History Main / PlanetOfSteves

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy's wish for more Dad's to spend time with goes wrong and he ends up sending them all to a Dad planet. After they abduct his Mom, he wishes up a planet of Moms for them.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' story "A Game of You," Wilkinson reveals his parents called all their children "Wilkinson." "It was hardest on the girls."

* In [[Literature/TheCenturyTrilogy The Fall Of Giants]], which opens early in the twentieth century, we meet working-class Welsh teen William Williams and his father, David. A discussion ensues of how common the names William, David, and Williams are in their community and how everybody ends up being called by various nicknames to distinguish them.

* In ''Literature/TheFallOfGiants'', which opens early in the twentieth century, we meet working-class Welsh teen William Williams and his father, David. A discussion ensues of how common the names William, David, and Williams are in their community and how everybody ends up being called by various nicknames to distinguish them.

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has a town named Pollnivneach, a FantasyCounterpartCulture of the Middle East. Almost every person in town is named "Ali", including a woman (She insists it's short for "Alice") and an "Ali Cat", which makes locating a missing person named Ali a bit frustrating. [[spoiler:Though at the end of the quest the player character figures out that the Ali you were sent to find didn't exist.]]

** Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ("UsefulNotes/{{Claudius}}" of IClaudius fame)

** Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (''UsefulNotes/{{Claudius}}'')

** Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (''Claudius Caesar'')

* In the 2009 UsefulNotes/FormulaOne season, the Red Bull\Toro Rosso drivers were Sebastian, Sébastien, Sebastien and [[OddNameOut Mark (plus Jaime)]].

* The Mr. Saturns of ''VideoGame/EarthBound''. They're all named Mr. Saturn, unsurprisingly, except for one named Dr. Saturn who works at the hospital in Saturn Valley.

* Out of the 265 popes of the Roman Catholic Church, there have been twelve that have taken the name Pius, thirteen each named Leo or Innocent, fourteen Clements, fifteen Benedicts ("what about Benedict XVI?" you may ask. The reason is that Benedict X is now considered an anti-pope), sixteen named Gregory, and twenty-one named John (the last being John XXIII- it's complicated). The earliest popes used their given names; by the Middle Ages, it had become customary to choose a regnal name, which often was picked to honor a predecessor.

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->[[LetsPlay/{{Chuggaaconroy}} NO! NO!]] [[LetsPlay/TheRunawayGuys NOTHING IS NAMED]] [[VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} STEVE!]]

* This tends to happen in stories where the Multiverse is common knowledge in some manner, and the No-Zone from ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' is no exception. Though here it's less Planet of Steves and more Planet of Multiple Copies of the Same Person from All Possible Universes. Multiple Sonics, Tails and many others are part of it, and duplicates of the main characters serve as its main enforcers [[note]]Though they're named slightly different, with their names always beginning with Z - Zonic instead of Sonic, for example[[/note]]. After the lawsuit forced a reboot, the No-Zone went with it, though it is still popular across the fanbase.

* Finnish cult film ''Calamari Union'' has fifteen people named Frank (and one named Pekka, who doesn't fit in) trying to accomplish the same goal - namely, moving from a lower-class neighborhood to an upper-class one in another side of town. They work briefly together, but go in their separate ways very quickly, and they are distinctly different characters.

* ''Literature/LizardMusic'': The group of lizards who welcome Victor and the Chicken Man to the island all have the same name – Reynold. When Victor asks if all the lizards on the island are named Reynold, Reynold says that would be silly and they do have other names, like Helena and Raymond. Victor subsequently meets one lizard named Helena and three named Raymond (who are siblings), but every other lizard he encounters is named Reynold.

** Another Discworld sort-of example would be the Nac Mac Feegle from ''Literature/TheWeeFreeMen'' and sequels-- they aren't exactly all named the same thing, but there seems to be a shortage of names such that one character goes by "No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock-Jock."

* ''Literature/WolfHall'' lampshades this in an early scene, where Thomas Cromwell thinks that he won't be remembered by the man who he's just been pointed out to because "half the world" is named Thomas--an appropriate remark when the inquiring man is Thomas Boleyn speaking to Cromwell's boss, Thomas Wolsey. There's also his adversary Thomas Howard the Duke of Norfolk and his friend Archbishop Thomas Cramner. Later he's relieved to learn that Elizabeth Seymour goes by Bess so he won't be conflating her with his late wife Elizabeth (who was called Liz).
* ''Literature/MonsterOfTheMonthClub'': Played with - Rilla and her mother and aunt have unique first names. It's the ''middle'' name, Harmony, that's the same for all three.

* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', we have Marvin Eriksen (Marshall's father), Marvin Eriksen Jr. (Marshall's brother) and Marvin [[spoiler: Wait-For-It]] Eriksen [[spoiler: (Marshall's son)]].

* ''Series/{{Nebulous}}'' features an AlternateUniverse where everything is spelt different. Literally - every word is spelt "D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T". One of the characters laments that dictionaries are "worse than useless" in this world.

** Q's kid Q at least gets a nickname in the TV show - Qball.

* In the ''Philadelphia Chickens'' album by Creator/SandraBoynton, the song "Fifteen Animals" is narrated by a young boy who owns said fifteen animals and is "giving each one a special name"--Bob. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope And then at the end]], we meet the fifteenth animal, his turtle [[OddNameOut Simon James Alexander Ragsdale III]].]]

* The Giant Intelligent Friendly Talking Spiders that appear in the ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}''/''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'' series (and in ''VideoGame/{{Nethergate}}'' too, probably) are all named Spider. ''Exile 3''/''Avernum 3'' makes a "riddle" from this--a guard spider won't let you see the chief spider unless you know him already, in which case you should know his name. Of course, you have a pretty good idea already, and whether you were using ''Exile 3''[='=]s type-the-keyword-in interface or ''Avernum 3''[='=]s fixed dialogue options you could immediately guess correctly.

* Gav is a major demographic in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' ever since he [[spoiler: cloned himself several hundred million times just before the original got killed.]]

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'' one of Sabrina's spells backfires and she arrives home to find that the town has been renamed "Sabrinaville" and everyone in the town is called Sabrina - even the boys.

* {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil''--[[MagicalGirl Star]] meets [[MuggleBestFriend Marco Diaz]] at school, and then winds up staying with a family called the Diazes. Apparently she just assumed everyone on Earth had that name until Marco walked into the house.

* This classic ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' gag:
-->'''Bart:''' Look at all this great stuff, Lis! ''[finds a vanity license plate rack]'' Cool... personalized plates! "Barclay"..."Barry"..."Bert"... "Bort"? Aw, come on. "Bort"? \\

* Similarly, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was common for the (mostly black) sleeping car porters on American trains to be called "George", regardless of their actual name, in honor of George Pullman, whose company had manufactured most of said cars. [[SeriousBusiness This eventually led to the formation of an organization]] called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_the_Prevention_of_Calling_Sleeping_Car_Porters_%22George%22 Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George,"]] which at its height counted [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor King George V]] and [[Creator/BabeRuth George Herman "Babe" Ruth]] as members. (The organization was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it did legitimately stand up for the dignity of the porters as real individual people rather than manifestations of the Pullman Company--[[FairForItsDay a big deal in those days]].)

** Scots uses two words with a similar meaning, Hingway and Hingin - Hingway being any noun, proper noun, or verb, and Hingin being any present participle or adjective. (Translation: Hingway and Hingin are [[BuffySpeak Thing-wee and Thing-ing]] respectively.)

* {{Averted}}--UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria apparently wanted her son, christened Albert Edward, to reign under that name, and reportedly had the idea that all future kings would be "Albert [Second Name]" thereafter. (Albert, of course, was the name of her beloved husband.) Prince Bertie (as he was universally known in the family) was rather uncomfortable with this, in large part because despite his disagreements with the man he loved and respected his father greatly. By the time he took the throne, the Prince of Wales was of the opinion that far from honouring his father, his mother's plan would cheapen the name "Albert"--far better, he thought, to reserve the name for the singular Prince Consort. He therefore opted to instead call himself [[TheEdwardianEra Edward VII]], and the idea of interminable British kings named "Albert [Whatever]" quickly died out.

** If they weren't a Louis, they were probably a Charles (they got up to 10 of those, starting with UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}) or a Henry (or ''Henri'' in French--they only ever got to four or five of these depending on how you count, but that's more than the other names). At one point they had a SuccessionCrisis that's actually called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Three_Henrys the War of the Three Henrys]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MiddlemostPost'': The Purpleton region of Mt. Middlemost has weird creatures who are all named Ricky, and creepily SpeakInUnison.

* In Chuck Palahniuk's ''Literature/{{Survivor}}'', all first born males in the Creedish cult/faith are named "Adam." All subsequent males are named "Tender," and every female, including firstborn, are named "Biddy."

** In "Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo", an older Candace travels back in time to bust her brothers and succeeds. When she travels back (forward again), she finds herself in a BadFuture where everyone is named Joe. This is because Dr. Doofenshmirtz, now the EvilOverlord of the world, wants to remember everyone's name for [[VillainWithGoodPublicity public relations reasons]], but doesn't want to put any effort into it.

* DoubleSubversion in ''Lizard Music'' by Creator/DanielPinkwater. A race of giant intelligent lizards greets some visitors to their island with a welcome party consisting of twelve lizards, all named Reynold. When the protagonist asks if all lizards are named Reynold, they say no, of course not--they also have other names, like Raymond and Helena. Sure enough, every lizard in the book has one of those three names.

* Many people who work in a good sized office building can name a pair of coworkers who share a first name. Or a last name. Or sometimes even both.

* Medieval English royals were usually named Edward, Richard, Henry, or sometimes (but almost never for heirs apparent) John. This makes for confusing reading. The adoption of Roman numeral identifiers is a direct consequence of this tendency. At one point during the 1300s, there were five consecutive generations of heirs named Edward (I, II, III, III's son Edward of Woodstock, and grandson Edward of Angouleme). The House of Lancaster featured three monarchs all named Henry, and the three surviving York brothers all had sons named Edward (V, of Warwick, and of Middleham), alive at the same time. Fate seems to have had a hand in this; England very nearly had a King Alphonso, at one point.

* Similarly, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was common for the (mostly black) sleeping car porters on American trains to be called "George", regardless of their actual name, in honor of George Pullman, whose company had manufactured most of said cars. [[SeriousBusiness This eventually led to the formation of an organization]] called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_the_Prevention_of_Calling_Sleeping_Car_Porters_%22George%22 Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George,"]] which at its height counted [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor King George V]] and [[UsefulNotes/BabeRuth George Herman "Babe" Ruth]] as members. (The organization was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it did legitimately stand up for the dignity of the porters as real individual people rather than manifestations of the Pullman Company--[[FairForItsDay a big deal in those days]].)

* Similarly, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was common for the (mostly black) sleeping car porters on American trains to be called "George", regardless of their actual name, in honor of George Pullman, whose company had manufactured most of said cars. [[SeriousBusiness This eventually led to the formation of an organization]] called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_the_Prevention_of_Calling_Sleeping_Car_Porters_%22George%22 Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George,"]] which at its height counted King George V of the [=UK=] as a member. (The organization was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but it did legitimately stand up for the dignity of the porters as real individual people rather than manifestations of the Pullman Company--[[FairForItsDay a big deal in those days]].)

* Similarly, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was common for the (mostly black) sleeping car porters on American trains to be called "George", regardless of their actual name, in honor of George Pullman, whose company had manufactured most of said cars. [[SeriousBusiness This eventually led to the formation of an organization]] called the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_the_Prevention_of_Calling_Sleeping_Car_Porters_%22George%22 Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters "George,"]] which at its height counted King George V of the [=UK=] as a member.

** If they weren't a Louis, they were probably a Charles (they got up to 10 of those) or a Henry (or ''Henri'' in French--they only ever got to four or five of these depending on how you count, but that's more than the other names). At one point they had a SuccessionCrisis that's actually called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Three_Henrys the War of the Three Henrys]].

** If they weren't a Louis, they were probably a Charles (they got up to 10 of those) or a Henry (or ''Henri'' in French). At one point they had a SuccessionCrisis that's actually called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Three_Henrys the War of the Three Henrys]].