Line #23 Main/VehicularThemeNaming


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5	%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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11	[[quoteright:1000:[[WesternAnimation/SouthPark https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raisins_2.jpg]]]]
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13	->''Obviously, Mid-Childan society has a lot of respect for [[InsignificantLittleBluePlanet UA97's]] auto industry. Why would they call their children like this otherwise?"
14	-->--[[https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/nanoha-spinoff-vivid-strike.30247/page-5#post-7069148 forum post]] regarding ''Anime/VividStrike'' (and by extension the entire ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' franchise)
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16	Vehicular ThemeNaming is the practice of naming characters after vehicles. Cars and watercraft seem to be represented more than planes or trains. Strangely common in Japan, for some reason.
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18	[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with]] the ThemeNaming of actual vehicles.
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20	!!Examples:
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22	[[foldercontrol]]
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24	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
25	* Similarly to ''Evangelion'', many military characters in ''[[Manga/ZeroSevenGhost 07-Ghost]]'' have names from UsefulNotes/WW2 Japanese warships: Ayanami, Hyuuga and Katsuragi in the manga, and Yukikaze in one drama CD.
26	* Mikasa from ''Anime/AttackOnTitan'' is named after an Imperial Japanese Battleship that served during the Russo-Japan War. It helps that Mikasa hits like a battleship. Also worth noting is that the battleship ''Mikasa'' is the only surviving pre-dreadnought (that is, battleships built before the introduction of the revolutionary ''HMS Dreadnought'') battleship (every other pre-dreadnought battleship was either scrapped or sunk).
27	* Most of the characters from the ''Literature/CoffinPrincessChaika'' are named after various cars and automakers: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAZ Gaz Empire]], its titular princess [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaika_(car) Chaika]] Ga..akhem.. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant Trabant]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acura Acura]] siblings, count [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abarth Abarth]], etc.
28	* ''Manga/{{Freezing}}'': The Valkyries' last names are Evora, Ferrari, Porsche, Renault, and [[spoiler:(Ouka) Honda]].
29	* Most of the military characters from ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' are named after aircraft or vehicles, whether [=WW2=] era or present-day: Mustang, Hughes, Bradley, Hawkeye, Hayate, etc.
30	* The Princes from ''Anime/LadyJewelpet'': (Porsche) Cayenne, (Alfa) Romeo, (Toyota) Soarer, (Toyota) Levin and (Lamborghini) Miura.
31	* Many of the magical beings in ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' are named after cars: the Opel Signum, Opel Vita, Opel Zafira and Maserati Shamal are the most prominent and were brought to attention by the {{fansub}}bers. Subaru Nakajima's name appears to be normal Japanese, but the fact that it's in Western format draws attention to the fact that both her names come from cars--same company as well, since Subaru's predecessor was ''Nakajima'' Aircraft Company. Same with Fate ''Testarossa'' (Ferrari Testarossa) and her mother Precia (Nissan Presea, also seen in ''Rayearth''), and Yuuno Scrya has been suspected of actually being spelled ''Euno'' for Mazda Eunos. Given that, like ''Rayearth'', ''Nanoha'' is primarily about {{Magical Girl}}s who use [[{{Magitek}} techno-magical]] artifacts, this may be a direct homage to the earlier series. Teana Lanster is also named after the Nissan Teana. Lutecia and Megane Alpine get their surname from a French car (Renault Megane; and the sportscar manufacturer Alpine, assimilated by Renault).
32	** Interestingly, the Maserati Shamal itself is an example of ThemeNaming. In addition to Shamal, some of Maserati's other model names have been Mistral, Ghibli, Bora, Khamsin, and Karif. All of these are named after local winds, except for Ghibli, which is a word meaning "hot desert wind". (On a related note, Shamal's device is named Klarer Wind, and Hayate's name means "breeze".)
33	* The natives of Cephiro and their magic spells in ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' are named after models of cars (like Cephiro [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Cefiro itself]]).
34	** The leaders of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autozam_AZ-1 Autozam]] are named after American cars: the Eagle Vision and the Geo Metro[[note]]Eagle was a nameplate Chrysler invented to sell the Renault/AMC joint venture cars when they bought out the latter (the name originated from the proto-crossover AMC Eagle); after the Renault agreement ended Chrysler used it mainly as a way to badge-engineer Mitsubishi models, and the brand, given its' lack of a plan and its' overlap with other marques, was dead by 1998. As for Geo, it was essentially an "import fighter" created by Chevrolet based mainly off Suzuki models, and it too was dead by the late 90s, though some models were subsumed into the Chevy lineup and remained there well into the 2000s[[/note]].
35	** Their [[HumongousMecha mechs]] are also named as such.
36	* The original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' has several members of the White Base crew derive their names from WWII-era fighter planes; Amuro Ray comes from the Mitsubishi [=A6M=] Zero ([=A6M=] in Japanese is "A-Roku-Mu", and "zero" is "Rei"); Kai Shiden from the Kawanishi [=N1K2-J=] Shiden Kai, and so forth. A few post-war planes are referenced as well. M'Quve's second in command, Uragang, is named for the Dassault Ouragan, first fielded in the early years of the UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict.
37	** A few subsequent series continue this tradition as well. [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Mashymyre's aide-de-camp, Gordon Goh]], is named for the Horten Ho/Gotha Go 229 prototype jet fighter-bomber.
38	* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is filled with people named after Japanese warships from WWII. In addition, the Horaki sisters are named after three train services of Japan's first bullet train line, the Tokaido Shinkansen: The Hikari service was the original, followed by the slower Kodama, and then by the much faster Nozomi. This appears to point to a convention to the theme naming: older=slower, younger=faster.
39	** In the remake, Asuka's surname is changed from Soryu to Shikinami, to reflect the now-changed background of the character. As per WordOfGod, Rei, Asuka and Mari are all named after the postwar Ayanami-class destroyers rather than their World War Two Fubuki-class namesakes (and the aircraft carrier Soryu, in Asuka's case).
40	* ''Anime/PorcoRosso'''s Gina is named after the nickname of the Fiat G-91 fighter (designated the Ghibli), while Yankee [[TheRival rival]] Curtis is dubbed in honor of the American Curtiss aircraft company (and maybe [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_LeMay Curtis LeMay]]). Miyazaki [[AuthorAppeal really likes]] planes, Italy and TheThirties.
41	* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' - PuppyLove members [[KidSamurai Yahiko]] and [[ShrinkingViolet Tsubame]] are theme named based on a train line.
42	* The Saberdolls from ''Anime/SaberMarionetteJ'' are named after German tanks from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (Tiger, Luchs, and Panther.) This also qualifies them for AnimalThemeNaming.
43	* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by Rimuru in ''Literature/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime''. He names the four powerful demons he recruits after sports cars from his previous life on Earth. First Diablo, then Carrera, then Ultima, and finally Testarossa.
44	[[/folder]]
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46	[[folder:Fan Works]]
47	* ''Fanfic/PeaceForgedInFire'': Several of the Romulan ships are named after the {{Generation Ship}}s that took the Romulans to Romulus in ''Literature/TheRomulanWay''. Among them are the three leads' ships--D'trel's ''Kholhr'' (''Vengeance''), Morgan's ''Aen'rhien'' (''Bloodwing''), and Velal's ''Eyhon Eludet'eri'' (''Lost Road'')--as well as the RedShirt ships ''Delevhas'' (''Shield'') and ''Eyiv s'Rea'' (''Rea's Helm'').
48	* ''Fanfic/ReimaginedEnterprise'': The NX-class ships are named after space shuttles. (See ''Literature/StarTrekEnterpriseRelaunch'' below).
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51	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
52	* One of the members of the Kamikaze team in ''Film/DodgeballATrueUnderdogStory'' is named Suzuki Toyota Oshinawa. Presumably, given how Japanese names work, it's probably not his birth name.
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55	[[folder:Literature]]
56	* In ''Literature/CaptainFrenchOrTheQuestForParadise'', it's not uncommon for people on Solaris to be named after 20th century cars, such as Dodson '''Chrysler''' Sarmishkidu and '''Benz Fiat''' Shalmunazar. A bit strange, considering the events take place 20,000 years from now.
57	* Ford Prefect in ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', whose name came from his mistakenly thinking that cars were the dominant lifeform on Earth when he first arrived. Becomes a theme with the introduction of Hillman Hunter in ''Literature/AndAnotherThing''.
58	* Creator/StephenFry wrote a novel ''Literature/TheStarsTennisBalls'' and realized only halfway through planning it that [[ItsBeenDone his idea was basically]] ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo''. He made it an intentional WholePlotReference with {{Meaningful Name}}s of one sort or another for the characters; Mercedes's counterpart is called Portia.
59	* ''Literature/StarTrekEnterpriseRelaunch'' continues the trend of NX-class ships bearing the names of space shuttles (the ones seen in the show itself were called ''Enterprise'' and ''Columbia'', just like the first two space shuttles).
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62	[[folder:Radio]]
63	* Douglas and Martin in ''Radio/CabinPressure'' seem to get their names from [=McDonnell=]-Douglas and Lockheed-Martin, respectively. (Their plane is said to be a "Lockheed-[=McDonnell=]".) Hercules, meanwhile, is named after the military plane in-universe, and has brothers called Wellington and Harrier.
64	[[/folder]]
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66	[[folder:Video Games]]
67	* The first ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt'' game has villains who are named after vehicles, such as Merak (Maserati Merak), or car-related terms, such as Daytona (Daytona racing).
68	* ''VideoGame/ConwaysGameOfLife'' has the still lifes "boat", "ship", and "barge".
69	* ''VideoGame/DankiraBoysBeDANCING'': Black Meteor Camp dancers have two theme naming schemes, one of them is after ships: ''Ginko'' Habashiri (''Ichōnomaru'', a sunken ship), Rentarō ''Atago'' (three IJN battleships), and Kento ''Tsubaki'' (two IJN battleships and a ferry). Ginko's pet fox Vega is also named after ''USS Vega'' ships.
70	* Irvine's guns in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' are named after famous warships: Valiant, Ulysses, Bismarck, and Exeter.
71	* [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Snow Villiers]] is named after a French motorcycle manufacturer, hence the appearance of his summon.
72	* Most of the [=TSFs=] mechs in ''VisualNovel/MuvLuvAlternative'' (with the exceptions of later Japanese models) are named after real-life American, European, Russian and Chinese fighter aircraft (F-15, Typhoon, Su-27 and J-10 etc.) and even sharing their general characteristics and combat roles.
73	* The Four Devas in ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'' are named after cars - Debonair, Figaro, Previa, and Lebaron, although Lebaron's name was changed to Luvalon in the English version.
74	* The [[SuccubiAndIncubi succubi]] from the {{Hentai}} game and anime ''Viper GTS'' are named after cars: Carrera, Mercedes, and Rati (as in Mase'''rati''').
75	** Hell, even the title is also named after a car (Dodge's).
76	* [[SpacePirate Pirates]] in the ''Videogame/{{X}}-Universe'' series name their [[UsedFuture flying-scrapyard]] capital ships after [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen Age of Sail]] ship classes - Brigantine, Galleon, Carrack, and Caravel.
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79	[[folder:Webcomics]]
80	* In the Webcomic/{{Walkyverse}}, we have Ultra-Car, who probably shouldn't count since s/he was, originally, an actual car. However, in the AlternateUniverse SpinOff ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge,'' human counterpart "Carla" plays it a bit straighter.
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83	[[folder:Western Animation]]
84	* Part and parcel of ''WesternAnimation/ChallengeOfTheGoBots'', especially the toys. Feel free to guess what kind of vehicles Cy-Kill, Scooter, Cop-Tor, Dumper, Super Couper, Throttle, Tail-Pipe, Zero, Buggy Man, and Loco turn into...
85	* In the seventh season penultimate episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' named "Raisins", the waitresses serving at the Hooters parody store have dulcet names like Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari and Lexus.
86	[[/folder]]
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88	[[folder:Real Life]]
89	* The multitudes of porn actresses who name themselves "Porsche," "Mercedes," "Lexus," etc. The connotation is one of wealth and luxury, and rare pleasures.
90	** As a sidenote, Mercedes is (or better, was - thank you, Mr. Daimler) a perfectly fine given name for a girl. [[InvertedTrope The car was named after Mercedes Jellinek]], daughter of Emil Jellinek, a Czech-Hungarian-Austrian-Jewish diplomat and businessman who (among other things) owned one of Daimler's earliest major dealerships (primarily serving the [[UsefulNotes/{{Vienna}} Viennese]] elite). Mr. Jellinek was important enough to the Daimler company that when he asked Wilhelm Maybach (Gottlieb Daimler's main business partner) to design a [[CoolCar fancy sports car]] and name it the "Mercedes" after his daughter, Maybach obliged. The car was such a success that Jellinek actually changed his surname to "Jellinek Mercedes" in honor of the car, making him a very early example of the trope.
91	* Former Michigan Congressmen William Ford, Bob Carr, and Dick Chrysler. Ford is a descendant of Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company. Oddly, the most famous political Ford from Michigan, UsefulNotes/{{Gerald\|Ford}}, was not related.
92	* The space shuttle orbiters (''Challenger'', ''Discovery'', ''Endeavour'', ''Columbia'' and ''Atlantis'', as well as the prototype ''Enterprise'' which never left the atmosphere) were all named after sailing ships.
93	* Technology companies often go with a theme for codenaming their products. AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) used LocationThemeNaming and then AnimalThemeNaming before they began using the names construction vehicles, such as Bulldozer or Excavator.
94	[[/folder]]

Context Main / VehicularThemeNaming