History Main / TakeAwayTheirName

* ''WebOriginal/JennyEverywhere'': [[https://jennyeverywhere.fandom.com/wiki/Jenny_Nowhere "Jenny Nowhere"]] "lost" her name ages ago in mysterious circumstances, and it remains a sore subject with her. The title of "Jenny Nowhere" simply emphasises her EvilCounterpart nature to Jenny Everywhere, but it's not actually her name.

* ''ComicBook/MightyAvengers'': It's revealed there was a previously unmentioned king of Comicbook/TheInhumans between Agon and Black Bolt, whose EvilChancellor convinced him Black Bolt and Maximus were plotting against him. When Black Bolt took the throne, he decreed that this king's deeds would be entirely forgotten. Even when he returns, he's only referred to as "the Unspoken".

** Over the course of the standard story, it's revealed that most of London has had their names stolen and replaced with their strange fancy titles, using reality-warping research called the Red Science. Part of this is for the purposes of natural segregation -- when the names of London's streets were stolen with Red Science, it also hid the metaphysical identities of those streets; unless the player does metaphysical research to unlock the street (using a combination of physical tributes and metaphysical favors), no amount of regular walking is going to lead them to that street. To put it simply, the ability to judge the nature a person at a glance has been stolen along with their names, and you can't understand more about them than what their titles imply unless you dig deeper with riskier stalking and stranger science.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'': Junko's special ability is the ability to purify beings to a primordial state by removing their TrueName. She used this power on herself, too, in order to turn herself into an AnthropomorphicPersonification of pure resentment, which is why she's the only character with no BossSubtitles.

* ''VisualNovel/DiviDead'': Divi Dead: The true identity of the person you know as Nishizaki through most of the game may have been magically erased.

* Seen in [[https://www.tiktok.com/@ourlastbraincell/video/6762313212227587334?language=en&preview_pb=0&share_app_name=musically×tamp=1577903001&u_code=d3b058jallkcg1&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=android&utm_source=copy&source=h5_m&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6810631617753826821&is_from_webapp=1 this]] Website/TikTok video.

* ''Fanfic/NotAsSimpleAsAHappyEnding'': This is a side effect of capturing someone's soul. It happens to the six fallen humans, and with Integrity and Perseverance, it deeply affects [[Characters/UndertaleSans Sans]] and [[spoiler:Gaster]], respectively.

* ''Literature/CastlePerilous'': This was part of the spell which transformed the demon Ramthonodox into the eponymous castle. Remembering his name is the key to him transforming back.

* ''Literature/AnEncounterAndAnOffer'': The fae boy had his name stripped from him.
* ''Literature/TheHandsOfTheEmperor'': After getting declared the Marwn, one of the [[CosmicKeystone cosmic keystones]] of the empire, everyone forgot Artorin's name, even his own parents. This was part of the magical rituals binding the Marwn, which included sacrificing their name (and entire life) to the empire. It is only after his unexpected succession to the throne that he gets told his own name at his coronation as the new emperor.

* ''Literature/IsekaiNiOtosaretaJoukaWaKihon'': This is one of the functions of the hero's gifts, which erases the names and alters the memories of the summoned heroes, so that they are able to act more effectively as heroes in the world that they are summoned to, rather than having lingering attachments to their old world/lives.
* ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'': This happens to humans who come to Fantasia and overuse their inherent RealityWarper abilities, which are powered by their own memories. When this occurs, the last memory that is consumed is that of their own name, after which they usually end up in the City of Old Emperors, left to wander it for all eternity with no way to return home. [[spoiler:This happens to Bastian in the final chapters, but fortunately for him, Atreyu is able to find him there to at least give him his name back.]]

* ''Literature/{{Tigana}}'': This is done to a whole region rather than a person. During his conquest of the eastern Peninsula of the Palm, Brandin's son was slayed in a battle in the province of Tigana. Brandin is a sorcerer, and a father who ''dearly'' loved his son. In retaliation, he razed the province flat, and put a curse on it that no one who wasn't born in Tigana could remember its name.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' gets into this with its supplement for Truename magic. The ''unname'' spell requires that the caster have researched and identified the target's truename, but if the spell is cast and the target fails their saving throw, their truename is erased and they're DeaderThanDead - their body is obliterated, their soul is expunged, and reality itself is rewritten so that the victim cannot exist. Bringing them back ''is'' possible, but requires a two-hour ceremony in which a spellcaster has to undertake the ''ritual of renaming'' to create a new personal truename for the unnamed victim, followed by a ''true resurrection'' spell to revive them.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': This happens to [[spoiler:Nicol Bolas after his defeat in ''War of the Spark]]''. This was done [[spoiler:by Nicol Bolas' brother Ugin]] to ensure that the now nameless being cannot be summoned away from their eternal prison (summoning magics require one to know the names of the ones that caster wants to summon). It is somewhat poignant [[spoiler:since Ugin was the one who first named Nicol (and vice versa) when they were born]].

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'': The Chapter 4 boss robs Mario of both his name and identity, leaving him as nothing more than a shadow. It's implied that Mario is also unable to speak his own name while it's "stolen." The only way to break the curse is to guess the boss's name, [[spoiler: Doopliss. Though it [[YouShouldntKnowThisAlready won't work]] if you already know his name beforehand, because [[ImpossibleTheft he also stole the letter "p" from the game's keyboard.]]]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Whither}}'': The town's guardian witch needed TheNameless child for the fabrication of MagicMirror. So she had someone steal a baby's name. [[spoiler: But Frost also replaced that baby with a changeling, for his own reasons, and the changeling grew up to be our protagonist, Emelind]].

* ''WebOriginal/JennyEverywhere'': One of the attributes of [[https://jennyeverywhere.fandom.com/wiki/Jenny_Nowhere "Jenny Nowhere"]] -- she "lost" her name ages ago in mysterious circumstances, and it remains a sore subject with her. The title of "Jenny Nowhere" simply emphasises her EvilCounterpart nature to Jenny Everywhere, but it's not actually her name.
* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/taboo "Taboo"]] revolves around an '''extradimensional space resembling an endless forest''' filled with '''curious anomalous beings''' that can't be referred to by any consistent name or else [[BodyHorror horrible things will happen to the namer]]. The entity in the interviews with the Foundation scientist reveals that [[spoiler: all the entities of the '''nameless grove''' were the faeries referred to in [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-001-o5 Bright's SCP-001 proposal]] who had their names stolen when they were driven from Earth by the Foundation. The '''rabbitlike historian''' then steals Dr. Japers' name and identity by giving him the new name of "fellow scholar"]].
* Seen in [[https://www.tiktok.com/@ourlastbraincell/video/6762313212227587334?language=en&preview_pb=0&share_app_name=musically&timestamp=1577903001&u_code=d3b058jallkcg1&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=android&utm_source=copy&source=h5_m&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6810631617753826821&is_from_webapp=1 this]] Website/TikTok video.

* Twitter: "[[https://twitter.com/dandybeyond/status/1198735745181241344 Brave adventurers! Welcome to Fae! May I have your names, please?]]"

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': PlayedForLaughs in "[[Recap/AmericanDadS1E2ThreatLevels Threat Levels]]", where Stan is organised into a bum fight with an enormous brutish bum. Apparently he is so savage that they can't even direct a name for him:

* ''WesternAnimation/FrankeldasBookOfSpooks'': This is how Gnomes operate. The offer a service in exchange for the victims names, unawares that this is how they trade places with them. The gnome steals that persons life, and the victim becomes a gnome themselves.

* ''Literature/DungeonsAndDragons'': In ''Literature/PoolOfRadiance'', the Nameless Bard is introduced. Formerly an arrogant and reckless bard named Finder Wyvernspur, he had been condemned to exile and had his name and music wiped from the memory of nearly everyone who'd known them after he'd caused the death of two of his apprentices in an ill-judged attempt to preserve his music magically in a clone of himself.

* ''Website/QuestDen'': In the adventure ''Tobak Quest'', we're introduced to protagonist Dowser and his roommate Lyvy. Then it's revealed 'Lyvy' used to be Dowser's name, until he lost it to his current holder in a bet (in fairness to Lyvy, he didn't ''have'' a name before challenging Dowser for his, having [[RogueDrone suddenly found himself in need of one]]).