History Main / TheNamesake

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

A namesake is the thing within a story after which the story itself is named. It could be [[TheEponymousShow a character]], [[ThePlace a place]], an object, or indeed a metaphor. Often, the namesake is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rather obvious]] (''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' is obviously named that way because there's a character called "Romeo" and another called "Juliet"; ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'' obviously includes a machine to [[TimeTravel travel through time]]), but sometimes, authors (or film studios) want to use titles that draw attention, and that's when the namesake may not appear until the end of the story, or might indeed only be a metaphor for a certain situation in the story which doesn't become clear until the end. In short, this becomes a trope when the reason why the book/movie/chapter/episode/etc. is called the way it is, isn't revealed to the audience until [[NowYouTellMe near the end]]; regardless of whether the characters [[EverybodyKnewAlready knew about it all along]] or not. If book/movie/chapter/episode is named after a pivotal plot point rather than an actual person/place/thing, then it's a SpoilerTitle.

Compare JustifiedTitle, when an apparently thematic title is revealed to really be a reference to some concrete element within the story, and EpunymousTitle when's it's a {{pun}} on the main character's name.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' is a doozy one. At first, it doesn't seem to refer to ''anything'' in particular and is probably thanks to [[Creator/TiteKubo the author]]'s fondness for GratuitousEnglish. Kubo eventually admitted that the title is a substitute; he originally wanted to title it "White", but thought that "Bleach" (which means the same thing) is [[RuleOfCool more awesome]] and decided to use it instead, which begs the question: what does "White" mean? [[spoiler: It refers to an artificial Hollow created by Aizen for use to attack the Human World. The Hollow was repelled by Masaki, Ichigo's Quincy mother, but it managed to bite her during the battle, causing her to develop a Hollow mutation that was passed down to her son. In fact, White looks exactly like how Ichigo looks like when he sports his Hollow form, except more feral.]] This information is only revealed in the final arc, more than a decade after the manga was first published.
* ''Anime/{{Charlotte}}'' is never mentioned by any of the characters until episode 11, when it becomes the title of the episode. [[spoiler:It's revealed in the episode that "Charlotte" is the name of a long-orbit comet which approaches Earth in 75-year cycles. When it does, it showers the planet in [[AppliedPhlebotinum strange particles]], and these particles are the source of the mysterious abilities prevalent throughout the series.]]

* The subtitle for ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/85294/id---that-indestructible-something I.D. - That Indestructible Something]]'' (visible on the cover image and shown in the individual chapters) is ''Injector Doe''. This looks like a pair of random words, until it's revealed that it refers to [[spoiler:a random person (a "John Doe") accidentally modifying the virtual simulation that is our reality (i.e. "injecting code") with sheer force of will]].

Suppose you go see a film called ''The Boat''. Movie starts and it takes place as far away from a body of water as is possible. No boats. An hour can pass and you won't see a single boat. But just when you were thinking "maybe it's a NonIndicativeName", it [[TheReveal is revealed]] that the characters suffered such a horrific shipwreck that they are now afraid to even [[ChangeTheUncomfortableSubject speak of anything]] related to boats and the ocean. Expect to [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F8mYLi3PGOc hear someone in the theater go]], "[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Oh, that's why they call it that.]]" This trope is similar to a TitleDrop except that a character need not say it aloud.

Suppose you go see a film called ''The Boat''. Movie starts and it takes place as far away from a body of water as is possible. No boats. An hour can pass and you won't see a single boat. But just when you were thinking "maybe it's a NonIndicativeName", it [[TheReveal is revealed]] that the characters suffered a horrific shipwreck that they are now afraid to even [[ChangeTheUncomfortableSubject speak of anything]] related to boats and the ocean. Expect to [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F8mYLi3PGOc hear someone in the theater go]], "[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Oh, that's why they call it that.]]" This trope is similar to a TitleDrop except that a character need not say it aloud.

Sometimes, this is turned on its head when titles that the audience expects to refer to a metaphorical namesake [[JustifiedTitle become literal]]. As an example, if you haven't read Asimov's short story "Nightfall", you'll probably think the title is a metaphor for the situation the characters find themselves in, similar to Stephenie Meyer's use of the title ''Twilight''. Asimov's story, in fact, revolves literally around an imminent sunset, which is an event the characters have never experienced.

* ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' repeatedly counts the dalmatian puppies in the film, reinforcing throughout it that there ''aren't'' 101 of them. There are 15 puppies, with their parents bringing the number to 17. It isn't until the end that their family adopts the 84 other dalmatian puppies that Cruella acquired, and Roger proclaims, "That's 84, and 15 plus two is a hundred and one!"

* The book of ''Literature/TheHundredAndOneDalmatians'' has this even more than the movie, because there ''aren't'' 101 dalmatians for most of the book: there are Pongo and Missus, the original 15 puppies, the puppies' foster-mother Perdita, plus the additional 82 puppies Cruella had, giving a total of 100 dalmatians. The narrator actually [[BreakingTheFourthWall mentions this problem in the second to last chapter]], promising that the 101st dalmatian will be along soon.

** "{{Literature/Risk}}": This story revolves around risks, the risk of [[FateWorseThanDeath losing all higher cognitive abilities]], the risk of losing [[NewTechIsNotCheap an expensive experimental spaceship]], and the risk of danger to robots. Dr Calvin, [[IronLady coldly analytical robopsychologist of US Robotics]], has determined that the risk of losing another robot is too high, and tells Black that he must take the risk instead.

* ''Literature/TheEmpiriumTrilogy'': The series is named after the empirium, the SentientCosmicForce that the world of Avitas is made out of.

** "Literature/HellFire": The title refers to [[MadeOfEvil flames from the bowels of hell]], powered by {{Satan}} himself; atomic bombs.

A namesake is the thing within a story after which the story itself is named. It could be [[TheEponymousShow a character]], [[ThePlace a place]], an object, or indeed a metaphor. Often, the namesake is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rather obvious]] (''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' is obviously named that way because there's a character called "Romeo" and another called "Juliet"; ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'' obviously includes a machine to [[TimeTravel travel through time]]) but sometimes, authors (or film studios) want to use titles that draw attention, and that's when the namesake may not appear until the end of the story, or might indeed only be a metaphor for a certain situation in the story which doesn't become clear until the end. In short, this becomes a trope when the reason why the book/movie/chapter/episode/etc. is called the way it is, isn't revealed to the audience until [[NowYouTellMe near the end]]; regardless of whether the characters [[EverybodyKnewAlready knew about it all along]] or not. If book/movie/chapter/episode is named after a pivotal plot point rather than an actual person/place/thing, then it's a SpoilerTitle.

* ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', unlike its predecessor ''Spirit Hunter: VisualNovel/DeathMark'', doesn't immediately make it clear what the subtitle refers to. Officially, it stands for No Good, which seems like a WordSaladTitle with no relation to the actual story. Then references to NG start popping up from the end of Chapter 2 onward, and it is gradually revealed to actually be [[spoiler:the Nagoshi no Gi, the ritual performed to seal away the BigBad Kakuya that Miroku failed to perform and that Akira must do in his place to defeat Kakuya]].

* The English title for the ''{{Tintin}}'' adventure ''Recap/TintinTheRedSeaSharks'' references an element which only shows up at the end of the story. In most other languages, this album is known as "Coke on Board", with "coke" or some variant being a code word for [[spoiler: human cargo being shipped to slavery]].

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* ''FanFic/StarsAbove'': The title initially refers to TheProphecy given before the events of the story, relating to TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: "All will come to ruin, and the stars above will fall." [[spoiler:By the final chapter, the five main characters know of the prophecy, and [[Manga/LuckyStar Kagami]] decides to ScrewDestiny and uses Stars Above as the name of their MagicalGirl team. Her rewording of the latter half kicks off the final battle: "The Stars Above will ''rise!''"]]

* The original ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' duology for the Game Boy Advance at first appears to have little to do with the actual title. That is, until the ''very'' end of ''[[Videogame/GoldenSunTheLostAge The Lost Age]]'', where it's revealed that the Golden Sun is [[spoiler: a mass of energy that rises above Mount Aleph when the four elemental lighthouses are lit and can bestow godlike power on anyone who bathes in its light.]]