1 | %%% |
2 | %% |
3 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Take care to put your example in its proper place in accordance with Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings! |
4 | %% |
5 | %%% |
6 | [[AwesomeMcCoolname Incredibly cool names]] in television. |
7 | ---- |
8 | * Deliberately invoked in ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' with the [[StrawNihilist Nietzscheans]]. Their names tend to be references to historical or mythical tough guys with the last name usually referencing a historical location or people. For example, Tyr Anasazi is named after a Norse god and a Native American tribe. Gaheris Rhade is named after Myth/KingArthur's nephew and a German city, while his IdenticalGrandson Telemachus Rhade is named after the son of [[Literature/TheIliad Odysseus]]. A throw-away line in one episode mentions Trance wondering what a Nietzschean mother was thinking when she named her son [[UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan Genghis]] [[UsefulNotes/JosephStalin Stalin]]. |
9 | * Subverted in an episode of ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' where Jake is temporarily partnered with Agent Jack Danger... who is a colossal dork who insists [[PretentiousPronunciation it's pronounced "Donger".]] ''Jackie'' Donger. |
10 | * ''Series/BurnNotice''. Sam believes that Chuck Finley has a cool name. |
11 | * ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' gives us Richard Creator/{{Edgar|AllanPoe}} "Rick" Castle and his daughter Alexis Castle. Castle's birth name is actually Richard Alexander Rodgers. He legally changed his name because he liked "Castle" better and was a big fan of Poe. |
12 | * Creator/StephenColbert used this to protect the identity of an ex-''[[Series/TheColbertReport Colbert Report]]'' security guard who had been deployed in Afghanistan. |
13 | -->'''Stephen:''' His name is [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Caesar]], but for security reasons I can't show his photo, and [[RuleOfCool for cool reasons]] I will refer to him as [[Film/SpaceMutiny Tank Gunbullet]]. |
14 | * On ''Series/{{Cougartown}}'', Bobby assumes the name Ron Mexico, with everyone remarking on how cool the name is. |
15 | * In the "Gettin' Judgey With It" episode of ''Series/CutthroatKitchen'', in which the judges participate in the ordeal for a change, Richard Blais (pronounced "Blaze") mentions that he wants to take fellow judge/competitor Jet Tila's first name, so that he can call himself ''Jet Blais''. |
16 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
17 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS39E4FluxChapterFourVillageOfTheAngels Village of the Angels]]" introduces Professor Eustacius Jericho. The Doctor lampshades how awesome his name sounds. |
18 | ** In "[[Recap/DoctorWho2023CSTheChurchOnRubyRoad The Church on Ruby Road]]" has Lulubelle, an infant who Carla Sunday and her daughter Ruby are fostering. While they think it's a [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude ridiculous]] name, the Doctor wishes aloud that ''he'' was named Lulubelle. |
19 | * ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'': Drake [[MinorWithFakeID acquires fake I.D.s]] for himself and Josh so they can attend a concert at an adults only club. He chooses the amazing psuedonyms Jefferson Steelflex and Alvin Yakitori. |
20 | * In a world of fantasy, like ''Series/GameOfThrones'', it's standard. Salladhor Saan is acknowledged as such -- "Salladhor Saan is a good name for songs." |
21 | * ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': |
22 | ** Ted Mosby, having met a guy who calls himself TheCaptain, decides to name himself Galactic President Superstar [=McAwesomeville=]. To his credit, TheCaptain likes the name and uses it for Ted for the rest of the episode, not even missing a beat which helps make his affectations likeable. |
23 | ** Marshall and Lily's baby's name is [[spoiler:Marvin Wait-for-it Eriksen]] and all the characters find it awesome. |
24 | * ''Series/{{Hunter|NBC}}'': You probably couldn't pick a better name for a CowboyCop than Rick Hunter. |
25 | * Played for laughs in ''Series/ICarly'', with the bodyguard in "iSam's Mom". He's a war veteran who only speaks in a growling monotone. He's more than willing to be incredibly violent towards the slightest threat, and he's got a significantly large hole in his leg ''[[NoodleIncident that's not a bullet wound.]] '' His name? Gunsmoke. |
26 | * In ''Series/JimmyKimmelLive'''s 2010 "Handsome Men's Club" sketch Creator/EthanHawke demanded his name be legally changed to ''Handsome Hawke''. |
27 | * Napoleon Solo of ''Series/TheManFromUncle'', who, curiously, almost never uses a pseudonym. You'd think that after a while, THRUSH agents would stop being fooled by Napoleon Solo, Investment Banker. The ludicrousness of the name is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d from time to time: for example, when he has EasyAmnesia and someone tells him who he is, he refuses to believe it. |
28 | -->'''Napoleon:''' Nobody's been called Napoleon since the Battle of Waterloo. |
29 | * One ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' episode has Randy and Darnell discussing the Witness Protection Program [[spoiler:after revealing that Darnell was IN the program]], and Randy expresses a desire to be named 'Crash Fistfight'. |
30 | * ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' |
31 | ** The cast had a ball giving such names to the beefy protagonist of ''Film/SpaceMutiny'', Dave Ryder. |
32 | ** They also mocked an example of this concept mercilessly in the episode ''The Final Sacrifice''. What was the character's name? Zap Rowsdower, for a middle-aged pudgy Canadian man with a mullet. With a name like that you'd expect some sort of [[MemeticBadass badass]]. |
33 | ** Also during ''Hercules Against the Moon Men'', Joel and the bots try to come up with macho names a 'la Alan Steel. Crow chooses "Drake Tungsten", whereas Servo settles for "Ric Drywall". Which is admittedly better than his first choice, "Russ Tyle-Floor", or any of Crow's suggestions: "Adam Plexiglas", "Nick Pigiron", "Jim J Bullock"... |
34 | ** The episode ''12 To the Moon'' featured an early version of the Ryder treatment, with an international lunar mission being headed by your standard symbol of '50s American superiority, a muscular blonde idiot. Being completely unremarkable in every other way, Mike and the 'bots saddle him with names like "Dirk Beefbroth", and "Plank Ironchest". |
35 | * ''Private Eyes'': "Hey, Matt Shade! That's a P.I. name if I ever heard one!." |
36 | * From ''Series/{{Psych}}'': |
37 | ** It is a RunningGag with Shawn introducing Gus with an overly cool nickname to other people. |
38 | --->'''Gus:''' My name is Gus, but you can call me... John Slade. |
39 | ** The victim in "Cloudy... With A Chance Of Murder" has one of these: Jackson Hale. At the murder trial, the defense attorney asks Hale's assistant if he'd considered adopting a [[ThemeNaming weather-related]] PunnyName such as "Bolt Lightning," "Cloudy [=McMillan=]," and... "[[OddNameOut Wendy Morningdew]]." |
40 | * In ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Back to Reality", the crew all hallucinate that they have returned to Earth, and are given new identities. Kryten's name turns out to be "Jake Bullet" and he's a member of the police force. Lampshaded: |
41 | -->'''Kryten''': ''Jake Bullet'', Cybernautic Detective. I like that! That sounds like the kind of hard-living flatfoot who gets the job done by cutting corners and bucking authority. And if those pen-pushers up at City Hall don't like it, well, they can park their overpaid, fat asses on ''this'' mid-digit and swivel -- swivel till they squeal like pigs on a honeymoon. |
42 | -->'''Rimmer''': On the other hand, "Mr. Bullet," perhaps the Cybernautics division is in charge of traffic control, and you just happen to have a rather silly macho name. |
43 | -->'''Kryten''', looking sheepish: Oh yes, that's a very good point, sir. I didn't think of that. |
44 | ** Of course, this being ''[[RuleOfFunny Red Dwarf]]'', Kryten does turn out to be [[spoiler: a traffic control cop]]. |
45 | ** There's also the droid that Kryten knew, who went computer senile and claimed his name was "Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble". |
46 | * ''Series/RemingtonSteele'': The title character's name was chosen because it sounded cool. |
47 | * From ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': |
48 | -->'''Keith:''' How come I don't get a nickname?\ |
49 | '''J.D.:''' Not everyone's last name lends itself to a nickname, Keith.\ |
50 | '''Keith:''' My last name is '''Dudemeister!'''\ |
51 | '''J.D.:''' And what am I supposed to do with that, okay? I'm not a magician! |
52 | * One episode of ''Series/SimonAndSimon'' had the brothers chasing a computer hacker-turned-electronic bank robber who called himself "Anthrax Vermilion". Rick Simon off-handedly remarks that its a perfect "action hero name" as long as you don't think of the meaning (anthrax being a deadly disease, vermilion being a shade of the color red." And its subverted in the fact that it turns out that "Anthrax Vermilion" is a nine-year-old boy played by Creator/RobbieRist. |
53 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Sam and Dean Winchester. "Like the rifle." |
54 | * ''Series/TopGear'': |
55 | ** When Jeremy Clarkson was designing a home-built electric car, he named it the Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust. However, he also named the prototype: "Geoff". |
56 | ** His co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May had separately decided as a matter of principle that an electric car should have a rugged name instead of something vaguely smart like "Intelligentsia". |
57 | ** In another episode, Hammond refuses to believe the actual name of Lamborghini's new chief test driver, Max Venturi, who replaced their old chief test driver, Valentino Balboni. Clarkson jokingly responds: |
58 | --->'''Jeremy Clarkson:''' You don't need a driving license to be a Lamborghini test driver. Just turn up for the interview, go "Look, I'm awfully sorry, I'm drunk and I'm mad, but I'm called Velociraptor Clint-Thrust!" |
59 | ** While the presenters have regular, mundane names, Clarkson did think this about the name Lamborghini gave to their launch control system. |
60 | --->'''Clarkson:''' Some cars have launch control, but they have something here called "thrust control". I mean... that sounds like the title character of an airport thriller. ''Thrust Control''. |
61 | * On ''Series/TheTonightShow'', Jay Leno once said Creator/AntonioBanderas had a cool name. |
62 | * Colin and Brad of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' were both fond of inventing these for their newscaster personas, most frequently innuendos. The most memorable, however, would be "Chesterfield Snapdragon [=McFisticuffs=]". |
63 | * ''Series/TheXFiles'', episode [[Recap/TheXFilesS03E17Pusher ''Pusher'']]: Pusher thinks that Agent Frank Burst has a really great name. |
64 |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext AwesomeMcCoolname / LiveActionTV
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load