Line #78 Main/HometownNickname


1	ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: When a character is referred to pretty much exclusively by where they come from. Or at least, where everyone assumes they're from. The entire name doesn't have to be shared with the place, the hometown can just be part of the nickname, i.e., Troperville Ted or Ted from/of Troperville.
2	This is TruthInTelevision: if you look in historical documents, you will find that many people were distinguished by where they came from (other common identifiers included [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep trade or profession]] and distinguishing features). When surnames became common, towns of origin were often assigned as family names. If the person isn't actually ''from'' the place they are named for, it can become an IronicNickname. This is also one popular means for pen names.
3
4	Over 500 years ago, this was far more common than not - see Jesus of Nazareth (from Nazareth), Creator/LeonardoDaVinci (from Vinci), and many more. See also LordCountry, which overlaps with this often in the names of women who married from one royal family to another (like English queens Catherine of Aragon and Margaret of Anjou, or French queen Anne of Austria).
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6	SubTrope of InSeriesNickname and OnlyKnownByTheirNickname, and related to CaptainGeographic.
7	----
8	!!Examples:
9	[[foldercontrol]]
10
11	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
12	* Ayumu Kasuga in ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' is known [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname almost exclusively]] as Osaka. This is [[EnforcedTrope enforced]] in-universe by Tomo, who decides to call her that simply because she's a transfer student from Osaka. Also lampshaded/discussed as Tomo declares on the spot that shows have characters from Osaka only known as Osaka (and that such is funny), even though Osaka points out she spent only a year or so of her life in Osaka. However, the name ultimately sticks, to the point that she's listed as that name on the listings for new homerooms at the start of the characters' second year in high school.
13	* ''Manga/RaveMaster'': Elie assumes the tattoo on her arm is her name after getting LaserGuidedAmnesia. It's actually both her home town and the ''coordinates'' of said town.
14	* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' there's Kenpachi Zaraki and Yachiru Kusajishi, both of whom didn't have last names, and so they took [[WretchedHive the districts]] they originated from (Zaraki and Kusajishi, respectively). In Kenpachi's case, it's even more so, since ''Kenpachi'' is a title given to the strongest {{Shinigami}}. [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep So he's really 'The Kenpachi from Zaraki'.]]
15	* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': All characters from Littner Village have adopted the village's name as a surname of sorts, such as Yoko Littner.
16	[[/folder]]
17
18	[[folder:Comics]]
19	* Some writers of ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' comics have picked up Lois calling Clark "Smallville" from ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' and ''Series/{{Smallville}}''.
20	* Dennis Finnegan, a gangster who was framed for murder by corrupt cops in the ''ComicBook/{{Robin\|1993}}'', is called Dublin because he's from Dublin Ireland.
21	* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: It is unclear if Virginia True's first name is a nickname or her legal name given how the Holliday Girls treat nicknames, but either way the name originates from her home state.
22	* Brooklyn of the Boy Commandos.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Fan Works]]
26	* Enforced in-story in the ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' HighSchoolAU fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Outcast}}'' -- the St. Hetalia Academy for Boys recruits one student from every nation, and students are referred to by their country of origin for the duration of their studies. Calling another boy by his real name can be seen as an insult (if done in a public setting) or as an intimate act (if done in private).
27	-->"I'm Tino Väinämöinen," I said, hoping to get the full story right away.\
28	"That's just your real name," the boy said casually. "We don't use them here at St. Hetalia. We call each other by the names of our countries, sort of like code names. Your name here is Finland."
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Film]]
32	* ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' features Creator/GeneWilder playing Jim, AKA [[TheLancer The Waco Kid]].
33	* In ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'', Jeff Goldblum's character is known only as "New Jersey".
34	* ''Film/CoyoteUgly'': When Violet first takes a job at the bar, she's known as Jersey, her home state.
35	* ''Film/ElDorado'':
36	** Mississippi, born on the river, and mostly called that because of his OverlyLongName, Alan Bourdillion Traherne.
37	** Another example: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Swede]], who supplies Mississippi with his first gun, a SawedOffShotgun.
38	* Subverted in ''Film/ForrestGump''.
39	--> "There was Dallas, from Phoenix; Cleveland - he was from Detroit; and Tex... well, I don't remember where Tex come from." (Played straight there, Tex was from Texas.)
40	* Played with in ''Film/{{Gunhed}}'' with the character "Brooklyn" who's Japanese...and wears a Dodgers baseball shirt. He doesn't get it because by that time the team was in L.A.
41	* ''Film/HudsonHawk''. The title character's real first name is Eddie, he grew up in a town called Hoboken on the Hudson River in New Jersey.
42	* Indiana Jones is at first assumed to be this, until ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', where we learn [[WeNamedTheDogIndiana he took his name from his dog]].
43	* Cady in ''Film/MeanGirls'' gets a ''continent'' nickname, with Kevin Gnapor calling her 'Africa' because [[AfricaIsACountry she was home schooled there before moving to America]].
44	* ''Film/MedicineMan'', Dr. Rae Crane is known as Bronx.
45	* In ''Film/MissCongeniality'', a few of the pageant contestants refer to Gracie as 'New Jersey', since she's representing that state in the Miss USA pageant. Some of the commentators and FBI staff will also refer to the other contestants by the state they're representing, and confusion ensues when Gracie calls them by their actual names.
46	* ''Film/TheNakedGun 2 1/2'' features a hilarious [[SubvertedTrope subversive]] [[ParodiedTrope parody]]: Hector Savage, one of the baddies in the film, is a former boxer. Joey Chicago is his ''real'' name. His stage name as a boxer was Kid Minneapolis. Oh, and he's from Detroit. Another boxer mentioned in the same dialog is Tex Colorado a.k.a. the Arizona Assassin who hailed from North Dakota and who had a brother named South Dakota who somehow came from West Virginia.
47	* ''Film/PoolhallJunkies'': The Greek.
48	* Almost ''every'' character in ''Film/{{Zombieland}}''. At first it's just something that Tallahassee [[InvokedTrope insists on]] to [[JustifiedTrope avoid emotional ties with other survivors]], but through the course of the movie, almost every character ends up only being identified by where they are from (or, in the FlashBack, by their apartment numbers), with the only exceptions being TheCameo and, at the end of the movie, Wichita.
49	* Alabam, Grady Sutton's character from Hal Roach's "Boy Friends" short subject series from the 1930's.
50	* Inverted in ''Doc Hollywood'', in that that's where Ben Stone was going, not where he was from.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Jokes]]
54	* Subverted in the following joke: A cowboy mosies into a saloon and orders a drink. Making conversation, the bartender asks "What's your name, stranger?"\
55	"Well," drawls the cowboy, "Folks call me ... Tex."\
56	"Oh, you're from Texas?"\
57	"Nope. I'm from Louisiana."\
58	The bartender is puzzled, "So why do folks call you Tex?"\
59	"Because they ain't gonna call me Louise!"
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Literature]]
63	* ''Literature/TheBible'':
64	** A fairly well-known example is Jesus of Nazareth, sometimes also known as The Nazarene.
65	** A few other names in the New Testament and early saints fit this pattern, which is not all that surprising due to some given names being extremely popular, e. g. Joseph of Arimathea and Mary of Egypt. In the case of Mary of Magdala, the nickname became a name in its own right (Magdalena, Maddalena, Madeleine etc.). Averted by Saul of Tarsus, who changed his name to Paul - just Paul.
66	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
67	** Doc Pseudopolis is a high ranking member of Ankh-Morkpork's guild of gamblers. He makes a living off of [[GenreBlind people whose fathers never warned them not to gamble with a man named Doc or anyone named after a city]].
68	** The ''Discworld Companion'' lists the guild leader as Scrote Jones.
69	* Santiago of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' is from Santiago. Given her age, not only does no one ''call'' her by her given name, almost no one ''knows'' it.
70	* Max, best friend to ''Literature/CodexAlera'' hero Tavi, frequently refers to Tavi as "Calderon." In a similar vein, Kitai refers to him as "Aleran" even when she refers to other Alerans by name.
71	* Happens in the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' novel ''Night Whispers''. The [=ThunderClan=] warrior Ivypool is kidnapped by a [=ShadowClan=] patrol and held prisoner in their camp. There, a group of [=ShadowClan=] kits give her the nickname "Thundercat".
72	* TheChristmasAnnual based on the Creator/{{CBBC}} sketch show ''Play Away'' featured a spoof western starring a cowboy named Pecos Pete. He was from Texas, but whenever anyone asked him why he was called that, he just said "Pecos Pete's my name."
73	* Channa Hap in ''[[Literature/TheShipWho The City Who Fought]]'' uses "Hap" as a surname because she was born on the [[SpaceStation Hawking Alpha Proxima Station]].
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
77	* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'': Brisco goes undercover using the name "Kansas Wily Stafford" ("Kansas" for short). Then the ''real'' Kansas Wily Stafford shows up... Brisco, however, is an inversion. People keep assuming Brisco County is where he's from, a point which he has to clarify not to be the case.
78	* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': Danny calls Lindsay "Montana". It's only a partial example, as he seems to be the only one on the show to call her that.
79	* ''{{Series/Heroes}}'' has the Haitian and the German.
80	* ''Series/DoctorWho''
81	** In the serial "Shada", Chris Parsons introduces himself as "Chris Parsons, Bristol Grammer School". The Doctor refers to him as "Young Bristol" from then on.
82	** In Series 13 Dan calls Yaz "Sheffield" or "Yorkshire", and she calls him "Scouse".
83	* In ''Series/KamenRiderGhost'', ThoseTwoGuys who study under Onari go by Shibuya and Narita.
84	* One sketch on ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'' deals with the "Cincinnati Kid" (not [[Film/TheCincinnatiKid that one]]), whose father was the Cincinnati Kid until he was born, and who will remain the Cincinnati Kid until he produces offspring of his own. He shows up at a bar in Toronto looking for the "Toronto Kid", and the two square off in a WimpFight until the Toronto Kid gets a phone call saying his wife has given birth to the ''new'' Toronto Kid... [[WouldHurtAChild and the Cincinnati Kid goes off in search of him.]]
85	* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIGunmenOfTheApocalypse Gunmen of the Apocalypse]]," one of the WildWest game's [[PlayerCharacter player characters]] is a flamboyant Mexican gunslinger called the Riviera Kid--chosen, naturally, by [[AgentPeacock the Cat]].
86	* Lois calls Clark this in ''Series/{{Smallville}}''.
87	* ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' has an example in three different seasons with "Boston" Rob. Justified due to his first season running into the OneSteveLimit.
88	* There was a travelogue show on UK Channel 4 in the mid 90s in which the presenter's sidekick was known as Luton, because she was from... that's right.
89	* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'':
90	** Neelix calls Tuvok "Mr. Vulcan" while referring to everyone else by rank & name.
91	** In one episode Chakotay is captured by a group of Kazon, who use "Starfleet" as his name.
92	** In the pilot, B'Elanna calls Kim "Starfleet".
93	* The old TV show ''The Virginian''.
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	[[folder:Music]]
97	* The segment parodying "Yellow Rose of Texas" in Creator/AllanSherman's "Shticks and Stones" medley consists entirely of this:
98	-->Oh, I'm Melvin Rose of Texas\
99	And my friends all call me Tex\
100	When I lived in old New Mexico\
101	They used to call me Mex\
102	When I lived in old Kentucky\
103	They called me Old Kentuck\
104	I was born in old Shamokin\
105	Which is why they call me [[LastSecondWordSwap Melvin Rose]][[note]]The word the audience [[YiddishAsASecondLanguage would be expecting]] is "Schmuck."[[/note]]
106	* In ''The Nails'' classic ''88 lines about 44 women'' this is stated about Seattle.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder:Theatre]]
110	* In ''Theatre/{{Gypsy}}'' the boys Rose picks up to serve as a chorus for June's act are known only by the names of the cities where she "acquired" them.
111	[[/folder]]
112
113	[[folder:Video Games]]
114	%%* Arizona Rose, heroine of two Big Fish games.
115	* ''Franchise/DragonAge'' has a few.
116	** Anders, from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'' and ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII,'' is called Anders because he comes from the kingdom of the Anderfels. Nobody knows what his real name actually is; it's possible that he himself no longer remembers.
117	** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', minor side character Fairbanks goes by that name because he was born in a location called the Fair Banks Cottage. His real name can be revealed through a side quest.
118	** A number of other minor characters throughout the series have names based on their place of origin, such as Michel de Chevin and Frederic of Serault.
119	* Various ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' characters, whose names are immediately followed by their land of origin. Some examples include: Solaire of Astora, Siegward of Catarina, Anri of Astora, Yuria of Londor, etc.
120	* ''VideoGame/AGirlAdrift'': Busan is named after the Korean city where she makes her home.
121	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' has Kent Paul (Paul from [[UsefulNotes/HomeCounties Kent]]).
122	* Nevada Smith, an Indy parody, in Apogee Software's ''Pharaoh's Tomb''.
123	* Subverted in the ''VideoGame/TexMurphy'' series, where the titular character's nickname comes from leaving a Texas-shaped hole in the ceiling after a childhood accident.
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Web Animation]]
127	* In ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'', the initial explanation for Tex's name is "because she's from Texas." Later it's retconned into being a shortening of her codename "Texas".
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Western Animation]]
131	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' has Yosemite Sam, though it's not confirmed whether he's actually from Yosemite. Ditto for his ''WesternAnimation/TinyToons'' {{Expy}} Montana Max.
132	* Lois calls Clark "Smallville" in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. This was later picked up in ''Series/{{Smallville}}''.
133	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Superted}}'' has the BigBad, Texas Pete.
134	* On ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', Cotton Hill has war buddies named Brooklyn ''and'' [[OneSteveLimit Fat Brooklyn]].
135	[[/folder]]
136
137	[[folder:Real Life]]
138	* The second generation swordsmith of the Kanesada family known as ''Izuminokami Kanesada'' ("the ''kami'' of Izumi province"), otherwise called Nosada, real given name unknown.
139	** The sixth generation Hinin Kiyomitsu ("Slumdog Resident" Kiyomitsu), otherwise known as ''Kashū'' Kiyomitsu (Kashū being another name for Kaga province), whose sword was purportedly used by Okita Sōji of UsefulNotes/TheShinsengumi.
140	** Munechika, otherwise known as ''Sanjō'' Kokaji Munechika (Sanjō being the name of a street in Kyoto), smith of the national treasure Mikazuki Munechika, one of the ''tenka goken''.
141	** Let's just say this is incredibly common among historical Japanese swordsmiths.
142	* An example OlderThanPrint: the medieval German poet known only as ''der Tannhäuser'' (the one from Tannhausen). Even his given name is not known.
143	* Creator/TexAvery, born Frederick Bean Avery in Taylor, TX.
144	* Tex Ritter, country music singer and Western actor, best known today as the father of Creator/JohnRitter.
145	* Creator/TennesseeWilliams, sort of. He wasn't from Tennessee, but his father was.
146	* Giovanni Battista Bernardone was nicknamed ''Francesco'' (little Frenchman) by his merchant father, who had not been present at his birth as he was on a business trip to France. Francesco later became known as St. Francis of Assisi and his geographical nickname was adopted by lots of people as a Christian name (and by Jorge Mario Bergoglio as a papal name).
147	* Creator/LeonardoDaVinci.
148	* Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, one of the leading generals of the first three kings of Prussia, was commonly referred to as ''der alte Dessauer'' (the old man from Dessau).
149	* El Greco, a Greek artist living in Spain.
150	* General François Fournier is usually referred to as Fournier-Sarlovèze, being from the town of Sarlat.
151	* The phenomenon occurs not just with people, but also with items of food (e. g. Hamburger, Frankfurter), drinks (Manhattan, Champagne, Port), dances (Charleston), coaches and cars (Landau, Limousine), cricket deliveries (Yorker), etc. In these cases, the operative nouns ("sausage," "wine," "coach," etc.) have become redundant and are pretty much always left out.
152	* Before formalized surnames came around, location-based surnames were VERY common; most commoners would say they're from X Village or Y Town, and a number of royals would have OneNameOnly if you ''didn't'' count the "of France/England/Germany" part of their title.
153	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / HometownNickname