History Main / NoNameGiven

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishi The last member of the Yahi tribe of Northern California]] could only have his name known after a friend from his tribe introduced him to an outsider. Since he was [[LastOfHisKind the last one of his tribe]], there was no one to introduce him, and he became known as "Ishi," "man" in his language. His real name will never be known.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', Fievel's parents [[UnnamedParent are only ever referred to as "Mama" and "Papa" Mousekewitz]]. [[NamedInTheSequel Papa's name is revealed]] in ''WesternAnimation/FievelsAmericanTails'', but Mama's is still not given. (Hopefully it's not [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Bianca]].)

* Agent Classified from ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar''. He tells Skipper that his real name is classified, but Skipper [[{{WhosOnFirst}} takes it literally]] and calls him Classified for the rest of the film.

* Ford Prefect is a name picked by ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' researcher due to a misunderstanding about Earth. In the books it's revealed he never learnt to pronounce his own name (his father was the LastOfHisKind following the [[NoodleIncident Collapsing Hrung Disaster of Betelgeuse VII]] and named his son in the now extinct Praxibetel dialect), and the kids at school called him Ix (meaning "Boy who is unable to explain what a Hrung is, or why it should choose to collapse on Betelgeuse VII").
** The misunderstanding was explained more fully in [[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy the movie]] by showing Ford walking out into the middle of a street and attempting to greet a car, [[MistookTheDominantLifeform thinking it was the dominant species on Earth.]] This was a joke that some fans understood without needing the explanation, as Ford Prefects are a kind of car sold in the U.K., Australia, Argentina and Canada. American fans tended not to get the joke, since Ford Prefects were never sold in the U.S.

* While he is called "The Big Bad Wolf" for various advertising in ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish''[[note]]Despite there already being a Big Bad Wolf in the ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' films.[[/note]], he is never referred to that name in the movie itself, just called "the wolf" or "lobo". [[spoiler:He is actually Death himself]].

* From the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, [[spoiler: Calisto Yew. Her real name is never given, the only thing we know about it for certain is that it absolutely is ''not'' Calisto Yew. Or Shih-na.]]

** Despite being the [[spoiler: [[BigBad Big Bad]] of [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]]], we never know the name of the [[spoiler: Phantom]]. Then again, this isn't unexplained, because he comments that he [[spoiler: lost and forgot his identity long ago, and now only lives by the personality of whomever he impersonates.]]

* In Franchise/{{Disney|AnimatedCanon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', Princess Aurora's father is named King Stefan, but her mother is never called anything but "the Queen". Some children's books published about the movie give her the name "Leah", which many fans have adopted. Weirdly, she doesn't even get listed in the credits of the film at all. In fact, there is still no clear records of the name of the actress who provided her voice, making her a ''really'' nameless entity, though some people may have speculated that Flora's voice actress for the film, Verna Felton, [[ActingForTwo might have ''allegedly'' voiced Leah as well]]. Similarly, the unnamed herald’s name is never called anything but the "herald". But in his ''real'' appearance in ''WesternAnimation/DisneyPrincessEnchantedTalesFollowYourDreams'', the character in that film is given the name of "Duke" or "The Duke" in the credits. Like Leah, there have been almost no records of the name of the actor who provided the herald’s voice in the original as a result of Hans Conried (performance model and original choice of King Stefan) being replaced by Taylor Holmes as the voice of King Stefan for no valid reason, though it may be assumed that the herald’s voice and accent is sorta like Conried’s in a bit higher pitch. Still, the truth would ''never'' be revealed about the herald’s voice and unanswered questions would grow and still plague the herald’s voice mystery in the wake of Conried’s ''own'' replacement by Holmes as Stefan. Similarly, the unnamed Minstrel is not named or credited either. On the other hand, the name of Maleficent’s pet raven is not named in the film, though the name “Diablo” is used by Disney Fans.

* In Franchise/{{Disney|AnimatedCanon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', Princess Aurora's father is named King Stefan, but her mother is never called anything but "the Queen". Some children's books published about the movie give her the name "Leah", which many fans have adopted. Weirdly, she doesn't even get listed in the credits of the film at all. In fact, there was absolutely no record of the name of the actress who provided her voice, making her a ''really'' nameless entity, though some have speculated that Flora's voice actress for the film, Verna Felton, [[ActingForTwo might have voiced Leah as well.]]. Similarly, the unnamed herald’s name is never called anything but the "herald". But in his ''real'' appearance in ''WesternAnimation/DisneyPrincessEnchantedTalesFollowYourDreams'', the character in that film is given the name of "Duke" or "The Duke" in the credits. Like Leah, there have been almost no records of the name of the actor who provided the herald’s voice in the original as a result of Taylor Holmes replacing Hans Conried (performance model and original choice of King Stefan) as the voice of Stefan for no valid reason, though it may be assumed that the herald’s voice and accent is sorta like Conried’s in a bit higher pitch. Still, the truth would never be revealed about the herald’s voice and unanswered questions would grow in the wake of Conried’s ''own'' replacement. Also, the unnamed Minstrel is not named or credited either.

* Despite being called "The Big Bad Wolf" for various advertising in ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'', he is never referred to that name in the movie itself, just called "the wolf" or "lobo". [[spoiler:He is actually Death himself]].

* ''Animation/MeCvimadMoval'': Averted with the snowman, who initially introduces himself at the beginning of the short as Guda Guda. The girl he makes friends with, on the other hand, plays the trope straight.

* ''Animation/TheKey'': The [[SpoiledBrat bratty boy]] who eventually learns to do things for himself has no given name, in contrast to the boy's parents, his grandfather, the scientist, and even a little RobotGirl, whom all have names.

* In "Literature/TheFrostTheSunAndTheWind", the traveler who the story focuse on is not identified by name.

* In ''Animation/SonOfTheWhiteHorse'', only the main character Fanyűvő and his brothers Kőmorzsoló and Vasgyúró get names. Everyone else just has to make do with nouns.

A major character is never referred to By the numbers, the majority of characters will not have a name within the work, because they lack NominalImportance. One way to play with audience expectations, however, is to present characters and instead of addressing them by their personal name, they're called by their [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep title]], [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname nickname]], or in [[YouKnowTheOne vague terms]]. The more important this character is to the plot, the more unusual it is to lack a name. The BitCharacter and SpearCarrier may not have their names mentioned, but they are straight examples of NominalImportance.

It is important to note that this character presumably ''does'' have a name, which just never comes up within the work. Credits and [[AllThereInTheManual additional publications]] may show the character's name, without the name ever being mentioned during the work. Again, this is only tropeworthy with characters that impact the story, such as the SupportingProtagonist or the IneffectualSympatheticVillain.

While characters may {{Lampshade|Hanging}} the unusual relationship, a direct confrontation on the character's lack of a name is usually a different trope. In No Name Given, the audience must assume that off-camera the characters are aware of each other's names, and it is pure coincidence that everyone else is on, at best, LastNameBasis with this character.

This is a subtrope to TheNameless, because the character (apparently) lacks a name. It is supertrope to UnnamedParent (the unnamed characters are specifically parents to a younger main character) and EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep (the character is only identified by a descriptive moniker). Compare HisNameReallyIsBarkeep in case the character's name was being used all along.

A major character is never referred to by their actual name, instead being addressed by a [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep title]], [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname nickname]], or none at all. Reasons for this vary, but it often serves the function of making a character seem more mysterious or eccentric.

This trope can be [[JustifiedTrope somewhat justified]], however, due to NominalImportance: it's difficult enough for the writers to come up with good names for the main protagonists; it would be ''incredibly'' painstaking to come up with equally good names for a cast of characters who exist solely as part of the setting and serve no further purpose to the narrative.

Another common variation is for a series where a child is the main character to have parents [[UnnamedParent only referred to as Mom and Dad]].

Sometimes, a main protagonist will have no name to add to their mystique.
Or, it may be because they [[SpeakOfTheDevil can't be named]].

Sometimes a character who goes unnamed in the original work will be NamedInTheSequel.

When this trope is applied to work titles, not just character names, it's NoTitle. When it's applied to location names, it's CityWithNoName.

Compare TheTropeWithoutATitle, YouKnowTheOne, IKnowYourTrueName (which may be a reason for this), and NoFullNameGiven. Contrast OnlyOneName, EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep, and IAmNotShazam. Compare and contrast TheScottishTrope, for where characters know a name, but actively avoid saying it. See also NamelessNarrative and TheAllConcealingI. When a character genuinely has no name whatsoever (as opposed to it not being given in the work), then they are TheNameless. If the character's parents never named them, then they were NeverGivenAName. When a character is literally given the name "Nobody", then they are SomebodyNamedNobody.

* In WesternAnimation/TheBossBaby franchise, the Triplets are never addressed by their individual names.

* ''Machinima/FalloutLoreTheStoryteller'': The Storyteller does have a name, but [[RunningGag we never hear it since whoever says it is either interrupted or drowned out by something.]]

* Parodied in the case of Rookie from ''Machinima/CombatDevolved''. He tries to tell the others his name, but no-one cares and resorts to calling him Rookie.

[[quoteright:304:[[VisualNovel/HiveswapFriendsim https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/capture_064.PNG]]Unlike most examples here, this guy does have a name. Not that it's in his [[PokemonSpeak vocabulary]].]]

* In Franchise/{{Disney|AnimatedCanon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', Princess Aurora's father is named King Stefan, but her mother is never called anything but "the Queen". Some children's books published about the movie give her the name "Leah", which many fans have adopted. Weirdly, she doesn't even get listed in the credits of the film at all. In fact, there was absolutely no record of the name of the actress who provided her voice, making her a ''really'' nameless entity, though some have speculated that Flora's voice actress for the film, Verna Felton, [[ActingForTwo might have voiced Leah as well.]]. Similarly, the unnamed herald’s name is never called anything but the "herald". But in his "real" appearance in ''WesternAnimation/DisneyPrincessEnchantedTalesFollowYourDreams'', the character in his real appearance in that film is given the name of "Duke" or "The Duke" in the credits. Like Leah, there have been almost no records of the name of the actor who provided the herald’s voice in the original as a result of Taylor Holmes replacing Hans Conried (performance model and original choice of King Stefan) as the voice of Stefan for no valid reason, though it be be assumed that the herald’s voice and accent is sorta like Conried’s in a bit higher pitch. Still, the truth would never be revealed about the herald’s voice and unanswered questions grew in the wake of Conried’s ''own'' replacement. Also, the unnamed Minstrel is not named or credited either.

* In Franchise/{{Disney|AnimatedCanon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', Princess Aurora's father is named King Stefan, but her mother is never called anything but "the Queen". Some children's books published about the movie give her the name "Leah", which many fans have adopted. Weirdly, she doesn't even get listed in the credits of the film at all. In fact, there was absolutely no record of the name of the actress who provided her voice, making her a ''really'' nameless entity, though some have speculated that Flora's voice actress for the film, Verna Felton, [[ActingForTwo might have voiced Leah as well.]]. Similarly, the unnamed herald’s name is never called anything but the "herald". But in his "real" appearance in ''WesternAnimation/DisneyPrincessEnchantedTalesFollowYourDreams'', the character in his real appearance in that film is given the name of "Duke" or "The Duke" in the credits. Like Leah, there have been almost no records of the name of the actor who provided the herald’s voice in the original as a result of Taylor Holmes replacing Hans Conried (performance model and original choice of King Stefan) as the voice of Stefan for no valid reason, though it be be assumed that the herald’s voice and accent is sorta like Conried’s in a bit higher pitch. Still, the truth would never be revealed about the herald’s voice and unanswered questions grew in the wake of Conried’s "own" replacement by Holmes. Also, the unnamed Minstrel is not named or credited either.

* In Franchise/{{Disney|AnimatedCanon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', Princess Aurora's father is named King Stefan, but her mother is never called anything but "the Queen". Some children's books published about the movie give her the name "Leah", which many fans have adopted. Weirdly, she doesn't even get listed in the credits of the film at all. In fact, there was absolutely no record of the name of the actress who provided her voice, making her a ''really'' nameless entity, though some have speculated that Flora's voice actress for the film, Verna Felton, [[ActingForTwo might have voiced Leah as well.]]. Similarly, the unnamed herald’s name is never called anything but the "herald". But in his "real" appearance in ''WesternAnimation/DisneyPrincessEnchantedTales:FollowYourDreams'', the character is given the name of "Duke" or "The Duke" in the credits. Like Leah, there have been almost no records of the name of the actor who provided his voice in the original as a result of Taylor Holmes replacing Hans Conried (performance model and original choice of King Stefan) as the voice of Stefan for no valid reason, though it be be assumed that the herald’s voice and accent is sorta like Conried’s in a bit higher pitch. Still, the truth would never be revealed about the herald’s voice and unanswered questions grew in the wake of Conried’s "own" replacement by Holmes. Also, the unnamed Minstrel is not named or credited either.

* In Franchise/{{Disney|AnimatedCanon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', Princess Aurora's father is named King Stefan, but her mother is never called anything but "the Queen". Some children's books published about the movie give her the name "Leah", which many fans have adopted. Weirdly, she doesn't even get listed in the credits of the film at all. In fact, for a while there was absolutely no record of the name of the actress who provided her voice, making her a ''really'' nameless entity! It was eventually found out that Flora's voice actress for the film [[ActingForTwo voiced Leah as well.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', Fievel's parents [[UnnamedParent are only ever referred to as "Mama" and "Papa" Mousekewitz]].
** In ''Fievel's American Tails'', Papa's name is revealed to be Bernard, but Mama's is still not given. (Hopefully it's not [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Bianca]].)

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Bionicle}}'' [[DirectToVideo Direct-To-DVD]] movies left a handful of characters unnamed, but these were revealed via credits, bonus features and the toy names. The third movie, however, decided to ''give'' an unnamed character a name: the high-ranking Keelerak spider that runs errands for Sidorak and Roodaka was suddenly called Kollorak. The name appears nowhere else in canon and probably wasn't even given a legal check, which is the standard with the official ''Bionicle'' names. But WordOfGod claims it's canon.

* The titular character in WesternAnimation/TheBossBaby is never given a name onscreen, everyone called him "The Baby" or "Boss Baby". [[WesternAnimation/TheBossBabyFamilyBusiness The sequel]] gives him the name Theodore "Ted" Lindsay Templeton Jr. And the Triplets are never addressed by their individual names in the "Boss Baby" franchise.

* Sarge in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' is only ever called... Sarge. We have no idea what his actual name may be. In Episode 17 of Revelation, it's revealed that his name is actually Sarge.