History Main / OppositesThemeNaming

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', all members of SWORD have technically resigned from the standard Marine hierarchy, and therefore aren't required to follow normal protocols. This allows them to do things like attacking Pirate Emperors without being authorized by the higher-ups. The drawback is that, if they're captured or discovered, the World Government will disavow them and leave them to their fate.

* ''Manga/YuGiOh'':
** Lumis (light) and Umbra (shadow).
** The two famous dragons Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Red-Eyes Black Dragon play this trope twice. And their upgraded versions Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon and Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon. It's mentioned, that Blue-Eyes has more power while Red-Eyes has more potential.
** Many other cards are have this kind of theme naming.
* ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'': The tag team partners Gauche (left) and Droite (right).

* Minor character [[CoupleThemeNaming couple]] in ''Webcomic/TheWotch'': Scott Winters and Julie Summers. This is doubly thematic: first the contrasting seasonal elements, but secondly, if you switch the last names you get the names of Cyclops from the Franchise/XMen and Julie from ''ComicBook/TheMaxx''. Whether this ''means'' anything, though...

* The Biskit twins in ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop'' have names whose first letters coincide with the opposite sister's hair color ('''W'''hittney has '''b'''lack hair, '''B'''rittney has '''w'''hite hair).

** VideoGame/MarioMix has Hotmetal, named as such in contrast to [[Memes/SonicTheHedgehog Coldsteel]], the character he is an ExPy of.

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** The main characters Hinata Shouyou and Kageyama Tobio are often framed as foils and/or complementary forces that balance each other. Hinata means “sunny place” whereas Kageyama means “shadow mountain”. Hinata is the loud, sunny, passionate red-head in contrast to black-haired and blue-eyed Kageyama’s colder and introverted demeanor.
** The kanji for “sun” in Hinata’s name is also a contrast with Tsukishima’s name which has the kanji “moon” in it. While they both play as middle blockers, Hinata is a short and impulsive player whereas Tsukishima is the tallest guy on the team and is very analytical. Their personalities are also opposites as Tsukishima is often unpleasant and snarky in contrast to always enthusiastic and friendly Hinata. Tsukishima also does not share Hinata’s overzealous passion for volleyball, often calling it just an after-school club. They are also BookDumb and SmartPeopleWearGlasses, respectively. Their sun and moon personality is {{Lampshaded}} in the series.

** Karasuno team’s wing spiker Tanaka Ryuunosuke has opposite names with their friendly rival Nekoma’s Yamamoto Taketora. Taketora is referred as Tora by his close friends while Tanaka is called Ryuu by closest to him. Ryuu and Tora are the kanjis for "dragon" and "tiger" respectively, two animal motifs often seen opposite to each other in Asian cultures. Ryuu and Tora are similar to each other both in personality and appearance and initially clash and try to intimidate each other, later becoming friends.

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** Dante's handguns are named "Ebony" and "Ivory."

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* ''Hēibái Wúcháng'' ("Black-White Impermanence"), a duo of {{Shinigami}} in Chinese Taoist myths, whose names are ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Fàn Wújiù]]'' ("those who sin are unsalvageable") and ''[[NamesToTrustImmediately Xiè Bì'ān]]'' ("those who repent will have peace") respectively.

* ''Hēibái Wúcháng'' ("Black-White Impermanence"), a duo of {{Shinigami}} in Chinese Taoist myths, whose names are ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Fàn Wújiù]]'' ("those who sin are unsalvageable") and ''[[NamesToTrustImmediately Xiè Bì'ān]]'' (those who repent will have peace") respectively.

** The kanji for “sun” in Hinata’s name is also a contrast with Tsukishima’s name which has the kanji “moon” in it. While they both play as middle blockers, Hinata is a short and impulsive player whereas Tsukishima is the tallest guy on the team and is very analytical. Their personalities are also opposites as Tsukishima is often unpleasant and snarky to always enthusiastic and friendly Hinata. Tsukishima also does not share Hinata’s overzealous passion for volleyball, often calling it just an after-school club. They are also BookDumb and SmartPeopleWearGlasses, respectively. Their sun and moon personality is {{Lampshaded}} in the series.

** The main characters Hinata Shouyou and Kageyama Tobio are often framed as foils and/or complementary forces that balance each other. Hinata means “sunny place” whereas Kageyama means “shadow mountain”. Hinata is the loud, sunny, passionate red-head in contrast to black-haired and blue-eyed Kageyama’s colder and introverted demeanour.
** The kanji for “sun” in Hinata’s name is also a contrast with Tsukishima’s which has the kanji “moon” in it. While they both play as middle blockers, Hinata is a short and impulsive player whereas Tsukishima is the tallest guy on the team and is very analytical. Their personalities are also opposites as Tsukishima is often unpleasant and snarky to always enthusiastic and friendly Hinata. Tsukishima also does not share Hinata’s overzealous passion for volleyball, often calling it just an after-school club. Their sun and moon personality is LampshadeHanging in the series.

This often overlaps with ThemeTwinNaming, especially with PolarOppositeTwins; and CoupleThemeNaming, particularly if the lovers in question have an OppositesAttract thing going on.

* ''VideoGame/DinerDashAdventures'' has SiblingYinYang Minnie and Max. Max is a buff guy who surprisingly orders very little food, while Minnie is a tiny girl who is a BigEater and always orders twice.

* ''VideoGame/DinerDashAdventures'' has SiblingYinYang Minnie and Max. Max is a buff guy who surprisingly orders very little food, while Minnie is a tiny girl who is a BigEater.

* The two main characters of ''Manga/AnoKoNiKisuToShirayuriWo'' are named Shiramine Ayaka (shira meaning "white") and Kurosawa Yurine (kuro meaning "black") − although, ironically, despite their names Ayaka is black-haired while Yurine is blonde. Their names also have the exact same number of syllables, with the first name written in Hiragana. And if you push even further (but it might be coincidental there), Ayaka has a last name ending in [ine] and a first name ending two [a]; Yurine has a last name ending with two [a] and a first name ending in [ine]. So you could say their very names highlight their [[OppositesAttract paradoxical]] [[BirdsOfAFeather dynamic]].

* Omegamon and Alphamon from ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}''. Omegamon is [[GoodIsNotSoft white]], Alphamon is [[DarkIsNotEvil black]].
** In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', there are Angemon and Devimon, and Angewomon and [=LadyDevimon=].
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the Mangekyo Sharingan has the two jutsus Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu, named after the two Shinto goddess of moon and sun, respectively. Also, the Sharingan has the forbidden jutsus [[spoiler:Izanagi and Izanami, named after the parents of the gods Susano'o, Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi. Izanagi is a RealityWarper, while Izanami directly counters Izanagi users]].
* The two main characters of ''Manga/AnoKoNiKisuToShirayuriWo'' are named Shiramine Ayaka (shira meaning "white") and Kurosawa Yurine (kuro meaning "black") − although ironically, despite their names Ayaka is black-haired while Yurine is blonde. Their names also have the exact same number of syllables, with the first name written in Hiragana. And if you push even further (but it might be coincidental there), Ayaka has a last name ending in [ine] and a first name ending two [a]; Yurine has a last name ending with two [a] and a first name ending in [ine]. So you could say their very names highlight their [[OppositesAttract paradoxical]] [[BirdsOfAFeather dynamic]].
* In ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'', Kanna and her father Kimun have a Sky/Earth contrast, being named after storm and mountain deities respectively. It helps underline their LikeFatherUnlikeSon dynamic.

* The twin princesses Dawn and Eve in the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' series.

* The two blue-skinned assassins in ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' are named Jeego and Tengo. Jeego's name comes from 'jigoku', and Tengo's name from 'tengoku', Japanese words meaning 'hell' and 'heaven', respectively.

* ''Vocaloid'' has Rin and Len Kagamine. Their names are a pun on the words "right" and "left", respectively.

* Minor character couple in ''Webcomic/TheWotch'': Scott Winters and Julie Summers.
** This is doubly thematic: first the contrasting seasonal elements, but secondly, if you switch the last names you get the names of Cyclops from the Franchise/XMen and Julie from ''ComicBook/TheMaxx''. Whether this ''means'' anything, though...

* ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'' has a pair of secret agent partners named Mr. Black and Mr. White ([[IronicName who are Caucasian and African-American, respectively]]).

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', the main couple is named oppositely: Tidus is a romanization of "Tidaa", which is Okinawan for "sun"; Yuna, on the other hand, is Okinawan for "night".

* Trish's twin handguns in the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' are [[ICallItVera named Luce and Umbra]] ("Light" and "Shadow" in Italian) and are appropriately colored.

This often overlaps with ThemeTwinNaming, especially with PolarOppositeTwins, and CoupleThemeNaming if the lovers in question have an OppositesAttract thing going on.

This often overlaps with ThemeTwinNaming, especially with PolarOppositeTwins.

* ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'' has a character whose mother tried to follow the tradition of naming daughters after virtues, but got very confused about it: her daughters had the names of virtues, so she reasoned that her sons should have the names of vices. Meanwhile, all her children completely lacked the traits they were named for. Her daughters had names like Charity (a miser), Hope (chronically depressed), and Chastity ([[UnusualEuphemism a lady of negotiable affection]]). She named her sons after vices, such as Anger (a kind and nonviolent man), [[BestialityIsDepraved Bestiality]] (very kind to animals), and Deviousness (an honest and straightforward chap).

* Trish's twin handguns in the ''Franchise/DevilMayCry'' are [[ICallItVera named Luce and Umbra]] ("Light" and "Shadow" in Italian) and are appropriately colored.