History UnfortunateNames / Literature

** To keep the "spew" gag for the translated version of the book, the organization is given different names. In the Hungarian edition, the acronym spells "monkey"; in French, it's "dirty"; in Portuguese, it's "drool"; in Spanish and Swedish, it's "fart"; in Latvian and Croatian, it's "vomit". In Dutch, it's "Stichting Huiself voor Inburgering en Tolerantie"[[note]]"House-Elf Foundation for Civic Integration & Tolerance"[[/note]], whose acronym should be clear.

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', Eustace is introduced with "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and [[{{Jerkass}} he almost deserved it]]." [[note]] Author Creator/CSLewis actually modeled it after his own birth name, Clive Staples Lewis, which he despised, preferring to be called "Jack". [[\note]]

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', Eustace is introduced with "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and [[{{Jerkass}} he almost deserved it]]." [[note:]] Author Creator/CSLewis actually modeled it after his own birth name, Clive Staples Lewis, which he despised, preferring to be called "Jack". [[\note]]

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', Eustace is introduced with "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and [[{{Jerkass}} he almost deserved it]]." [[Note:]] Author Creator/CSLewis actually modeled it after his own birth name, Clive Staples Lewis, which he despised, preferring to be called "Jack". [[/note]]

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', Eustace is introduced with "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and [[{{Jerkass}} he almost deserved it]]."

** {{Lampshaded}} by some of the characters when Berrypaw's about to become a warrior. He lost his tail when he was young, so they joke about the terrible names the Clan leader could give him based on that, and come up with the name "Berrystumpytail" (which has been adopted as a FanNickname for him.)

** The people of Lancre and the Ramtops in general have two traditions with regards to naming their children which are mentioned as frequently resulting in this trope: naming their children what the think sounds good, meaning be damned – which very nearly resulted in a girl named Chlamydia Weaver (her mother decided that Sally was easier to spell) – and that the child's name is ''exactly'' what the priest says whenever you get to that part of the christening ceremony, and can't be changed – which has resulted in a boy named James What The Hell's That Cow Doing In Here Poorchick (Moocow to his friends) and a king known as My God He's Heavy The First. There is also the current Crown Princess of Lancre, Margaret Esmeralda Note Spelling. Her mother, Queen Magrat, did ''not'' want a repeat performance of her own naming ceremony.

* ''Literature/FoxDemonCultivationManual'': Hua Wuneng's name literally means "incompetent flower" (花/huā = "flower", 无能/wú néng = "incompetent"). Song Ci sarcastically calls it a "really good name". Unsurprisingly Hua Wuneng introduces himself with the much less embarrassing name "Hua Wu", meaning "flower mist" (雾/wù, pronounced the same as 无 but with a different tone).
* ''Literature/HelpIAmBeingHeldPrisoner:'' Harry Künt, which is often mispronounced as hairy cunt. Harry describes the name as his FreudianExcuse for becoming a practical joker lashing out at everyone else.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov:
** ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'': The protagonist's wife is named Jezebel. She prefers to be called Jessie, after her husband (named Elijah, of course) tried to convince her the historical Jezebel wasn't as bad as her reputation. That was what spoiled it for her; up to then she had been ''proud'' of the name.
** "[[Literature/SearchByTheFoundation Search By The Foundation]]": Arcadia Darell bemoans the fact that everyone in her class must write their names as initial-of-given-name followed by surname ("A. Darrell" in her case), because she'd rather use Arkady as her name. The only exception to the rule is [[StealthPun Olynthus Dam]], "because the class laughed so when he did it the first time."
* A running gag in Joan Hess's ''Maggody'' mysteries is the cockamamie names that Stump County residents apply to their kids. Some get phonetically-spelled versions of words that might've been tolerable (if rustic) had they spelled correctly, like Hospiss; others sport names that the parents just thought sounded interesting, like Rubella Belinda. Occasionally this is elevated to a Weird Theme Name trope, as with brothers Diesel and Petrol.

* In the Hooker/Butterworth ''MASH'' novels there's a pompous newscaster whose name is Dan Rhotten. He constantly has to remind people that it's pronounced "ROW-ten."
* The eponymous character of ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh''. In-universe, Christopher Robin is asked (by his father) why a male bear is named "Winnie". Christopher's response is that his name is actually Winnie-''the''-Pooh, as if that explained everything. The RealLife explanation is that he was named after a bear called [[CanadaEh Winnipeg]] who lived in the London Zoo.
%%* There's a PoliceProcedural novel in which a pair of patrol cops are named Albert Hardy and Ernest Laurel. Neither would invoke this trope alone, but as partners, they're stuck either being Laurel & Hardy or Bert & Ernie.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': [[DeconstructedTrope This forms part of]] [[AwesomeMcCoolName Varamyr Sixskins']] StartOfDarkness: in accordance to some Free Folk tribal superstitions/ traditions, his sister nicknamed him "Lump" as a child, partially to help deter bad luck from seeking her brother out, partially as a term of endearment, but also to help toughen him up before he could choose his own adult name. Unfortunately for everybody else in the region, calling a budding, very powerful ChildMage with anger management issues and a lack of empathy something highly embarrassing others could tease him about/ abuse him for [[DisproportionateRetribution backfired]]. Badly. [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Oops]]. Moreover, while his name when we met him is pretty cool, it makes you wonder what it was when he could only control four animals.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The Klingon Qagh in ''Literature/StarTrekForgedInFire''; it's ''tlhIngan Hol'' (Klingon) for "mistake". Another Klingon in Literature/StarTrekSevenDeadlySins is named "Targ"; a targ is a Klingon pig.
** In the 1984 [[Creator/{{JohnMFord}} John M. Ford]] Klingon-centric novel ''Literature/{{The Final Reflection}}'', [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe a supporting character]] was named [[PrematurelyBald Rogaine]]. This was a coincidence, as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoxidil minoxidil]] wasn't approved for topical use as a hair restorer until 1988.
* In the Creator/SpiderRobinson book ''Callahans Legacy'' science fiction fans Ted Leahy and Susan Hu get married. Being George Lucas fans, they name their firstborn Yoda. Apparently the kid learned to fight dirty by the age of three.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':

** The people of Lancre and the Ramtops in general have two traditions with regards to naming their children which are mentioned as frequently resulting in this trope: naming their children what the think sounds good, meaning be damned – which very nearly resulted in a girl named Chlamydia Weaver (her mother decided that Sally was easier to spell) – and that the child's name is ''exactly'' what the priest says whenever you get to that part of the christening ceremony, and can't be changed – which has resulted in a boy named James What The Hell's That Cow Doing In Here Poorchick (Moocow to his friends) and a king known as My God He's Heavy The First. There is also the current Crown Princess of Lancre, Margaret Esmeralda Note Spelling. Her mother, Queen Magrat, did ''not'' want a repeat performance of her own naming ceremony.

* ''Literature/RedDwarf'':
** In the novel ''Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers'' the captain of the Red Dwarf is described as a woman with the "unfortunate" surname of "Kirk". The book never really explores the concept beyond stating as much, though, since she (along with the rest of the crew) dies early on.
** In ''Backwards'', a later novel in the series, the robotic Agonoids have been given intentionally insulting names by their human creators. Examples include M'Aiden Ty One (Made In Taiwan), D'Juhn Keep (Junk Heap), Pizzak Rapp (Piece Of Crap) and Chi Panastee (Cheap And Nasty).
* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'':
** One of the orcs is called Shagrat. Yes, [[BestialityIsDepraved Shagrat]]. In British slang, "shag" is a term for sexual intercourse.
** In-universe, the name Gorbag contains the root ''bag'', shit.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
** Most of the cats have a two-part name: the first half stays with them their whole life, and the second half changes depending on their rank ("kit" when they're a kitten, "paw" when they're in training, pretty much anything when they're a full warrior, and 'star' if they're a clan leader), so typical names are things like Swiftkit, Cloudpaw, Fireheart, Graystripe, and Bluestar. There are some bad ones, however: Kinkfur, Runningnose (named for his perpetual sniffle; his name even translates to "Hay Fever" in the French edition.), Foxheart (in-universe, "fox-hearted" is cat slang for "treacherous and cowardly"), Mudpuddle, Lostface (renamed Brightheart as soon as it was possible to do so), Stumpytail, Deadfoot, Maggottail (seriously, did his parents ''want'' him to turn evil?), Shredtail, Crookedjaw (re-named at the insistence of his abusive mother after breaking his jaw), Clawface, Heavystep, Loudbelly, Yellowfang, etc.
** {{Lampshaded}} by some of the characters when Berrypaw's about to become a warrior. He lost his tail when he was young, so they joke about the terrible names the Clan leader could give him based on that, and come up with the name "Berrystumpytail" (which has been adopted as a FanNickname for him.)
** Perhaps due to their [[TheMissingFaction isolation]], which may have loosened standards, [=SkyClan=] cats sometimes have just plain AWFUL names. They are more likely to welcome newcomers and also less likely to insist that they (either partially or completely) change their names, which results in cats with names such as Frecklewish, Billystorm, Harveymoon, Bellaleaf, Rileypool, and Macgyver.
* ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants'': The whole plot of this book revolves around this trope with the titular villain. In fact, he came from the country of New Swissland, where everyone has a silly name. He later forces everyone on Earth to change their names into silly ones [[IncredibleShrinkingMan or else he will shrink them]]. Later on, Professor Poopypants tries to make his name less silly by renaming himself [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Tippy Tinkletrousers]].
* A character in ''Literature/TheStarsMyDestination'' is named Jisbella [=McQueen=]...the unfortunate part is that everyone else shortens it to "Jizz."
* In ''Literature/TheTrueMeaningOfSmekday'', Tip's real name is Gratuity. Her mother thought it meant something else.
* In one novel from ''Literature/EightySeventhPrecinct'' series, arrested criminal [[PoliceBrutality gets beaten by the police]] because he insists that his name is Creator/ErnestHemingway. It turns out to be his real name.
* The StarterVillain of ''[[Literature/ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant Lord Foul's Bane]]'' is named ''Drool Rockworm'', which has got to be one of the ''worst'' names one could possibly have (and no, Drool, sticking a "Lord" in front of it doesn't make it any better). Of course, Drool is a fairly pathetic figure anyway (albeit one with a lot of power), and seeing as he's the only named [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Cavewight]] in the series, it's unclear how typical this is for his people.
* In ''Literature/{{Seraphina}}'', when Prince Lucian first arrived in Goredd as a child his embarrassing Samsamese surname, 'Kiggenstane', contributed to the awkwardness surrounding his mother’s elopement and his subsequent status as a bastard. Perhaps as a result, he prefers his nickname 'Kigs'.
* In Creator/SherrilynKenyon's The League series a fantastic version of CrossCulturalKerfluffle meets this, Dancer Hauk. On his native world Dancer means Protector and is suitably manly. Everywhere else it means Dancer, like the profession.
** There's also Darling Cruel. Even people who know him struggle not to laugh at the bomb crazy assassin, whose name is Darling. It's a family name.

-->'''Ron:''' And you think we want to walk around wearing badges saying "spew", do you?

* Literature/HoratioHornblower:
* When he introduces himself in ''Mr. Midshipman Hornblower'', the immediate response is "what an infernal piece of bad luck for you."
** His first wife nicknames him "Horry." It's stated that Hornblower "disliked being called 'Horry' even more than he disliked being called Horatio."
** His crew nicknames him "Horny". This is less embarrassing in-universe, as the word did not gain its present meaning until the late 19th century.
* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', Eustace is introduced with "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and [[{{Jerkass}} he almost deserved it]]."
* In ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsIBlewUpTheMoon'', the teams finds evidence of a MadScientist named Doctor Hedley Butts, who Claire remembers reading about.
-->'''Penny:''' Did they call him Doctor Butt-Head?\\
'''Claire:''' No. His goats ate people. They took him seriously.

* Cindy Sexton of ''Literature/DontCallMeIshmael''. Most people who hear of her for the first time assume she's a stripper or a porn star.
* In Julie Smith's series of detective novels about the black New Orleans PI Literature/TalbaWallace, the first name on Talba's birth certificate is actually "Urethra", which a cruel and racist obstetrician suggested when her uneducated mother asked him to name her baby something unique. This is a common urban legend in the South.
* A throwaway joke in ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'' is a guardsman of the City of the Gods named "Gagaril."
-->'''[[DeadpanSnarker Lightsong]]:''' I'm sorry.\\
'''Gagaril:''' ''[flushing]'' I was named after my father.\\
'''Lightsong:''' After he what? Spent an unusual amount of time at the local tavern?
* In Arthur Scott Bailey's ''The Tale of Old Mr. Crow'', the titular character is quite touchy over his full name, even [[BerserkButton being violent]] towards his brother who called him 'Dale Jim'. In other words, his full name is 'Dale [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement Jim Crow]]'.
* Francisco de Quevedo's ''La Vida del Buscón'' has Poncio de Aguirre. Diego [[ExploitedTrope took advantage]] of the fact that Poncio de Aguirre shared the same first name with Poncio Pilato, that is, [[Characters/TheFourGospels Pontius Pilate]]. Making this connection harsher is de Aguirre's ties to the Catholic Church.
* ''Literature/YouAreDeadSignHerePlease'':
** In Brian Dithershoes' opinion, his own name is this, and much of his actions are driven by the promise of a name change. He would much prefer to be called Andrew Dithershoes.
** The city of Dead Donkey, along with its sister cities, Nasally Prolapsed Mongoose, Comatose Gopher, Schizophrenic Buffalo and Adultery-Upon-Dirt.
* ''Literature/TimmyFailure''. Yes, his last name is actually Failure. It used to be spelled "Fayleure", but apparently somebody changed it. Timmy claims that he is "anything but", but given that he does a terrible job at being a detective throughout the series, the name actually is quite fitting. This also extends to the name of his detective agency, "Failure, Inc.", which is already a pretty bad name for such an agency, but then he added the name of his pet polar bear Total to make it "Total Failure, Inc." When Total proved to be an ineffective business partner, Timmy wasn't very happy with the name change.
* In ''The Adventures of Captain Vrungel'' by Andrey Nekrasov, the captain plans to call his ship ''Pobeda'' (the ''Victory''). However, thanks to an accident in the port, the two first letters fall off, leaving ''Beda'' (the ''Peril''). By the time it's noticed, the ship's already far in the sea, so it remains the ''Beda'' for the rest of the plot.
* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': In addition to the many students and other supers who have chosen an AtrociousAlias over the years, there are a few folks saddled with personal names that are less than desirable, though often quite fitting:
** [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Dr. Paine Deth]], who [[WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt not surprisingly]] grew up to be a MadScientist.
** Tansy Walcutt's first name is the source of much humor for the other students. No wonder she prefers her codename.
* ''Literature/SpySchool'':
** Nefarious Jones. It's even joked this might be why he joined an organization of evil.
** Agent Nora Taco (a descendant of the inventor of tacos) in the eighth book. She has a strong NeverHeardThatOneBefore vibe, and once rants about how she can't even order Mexican food without being teased. [[spoiler:And to make matters worse, her name is also -completely coincidentally- an anagram for th evil organization Croatan, which provides her colleagues with more fodder to tease her with after Ben accuses her of being a double agent while convinced it was a deliberate anagram/alias.]]
* In ''Literature/TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'', the ship which retrieves Prendick from the lifeboat at the novel's beginning is named the ''Ipecacuanha'' by its captain. Apparently this is a sarcastic reference to how nauseatingly the vessel pitches in the waves, as it's the species name of the plant from which ipecac, a powerful emitic, is derived.

* The protagonist of Donald E. Westlake's novel ''Help I am Being Held Prisoner'' has the extremely unfortunate last name of Künt (pronounced Koont, and he insists on the umlaut, or little dots above the u). This would be bad enough under ordinary circumstances, but when he goes to prison it threatens to become completely intolerable.

* ''Literature/HelpIAmBeingHeldPrisoner'': Harry Künt. He keeps telling anyone who will listen that it's pronounced Coo-nt. Three guesses about whether or not they pay attention to him after seeing how it's spelled.

** Moist von Lipwig from ''Literature/GoingPostal''. Adora Belle Dearheart didn't fair much better, and generally goes by either "Killer" or "Spike".

* ''Literature/FoxDemonCultivationManual'': Hua Wuneng's name literally means "incompetent flower" (花/huā = "flower", 无能/wú néng = "incompetent"). Song Ci sarcastically calls it a "really good name".

** When he introduces himself in ''Mr. Midshipman Hornblower'', the immediate response is "what an infernal piece of bad luck for you."

* Valentine Wolfe, heir [[spoiler: and soon head]] of Clan Wolfe. A drug-using degenerate, but a brilliant and bloody sociopath as well. To a lesser extent, Finaly Campbell, notorious fop and dandy. Both embarrassments to their manlier-than-thou fathers (but what did you expect when you named your kids "Valentine" and "Finlay?") Of course, Valentine [[spoiler: kills his father during a battle to become the Wolfe, and Finlay is secretly the Masked Gladiator, the deadliest fighter in Golgotha's Arena.]]
** And then we have Owen Deathstalker, his ancestor Giles Deathstalker, and his distant cousin David (pronounced DAH-veed) Deathstalker. Apparently, the Deathstalker Clan figured that their ridiculously badass last name (coupled with their well-deserved reputation as the finest warrior Family in the Empire) meant that they had no need for awesome and intimidating first names.
* One minor character in ''Literature/{{Julian}}'' is named Hilarius. Unfortunately, [[TheCaligula Gallus]] gets him alone and [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity does not Ensue.]]
* ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain'':
** Several. From the minor villain Sharky ("...I'll come up with something better.") to the grey-clad FlyingBrick Generic Girl (she refuses to talk to anyone, so no one had any better ideas), there are lots of poor names for supers on both sides of the fence. For main characters, Claire ends up accidentally naming herself after her online handle E-Claire, and due to a bitchy heroine mentioning that Penny will "keep showing up like a bad penny," Penny gets the groan-inducing name of Bad Penny. The hero in question didn't even know Penny's name; she just has ''really'' bad luck.
** In the sequel ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsIBlewUpTheMoon'', the teams finds evidence of a MadScientist named Doctor Hedley Butts, who Claire remembers reading about.
--->'''Penny:''' Did they call him Doctor Butt-Head?\\

* The latter eponymous character of ''Garman & Worse'', a novel by Norwegian author Alexander Kielland. At least it's not pronounced "worse". When considering that his CharacterDevelopment goes downhill, FromBadToWorse, every English translation carries with it an accidental pun.
* In Simon Raven's "Alms for Oblivion" series, one of the major characters, Fielding Gray (not in itself especially silly) is named after a family friend called "Fielding Legge" - a term indicating a fielding position in the game of cricket. It would be comparable to an American with the surname "Bakker" being given the first name "Line."

* Judy Blume's ''{{Literature/Fudge}}'' series has Peter Hatcher's younger brother...''Farley Drexel Hatcher.'' What were his parents thinking?

* In the ''Literature/StarDarlings'' franchise, when trying to think of a fake name on Earth, Libby gives herself the last name Liverwurst.
* ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'' has it as in its ''title''. For most of the world KZ is associated with UsefulNotes/NaziGermany's concentration camps. In here Team KZ refers to a team of {{Academic Athlete}}s--and by extension an AmateurSleuth group formed by some of its member plus a girl, i.e. the eponymous "Tantei Team KZ". The name comes from "Katsu," Japanese word for "victory," through the [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseRomanization Kunrei-shiki form]] "'''K'''a'''z'''u."
* In Jon F. Merz's Chanbara-influenced fantasy novel ''The Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul'', one of the important characters was an old samurai named Kancho. Kancho means suppository in Japanese!!! Or it can be used to describe the act where [[AssShove someone (mostly children though adults have been known to do it) shoves their fingers up another person's butt in imitation of sticking in a suppository]].
* In Julie Smith's series of detective novels about the black New Orleans PI Talba Wallace, the first name on Talba's birth certificate is actually "Urethra", which a cruel and racist obstetrician suggested when her uneducated mother asked him to name her baby something unique. This is a common urban legend in the South.

* Emily Piggot from ''Literature/{{Worm}}''. Bad enough it has "pig" in it. The double whammy comes in from looking like "bigot". (Thankfully, it isn't pronounced that way.)
* Tock from ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth'', and his older brother Tick, are literal watchdogs: canines with functional clocks for a torso. Due to their parents' having (twice!) wrongly anticipated the sound each pup's clock would make when wound, Tock is the one that goes ''ticktickticktick'' and Tick is the one that goes ''tocktocktocktock''.
* According to ''Literature/TheLionKingSixNewAdventures'', Scar's parents named him "Taka". This translates to "trash".
* A Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration tie-in novel involves a colony called Hamlin; strangely, its residents are surprised when their children are all kidnapped.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** In a series of articles, ''Literature/TheGloveOfDarthVader'' novels were retconned to be about the elusive Darth Millennial, not to be confused with entitled millenials.
** The novelization of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' names Max Rebo's style of music "''Jizz''" of all things. Even worse, a musician who plays Jizz is known as a "'''Jizz Wailer'''". One has to wonder if author Ryder Windham was mad at Creator/GeorgeLucas and/or if he wanted to play a practical joke on him.
** A comic writer who was annoyed at an editor always adding "Master" to the names of Jedi created the character of [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Soon_Bayts Soon Bayts]]. Miraculously, it passed through a different editor.
** Typically whenever a clone turned up, their name was the original person's name, but with one vowel duplicated (the codified being Jorus C'baoth's clone Joruus C'baoth in ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', as well as [[spoiler:Luuke Skywalker]]). Timothy Zahn had a little fun with this on April Fools Day 2012, giving us "Booba Fett", a clone of Boba Fett. Naturally, this being the Star Wars fandom, it was taken completely seriously as if he were played completely straight, though he didn't have long to live before the Legends canon was de-canonized shortly after Disney bought the franchise rights.
* A black cat called Nigger-Man appears in "Literature/TheRatsInTheWalls" by Creator/HPLovecraft. Given Lovecraft's rabid racism, that isn't too surprising. Worse, he based it on his own childhood pet of the same name--though Lovecraft's father, not Lovecraft himself, named that original cat.

** Techwolf, who is under a family curse that causes the men of the family to look like werewolves, has the real name of Harry Wolfe. His father, who was the first victim of the curse and has bright red fur, is named Red Wolfe. There's speculation that terribly punny names are part of the curse.

* The ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'' series features a [[AllAsiansKnowMartialArts Japanese martial artist]] named Samurai. [[SarcasmMode Absolutely no]] UnfortunateImplications there.

* ''Literature/{{Spellsinger}}'''s Jonathan Thomas Meriweather, a.k.a. Jon-Tom, isn't acknowledged as having an unfortunate name in the books, but since "John Thomas" is slang for penis in some parts of the world ...
* In ''Literature/LoyalEnemies'', the "Staff of Fertility" is a GreenThumb AmplifierArtifact, not any sort of UnusualEuphemism. Though people keep on snarking at the name in-universe, and Shelena uses it as an UnusualEuphemism at least once.

* The Gods of the ''Literature/AmericanGods'' universe sometimes end up with names like this out of their efforts to disguise their identity through StevenUlyssesPerhero type names. One is Mr. Nancy/Anansi. The title ''Literature/AnansiBoys'' is a play on the term "a nancy boy", a derisive term for homosexuals, and the fact that Anansi has taken this name is probably a testament to his [[DirtyOldMan comfort with his sexuality]]. There's also the matter of Shadow's real name as revealed in a side-story, [[spoiler: Balder Moon]], which besides being the kind of name you wouldn't want to saddle your child with, makes you wonder why he didn't previously realize his identity.
* In ''Literature/TheWalkerPapers'' by C.E. Murphy, one of the most respective detectives on the Seattle Police force is a WholesomeCrossdresser named ... Billy Holiday.

* In the UK, reprints of the ''[[Literature/TheFarawayTree Faraway Tree]]'' books have changed the children's names to get around this: Jo becomes Joe (since the "Jo" spelling is now normally used for girls), Fanny becomes Franny and Dick becomes Rick. Bessie's name is possibly the least unfortunate (though it is the "stereotypical" nickname for a cow), but is rather archaic regardless.
* The AlphaBitch of the ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'' books is nicknamed "Cokie" Mason. The character considers her actual first name (Marguerite) to be an EmbarrassingFirstName, for some reason.
* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'':
** Renesmee Carlie Cullen. If she was a boy, Bella wanted to name her "Edward Jacob Cullen." Which would have been an unfortunate name as well, considering that Bella apparently wanted to name her son after her husband and her UnluckyChildhoodFriend, who was ''still'' pining after her and who Edward was insanely jealous over.
** One of Bella's teachers in high school was named Coach Clapp. As a sporker once put it, "why didn't Meyer just name him 'Coach Gonorrhea'?"
* In his novel ''Literature/TheWitchesOfKarres'', Creator/JamesHSchmitz has a black-clad, cynical, somewhat gloomy and pessimistic young witch by the name of Goth. Note that the original short story was written in 1949, and expanded into a novel in 1969. Names don't have to be created that way to become unfortunate.
** Goth's sister is the Leewit ... and she insists on the ''the''.
* In one of the ''Literature/JiggyMccue'' books, there's a boy called Franchise/HarryPotter.

* The later ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novels have a trooper called Cant. No CountryMatters are invoked, but when your name invokes failure at all turns, that's bad enough.

* There's a PoliceProcedural novel in which a pair of patrol cops are named Albert Hardy and Ernest Laurel. Neither would invoke this trope alone, but as partners, they're stuck either being Laurel & Hardy or Bert & Ernie.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** He's barely even mentioned, but George R.R. Martin ''must'' have been snickering to himself when he named a character Dickon Manwoody. Yup, you read that right.
** Dickon Manwoody is an extremely minor character with no lines. Dick Crabb, on the other hand, interacts with Brienne of Tarth and has his own minor plotline.
** Thoren Smallwood... a riff on a theme.
** Aenys Targaryen and Aenys Frey.
** Pity poor Prince Maegor "Reasons-Not-To-Give-Me-the-Throne" Targayen: [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy Aerion]], what where you ''thinking'' [[WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt when you named your kid after]] [[TheBluebeard Maegor]] '''''[[BloodKnight the Cruel]]'''''? Though, being quite a cruel person himself, Aerion may have named his son "Maegor" out of sheer admiration, not just spite.
** Satin, a former male prostitute who now fights with an ArmyOfThievesAndWhores.
** On a related note: the extinct Royal House of Hoare from the Iron Isles. It's from "hoarfrost". Or "silvered". Honest.
** [[DeconstructedTrope This forms part of]] [[AwesomeMcCoolName Varamyr Sixskins']] StartOfDarkness: in accordance to some Free Folk tribal superstitions/ traditions, his sister nicknamed him "Lump" as a child, partially to help deter bad luck from seeking her brother out, partially as a term of endearment, but also to help toughen him up before he could choose his own adult name. Unfortunately for everybody else in the region, calling a budding, very powerful ChildMage with anger management issues and a lack of empathy something highly embarrassing others could tease him about/ abuse him for [[DisproportionateRetribution backfired]]. Badly. [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Oops]]. Moreover, while his name when we met him is pretty cool, it makes you wonder what it was when he could only control four animals.
* ''Literature/JosephAndrews'' features Fanny, Lady Booby, and Madam Slipslop.
* ''Literature/MobyDick''. It doesn't help he's an albino sperm whale...
* The Klingon Qagh in ''Literature/StarTrekForgedInFire''; it's ''tlhIngan Hol'' (Klingon) for "mistake". Another Klingon in Literature/StarTrekSevenDeadlySins is named "Targ"; a targ is a Klingon pig.

* ''Literature/ThursdayNext'':
** ''The Eyre Affair'' introduces a fairly rude character with the fairly rude name of Jack Schitt.
** The sequel, ''Lost In A Good Book,'' adds a relative of Jack Schitt, with the equally unfortunate name of Brik Schitt-Hawse.
** In book five, ''[[NonIndicativeName First Among Sequels]]'', Jack's wife is introduced with the name Anne Wirthlass-Schitt.
** The ''sixth'' book explains that these are all aliases Thursday made up.
* One of Jack Vance's Literature/PlanetOfAdventure novels is called "Servants of the Wankh".
* ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'': The book ''The Master Mind of Mars'' contains a character named "Bal Zak", which looks an awful lot like "balzak", the Dutch word for scrotum. Or, for those who don't speak Dutch, it also sounds an awful lot like "ballsack", the English word for scrotum. Or, for those who read French literature, it sounds an awful lot like the great author Balzac...
* A Lieutenant Britney Harder in the Literature/PaladinOfShadows book ''A Deeper Blue'.'

** In the appendix that shows the Line of Durin, Glóin's and Óin's father's name is Groin. (It's actually Gróin, but still...)
** In-universe, you have brothers Boromir, "steadfast jewel", and Faramir, "adequate jewel". Faramir was TheUnfavorite and Denethor made sure he never forgot it.
** In other versions of Tolkien's work, Celeborn's original name is...Teleporno. Yes, you read that right.

* The SpinOff to the ''Literature/{{Molvania}}'' travel guide, ''Traditional Molvanîan Baby Names: With Meanings, Derivations And Probable Pronunciations'', is a list of Molvanîan names and their meanings, a lot of which make you wonder whether anyone would willingly give them to their children. There is, for instance, ''Agpovertetnyk'' ("lowly paid foreign worker") and ''Dkurtiklof'' ("exceptionally unfit"). They double as [[TheUnpronounceable unpronounceable names]] as well.
* James Augustus Peregrine Pympoole-Bothame of ''Literature/TheRubyRedTrilogy''.

** There's Neville Longbottom.

* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'': Often {{Lampshaded}} by villains, the titular character's namesake was a woman. And not just any woman: In Greek mythology, Artemis was (among other things) the goddess of childbirth and the protector of young girls.

* In a series of ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' articles, ''Literature/TheGloveOfDarthVader'' novels were retconned to be about the elusive Darth Millennial, not to be confused with entitled millenials.

* Franchise/StarWars:

** In the old Franchise/StarWarsLegends Expanded Universe, typically whenever a clone turned up, their name was the original person's name, but with one vowel duplicated (the codified being Jorus C'baoth's clone Joruus C'baoth in ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', as well as [[spoiler:Luuke Skywalker]]). Timothy Zahn had a little fun with this on April Fools Day 2012, giving us "Booba Fett", a clone of Boba Fett. Naturally, this being the Star Wars fandom, it was taken completely seriously as if he were played completely straight, though he didn't have long to live before the Legends canon was de-canonized shortly after Disney bought the franchise rights.

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', Eustace is introduced with "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and [[JerkAss he almost deserved it.]]"

* A black cat called Nigger-Man appears in "Literature/TheRatsInTheWalls" by Creator/HPLovecraft. Given Lovecraft's rabid racism, that isn't too surprising. To make matters worse, he based it on his own childhood pet of the same name--though Lovecraft's father, not Lovecraft himself, named that original cat.

* A black cat called Nigger-Man appears in "Literature/TheRatsInTheWalls" by Creator/HPLovecraft. Given Lovecraft's rabid racism, that isn't too surprising. To make matters worse, he based it on his childhood pet of the same name--though Lovecraft's father, not Lovecraft himself, named that original cat.

* A cat called Nigger-Man appears in "The Rats in the Walls" by Creator/HPLovecraft. To make matters worse, Lovecraft named it after his own cat. Of course, given Lovecraft's rabid racism, this isn't too surprising.

* In ''Literature/TheIslandOfDrMoreau'', the ship which retrieves Prendick from the lifeboat at the novel's beginning is named the ''Ipecacuanha'' by its captain. Apparently this is a sarcastic reference to how nauseatingly the vessel pitches in the waves, as it's the species name of the plant from which ipecac, a powerful emitic, is derived.

Literature/HoratioHornblower: When he introduces himself in Mr.Midshipman Hornblower the immediate response is "what an infernal piece of bad luck for you."

** His crew nicknames him "Horny" This is less embarrassing in universe, as the word did not gain its present meaning until the late 19th century.

* The novelization of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' names Max Rebo's style of music "''Jizz''" of all things. Even worse, a musician who plays Jizz is known as a "'''Jizz Wailer'''". One has to wonder if author Ryder Windham was mad at Creator/GeorgeLucas and/or if he wanted to play a practical joke on him.