History Main / SdrawkcabName

* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'': In "Night of the Living Spud", DW attempts to rid of Posey, the giant vampire potato by shaking Bushroot and shouting "Otatop! Otatop!", when that doesn't work, he explains to Gosalyn that "otatop" is "Potato backwards", which does work. This leads to this hilarious quote: "You don't say ''potato'' backwards, you say ''[[ExactWords potato backwards]]''!"

** In "[[Recap/AmericanDadS8E7SeasonsBeatings Seasons Beatings]]", Jeff and Haley adopt a son, whom Jeff names Nemo; however, when evidence piles up that he's actually the AntiChrist, Jeff suddenly realizes that "Nemo" is "[[Film/TheOmen Omen]]" backwards! Roger {{lampshade|Hanging}}s the fact that this "clue" doesn't really make sense, given that Jeff picked the name himself.

* The sorcerer in the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' is called Yen Sid, which is Disney spelled backwards. He also shows up in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' games, in a major speaking role, no less!
* King Llort from ''WesternAnimation/ATrollInCentralPark''. Not as obvious outside of the context of this page as one might think.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal''. In the segment "Den", the deity that several characters try to make {{Human Sacrifice}}s to is named "Uhluhtc": Cthulhu (from the Franchise/CthulhuMythos) backwards.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** In "The War Games'', The War Chief's space-time-travel machines are called [=SIDRATs=].
** More tenuous - In "The Three Doctors", Omega's name was originally conceived by the production team as an upside-down flip of 'WHO' - 'OHM', which became Omega.

* These work better in real life than one might think. In the reality show ''Series/WhoWantsToBeASuperhero'', each contestant has a CodeName. In the middle of the first episode, it was revealed that one of the contestants was [[TheMole actually a spy]]. The contestant Rotiart stepped forward and proclaimed dramatically, "Rotiart spelled backwards is..." ''(rip off name tag for TheReveal)'' "Traitor!"
* Long-running American soap opera ''Series/DaysOfOurLives'' is well-known for its far-fetched plots, particularly those centered around the arch-villain Stefano [=DiMera=]. One plot had several characters leave the show's usual locale of Salem during the Fall of 1995 to attend a wedding in the town of Aremid. Events conspired to make many of the characters stay in Aremid until the following spring, but in that time nobody seemed to notice that Aremid was actually [=DiMera=] spelled backwards. The show repeated the trope nine years later when several characters found themselves abducted from Salem and kept captive on the island of Melaswen (New Salem), a place filled with recreations of several landmarks from their hometown.
* In ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'', the team meets a mysterious child who calls himself Erutan. ("Nature" spelled backwards; he's actually a powerful forest spirit, maybe even a GeniusLoci.)
* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': In the episode, "My Princess", a FormulaBreakingEpisode in the form of a fairy-tale Dr. Cox is telling his son, Bob Kelso's counterpart is the [[EvilOverlord Dark Lord]] Oslek (which, on a completely unrelated note, is what Ted calls him when he suffers stress-induced dyslexia).
** The episode "My Urologist" has JD finding a "Rotinaj" on the hospital website and thinking it's another trick of the Janitor. It is, but the hospital actually has a Dr. Rotinaj working there. He's presumably Indian.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
** An episode mentioned a toxic substance called Selgninaem. One of the show's writers acknowledged this to be a comment on the meaningless nature of TechnoBabble.
** In the second-season episode "Where Silence Has Lease", the Omnipotent Being of the Week was named "Nagilum", or "Nagillum," depending on what you read. That second name is important when you consider that the producers originally wanted Richard Mulligan for that role....
** In "Gambit: Part I", the crew goes to a sleazy bar to find an informant; the guy they eventually come up with is named Yranac.
** In "Darmok", the eponymous Tamaranian figure's name is "Komrad" (read: "Comrade"), which is entirely fitting given the theme of the episode.
** In "Samaritan Snare," the captain of the Pakled ship is named "Grebnedlog" in the script. It's "Goldenberg" spelled sdrawkcab, but what significance this has, no one knows.
* The Creator/{{CBBC}} Fantasy-based kids game show ''Series/{{Raven}}'' has a villain known as Nevar and a general anagram in another character, Ervan.
* Creator/DaveBarry also writes about a kids TV show he used to watch in the 1950s called ''Captain Video and the Video Rangers'' and mentions a robot named '''I TOBOR'''.
** Originally, the robot was originally named "ROBOT 1", but the stencil man messed up and painted the letters backwards.
* In the ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' episode "The Show Must Go Off", Jackson Hedley is mentioned as playing an android named TOBOR on TV.
* In an episode of ''Series/RoundTheTwist'', the kids discover a machine in the top room of the lighthouse that makes mirror-image copies of whatever you put into it. When Linda clones herself, the mirror-image copy is dubbed "Adnil".
* One episode of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' features a villainous alien geneticist named Namtar -- [[spoiler:he's a genetically-altered lab-rodent.]]
* On ''Series/ParkerLewisCantLose'' principal Grace Musso had a devoted flunky called Lemmer; in a few episodes, her rival Norman Pankow had a flunky called Remmel. Remmel was visually an anti-Lemmer: while Frank Lemmer was a pale-skinned, dark-haired guy dressed all in black, Remmel was a black guy with blond hair who dressed all in white.
* Archie Campbell's retelling of Cinderella ("Rindercella") on ''Series/HeeHaw''. (Actually more like anagrams and {{spoonerism}}s, but the joke was that he was telling the story backwards.)
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': This exchange from the Parrot Sketch, after the customer is sent to Bolton, is told by that pet shop clerk he's in Ipswich, and finds he actually ''is'' in Bolton:
-->'''Clerk:''' It was a pun.\\
'''Customer:''' A pun??\\
'''Clerk:''' No, not a pun. What's that word that spells the same backwards as forwards?\\
'''Customer:''' A palindrome?\\
'''Clerk:''' Yeah!\\
'''Customer:''' It's not a palindrome. The palindrome for "Bolton" would be "Notlob"![[note]] Which is still incorrect, technically speaking. [[/note]]

* Music/RingoStarr was featured in an NBC special in the late '70s in a variation of ''The Prince and the Pauper'', with him as himself and a poor Hollywood maps peddler named Ognir Rrats.
* The first episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'''s third series, entitled "Backwards". The main characters land on an Earth where everything is backwards, and Lister & Cat read a sign to London as "Nodnol". [[TooDumbToLive They just assume they're in Bulgaria]]. Also in the corresponding book, "Retsil Evad" is mentioned.
* ''Series/TheLWord'' uses an {{Alucard}} variant of when one of the main cast ends up dating an expert in vampiric folklore with slightly vampiric tendencies (stronger than usual, preference for night, pale complexion, etc.). Her name is Uta Refson.

* In an episode of ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit L&O SVU]]'', an innocent man who Olivia had helped to convict had been released from prison and was out to get revenge on her. As part of his plan, he set up a phony company named "Aivilo" or "Olivia" backwards.
* During the All-Star season of ''Series/AmericasNextTopModel'', each of the girls had to write lyrics for, record and make a video for a song, and they were required to use the phrase "Pot Ledom is Top Model Backwards" someplace in the song. The "Pot Ledom" thing was reinforced in the videos when they would cut away from the model to show Tyra in a "Pot Ledom" shirt and repeating the full line.
* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' features a sketch in which Lew Zealand and Rowlf sing "Owt Rof Aet" ("Tea for Two" backwards).
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
** The ShoutOutThemeNaming of the main characters in ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'', has Tomoko Nozama, who was named after ''Series/KamenRiderAmazon''.
*** The Virgo Zodiarts real name. [[spoiler:Kuniteru Emoto. Emoto = Otome, which is "virgin" in English.]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'':[[spoiler:The series' BigBad, Evolto, takes a Rider form named Kamen Rider Evol, which is the letters of "love" reversed. This fits his status as an antithesis to the heroic Riders' dream of fighting for love and peace, as Evolto fights for selfishness and sadism by causing conflict.]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderRevice'': When possessed by Kagero, Daiji Igarashi becomes Kamen Rider Evil. [[spoiler:After regaining control of his own body, he becomes Kamen Rider Live.]]

* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', while the guys are trying to program an app to solve equations, Sheldon tried to keep control entirely and suggests that they refer to the idea as 'Project Nodlehs'. Leonard then calls him out on it.
* Rare upside-down name variant in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Tabula Rasa" - when the gang is hit with a memory-loss spell they try to figure out who they are. Buffy (who decided she was named Joan) sees Dawn's name in script on a pendant. Dawn looks down at it and suggests her name may be 'Umad'.
* ''Series/{{Homeland}}'' season four features a Turkish/German hacker who goes by the handle "Gabehcuod," which is "douchebag" backwards.
* A musical example in ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', which utilizes a Sdrawckab {{Leitmotif}}; specifically, taking [[BenevolentAI The Machine's]] main motif and playing it in reverse to serve as the main motif for [[AIIsACrapshoot Samaritan]].
* Series 3 and 4 of ''Series/TheAdventureGame'' featured appearances by a character called Ron Gad (played by Bill Homewood), who would give clues to the contestants each week... provided they realised he was speaking backwards (implying that his name might actually be Dagnor), most often by offering an encouraging "Doogy rev!" ("Very good!"). He generally entered the set by singing a backwards version of "Waltzing Matilda" with a fake Australian accent to match. Some teams caught on more or less immediately and were able to obtain and decipher many clues from him, while other teams never quite solved the puzzle of his speech and got hopelessly stuck on the tasks with which he was trying to assist them.[[note]] ''Adventure Game'' producer Patrick Dowling was inspired to cast Homewood in the series after seeing him give a backwards performance of "Puff the Magic Dragon"... fitting, since his character's name, like those of the other Argonds in ''The Adventure Game'', is an anagram of "dragon".[[/note]]
* ''Series/CasteloRaTimBum'' features a blue girl character named Zula. That's backwards for "azul," the Portuguese word for blue.
* ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'': The PhonyPsychic Madame Yram chose her name because she doesn't think anyone would take a psychic named Mary Polanski seriously.
* Some Power of Veto competitions in the US version of ''Series/BigBrother'' are hosted by an animatronic mascot named Otev.

* Used as an inside joke in ''Series/{{CSINY}}'''s "The Triangle." A minor character-of-the-week who provides a clue is named Yert Yawallac. Creator/TreyCallaway wrote the episode and was one of the series' Supervising Producers.

[[folder:Teppup Swohs (Puppet Shows)]]
* One episode of ''Series/TheJimHensonHour'' features the Muppets receiving a TV broadcast from space, which features a SimilarSquad called the Teppums, including Timrek the Gorf and Oznog.
* Two episodes of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' mentioned a supernatural being known only by the name "Rezal-Evad-Gib", which is backwards for "Big Dave Lazer", the executive producer of the series.
[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
** The episode "Dungeons and Wagons", Hayley breaks up with Jeff, but when she tries to get back with him he's too busy playing an {{M|assivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame}}MORPG with Steve. In order to get Jeff away from the game, Hayley kills Steve's character with a special command: his character's name backwards. Later on in the same episode they attempt to revive Steve by taking him to the Castle Roodpart. Hayley comments on the name, and when Jeff starts talking about how it probably has some deep significance in the game's backstory, Hayley interrupts with "[[OhCrap Crap, it's 'trapdoor' spelled backwards]]." Of course, they instantly fall into a monster's lair.
** A ChristmasEpisode has Jeff and Haley adopt a son, whom Jeff names Nemo; however, when evidence piles up that he's actually the AntiChrist, Jeff suddenly realizes that "Nemo" is "[[Film/TheOmen Omen]]" backwards! Roger {{lampshade|Hanging}}s the fact that this "clue" doesn't really make sense, given that Jeff picked the name himself.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'': In one episode, Batman landed on a planet with counterparts of Batman and Superman characters, and he himself gained Superman-like abilities. The Lex Luthor counterpart was named Rothul.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' had Sector V visiting a MirrorUniverse. The KND counterpart was the Destructively Nefarious Kids (DNK), the Delightful Children From Down The Lane (DCFDTL) were now the Little Traitor Dudes From Children's Defense (LTDFCD), and the alternate Lizzie was named Eizzil, leading some fans to believe this applies to all names (the DNK operatives are only referred to as Negative Numbuh X).
* The most major recurring villain of the ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'' franchise is Vilgax, so naturally, the thoroughly creepy Professor Xagliv who is voiced by Vilgax's voice actor and who appears in an episode that is supposed to bring back a past recurring villain is a [[RedHerring totally normal professor]] whom the team ''mightily'' pissed off by accusing of being an evil warlord and then snatching off her(!) wig. [[StevenUlyssesPerhero Bill Gacks]], who looks very much like a humanized Vilgax, is also [[spoiler: a perfectly normal human. Unlike Xagliv, he takes having people run from him or point weapons at him in stride, saying "yeah, I get that a lot."]]
* Disney's WartimeCartoon "Chicken Little" was originally planned to have the villainous Foxy Loxy getting his inspiration from "Mein Kampf". The studio vetoed out any over reference to the Nazis, but one subtle reference remained. The "piece of the sky" that hit Chicken Little was from a sign for "Madame Izan."
* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' episode "The Hickory Dickory Dock Dilemma": DM sends himself and Penfold into the future in the time-traveling grandfather clock where DM sees London is ruled by Dlofnep the Magnificent, a spitting image of and whose name is backwards for Penfold.

* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': In "Lights, Camera, Patak," on the first cut of the video, Mr. Patak accidentally calls himself "Mr. Katap."
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': "Sounds of Silence" introduces the Kirin, who when they get too angry turn into ferocious fiery monsters called Nirik.
* Creator/{{Filmation}} ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'' episode "Luthor Strikes Again". Lex Luthor's lair is a paint factory owned by the "Rohtul Paint Co."
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', Dr. Doofenshmirtz invented a substance he named "Eulg" that works opposite to glue. In another episode, he had a diner, and he said in the commercial that Doof spelled backwards is Food.
* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' had one episode where Pinky started saying "Troz", which, as Pinky explained, is "Zort" backwards. A ContinuityNod to some extent, as Pinky also said "Troz" in later episodes.
* ''Toys/PollyPocket'' story "Pollyworld" featured two exchange students named Karl and Lark.
* ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}:

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', the "Pale Kids" (the nerdy kids who prefer to stay inside playing tabletop games during recess instead of running around outside like the "normal" kids) all refer to themselves and visitors by their first name backwards (such as "Knarf" or "Yendor") as a nerdy in-joke. When TJ briefly joins them, they give him the [[SarcasmMode truly inspired]] name of "JT" (as opposed to "Erodoeht").
* The ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' episode "Dizzy" had Pops entering an alternate dimension with [[NonStandardCharacterDesign non-humanoid versions]] of Mordecai and Rigby named Iacedrom and Ybgir.

** In the "New Kids on the Blecch" episode Bart, Milhouse, Ralph Wiggum, and Nelson are in a boy band that is secretly sponsored by a military force. The main song's hook had the lyrics "yvan eht nioj." Strangely enough, the backwards lyrics are pronounced phonetically as they're written ("Ee-van et nee-oj"), yet when Lisa plays the video backwards they still come out clearly as "Join the navy", even though actually playing what the kids were singing backwards wouldn't sound anything like that.
** “Brother From The Same Planet” has a sequence where Homer forgets to pick up Bart after soccer practice and leaves him there all night. At one point, Bart tries to psychically send him the message "Pick up Bart! Pick up Bart!" - cut to a brief ''Film/TheShining'' parody with Milhouse writing "PICK UP BART" on the wall in mirrored writing and chanting "Trab pu kicp! Trab pu kcip!".
** In "Marge vs. the Monorail," Mr. Burns introduces himself at a town hall meeting in a PaperThinDisguise as "Mr. Snrub".
** In the [[Franchise/JamesBond Moefinger]] segment of "Treehouse of Horror XXVII", Moe's Tavern and its regulars are a cover for an [=MI6=] like organization. They're pitted against Remoh Industries, an unknown organization that has been buying up the entire world's beer supply. Need any hints who is the head of Remoh? Lampshaded and played for laughs when it's pointed out and even Supervillain!Homer is surprised.

** Creator/WalterKoenig ("Pavel Chekov") wrote a episode featuring a poisonous plant called a retlaw.
** The episode "The Counter-Clock Incident" has a planet named Arret in a universe where time runs backwards. Arret is Terra backwards, and Terra is often used as an alternate name for Earth.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' episode "Out Of Business", Janna creates hundreds of evil Marcos named Ocram.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' series uses several of these in a non-alias context, the most notable being Mortu the Utrom. There is also a running gag involving recurring character Kluh ([[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk "Hulk"]]), where concepts related to him are also backwards names for things related to the Marvel character--his father is called Ammag ("gamma"), and his home planet is named Levram ("Marvel").

* The Zelda CD-i game ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDiGames Zelda's Adventure]]'' takes place in Tolemac, which is Camelot spelled backwards.

* Creator/BruceCoville's goblins correct humans who mistakenly call their kingdom Goblin-land, saying it's rude (they have a point, since human kingdoms aren't called "People-land"). The correct name is, of course, "Nilbog". Muuuuch better.
* ''Midnight's Sun - A Story of Wolves'' by Garry Kilworth uses Sdrawkcab names for some of his characters. Athaba's mother and father are Meshiska and Aksishem, respectively. Although this is totally ignored in Athaba's case when he becomes [[spoiler: Ulaala's mate.]]

** Dragon magazine #96 had an April Fools section which included the joke module ''Nogard'' ("Dragon" backwards).

** Dragon magazine #55, adventure "The Creature of Rhyl". Several names were backwards versions of RealLife names: Asereht (Theresa), Namreh (Herman) and Laechim (Michael).

* In an episode of ''Series/RoundTheTwist'', the kids discover a machine in the top room of the lighthouse that makes mirror-image copies of whatever you put into it. When Linda [[CloningBlues clones]] herself, the mirror-image copy is dubbed "Adnil".

* The CBBC Fantasy-based kids game show ''Series/{{Raven}}'' has a villain known as Nevar and a general anagram in another character, Ervan.

* ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'' had Blythe Baxter finding a lost friend who is really hidden beyond the tides of time in an AlternateUniverse rather than her own. Her lost friend's name is Retxab Ehtylb ("Blythe Baxter" spelled backwards).

* "Ecnalumba" by Music/TheyMightBeGiants is somewhat of a JustifiedTrope, see below under RealLife. (Although, technically, those sign are mirrored, not reversed.)

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' sees Danny and his mom attending a mother/son science symposium in Florida being run by the "Dalv" company. Unsurprisingly, it turns out to be a front for Vlad Masters.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' features Danny and his mom taking a "free" (i.e.: it's an evil plot) vacation thanks to the "Dalv" Cooperation. Gee, I wonder who could be behind this (The show’s BigBad is named Vlad)....

* In ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2'', Milla Basset decides to enter the Battlesphere tournament under the alter-ego of "Allim", which is her own first name backwards.

** The Sadida ("Adidas") after the shoe brand which explains why their class has the word "Shoe" in its name. Ironically, most Sadida DoesNotLikeShoes.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'', Yzma [[ClarkKenting mascerades]] as "Principal Amzy".

* Creator/MarvelComics features two characters called Kluh, both variations on the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]]. The firstvfeatures in ''ComicBook/{{Axis}}'' and is an inversion of the Hulk, who instead of HulkingOut because of anger becomes what it is by sadness and depression. The second is an intelligent incarnation of the Gray Hulk, a "superior" clone created by Xemnu in a failed attempt to destroy the Hulk and replace him with Kluh.

* The Labinnac of ''[[WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011 ThunderCats]]'' (2011) fan fic series FanFic/TheEvabonSaga appropriately have the name of their race be "Cannibal" spelled backwards.

* The ''Literature/MythAdventures'' novel ''Myth-ing Persons'' features a married couple of werewolf writers called Idnew and Drahcir, who are a ShoutOut to [[Comicbook/ElfQuest Wendy and Richard Pini]]. A later book has a [[Literature/HonorHarrington Manticore]] called [[Creator/DavidWeber Evad]].

* Archie Campbell's retelling of Cinderella ("Rindercella") on ''Series/HeeHaw''. (Actually more like anagrams and [[{{Spoonerism}} spoonerisms]], but the joke was that he was telling the story backwards.)

* In the radio version of ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', the Lintilla clones are approached by Allitnil clones with offers of marriage [[spoiler:which are actually agreements to cease existence]]. The name "Allitnil" was pronounced as if "Lintilla" were played backwards on tape.

** Also, Heroes of Might and Magic IV, of the strategy spinoff of the series, one of the campaign heroes for Winds of War is named 'Erutan Revol,' or 'Nature Lover.'

* WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers has a recurring series consisting of segments of pure randomness, appropriately named "ssenmodnaR".

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' has an episode involving the Titans' Bizarro World counterparts, who oddly have most of their names simply being the names of their standard names spelled backwards rather than the standard names with "Bizarro" in front of it (such as Starfire's counterpart being named Erifrats rather than Bizarro Starfire).

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Rehtaeh_Parsons Rehtaeh Parsons]], sexual assault victim who later committed suicide.

* Standard German computer programmer joke: To see what comes out of "Scrum"[[note]]a conceptual framework for Agile Programming[[/note]], just read it backwards! [[note]]Murcs, duh. Murks - OK, with k, but same pronounciation, let's not ruin a good TakeThat by details - is colloquial for bad work.[[/note]]

'''Customer:''' It's not a palindrome. The palindrome for "Bolton" would be "Notlob"! [[note]] Which is still incorrect, technically speaking. [[/note]]

* "Assiac" is the pseudonym of Heinrich Fraenkel. (He's a chess book author - Caissa is the muse of chess.) [[note]]Invented as late as 1763, so don't expect to find her in Greek mythology.[[/note]]

* Standard German computer programmer joke: To see what comes out of "Scrum" [[note]]a conceptual framework for Agile Programming[[/note]], just read it backwards! [[note]]Murcs, duh. Murks - OK, with k, but same pronounciation, let's not ruin a good TakeThat by details - is colloquial for bad work.[[/note]]