History OnlyKnownByTheirNickname / VideoGames

** Tail's real name, Miles Prower, usually [[AllThereInTheScript isn't mentioned in the games at all]]. ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' did, and was the only game to call him "Tails", the quotes representing the fact that it's not his real name.

* ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'': All over the place: You have Sun On Yee leaders "Big Smile" Lee, "Two Chin" Tsao, "Broken Nose" Jiang, "Pockmark" Cheuk and "Uncle" Po, the exceptions being Winston Chu and "Dogeyes" Lin, who is occasionally referred to by his birth name (Samuel). Outside the Sun On Yee, there's the Big Bad of the ''Nightmare At North Point'' DLC, known as "Smiley Cat" (much to his chagrin, as he'd much rather be known as "Big Scar" Wu), the aging freelance hitman "Old Salty Crab", the two drugs wholesalers "Four Finger" Wu and "Popstar", street racers Ace and Hotshot, the 18K snitch "Naz" Singh and the all-round slimeballs "Ponytail" and "Johnny Ratface".

* The street fighter (no, not that ''Franchise/StreetFighter'') Shen Woo from ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters The King of Fighters 2003]]'' has an unknown real name; "Shen Woo" (roughly translated, it means God of Fighting) is a nickname he picked up while growing up in Shanghai.
** Likewise, if K' (pronounced K-dash) ever had a name other than that before the experiments, it's never come up.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' has a few

* Four of the seven playable characters in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''-- Marle, Frog, Robo, and [[spoiler: Magus]]-- go by pseudonyms (unless the player [[HelloInsertNameHere gives them their real names instead]]. [[spoiler: They are, respectively, Princess Nadia Guardia, Sir Glenn, R-66Y a.k.a. Prometheus, and Prince Janus Zeal.]]

* For the longest time, we thought that ''Franchise/CrashBandicoot'' was his real name, but near the end of his flashback tapes in ''It's About Time'', we learn that it was just a nickname. [[spoiler:His real name is Crashworth Cortex the First, which he earned after surviving several hellish platforming challenges.]]

* All ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' protagonists are known by a specific nickname given to them, since the player picks their actual name. ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}'' had the Vault Dweller, ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' had The Chosen One, ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' had the Lone Wanderer and ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' had the Courier.

** The series' backstory has the Snow Prince, a [[OurElvesAreBetter Falmer (Snow Elf)]] warrior who nearly [[OneManArmy single-handedly)]] turned the [[LastStand Battle of the Moesring]] in Solstheim against the invading [[BarbarianTribe Atmorans]] ({{Precursors}} of the modern [[HornyVikings Nords]]), who were attempting to [[FinalSolution exterminate the Falmer]]. Whatever the Snow Prince's true name may have been is lost to history, but the Atmorans considered him such a WorthyOpponent that he was buried in his own barrow with full honors befitting any great warrior and guards even stationed at his tomb, rather than simply burning him in a pile like his Falmer kin.

* In ''Franchise/DragonAge'', neither Isabela nor Anders are known by their real name. WordOfGod states that Anders is apparently called that because he is [[http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/304/index/6511895/3 from the Anderfels]], while Isabela's real name, and the reason she goes by "Isabela", is simply [[http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/141/index/5118004%26lf%3D8/1#5120696 unknown]]. Fenris from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' is only known by a nickname for the bulk of the game; his real name ([[spoiler:Leto]]) is revealed in his personal quest in Act 3, and he subsequently orders everyone not to call him that, because "Fenris" is the only life he can remember.
** [[spoiler: "''Those Who Speak''" recently revealed Isabela's birth-name to have been "Naishe", but she stopped going by it after her mother sold her into slavery when she refused to join her in converting to the Qun. As such, Isabela considers "Naishe" to have [[ThatManIsDead died a long time ago]].]]

** Averted for the player characters in the series' spin-off games, however. The player character in the DungeonCrawl game ''[[VideoGame/AnElderScrollsLegendBattlespire Battlespire]]'' is known as "The Apprentice", but is given the canon names Josian Kaid (if male) or Vatasha Trenelle (if female). The player character in the ActionAdventure game ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsAdventuresRedguard Redguard]]'' is made clear as Cyrus from the start.

* ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'': The security guard who sends you pre-recorded messages over the phone is nameless, but has been given the nickname "Phone Guy" by the fanbase. [[Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2 The sequel]] features a character named [[spoiler:Fritz Smith]], and gives conflicting evidence as to whether or not he is Phone Guy.
** Likewise, "Purple Guy" is another security guard [[spoiler:and, essentially, the BigBad of the series.]] This was eventually [[AscendedFanon adopted by Scott himself]] for ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddysWorld''. However, in the AlternateContinuity that is ''Literature/FiveNightsAtFreddysTheSilverEyes'', he does have a name: [[spoiler:William Afton.]] This name later became canon in the games.

* It's probably easier to count the number of characters in both ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'' and its sequel who ''aren't'' only known by their nicknames, or go by names that could easily be psuedonyms (such as the Fans in ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber'', some of which wear the same type of masks as Jacket did in the first game and just so happen to go by the same names).

** Among the main characters, no-one refers to Mae as Margaret, and Gregg and Bea are seldom called Greggory and Beatrice.

* A lot of the main cast of ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' are mainly referred to by their nickname or codenames:

* In the forensics portion of ''[[Videogame/TraumaCenter Trauma Team]]'', your partner character introduces himself as FBI Special Investigator Navel, which is heavily implied by Naomi's dialogue to be an alias. She never calls him by it, and throughout the rest of the game, she only ever refers to him by her own nickname for him, Little Guy.

*** Except in [[AlternateUniverse Another Day]], where he tries to introduce himself by his real name but changes his mind, presumably because it's too complicated to pronounce.
** Nearly every major character has a nickname; notable exceptions include Shiki, and usually Sanae Hanekoma ('Coffee Dude' and 'Mr. H') Some characters are referred to by title, such as The Composer or The Conductor, but usually only before you find out who they are. Even Shiki's stuffed cat, Mr. Mew, is given a nickname of sorts by the main character - 'Piggy'.

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* A RunningGag in ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'' is that almost no-one in-game refers to protagonist Zagreus by his actual name: They instead have or make up nicknames based on [[BigScrewedUpFamily family relations]], his title as Prince of the Underworld, or some other characteristic of his. Zagreus accepts most of these nicknames with good humour, though some of the less charitable ones (especially his father insisting on calling him "boy") do seem to get under his skin on occasion.

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** Tail's real name, Miles Prower, usually [[AllThereInTheManual isn't mentioned in the games at all]]. ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' did, and was the only game to call him "Tails", the quotes representing the fact that it's not his real name. This was a plot point in [[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog one of the cartoons]]. Some two-tailed foxes show up claiming to be Tails' parents, and Sonic realizes later they must be fake because they called him "Tails" right off the bat instead of "Miles", when that was a nickname that Sonic gave him.

** Averted for the player characters in the series' spin-off games, however. The player character in the DungeonCrawl game ''[[VideoGame/AnElderScrollsLegendBattlespire Battlespire]]'' is known as "The Apprentice", but is given the canon names Josian Kaid (if male) or Vatasha Trenelle (if female). The player character in the ActionAdventure game ''Redguard'' is made clear as Cyrus from the start.

** It's not clear if Dutch van Der Linde's name is actually [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep Dutch]] or if it's a nickname based on his very clearly Dutch surname. You can find his mother's grave in ''II'' and it uses Dutch.

** Jack's name is John Marston Jr but he's never once directly called that.

** Averted for the player characters in the series' spin-off games, however. The player character in the DungeonCrawl game ''Battlespire'' is known as "The Apprentice", but is given the canon names Josian Kaid (if male) or Vatasha Trenelle (if female). The player character in the ActionAdventure game ''Redguard'' is made clear as Cyrus from the start.

** Likewise, "Purple Guy" is another security guard [[spoiler:and, essentially, the BigBad of the series.]] This was eventually [[AscendedFanon adopted by Scott himself]] for ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddysWorld''. However, in the AlternateContinuity that is ''Literature/FiveNightsAtFreddysTheSilverEyes'', he does have a name: [[spoiler:William Afton.]]
*** It turns out that there's a ''second'' Purple Guy in ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'', though the game refers to him as "Eggs Benedict". His real name is [[spoiler:Michael Afton (son of the aforementioned William Afton)]], but he goes by another nickname these days, [[spoiler:Springtrap.]]

* ''VideoGame/WarCeaft'': You are going to have to dig pretty deep in the supplementary materials to figure out that Grom Hellscream's given name is Gromnash and not Grom.