''ComicStrip/{{Retail}}''
** The original district manager, Jerry, would often refer to Marla as Darla. After Jerry got promoted to another part of the country the new D.M. revealed that Jerry knew Marla's real name, [[JerkAss but pretended that he didn't]].
** A year later Jerry [[TheBusCameBack returned to the strip]] and is now calling Marla by her correct name (probably because she knew the ruse now). He's still an asshole, though.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''FanFic/AGiftOfLove'', Tadashi's name is mispronounced numerous times by Xue and Hana. Xue calls him "Tsukishi" no less than three times despite Seta's best attempts to correct her.
* In ''FanFic/AverageJoeInBulletHell'', Suika calls Ryan everything ''except'' his name. Also, Alice Margatroid is understandably annoyed when Ryan calls her "VideoGame/{{Metroid}}" the first time they meet.
* ''AVeryPotterMusical''
** Shlongbottom.
** Also in the [[AVeryPotterSequel sequel]], it flashes back to their first year of Hogwarts when the trio first meet. Throughout the play, Harry and Ron can never get Hermione's name correct, calling her a bunch of different names, including Herman, Hermoingo-boingo, Hermanonucleosis, and the like. At one point Harry actually gets Hermione's name right, but immediately forgets it.
-->'''Harry:''' Okay, no, no listen. Hermione--\\
'''Hermione:''' You said my name right!\\
'''Harry:''' Just now? Did I? Herman... Munster...?
* From ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'':
** In a {{Crossover}} with ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', Calvin calls Alfred "Horus". Whether it was intentional or not is unknown.
** Brainstorm mistakes Socrates for "Caesar", the only thing he remembers being that "[it] was Roman". Whether or not's it's intentional or not is unclear.
** When defending Jack Freewater, Calvin keeps forgetting his name until the end.
* In ''FanFic/DiddyKongRacing5000'', Wizpig abuses Klungo several times for calling him "Pigwiz".
* In ''WebVideo/DragonBallAbridged'', Krillin constantly calls Dende "Little Green".
* From [[Machinima/FreemansMind Felix's Mind]], Felix seems to think that [[VideoGame/{{Half-Life2}} Alyx's]] name is Joni. [[spoiler:[[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Until the last episode, anyway]].]]
* In ''Harry Potter and the Half-Assed Parody'', a comedic chapter-by-chapter reimagining of ''[[Literature/HarryPotter Half-Blood Prince]]'', Slugworth's name goes through this constantly, such as "Slug-Slug Bo Bug". This is done both in the narrative and in the dialogue, but it seems no characters ever notice anything strange being said.
* As part of Fluttershy's ButtMonkey treatment in ''MyLittlePonyTheMentallyAdvancedSeries'', none of the other ponies ever call her by her actual name, with Pinkie Pie referring to her simply as "yellow one."
* In the earliest parts of ''FanFic/TheNewRetcons'', John's fellow dentist Everett had to take out a full page ad that says that his name was Everett because John kept calling him Elliot.
* In the [[BadFuture Dark World arc]] of the ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'', everyone keeps getting [[BigBadWannabe the Valeyard's]] name wrong (Junkyard, Barnyard, Graveyard, etc) on purpose to insult him (this is actually a shout out to [[Series/DoctorWho the show]], where the Doctor kept doing it). He actually lampshades this during his BossBattle, saying he's heard literally every yard-related pun in the book.
* ''WebVideo/SailorMoonAbridged'' has Neflyte constantly getting Molly's name wrong... at least, before his last two episodes.
* ''FanFic/TurnaboutStorm''
** [[VisualNovel/AceAttorney Phoenix Wright]] has some trouble remembering [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Fluttershy's]] name at first. He calls her Butshersty, Flutterscotch and Firefly at 3 different times, but it's not like Flutteshy minds at all (it has to do with [[FriendToAllLivingThings her]] believing that Phoenix is... well... [[ADogNamedDog a phoenix]].)
** In Part 2, Trixie brings malicious variants with Twilight Screw-Up, Rainbow Trash and Mr. Wrong.
* In ''FanFic/VanityFairIsAMagazineNotABook'', [[{{Pokemon}} Cassidy and Butch]] show up around chapter nine. Just like in {{Pokemon}}, everyone who utters Butch's name gets it wrong, and they usually call him "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny Bitch]]". He is even called "Bitch" in the GagCredits.
* [[Manga/AzumangaDaioh Osaka]] in ''RolePlay/WeAreOurAvatars'' often gets the names of things wrong, thanks to her {{Cloudcuckoolander}}ness.
* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'': Frank gets angry every time he is called flame swordsman.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* In ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', Jafar keeps calling Prince Ali Ababwa (Aladdin's alias when passing himself as royalty) as Prince Abooboo.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'': "My name is ''NOT'' '''CHUCK!'''"
* In ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'', Darla repeatedly calls Danny by the wrong name, presumably to impress that she, as a star, is worth far more than he is.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun'', Rocky intentionally calls Ginger by several flirtatious nicknames (one that pops up frequently is Dollface.) He drops the habit in the second half of the film, after developing true feelings for her.
* This is a recurring situation in ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', where, besides her parents, everybody seems to be under the impression her name is "Caroline". It grates on her so much that one of the things she enjoys most about the "other" world is that nobody does that there.
** [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/esmeraldabeautifuldesigns/3274572842/ Epic win.]]
* The non-malicious variant shows up in ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', where the absent-minded Dory can never remember the name of Marlin's son (the titular Nemo), misremembering it as [[MarxBrothers "Chico", "Harpo",]] "Fabio", "[[Series/SesameStreet Elmo]]", and the like.
* ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'': After mishearing Roddy's protest of "I'm just an innocent bystander!", many start referring to him as Millicent Bystander. Oh, and Rita's grandmother keeps calling him Tom Jones.
* ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective'': Basil never gets Olivia Flaversham's last name right: Flammhammer, Flanchester, Flangerhanger...
-->'''Olivia:''' Flaversham!\\
'''Basil:''' Whatever.
:: Hovever, he does get the name right the one time he addresses her father, so he's probably doing it on purpose.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', Jack, and by extension everyone in HalloweenTown, calls SantaClaus "Sandy Claws". In a deleted scene and in the dialogue when Jack first meets Santa, it's shown that Jack took the "Claws" part literally.
-->'''Jack:''' Why, you have hands! You don't have claws at all!
* ''Disney/OliverAndCompany'': "Francis. Francis. Not Frank. Not Frankie. Francis."
* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', Woody referred to Buzz as both "Light Beer" and "Light Snack".
** In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', Stinky Pete does this as well, calling Buzz "Lightweight". Woody jumps to his defense, shouting "His name is Buzz Lightyear!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/{{Aliens}}'':
-->'''Gorman:''' Morning, Marines. I'm sorry we didn't have time to brief you people before we left Gateway, but...\\
'''Hudson:''' Sir?\\
'''Gorman:''' What is it, Hicks?\\
'''Hudson:''' Hudson, sir. ''(points)'' He's Hicks.
* Larry Kroeger from ''AnimalHouse'' gets called Lonny by Neidermeyer, even when he tries to correct him, when he and Kent are trying to get into Omega House.
* In ''Film/AnnieHall'', Alvy's friend Rob insists on addressing him as "Max", arguing, "It's a good name for you."
* Another Brooks example: Throughout ''Film/BlazingSaddles'', Hedley Lamarr keeps having to correct other characters after they address him as "Hedy". Same bit, same ACTOR. HedyLamarr was a real actress and they were playing off the similarity for laughs. (then she sued production for unauthorized usage of her name...)
** And in a bit of irony, the first result for "Hedley Lamarr" on Google is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr Hedy's page on Wikipedia]].
* In ''Film/BrideAndPrejudice'' Darcy's mother keeps calling Lalita ''Lolita''.
* Ty Webb gets Danny's name wrong in one scene from ''{{Caddyshack}}'', at one point calling him Betty.
* In ''CampNowhere'' the bullies do this to the protagonist's ''nickname'', and the end result is actually LAMER by comparison. They repeatedly call Morris, aka [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Mud]], "Pud." Why they do this is anyone's guess.
* The Live Action ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'', Cat frequently calls Conrad by the wrong name.
-->Cat: That means they're almost done Conrack.
-->Conrad: Conrad.
-->Cat: That's what I said Condor.
-->Conrad: CAT!
-->Cat: Now that's my name (chortles)
* In ''{{Carrie}}'', the principal keeps calling her "Cassie", which [[spoiler:provokes her second telekinetic experience.]] Unlike the book, in the movie ''everyone'' calls her Cassie.
* In ''{{Chinatown}}'', Noah Cross addresses Jake Gittes as "Mr. Gitts" (one syllable) rather than the correct "Gitt-ess" (two syllables), even after being corrected. It is definitely of the "malicious" variety.
* In ''Film/ClubDread'', Juan keeps pronouncing Penelope's name as Peen-na-lope after first seeing it on her name tag, with the "lope" part being pronounced the same way as the last syllable of "antelope". He actually has a crush on her and still can't get her name right. The RunningGag was inspired by co-writers Jay Chandrasekhar and Kevin Heffernan seeing ''CarlitosWay'' in a theater and hearing someone in the audience loudly ask "What kind of a name is Peen-na-lope?" when Penelope Ann Miller's name appeared in the opening credits.
* In ''The Comebacks'', Coach Lambeau Fields consistently mispronounces Aseel Tare's name as "[[GameBreakingInjury ACL Tear]]."
* In ''DeadOrAlive'' TheMovie, Weatherby is consistently called by other names, most often "Wallaby". Apparently there's an interesting story to his name, we just never get to hear it. Victor Donovan, his boss, calls him Weatherby. The guilty party here is his love interest Helena. A marked change in their relationship is when she uses his name correctly for the first time. Weatherby starts to correct her, only to realize that she got it right.
* Miranda Priestly, the title devil in ''TheDevilWearsPrada'', is constantly calling her assistant, Andy, by the wrong name. After a while it becomes clear that a) she is doing it deliberately, and b) she considers having Andy's name said ''correctly'' as a kind of hard-to-earn merit badge. Specifically, she calls her by her predecessor's name, Emily, as a reminder that her job has a HighTurnoverRate and she's merely the latest of several replacements and could be gone any time. Once she begins to rely on her, she starts calling her by her real name -- but always Andrea rather than Andy, and [[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY pronounced pretentiously as Ahn-DRAY-ah]] instead of ANN-dree-ah.
* In ''Film/{{Disturbia}}'', Kale calls a girl named Minnie Tyco "Skinny Psycho."
* ''EmpireRecords'': "My name isn't fucking Warren!" Kind of unusual because he brings it on himself -- when asked his name, he gives the smart-ass answer of "WarrenBeatty". Characters who were there for that exchange immediately start calling him Warren out of lack of anything else to call him, and it sticks enough that people who weren't there assume it's his actual name. Also, we never find out what his real name ''is''.
* In ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'', General Colton constantly refers to Lady Jaye as 'Brenda'. When he finally calls her Jaye it is a sign that he now respects her.
* This is a RunningGag in the American remake of ''Film/{{Godzilla}}'' in which the main human character, Nick Tatopoulos, constantly has his last name mispronounced throughout the film by other characters. It's just as funny as it sounds...
** And ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' takes the joke [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFrD6Zi9Wl0 to eleven]].
* Walt from ''GranTorino'', being the GrumpyOldMan that he is, hardly calls the Hmong by their correct names. "Thao" becomes "Toad", and his love interest Youa is "Yum Yum".
* In ''HaroldAndMaude'', Harold's mother does this to all three of Harold's dates.
* RunningGag in ''Film/HellNight'' with the DumbBlonde Denise calling the SurferDude Seth "Wes", despite his frequent corrections.
* In Creator/MelBrooks' ''Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartOne'', everybody seems to think that Count Du Monet's real name is "Count the Money".
* Variant C: Admiral "Tug" Benson in the ''Film/TopGun'' parody ''Film/HotShots'', who can never seem to get Lt. Cmdr. Block's first name ("James") right. Usually, he doesn't even come close. But you do have to cut him some slack, since after all, he did catch "a bazooka round at Little Big Horn. Or was it Okinawa? The one without the Indians."
* Through a misunderstanding Film/JohnCarter becomes (much to his annoyance) [[spoiler:"Virginia"]]
* ''Film/KellysHeroes'': Sgt. Babra (it's his last name) keeps getting called Barbara.
* The Fiddler from ''KinDzaDza'', despite not actually being able to play the fiddle. The one he lugs around for the entire film was left at a concert and he was returning it when the film started.
* In ''Film/TheKingOfComedy'', Rupert Pupkin tends to mention that his name is "often mispronounced or misspelled" when introducing himself, and over the course of the film, it is. Most often by Jerry Langford's secretary, who tends to call him Mr. Pumpkin or Mr. Pipkin.
* Jareth, in ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', seems incapable of remembering Hoggle's name and calls him a variety of sound-alikes. At one point Sarah tries to correct him, but gets his name wrong as well and Hoggle must correct them both. The only time he gets Hoggle's name right is when he's threatening and/or abusing him. Jareth also does this to Spittledrum, who is very happy when Toby gets his name right.
* In ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors'', when Audrey introduces Orin to Seymour, [[{{Jerkass}} Orin]] doesn't quite get the meek florist's name right until Audrey corrects him, and he [[BerserkButton doesn't like the fact she corrected him]].
* The main character of ''LocalHero'', "Mac" [=MacIntyre=], is referred to as "[=MacIntosh=]" by his absent-minded boss.
* The father in ''{{Melancholia}}'' is sitting between two women apparently named Betty. He calls a waitress Betty, then asks if that's not actually her name and apologizes. Later that night, he addresses his own daughter as Betty in a letter, though her name is Justine. It's not clear if this is some sort of running joke with him or if he's going senile.
* The Swamp Castle scene in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''. "But Mother..." "Father, lad, Father." And a moment later: "Listen, Alice..." "Herbert."
* ''{{Newsies}}''. Mr. Wiesel is always called "Mr. Weasel" by our heroes. (Compare the ''YesMinister'' example below.)
* ''[[Film/NightAtTheMuseum Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian]]'' has Custer unable to pronounce Sacajawea's name, calling her "sack-in-a-box" and "Cinco de Mayo" before just giving up.
* Samir Nagheenanajar in ''OfficeSpace'', a couple of times. The Bobs even make a joke about it when going over the list of people they're going to fire: "Samir Naga... Naga... Not gonna work here anymore."
* In the live-action version of ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'', Cruella de Vil does this to Roger. This is one of the film's facets that carried over into the animated series.
* ''RainMan'': Refers to the main character in the film, the autistic Raymond Babbitt and the [[{{Malaproper}} malapropism]] used by his younger brother, Charlie, when Charlie was a toddler just learning to talk and still unable to properly enunciate the name. He only remembers "Rain Man" as an imaginary friend from early in his own childhood, when Raymond still lived in the same house before being sent to an institution (as he was a potential danger to Charlie - "Hot water burn BABY!!!").
* In the family baseball movie ''RookieOfTheYear'', the kid's name is Henry Rowengartner, and a RunningGag is the team's manager consistently misremembering his name as Rosenberg, Ruddemucker, Rulienfurter, etc.
* In the '60s RedScare spoof ''The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming'', the leader of the Soviet submarine crew asks Walt Whittaker what his name is. When he starts to respond, giving his last name first ("Whittaker. Walt..."), the sailor cuts him off, and spends the rest of the film addressing him as "Whittaker Walt".
* In ''TheSantaClause'', the newly minted and very confused Santa refers to his head elf by many names starting with B, including Barabbas and Barnaby, except his real name, Bernard.
* In the first live-action ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' movie, Fred cannot get Mondavarious's name right. Though funnily enough he says it correctly once.
* In ''SisterAct 2: Back To The Habit'', the movie's villain, Mr. Crisp, continuously mispronounces Sister Mary Clarence's name, though, despite the part he plays in the movie, it seems due to cluelessness and not malice; Sister Mary Clarence mispronounces his surname to get back at him, though.
* In ''Film/SpyKids'', Mr. Lisp's name is pronounced "Mr. Lithp" by one of the characters.
* In ''TheSting'', Henry Gondorff has a short period of time to make Doyle Lonnagan unreasonably loath him (it's necessary for the con to work). So, he gets Lonnegan's name wrong every time he addresses him (he calls him Lonneman, Lonnihan, Lowman, Lemongan, and Larrabee instead).
* At the start of ''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'', Robert introduces himself to Rocky, who seconds later addresses him as "Richard".
* In ''Film/TheThirdMan'', Holly Martins refers to the policeman Calloway as "Callahan" several times, despite Calloway's insistence that he's "not Irish."
* ''Film/ToWongFooThanksForEverythingJulieNewmar'': Sheriff Dullard insists that it's really "Dollard," and that his nametag is a "misprint."
* In ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', no-one, it seems, can pronounce "Witwicky" correctly. Mikaela believes it to be "Wilkicky", and when Sector Seven arrives at the Witwickys' house, Simmons pronounces it "Wickity".
* ''Film/TropicThunder'': OnlySaneMan Kevin Sandusky is called every other possible name by the other characters (e.g., "Tell him what time it is, Sikorsky!")
* In ''Film/WhatsUpDoc'', Judy is constantly calling Howard "Steve" for no apparent reason.
* In ''Film/{{Zoolander}}'', neither Zoolander nor Hansel are capable of getting the Prime Minister of Malaysia's title correct, referring to him as things like "the Prime Minister of Micronesia", "Mr. Prime Rib of Propecia", and "the Claymatian dude".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In Kit Pearson's ''A Handful of Time'', Patricia Potter's cousins called her "Potty". That was also her nickname at school.
* In ''ATreeGrowsInBrooklyn'', Aunt Sissy has an affinity for the name "John" and addresses all her husbands and lovers so to the point that her family doesn't always learn their real names. Her third husband asserts himself toward the end, insisting that Sissy and her family call him "Steve".
** Sissy's affectation was changed to "Bill" in the film version, for obvious reasons. Sissy is sexually liberated for her time, but she is not a prostitute.
* Done in JasperFforde's ''The Big Over Easy'', by Professor Tarsus, who insists on calling all the men "Ronald" and all the women "Nancy". And I do mean all of them.
-->'''Mary:'''Thomas Thomm, Professor. We understand he used to work here?\\
'''Professor:''' The name means nothing to me, Nancy.\\
'''Mary:''' ...You would have known him as... Ronald.\\
'''Professor:''' Then why didn't you say so? Yes, I remember Ronald quite well.
* In Creator/StephenKing's ''{{Carrie}}'', the high school principal is an out-of-touch nebbish. He first calls Carrie "Carrie Wright" instead of White, and then misremembers her first name as Cassie.
* ''Literature/{{Chrestomanci}}''
** Chrestomanci loves this one. He does the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} version of this. It's said that he only does it with people he couldn't care less about (although at least partially ObfuscatingStupidity).
** In ''Charmed Life'' Janet consistently does this to Mr. Balsam, referring to him by various names such as Mr. Bistro and Mr. Beeswax. When Cat calls her on it, she says that Mr. Balsam "doesn't deserve for her to get his name right."
* In the NeroWolfe story "Cordially Invited to Meet Death," the client insists on addressing Goodwin as "Goldwin". She does the same thing to her servants, who never stay long. According to a friend of the family, it's a pose, "since her entire career is founded on snobbery."
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
** In the novel ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', Cohen the Barbarian initially refers to GentleGiant One Big River as "One Big Mother" a few times.
** Also, in ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' and ''Discworld/MakingMoney'', Moist von Lipwig has to put up with people getting his name wrong and calling him "Lipstick" or "Lipwick". And Mr Pump initially pronounces it as it's written, prompting an angry "It's Lip-''vig''!". [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Pump then starts pronouncing]] ''all'' Ws as Vs.
** Another slight variant in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies''. Hodgesaargh is not really the Lancre Royal Falconer's name, but because every time he introduces himself, the hawk he's holding would inevitably attack him. After a while, the people just decided to call him by that.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' book "Blood Rites", self-absorbed porn star Trixie Vixen can't be bothered to remember Harry's name, but never forgets that he didn't bring her a latte. [[spoiler: This saves him from a murder rap, since she tries to frame him but can't give a good description or name to the police.]]
* The Monster of Frankenstein is often referred to as "Frankenstein", which isn't his name but the name of his inventor, Dr. Frankenstein.
* ''Literature/GeronimoStilton'' has this happen to him frequently, although most of the time its just his sister and cousin teasing him. Still, he's wondered on more than one occasion why people can't seem to grasp that his name is [[BondJamesBond Stilon, Geronimo Stilton]].
* ''Literature/HarryPotter''
** Malfoy, in one of the books, calls Harry and Ron "Potty and the Weasel". Harry seems to get called "Potty" a lot by Peeves as well.
** Then there's Luna, who is often known as "Loony", another name that Peeves uses. Actually, Peeves seems to be [[TheNicknamer quite fond of these]], even going so far as to refer to Voldemort as "Voldy".
** Slughorn has been known to forget Ron's name, more because he doesn't take much interest in Ron than out of actual malice. In ''Half-Blood Prince'' he called Ron "Rupert", and [[ComicallyMissingThePoint hordes of fans contacted the publisher]] thinking JKRowling had accidentally used the name of the actor who plays Ron in the movies. Of course, [[strike:it's possible that]] Rowling chose the name Rupert [[ShoutOut on purpose]], which would make this an ActorAllusion.
** In ''HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', Barty Crouch is always calling his assistant, Percy Weasley, "Weatherby" (to Fred and George's delight). Given that he was supposed to be an extremely sharp character -- speaking over 200 languages, for example -- this may have been an early sign of him being under the influence of the Imperius curse (though the first time he calls Percy "Weatherby", he's not under the influence of the Curse). His family assumed it was because Crouch didn't care about Percy much, and mocked him for it. A favourite fan theory is that Percy secretly changed his name because the Weasleys have a reputation for being poor and silly; he's not shown correcting him, after all.
** Professor Binns never gets a student's name right and incidentally, always calls all Weasleys "Weatherby".
** Likewise, Uncle Vernon cannot for the life of him remember what a Dementor is called even ''seconds'' after being told. Over the course of one chapter, which takes place across a period of around ten minutes, he refers to them as "dementoids", "dismembers", "dementy-whatsists", "demenders", and the like.
** In the Pensieve scene where Dumbledore visits Tom Riddle at the orphanage in ''HarryPotter/{{Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince}}'', the orphanage head Mrs. Cole introduces Dumbledore to Tom Riddle as "Mr. Dumberton -- sorry, Dunderbore." Of course, Dumbledore has slipped her quite a bit to drink by this point...
** Let's not forget Sirius Black and James Potter calling Snape "Snivellus". Rowling used this trope brilliantly in the Snape's Worst Memory scene. Almost immediately after they start using it, Harry is able to identify that they're bullies, a dramatic moment for him.
** Ginny, frustrated with Fleur and her involvement with Bill, takes to calling her "Phlegm".
* In ''JaneOfLanternHill'', everybody she knows in Toronto calls her by her middle name, Victoria, after her maternal grandmother, which she doesn't like. The only exceptions are her mother, who calls her the whole 'Jane Victoria' and her best friend Jody, who is told upon the first meeting that Jane prefers her first name. When she goes to visit her father in Prince Edward Island, she makes sure that everybody there knows to call her 'Jane'.
* In ''Life of Pi'', Piscine Patel is instantly christened "Pissing Patel" by the other children at his school. The teachers try harder, but even they slip into calling him "Pissing" when they're not concentrating. He invents the nickname "Pi" for himself to avoid this.
* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Samwise refers to Smeagol/Gollum's two personalities as "Slinker" and "Stinker," much to the creature's chagrin.
* ''Literature/TheNightOfWishes'': Beelzebub Preposteror often called Maledictus Maggot "Mr. Larva". It's HilariousInHindsight to anyone who ever whatched the Brazilian dubbing of [[WesternAnimation/{{Wunschpunsch}} the cartoon]].
* In ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'', [=McMurphy=] is well aware that Nurse Ratched is pulling variant A on him, and darkly hints at what he'll do if she keeps it up.
* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''
** Mr. D (a.k.a. [[PhysicalGod Dionysus]]) intentionally refuses to call Percy by name, usually calling him Peter Johnson, or some other similar name.
** Annabeth also calls Percy "Seaweed Brain" for most of the first book, and continues to as an friendly/affectionate nickname for the remainder of the series.
* In ''The Power of One'', Peekay's name is short for what the boys called him at school, "Pisskop," which is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin what it sounds like]]. His real name is [[NoNameGiven never revealed]].
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''ProsperosDaughter'' trilogy, Mab repeatedly refers to Creator/WilliamShakespeare as "Spearshaker" -- when Shakespeare isn't even around to object. He also calls Ulysses "the perp."
* "Allow me to mispronounce your name to show my disrespect for you" = Sir Percy Blakeney constantly calling his ArchEnemy Chauvelin "Chambertin" or "Chaubertin" or what-have-you in ''Literature/TheScarletPimpernel'' and its sequels. Though there's some ObfuscatingStupidity to it.
* In Ellen Conford's ''The Revenge of the Incredible Dr. Rancid and His Youthful Assistant, Jeffrey'' a bully named Dewey Belasco frequently referred to title character Jeffrey Childs as "Childish," prompting a younger kid named Fletcher who idolized Jeffrey to remark that he shouldn't call people names or else somebody might start calling ''him'' something like "Doody Bigasso."
* In "The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope," by Saki, there is the following exchange:
-->"Is your maid called Florence?"\\
"Her name is Florinda."\\
"What an extraordinary name to give a maid!"\\
"I did not give it to her; she arrived in my service already christened."\\
"What I mean is," said Mrs. Riversedge, "that when I get maids with unsuitable names I call them Jane; they soon get used to it."\\
"An excellent plan," said the aunt of Clovis coldly; "unfortunately I have got used to being called Jane myself. It happens to be my name."
* In ''StarTrekDepartmentOfTemporalInvestigations'', InsufferableGenius Professor Vard calls Agent Dulmur by various names including "Agent Duller", "Agent Dummer" and "Agent Dombler".
* In Creator/KimNewman's AlternateHistory novella ''Teddy Bear's Picnic'', film director Michael Powell makes deliberate decision to refer to the government censor Putnam as "Putt-man", and instructs all of his staff to do the same.#
* Early in ''WatershipDown'', there's a memorable scene where the Threarah accidentally refers to Hazel as "Walnut."
* In Paul Robinson's ''Willis and Friends'', Willis' supervisor likes to be called Libby. When Willis is mad at her, or she's made a mistake, Willis calls her Elizabeth, specifically stating that he knows that ''Elizabeth'' irritates her.
* In ''Literature/WizardsHall'', absolutely ''nobody'' seems to be able to get the second part of Thornmallow's name right. They have no problem with "Thorn," but the things they amend to the end include: Marrow, Swallow, Power, Powder, and Swoggle.
* Slight variant, in that the name in question is the name of an object: In the Creator/TomHolt book ''Ye Gods!'', the Hero, Jason, is given a sword called the Sword of Glycerion. Jason cannot ever remember the name of the sword and refers to it (in narration only -- it is never mentioned by name in dialogue again after Jason is told its name) variously throughout the book as the "Sword of Thingummy", "Sword of Damn It's On the Tip Of My Tongue, Begins With G", "Sword of Sounds Like Mice Weary On Or Something", "Sword of Sod It I've Forgotten Again", "Sword of Whatsit", "Sword of Who The Hell Cares", and ultimately "Sword of I Think I'll Call It George, Nice Name That".
* Variant C is a sort of AuthorCatchphrase for GrahamGreene; it turns up throughout his oeuvre.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* On ''Series/{{Action}}'', screenwriter Adam Rafkin is hired after being mistaken for real-life journalist Alan Rifkin. A RunningGag is that Peter calls him "Alan" to his face and doesn't recognize his real name.
* ''AllInTheFamily'': Archie, applying the non-malicious but disdainful use to Mike ("Meathead") and in-his-mind-terms-of-endearment to Edith ("Dingbat") and Gloria ("Little Goil").
* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment''
** George Michael's girlfriend Ann is constantly misnamed by Michael, using "Bland", "Egg", "Annabel", "Yam", "Plant", "Plain", "Ann Hog", and "Her?".
** The A-D (don't call it that) also had a recurring joke about how Gob could not remember his wife's name.
-->'''Michael Bluth:''' What's her first name? Quickly.\\
'''Gob:''' Crindee.\\
'''Michael Bluth:''' Name's not Crindee, Gob.\\
'''Gob:''' ''(reads papers)'' Ah, Saul Zetzmann. Nope. That's her lawyer. Well, she's GOT a name. And I'm gonna find out what it is. And I'm gonna make a pun on it. And that's what I'll call her. Bad example: if her name's Amy, I'll call her "Blame-y".\\
'''Michael Bluth:''' That's a strong defense.
*** The joke there being that Gob's wife is played by Will Arnett's actual wife, Amy Pohler.
* ''Series/BandOfBrothers''
** New recruit O'Keefe is called O'Brien by one of the veterans. After being corrected a few times, he explains why he doesn't remember.
-->"Do you know why no one remembers your name? It's because no-one wants to remember your name. There's too many Smiths, [=DiMattos=] and O'Keefes and O'Briens, who show up here, replacing Toccoa men that you dumb replacements got killed in the first place! And they're all like you. They're all piss and vinegar... Two days later, there they are with their blood and guts hanging out and they're screaming for a medic, begging for their goddamn mother."
** One of the soldiers who was in the 506th (which the series is based on) said in an interview he tried not to learn the replacements names, because he couldn't handle it when they, almost inevitably, got killed.
* On ''Series/BarneyMiller'', Inspector Luger invariably referred to Carl Levitt as "Levine".
* Nev in ''Bear Behaving Badly'' does this to nearly everyone. He calls Mr Prank "Mr. Angry Pants", Barbara "Brabra", Beatrice "Beetroot" and Melanie "Smellanie". With the exception of a past version of Melanie in a time travel episode, no one takes offence to it. In one episode Melanie did call Mr Prank "Mr Angry Pants", in on other occasions Mr. Prank is sometimes called "Mr Plank".
* We've already mentioned Darrin in ''Series/{{Bewitched}}''. This was usually done by Endora, along with other members of Samantha's family, by random people like Horace the bum and SantaClaus, and when she was in a bad mood Samantha herself did it. Darrin wasn't the only one to have to put up with this. One of Darrin's old girlfriends did this to Samantha too. There's a list of these names [[http://www.harpiesbizarre.com/nickname.htm here]], though it also includes affectionate nicknames.
* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}''
** In the first series, [[BrianBlessed King Richard IV]] can never manage to remember his son Edmund's name. When he finally gets it right in the finale...
-->'''Edmund:''' Father, you called me "Edmund"!\\
'''Richard:''' WHAT? OH, SORRY, EDGAR...
** Combined with ThrowItIn in season 3, as Hugh Laurie actually screwed up his line.
-->'''Edmund:''' You can start by not calling me "Bladder".
** And then invoked deliberately again in season 4:
-->'''Flashheart:''' Well, well, well, if it isn't Captain Slackbladder.
* ''Series/{{Bones}}''
** It is a running gag near the end of the third season that Booth can never correctly pronounce the name of the serial killer "The Gormogon". He refers to him as "Gabagoon" and "Gorgonzola", among others. His partner believes he's doing so intentionally, but Booth never admits anything.
** Hodgins' name is often mispronounced as Hodgkins, particularly by the private investigator he an Angela hired in one plot arc. This is a reference to the booklet that came with the first season DVD, which mispelled "Hodgins" as "Hodgkins".
** Also, in one episode Brennan tells a emergency man at a crime scene her name is "''Doctor'' Brennan." He replies that she probably doesn't even know his name. Her response? "Yes, but there's millions of you, but there's only one of me." Ooh, burnnn.
** "''Bones''" itself is an example of this. Booth uses it as an affectionate nickname for Brennan.
** Booth also mispronounces "Maluku", the region his partner Temperance was heading out to dig for ancient bones, in the season 5 finale.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''
** Buffy either has a lot of trouble keeping demon names straight or just likes doing it to annoy them. Calling Acathla "Alfalfa" and [[Series/SaturdayNightLive "Al Franken"]], and Kakistos "Kissing Toast" and "Taquitos". She also refers to the followers of Morgala as the followers of MorganFreeman and Turok-Han Chaka Khan.
** Buffy herself falls victim to this, as the mother of her best friend Willow is so out-of-touch with her daughter that she thinks Buffy's name is actually ''Bunny'', which really grates on Willow's nerves.
** And again in the episode "Superstar" (here just a member of Jonathan's posse in an alternate universe) where Spike sneeringly calls her "Betty".
* Hubert of Brazilian comedy group "Casseta & Planeta" was a recurring victim of the trope.
* On ''Series/TheColbertReport'', Stephen mocked several media figures' inability to pronounce Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by making reference to him with terms like Mahmoud Alanaldajad. This has since evolved into a RunningGag where Stephen gets Ahmadinejad's name wrong in absurd ways, like "Mahmoud Ahmamasdon'tletyourkidsgrowuptobecowboysdinejad".
-->'''Stephen:''' Oh, and a quick apology to my viewers. Earlier, when I mentioned the Iranian president, I neglected to note the difficulty of pronouncing his name. I assure you, I will not pronounce it correctly again.
** Despite stumping for Mitt Romney, Colbert has been completely unable to remember the candidate's name since the end of his campaign:
-->'''Stephen:''' Oh, what was his name... Dip Chutney?
* In ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode [[Recap/CommunityS1E24EnglishAsASecondLanguage English as a Second Language]] all of the Spanish class believes Annie's name is Hannah.
** Starburns always has to tell others "My name is Alex!" But when you trim your sideburns into prominent star shapes...
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' has gotten into it a bit with D.B. and Julie Finn. They aren't romantically involved, just friends, but Finn teased D.B. once by leaving him a note with his full name, 'Diebenkorn'. And he calls her Jules, even though he knows she [[DoNotCallMePaul hates it]] to tease her.
* In ''{{CSINY}}'', Danny frequently called Lindsay Monroe "Montana", a reference to her state of origin. This really annoyed her until she realised that he ''fancied her''. The ship went well and truly canon.
* Steve Carell, being interviewed on ''Series/TheDailyShow'' after leaving to become "a big movie star":
-->'''Steve:''' Well it's great to be back on the ''[[IAmNotShazam John Daily Show]]''.
* The season 2 opener of ''Series/DanisHouse'' features a guest character named "Fleur Blair". Dani, not hearing her name correctly repeatedly calls her "Fleur Blur".
* DavidLetterman used to frequently address crew members by the wrong name. Director Hal Gurnee was often called "Hal Gertner."
* ''Series/DeathValley'' has {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Captain Dashell routinely referring to Officer Kirsten Landry as Kristen, and seemingly unable to tell the difference between pronunciations when his error is pointed out.
* The Doctor in ''Series/DoctorWho'' has been known to do this to people.
** The First Doctor would sometimes call Ian Chesterton "Chesserman" or "Chatterton", sometimes by accident but perhaps other times just to annoy him. This started out as the actor actually not being able to accurately remember the name (the show was filmed "as live", a common practice at the time) and was later deliberately written in. Definitely on purpose.
-->'''Doctor:''' I don't know that I was under any obligation to report my movements to you, Chesterfield.\\
'''Barbara:''' Chester''ton''.\\
'''Doctor:''' Oh, Barbara's calling you.
** The Fourth Doctor does this, albeit for good reason:
-->'''Doctor:''' ... One more thing. Your name.\\
'''Romana:''' What about my name?\\
'''Doctor:''' It's too long. By the time I've called out, "Look out..." What's your name?\\
'''Romana:''' ''(slowly)'' [[OverlyLongName Romanadvoratrelundar]].\\
'''Doctor:''' By the time I've called that out, you could be dead. I'll call you "Romana".\\
'''Romana:''' I don't like "Romana".\\
'''Doctor:''' It's either "Romana" or "Fred".\\
'''Romana:''' All right, call me "Fred".\\
'''Doctor:''' Good. Come on, Romana.
** In "Trial of a Time Lord", the Sixth Doctor's prosecutor is called the Valeyard (pronouced Val-yard), which leads to a lengthy list of plays on Valeyard (including "Knacker's Yard").
** Ninth Doctor calls Mickey "Ricky" to annoy him in places, even going so far as to insist that his real name is Ricky and that Mickey believing otherwise is just another symptom of his idiocy. Which leads on to Mickey-the-Idiot later. Played with when they go to an AlternateUniverse, and there Mickey's counterpart ''is'' called Ricky.
** In Dreamland, a man calls the Doctor "Doc". The Doctor reaffirms it's "the ''Doctor''".
-->'''Doctor:''' I'm not Doc, and you're not BugsBunny.
** Ace frequently called him "Professor", much to his chagrin. It was more of a playful nudging; when things got serious, she called him "Doctor."
** Steven Taylor, one of the First Doctor's Companions, would often call him "Doc". The Doctor would demand that Steven call him by his proper name.
*** [[FridgeLogic How was he able to do that, if The Doctor couldn't tell anyone his proper name except under a specific condition?]]
* On ''{{ER}}'', Dr. Chen is being unfairly hard on new medical student Neela, angry because her boyfriend has been flirting with her. When Neela complains about this, truthfully pointing out that she didn't know the two were involved and did nothing to encourage his behavior, Chen comes up with some lame excuse for her harsh treatment, then caps it off my making a huge production out of looking at Neela's ID badge, pretending not to know her name in order to show her how beneath her notice she is.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''
** In his appearances, the greedy merchant [[SmugSnake Grunchlk]] (pronounced Groon-shlick) is occasionally called "Gun-sick" or "Greenchalk" by the crew of Moya. Grunchlk is all too happy to correct them -- and charge a higher price.
** Also, Crichton pretty much never gets the name of a one-shot alien race right, even after multiple corrections.
* ''Music/FlightOfTheConchords'' had their name given at one gig as "Flute of the Commodores". In the show, that is.
* During the early years of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Niles kept "forgetting" Roz's name.
** Simon often genuinely forgets her name, calling her Rose.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}''
** In her first appearance, Rachel's sister Amy believed Emma (Rachel and Ross's baby) was named "Emmett" or, once she'd learnt it was a girl, "Emily". When they tried to correct her, she thought ''Phoebe'''s name was Emma. And when Phoebe tried to correct ''that'', she thought "Fee bee" was just a strange noise "Emma" made.
** In her second appearance she thinks the baby's name is "Ella", and when Ross corrects her she asks why they changed it. This episode also confirms her CloudCuckoolander status, since she's forgotten him completely in less than a year.
** In an earlier episode, Chandler is jealous of an actor starring opposite Chandler's girlfriend in a play. He suspects that the actor will try to undermine him by calling him Chester, then when corrected, saying "Oh, whatever." Later in the episode, Ross uses this tactic when talking to Rachel about her new crush. (Interestingly, this exact tactic is used on Rick in an episode of ''SilverSpoons'', and the character who does it is played by Chandler himself, Matthew Perry. This was more than a decade before the ''{{Friends}}'' episode.)
* [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Walter]] on ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' has yet to memorize the name of his FBI bodyguard: Astrid. He's called her "Asterisk" at least once, as well as "Aspirin," "Ashram," and "Ostrich." This is [[AbsentMindedProfessor Walter]], so he's probably just being absent-minded. Subverted in one episode when he says "Astral--" and she corrects him "Astrid", but it turns out he was actually talking about AstralProjection. In season 3, he called her "Astro" and she got him back by calling him "Wally". By season four, he's also started doing this to Lincoln, calling him "Kennedy".
** {{Lampshaded}} during the Yellow World period, when Autistrid goes AWOL to cross over and visit our Walter. With his back to her, he calls her a name, and Autistrid, oblivious, corrects him. Walter straightens up in surprise, remarking "You never correct me..." and turns to see it's not ''his'' Astrid.
** In the ''SeriesFinale'', Astrid finds Walter preparing for (what she doesn't know is) his last mission, and he tells her, "It's a beautiful name, Astrid."
** Out of universe, John Noble's nickname for Jasika Nicole is "Afro."
* ''Series/GeorgeAndMildred'' has George's mate Jerry fond of referring to Mildred as "Mildew".
* In ''Series/{{Glee}}'', the only time Sue calls Emma by her correct name is in the Pilot. All other times, she has "mistakenly" called her names like Irma, Alma, Ellen, Arlene, You, or the Redhead. Sue also seems to genuinely believe that Kurt's name is Lady. When he points out that it isn't, she apologises and offers him a choice of alternative nick-names. He chooses Porcelain, and she sticks with that for the rest of the series.
* The BritCom ''Series/TheGoodLife'' focused on a couple, Tom and Barbara Good, who decided to become fully self-sufficient; this included Tom quitting his job and giving up a position he had held for years. His former boss, a recurring character, always referred to them as "Tim and Fatima", [[DontExplaintheJoke showing how forgettable he thought Tom was.]] In the character's last appearance, he stuns both Tom and Barbara by using Barbara's correct name. He explains that he was purposely "forgetting" their names to intimidate them, but they now have his respect. He then calls Tom "Tim" again... completely seriously. [[DontExplaintheJoke So he did really forget Tom's name.]]
* Alderman Davis showed up on ''Series/GoodTimes'' would call Wilona "Whilamena", "Wyonna", among others.
* ''{{Greek}}''
** Forever happens to Casey. Usually by guys pursuing her best friend, Ashleigh (who, despite her [[SpellMyNameWithAnS name]], never has this problem).
** Also, Cappie constantly does it to Rival Evan's name ("Evian", "Eva(n) Longoria", etc.)
* ''Series/{{House}}''
** House generally refers to Amber as "Cutthroat Bitch" and Cole as "Big Love".
** Thirteen isn't Thirteen's real name either, and that becomes so pervasive that even her boyfriend calls her Thirteen at times.
** Then the point when Wilson make an offhand comment about House not knowing anyone's first name (a lampshade to everybody being called by their last name), and House says something along the lines of, "Yes, I do, 'Bob'." The character is played by Robert Sean Leonard.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' has ''Swarley'', a full episode dedicated to it, after a barista [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude mistakes this for his name]]. I've never seen ol'Swarles so pissed off...
** [[OverlyLongGag Also known as]] Bob Swarley mon, Swarles Barkley, Swar-lay, Swarhili, Swarlos, and Swar-[[{{Catchphrase}} wait for it]]-ley. Barney tries to annoy Ted and Robin by calling them Ned and Roland, but it doesn't work.
* Throughout season six of ''{{Hustle}}'', Emma consistently refers to Lucy Britford as 'Lucy Bitchface'.
* On ''ILoveLucy'', Lucy's mother was always cally Ricky "Mickey".
** [[FridgeLogic Which gets really confusing considering she was able to remember her grandson's name (he was named after Ricky).]]
* On ''TheImpressionsShow'', the BBC's successor to ''[[Series.DeadRingers Dead Ringers]]'', the sketches with Bruce Forsyth and Vernon Kay feature Bruce constantly calling Vernon "Roland", and even giving him a nametag as such.
* On ''JoanOfArcadia'', Adam, who was somewhere between {{Cloudcuckoolander}} and GeniusDitz, consistently called Joan "Jane" -- ''except'' when he was upset with her.
* In ''KamenRiderOOO'', Date Akira consistently calls Ankh "Anko" (a type of snack food).
* Inversion in ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances'', where Hyacinth Bucket, by constantly correcting people, tries (in vain) to make them think "[[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY it's actually pronounced Bouquet]]." Which, according to Richard, who should know seeing as it's his last name, it isn't.* And then there's Papa Lazarou in ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen'', who calls ''everybody'' "Dave".
* In ''Manga/{{Kurosagi}}'', Kurosaki purposely and consistently gets Tsurara's last name wrong.
* Done in the Fat Fighters sketches on ''Series/LittleBritain'', where Marjorie Dawes always calls the Indian lady Meera by the wrong name: "Moira", "Mary" and so on. This is probably deliberate since she also pretends not to understand Meera's perfectly correct English. Some sketches also feature Dave (called "Johansen" by Marjorie) and the radio series had Jenny ("Julie".) In a couple of sketches, Andy has called Lou "Len". Also, Denver Mills, who has a teacher at a school where he has to give a speech consistently referring to him as "Dennis Mills", even after being corrected.
* Herr Oldenberg from a TV discussion in a sketch by German comedian Creator/{{Loriot}}. The other talking heads manage to get his name wrong each time, and never call him by the same wrong name twice. At one point, he's so confused he forgets his own name.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Sawyer constantly calls other characters by nicknames, both affectionate ("Freckles") and mocking ("Stay-Puft.") He also used the valid-name type in "Exposé" referring to Nikki and Paolo as "Nina and Pablo." Multiple videos have been created splicing together all Sawyer's nicknames. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or_BGsW7Mgg This one]] only includes the first three seasons and is ''six minutes long''. To the point that when he loses a bet, the islanders give him the forfeit of "no more nicknames"
* In ''MadanSenkiRyukendo'', Fusou will [[BerserkButton go nuts]] whenever someone calls him "old man" even though he is 25... especially Kenji seeing how ''he'' is the one who came up with that nickname.
* In ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', Bud would sometimes want to be addressed only by his rapper name, "Grandmaster B". This spawned a RunningGag wherein the cast members would refer to him as "Dustbuster B", "Thighmaster B", "Ghostbuster B", "Gas-passer B", and [[http://www.bundyology.com/bbud.html so on]].
** Al and Kelly had problem remembering which one of TheLittleRascals Al's rich uncle was named after. His name was Stymie, Al once called him "Buckwheat" and Kelly called him "Spanky".
* ''Series/{{Mash}}''
** Used in an episode which has Hawkeye temporarily swapping places with a surgeon from the 8063rd named Dupree (played by George "[[TheAndyGriffithShow Goober]]" Lindsey). Dupree can never pronounce BJ's name the same way, using "BG", "JJ", and "GJ", among others. The one time he calls him BJ is when he's drunk, and he promptly {{Lampshades}} it.
-->'''Dupree:''' ''(introducing the nurse who's come with him from the 8063rd)'' Where are my manners? Radar, JB, this is Nurse Low-raine Anderson.\\
'''Anderson:''' Sometimes it's pronounced "Lorraine".\\
'''BJ:''' Sometimes mine's pronounced "BJ".
** In the episode that introduces Maj. Charles Winchester ("Fade Out, Fade In"), Hawkeye variously addresses him as "Charlie", "Chuck", "Chuckles", and "Remington".
* ''MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': "Whatever you say, Ed!" "[[BerserkButton It's Zedd!]] ''Lord'' Zedd!" was a RunningGag after Rito Revolto arrived. Even Alpha got in on the joke once.
* ''Series/{{Misfits}}''
** Nathan seems determined to call Simon by literally anything other than his real name, and gives him various [[TheNicknamer insulting nicknames]] over the course of the series, before revealing in the season 1 finale that he actually thinks Simon is named Barry (which is totally ridiculous given how much time they've spent together). It's unclear why. On the one hand, Nathan is infamously [[TheDitz dreadful with names]] and did reluctantly apologize for his mistake when Simon reacted badly, but he's also a total {{Jerkass}} who goes out of his way to annoy people, so it's more than possible he did it out of malice.
** Further lampshaded in season 2, when Simon confronts Nathan about all the hurtful names he's given him over the course of the series (most notably "melon-fucker") and the two of them ''sort of'' reconcile. But afterwards Nathan [[RunningGag continues to call him Barry]], seemingly unaware that he's doing anything wrong, and no-one bothers to correct him.
** Taken even further in the Christmas special, when new character Marnie meets Simon for the first time.
-->'''Marnie:''' Hello, you must be Barry. Nathan's told me all about you.
** Comes back to bite him in his last appearance (the Vegas, Baby! webisode) where he still thinks of Simon as "Barry."
* Every minor character on ''Music/TheMonkees'' seems to be completely incapable of pronouncing Mike Nesmith's last name. Among the variants: Nishwash, Nashmirth, Nipmop... Subverted in "The Monkees in Texas", when the villains refer to Mike and his aunt as "Nesters"...he starts to correct them before his aunt explains that the word means "farmer" and that they were correct in their word choice.
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.
** One episode parodied this with Graham Chapman's polystyrene-nosed character, Raymond Luxury-Yacht, who insisted his name was actually pronounced "Throatwobbler Mangrove".
-->'''Interviewer:''' You're a very silly man and I'm not going to interview you.
** Late in the series, after Creator/JohnCleese left, a Victorian Poetry Reading sketch featured John "Coots", Alfred Lord "Tennis Balls" (or "Tennis Court") and William "Wadsworth".
** An interviewer called Sir Edward Ross "Eddie-baby", "Sweetie", "Sugar plum", "Pussy cat", "Angel-drawers" and "Frannie Knickers".
** In the sketch "Biggles Dictates a Letter," Biggles is called "Señor Beeg-lays" by his secretary, and fumes: "Don't call me señor. I'm not a Spanish person. You must call me Mr. Biggles, or Group Captain Biggles, or Mary Biggles if I'm dressed as my wife, but never señor."
-->"And I said 'My name's not Clement' and then he loses his temper, and nailed my head to the floor."
* ''MorecambeAndWise'' did this to a lot of guest stars.
** When the conductor Andre Previn appeared, he was constantly referred to as "Andrew Preview". The popularity of the show led to people calling him this in real life.
** In writer Eddie Braben's recent book, he suggests some they might have used if the show was still going today, such as "Curly Monologue" for Kylie Minogue.
** When Vanessa Redgrave appeared on the show she called Ernie "Bernie" and Eric corrected her each time.
* In ''MrBelvedere'', Heather's friend Angela constantly gets Mr. Belvedere surname wrong, calling him "Mr. Bellybutton", "Mr. Bellpepper", et cetera. Angela never said the same (wrong) surname twice.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' does a sort of C a lot, usually intentionally, such as referring to the Mads as various famous couples.
** Also, because of a misunderstanding on the part of a child sending in a drawing of the 'Bots, Dr. Forrester's mom will address Crow as Art. The misunderstanding came from an early episode where Joel introduced the bots like Jackie Gleason did at the end of each episode of ''TheHoneymooners''. When he got to Crow, he introduced him as "Art Crow", referencing Art Carney. The child obviously didn't get the reference and labeled Crow as "Art". The cast liked the letter so much, though, that they stuck with the name.
** In the opening of Mike Nelson's first episode as host (''The Brain That Wouldn't Die''), other characters keep addressing him as "Mr. Nielsen", "Mark", "Mitch", etc. In the show's first Sci-Fi Channel episode, Crow doesn't remember Mike and repeatedly has trouble with his name. Mike has another one of these moments with one of the Nanites in episode 804, ''The Deadly Mantis''.
** TV's Frank also has a weird habit of occasionally calling Dr. Forrester "Steve", despite the fact that the Doc's name is Clayton. The weird part is that Frank ''does'' know Dr. F.'s real name -- he also addresses him more correctly as "Clay". Generally just brushed off as Frank being a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, coming up with a nickname that only makes sense to him.
* Throughout ''TheNanny'', Fran Fine's senile Grandma Yetta calls Brighton Sheffield "Schmooey".
* Showed up as a gag on ''Series/NewsRadio'' once where Matthew spectacularly failed at pronouncing "Buttafuoco"... ''live on air''. Whoops.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}''
** Tony calls [=McGee=] by all manner of nicknames, including but not limited to [=McGeek=], [=McGoo=], and many creative ad-lib variations on the term "Probie". Tony being something of a JerkJock to [=McGee's=] HollywoodNerd, the overall effect is one of brotherly teasing and rather backhanded affection. (Notably, on the one occasion that [=McGee=] takes vocal exception to still being called "Probie", Gibbs points out to him privately that his own first partner, Mike Franks, still calls ''him'' "Probie".) Plus there's the fact that Tony calling [=McGee=] anything other then a nickname is a sure sign something is wrong.
** Ziva has a variation of this, in that Americans are always pronouncing her last name, David, in an American way instead of an Israeli one. It's usually an honest mistake, but Abby does this once out of spite, as does Paula Cassidy. By the end of that particular ep, Cassidy shows things are all patched up and mutual respect exists with a well placed Dah-VEED. ([[spoiler:Just in time to get blown up.]])
** When Abby got a new lab assistant named Charles, she started calling him Chip by mistake, to his chagrin. Despite Charles correcting Abby (and everyone else) at first, it stuck as a nickname of sorts, and he went along with it until his departure a few episodes later after [[spoiler:framing Tony for murder]]. At one point, she also calls him Chazoid.
* Trigger in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' was a bit of a [[TheDitz ditz]]. He always called Rodney "Dave". [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FYUyz3F7rU Even when Rodney told him to his face]].
* ''Series/{{Oz}}''. Neo-Nazi inmate Vern Schillinger is always correcting people who mispronounce his name. In one scene he loses his temper completely and just screams at a guard: "SCHILLINGER! GOD-DAMMIT, SCHILLINGER! BEEN HERE NINE FUCKING YEARS, YOU'D THINK YOU'D LEARN HOW TO SAY MY GODDAMN NAME!"
* Principal Norman Pankow always mispronounced principal Grace Musso's surname on (the first syllable rhyming with "fuss") on ''ParkerLewisCantLose''.
* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation''
** Jerry is actually named Gary, but everyone in the office always called him Jerry because he [[ExtremeDoormat didn't bother to correct them]]. Once they find out their mistake, they go on calling him Jerry because [[NamedByDemocracy it's just easier]] that way.
** Ron calls Ann "Jenny" after she finally manages to engage both him and April in small talk by describing a gross medical story. Ron and April's talking head:
-->'''Ron:''' Ann was getting a little chummy. When people get too chummy with me I like to call them by the wrong name to let them know I don't really care about them.\\
'''April:''' That's a genius move.\\
'''Ron:''' Thank you.\\
'''April:''' You're welcome... Lester.\\
''(Ron smiles at the camera like a proud father)''
* On ''{{Popular}}'', TheDitz Mary Cherry always calls Harrison "Joe." It is eventually revealed that yes, she does know his real name.
* In the ''{{QI}}'' episode "Gothic" from Series G, StephenFry inadvertently referred to panellist Sue Perkins as "Mel", confusing her with her comedy partner Mel Giedroyc. Alan Davies promptly addressed the embarrassed Stephen as [[ABitOfFryAndLaurie Hugh]].
* Hilary Booth on ''Remember WENN'' does this to people she doesn't like or is jealous of, such as calling Betty "Betsy" and Maple "Mabel." Scott Sherwood takes to calling her "Hildy" just to annoy her.
* ''Series/RemingtonSteele'': In the first season, Steele invariably refereed to Laura Holt's secretary Bernice Foxe as "Miss Wolf".
* In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' Chrissie, who is clearly jealous of Sarah Jane understanding Maria more than she does, calls Sarah Jane names like Sally Ann and Mary Jane behind her back. This ''could'' be a combination of Chrissie's contempt '''and''' her genuinely forgetting Sarah Jane's name though, Chrissie is rather flaky. Also Gita Chandra who despite liking Sarah Jane always drops the Jane part... which bugs Sarah Jane as she only likes [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] calling her that (which he did when she was younger). When Chrissie calls Sarah ''Calamity'' Jane, it's definitely the malicious version.
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''
** Dr. Cox does this to people. He has a tendency to call J.D. either girls names or "Newbie" even when he's been at the hospital for several years, he calls Elliot "Barbie", and Turk "Gandhi", "Turtlehead" and "Scalpel Jockey". Dr. Kelso also seems to think Chris Turk's name is "Turk Turkleton". When Turk calls Dr. Kelso on this, pointing out his name is "Chris Turk", Kelso looks at him for a moment, then rallies by claiming he's fully aware of the fact, he just likes "Turkelton" better. He also calls Turk "Turkleberry" and "Turkledawg" at least once. It should be noted that he ''never'' calls Carla anything other than her name (Nurse Espinosa), which proves his respect for her and Dr. Cox always calls her Carla. [[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious When he does call J.D., Turk, or Elliot by their real names, he's probably trying to be less of a jerk and more serious.]] This is very rare, incidentally.
** Doctor [[ItsPronouncedTropay Beardfacé]] is another constant victim of this trope, referred to as "Doctor Beardface" by pretty much everyone at Sacred Heart.
** Snoop Dogg Intern/Resident/Attending presumably has a real name that no one ever uses. Unlike all the other nicknames people on the show have, he doesn't seem to mind being called Snoop Dogg, as long as you get his title right. Although in "Their Story", it's revealed via inner monologue he'd like to be called by his name, Ronald.
** The Janitor has been called names such as Lurch and Sasquatch for two reasons: One is his imposing height and the other is that his name is guarded (by the character and the writers) like the gold at Fort Knox.
** JD calls Elliot "Smelliot" in one episode; when she reveals she wasn't that bothered by it, The Todd complains that she got mad at ''him'' for calling her [[RefugeInAudacity "Vagina Face".]]
* On ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', Kramer was inexplicably under the impression that Susan's name was "Lily" ("she looks like a Lily to me!"), despite the fact that she and George had been engaged for several months, and had dated for a while previously.
** Speaking of George Costanza, his coach in high school referred to him as George "Cantstandya".
* ''SesameStreet'' had several examples:
** The most famous was Big Bird, who forever called Mr. Hooper, the beloved shopkeeper of his eponymously named store, anything BUT Mr. Hooper. Big Bird's application is more of a {{Malaproper}} when he calls him names such as "Mr. Cooper," "Mr. Dooper," "Mr. Looper" and at least once, even "Mr. Pooper" ... however, Big Bird genuinely loves Mr. Hooper. Hooper forever has to correct Big Bird ("That's HOOPER!"), but he doesn't scold too much, as he, too, truly loves Big Bird and acts as a surrogate grandfather to him. Ironically, even in Hooper's death, Big Bird continues to blurt out the wrong name when thinking of his beloved friend, sobbing and calling him "Mr. Looper." (Susan, herself holding back Loretta Long's legit tears, says, "That's Hooper!")
*** Carroll Spinney, whom played both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, recalled in the book "Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street" a conversation he had with Will Lee (who played Mr. Hooper). Sensing that Lee was terminally ill, toward the end of the conversation, Spinney sat down next to Lee and said, in Big Bird's voice, "I love you, Mr. Looper!" (Of course, Lee was genuinely touched and the two embraced.) Less than a month later, Lee was dead; this was Spinney's way of saying his good-byes.
** Oscar the Grouch also has "terms of endearment" for several of the adults, most notably Bob, whom he loves calling "Blue Eyes." However, Oscar's torts toward his neighbors are not truly malicious, as – even though he is a grouch that doesn't like being bothered – he truly loves the folks of Sesame Street.
* The ''Carrie'' example above is parodied in an episode of ''Series/{{Skins}}'' where Cassie goes for a job interview and everyone calls her "Carrie". She doesn't seem to mind.
* ''Series/{{Stargate SG-1}}''
** An odd one for species rather than individuals: throughout the series, the various main characters will all have different pronunciations of alien races, including but not limited to the Goa'uld (Goold, Gold, Go-uld, etc.) and Jaffa (Jaah-faah, Jah-faah, Jah-fah, etc.).
** In one episode where the team has amnesia, Jack remembers a short, bald man in a short sleeved shirt who was very important to him. He recalls the name as "Homer", but later insists it must have been a mutation of the name of his superior, Gen. Hammond. Fans speculate that he was most likely remembering the character from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.
** There was an interview with Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge and Michael Shanks where the interviewer introduced them by their character names: "Sam Carter, Teal'c and... Michael Jackson." (The joke here being that Shanks' character was ''Daniel'' Jackson. The reference was never made in-series, though.)
* ''Series/StargateAtlantis''
** Rodney [=McKay=] does this to a lot of people, mostly because he really just doesn't care. Only interesting people get the right name. Used as a plot point in one episode, when he accidentally hires the wrong scientist. He wanted [[{{Batman}} Grayson]] and ended up with Graydon by mistake.
-->'''Graydon''': One of these days I'm just going to call him [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Doctor McCoy]].
** Atlantis's gate-dialing technician Chuck gets repeatedly referred to as "Chet" by other characters (including Sheppard and Woolsey), and usually sighs or rolls his eyes when correcting them. It happens to him a lot.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
** Q (in disguise as a flower delivery guy. Long story), calling Jean Luc Picard "Gene Luck Pickerd", once. He also called Janeway "Kathy" or "Madame Captain."
** Also, Lwaxana Troi constantly calls Worf "Mr. Woof".
** In one episode, Wesley and other junior crew members refer to nerdy Lt. Barclay as "Broccoli". Data and Picard dress them down for it, then Picard accidentally addresses Barclay as "Broccoli". There's an awkward pause, then Picard corrects himself and everyone acts like it never happened.
* On ''TheSteveHarveyShow'', Coretta would frequently call Lydia "Lisa" or "Lauren". [[spoiler: when Steve catches Coretta copying Lydia's homework, Coretta addresses her by her correct name, making it the only time she does so.]]
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Sam hates being called "Sammy".
* ''Series/That70sShow''
** Casey Kelso constantly refers to Eric Forman as "Foreplay".
** Red also calls Fez on various "foreign" names. He flips out, when Red refers to him as "{{Tarzan}}":
-->'''Fez:''' Okay, that's it. Anwar I can deal with. [[TheLoneRanger Tonto]], in the ballpark, but Tarzan... Tarzan is a white guy!\\
'''Red:''' Don't sass me, Tarzan.
* ''Series/ThirtyRock''
** Jack's colleague when he goes to work for the US government is called Cooter Burger. ''Both'' of these are nicknames given to him by the President. His real name is James Riley.
-->'''James Riley:''' Cooter Burger? What am I, a ''cartoon dog?'' The president gave me that name! "Cooter" because I look like a turtle and "Burger" because he saw me eating a burger ''one time!''\\
''(later)''\\
'''James Riley:''' It wasn't even a burger. It was a sandwich...
** At another point, Colleen Donaghy (Jack's mother) plays a mind game with Kenneth by repeatedly calling him "Carl" to see how long it will take for him to correct her. Of course, Kenneth being Kenneth, he is too polite to correct her and responds to "Carl" for so long that he [[spoiler:forgets his real name.]]
* Subverted in the ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'' episode "And Not-So-Sweet Charity", when Charity's beleaguered assistant, after evoking ''TheDevilWearsPrada'' when she complains to Caroline and Max about always being called Stephanie, quickly adds that she doesn't want her boss to know her real name.
* On the "Twitter Tracker" segment of the ''TheTonightShow with Conan O'Brien'', Brian [=McCann's=] disembodied voice referred to Conan as [="CoCo",=] to Conan's annoyance. This seems to have become an "official" nickname for Conan since then, however.
* ''{{Victorious}}''
** The stage fighting instructor, Russ, had his name mutilated by his students. Andre decided that Russ looked more like a Steve, to which the class concurred.
** Trina used to forget Andre's name all the time, instead calling him Andrew or Andy.
* On ''{{Weeds}}'', Nancy's husband's (Judah) Jewish family did not approve of their marriage, so instead her father-in-law, grandmother-in-law and perhaps more called her "Not Francy" (the name of the woman the family ''wanted'' Judah to marry)
* ''Series/TheWestWing''
** Eccentric recurring character Lord Marbury calls Leo "Gerald", apparently just to irritate him.
** Also the show has a running gag: none of the main characters can keep background staffers Ed and Larry straight. Ed and Larry always appear together, and, when the gag was lampshaded, they themselves admitted, "It doesn't really matter."
** Josh has called Donna a number of names as well, including Lulu (referencing ''ToSirWithLove'') and Gracie (referencing ''Burns and Allen''). When Donna encourages the other secretaries to "type slower" in response to Leo's refusal to implement ergonomic workplace regulations at the White House, Josh, predictably, "Hey, ''NormaRae''!"
** A running gag in early episodes had President Bartlet constantly calling people by the wrong names. On one occasion he walked through the White House greeting staffers, and later asked Charlie if he got anyone's name right, to which Charlie replied "No, Sir." Inverted in the final episode, where on his final walk through, he gets everyone's names right, even Ed and Larry. This is a nod to the fact that Martin Sheen is really terrible with remembering names.
* ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway''
** The actors often did this as a gag. Most commonly occurred when one of the actors got a name wrong.
** Drew once accidentally called Wayne "Brad", on an episode where Brad Sherwood was absent, no less. Ryan responded with "Hey, Clive's allowed to make mistakes!" (A reference to the fact that the British version of the show, on which Ryan has appeared many times, was hosted by Clive Anderson.)
** This tendency became a running gag in a skit in which Ryan (One of Charlie's Angels) continuously referred to Colin (Bosley) as "Charlie", infuriating 'Bosley' more and more each time he was forced to correct him.
* ''XenaWarriorPrincess'' was driven mad by the Furies, and referred to Gabrielle as "Mavis" for one episode.
* In ''YesMinister'', Sir [[TheHumphrey Humphrey]] and occasionally Bernard refer to Frank Wiesel as "Mr Weasel", to annoy him. And once manage to get him so upset he ends up calling himself "Weasel".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Manhua]]
* In ''Manhua/InfinityGame'' Long Wei refers to Lu Xiao as "Puji", because it was the brand of hat she was wearing before he knew her name. It stuck and the others began calling her that as well, but she repeatedly comments that it isn't her name.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/{{ABBA}} -- Try to say "Agnetha Åse Fältskog". If you're not Scandinavian or not a fan of the group, you probably mispronounced it, as did the majority of broadcast journalists who interviewed her.
* Country music legend Ernest Tubb was forever called by many incorrect names, most notably Ernie Tubbs. Both his ardent fans, disc jockeys and non-fans of country music (either of Tubb's era or in general) have been equal opportunity offenders.
* The song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1c2OfAzDTI&ob=av2e "That's Not My Name"]] by The Ting Tings is about a girl who is so forgetable that nobody can remember her name.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Myths & Legends]]
* In ''Literature/TheBible'', the goddess Astarte is referred to as "Ashtoreth". The latter notably more resembles the word "bosheth" meaning abomination.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:New Media]]
* The oft-mocked Microsoft Office Assistant in the form of an animated paperclip is almost universally called "Clippy" when criticised. It's actually called "Clippit".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* This is one of ChrisJericho's favorite things to do. Ask "[[KurtAngle Kirk Angel]]", "[[MichaelCole Mitchell Cole]]", "Bill [[{{Goldberg}} Greenberg]]", "Hoot-'n-Toot Guerrera", "[[ChrisBenoit Chris Ben-Oyt]]", "Bore-Us Malenko", "Stinko Malenko", or "Raisin" about that one. A long, long, time ago, back when Santino Marella was a heel with a chance instead of a clown with none, he decided to interrupt Chris Jericho's second day back in the WWE. Chris Jericho proceeded to get his name wrong so many times that Santino exploded into a torrent of Italian for a few seconds.
* One of CMPunk's {{Running Gag}}s during his stint as guest commentator on ''Wrestling/{{WWE}} NXT'' Season 3 was his inability to remember the names of the NXT Rookies.
--> '''CMPunk:''': I thought Francine was going to win.\\
'''Josh Matthews''': Maxine. \\
'''CMPunk:''': What did I say?\\
'''Josh Matthews''': Uh.. Someone else.
* The whole point why Fandango has never competed in a single match since his debut in {{WWE SmackDown}} months ago, is because most people (ring announcers mostly) mispronounce his name.
** Apparently, he wants them to refer to him as fan-DANG-go instead of fan-DENG-go. Oh, and he also tells them to "feel thee A's" while pronouncing his name.
*** Fandango is not amused after {{Chris Jericho}} does a type B with his name.
* JesseVentura, during his run as heel commentator in the WWF, has often called several face wrestlers disparaging names to help put them over. Most notable are HulkHogan (whom he's called "Chump" Hogan) and Tito Santana (nee "Chico" Santana). Santana remarked about this once in his biography, saying in fact that he encouraged Ventura – the two shared mutual respect for one another – to refer to him as "Chico" to help boost his popularity.
* JohnCena does this on purpose, at one point doing it to the entire [[TheNexus Nexus]].
* Real-Life example: When {{Lita}} was younger she used to get "Amy Dumb Ass" (her surname being Dumas, though the 's' is really silent).
* Speaking of Santino, he does this himself all the time, which had led to such names as [[JohnCena John Chenna]], [[{{Sheamus}} Sheamoose]], and the aforementioned ChrisJericho aka KYJ. Also [[{{Batista}} Baptista]], [[ReyMysterioJr Ray Mastrio]], [[JerryLawler Jerry "Stupid" Lawler]], [[RoddyPiper Rodney The Piper]], The Honkey Donkey Man, Julia Styles (''"Go fetch me a bowl-a of EXTREME VERMICELLI!"''), Fredrick The Entertainment... we'd post a link of Santino's meeting with ChrisJericho, but Website/YouTube would delete the video.
* WilliamRegal
** His rendition of YOUMANGA.
** His infamous [[TripleH Triple Haitch]]; once he got into the act during his feud with The Great Khali, referring to Khali's translator Runjin Singh, alternately, as "Dungeon", "Bunion", and "Onion".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''Series/SesameStreet''
** Big Bird constantly mispronounces Mr. Hooper's name, most often calling him "Mr. Looper", despite being corrected every time. Of course, this is due to him being (supposedly) 3 years old. How many 3-year-olds can remember names perfectly? And Mr. Hooper never seemed to mind much, other than getting mildly frustrated. At the height of [[Series/HappyDays a certain sitcom's]] fame, he called Mr. Hooper "Mr. Cunningham".
** And in his guest appearance on ''TheElectricCompany'', he called Fargo North Mr. Furpo. When he gets it right in the end, Fargo, being the GeniusDitz that he is, "corrects" him with "Furpo".
** Whenever he was a guest on the original ''HollywoodSquares'' gameshow, he'd call host Peter Marshall 'Mr Marshmallow'
* On ''Series/JohnnyAndTheSprites'', Sage, an elderly Sprite, always got the name of the other Sprites wrong in the first season. This was dropped in the second season, when Sage got a bit of an upgrade and was no longer portrayed as so much of a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
* The full series version of Jim Henson's ''ThePajanimals'' has a character called Mr. Happy Birthday who can never get their name right, referring to them collectively by names such as "The Pajunipers" and "The Pajolopies".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* In ''Radio/AbsolutePower'', Charles Prentiss always called the French waiter, Maurice, "Morris". When Maurice corrected this ("Maur-ees"), Charles would launch a more devastating putdown.
* On ''Radio/FibberMcGeeAndMolly'', Mr. Old-Timer routinely addressed Fibber as "Johnny" and Molly as "Daughter".
* On ''Radio/HelloCheeky'', John Junkin casually addressed Barry Cryer as "Fatty". On one occassion, Barry calls him out on it with the reasoning that he's no longer fat. John complies -- and refers to him as "Skinny" for the rest of the episode.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sports]]
* {{Jerkass}} sports reporter Jim Rome called football player Jim Everett "Chris" for years (named for the female tennis player, so it was a stab at his manhood). They finally met on a sports show and Everett warned him not to do it again. Rome did, and Jim Everett [[FlippingTheTable flipped over the table]] and rushed him, as seen in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HNgqQVHI_8 this video]]. Many Rome-haters regard this as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
** Incidentally, since that incident, Rome regularly disconnects callers to his radio show who do the same thing to other male athletes. Learned lesson or just bad memories of what Everett did to him?
** Making it an even more Awesome moment, Everett said he did it not just because Rome was trying to insult him by calling him a "girl's name", but that Rome was insulting Chris Everett by inferring that she was "just a girl" instead of the outstanding athlete and hard-nosed competitor that she was.
* MuhammadAli had a famous fight against Ernie Terrel in 1967 known as the "What's My Name?" fight. Ali had changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali several years earlier and many people refused to call him by his new name, even years later. Terrel was one of them, and Ali made him pay for it, by pummeling him mercilessly while repeatedly screaming "WHAT'S MY NAME?" at Terrel. It is regarded as one of the few times Ali actually cut loose and showed unbridled ferocity in the ring.
** Oscar Bonavena got the same treatment for the same reason.
* During a 1940s football game broadcast, sportscaster Red Barber accidentally introduced his play-by-play partner Russ Hodges as "Russ Hughes". An amused (or perhaps miffed) Hodges responded, "Thank you, Red Baker."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stand Up Comedy]]
* EddieIzzard has a story in one of his routines about a group of guys harassing him who insisted on calling him "Tracy".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* In ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville'', the Count does this to Bartolo repeatedly while PlayingDrunk.
* In ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'', Amos is shocked when Billy Flynn refers to him by his actual name at the trial, rather than the Andy or Alan or whatever from all their previous meetings. This helps Flynn get exactly the testimony he needs.
* In ''Theatre/{{Rent}}'', the Bohemians insist on calling Benny's wife Allison "Muffy", much to the annoyance of Benny and frequent corrections. It seems that it's Roger who does this the most, particularly in the presence of Mimi.
* In ''State of the Union'', Grant Matthews used to call his wife Mary "Maizie" just to tease her, and she feels unloved because he doesn't call her that anymore.
* In ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', G(a)linda often refers to Boq as "Biq," usually because she can't remember. He politely corrects her every time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Atelier Iris 2|The Azoth of Destiny}}'''s Max addresses Felt by increasingly bizarre permutations of his name, at one point referring to him as "Klein" (the name of the protagonist from the previous Atelier Iris game). If corrected, he'll call him Felt for the remainder of the current conversation, so apparently he's just that bad with names.
* ''Videogame/BeyondGoodAndEvil''
** The heroine Jade first meets her sidekick Double H after freeing him from ElectricTorture. His brain is... [[EasyAmnesia a little fried]], and after hearing her mention the [[LaResistance "IRIS" Network]], he starts calling her "Miss Thyrus." (He also calls himself "Triple Z" at one point.)
** Jade herself once refers to the suspicious "Mr. de Castellac" who hired her on a mission (which was actually a charade aiming at establishing a contact between her and the IRIS Network) as "de Cadillac".
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': Taokaka does this with basically the ''whole'' cast.
-->'''Taokaka:''' Hi Boobie Lady!\\
'''Litchi:''' It's "Litchi".\\
'''Taokaka:''' Oh! Okay Boobie Lady!
* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', Handsome Jack repeatedly gets Mr. Blake's first name wrong, very likely on purpose:
--> '''Handsome Jack:''' Anything else on today's agenda, Jimmy?
--> '''Mr. Blake:''' It's "Jeffrey", sir. And no.
--> '''Handsome Jack:''' Thanks, Jimmy!
* In ''DestroyAllHumans: Path of the Furon'', Emperor Meningitis mistakenly addresses Crypto as "Klepto", due to being senile.
--> '''Meningitis:''' Pox? Is that you? What have you done with your body? And what's that with you? Oh, it's your little house boy, ''Klepto!''\\
'''Crypto:''' CRYP-TO.\\
'''Meningitis:''' Whatever!
* ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea}}''
** Vyers, to whom everybody refers as "Mid-Boss" despite his protestations. He pops up dramatically, and everybody goes "Hey, it's Mid-Boss!", and he's left spluttering and trying to tell them that's not what he is (and he [[MeaningfulName totally is]]).
** In addition, Laharl gets deemed "Harlie" by Jennifer, indicating her impression of him as [[JustAKid harmless]] cute boy for her to tease. Laharl, trying very much to cultivate a {{Badass}} image for himself, is not amused (note that this was {{Woolseyism}}; in the Japanese version Jennifer simply added a "-chan" to Laharl's name).
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' and Prince Charmles. There are three ways to say his name: Charm-els, [[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY Sharm-lay]], and of course, [[PrinceCharmless Charm-less]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}}'': It's a RunningGag that Archmage Rakorium is so terribly absent-minded that he has trouble remembering the player's name, calling him or her "Nottel", all the time. Nottel was the name of his first student, and apparently the only one he can remember. Since then he's come to call all of his students by that name, extending this courtesy to the player.
* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVI'', Gau is highly amused by Cyan's YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe dialect. In the conversation that follows, he starts referring to ''Sabin'' as "Mr. Thou", to Sabin's annoyance.
* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyIX'' Baku can never remember Tot's name. There's a minor RunningGag of him referring to Tot by a different name each time (Toot, Ted, Totty, etc.), followed by Marcus deadpanning "It's Tot", to be completely ignored by Baku.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', several of the characters do this with a group, referring to LaResistance as "the Insurgence."
* Used (perhaps on purpose) by Daxter on one of the villains of ''[[JakAndDaxter Jak III]]'':
-->'''Daxter:''' Listen, Count Vulgar...
-->'''Count Veger:''' It's VEGER!
** Daxter was also fond of "Count Vegan" as well.
* When Karin recruits [[SmallNameBigEgo Eyrios]] in ''Franchise/FireEmblem : [[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Thracia 776]]'', she decides that he would not be so stuck-up if his name was more ordinary-sounding, and thus calls him Olson (much to his displeasure).
* In [[GanbareGoemon Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon]], the BigBad is a [[LargeHam theatrical]] man who repeatedly calls Goemon Fernandez despite Goemon's objections. According to one of his flunkies, he tends to give people the name he thinks they deserve. He even calls Ebisumaru Antonio once.
* Year 2 of ''GrimFandango'' includes a minor RunningGag that consists of Manny and Glottis calling Raoul (the french waiter in the High Rollers' Lounge) just about everything ''but'' his name -- Jean-Claud, Pierre, Rufus, etc., up to and including Rumpelstiltskin. In defense of [[TheAlcoholic Glottis]], he was ''very'' drunk at the time. Manny, on the other hand, eventually hints that he was just being mean: upon [[{{Claustrophobia}} locking himself up inside a small room]] (something he previously did to Raoul), he uses the waiter's real name in his apology.
* ''JumpStartAdventures3rdGradeMysteryMountain'' has Polly, the [[SpoiledBrat bratty]] [[EnfanteTerrible child villainess]], repeatedly referring to the robot Botley (the game's ExpositionFairy) with insulting rhymes of his name, such as "Snotley" and "Potley".
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''
** [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Jack Sparrow]]. Second visit to Port Royal... "Zola! Some assistance!" should be enough evidence.
** Sora gets this from the whole surviving Organisation (except maybe Axel, who knows much better). They repeatedly call him 'Roxas' [[spoiler:which is technically correct, because that's the name most of them knew him -- or rather, his Nobody -- by.]]
** [[Videogame/FinalFantasyVI Setzer]] calls Roxas 'rucksack'.
* ''Characters/TheKingOfFightersTheTalesOfAsh'': Ash Crimson constantly calls Elisabeth "''Betty''", much to her chagrin.
* You can do this to yourself in ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'': early in the game you're asked for your name by the Onion Kid. If you reply with the joke answer of "Chumpy", that's how you'll be addressed and introduced by everyone else for the rest of the game cycle.
* Linebeck, of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'', calls [[HelloInsertNameHere Link]] and [[ExpositionFairy Ciela]] by any number of degrading nicknames (rarely the same one twice) right up until they head into the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon -- whereupon he admits that he envies Link's heroic resolve. After a moment, Ciela realizes he's finally [[SayMyName used her name]].
* The seventh ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'' game, ''Love For Sail'', features a character named Xqwzts (pronounced like "X-squats"). However, after Al Lowe realized that the voice actor who played Larry couldn't say the name properly, he decided to have everyone on the cast mispronounce the name deliberately, leading to examples such as "Quzewits", "Zipsits", or "Yojahowitz".
* ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland''
** This is the eternal curse of Nosehair Seepgo-- Gibberish Driftwo-- Gorbush Threekwo-- Guybrush Threepwood.
** Dinky Island in ''[[Videogame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge Monkey Island 2]]'' also suffers from the same fate, being referred to by several different names, such as Inky Island.
** In ''Videogame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', Guybrush misreads the name-plate of FortuneTeller Madame Xima as "Madame Eczema", much to her annoyance.
** In ''Videogame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'', Guybrush's [[spoiler:tombstone]] almost gets it right. "Guybrush Threepwood, Mitey Pirate™."
-->'''[[spoiler:Ghost]] Guybrush:''' Uhh, at least they finally got the last name right.
** In Chapter 4, Guybrush's [[AFoolForAClient lawyer]] does it to him. Something of a first.
** Also, he calls Anemone by a few names like "Alemonade", "Amepoppoly", "Anumbelie", "Anepolme", "Astemmelle", and "Applebe". And in Chapter 4, Guybrush calls Miss Prettywhiskers (Hemlock's cat) "Miss Grungywhiskers", "Miss Trashywhiskers" and "Miss Barfywhiskers", angering Hemlock.
* In ''TheNamelessMod'', [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Scara B. King]] pronounces the protagonist's name in a new way every time he says it. A conversation with NVShacker reveals he does this with everyone (and notes that because he pronounced it right 1 in 3 times, he thought he was on a fast track to a promotion). Scara seems to do it out of mockery. It is definitely deliberate. Trestkon calls him out on it when he uses the correct name when stressed or uses a wrong name he has used before, to which Scara responds with a new one.
--> '''Scara B. King:''' Chestnut! What the ''hell'' do you think you're doing?!
* In the NES game ''VideoGame/{{Nightshade}}'', the title wannabe superhero is frequently referred to dismissively as "Lampshade".
* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' proves that not even a ''God'' is immune to this trope. Most people you encounter find the name Amaterasu a bit too much of a mouthful to remember. The nicer ones will call you Ammy or (after a previous, respected alias) Shiranui. Less respectful ones settle for Furball.
* In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRanger Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia]]'' Professor Hastings keeps calling Rhythmi "Misery".
* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheUnwoundFuture'', a girl named Belle keeps on calling Luke "Fluke." She either heard it wrong when he told her his name, or she simply calls him that out of her "[[AbhorrentAdmirer affections]]." Probably the latter.
* Coach Oleander uses this to mock Razputin in ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''.
-->'''Oleander:''' Is your name Joey?\\
'''Raz:''' No.\\
'''Oleander:''' Cause I'm gonna call you Slowy Joey.\\
'''Raz:''' That's not my name.\\
'''Oleander:''' What's that, Slowy? I can't hear you, you're talking too ''slow''.
* Candy from ''Fight or Die'' frequently calls Eiji "Meiji".
-->'''Eiji''': That's Eiji
-->'''Candy''': Whatever, Meiji
* A running gag in the ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' games is how Girl Stinky always get the eponymous duo's names wrong. She remembers their names just fine, but chooses to call them completely random names just to piss them off.
** In the third season, the titular characters do it to General Skun-ka'pe, consistently calling him "Skunkape". He never tries to correct them.
* In the European manual for ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'', Wander's name is misspelt as '''''[[GenderBlenderName Wanda]]'''''. This happened because the transliterations of "Wander" and "Wanda" use the same characters in Japanese. The translators simply picked the wrong one.
* In ''Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor'' Atsuro kept teasingly referring to Yuzu as "Yoohoo," much to her annoyance.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''
** Sonic often calls Knuckles "Knucklehead" after the latter does something particularly [[TooDumbToLive unintelligent]].
** From ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' onward, Sonic and his friends have been calling Dr. Robotnik "Eggman." From ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' onward, Robotnik decided to just go with it. Which is more of an inversion. In Japan, he had always been called Dr. Eggman. ''Sonic Adventure'' was the first game to use his original name in North America. Both names were used for transitional purposes (similar to how "[[SuperMarioBros Princess Toadstool]]" started being called by her Japanese name "Princess Peach" in NA beginning with ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'').
*** This is played around with in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations''
--> Classic Tails: "Dr. Robotnik!"
--> Classic Eggman: "Nobody calls me that anymore."
* ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters''
** Danette refers to the eponymous World Eaters as "[[BuffySpeak World... Thingies]]", due to her atrocious memory. She also never remembers Gig's name, much to his annoyance.
** Gig himself is an example of the malicious form of the trope, referring to Danette and Levin exclusively as "stupid cow" and "sister-loving man-cow", respectively.
** After being stuck with Gig inside his/her head for most of the game, Revya starts acting rather Gig-like at times, relabeling Danette as "Dumbette" after one of her [[TheDitz ditzier]] moment ruins an infiltration, and referring to Levin as "doggy" due to his dog-like personality and apparent ability to track things by scent.
* Sam does this in ''SplinterCell: Double Agent''.
-->'''Sam:''' Listen Moose...\\
'''Moss:''' It's MOSS!
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros''
** In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', Luigi is often the victim of WhoIsThisGuyAgain. So characters use names like "[[BuffySpeak Mr. Green Mario Brother Guy]]" and "Loo...uh, some other guy!"
** Bowser does this in all three ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games. Bowser has fixated on Mario as his greatest enemy, and always forgets Luigi's name. So Bowser uses names like "Green 'Stache" to refer to Luigi.
** Used repeatedly in ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]''. The Puni elder thinks Mario's name is "Marty-o," the ancient mayor of Petalburg calls him "Murphy" due to his hearing problems, and the Yoshi who joins your party calls you "Gonzalez." That last one is {{justified|Trope}} because said Yoshi is born in a fighting-club type place, the Glitz Pit, where Mario's stage name is "the Great Gonzalez". (Mario didn't choose the name; his manager did.)
** The clueless "detective" Pennington, who thinks Mario is Luigi. ([[spoiler:In the sequence just before the final battle resumes, another character calls Mario by his proper name, and the detective is absolutely stunned at the notion of himself simply being ''wrong''.]])
** And also Zess T. who keeps referring to Mario with names such as "Stompy" and "Sir Crush-A-Lot" after he accidentally steps on her contact lenses.
** And Doopliss. [[spoiler:After he replaces Vivian of the Shadow Sirens, Beldam starts calling him "Freak-in-Sheet".]]
*** Doopliss himself calls almost everyone "Slick."
** In the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' crossover ''VideoGame/FortuneStreet'', Bowser occasionally refers to the Dragonlord as "Lizardboss".
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', after Zelos introduces Lloyd to his butler as "My bud", the butler along with seemingly all of Meltokio's high society calls Lloyd "Sir Bud".
* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}''
** Hong Meiling. Her name doesn't appear in the game because of a bug, and even her real name is hard to remember by fans, so they called her [[FanNickname China]]. Soon, [[GotMeDoingIt everyone in the Touhou universe starts catching that habit]]. Sometimes, it gets to the point that she only answers to "China" (see this [[http://www.walfas.org/flash/scarlet_christmas.swf Walfas flash]] for an example). And for an example of how far it goes, ZUN, the game's creator himself, has been known to call her China.
** Another more subtle one is Alice, to Reimu. Reimu has never once called her by her name, depersonalizes her as a vagrant or freeloader (though everyone is one of those to the Hakurei Shrine), and on some occasions has outright ignored her presence. This goes as far back as Alice's first appearance in ''Mystic Square''.
* When playing as a [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Malkavian]] in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' you never call any NPC by their actual name/codename/nickname. Except for one instance in which you can call [[spoiler:Velvet by her ''true'' name.]] [[ThatManIsDead She is]] ''[[ThatManIsDead not]]'' [[ThatManIsDead amused]].
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' there's a Forsaken NPC who has your name wrong in the records, so he insists on calling you <name>nub. So if you're Alice, he'll call you "Alicenub".
** There's also poor Chief Officer Coppernut, whom the zeppelin's captain keeps addressing as "Copperbolt" and "Copperpants."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney''
** In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney 3'', Godot calls the title attorney "Trite" all the time [[spoiler:until the last episode, where, defeated, he calls Wright by his real name]]. In Japan, where Phoenix is called Ryuuichi Naruhodo, Godot calls him "Maruhodo". In the first game, Redd White insists on calling him "Mr. Wrong".
** [[VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney Apollo Justice]] also seems to be a frequent victim of this (rival prosecutor Klavier always calls him "Herr Forehead"), and there's even a scene where Apollo keeps getting the names of other characters wrong, prompting Trucy to say his name wrongly in the same way (such as calling him "Apololo" when he refers to Alita Tiala as "Alita Tialita").
** Also, Morgan Fey keeps calling Detective Gumshoe "Gymshoe".
** Gumshoe continually calls Phoenix "Harry Butz" throughout the first game, not only getting Larry's name wrong, but using it on the wrong person. Mia also misinterprets Larry's name as Harry.
** In the first case of ''[[VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth AceAttorneyInvestigations]]'', Jacques Portsman keeps referring to the victim, Buddy Faith, as "Jim" for some reason. This one is actually a play on words. Jacques is meant to sound like "jock" (fitting his sports theme). He calls his partner Jim as a play on "gym", to go along with the theme.
* Tsuzuriko's name in ''VisualNovel/KaraNoShoujo'' is felt to be too hard to say by Reiji, so he calls her Tojiko instead. Yukari also picks up on it. Tojiko is not exactly thrilled about this.
* In ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'', every time Rin says [[RepetitiveName Sasasegawa Sasami]]'s name she manages to mess it up in some way, usually by saying something that sounds ''vaguely'' similar. If you aren't paying attention. The name ''is'' a mouthful, but only Rin, [[NotGoodWithPeople with a general lack of care about other people]] [[UnknownRival and Sasami in particular]] consistently gets it wrong.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* In ''WebAnimation/DoraleousAndAssociates'', a RunningGag of the series is that no-one outside the the Associates can pronounce his name right, with "Doralingus" being the most popular pronunciation.
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''
** In the Strong Bad Email 'toons, Strong Bad does this to quite a few of his senders. In the email "underlings", he refers to "[=PlasticDiverGuy=]" as [=PastyDeadGuy=] and [=PrancyDirtGirl=].
** Characters often come up with nicknames for each other, some mean-spirited and others just weird. A full list is right [[http://www.hrwiki.org/index.php/Nicknames here]].
** Also, their creepy {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Senor Cardgage will refer to anyone he's talking to by some random, garbled female name, such as "Elizagarth", "Grendolyn", "Valerie" or "Ms. America".
** "Rather Dashing? More like... Rather Homely!"
** "Hamstray! Homegrown! Ramrod?"
** This little exchange between Strong Bad and Homsar:
-->'''Homsar:''' Hey, Reggie, is that rhinoceros around?\\
'''Strong Bad:''' Um, I can only assume you're talking to me and asking about Strong Sad. He's in the basement.
** Crack Stuntmant, the voice of Gunhaver on ''[[ShowWithinAShow Cheat Commandoes]]'' can't seem to remember the name of his own character, calling him "Gun Hay-ver" and "Gunshaver".
** A script for an unfinished cartoon released on September 8, 2010 features the following exchange between the King of Town and [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep the otherwise nameless]] Announcer.
-->'''King of Town:''' Thank you, Walter. I must say, I'm very excited to eat some soap today.\\
'''Announcer:''' Yes, yes, not my name and not what we're doing here.
* [[http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/einstein6 Jokes With Einstein]]. ''"What happened to Reginald?"''
* In ''Machinima/MeleesEnd'', Marth constantly mixes up people's names because he's a complete [[TheDitz ditz]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* A RunningGag in ''ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' was Contemporary Guenevere calling Griflet "Girflet" (both versions have been used in the folklore), mostly to indicate that, while she may have claimed him as "a friend who isn't part of Arthur's group", they're not actually especially close.
* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'': [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/011109c My name is not NINJA NED!]]
* In ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'', Qui-Gon calls suspected (but not) EvilChancellor Sio Bibble "Bubble". And Tatooine "{{Ratatouille}}" and the Orb of Phanastacoria "The Orb of {{Phantasmagoria}}" (and many permutations). He also refers to Jedi Knights as [[BlessedAreTheCheesemakers "Cheddar Monks"]].
* And in its spiritual predecessor, ''Webcomic/DMOfTheRings'', nobody could keep any of the names straight. Notable ones include Aragorn referring to Théoden as "King Crazypants", mixing up Sauron and Saruman, and forgetting the names of their own party members. Rivendell is Rivertown or [[ArchieComics Riverdale]], Théoden is Theogan, and the Nazgûl are [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Nargazoids]].
-->'''Aragorn:''' [[Franchise/EvilDead Hail to the king, baby]]! Aragorn, son of Andúril is back!\\
'''DM:''' ... Andúril is the name of your ''sword'', dumbass.
* Black Mage does this to Warmech in ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater''.
-->'''Warmech:''' We have unfinished business... and it's the business of me killing you, uh, dead, forever.\\
'''Black Mage:''' Get in line, [=WarBLECH=]!\\
'''Warmech:''' Wait, that's not quite how my name is pronounced.\\
'''Black Mage:''' I'm sorry, [=BOREmech=]!\\
'''Warmech:''' It's even less accurate than before! That's no accident!
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''
** Diane does this to Justin, calling him Jason. This same mistake has occurred on the boards amusingly enough unintentionally.
** Bunnies (that is, [[FanCommunityNicknames EGS fans]]) do this sort of thing a lot on the forum. The most common seems to be calling Susan "Sarah" or Sarah "Susan".
* Due to [[{{CloudcuckooLander Eddie]] being the one to originally introduce him, almost all the main cast of ''Webcomic/EmergencyExit'' calls Jurinjo "Sancho".
* ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}''
** Stanley the Tool doesn't seem to recall the names of any of his underlings except [[TheDragon Wanda]] and "Lord Hamster" (Parson -- who wears a prominent hamster crest).
** This becomes a plot point when the [[{{Whatevermancy}} Foolamancer]] he brought to cover his escape is mentally damaged and unable to function properly -- addressing the Foolamancer by name might help bring him around, but Stanley doesn't remember what his real name is. Stanley got much better at remembering the names of his underlings (at least the moderately important ones) after that.
** Becomes a RunningGag [[http://www.erfworld.com/book-2-archive/?px=%2F2010-07-16.png here]], with the troll Zhopa.
* Coyote from ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' never seems to call Antimony by her name, seemingly out of absent-mindedness more than anything else. First he called her Surma ([[TimeDissonance her mum's name]]), then he mispronounced her name as Abalone. Currently he prefers to call her [[RedHeadedHero Fire Head Girl]].
* Reginald from ''{{Nedroid}}'' takes this to the extreme when, at the end of an evening of romance, he accidentally calls his date Becky "Lord Voldemort".
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''
** Xykon seems to think Roy Greenhilt's name is Bluepommel, Redblade, or Orangescabbard, when he can remember who he is at all. Put it this way: he's aware that Roy's surname incorporates a color and something involving a sword, he just doesn't see Roy as enough of a threat to really remember what the specifics are.
** At one place, Nale calls Belkar "Belkon". Made even funnier by the fact that he was impersonating his Good Twin at the time, who should have known his fellow party member's name, but who was such a ditz that nobody found it odd.
* ''Webcomic/OutThere'': James never uses Miriam's name, always referring to her as "Red". Sherry always calls her ex-flame Steven "Stevie". After Miriam breaks up with him, ''she'' takes to calling him "Stevie" as well, much to his annoyance.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Pacificators}}'', [[FieryRedhead Cinna Grossul]] and [[ProperLady Muneca Powell]] doesn't... [[{{Understatement}} get along]], and Cinna ''always'' addresses Muneca as "Doll," which Muneca hates. [[hottip:note:Muneca is Spanish for [[MeaningfulName doll]].
* ''Webcomic/PennyArcade''
** Gabe does it in [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/6/24/ this strip]].
-->'''Gabe:''' Damn you, [[Creator/MNightShyamalan M. Night Shamwow]]!\\
'''Tycho:''' I don't think that's his real name. I think it's different.
** Also, in the comic [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/9/1/ "The Ultimatum"]]; "The Microsofts" threaten a Mr. Cairnhall but call him Cornhole throughout the conversation.
* In the MegaCrossover ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'' Tony Stark just can't get Jake Jensen's name right because of ActorAllusion and because he doesn't care (he already called him Cap and Johnny). Jensen is not amused.
* Buwaro from ''SlightlyDamned'' constantly refers to Kieri as "Snowy," the name they gave her when they first found her as a bunny in the woods. After discovering she was an angel, he continued to call her Snowy, finding it much easier to say than her real name. It also seems to have developed into a term of affection.
* One of the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters many single-arc characters]] in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', Dr. Haught-Sheik, gets called "Dr. Hot-Chick", "Dr. Hot-Cheeks", and eventually "Dr. Hoochie". [[spoiler:And then she gets killed by the Evil.]]
* ''Webcomic/SoreThumbs'': [[http://sorethumbs.keenspot.com/d/20100208.html "If you ever see this man,]] '''beat him to near-death'''. Or at least call him mean names. Like... Fair'''blech'''."
* Power play maliciousness in ''TeaHouse'': Rhys, a high class frequenter to the brothel deliberately calls cocky [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeteroToday Not Gay]] prostitute Axis "Alice". Rhys enjoys humiliating Axis, and calling him a girl's name is a way to rub his freedom to do so in Axis' face.
* Yoon Sung of ''Webcomic/WelcomeToRoom305'' can't get anybody's name right, out of either seer apathy, forgetfulness or being a CloudCuckooLander. Not only this, he never sticks to the same name. He refers to Jung Hyun as Joong Hyun and then Hyun Joong, and some other variations.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Oancitizen, the host of ''WebVideo/BrowsHeldHigh'', keeps getting called ''Ralph'' Oancitizen by his less mature co-reviewers (mostly WebVideo/{{Phelous}}, WebVideo/ObscurusLupa, and [[WebVideo/SadPandaQAndA Sad Panda]]).
* * ''{{Psycomedia}}'' is hosted by Tim and Not-Tim.
* In ''chargesdotcomdotbr'', Espinha & Fimose have a friend nicknamed Lesado who calls them by each other's nicknames.
* In the Machinima series TheCodex, Blue Leader Candice "Candy" McKenzie, by [[UST Red Leader Jack Foster]]. [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther When he stops...]]
* In the first RP of ''Roleplay/DarwinsSoldiers'', Kagetora mistakenly refers to Victor Summers as Vincent. Vic politely corrects him.
* Venbak from Roleplay/MallFight gets this often.
** [[OverlyLongGag Wait, don't you mean Vladimir?]]
* [[TooDumbToLive Chris]], Nathan Fillion's character from ''PG Porn'' always gets his partner's [[BadBadActing name wrong]].
* Caboose of Machinima/RedVsBlue does this by virtue of his total lack of cognition. Wash even allows himself to be called "Church" when he gets light-blue armor, because Caboose is that stupid.
** Sarge occasionally translates things into "Huckleberry", as Church puts it.
** There is are privates Jones and "Joehnes". Guess what each one is called.
** That's ''Connecticut'', Wash, "Connie" makes me sound like a kid. (But it's totally okay when the Pill ODST says it...)
** Church turned Phyllis (F.I.L.S.S ?) into Sheila by applying this trope in a stable time loop. When they meet F.I.L.S.S., she accepts her renaming again, explicitly because Caboose is too stupid for this trope.
* ''Literature/{{Tasakeru}}'': Faun's actual name is "Faunelle". She loathes her full name so much that only Ashpaw addresses her by it, purely to get on her nerves. [[TheNicknamer She retaliates by calling him "Stripehead".]]
* Yahtzee of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' would occasionally make fun of games he reviewed by repeatedly mangling the title, like calling ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' "Brown Alive Redemption" and "Purple Monkey Dishwasher".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* A RunningGag on ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' is that several recurring guest characters called Walter Hartford "Wally", "Wilbur", and most anything other than his given name. This included his own MechanicalHorse (though said horse had some very... odd programming bugs in her AI). Small wonder he pretty much went by "Doc" whenever possible.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTeddyRuxpin'', the villainous Tweeg had to put up with his flunky L.B. mispronouncing his name as "Twig" and the like.
* In a segment in ''{{WesternAnimation/Animaniacs}}'', a game show host kept calling [[WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain Brain]] ''Brian''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'':
-->'''Cyril:''' Oh, hi Cheryl.\\
'''Cheryl/Carol:''' It's "Carol."\\
'''Archer:''' Huh? Since when?\\
'''Cheryl/Carol:''' Since I had it legally changed because you kept ''calling'' me Carol.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''
** Hahn, an arrogant teenager and would-be boyfriend of the Northern Water Tribe's Princess Yue, can't remember ''anybody's'' name. He called Sokka many permutations of his actual name, and when he challenged Admiral Zhao, he called him "Admiral Choi" before being effortlessly thrown into the ocean by him.
** It should also be noted that an ongoing gag in the show is Toph's constant use of nicknames like "Twinkletoes" and "Sugar Queen".
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "Out of the Past", Terry persistently mispronounces Ra's Al Ghul as RAUZ (the same pronunciation used in ''Film/BatmanBegins'') instead of the "proper" {{DCAU}} pronunciation, RAYSH. Talia constantly corrects him, getting more and more annoyed when Terry never tries to get it right. WordOfGod says this was Terry's subtle way of dissing the criminal mastermind by not even getting his name right.
* Several characters in ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' frequently refer to them as Travis and Bob-head, Beaver and Buffcoat, etc.
* In "You're Not Miss Martin!" on ''WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}}'', the substitute teacher at Caillou's playschool, Ms. Shelley, repeatedly calls him "Kyle." Caillou is at first irritated by this and a number of things about her, but Mommy helps him to relate to her by reminding him how he felt on his first day of playschool. The next time she calls him "Kyle," he decides to be patient and politely remind her that his name is "Caillou." The final time she calls him "Kyle," it's the non-malicious variant, just to joke with him.
* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers''
** Greedly would address his butler Boris as "Horrace", "Norris", etc.
** Likewise, Duke Nukem would usually call his lackey Leadsuit by another name, usually "Leadhead".
* In ''[[CareBears The Care Bears: Big Wish Movie]]'', Too Loud Bear, a bit of a {{Jerkass}}, constantly mispronounces Twinkers' name. At the end of the movie, he finally calls Twinkers by the right name to demonstrate the end of his character arc.
* ''CloneHigh'': Mr. Butlertron takes this to its logical conclusion.
-->'''Scudworth:''' He calls everybody "Wesley". Don't know why.
* Puffer Pete constantly on ''{{Chuggington}}'', because he's old.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' had a RunningGag, especially early on, that people would call her "Dara," "Dora," etc. It was actually {{Invoked}} in the last season when a substitute decides to call her "Darlene" because she thinks Daria sounds like a "hippie name."
-->'''Ms. Li:''' ''(over PA system)'' Attention! Will Miss Daria Morgendorffer please report to the principal's office. Now!
-->'''Mrs. Stoller:''' Darlene? Where are you going?
-->'''Daria:''' [[DeadpanSnarker To get Daria]].
** Also a RunningGag with Jamie, one of Quinn's three constant admirers. She (and others) can always remember Joey and Jeffy's name, but usually he winds up being called "Jamal," "Jeremy," etc.
* On ''DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines'', in the short "Shape Up or Ship Out", the ship captain addresses Dick Dastardly as "Mustardly" but is never corrected.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "Old Man Dexter", as Dexter is deemed too young to watch late night TV, he scientifically ages himself... [[GrumpyOldMan a little too much.]] As such, senility kicks in as he asks his sister to help him up on the living room couch.
-->'''Dexter:''' A little help there, um... [[SpeciesLostAndFound Dodo?]]\\
'''[=DeeDee=]:''' [=DeeDee=].\\
'''Dexter:''' [[BabyLanguage Daa Daa?]]\\
'''[=DeeDee=]:''' [=DeeDee=].\\
'''Dexter:''' [[ToiletHumour Doo Doo?]]\\
'''[=DeeDee=]:''' [=DeeDee=].\\
'''Dexter:''' Ah, thanks, Billy.
* Short-lived Saturday Morning Cartoon ''Drak Pack'' has the main villain always addressing the eponymous "Drak" by such various names as "Plaque", "Black", "Brakk", et al.
* ''{{Duckman}}'' constantly forgets the name of his son, Mambo, calling him by other unusual or ridiculous names like La Bamba and Mandingo. In one episode, he forgets Charles' name instead.
* In ''DynomuttDogWonder'', there were a few times where Dynomutt's bungling caused The Blue Falcon to refer to him as "Dog Blunder" instead of the usual "Dog Wonder".
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', several characters have forgotten Timmy's name. [[AsianAirhead Trixie Tang]] is the one that comes to most fans' minds, but several others have forgotten at one point: Cosmo, his parents, Adam West, and Quddus (in the TRL interview).
* In ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'', Ronan the Accuser, an alien with very distinct blue skin, seeks revenge on Johnny Storm for a defeat in a previous episode which exiled him from his home planet and forced him to work with his hated enemies. Despite his efforts, Johnny has no clue who he is ("[[ButForMeItWasTuesday Do you know how many blue people we've fought?]]"), which greatly angers Ronan.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' episode "Berry Scary", Bloo almost ''never'' gets Berry's name right, miscalling her "Mary", "Jeri", etc. She doesn't mind, up until Bloo simultaneously shoots her down and calls her ''Heather''.
-->'''Berry:''' ''MY NAME IS'' '''''BERRY!!!!'''''\\
'''Bloo:''' Really? 'Cause you look more like a "Heather".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy''
** Billy corrects Irwin's mispronunciation of Cthulhu with his own. "Irwin, it's not Kahlua, it's Cacadoodoo." (The actual, phonetic pronunciation of "Cthulhu" isn't all that hard if you really try it.)
** Also, Billy's new friend Pinocchinochinochinoichnoichnoichnoichnoichino.
* On ''HeyArnold'' Helga does this to insult Harold in the episode "Beaned" where she fools Arnold (and the rest) into thinking she's got amnesia.
--> '''Harold:''' "HELLO HELGA. MY NAME IS HAR-OOOLD! DO YOU REMEMBER ME?"
--> '''Helga:''' "Why, of course I remember you, ''Cheryl''."
--> '''Arnold:''' "Come on, I'll help you find your locker."
--> '''Helga:''' "What is 'locker'?"
--> '''Stinky:''' "I reckon' that's the most pathetic thing I've ever seen..."
--> '''Rhonda:''' "She's turned into a total freak!"
--> '''Harold:''' "And she's calling me Cheryl!"
* One of the running gags in the 1960s series ''Hoppity Hooper'' (from the makers of ''RockyAndBullwinkle'') is that Waldo never remembers Fillmore's name, often calling him Fensworth, Wilbur, etc.
* One ''HouseOfMouse'' animated short ("computer.don") was about DonaldDuck buying a talking personal computer that can recognize people's names, but the computer misunderstands Donald's SpeechImpediment and consistently refers to him as "Duo."
* In the HannaBarbera series ''{{Jabberjaw}}'', Shelly often referred to CloudCuckooLander Bubbles as "Bubblehead".
* In "The Greatest Story Never Told" of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', episode centerpiece BoosterGold is constantly referred to or otherwise mistaken for Green Lantern despite his gold-and-blue color scheme.
* Beezy to [[ButtMonkey Samy]] on ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', during an incident when Samy was forced to act like a pet.
* A few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' had someone refer to June as "Jane". Surprisingly, she didn't get mad. In fact, some fans call her "Jen".
* In ''Katy Caterpillar'', Katy runs into some freewheeling chameleons who repeatedly refer to her as "girlie", even though she tells them each time, "My name is Katy."
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible''
** Dr. Drakken could never remember Ron Stoppable's name -- referring to him many times as "the buffoon". Which led to a [[Awesome/KimPossible Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for Ron in ''So The Drama''.
** A lot of ''Kim Possible'' villains have trouble with Ron's name. On one occasion Ron mentions that he's always found it gratifying that Monkey Fist made a habit of actually remembering his name.
** And Señor Senior Senior & Señor Senior Junior. At first they couldn't remember Ron's name either, but they actually asked him what it was so they could remember in the future. This also leaves an impression on Ron since they were polite enough to go out of their way '''to''' remember his name.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Hank's father Cotton refers to Peggy as "Hank's wife", regardless of whether he's being mean or genuinely nice.
* The ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short ''Hoppy Go Lucky'' has Sylvester accompanied by a large boneheaded cat named Bennie who keeps addressing him as George (in a reference to ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''). When Sylvester corrects him, he replies, "But I can't say 'Sylvester', George!"
* In ''LiloAndStitchTheSeries'', everyone (but especially [[TheDragon Gantu]]) refers to Dr. Hamsterviel as "Dr. Hamster Wheel." He always corrects this. ([[InsistentTerminology He's really more of a gerbil, anyway.]])
* In the {{MightyMax}} episode "Scorpio Rising" even though Max mentions his name multiple times to Dr. Scorpio he keeps getting his name wrong, he calls him Timmy, Bobby, Cubby, Rusty, and Skippy.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies2010'' episode "[=McLeish=] Unleashed", [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Milton Feltwaddle]] keeps getting Olaf's name wrong. When [[ResetButton McLeish goes back to his job as head dogcatcher]], Olaf is glad to have a boss who at least gets his name right.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''
** The Powderpuff, Power Puff, Powerpuff Girls?
** An episode had a ShoutOut to ''Series/SesameStreet'' when Bubbles crashed through a grocery store window. She apologizes to Mr. Hooper for the broken window, who tells her, "It's Cooper! Cooper!"
* Wizard Kelly from ''WesternAnimation/{{TheProudFamily}}'' would do this all the time.
* On ''{{WesternAnimation/ReBoot}}'', Enzo often calls the viruses insulting nicknames, such as Megabreath and Hexadismal. Also, only Dot seems to pronounce Cecil's name correctly (Ceh-cil, not Cee-cil).
** [[BigBad Megabyte]] tried to mock the grown-up Enzo (now a muscle-bound [[BadAss badass]]) by throwing this in his face and wondering what happened to the insults... shortly before being PunchedAcrossTheRoom with a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome ''dent'' in his chest]].
* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', Spinelli's mother manages to get every one of her friend's names wrong. She calls Mikey "Mickey", Vince "Vance", Gretchen "Gretel", Gus "Russ" and [=TJ=] become the MemeticMutation "[=BJ=]".
* Colleen did this to Blitz ''all the time'' on ''WesternAnimation/RoadRovers''. Sometime's she'd call him things like "Mr Chubbycheeks"; other times she'd just pretend to have forgotten his name entirely.
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife''
** Heffer's mom does this. She keeps getting Rocko's name wrong and always ends up calling him Crocko, Jocko, and such instead.
** Grandpa Wolfe doesn't even bother with his name and just calls him "the beaver" instead, which is [[IAmNotWeasel another thing entirely]].
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' where a second-aunt-twice-removed comes to stay with the family, she continually calls Didi by the wrong name. At the end of the episode Stu does too finally setting Didi off.
-->'''Stu:''' She sure is a great aunt, huh Feefee?\\
'''Didi:''' IT'S '''"DIDIIIIIIIII"'''!
* In ''ShaggyAndScoobyDooGetAClue'', Robie, the robot butler, always calls Scooby "Rooby Roo".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** Mr. Burns' inability to remember Homer's name -- indeed, ''anything about him at all'' -- is a RunningGag, though he doesn't call him other names. A relatively early episode had Krusty having the same attitude towards Bart, despite "all the recent events of [Krusty's] life revolving around him" (actually a quote from Smithers to Burns about Homer, but it fits). Subverted when Mr. Burns is found shot, shortly after Homer snaps and accosts Mr. Burns in his office in an effort to make him remember his name. [[spoiler:When Mr. Burns recovers from his coma, the only words he could say are "Homer Simpson", which made Homer the prime suspect in the shooting.]]
** One of the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes -- in which Marge and her sisters, appropriately enough, are witches -- parodies ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' in an aside:
--->'''Patty:''' So, you finally left Durwood.\\
'''Marge:''' His name is Homer!
** In "TreehouseOfHorror VII", not-so-LittleGreenMen Kang and Kodos ask Homer to "TakeMeToYourLeader". He starts to tell them about BillClinton, then checks himself:
-->'''Homer:''' Except there's this election next week, so after that it might not be him anymore. It might be what's his name... uh, Mumbly Joe... I saw him on TV the other... Bob Dole!
** Similarly, Moe remembers Marge's name when talking about her but always calls her "Midge" to her face. This is largely of the endearment variety, since "Midge" is just another diminutive of "Marjorie", not to mention Moe's UnrequitedLove for her.
** In Sideshow Bob's parole hearing:
-->'''Chief Wiggum:''' Sideshow Bob has no decency. He called me "Chief Piggum"!\\
'''(laughter)''\\
'''Chief Wiggum:''' ''(laughs nervously)'' [[LateToThePunchline Oh yeah, now I get it...]]
** In a ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDedu4gCiG0 Simpsons Short]]'' that aired on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Homer does this to Oprah, variously calling her "Opera", "Okra", and "Opie".
** At a company picnic:
-->'''Mr. Burns:''' And this must be... uh, Brat!\\
'''Bart:''' Bart.\\
'''Homer:''' Don't correct the man, Brat!
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** "Stan Marsh? More like... Stan DARSH! Hahahahaha!"
** Stan's grandfather always calls him Billy. Ironically, Grandpa Marsh's own grandfather always called ''him'' Billy. (His real name is Marvin.)
* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Rainforest Schmainforest", because of Kenny's muffled voice, his new girlfriend keeps calling him Lenny, Benny, Johnny, or whatever sounds like Kenny.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''
** In the episode "The Fry Cook Games", [=SpongeBob=] erases half of Patrick's Chum Bucket name tag during a wrestling match.
-->'''Patrick''': [[BerserkButton MY NAME'S! NOT!]] '''''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!]]'''''
** This was a RunningGag in the "great snail race" episode, at the expense of [[ButtMonkey Squidward]]. Tennisballs? Tentpoles? Tortellini? [[{{Jerkass}} Tentacles]]!
* {{Superman}} actually manages to use this as a weapon in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'':
-->''(Mr. Mxyzptlk appears in Superman's bathroom, about to challenge him to a fight)''\\
'''Mr. Mxyzptlk''': Alright, your three months are up! And ''this'' time, you're not gonna cheat me out of my fun!\\
'''Superman''': Huh? Oh, it's you again, Mr. [[SdrawkcabName Kltpzyxm]].\\
'''Mr. Mxyzptlk''': Not Kltpzyxm! ''Mxyzptlk''! Now, the first thing I'm gonna do...\\
''(realizes what he's just said)''\\
'''Mr. Mxyzptlk''': Oh, NUTS!\\
''(he disappears)'' [[note]] Tricking Mr. Mxyzptlk into saying his name backwards is the only way to banish him back to the Fifth Dimension[[/note]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld''
** An episode has Wizardheimer the Magikoopa, who would get annoyed whenever the Mario Brothers called him "Wisenheimer" or "Wiseacre".
** The infamous ''[=SMB3=]'' episode with MilliVanilli had a brief gag where Bowser mispronounces their name as Silly Thawilly and Billy Danilli, with "Kootie Pie" and "Cheatsy" correcting him. [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2375953/7/King_Koopa_Katastrophe_Spoof_2 This fanfiction spoof of the episode]] makes further use of the joke by making it a RunningGag.
* The [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 classic Ninja Turtles cartoon]] episode "Rebel Without a Fin" features a guest villain with the name Dr. Pollydorious. Throughout the episode, the Turtles address him as Dr. Pollyanna, Dr. Polyester, Dr. Polyunsaturated, and other such names.
-->'''Dr. Pollydorious:''' I am Dr. Pollydorious, and soon the whole world will know my name!\\
'''Raphael:''' Maybe, but I bet they won't be able to spell it.
* In the episode of ''TheTick'' with Thrackorzog, Tick repeatedly messes up Thrakorzog's name, eventually calling him 'Susan'. Thrackorzog tries to do it back at the Tick later, and fails hilariously.
* TopCat has an occasional running gag where he calls Officer Dibble the wrong name, such as "Dribble" or "Drizzle", Dibble even ends up accidentally calling himself the wrong name when answering a phone call on at least one occasion.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaIsland''
** Lindsay is getting ''everybody's'' name wrong. Although she can usually remember somebody's name if they're (at the moment) important to her. For example she remembers Heather's name throughout the whole TDI season; when she calls her "Hannah" in the special Heather is clearly shocked, because is means Lindsay is no longer her puppet. (Interestingly, she seems generally better with names in ''TDA''.)
** It's PlayedForLaughs much more in ''World Tour'', where she just can't get her ''boyfriend's'' name right. She calls him Noah, a character she's had no on-screen interaction with. Ergo, she can remember a name or a face, but never both!
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Doctor Venture frequently calls his son Dean other names like Dave, Don or such. Dean hopes these might be nicknames, but doesn't think so.
* In ''WidgetTheWorldWatcher'', the male elder keeps forgeting and mispronounces Widget's name every time they meet.
* On ''Willa's Wild Life'', the school mean girls Sara, Kara and Lara always refer to Willa by some name other than her own that starts with W, such as "Wanda" or "Winifred." Meanwhile, Willa's own pet penguins always call her Gladys, but only because they're Cloud Cuckoolanders.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The full name of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda is actually 'Al Qaeda al-Jihad', which means "the base of the holy war" in Arabic. Non-Arabic speakers shortened it to al-Qaeda, which just means 'the base' which means absolutely nothing. This has unintentionally resulted in a [[http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-06-24-Osama-bin-Laden-Al-qaeda_n.htm hilarious PR]] problem for the terrorist group who are trying to [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19342_6-hilarious-ways-al-qaeda-going-corporate.html rename themselves]].
* [[BarackObama Obama's]] detractors deliberately emphasize the scary foreign-sounding aspect of his name, calling him "Iraq Obama" or "Saddam Hussein Obama," or simply "Nobama" or variants. Also, "Osama". Which backfired on them when Osama bin Ladin was reported killed. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMP7Ys57ha4 They said President Obama is dead]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4l0WCvWluM Obama bin Ladin is dead]], and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUFWaYQk6Mg even Geraldo Rivera messed it up.]] That was not limited to US newscasts. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-IdM0Ppwqs&feature=fvst Here]] are some clips from Italian newscasts with the same mistake.
** Conversely, they may call him "Barry", an Americanized nickname he grew up with but now dislikes.
** It's not just his detractors that got his name wrong. Teddy Kennedy, in a desparate attempt to get his name right, called him "Osama Bin Laden -- Osama Obama -- uh, Obama", leading to this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k17GanJvm6A parody song]].
** After embarrassing himself by bowing to Emperor Akahito, many Japanese took to calling him [[{{Baka}} Obaka.]]
** In 2011, after Michele Bachmann began her run for the presidency, DavidLetterman began referring to both her and Michelle Obama as "Michelle O'Bachmann". Paul Shaffer then mumbles the correct pronunciation into his microphone.
* Bill Parcells, one-time coach of the New England Patriots, once deliberately referred to Terry Glenn, his own player, as "She" in a national TV interview.
* This happened frequently to the late journalist ChristopherHitchens during television appearances. Many interviewers (including Dennis Miller and Bill Maher, who should have known better) would make the mistake of calling him "Chris", which would lead to him rather irritably reminding them his name was "Christopher".
* DeanMartin liked to do this with JerryLewis' last name. His favorite variations were Lucas, Loomis, Lousy and Looseleaf.
* In recent years many conservative politicians and commentators in the U.S. have taken to routinely referring to the Democratic Party as the "Democrat Party", due to the word "democratic" having positive connotations that conservatives don't want to highlight. Also, the shortened form ends in "rat". See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_%28phrase%29 The Other Wiki]]. Incidentally, this one's OlderThanTheyThink; it's been used off and on since at least the 1930s.
* Eliezer Ben Yehuda, reviver of the Hebrew language, rooted Shaul Chernikhovsky for national poet over Khayim Nakhman Bialik[[hottip:*:Who happens to be a distant relative of Mayim Bialik, whom you may know as [[Series/TheBigBangTheory Amy Farrah Fowler]], and frequently got the latter’s name wrong in his newspapers as "Bialin", "Bilik", etc.
* Former President GeorgeWBush was [[TheNicknamer notorious for doing this]] deliberately to practically everyone he works with on a regular basis, including but not limited to advisors (Karl "Turd Blossom" Rove), staffers, and the press corps. They were usually based on something completely unrelated to the person's name or abilities and usually based on something trivial (Rove got his after Bush saw him picking up after his dog in a flowerbed). Loyal Bush Republicans tried to pass it off as a great honor, but most weren't pleased with them, and a few were outright insulted. Rove's "Turd Blossom" is often the most cited example of just how bad these names could be. Bush also was not shy about mispronouncing the names of foreign leaders. For instance, he was once overheard calling VladimirPutin "Pooty Poo".
** Also see the ''30 Rock'' example above.
* German leftist politician Herbert Wehner who was (in)famous for his insults in parliament once called fellow parliamentarian Jürgen Wohlrabe "Übelkrähe" (which was a pun on the latter's name, turning "well-raven" into "evil-crow").
* In October 2011, when asked if he was ready to field "gotcha" questions like who the president of Uzbekistan was, Republican presidential contender Herman Cain said "And when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I’m going to say, you know, I don’t know. Do you know?" He then added, "Knowing who is the head of some of these small insignificant states around the world -- I don’t think that is something that is critical to focusing on national security and getting this economy going."
* Radio presenter James Naughtie (pronounced noch-ty, where "noch" rhymes with "loch", but has endless potential for written [[IncrediblyLamePun puns]]) had the misfortune of [[{{Spoonerism}} spoonerising]] the phrase "Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary".[[note]][[BlatantLies No, this has nothing at all to do with]] CountryMatters, why would you ask?[[/note]] That this was entirely accidental--although possibly a FreudianSlip--doesn't make it [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS5mVoqJpUk any less funny]].
* [[LongForThisWorld Aubrey de Grey]] gets called Audrey a lot.
* Rock star MeatLoaf was interviewed in the '70s by a journalist named Tom who seemed to think his name was "Meatball". Meat Loaf retaliated by calling the guy "Dick".
* "Ngaio", a [[UsefulNotes/NewZealand Kiwi]] name, is pronounced NIE-oh. This applies to:
** New Zealand mystery writer NgaioMarsh;
** A suburban district of Wellington located on the south slope of Mount Kaukau;
** ''Myoporum laetum'', a species of tree also known as the mousehole tree.
* When Nick Griffin, leader of the fiercely xenophobic British National Party, was controversially allowed to appear on the programme as a guest in 2009, one of the audience members addressed him as "Dick Griffin" before posing a question. This was almost certainly an example of Category A, a subtle way for said audience member to express disgust at Griffin's political views.
* In ''The Psychopathology of Everyday Life'', Sigmund Freud argued that the forgetting of proper names is ''never'' accidental, and usually, if not always, has something to do with hostility toward the person whose name is forgotten. The reasons for that hostility may vary, and we may not be aware of them at the time, but it's there. This is a subset of the concept of "{{Freudian Slip}}s", where a word misused in place of another word displays a hidden meaning.\\\
It's important to remember that Freud's conclusions are no longer given the respect they once were. Freud was indeed a pioneer in his field, but his conclusions were based on his own untested hypotheses, and in many cases have since been positively disproven by actual scientifically rigorous investigation. Unfortunately, until the science was done, Freud's influence on the field of psychology led far too often to "blame the victim" scenarios that only compounded the patient's problems. For example, in the case of forgetting names, there are often physiological causes that can be specifically diagnosed by a neurologist. Looked at through a Freudian perspective, however, such a patient not only has an undiagnosed neurological problem, now he is presumed by others to be unreasonably hostile, and so receives hostility in response.
* On an edition of the long running [=BBC=] panel discussion programme ''Question Time'', moderator David Dimbleby inadvertently addressed former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook as "Robin Cock". Cook immediately countered by addressing the moderator as "David Bumblebee".
* Members of the Tea Party movement originally called themselves "Tea Baggers" until it become public knowledge that "teabagging" is also the name of a sexual act. The Tea Party dropped the nickname, but their opponents often continue to call them Tea Baggers either out of habit or to mock them.
* Infamous Brazilian manager Vicente Matheus was known for {{Malaproper}}s, a few entering this. Best known was calling [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biro-Biro Biro-Biro]] "Lero-Lero".
[[/folder]]

* Eliezer Ben Yehuda, reviver of the Hebrew language, rooted Shaul Chernikhovsky for national poet over Khayim Nakhman Bialik[[hottip:*:Who happens to be a distant relative of Mayim Bialik, whom you may know as [[Series/TheBigBangTheory Amy Farrah Fowler]]]], and frequently got the latter’s name wrong in his newspapers as "Bialin", "Bilik", etc.

* Okabe in ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' ''loves'' to call Kurisu "Christina" (probably due to the fact that "Kurisu" is exactly how one would render the name "Chris" in Japanese, albeit in katakana instead of kanji) much to her annoyance. So much so that she's pleasantly surprised when he doesn't. He also does this occasionally with Daru, calling him a "suupaa hakaa" (usually rendered in subtitles as "Super Haker") instead of a "suupaa hakkaa" ("Super Hacker"), which Daru is always quick to correct. It's a very subtle difference, with only a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop glottal stop]] separating the (intentionally) incorrect pronunciation from the correct one.

* And in its spiritual predecessor, ''Webcomic/DMOfTheRings'', nobody could keep any of the names straight. Notable ones include Aragorn referring to Theoden as "King Crazypants", mixing up Sauron and Saruman, and forgetting the names of their own party members. Rivendell is Rivertown or [[ArchieComics Riverdale]], Theoden is Theogan, and the Nazgul are [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Nargazoids]].
-->'''Aragorn:''' [[Franchise/EvilDead Hail to the king, baby]]! Aragorn, son of Anduril is back!\\
'''DM:''' ... Anduril is the name of your ''sword'', dumbass.

* Hitomi Hagane from ''Raging Fist'' frequently calls Ciel with names such as "Shell", "Sell" and even "Hell".

* In {{anime}} in general, an older woman might do this to a younger woman intentionally to show disrespect. As per Japanese customs it is considered best to stop correcting them after it's clear they're doing it deliberately and simply tolerate the insult.
** In example, in ''Anime/TheTwelveKingdoms'' the maid Suzu is called "Mokurin" (which means "Fool" in the local language) by her {{Jerkass}} mistress Riyo. ([[BreakTheCutie Aside of subjecting her to many other hardships]]). At some point, the poor girl has a breakdown and starts screaming, "I'm not Mokurin! My name is Suzu! SUZU!"
* ''Anime/SDGundamForce'': Bakunetsumaru, poor poor Baku. Nobody ever gets his name right the first time around. The Zako's are still having trouble with it. Although only Guneagle has trouble pronouncing it on the good guy's side.
* It is hard to tell whether Izumi Segawa's frequent mispronouncing of ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'''s title character as Hayata-kun is just her teasing him or right out cloudcuckoolander-ism. Considering how Risa and Miki have somewhat adopted it, it's probably just seen as a nickname. It's also part of her verbal tic (everyone has a semi-original name from her). Given how Hinagiku asks for people to use her {{first name|Basis}}, it might just be how they've gotten comfortable naming people.
* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}''
** "Zura Janai, Katsura daaa!" (It's not Zura, it's Katsura!) Parodied so many times by Katsura himself. It's also known as his {{Catchphrase}}, but Gin still hasn't caught on.
** This happens to Gintoki as well. Sakamoto always calls him Kintoki.
* Kasanoda in ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'' is better known as Casanova, anyway. [[RuleOfFunny It's just funnier]]. And if that's not enough, sometimes he's called Bossa Nova as well.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''
** This happens to Butch a lot in both the English and Japanese versions of the anime. He's been called Botch, Biff, Hutch, Bob, Butcher, and many others. In the original Japanese, his name is Kosaburo, but he always gets called Kosanji. Seems to happen so often that he immediately replies "It's Butch!" when spoken to. In an episode of the spinoff ''Pokémon Chronicles'', Butch is actually called the correct name for a change, and he replies with "It's Bu-Oh, wait, that's what you said!" Another time, he called himself by the wrong name when attempting to correct someone when they got it right.
** His supervisor Dr. Number suffers from the same problem.
-->''[[RunningGag phone rings]]''\\
'''Namba:''' ''It's '''NAMBA!'''''
** Lyra, one of the representatives of the Johto Festival in Sinnoh, constantly refers to Dawn as Dane. While Dawn obviously tried to correct her, Lyra never seems to get it, and in the end, Dawn just didn't bother.
** And in Unova, there's Stephan (Kenyan), one of Ash's rivals. Ash continually pronounces it STEFF-in instead of ste-FON, which he is hasty to correct but tries not to take personally.
*** YTV even made an advertising short on that.
* Vita in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' always screwed up Nanoha's name before they became allies. "Nantoka" actually means "something" and is used when someone refers to something that they do not know the name of. Also a bit of a pun, since the ''nano'' in her actual name is basically something you stick at the end of a sentence when you're not sure (which was the main aspect of the first season's IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming).
-->'''Vita:''' Takamachi Nantoka!\\
'''Nanoha:''' It's Nanoha! NA! NO! HA!
* ''Anime/{{S-CRY-ed}}'': Straight Cougar kept getting Mimori's name wrong, this an example of C he's not doing it to be mean, he honestly can't remember her name because he's always in a rush. He also calls Kazuma "Kazuya" once or twice.
** In one of the last episodes, he breaks the gag by actually getting her name right. However, he's said it wrong so many times by then that she corrects him anyway out of habit. The very deliberate way that he says it implies that his getting-names-wrong problem is more a case of ObfuscatingStupidity than anything else.
* ''Manga/SailorMoon''
** [[TheDitz Usagi]] does this in a "Sailor Stars" episode with the VictimOfTheWeek, called Garayan, calling him ''Garapan'', which means ''colourful men's underwear'' in Japanese.
** A better example is her nickname of Odango-atama (literally, Dumpling Head -- or, if you go by the dub, [[{{Woolseyism}} Meatball Head]]) based on her hairstyle. She hates it at first and throughout the first season insists that "They're not odangos!" Once she and Mamoru start dating, it becomes a pet name (though Usa-ko is used far more often) and other masculine (though not male) characters, namely Haruka and Seiya, start using it as well.

* ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei''
** Nozomu's family is extremely prone to these, something made worse by the fact that their names lend themselves to be called "Despair", "Death", and "Unmatched in Sexual Prowess". To explain for those unfamiliar with how kanji work, the two characters that make up their surname (Itoshiki) can be combined into a single character that forms unfortunate phrases with their given names.
** Let's not forget the whole Momoiro Kakarichou thing.
* Dita from ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'' is the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} version. Despite the fact that she's romantically interested in the male lead, she can't seem to remember his name and calls him "Uchuujin-[[{{Honorifics}} san]]" ("Mr. Alien") instead.
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}''
** In an early episode, Gourry and Lina do this to Zelgadis. They call him "Zagildoes" and "Zeldagis", which almost makes him lose it.
** Gourry also does this with early villain Shabranigdo, whom he calls Shabadingo.
** Gourry still does it to everyone save Lina.
-->'''Gourry:''' Just give me a moment. I will remember. I will get it. [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/slayers_revolution/v01/c001/10.html It's right at the tip of my tongue.]] \\
'''Amelia:''' You forgot our names again? \\
'''Zelgadis:''' Much worse. Lina said our names just a moment ago.
** Lina does it frequently, to mock enemies she doesn't respect. She called Zolf only "third-rate wizard" and "mummy-man". And played it even further with [[UnknownRival Naga]]: she pretended to forget her name, then asked again ''right after'' Naga gave her name anew, ''then'' suddenly turned another way -- "remembered" their last meeting and said she was joking and is not about to forget the name of a girl who managed to [[DidntThinkThisThrough fry her own butt]]. Just to exploit every possible avenue of humiliation.
* Tozuwa from ''Anime/{{Witchblade}}'' jokingly refers to Masane as Masamune (big chest) because of her large breasts. In the English dub he calls her "Melanie", because of her "melons".
* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka''
** Onizuka frequently calls Principal Uchiyamada "Xavier", after monk Fransisco Xavier, because of Uchiyamada's bald head. He doesn't do it on purpose at all, he seems to just associate the two in his mind for some reason.
** He also can't seem to remember Teshigawara's name at all. His attempts to recall it don't even come close. Just to give an example of how bad it gets, he once refers to him as "''Toxic Socks Warrior''", without any sign that he doesn't think it's his actual name.
** And there's how everybody, even her younger brother, calls Tomoko "Toroko". That's because the "toro" in the nickname is short for "toroi" which means (dull; slow; stupid) referring to the fact that Tomoko has always been [[TheFool simple-minded]] since she was a child. This is also why she is nicknamed "Slo-mo-ko" in the English dub.
* Because of some initial confusion, all of the Deimon Devil Bats in ''Manga/{{Eyeshield 21}}'' think Raimon Taro's name is "Monta." This is a since Sena misread the kanji for his name as "Kaminari Montarou"; Hiruma later uses this mistake to his advantage by claiming it's a nickname derived from football legend Joe Montana (and lies to Monta by saying he played the same position).

* ''Manga/OnePiece''
** Franky calls the villain Spandam "Spanda" (could be both B and C variants), much to the latter's annoyance. The fact that said character has marks on his face like that of a panda makes it kinda appropriate.
** This happens a fair bit. Luffy often calls people by distinguishing features, Sanji refers to Zoro as "Marimo" (a type of moss reminiscent of his hairstyle) and he often calls Sanji "Stupid Love Cook" and the like. Luffy also calls Boa Hancock "Hanmock" [[spoiler:though he called her by Hancock shortly before leaving her at Impel Down, prompting a [[HilarityEnsues rather funny response]].]]
* In the ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' dub, Davis calls TK "TE", "TJ", and pretty much every other combination. TK suspects he does it intentionally. In the original version, this was a none-too-translatable pronoun -- and honorific-related matter that basically amounts to Daisuke calling Takeru "HeyYou" with a bit of extra pointedness. It might not always be intentional. In one instance where a flustered Davis calls him "TA". TK questions it, and Kari giggles, "He can't even spell TK!" Though it was ''definitely'' intentional when he called him "[[ToiletHumour TP]]". And it's been confirmed that the script writers were brave enough to go through the whole alphabet.
* In the episode of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' where the crew finds Ed's father, he has an assistant named [=MacIntyre=]. He never gets it right, at times calling him [=MacIntosh=] or something else beginning with "Mac". Definitely a case of actually forgetting. At least he's ''aware'' of the problem, at one point referring to his assistant as "[=MacInwhatever=]" when he was in a particular hurry and didn't have time to even ''attempt'' to get it right. (The assistant, naturally, yells a correction even as they hurry off.)
* In ''Magical Domiko'', the ShowWithinAShow from ''NanakaSixSeventeen'', Domiko's sidekick is always referred to by her as Pikota... even though he constantly insists his name is Pikoto.
* Wacky robot mamodo Koral Q in ''Manga/ZatchBell'' calls Kiyomaro "Piyomaro" much to his annoyance.
* In ''Anime/JinkiEXTEND'', Aoba Tsuzaki is contemptuously given the nickname "Ahobaka" by Ryouhei (''aho'' and ''baka'' both mean stupid). Later on, it becomes an affectionate nickname. In the English dub it is translated as "Aobimbo".
* Quite a few of the dolls from the ''Anime/RozenMaiden'' anime have trouble remembering fellow doll Kanaria's name.

* Rossiu from ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' is always called "Dekosuke/[[ForeheadOfDoom Forehead]] Boy" by Kamina.
* In ''Anime/LuckyStar'''s ''Lucky Channel'' segment, Akira Kogami forever refers to Minoru Shiraishi as "Sebastian" after Konata (acting like a character from ''[[LightNovel/MariaSamaGaMiteru Mari Mite]]'') calls him that once.
* In episode 10 of ''Manga/HighSchoolGirls'', Ayano's boyfriend Shimotakatani went to meet her family. Her mother kept on mispronouncing Shimotakatani's name. Ayano's older sister even corrected her once.
* In ''Anime/{{Basquash}}'', Dan twists Sela's nickname "Platinum Hurricane" into, among other things, "Platitude Hotpad" and "Plastic Candycane".
* ''Manga/KeroroGunsou'' is forever known as "bokegaeru" (dumb frog) to Natsumi.
* Cruz from ''Manga/{{Needless}}'' is called "Yamada" by Eve, which annoys him. Teruyama gets the same treatment, ending up with "Uchida". In the flashback, Blade was called "Ishida" by her. She actually fantasizes about actually remembering people's names at one point (instead of making up names to use for them).
* Early on in ''Anime/LastExile'', after seeing [[TheAce Claus]] perform the [[DoABarrelRoll Immelman Turn]] flawlessly, Dio takes an interest in the young vanship pilot and [[HoYay attaches himself]] to Claus, calling him "Immelman" endlessly. It's a rare (and often serious) instance whenever Dio drops the affectionate attitude and calls Claus by his real name.
* ''Anime/{{Hamtaro}}'': Jingle/Tongari, the wandering minstrel hamster, is one of at least two characters who can never seem to call Hamtaro by his real name. In the original Japanese, Hamutarou always becomes Hamujirou or a similar name; in the dub, the title character is infuriated by being referred to as Hamsandwich, Hamblasto, Hambobo and the like.
* Count Alses of ''LightNovel/{{Tytania}}'' always misremembers Fan Hyulick's name as "Fan Hyulen". He is corrected on a regular basis, but this only serves to irritate him.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', Joseph challenges D'Arby to a water tension match -- a glass is filled to the rim with water, and they have to take turns dropping in a number of coins of their choice, with the loser being the one who causes the water to spill. Joseph ''intentionally'' gets D'Arby's name wrong ("Barby" and "Obby") in order to agitate him, which means he'd be less focused on keeping the water tension from breaking. [[spoiler:It doesn't work -- D'Arby had ''already'' set a cheat while setting up the glass.]]
* In ''Anime/{{Mai-Otome}}'', Sergey calls our lovely heroine Arika "arinko" ("ant girl") based on her name and how her [[GirlishPigtails hairstyle]] makes her braids look like antennae. It's fairly obvious the term is meant to be affectionately insulting, given his [[JerkAss immaturity]] and his [[MayDecemberRomance attraction]] to Arika [[spoiler: because of his infatuation with her mother, Lena.]]
** Mahya also uses this nickname on Arika in ''Anime/MaiOtomeZwei''.
* In ''Manga/{{Pretear}}'', Himeno is sometimes referred to as "tsurippu-atama" (Tulip-Head), because of her haircut (and possibly because her motif seems to be the tulip anyway).
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': A rare written example: when Ranma meets Kunō for the first time, they fight. It's a short one, but not so short that Ranma can't show off by imprinting a kanji symbol on his forehead. In the following scene, Kunō is looking at the symbol in a mirror, and while Nabiki is impressed at Ranma's handiwork, Kunō is upset because "he spelled my name wrong!" The subtitles in the episode translate the symbol to "insufferable". Kunō then writes his name correctly ("capable"), and Nabiki writes it the way she had thought it was spelled ("incapable").
-->'''Kunō:''' I despise you.
** Sadly, we don't get this in the English translation of the manga. Instead, we have Ranma write "buffoon" on Kunō's forehead. Kunō then writes it the way he thought it was spelled, shouting "This is how you spell it!" Nabiki then spells it correctly. The "I despise you" line stayed the same, though.
* In ''Manga/GenkakuPicasso'', the main character, Hikari Hamura, accidentally writes his name as "Hikaso" on his school slippers by making the first line straight, leading some people to laugh and call him that. This leads him to being called "Picasso" because of constantly drawing.

* ''Manga/InuYasha'': The title character and his rival Kōga rarely call one another by name; Inu-Yasha calls Kōga "''yasee ookami''" (variously translated as "wimpy wolf", "wolf boy", and the like), and Kōga calls Inu-Yasha "''inukkoro''" (translated as "dogface", "pup", or "dog crap"). This starts out as a sign of their active dislike for one another but gets less malicious as their rivalry does.
* In the ''[[Manga/DragonBall DragonBall Z]]'' movie ''Broly: Legendary Super Saiyan'', Master Roshi powers up to confront the titular BigBad, and calls him "Broccoli". The Master is, of course, [[DrunkenMaster drunk off his turtle shell]]. But given the Saiyan race's [[PunnyName weird]] [[ThemeNaming naming]] conventions, he's not exactly wrong. Given that the character's name (which is actually supposed to be spelled "Broli") is a pun on taking the "ko" out of the word "Burokorii" (Japanese pronunciation of "broccoli") to make "Buroorii", this might actually be subtle lampshading.
* Assistant chief security maid Yashima Sanae in ''Anime/HanaukyoMaidTai La Vérité''. In Japan "Sanae" is normally a first name, so people often call her Sanae instead of Yashima even though they've known her for a long time. She [[InsistentTerminology always corrects them when they do so]], telling them that Yashima is her first name and Sanae is her last name.
* Non-malicious example in ''Manga/{{Club 9}}'': Haruo Hattori has such a thick country accent that when she introduces herself to Tokyo club hostesses, they immediately start calling her "Hello-chan".
* In ''[[Manga/TegamiBachi Letter Bee]]'', one older Letter Bee derides Lag for going beyond the call of duty, calls him "Lang" and "Lob" before departing and ignoring Lag as he calls out his actual name.
* In ''Manga/ToLoveRu'', several characters mis-pronounce Yui's family name, Kotegawa, instead calling her Ko''ke''gawa, to her great annoyance.
* ''LightNovel/DenpaOnnaToSeishunOtoko'': [[CatchPhrase "The name's Ryuuko!"]]
* ''Anime/InfiniteRyvius'': Everyone calls Good Turtleland III "Charlie". Not that we blame them.
* In his first appearance in ''Manga/HatenkouYuugi'', Rayborn refuses to tell Rahzel his name, so she decides to call him Spicy Diamond, shortened to Spicy or Spi. Even after they become friends, she sometimes calls him Spi if she's in a bad mood.

* Barnaby from ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'' is not happy about the EmbarrassingNickname his partner Kotetsu insists on calling him by. While he gives up on complaining around episode 5 or so, he still continues to dislike it enough [[spoiler:to snap out of a brainwashed state of sorts just to inform Kotetsu that "[his] name is not Bunny! It's ''Barnaby!''"]]
* Okabe in ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' ''loves'' to call Kurisu "Christina" (probably due to the fact that "Kurisu" is exactly how one would render the name "Chris" in Japanese, albeit in katakana instead of kanji) much to her annoyance. So much so that she's pleasantly surprised when he doesn't. He also does this occasionally with Daru, calling him a "suupaa hakaa" (usually rendered in subtitles as "Super Haker") instead of a "suupaa hakkaa" ("Super Hacker"), which Daru is always quick to correct. It's a very subtle difference, with only a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop glottal stop]] separating the (intentionally) incorrect pronunciation from the correct one.
* ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'': Zonge, a wannabe gourmet hunter, is frequently mislabeled as Zombie or a varient by almost everyone except his two sidekicks- even the [[UpToEleven captions]] get it wrong.
* [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Fai/Fye]] from ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' can't seem to get Kurogane's name right, deforming it to "Kurotan", "Kurorin" and such. However it is implied Fai does it just because [[RuleOfFunny it's fun,]] since he reverts to calling Kurogane by his full name when he's made him upset.
* ''Anime/TransformersArmada''
** Megatron once spent an entire episode referring to Thrust as Squidhead. Thrust, despite being a YesMan, wasn't pleased.
-->'''Thrust:''' My name is Thrust! T-H-R-U-S-T, Thrust!
** Billy and Fred also have some trouble remembering the Decepticons' names. At least they try.
* In ''Manga/{{Working}}'' Popura cannot call her co-worker Souta Takanashi properly by his name, instead calling him "Katanashi." Inami got confused with that until she found out that he only lets Popura call him that.
** Later Popura meet three of Takanashis sister at their home:
-->'''Popura:''' You are all Katanashi-kun's family members!?
-->'''Kazue, Kozue and Nazuna:''' It's Ta-ka-na-shi.
* In ''Manga/YubisakiMilkTea'' Minamo decides to call Yoshinori's crossdressing alter-ego "Catherine", when she first meets "her". As a running gag she does it several times afterward just to tease her/him, but it ends when Minamo requests that they should be girlfriends.
* In {{Upotte}}, Jiisuri/G3's little sisters, HK And MP doesn't like being called Chuu-3 and Chi-3 respectively.

* Main character Madoka in ''RinneNoLagrange'' cannot for the life of her get Villagullio's name right and he eventually gave up on trying to get her to say it right. Eventually so does Makoka and just calls him Guivi-nii, though she almost gets it when she tries again in the second season.
* In ''LightNovel/IsThisAZombie'', Orito always calls Yuki Yoshida "Tomonori", because the kanji for her name also mean "Tomonori". Yuki always gets pissed at this, and Orito can't get it through his skull that her name is "Yuki". Some other people end up calling her "Tomonori" because they hear Orito say it.

* In ''Anime/BlackRockShooter'', main character Mato reads Yomi's last name as "Kotori-asobi", which means "tiny bird's game". Yomi corrects her that it's actually supposed to be read "Takanashi", which means "no hawks", because "there are no hawks when little birds play". "Kotori-asobi" gets used later by a few characters as a nickname for her.

* In ''{{Tintin}}'', Bianca Castafiore just can't seem to get Captain Haddock's (or his butler, Nestor's) name quite right. The Captain gets his own back at one point. But what's funny is that she ''never gets it wrong the same way twice.''
* In the ''ComicBook/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' comic "Fair Wind to Java", Sam gets incensed when a bartender dismissively refers to him as "[=McGruff=]".
-->'''Sam:''' Did you hear what he called me? I ''hate'' that! Let's sneak up to his room later and drain all the liquid out of his body.\\
'''Max:''' If he calls me "HelloKitty", I'll plug him.

* In the ''{{Superboy}}'' comic of the 1990s (the one with the clone), Superboy had a recurring villain named Sidearm to whom he'd misremember every time they met ("Sidestep", "Sidecar", "Sideways", "Sideline"...).
* In the ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' spinoff comic "Sonic Universe," Shadow the Hedgehog calls Marine several variants of her name. Probably because Marine is universally recognized as incredibly annoying and he just can't bring himself to care to get it right.
* In ''WorldWarHulk Aftersmash: ComicBook/DamageControl'', the new Black Goliath is called the wrong name by everyone he meets. "Black Buck", "Big Brother" (although that one sounds sort of cool all things considered), "Big Black"... He curtails this by changing it to simply "Goliath".

* 'ComicBook/{{X-Men}}''
** From the CrisisCrossover book ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}/ComicBook/TeenTitans: Apokolips Now'':
-->'''Wolverine:''' ''(working out in the Danger Room)'' Hey, Charley -- how much longer we gotta keep up with this?\\
'''Xavier:''' Until you get it right, Wolverine. And for the umpteenth time, call me "Professor".\\
'''Wolverine:''' Sure thing, Chuck.
** They've been over that before. Early on, the Professor told Logan to call him Professor, or if he ''must'' be familiar, Charles. Logan responded pretty much as he did in the ''Teen Titans'' crossover, and the professor is "Chuck" to him to this day. Also, Xavier once tried to get ''Cyclops'' to call him ''Charles'', but poor Scott couldn't bring himself to (after several hilarious attempts).
* In ''Hate'', when Valerie introduces Buddy to her parents, her mom asks Buddy what his real name is. Buddy reluctantly admits that it's Harold, and that's what she insists on calling him, much to his chagrin.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Curtis}}''
** Gunther the barber can never remember Curtis's name. He refers to him as pretty much any other name that starts with a C, some quite obscure and possibly not male names, and Curtis always reminds him of his real name, but it never sticks.
** Curtis himself often addresses Michelle, the unrequited object of his affections, as "Shelley", to her great annoyance.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' has a newsletter written by Dogbert, that people can send questions to. Dogbert will invariably give an insulting answer, starting by punnily misstating their name.

* In ''FanFic/DiddyKongRacing5000'', Wizpig abuses Klungo several times for calling him "Pigwiz".
* In ''FanFic/VanityFairIsAMagazineNotABook'', [[{{Pokemon}} Cassidy and Butch]] show up around chapter nine. Just like in {{Pokemon}}, everyone who utters Butch's name gets it wrong, and they usually call him "[[CrowningMomentOfFunny Bitch]]". He is even called "Bitch" in the GagCredits.

* From [[Machinima/FreemansMind Felix's Mind]], Felix seems to think that [[VideoGame/{{Half-Life2}} Alyx's]] name is Joni. [[spoiler:[[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Until the last episode, anyway]].]]

* ''FanFic/TurnaboutStorm''
** [[VisualNovel/AceAttorney Phoenix Wright]] has some trouble remembering [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Fluttershy's]] name at first. He calls her Butshersty, Flutterscotch and Firefly at 3 different times, but it's not like Flutteshy minds at all (it has to do with [[FriendToAllLivingThings her]] believing that Phoenix is... well... [[ADogNamedDog a phoenix]].)
** In Part 2, Trixie brings malicious variants with Twilight Screw-Up, Rainbow Trash and Mr. Wrong.
* In ''Harry Potter and the Half-Assed Parody'', a comedic chapter-by-chapter reimagining of ''[[Literature/HarryPotter Half-Blood Prince]]'', Slugworth's name goes through this constantly, such as "Slug-Slug Bo Bug". This is done both in the narrative and in the dialogue, but it seems no characters ever notice anything strange being said.

* [[Manga/AzumangaDaioh Osaka]] in ''RolePlay/WeAreOurAvatars'' often gets the names of things wrong, thanks to her {{Cloudcuckoolander}}ness.

* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'': Frank gets angry every time he is called flame swordsman.
* ''WebVideo/SailorMoonAbridged'' has Neflyte constantly getting Molly's name wrong... at least, before his last two episodes.

* In the earliest parts of ''FanFic/TheNewRetcons'', John's fellow dentist Everett had to take out a full page ad that says that his name was Everett because John kept calling him Elliot.
* From ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'':
** In a {{Crossover}} with ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', Calvin calls Alfred "Horus". Whether it was intentional or not is unknown.
** Brainstorm mistakes Socrates for "Caesar", the only thing he remembers being that "[it] was Roman". Whether or not's it's intentional or not is unclear.
** When defending Jack Freewater, Calvin keeps forgetting his name until the end.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', Woody referred to Buzz as both "Light Beer" and "Light Snack".
** In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', Stinky Pete does this as well, calling Buzz "Lightweight". Woody jumps to his defense, shouting "His name is Buzz Lightyear!"
* ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'': After mishearing Roddy's protest of "I'm just an innocent bystander!", many start referring to him as Millicent Bystander. Oh, and Rita's grandmother keeps calling him Tom Jones.
* The non-malicious variant shows up in ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', where the absent-minded Dory can never remember the name of Marlin's son (the titular Nemo), misremembering it as [[MarxBrothers "Chico", "Harpo",]] "Fabio", "[[Series/SesameStreet Elmo]]", and the like.
* This is a recurring situation in ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', where, besides her parents, everybody seems to be under the impression her name is "Caroline". It grates on her so much that one of the things she enjoys most about the "other" world is that nobody does that there.
** [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/esmeraldabeautifuldesigns/3274572842/ Epic win.]]
* ''Disney/OliverAndCompany'': "Francis. Francis. Not Frank. Not Frankie. Francis."

* ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective'': Basil never gets Olivia Flaversham's last name right: Flammhammer, Flanchester, Flangerhanger...
-->'''Olivia:''' Flaversham!\\
'''Basil:''' Whatever.
:: Hovever, he does get the name right the one time he addresses her father, so he's probably doing it on purpose.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'': "My name is ''NOT'' '''CHUCK!'''"

* ''RainMan'': Refers to the main character in the film, the autistic Raymond Babbitt and the [[{{Malaproper}} malapropism]] used by his younger brother, Charlie, when Charlie was a toddler just learning to talk and still unable to properly enunciate the name. He only remembers "Rain Man" as an imaginary friend from early in his own childhood, when Raymond still lived in the same house before being sent to an institution (as he was a potential danger to Charlie - "Hot water burn BABY!!!").
* Jareth, in ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', seems incapable of remembering Hoggle's name and calls him a variety of sound-alikes. At one point Sarah tries to correct him, but gets his name wrong as well and Hoggle must correct them both. The only time he gets Hoggle's name right is when he's threatening and/or abusing him. Jareth also does this to Spittledrum, who is very happy when Toby gets his name right.
* Miranda Priestly, the title devil in ''TheDevilWearsPrada'', is constantly calling her assistant, Andy, by the wrong name. After a while it becomes clear that a) she is doing it deliberately, and b) she considers having Andy's name said ''correctly'' as a kind of hard-to-earn merit badge. Specifically, she calls her by her predecessor's name, Emily, as a reminder that her job has a HighTurnoverRate and she's merely the latest of several replacements and could be gone any time. Once she begins to rely on her, she starts calling her by her real name -- but always Andrea rather than Andy, and [[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY pronounced pretentiously as Ahn-DRAY-ah]] instead of ANN-dree-ah.
* Variant C: Admiral "Tug" Benson in the ''Film/TopGun'' parody ''Film/HotShots'', who can never seem to get Lt. Cmdr. Block's first name ("James") right. Usually, he doesn't even come close. But you do have to cut him some slack, since after all, he did catch "a bazooka round at Little Big Horn. Or was it Okinawa? The one without the Indians."
* In the family baseball movie ''RookieOfTheYear'', the kid's name is Henry Rowengartner, and a RunningGag is the team's manager consistently misremembering his name as Rosenberg, Ruddemucker, Rulienfurter, etc.
* In ''TheSantaClause'', the newly minted and very confused Santa refers to his head elf by many names starting with B, including Barabbas and Barnaby, except his real name, Bernard.
* In ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', no-one, it seems, can pronounce "Witwicky" correctly. Mikaela believes it to be "Wilkicky", and when Sector Seven arrives at the Witwickys' house, Simmons pronounces it "Wickity".
* In ''Film/WhatsUpDoc'', Judy is constantly calling Howard "Steve" for no apparent reason.
* In the live-action version of ''Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'', Cruella de Vil does this to Roger. This is one of the film's facets that carried over into the animated series.
* ''{{Newsies}}''. Mr. Wiesel is always called "Mr. Weasel" by our heroes. (Compare the ''YesMinister'' example below.)
* In ''DeadOrAlive'' TheMovie, Weatherby is consistently called by other names, most often "Wallaby". Apparently there's an interesting story to his name, we just never get to hear it. Victor Donovan, his boss, calls him Weatherby. The guilty party here is his love interest Helena. A marked change in their relationship is when she uses his name correctly for the first time. Weatherby starts to correct her, only to realize that she got it right.
* ''Film/KellysHeroes'': Sgt. Babra (it's his last name) keeps getting called Barbara.
* This is a RunningGag in the American remake of ''Film/{{Godzilla}}'' in which the main human character, Nick Tatopoulos, constantly has his last name mispronounced throughout the film by other characters. It's just as funny as it sounds...
** And ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' takes the joke [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFrD6Zi9Wl0 to eleven]].
* Walt from ''GranTorino'', being the GrumpyOldMan that he is, hardly calls the Hmong by their correct names. "Thao" becomes "Toad", and his love interest Youa is "Yum Yum".
* Ty Webb gets Danny's name wrong in one scene from ''{{Caddyshack}}'', at one point calling him Betty.

* In ''TheSting'', Henry Gondorff has a short period of time to make Doyle Lonnagan unreasonably loath him (it's necessary for the con to work). So, he gets Lonnegan's name wrong every time he addresses him (he calls him Lonneman, Lonnihan, Lowman, Lemongan, and Larrabee instead).
* In ''Film/TheThirdMan'', Holly Martins refers to the policeman Calloway as "Callahan" several times, despite Calloway's insistence that he's "not Irish."
* The main character of ''LocalHero'', "Mac" [=MacIntyre=], is referred to as "[=MacIntosh=]" by his absent-minded boss.
* Samir Nagheenanajar in ''OfficeSpace'', a couple of times. The Bobs even make a joke about it when going over the list of people they're going to fire: "Samir Naga... Naga... Not gonna work here anymore."
* In ''Film/{{Zoolander}}'', neither Zoolander nor Hansel are capable of getting the Prime Minister of Malaysia's title correct, referring to him as things like "the Prime Minister of Micronesia", "Mr. Prime Rib of Propecia", and "the Claymatian dude".
* In ''{{Carrie}}'', the principal keeps calling her "Cassie", which [[spoiler:provokes her second telekinetic experience.]] Unlike the book, in the movie ''everyone'' calls her Cassie.
* In ''Film/TheKingOfComedy'', Rupert Pupkin tends to mention that his name is "often mispronounced or misspelled" when introducing himself, and over the course of the film, it is. Most often by Jerry Langford's secretary, who tends to call him Mr. Pumpkin or Mr. Pipkin.
* In ''SisterAct 2: Back To The Habit'', the movie's villain, Mr. Crisp, continuously mispronounces Sister Mary Clarence's name, though, despite the part he plays in the movie, it seems due to cluelessness and not malice; Sister Mary Clarence mispronounces his surname to get back at him, though.
* In Creator/MelBrooks' ''Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartOne'', everybody seems to think that Count Du Monet's real name is "Count the Money".

* The Swamp Castle scene in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''. "But Mother..." "Father, lad, Father." And a moment later: "Listen, Alice..." "Herbert."
* At the start of ''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'', Robert introduces himself to Rocky, who seconds later addresses him as "Richard".
* In ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors'', when Audrey introduces Orin to Seymour, [[{{Jerkass}} Orin]] doesn't quite get the meek florist's name right until Audrey corrects him, and he [[BerserkButton doesn't like the fact she corrected him]].

* In the '60s RedScare spoof ''The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming'', the leader of the Soviet submarine crew asks Walt Whittaker what his name is. When he starts to respond, giving his last name first ("Whittaker. Walt..."), the sailor cuts him off, and spends the rest of the film addressing him as "Whittaker Walt".

* ''Film/{{Aliens}}'':
-->'''Gorman:''' Morning, Marines. I'm sorry we didn't have time to brief you people before we left Gateway, but...\\
'''Hudson:''' Sir?\\
'''Gorman:''' What is it, Hicks?\\
'''Hudson:''' Hudson, sir. ''(points)'' He's Hicks.
* ''Film/ToWongFooThanksForEverythingJulieNewmar'': Sheriff Dullard insists that it's really "Dollard," and that his nametag is a "misprint."
* ''Film/TropicThunder'': OnlySaneMan Kevin Sandusky is called every other possible name by the other characters (e.g., "Tell him what time it is, Sikorsky!")

* In ''HaroldAndMaude'', Harold's mother does this to all three of Harold's dates.
* In ''Film/AnnieHall'', Alvy's friend Rob insists on addressing him as "Max", arguing, "It's a good name for you."

* In ''Film/{{Disturbia}}'', Kale calls a girl named Minnie Tyco "Skinny Psycho."
* In ''The Comebacks'', Coach Lambeau Fields consistently mispronounces Aseel Tare's name as "[[GameBreakingInjury ACL Tear]]."
* In ''Film/BrideAndPrejudice'' Darcy's mother keeps calling Lalita ''Lolita''.
* In the first live-action ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' movie, Fred cannot get Mondavarious's name right. Though funnily enough he says it correctly once.
* ''EmpireRecords'': "My name isn't fucking Warren!" Kind of unusual because he brings it on himself -- when asked his name, he gives the smart-ass answer of "WarrenBeatty". Characters who were there for that exchange immediately start calling him Warren out of lack of anything else to call him, and it sticks enough that people who weren't there assume it's his actual name. Also, we never find out what his real name ''is''.
* In ''Film/ClubDread'', Juan keeps pronouncing Penelope's name as Peen-na-lope after first seeing it on her name tag, with the "lope" part being pronounced the same way as the last syllable of "antelope". He actually has a crush on her and still can't get her name right. The RunningGag was inspired by co-writers Jay Chandrasekhar and Kevin Heffernan seeing ''CarlitosWay'' in a theater and hearing someone in the audience loudly ask "What kind of a name is Peen-na-lope?" when Penelope Ann Miller's name appeared in the opening credits.
* The father in ''{{Melancholia}}'' is sitting between two women apparently named Betty. He calls a waitress Betty, then asks if that's not actually her name and apologizes. Later that night, he addresses his own daughter as Betty in a letter, though her name is Justine. It's not clear if this is some sort of running joke with him or if he's going senile.
* In ''CampNowhere'' the bullies do this to the protagonist's ''nickname'', and the end result is actually LAMER by comparison. They repeatedly call Morris, aka [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Mud]], "Pud." Why they do this is anyone's guess.
* Through a misunderstanding Film/JohnCarter becomes (much to his annoyance) [[spoiler:"Virginia"]]
* The Fiddler from ''KinDzaDza'', despite not actually being able to play the fiddle. The one he lugs around for the entire film was left at a concert and he was returning it when the film started.
* The Live Action ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'', Cat frequently calls Conrad by the wrong name.
-->Cat: That means they're almost done Conrack.
-->Conrad: Conrad.
-->Cat: That's what I said Condor.
-->Conrad: CAT!
-->Cat: Now that's my name (chortles)
* In ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'', General Colton constantly refers to Lady Jaye as 'Brenda'. When he finally calls her Jaye it is a sign that he now respects her.

* In Creator/StephenKing's ''{{Carrie}}'', the high school principal is an out-of-touch nebbish. He first calls Carrie "Carrie Wright" instead of White, and then misremembers her first name as Cassie.

* In Paul Robinson's ''Willis and Friends'', Willis' supervisor likes to be called Libby. When Willis is mad at her, or she's made a mistake, Willis calls her Elizabeth, specifically stating that he knows that ''Elizabeth'' irritates her.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
** In the novel ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', Cohen the Barbarian initially refers to GentleGiant One Big River as "One Big Mother" a few times.
** Also, in ''Discworld/GoingPostal'' and ''Discworld/MakingMoney'', Moist von Lipwig has to put up with people getting his name wrong and calling him "Lipstick" or "Lipwick". And Mr Pump initially pronounces it as it's written, prompting an angry "It's Lip-''vig''!". [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Pump then starts pronouncing]] ''all'' Ws as Vs.
** Another slight variant in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies''. Hodgesaargh is not really the Lancre Royal Falconer's name, but because every time he introduces himself, the hawk he's holding would inevitably attack him. After a while, the people just decided to call him by that.
* Early in ''WatershipDown'', there's a memorable scene where the Threarah accidentally refers to Hazel as "Walnut."

* ''Literature/{{Chrestomanci}}''
** Chrestomanci loves this one. He does the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} version of this. It's said that he only does it with people he couldn't care less about (although at least partially ObfuscatingStupidity).
** In ''Charmed Life'' Janet consistently does this to Mr. Balsam, referring to him by various names such as Mr. Bistro and Mr. Beeswax. When Cat calls her on it, she says that Mr. Balsam "doesn't deserve for her to get his name right."
* In the NeroWolfe story "Cordially Invited to Meet Death," the client insists on addressing Goodwin as "Goldwin". She does the same thing to her servants, who never stay long. According to a friend of the family, it's a pose, "since her entire career is founded on snobbery."

* In Creator/KimNewman's AlternateHistory novella ''Teddy Bear's Picnic'', film director Michael Powell makes deliberate decision to refer to the government censor Putnam as "Putt-man", and instructs all of his staff to do the same.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' book "Blood Rites", self-absorbed porn star Trixie Vixen can't be bothered to remember Harry's name, but never forgets that he didn't bring her a latte. [[spoiler: This saves him from a murder rap, since she tries to frame him but can't give a good description or name to the police.]]
* Slight variant, in that the name in question is the name of an object: In the Creator/TomHolt book ''Ye Gods!'', the Hero, Jason, is given a sword called the Sword of Glycerion. Jason cannot ever remember the name of the sword and refers to it (in narration only -- it is never mentioned by name in dialogue again after Jason is told its name) variously throughout the book as the "Sword of Thingummy", "Sword of Damn It's On the Tip Of My Tongue, Begins With G", "Sword of Sounds Like Mice Weary On Or Something", "Sword of Sod It I've Forgotten Again", "Sword of Whatsit", "Sword of Who The Hell Cares", and ultimately "Sword of I Think I'll Call It George, Nice Name That".
* Done in JasperFforde's ''The Big Over Easy'', by Professor Tarsus, who insists on calling all the men "Ronald" and all the women "Nancy". And I do mean all of them.
-->'''Mary:'''Thomas Thomm, Professor. We understand he used to work here?\\
'''Professor:''' The name means nothing to me, Nancy.\\
'''Mary:''' ...You would have known him as... Ronald.\\
'''Professor:''' Then why didn't you say so? Yes, I remember Ronald quite well.
* Variant C is a sort of AuthorCatchphrase for GrahamGreene; it turns up throughout his oeuvre.
* ''Literature/GeronimoStilton'' has this happen to him frequently, although most of the time its just his sister and cousin teasing him. Still, he's wondered on more than one occasion why people can't seem to grasp that his name is [[BondJamesBond Stilon, Geronimo Stilton]].
* In ''Life of Pi'', Piscine Patel is instantly christened "Pissing Patel" by the other children at his school. The teachers try harder, but even they slip into calling him "Pissing" when they're not concentrating. He invents the nickname "Pi" for himself to avoid this.

* In ''ATreeGrowsInBrooklyn'', Aunt Sissy has an affinity for the name "John" and addresses all her husbands and lovers so to the point that her family doesn't always learn their real names. Her third husband asserts himself toward the end, insisting that Sissy and her family call him "Steve".
** Sissy's affectation was changed to "Bill" in the film version, for obvious reasons. Sissy is sexually liberated for her time, but she is not a prostitute.
* "Allow me to mispronounce your name to show my disrespect for you" = Sir Percy Blakeney constantly calling his ArchEnemy Chauvelin "Chambertin" or "Chaubertin" or what-have-you in ''Literature/TheScarletPimpernel'' and its sequels. Though there's some ObfuscatingStupidity to it.
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''ProsperosDaughter'' trilogy, Mab repeatedly refers to Creator/WilliamShakespeare as "Spearshaker" -- when Shakespeare isn't even around to object. He also calls Ulysses "the perp."
* In ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'', [=McMurphy=] is well aware that Nurse Ratched is pulling variant A on him, and darkly hints at what he'll do if she keeps it up.
* In ''StarTrekDepartmentOfTemporalInvestigations'', InsufferableGenius Professor Vard calls Agent Dulmur by various names including "Agent Duller", "Agent Dummer" and "Agent Dombler".
* The Monster of Frankenstein is often referred to as "Frankenstein", which isn't his name but the name of his inventor, Dr. Frankenstein.
* In ''JaneOfLanternHill'', everybody she knows in Toronto calls her by her middle name, Victoria, after her maternal grandmother, which she doesn't like. The only exceptions are her mother, who calls her the whole 'Jane Victoria' and her best friend Jody, who is told upon the first meeting that Jane prefers her first name. When she goes to visit her father in Prince Edward Island, she makes sure that everybody there knows to call her 'Jane'.
* ''Literature/TheNightOfWishes'': Beelzebub Preposteror often called Maledictus Maggot "Mr. Larva". It's HilariousInHindsight to anyone who ever whatched the Brazilian dubbing of [[WesternAnimation/{{Wunschpunsch}} the cartoon]].

* ''SesameStreet'' had several examples:
** The most famous was Big Bird, who forever called Mr. Hooper, the beloved shopkeeper of his eponymously named store, anything BUT Mr. Hooper. Big Bird's application is more of a {{Malaproper}} when he calls him names such as "Mr. Cooper," "Mr. Dooper," "Mr. Looper" and at least once, even "Mr. Pooper" ... however, Big Bird genuinely loves Mr. Hooper. Hooper forever has to correct Big Bird ("That's HOOPER!"), but he doesn't scold too much, as he, too, truly loves Big Bird and acts as a surrogate grandfather to him. Ironically, even in Hooper's death, Big Bird continues to blurt out the wrong name when thinking of his beloved friend, sobbing and calling him "Mr. Looper." (Susan, herself holding back Loretta Long's legit tears, says, "That's Hooper!")
*** Carroll Spinney, whom played both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, recalled in the book "Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street" a conversation he had with Will Lee (who played Mr. Hooper). Sensing that Lee was terminally ill, toward the end of the conversation, Spinney sat down next to Lee and said, in Big Bird's voice, "I love you, Mr. Looper!" (Of course, Lee was genuinely touched and the two embraced.) Less than a month later, Lee was dead; this was Spinney's way of saying his good-byes.
** Oscar the Grouch also has "terms of endearment" for several of the adults, most notably Bob, whom he loves calling "Blue Eyes." However, Oscar's torts toward his neighbors are not truly malicious, as – even though he is a grouch that doesn't like being bothered – he truly loves the folks of Sesame Street.

* The ''Carrie'' example above is parodied in an episode of ''Series/{{Skins}}'' where Cassie goes for a job interview and everyone calls her "Carrie". She doesn't seem to mind.
* The BritCom ''Series/TheGoodLife'' focused on a couple, Tom and Barbara Good, who decided to become fully self-sufficient; this included Tom quitting his job and giving up a position he had held for years. His former boss, a recurring character, always referred to them as "Tim and Fatima", [[DontExplaintheJoke showing how forgettable he thought Tom was.]] In the character's last appearance, he stuns both Tom and Barbara by using Barbara's correct name. He explains that he was purposely "forgetting" their names to intimidate them, but they now have his respect. He then calls Tom "Tim" again... completely seriously. [[DontExplaintheJoke So he did really forget Tom's name.]]

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''
** Dr. Cox does this to people. He has a tendency to call J.D. either girls names or "Newbie" even when he's been at the hospital for several years, he calls Elliot "Barbie", and Turk "Gandhi", "Turtlehead" and "Scalpel Jockey". Dr. Kelso also seems to think Chris Turk's name is "Turk Turkleton". When Turk calls Dr. Kelso on this, pointing out his name is "Chris Turk", Kelso looks at him for a moment, then rallies by claiming he's fully aware of the fact, he just likes "Turkelton" better. He also calls Turk "Turkleberry" and "Turkledawg" at least once. It should be noted that he ''never'' calls Carla anything other than her name (Nurse Espinosa), which proves his respect for her and Dr. Cox always calls her Carla. [[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious When he does call J.D., Turk, or Elliot by their real names, he's probably trying to be less of a jerk and more serious.]] This is very rare, incidentally.
** Doctor [[ItsPronouncedTropay Beardfacé]] is another constant victim of this trope, referred to as "Doctor Beardface" by pretty much everyone at Sacred Heart.
** Snoop Dogg Intern/Resident/Attending presumably has a real name that no one ever uses. Unlike all the other nicknames people on the show have, he doesn't seem to mind being called Snoop Dogg, as long as you get his title right. Although in "Their Story", it's revealed via inner monologue he'd like to be called by his name, Ronald.
** The Janitor has been called names such as Lurch and Sasquatch for two reasons: One is his imposing height and the other is that his name is guarded (by the character and the writers) like the gold at Fort Knox.
** JD calls Elliot "Smelliot" in one episode; when she reveals she wasn't that bothered by it, The Todd complains that she got mad at ''him'' for calling her [[RefugeInAudacity "Vagina Face".]]

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
** Q (in disguise as a flower delivery guy. Long story), calling Jean Luc Picard "Gene Luck Pickerd", once. He also called Janeway "Kathy" or "Madame Captain."
** Also, Lwaxana Troi constantly calls Worf "Mr. Woof".
** In one episode, Wesley and other junior crew members refer to nerdy Lt. Barclay as "Broccoli". Data and Picard dress them down for it, then Picard accidentally addresses Barclay as "Broccoli". There's an awkward pause, then Picard corrects himself and everyone acts like it never happened.
* ''Series/{{Mash}}''
** Used in an episode which has Hawkeye temporarily swapping places with a surgeon from the 8063rd named Dupree (played by George "[[TheAndyGriffithShow Goober]]" Lindsey). Dupree can never pronounce BJ's name the same way, using "BG", "JJ", and "GJ", among others. The one time he calls him BJ is when he's drunk, and he promptly {{Lampshades}} it.
-->'''Dupree:''' ''(introducing the nurse who's come with him from the 8063rd)'' Where are my manners? Radar, JB, this is Nurse Low-raine Anderson.\\
'''Anderson:''' Sometimes it's pronounced "Lorraine".\\
'''BJ:''' Sometimes mine's pronounced "BJ".
** In the episode that introduces Maj. Charles Winchester ("Fade Out, Fade In"), Hawkeye variously addresses him as "Charlie", "Chuck", "Chuckles", and "Remington".
* Trigger in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' was a bit of a [[TheDitz ditz]]. He always called Rodney "Dave". [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FYUyz3F7rU Even when Rodney told him to his face]].
* And then there's Papa Lazarou in ''Series/TheLeagueOfGentlemen'', who calls ''everybody'' "Dave".

* ''Series/TheWestWing''
** Eccentric recurring character Lord Marbury calls Leo "Gerald", apparently just to irritate him.
** Also the show has a running gag: none of the main characters can keep background staffers Ed and Larry straight. Ed and Larry always appear together, and, when the gag was lampshaded, they themselves admitted, "It doesn't really matter."
** Josh has called Donna a number of names as well, including Lulu (referencing ''ToSirWithLove'') and Gracie (referencing ''Burns and Allen''). When Donna encourages the other secretaries to "type slower" in response to Leo's refusal to implement ergonomic workplace regulations at the White House, Josh, predictably, "Hey, ''NormaRae''!"
** A running gag in early episodes had President Bartlet constantly calling people by the wrong names. On one occasion he walked through the White House greeting staffers, and later asked Charlie if he got anyone's name right, to which Charlie replied "No, Sir." Inverted in the final episode, where on his final walk through, he gets everyone's names right, even Ed and Larry. This is a nod to the fact that Martin Sheen is really terrible with remembering names.

* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}''
** In the first series, [[BrianBlessed King Richard IV]] can never manage to remember his son Edmund's name. When he finally gets it right in the finale...
-->'''Edmund:''' Father, you called me "Edmund"!\\
'''Richard:''' WHAT? OH, SORRY, EDGAR...
** Combined with ThrowItIn in season 3, as Hugh Laurie actually screwed up his line.
-->'''Edmund:''' You can start by not calling me "Bladder".
** And then invoked deliberately again in season 4:
-->'''Flashheart:''' Well, well, well, if it isn't Captain Slackbladder.
* In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' Chrissie, who is clearly jealous of Sarah Jane understanding Maria more than she does, calls Sarah Jane names like Sally Ann and Mary Jane behind her back. This ''could'' be a combination of Chrissie's contempt '''and''' her genuinely forgetting Sarah Jane's name though, Chrissie is rather flaky. Also Gita Chandra who despite liking Sarah Jane always drops the Jane part... which bugs Sarah Jane as she only likes [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] calling her that (which he did when she was younger). When Chrissie calls Sarah ''Calamity'' Jane, it's definitely the malicious version.
* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment''
** George Michael's girlfriend Ann is constantly misnamed by Michael, using "Bland", "Egg", "Annabel", "Yam", "Plant", "Plain", "Ann Hog", and "Her?".
** The A-D (don't call it that) also had a recurring joke about how Gob could not remember his wife's name.
-->'''Michael Bluth:''' What's her first name? Quickly.\\
'''Gob:''' Crindee.\\
'''Michael Bluth:''' Name's not Crindee, Gob.\\
'''Gob:''' ''(reads papers)'' Ah, Saul Zetzmann. Nope. That's her lawyer. Well, she's GOT a name. And I'm gonna find out what it is. And I'm gonna make a pun on it. And that's what I'll call her. Bad example: if her name's Amy, I'll call her "Blame-y".\\
'''Michael Bluth:''' That's a strong defense.
*** The joke there being that Gob's wife is played by Will Arnett's actual wife, Amy Pohler.
* On ''{{Popular}}'', TheDitz Mary Cherry always calls Harrison "Joe." It is eventually revealed that yes, she does know his real name.
* In ''Series/{{Glee}}'', the only time Sue calls Emma by her correct name is in the Pilot. All other times, she has "mistakenly" called her names like Irma, Alma, Ellen, Arlene, You, or the Redhead. Sue also seems to genuinely believe that Kurt's name is Lady. When he points out that it isn't, she apologises and offers him a choice of alternative nick-names. He chooses Porcelain, and she sticks with that for the rest of the series.

* ''{{Greek}}''
** Forever happens to Casey. Usually by guys pursuing her best friend, Ashleigh (who, despite her [[SpellMyNameWithAnS name]], never has this problem).
** Also, Cappie constantly does it to Rival Evan's name ("Evian", "Eva(n) Longoria", etc.)
* [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Walter]] on ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' has yet to memorize the name of his FBI bodyguard: Astrid. He's called her "Asterisk" at least once, as well as "Aspirin," "Ashram," and "Ostrich." This is [[AbsentMindedProfessor Walter]], so he's probably just being absent-minded. Subverted in one episode when he says "Astral--" and she corrects him "Astrid", but it turns out he was actually talking about AstralProjection. In season 3, he called her "Astro" and she got him back by calling him "Wally". By season four, he's also started doing this to Lincoln, calling him "Kennedy".
** {{Lampshaded}} during the Yellow World period, when Autistrid goes AWOL to cross over and visit our Walter. With his back to her, he calls her a name, and Autistrid, oblivious, corrects him. Walter straightens up in surprise, remarking "You never correct me..." and turns to see it's not ''his'' Astrid.
** In the ''SeriesFinale'', Astrid finds Walter preparing for (what she doesn't know is) his last mission, and he tells her, "It's a beautiful name, Astrid."
** Out of universe, John Noble's nickname for Jasika Nicole is "Afro."
* ''Series/StargateAtlantis''
** Rodney [=McKay=] does this to a lot of people, mostly because he really just doesn't care. Only interesting people get the right name. Used as a plot point in one episode, when he accidentally hires the wrong scientist. He wanted [[{{Batman}} Grayson]] and ended up with Graydon by mistake.
-->'''Graydon''': One of these days I'm just going to call him [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Doctor McCoy]].
** Atlantis's gate-dialing technician Chuck gets repeatedly referred to as "Chet" by other characters (including Sheppard and Woolsey), and usually sighs or rolls his eyes when correcting them. It happens to him a lot.
* Steve Carell, being interviewed on ''Series/TheDailyShow'' after leaving to become "a big movie star":
-->'''Steve:''' Well it's great to be back on the ''[[IAmNotShazam John Daily Show]]''.
* ''MorecambeAndWise'' did this to a lot of guest stars.
** When the conductor Andre Previn appeared, he was constantly referred to as "Andrew Preview". The popularity of the show led to people calling him this in real life.
** In writer Eddie Braben's recent book, he suggests some they might have used if the show was still going today, such as "Curly Monologue" for Kylie Minogue.
** When Vanessa Redgrave appeared on the show she called Ernie "Bernie" and Eric corrected her each time.
* In ''YesMinister'', Sir [[TheHumphrey Humphrey]] and occasionally Bernard refer to Frank Wiesel as "Mr Weasel", to annoy him. And once manage to get him so upset he ends up calling himself "Weasel".

* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''.
** One episode parodied this with Graham Chapman's polystyrene-nosed character, Raymond Luxury-Yacht, who insisted his name was actually pronounced "Throatwobbler Mangrove".
-->'''Interviewer:''' You're a very silly man and I'm not going to interview you.
** Late in the series, after Creator/JohnCleese left, a Victorian Poetry Reading sketch featured John "Coots", Alfred Lord "Tennis Balls" (or "Tennis Court") and William "Wadsworth".
** An interviewer called Sir Edward Ross "Eddie-baby", "Sweetie", "Sugar plum", "Pussy cat", "Angel-drawers" and "Frannie Knickers".
** In the sketch "Biggles Dictates a Letter," Biggles is called "Señor Beeg-lays" by his secretary, and fumes: "Don't call me señor. I'm not a Spanish person. You must call me Mr. Biggles, or Group Captain Biggles, or Mary Biggles if I'm dressed as my wife, but never señor."
-->"And I said 'My name's not Clement' and then he loses his temper, and nailed my head to the floor."
* ''Series/{{Friends}}''
** In her first appearance, Rachel's sister Amy believed Emma (Rachel and Ross's baby) was named "Emmett" or, once she'd learnt it was a girl, "Emily". When they tried to correct her, she thought ''Phoebe'''s name was Emma. And when Phoebe tried to correct ''that'', she thought "Fee bee" was just a strange noise "Emma" made.
** In her second appearance she thinks the baby's name is "Ella", and when Ross corrects her she asks why they changed it. This episode also confirms her CloudCuckoolander status, since she's forgotten him completely in less than a year.
** In an earlier episode, Chandler is jealous of an actor starring opposite Chandler's girlfriend in a play. He suspects that the actor will try to undermine him by calling him Chester, then when corrected, saying "Oh, whatever." Later in the episode, Ross uses this tactic when talking to Rachel about her new crush. (Interestingly, this exact tactic is used on Rick in an episode of ''SilverSpoons'', and the character who does it is played by Chandler himself, Matthew Perry. This was more than a decade before the ''{{Friends}}'' episode.)
* ''Series/BandOfBrothers''
** New recruit O'Keefe is called O'Brien by one of the veterans. After being corrected a few times, he explains why he doesn't remember.
-->"Do you know why no one remembers your name? It's because no-one wants to remember your name. There's too many Smiths, [=DiMattos=] and O'Keefes and O'Briens, who show up here, replacing Toccoa men that you dumb replacements got killed in the first place! And they're all like you. They're all piss and vinegar... Two days later, there they are with their blood and guts hanging out and they're screaming for a medic, begging for their goddamn mother."
** One of the soldiers who was in the 506th (which the series is based on) said in an interview he tried not to learn the replacements names, because he couldn't handle it when they, almost inevitably, got killed.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''
** In his appearances, the greedy merchant [[SmugSnake Grunchlk]] (pronounced Groon-shlick) is occasionally called "Gun-sick" or "Greenchalk" by the crew of Moya. Grunchlk is all too happy to correct them -- and charge a higher price.
** Also, Crichton pretty much never gets the name of a one-shot alien race right, even after multiple corrections.

* In ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', Bud would sometimes want to be addressed only by his rapper name, "Grandmaster B". This spawned a RunningGag wherein the cast members would refer to him as "Dustbuster B", "Thighmaster B", "Ghostbuster B", "Gas-passer B", and [[http://www.bundyology.com/bbud.html so on]].
** Al and Kelly had problem remembering which one of TheLittleRascals Al's rich uncle was named after. His name was Stymie, Al once called him "Buckwheat" and Kelly called him "Spanky".
* ''Series/{{House}}''
** House generally refers to Amber as "Cutthroat Bitch" and Cole as "Big Love".
** Thirteen isn't Thirteen's real name either, and that becomes so pervasive that even her boyfriend calls her Thirteen at times.
** Then the point when Wilson make an offhand comment about House not knowing anyone's first name (a lampshade to everybody being called by their last name), and House says something along the lines of, "Yes, I do, 'Bob'." The character is played by Robert Sean Leonard.
* On ''Series/BarneyMiller'', Inspector Luger invariably referred to Carl Levitt as "Levine".
* In ''{{CSINY}}'', Danny frequently called Lindsay Monroe "Montana", a reference to her state of origin. This really annoyed her until she realised that he ''fancied her''. The ship went well and truly canon.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' has gotten into it a bit with D.B. and Julie Finn. They aren't romantically involved, just friends, but Finn teased D.B. once by leaving him a note with his full name, 'Diebenkorn'. And he calls her Jules, even though he knows she [[DoNotCallMePaul hates it]] to tease her.
* ''Music/FlightOfTheConchords'' had their name given at one gig as "Flute of the Commodores". In the show, that is.
* On ''Series/TheColbertReport'', Stephen mocked several media figures' inability to pronounce Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by making reference to him with terms like Mahmoud Alanaldajad. This has since evolved into a RunningGag where Stephen gets Ahmadinejad's name wrong in absurd ways, like "Mahmoud Ahmamasdon'tletyourkidsgrowuptobecowboysdinejad".
-->'''Stephen:''' Oh, and a quick apology to my viewers. Earlier, when I mentioned the Iranian president, I neglected to note the difficulty of pronouncing his name. I assure you, I will not pronounce it correctly again.
** Despite stumping for Mitt Romney, Colbert has been completely unable to remember the candidate's name since the end of his campaign:
-->'''Stephen:''' Oh, what was his name... Dip Chutney?
* ''XenaWarriorPrincess'' was driven mad by the Furies, and referred to Gabrielle as "Mavis" for one episode.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''
** Buffy either has a lot of trouble keeping demon names straight or just likes doing it to annoy them. Calling Acathla "Alfalfa" and [[Series/SaturdayNightLive "Al Franken"]], and Kakistos "Kissing Toast" and "Taquitos". She also refers to the followers of Morgala as the followers of MorganFreeman and Turok-Han Chaka Khan.
** Buffy herself falls victim to this, as the mother of her best friend Willow is so out-of-touch with her daughter that she thinks Buffy's name is actually ''Bunny'', which really grates on Willow's nerves.
** And again in the episode "Superstar" (here just a member of Jonathan's posse in an alternate universe) where Spike sneeringly calls her "Betty".
* Nev in ''Bear Behaving Badly'' does this to nearly everyone. He calls Mr Prank "Mr. Angry Pants", Barbara "Brabra", Beatrice "Beetroot" and Melanie "Smellanie". With the exception of a past version of Melanie in a time travel episode, no one takes offence to it. In one episode Melanie did call Mr Prank "Mr Angry Pants", in on other occasions Mr. Prank is sometimes called "Mr Plank".

* ''Series/{{Bones}}''
** It is a running gag near the end of the third season that Booth can never correctly pronounce the name of the serial killer "The Gormogon". He refers to him as "Gabagoon" and "Gorgonzola", among others. His partner believes he's doing so intentionally, but Booth never admits anything.
** Hodgins' name is often mispronounced as Hodgkins, particularly by the private investigator he an Angela hired in one plot arc. This is a reference to the booklet that came with the first season DVD, which mispelled "Hodgins" as "Hodgkins".
** Also, in one episode Brennan tells a emergency man at a crime scene her name is "''Doctor'' Brennan." He replies that she probably doesn't even know his name. Her response? "Yes, but there's millions of you, but there's only one of me." Ooh, burnnn.
** "''Bones''" itself is an example of this. Booth uses it as an affectionate nickname for Brennan.
** Booth also mispronounces "Maluku", the region his partner Temperance was heading out to dig for ancient bones, in the season 5 finale.

* Inversion in ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances'', where Hyacinth Bucket, by constantly correcting people, tries (in vain) to make them think "[[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY it's actually pronounced Bouquet]]." Which, according to Richard, who should know seeing as it's his last name, it isn't.

* ''Series/{{Oz}}''. Neo-Nazi inmate Vern Schillinger is always correcting people who mispronounce his name. In one scene he loses his temper completely and just screams at a guard: "SCHILLINGER! GOD-DAMMIT, SCHILLINGER! BEEN HERE NINE FUCKING YEARS, YOU'D THINK YOU'D LEARN HOW TO SAY MY GODDAMN NAME!"
* On ''TheImpressionsShow'', the BBC's successor to ''[[Series.DeadRingers Dead Ringers]]'', the sketches with Bruce Forsyth and Vernon Kay feature Bruce constantly calling Vernon "Roland", and even giving him a nametag as such.
* ''Series/{{Misfits}}''
** Nathan seems determined to call Simon by literally anything other than his real name, and gives him various [[TheNicknamer insulting nicknames]] over the course of the series, before revealing in the season 1 finale that he actually thinks Simon is named Barry (which is totally ridiculous given how much time they've spent together). It's unclear why. On the one hand, Nathan is infamously [[TheDitz dreadful with names]] and did reluctantly apologize for his mistake when Simon reacted badly, but he's also a total {{Jerkass}} who goes out of his way to annoy people, so it's more than possible he did it out of malice.
** Further lampshaded in season 2, when Simon confronts Nathan about all the hurtful names he's given him over the course of the series (most notably "melon-fucker") and the two of them ''sort of'' reconcile. But afterwards Nathan [[RunningGag continues to call him Barry]], seemingly unaware that he's doing anything wrong, and no-one bothers to correct him.
** Taken even further in the Christmas special, when new character Marnie meets Simon for the first time.
-->'''Marnie:''' Hello, you must be Barry. Nathan's told me all about you.
** Comes back to bite him in his last appearance (the Vegas, Baby! webisode) where he still thinks of Simon as "Barry."
* Hilary Booth on ''Remember WENN'' does this to people she doesn't like or is jealous of, such as calling Betty "Betsy" and Maple "Mabel." Scott Sherwood takes to calling her "Hildy" just to annoy her.
* On ''Series/{{Action}}'', screenwriter Adam Rafkin is hired after being mistaken for real-life journalist Alan Rifkin. A RunningGag is that Peter calls him "Alan" to his face and doesn't recognize his real name.
* The season 2 opener of ''Series/DanisHouse'' features a guest character named "Fleur Blair". Dani, not hearing her name correctly repeatedly calls her "Fleur Blur".
* Alderman Davis showed up on ''Series/GoodTimes'' would call Wilona "Whilamena", "Wyonna", among others.
* ''{{Victorious}}''
** The stage fighting instructor, Russ, had his name mutilated by his students. Andre decided that Russ looked more like a Steve, to which the class concurred.
** Trina used to forget Andre's name all the time, instead calling him Andrew or Andy.
* On ''TheSteveHarveyShow'', Coretta would frequently call Lydia "Lisa" or "Lauren". [[spoiler: when Steve catches Coretta copying Lydia's homework, Coretta addresses her by her correct name, making it the only time she does so.]]

* In the ''{{QI}}'' episode "Gothic" from Series G, StephenFry inadvertently referred to panellist Sue Perkins as "Mel", confusing her with her comedy partner Mel Giedroyc. Alan Davies promptly addressed the embarrassed Stephen as [[ABitOfFryAndLaurie Hugh]].
* Principal Norman Pankow always mispronounced principal Grace Musso's surname on (the first syllable rhyming with "fuss") on ''ParkerLewisCantLose''.
* ''Series/ThirtyRock''
** Jack's colleague when he goes to work for the US government is called Cooter Burger. ''Both'' of these are nicknames given to him by the President. His real name is James Riley.
-->'''James Riley:''' Cooter Burger? What am I, a ''cartoon dog?'' The president gave me that name! "Cooter" because I look like a turtle and "Burger" because he saw me eating a burger ''one time!''\\
''(later)''\\
'''James Riley:''' It wasn't even a burger. It was a sandwich...
** At another point, Colleen Donaghy (Jack's mother) plays a mind game with Kenneth by repeatedly calling him "Carl" to see how long it will take for him to correct her. Of course, Kenneth being Kenneth, he is too polite to correct her and responds to "Carl" for so long that he [[spoiler:forgets his real name.]]
* ''Series/RemingtonSteele'': In the first season, Steele invariably refereed to Laura Holt's secretary Bernice Foxe as "Miss Wolf".
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' has ''Swarley'', a full episode dedicated to it, after a barista [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude mistakes this for his name]]. I've never seen ol'Swarles so pissed off...
** [[OverlyLongGag Also known as]] Bob Swarley mon, Swarles Barkley, Swar-lay, Swarhili, Swarlos, and Swar-[[{{Catchphrase}} wait for it]]-ley. Barney tries to annoy Ted and Robin by calling them Ned and Roland, but it doesn't work.
* Every minor character on ''Music/TheMonkees'' seems to be completely incapable of pronouncing Mike Nesmith's last name. Among the variants: Nishwash, Nashmirth, Nipmop... Subverted in "The Monkees in Texas", when the villains refer to Mike and his aunt as "Nesters"...he starts to correct them before his aunt explains that the word means "farmer" and that they were correct in their word choice.
* ''Series/That70sShow''
** Casey Kelso constantly refers to Eric Forman as "Foreplay".
** Red also calls Fez on various "foreign" names. He flips out, when Red refers to him as "{{Tarzan}}":
-->'''Fez:''' Okay, that's it. Anwar I can deal with. [[TheLoneRanger Tonto]], in the ballpark, but Tarzan... Tarzan is a white guy!\\
'''Red:''' Don't sass me, Tarzan.
* ''MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': "Whatever you say, Ed!" "[[BerserkButton It's Zedd!]] ''Lord'' Zedd!" was a RunningGag after Rito Revolto arrived. Even Alpha got in on the joke once.
* Throughout ''TheNanny'', Fran Fine's senile Grandma Yetta calls Brighton Sheffield "Schmooey".
* In ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode [[Recap/CommunityS1E24EnglishAsASecondLanguage English as a Second Language]] all of the Spanish class believes Annie's name is Hannah.
** Starburns always has to tell others "My name is Alex!" But when you trim your sideburns into prominent star shapes...
* Showed up as a gag on ''Series/NewsRadio'' once where Matthew spectacularly failed at pronouncing "Buttafuoco"... ''live on air''. Whoops.
* In ''KamenRiderOOO'', Date Akira consistently calls Ankh "Anko" (a type of snack food).
* Throughout season six of ''{{Hustle}}'', Emma consistently refers to Lucy Britford as 'Lucy Bitchface'.
* ''Series/DeathValley'' has {{Cloudcuckoolander}} Captain Dashell routinely referring to Officer Kirsten Landry as Kristen, and seemingly unable to tell the difference between pronunciations when his error is pointed out.
* On ''ILoveLucy'', Lucy's mother was always cally Ricky "Mickey".
** [[FridgeLogic Which gets really confusing considering she was able to remember her grandson's name (he was named after Ricky).]]
* DavidLetterman used to frequently address crew members by the wrong name. Director Hal Gurnee was often called "Hal Gertner."
* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation''
** Jerry is actually named Gary, but everyone in the office always called him Jerry because he [[ExtremeDoormat didn't bother to correct them]]. Once they find out their mistake, they go on calling him Jerry because [[NamedByDemocracy it's just easier]] that way.
** Ron calls Ann "Jenny" after she finally manages to engage both him and April in small talk by describing a gross medical story. Ron and April's talking head:
-->'''Ron:''' Ann was getting a little chummy. When people get too chummy with me I like to call them by the wrong name to let them know I don't really care about them.\\
'''April:''' That's a genius move.\\
'''Ron:''' Thank you.\\
'''April:''' You're welcome... Lester.\\
''(Ron smiles at the camera like a proud father)''
* Herr Oldenberg from a TV discussion in a sketch by German comedian Creator/{{Loriot}}. The other talking heads manage to get his name wrong each time, and never call him by the same wrong name twice. At one point, he's so confused he forgets his own name.
* In ''Manga/{{Kurosagi}}'', Kurosaki purposely and consistently gets Tsurara's last name wrong.
* In ''MadanSenkiRyukendo'', Fusou will [[BerserkButton go nuts]] whenever someone calls him "old man" even though he is 25... especially Kenji seeing how ''he'' is the one who came up with that nickname.
* ''Series/GeorgeAndMildred'' has George's mate Jerry fond of referring to Mildred as "Mildew".
* In ''MrBelvedere'', Heather's friend Angela constantly gets Mr. Belvedere surname wrong, calling him "Mr. Bellybutton", "Mr. Bellpepper", et cetera. Angela never said the same (wrong) surname twice.
* On ''{{ER}}'', Dr. Chen is being unfairly hard on new medical student Neela, angry because her boyfriend has been flirting with her. When Neela complains about this, truthfully pointing out that she didn't know the two were involved and did nothing to encourage his behavior, Chen comes up with some lame excuse for her harsh treatment, then caps it off my making a huge production out of looking at Neela's ID badge, pretending not to know her name in order to show her how beneath her notice she is.
* Hubert of Brazilian comedy group "Casseta & Planeta" was a recurring victim of the trope.
* Subverted in the ''Series/TwoBrokeGirls'' episode "And Not-So-Sweet Charity", when Charity's beleaguered assistant, after evoking ''TheDevilWearsPrada'' when she complains to Caroline and Max about always being called Stephanie, quickly adds that she doesn't want her boss to know her real name.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Sam hates being called "Sammy".

* The song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1c2OfAzDTI&ob=av2e "That's Not My Name"]] by The Ting Tings is about a girl who is so forgetable that nobody can remember her name.

* JesseVentura, during his run as heel commentator in the WWF, has often called several face wrestlers disparaging names to help put them over. Most notable are HulkHogan (whom he's called "Chump" Hogan) and Tito Santana (nee "Chico" Santana). Santana remarked about this once in his biography, saying in fact that he encouraged Ventura – the two shared mutual respect for one another – to refer to him as "Chico" to help boost his popularity.

* This is one of ChrisJericho's favorite things to do. Ask "[[KurtAngle Kirk Angel]]", "[[MichaelCole Mitchell Cole]]", "Bill [[{{Goldberg}} Greenberg]]", "Hoot-'n-Toot Guerrera", "[[ChrisBenoit Chris Ben-Oyt]]", "Bore-Us Malenko", "Stinko Malenko", or "Raisin" about that one. A long, long, time ago, back when Santino Marella was a heel with a chance instead of a clown with none, he decided to interrupt Chris Jericho's second day back in the WWE. Chris Jericho proceeded to get his name wrong so many times that Santino exploded into a torrent of Italian for a few seconds.
* Speaking of Santino, he does this himself all the time, which had led to such names as [[JohnCena John Chenna]], [[{{Sheamus}} Sheamoose]], and the aforementioned ChrisJericho aka KYJ. Also [[{{Batista}} Baptista]], [[ReyMysterioJr Ray Mastrio]], [[JerryLawler Jerry "Stupid" Lawler]], [[RoddyPiper Rodney The Piper]], The Honkey Donkey Man, Julia Styles (''"Go fetch me a bowl-a of EXTREME VERMICELLI!"''), Fredrick The Entertainment... we'd post a link of Santino's meeting with ChrisJericho, but Website/YouTube would delete the video.

* Real-Life example: When {{Lita}} was younger she used to get "Amy Dumb Ass" (her surname being Dumas, though the 's' is really silent).
* The whole point why Fandango has never competed in a single match since his debut in {{WWE SmackDown}} months ago, is because most people (ring announcers mostly) mispronounce his name.
** Apparently, he wants them to refer to him as fan-DANG-go instead of fan-DENG-go. Oh, and he also tells them to "feel thee A's" while pronouncing his name.
*** Fandango is not amused after {{Chris Jericho}} does a type B with his name.

* During a 1940s football game broadcast, sportscaster Red Barber accidentally introduced his play-by-play partner Russ Hodges as "Russ Hughes". An amused (or perhaps miffed) Hodges responded, "Thank you, Red Baker."

* In ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'', Amos is shocked when Billy Flynn refers to him by his actual name at the trial, rather than the Andy or Alan or whatever from all their previous meetings. This helps Flynn get exactly the testimony he needs.
* In ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville'', the Count does this to Bartolo repeatedly while PlayingDrunk.
* In ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', G(a)linda often refers to Boq as "Biq," usually because she can't remember. He politely corrects her every time.

* ''JumpStartAdventures3rdGradeMysteryMountain'' has Polly, the [[SpoiledBrat bratty]] [[EnfanteTerrible child villainess]], repeatedly referring to the robot Botley (the game's ExpositionFairy) with insulting rhymes of his name, such as "Snotley" and "Potley".

* When playing as a [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Malkavian]] in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' you never call any NPC by their actual name/codename/nickname. Except for one instance in which you can call [[spoiler:Velvet by her ''true'' name.]] [[ThatManIsDead She is]] ''[[ThatManIsDead not]]'' [[ThatManIsDead amused]].
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros''
** In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', Luigi is often the victim of WhoIsThisGuyAgain. So characters use names like "[[BuffySpeak Mr. Green Mario Brother Guy]]" and "Loo...uh, some other guy!"
** Bowser does this in all three ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games. Bowser has fixated on Mario as his greatest enemy, and always forgets Luigi's name. So Bowser uses names like "Green 'Stache" to refer to Luigi.
** Used repeatedly in ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]''. The Puni elder thinks Mario's name is "Marty-o," the ancient mayor of Petalburg calls him "Murphy" due to his hearing problems, and the Yoshi who joins your party calls you "Gonzalez." That last one is {{justified|Trope}} because said Yoshi is born in a fighting-club type place, the Glitz Pit, where Mario's stage name is "the Great Gonzalez". (Mario didn't choose the name; his manager did.)
** The clueless "detective" Pennington, who thinks Mario is Luigi. ([[spoiler:In the sequence just before the final battle resumes, another character calls Mario by his proper name, and the detective is absolutely stunned at the notion of himself simply being ''wrong''.]])
** And also Zess T. who keeps referring to Mario with names such as "Stompy" and "Sir Crush-A-Lot" after he accidentally steps on her contact lenses.
** And Doopliss. [[spoiler:After he replaces Vivian of the Shadow Sirens, Beldam starts calling him "Freak-in-Sheet".]]
*** Doopliss himself calls almost everyone "Slick."
** In the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' crossover ''VideoGame/FortuneStreet'', Bowser occasionally refers to the Dragonlord as "Lizardboss".

* ''Videogame/BeyondGoodAndEvil''
** The heroine Jade first meets her sidekick Double H after freeing him from ElectricTorture. His brain is... [[EasyAmnesia a little fried]], and after hearing her mention the [[LaResistance "IRIS" Network]], he starts calling her "Miss Thyrus." (He also calls himself "Triple Z" at one point.)
** Jade herself once refers to the suspicious "Mr. de Castellac" who hired her on a mission (which was actually a charade aiming at establishing a contact between her and the IRIS Network) as "de Cadillac".
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''
** [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Jack Sparrow]]. Second visit to Port Royal... "Zola! Some assistance!" should be enough evidence.
** Sora gets this from the whole surviving Organisation (except maybe Axel, who knows much better). They repeatedly call him 'Roxas' [[spoiler:which is technically correct, because that's the name most of them knew him -- or rather, his Nobody -- by.]]
** [[Videogame/FinalFantasyVI Setzer]] calls Roxas 'rucksack'.
* ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters''
** Danette refers to the eponymous World Eaters as "[[BuffySpeak World... Thingies]]", due to her atrocious memory. She also never remembers Gig's name, much to his annoyance.
** Gig himself is an example of the malicious form of the trope, referring to Danette and Levin exclusively as "stupid cow" and "sister-loving man-cow", respectively.
** After being stuck with Gig inside his/her head for most of the game, Revya starts acting rather Gig-like at times, relabeling Danette as "Dumbette" after one of her [[TheDitz ditzier]] moment ruins an infiltration, and referring to Levin as "doggy" due to his dog-like personality and apparent ability to track things by scent.
* Used (perhaps on purpose) by Daxter on one of the villains of ''[[JakAndDaxter Jak III]]'':
-->'''Daxter:''' Listen, Count Vulgar...
-->'''Count Veger:''' It's VEGER!
** Daxter was also fond of "Count Vegan" as well.
* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}''
** Hong Meiling. Her name doesn't appear in the game because of a bug, and even her real name is hard to remember by fans, so they called her [[FanNickname China]]. Soon, [[GotMeDoingIt everyone in the Touhou universe starts catching that habit]]. Sometimes, it gets to the point that she only answers to "China" (see this [[http://www.walfas.org/flash/scarlet_christmas.swf Walfas flash]] for an example). And for an example of how far it goes, ZUN, the game's creator himself, has been known to call her China.
** Another more subtle one is Alice, to Reimu. Reimu has never once called her by her name, depersonalizes her as a vagrant or freeloader (though everyone is one of those to the Hakurei Shrine), and on some occasions has outright ignored her presence. This goes as far back as Alice's first appearance in ''Mystic Square''.
* The seventh ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry'' game, ''Love For Sail'', features a character named Xqwzts (pronounced like "X-squats"). However, after Al Lowe realized that the voice actor who played Larry couldn't say the name properly, he decided to have everyone on the cast mispronounce the name deliberately, leading to examples such as "Quzewits", "Zipsits", or "Yojahowitz".
* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyIX'' Baku can never remember Tot's name. There's a minor RunningGag of him referring to Tot by a different name each time (Toot, Ted, Totty, etc.), followed by Marcus deadpanning "It's Tot", to be completely ignored by Baku.
* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVI'', Gau is highly amused by Cyan's YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe dialect. In the conversation that follows, he starts referring to ''Sabin'' as "Mr. Thou", to Sabin's annoyance.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', several of the characters do this with a group, referring to LaResistance as "the Insurgence."
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''
** Sonic often calls Knuckles "Knucklehead" after the latter does something particularly [[TooDumbToLive unintelligent]].
** From ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' onward, Sonic and his friends have been calling Dr. Robotnik "Eggman." From ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' onward, Robotnik decided to just go with it. Which is more of an inversion. In Japan, he had always been called Dr. Eggman. ''Sonic Adventure'' was the first game to use his original name in North America. Both names were used for transitional purposes (similar to how "[[SuperMarioBros Princess Toadstool]]" started being called by her Japanese name "Princess Peach" in NA beginning with ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'').
*** This is played around with in ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations''
--> Classic Tails: "Dr. Robotnik!"
--> Classic Eggman: "Nobody calls me that anymore."
* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' proves that not even a ''God'' is immune to this trope. Most people you encounter find the name Amaterasu a bit too much of a mouthful to remember. The nicer ones will call you Ammy or (after a previous, respected alias) Shiranui. Less respectful ones settle for Furball.

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', after Zelos introduces Lloyd to his butler as "My bud", the butler along with seemingly all of Meltokio's high society calls Lloyd "Sir Bud".
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' and Prince Charmles. There are three ways to say his name: Charm-els, [[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY Sharm-lay]], and of course, [[PrinceCharmless Charm-less]].
* In ''DestroyAllHumans: Path of the Furon'', Emperor Meningitis mistakenly addresses Crypto as "Klepto", due to being senile.
--> '''Meningitis:''' Pox? Is that you? What have you done with your body? And what's that with you? Oh, it's your little house boy, ''Klepto!''\\
'''Crypto:''' CRYP-TO.\\
'''Meningitis:''' Whatever!
* ''VideoGame/{{Atelier Iris 2|The Azoth of Destiny}}'''s Max addresses Felt by increasingly bizarre permutations of his name, at one point referring to him as "Klein" (the name of the protagonist from the previous Atelier Iris game). If corrected, he'll call him Felt for the remainder of the current conversation, so apparently he's just that bad with names.

* Linebeck, of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'', calls [[HelloInsertNameHere Link]] and [[ExpositionFairy Ciela]] by any number of degrading nicknames (rarely the same one twice) right up until they head into the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon -- whereupon he admits that he envies Link's heroic resolve. After a moment, Ciela realizes he's finally [[SayMyName used her name]].

* ''Characters/TheKingOfFightersTheTalesOfAsh'': Ash Crimson constantly calls Elisabeth "''Betty''", much to her chagrin.

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': Taokaka does this with basically the ''whole'' cast.
-->'''Taokaka:''' Hi Boobie Lady!\\
'''Litchi:''' It's "Litchi".\\
'''Taokaka:''' Oh! Okay Boobie Lady!
* Hitomi Hagane from ''Raging Fist'' frequently calls Ciel with names such as "Shell", "Sell" and even "Hell".

* In ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheUnwoundFuture'', a girl named Belle keeps on calling Luke "Fluke." She either heard it wrong when he told her his name, or she simply calls him that out of her "[[AbhorrentAdmirer affections]]." Probably the latter.
* In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRanger Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia]]'' Professor Hastings keeps calling Rhythmi "Misery".
* You can do this to yourself in ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'': early in the game you're asked for your name by the Onion Kid. If you reply with the joke answer of "Chumpy", that's how you'll be addressed and introduced by everyone else for the rest of the game cycle.
* In the NES game ''VideoGame/{{Nightshade}}'', the title wannabe superhero is frequently referred to dismissively as "Lampshade".
* When Karin recruits [[SmallNameBigEgo Eyrios]] in ''Franchise/FireEmblem : [[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Thracia 776]]'', she decides that he would not be so stuck-up if his name was more ordinary-sounding, and thus calls him Olson (much to his displeasure).
* In [[GanbareGoemon Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon]], the BigBad is a [[LargeHam theatrical]] man who repeatedly calls Goemon Fernandez despite Goemon's objections. According to one of his flunkies, he tends to give people the name he thinks they deserve. He even calls Ebisumaru Antonio once.
* Year 2 of ''GrimFandango'' includes a minor RunningGag that consists of Manny and Glottis calling Raoul (the french waiter in the High Rollers' Lounge) just about everything ''but'' his name -- Jean-Claud, Pierre, Rufus, etc., up to and including Rumpelstiltskin. In defense of [[TheAlcoholic Glottis]], he was ''very'' drunk at the time. Manny, on the other hand, eventually hints that he was just being mean: upon [[{{Claustrophobia}} locking himself up inside a small room]] (something he previously did to Raoul), he uses the waiter's real name in his apology.
* ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}}'': It's a RunningGag that Archmage Rakorium is so terribly absent-minded that he has trouble remembering the player's name, calling him or her "Nottel", all the time. Nottel was the name of his first student, and apparently the only one he can remember. Since then he's come to call all of his students by that name, extending this courtesy to the player.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', Handsome Jack repeatedly gets Mr. Blake's first name wrong, very likely on purpose:
--> '''Handsome Jack:''' Anything else on today's agenda, Jimmy?
--> '''Mr. Blake:''' It's "Jeffrey", sir. And no.
--> '''Handsome Jack:''' Thanks, Jimmy!

* In ''WebAnimation/DoraleousAndAssociates'', a RunningGag of the series is that no-one outside the the Associates can pronounce his name right, with "Doralingus" being the most popular pronunciation.
* In ''Machinima/MeleesEnd'', Marth constantly mixes up people's names because he's a complete [[TheDitz ditz]].

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''
** Diane does this to Justin, calling him Jason. This same mistake has occurred on the boards amusingly enough unintentionally.
** Bunnies (that is, [[FanCommunityNicknames EGS fans]]) do this sort of thing a lot on the forum. The most common seems to be calling Susan "Sarah" or Sarah "Susan".
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''
** Xykon seems to think Roy Greenhilt's name is Bluepommel, Redblade, or Orangescabbard, when he can remember who he is at all. Put it this way: he's aware that Roy's surname incorporates a color and something involving a sword, he just doesn't see Roy as enough of a threat to really remember what the specifics are.
** At one place, Nale calls Belkar "Belkon". Made even funnier by the fact that he was impersonating his Good Twin at the time, who should have known his fellow party member's name, but who was such a ditz that nobody found it odd.

* Due to [[{{CloudcuckooLander Eddie]] being the one to originally introduce him, almost all the main cast of ''Webcomic/EmergencyExit'' calls Jurinjo "Sancho".

* Buwaro from ''SlightlyDamned'' constantly refers to Kieri as "Snowy," the name they gave her when they first found her as a bunny in the woods. After discovering she was an angel, he continued to call her Snowy, finding it much easier to say than her real name. It also seems to have developed into a term of affection.
* Reginald from ''{{Nedroid}}'' takes this to the extreme when, at the end of an evening of romance, he accidentally calls his date Becky "Lord Voldemort".
* Black Mage does this to Warmech in ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater''.
-->'''Warmech:''' We have unfinished business... and it's the business of me killing you, uh, dead, forever.\\
'''Black Mage:''' Get in line, [=WarBLECH=]!\\
'''Warmech:''' Wait, that's not quite how my name is pronounced.\\
'''Black Mage:''' I'm sorry, [=BOREmech=]!\\
'''Warmech:''' It's even less accurate than before! That's no accident!
* Coyote from ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' never seems to call Antimony by her name, seemingly out of absent-mindedness more than anything else. First he called her Surma ([[TimeDissonance her mum's name]]), then he mispronounced her name as Abalone. Currently he prefers to call her [[RedHeadedHero Fire Head Girl]].

* ''Webcomic/OutThere'': James never uses Miriam's name, always referring to her as "Red". Sherry always calls her ex-flame Steven "Stevie". After Miriam breaks up with him, ''she'' takes to calling him "Stevie" as well, much to his annoyance.
* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'': [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/011109c My name is not NINJA NED!]]

* A RunningGag in ''ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' was Contemporary Guenevere calling Griflet "Girflet" (both versions have been used in the folklore), mostly to indicate that, while she may have claimed him as "a friend who isn't part of Arthur's group", they're not actually especially close.
* In the MegaCrossover ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'' Tony Stark just can't get Jake Jensen's name right because of ActorAllusion and because he doesn't care (he already called him Cap and Johnny). Jensen is not amused.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Pacificators}}'', [[FieryRedhead Cinna Grossul]] and [[ProperLady Muneca Powell]] doesn't... [[{{Understatement}} get along]], and Cinna ''always'' addresses Muneca as "Doll," which Muneca hates. [[hottip:note:Muneca is Spanish for [[MeaningfulName doll]].

* ''Literature/{{Tasakeru}}'': Faun's actual name is "Faunelle". She loathes her full name so much that only Ashpaw addresses her by it, purely to get on her nerves. [[TheNicknamer She retaliates by calling him "Stripehead".]]
* In the first RP of ''Roleplay/DarwinsSoldiers'', Kagetora mistakenly refers to Victor Summers as Vincent. Vic politely corrects him.
* [[TooDumbToLive Chris]], Nathan Fillion's character from ''PG Porn'' always gets his partner's [[BadBadActing name wrong]].

* In the Machinima series TheCodex, Blue Leader Candice "Candy" McKenzie, by [[UST Red Leader Jack Foster]]. [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther When he stops...]]

* In ''chargesdotcomdotbr'', Espinha & Fimose have a friend nicknamed Lesado who calls them by each other's nicknames.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** Mr. Burns' inability to remember Homer's name -- indeed, ''anything about him at all'' -- is a RunningGag, though he doesn't call him other names. A relatively early episode had Krusty having the same attitude towards Bart, despite "all the recent events of [Krusty's] life revolving around him" (actually a quote from Smithers to Burns about Homer, but it fits). Subverted when Mr. Burns is found shot, shortly after Homer snaps and accosts Mr. Burns in his office in an effort to make him remember his name. [[spoiler:When Mr. Burns recovers from his coma, the only words he could say are "Homer Simpson", which made Homer the prime suspect in the shooting.]]
** One of the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes -- in which Marge and her sisters, appropriately enough, are witches -- parodies ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' in an aside:
--->'''Patty:''' So, you finally left Durwood.\\
'''Marge:''' His name is Homer!
** In "TreehouseOfHorror VII", not-so-LittleGreenMen Kang and Kodos ask Homer to "TakeMeToYourLeader". He starts to tell them about BillClinton, then checks himself:
-->'''Homer:''' Except there's this election next week, so after that it might not be him anymore. It might be what's his name... uh, Mumbly Joe... I saw him on TV the other... Bob Dole!
** Similarly, Moe remembers Marge's name when talking about her but always calls her "Midge" to her face. This is largely of the endearment variety, since "Midge" is just another diminutive of "Marjorie", not to mention Moe's UnrequitedLove for her.
** In Sideshow Bob's parole hearing:
-->'''Chief Wiggum:''' Sideshow Bob has no decency. He called me "Chief Piggum"!\\
'''(laughter)''\\
'''Chief Wiggum:''' ''(laughs nervously)'' [[LateToThePunchline Oh yeah, now I get it...]]
** In a ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDedu4gCiG0 Simpsons Short]]'' that aired on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Homer does this to Oprah, variously calling her "Opera", "Okra", and "Opie".
** At a company picnic:
-->'''Mr. Burns:''' And this must be... uh, Brat!\\
'''Bart:''' Bart.\\
'''Homer:''' Don't correct the man, Brat!
* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife''
** Heffer's mom does this. She keeps getting Rocko's name wrong and always ends up calling him Crocko, Jocko, and such instead.
** Grandpa Wolfe doesn't even bother with his name and just calls him "the beaver" instead, which is [[IAmNotWeasel another thing entirely]].
* Short-lived Saturday Morning Cartoon ''Drak Pack'' has the main villain always addressing the eponymous "Drak" by such various names as "Plaque", "Black", "Brakk", et al.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy''
** Billy corrects Irwin's mispronunciation of Cthulhu with his own. "Irwin, it's not Kahlua, it's Cacadoodoo." (The actual, phonetic pronunciation of "Cthulhu" isn't all that hard if you really try it.)
** Also, Billy's new friend Pinocchinochinochinoichnoichnoichnoichnoichino.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** "Stan Marsh? More like... Stan DARSH! Hahahahaha!"
** Stan's grandfather always calls him Billy. Ironically, Grandpa Marsh's own grandfather always called ''him'' Billy. (His real name is Marvin.)
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible''
** Dr. Drakken could never remember Ron Stoppable's name -- referring to him many times as "the buffoon". Which led to a [[Awesome/KimPossible Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for Ron in ''So The Drama''.
** A lot of ''Kim Possible'' villains have trouble with Ron's name. On one occasion Ron mentions that he's always found it gratifying that Monkey Fist made a habit of actually remembering his name.
** And Señor Senior Senior & Señor Senior Junior. At first they couldn't remember Ron's name either, but they actually asked him what it was so they could remember in the future. This also leaves an impression on Ron since they were polite enough to go out of their way '''to''' remember his name.
* On ''DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines'', in the short "Shape Up or Ship Out", the ship captain addresses Dick Dastardly as "Mustardly" but is never corrected.
* Colleen did this to Blitz ''all the time'' on ''WesternAnimation/RoadRovers''. Sometime's she'd call him things like "Mr Chubbycheeks"; other times she'd just pretend to have forgotten his name entirely.
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Doctor Venture frequently calls his son Dean other names like Dave, Don or such. Dean hopes these might be nicknames, but doesn't think so.
* ''{{Duckman}}'' constantly forgets the name of his son, Mambo, calling him by other unusual or ridiculous names like La Bamba and Mandingo. In one episode, he forgets Charles' name instead.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'', Ronan the Accuser, an alien with very distinct blue skin, seeks revenge on Johnny Storm for a defeat in a previous episode which exiled him from his home planet and forced him to work with his hated enemies. Despite his efforts, Johnny has no clue who he is ("[[ButForMeItWasTuesday Do you know how many blue people we've fought?]]"), which greatly angers Ronan.

* In the episode of ''TheTick'' with Thrackorzog, Tick repeatedly messes up Thrakorzog's name, eventually calling him 'Susan'. Thrackorzog tries to do it back at the Tick later, and fails hilariously.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld''
** An episode has Wizardheimer the Magikoopa, who would get annoyed whenever the Mario Brothers called him "Wisenheimer" or "Wiseacre".
** The infamous ''[=SMB3=]'' episode with MilliVanilli had a brief gag where Bowser mispronounces their name as Silly Thawilly and Billy Danilli, with "Kootie Pie" and "Cheatsy" correcting him. [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2375953/7/King_Koopa_Katastrophe_Spoof_2 This fanfiction spoof of the episode]] makes further use of the joke by making it a RunningGag.

* In ''LiloAndStitchTheSeries'', everyone (but especially [[TheDragon Gantu]]) refers to Dr. Hamsterviel as "Dr. Hamster Wheel." He always corrects this. ([[InsistentTerminology He's really more of a gerbil, anyway.]])

* In ''[[CareBears The Care Bears: Big Wish Movie]]'', Too Loud Bear, a bit of a {{Jerkass}}, constantly mispronounces Twinkers' name. At the end of the movie, he finally calls Twinkers by the right name to demonstrate the end of his character arc.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTeddyRuxpin'', the villainous Tweeg had to put up with his flunky L.B. mispronouncing his name as "Twig" and the like.

* In ''DynomuttDogWonder'', there were a few times where Dynomutt's bungling caused The Blue Falcon to refer to him as "Dog Blunder" instead of the usual "Dog Wonder".
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', several characters have forgotten Timmy's name. [[AsianAirhead Trixie Tang]] is the one that comes to most fans' minds, but several others have forgotten at one point: Cosmo, his parents, Adam West, and Quddus (in the TRL interview).
* The [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 classic Ninja Turtles cartoon]] episode "Rebel Without a Fin" features a guest villain with the name Dr. Pollydorious. Throughout the episode, the Turtles address him as Dr. Pollyanna, Dr. Polyester, Dr. Polyunsaturated, and other such names.
-->'''Dr. Pollydorious:''' I am Dr. Pollydorious, and soon the whole world will know my name!\\
'''Raphael:''' Maybe, but I bet they won't be able to spell it.
* In ''WidgetTheWorldWatcher'', the male elder keeps forgeting and mispronounces Widget's name every time they meet.
* In ''Katy Caterpillar'', Katy runs into some freewheeling chameleons who repeatedly refer to her as "girlie", even though she tells them each time, "My name is Katy."

* In ''ShaggyAndScoobyDooGetAClue'', Robie, the robot butler, always calls Scooby "Rooby Roo".
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaIsland''
** Lindsay is getting ''everybody's'' name wrong. Although she can usually remember somebody's name if they're (at the moment) important to her. For example she remembers Heather's name throughout the whole TDI season; when she calls her "Hannah" in the special Heather is clearly shocked, because is means Lindsay is no longer her puppet. (Interestingly, she seems generally better with names in ''TDA''.)
** It's PlayedForLaughs much more in ''World Tour'', where she just can't get her ''boyfriend's'' name right. She calls him Noah, a character she's had no on-screen interaction with. Ergo, she can remember a name or a face, but never both!
* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers''
** Greedly would address his butler Boris as "Horrace", "Norris", etc.
** Likewise, Duke Nukem would usually call his lackey Leadsuit by another name, usually "Leadhead".

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "Out of the Past", Terry persistently mispronounces Ra's Al Ghul as RAUZ (the same pronunciation used in ''Film/BatmanBegins'') instead of the "proper" {{DCAU}} pronunciation, RAYSH. Talia constantly corrects him, getting more and more annoyed when Terry never tries to get it right. WordOfGod says this was Terry's subtle way of dissing the criminal mastermind by not even getting his name right.
* Beezy to [[ButtMonkey Samy]] on ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', during an incident when Samy was forced to act like a pet.

* Several characters in ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' frequently refer to them as Travis and Bob-head, Beaver and Buffcoat, etc.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Hank's father Cotton refers to Peggy as "Hank's wife", regardless of whether he's being mean or genuinely nice.
* On ''Willa's Wild Life'', the school mean girls Sara, Kara and Lara always refer to Willa by some name other than her own that starts with W, such as "Wanda" or "Winifred." Meanwhile, Willa's own pet penguins always call her Gladys, but only because they're Cloud Cuckoolanders.
* In "The Greatest Story Never Told" of ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', episode centerpiece BoosterGold is constantly referred to or otherwise mistaken for Green Lantern despite his gold-and-blue color scheme.
* Puffer Pete constantly on ''{{Chuggington}}'', because he's old.
* A RunningGag on ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' is that several recurring guest characters called Walter Hartford "Wally", "Wilbur", and most anything other than his given name. This included his own MechanicalHorse (though said horse had some very... odd programming bugs in her AI). Small wonder he pretty much went by "Doc" whenever possible.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''
** In the episode "The Fry Cook Games", [=SpongeBob=] erases half of Patrick's Chum Bucket name tag during a wrestling match.
-->'''Patrick''': [[BerserkButton MY NAME'S! NOT!]] '''''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!]]'''''
** This was a RunningGag in the "great snail race" episode, at the expense of [[ButtMonkey Squidward]]. Tennisballs? Tentpoles? Tortellini? [[{{Jerkass}} Tentacles]]!
* One ''HouseOfMouse'' animated short ("computer.don") was about DonaldDuck buying a talking personal computer that can recognize people's names, but the computer misunderstands Donald's SpeechImpediment and consistently refers to him as "Duo."
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'':
-->'''Cyril:''' Oh, hi Cheryl.\\
'''Cheryl/Carol:''' It's "Carol."\\
'''Archer:''' Huh? Since when?\\
'''Cheryl/Carol:''' Since I had it legally changed because you kept ''calling'' me Carol.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "Old Man Dexter", as Dexter is deemed too young to watch late night TV, he scientifically ages himself... [[GrumpyOldMan a little too much.]] As such, senility kicks in as he asks his sister to help him up on the living room couch.
-->'''Dexter:''' A little help there, um... [[SpeciesLostAndFound Dodo?]]\\
'''[=DeeDee=]:''' [=DeeDee=].\\
'''Dexter:''' [[BabyLanguage Daa Daa?]]\\
'''[=DeeDee=]:''' [=DeeDee=].\\
'''Dexter:''' [[ToiletHumour Doo Doo?]]\\
'''[=DeeDee=]:''' [=DeeDee=].\\
'''Dexter:''' Ah, thanks, Billy.
* On ''HeyArnold'' Helga does this to insult Harold in the episode "Beaned" where she fools Arnold (and the rest) into thinking she's got amnesia.
--> '''Harold:''' "HELLO HELGA. MY NAME IS HAR-OOOLD! DO YOU REMEMBER ME?"
--> '''Helga:''' "Why, of course I remember you, ''Cheryl''."
--> '''Arnold:''' "Come on, I'll help you find your locker."
--> '''Helga:''' "What is 'locker'?"
--> '''Stinky:''' "I reckon' that's the most pathetic thing I've ever seen..."
--> '''Rhonda:''' "She's turned into a total freak!"
--> '''Harold:''' "And she's calling me Cheryl!"

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' had a RunningGag, especially early on, that people would call her "Dara," "Dora," etc. It was actually {{Invoked}} in the last season when a substitute decides to call her "Darlene" because she thinks Daria sounds like a "hippie name."
-->'''Ms. Li:''' ''(over PA system)'' Attention! Will Miss Daria Morgendorffer please report to the principal's office. Now!
-->'''Mrs. Stoller:''' Darlene? Where are you going?
-->'''Daria:''' [[DeadpanSnarker To get Daria]].
** Also a RunningGag with Jamie, one of Quinn's three constant admirers. She (and others) can always remember Joey and Jeffy's name, but usually he winds up being called "Jamal," "Jeremy," etc.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies2010'' episode "[=McLeish=] Unleashed", [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Milton Feltwaddle]] keeps getting Olaf's name wrong. When [[ResetButton McLeish goes back to his job as head dogcatcher]], Olaf is glad to have a boss who at least gets his name right.
* In a segment in ''{{WesternAnimation/Animaniacs}}'', a game show host kept calling [[WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain Brain]] ''Brian''.
* On ''{{WesternAnimation/ReBoot}}'', Enzo often calls the viruses insulting nicknames, such as Megabreath and Hexadismal. Also, only Dot seems to pronounce Cecil's name correctly (Ceh-cil, not Cee-cil).
** [[BigBad Megabyte]] tried to mock the grown-up Enzo (now a muscle-bound [[BadAss badass]]) by throwing this in his face and wondering what happened to the insults... shortly before being PunchedAcrossTheRoom with a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome ''dent'' in his chest]].
* In the {{MightyMax}} episode "Scorpio Rising" even though Max mentions his name multiple times to Dr. Scorpio he keeps getting his name wrong, he calls him Timmy, Bobby, Cubby, Rusty, and Skippy.
* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', Spinelli's mother manages to get every one of her friend's names wrong. She calls Mikey "Mickey", Vince "Vance", Gretchen "Gretel", Gus "Russ" and [=TJ=] become the MemeticMutation "[=BJ=]".
* Wizard Kelly from ''WesternAnimation/{{TheProudFamily}}'' would do this all the time.
* In "You're Not Miss Martin!" on ''WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}}'', the substitute teacher at Caillou's playschool, Ms. Shelley, repeatedly calls him "Kyle." Caillou is at first irritated by this and a number of things about her, but Mommy helps him to relate to her by reminding him how he felt on his first day of playschool. The next time she calls him "Kyle," he decides to be patient and politely remind her that his name is "Caillou." The final time she calls him "Kyle," it's the non-malicious variant, just to joke with him.

* In recent years many conservative politicians and commentators in the U.S. have taken to routinely referring to the Democratic Party as the "Democrat Party", due to the word "democratic" having positive connotations that conservatives don't want to highlight. Also, the shortened form ends in "rat". See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_%28phrase%29 The Other Wiki]]. Incidentally, this one's OlderThanTheyThink; it's been used off and on since at least the 1930s.
* Members of the Tea Party movement originally called themselves "Tea Baggers" until it become public knowledge that "teabagging" is also the name of a sexual act. The Tea Party dropped the nickname, but their opponents often continue to call them Tea Baggers either out of habit or to mock them.
* [[BarackObama Obama's]] detractors deliberately emphasize the scary foreign-sounding aspect of his name, calling him "Iraq Obama" or "Saddam Hussein Obama," or simply "Nobama" or variants. Also, "Osama". Which backfired on them when Osama bin Ladin was reported killed. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMP7Ys57ha4 They said President Obama is dead]], [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4l0WCvWluM Obama bin Ladin is dead]], and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUFWaYQk6Mg even Geraldo Rivera messed it up.]] That was not limited to US newscasts. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-IdM0Ppwqs&feature=fvst Here]] are some clips from Italian newscasts with the same mistake.
** Conversely, they may call him "Barry", an Americanized nickname he grew up with but now dislikes.
** It's not just his detractors that got his name wrong. Teddy Kennedy, in a desparate attempt to get his name right, called him "Osama Bin Laden -- Osama Obama -- uh, Obama", leading to this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k17GanJvm6A parody song]].
** After embarrassing himself by bowing to Emperor Akahito, many Japanese took to calling him [[{{Baka}} Obaka.]]
** In 2011, after Michele Bachmann began her run for the presidency, DavidLetterman began referring to both her and Michelle Obama as "Michelle O'Bachmann". Paul Shaffer then mumbles the correct pronunciation into his microphone.
* On an edition of the long running [=BBC=] panel discussion programme ''Question Time'', moderator David Dimbleby inadvertently addressed former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook as "Robin Cock". Cook immediately countered by addressing the moderator as "David Bumblebee".
* When Nick Griffin, leader of the fiercely xenophobic British National Party, was controversially allowed to appear on the programme as a guest in 2009, one of the audience members addressed him as "Dick Griffin" before posing a question. This was almost certainly an example of Category A, a subtle way for said audience member to express disgust at Griffin's political views.

* In ''The Psychopathology of Everyday Life'', Sigmund Freud argued that the forgetting of proper names is ''never'' accidental, and usually, if not always, has something to do with hostility toward the person whose name is forgotten. The reasons for that hostility may vary, and we may not be aware of them at the time, but it's there. This is a subset of the concept of "{{Freudian Slip}}s", where a word misused in place of another word displays a hidden meaning.\\\
It's important to remember that Freud's conclusions are no longer given the respect they once were. Freud was indeed a pioneer in his field, but his conclusions were based on his own untested hypotheses, and in many cases have since been positively disproven by actual scientifically rigorous investigation. Unfortunately, until the science was done, Freud's influence on the field of psychology led far too often to "blame the victim" scenarios that only compounded the patient's problems. For example, in the case of forgetting names, there are often physiological causes that can be specifically diagnosed by a neurologist. Looked at through a Freudian perspective, however, such a patient not only has an undiagnosed neurological problem, now he is presumed by others to be unreasonably hostile, and so receives hostility in response.
* This happened frequently to the late journalist ChristopherHitchens during television appearances. Many interviewers (including Dennis Miller and Bill Maher, who should have known better) would make the mistake of calling him "Chris", which would lead to him rather irritably reminding them his name was "Christopher".

* German leftist politician Herbert Wehner who was (in)famous for his insults in parliament once called fellow parliamentarian Jürgen Wohlrabe "Übelkrähe" (which was a pun on the latter's name, turning "well-raven" into "evil-crow").
* The full name of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda is actually 'Al Qaeda al-Jihad', which means "the base of the holy war" in Arabic. Non-Arabic speakers shortened it to al-Qaeda, which just means 'the base' which means absolutely nothing. This has unintentionally resulted in a [[http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-06-24-Osama-bin-Laden-Al-qaeda_n.htm hilarious PR]] problem for the terrorist group who are trying to [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19342_6-hilarious-ways-al-qaeda-going-corporate.html rename themselves]].
* Eliezer Ben Yehuda, reviver of the Hebrew language, rooted Shaul Chernikhovsky for national poet over Khayim Nakhman Bialik[[hottip:*:Who happens to be a distant relative of Mayim Bialik, whom you may know as [[Series/TheBigBangTheory Amy Farrah Fowler]]]], and frequently got the latter’s name wrong in his newspapers as "Bialin", "Bilik", etc.
* Infamous Brazilian manager Vicente Matheus was known for {{Malaproper}}s, a few entering this. Best known was calling [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biro-Biro Biro-Biro]] "Lero-Lero".
* In October 2011, when asked if he was ready to field "gotcha" questions like who the president of Uzbekistan was, Republican presidential contender Herman Cain said "And when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I’m going to say, you know, I don’t know. Do you know?" He then added, "Knowing who is the head of some of these small insignificant states around the world -- I don’t think that is something that is critical to focusing on national security and getting this economy going."

* DeanMartin liked to do this with JerryLewis' last name. His favorite variations were Lucas, Loomis, Lousy and Looseleaf.

* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyIX'' Baku can never remember Tot's name. There's a minor Running Gag of him referring to Tot by a different name each time (Toot, Ted, Totty, etc.), followed by Marcus deadpanning "It's Tot", to be completely ignored by Baku.