On The 100, there are people from the Ark with names like Finn, Monty, or Abigail, others with somewhat more unusual names like Octavia or Thelonius, still others with really odd names like Fox, Atom, or Dax, and then there are people like Clarke or Wells whose given names are traditionally surnames instead.
The Addams Family: Gomez, Morticia, Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley, Pubert (in the live-action films), Itt, and Lurch. Gomez is the only one with a "normal" name, though it's usually a last name.
In Alex Inc the title character's kids are named Ben and Soraya. This comes up in an episode.
A.N.T. Farm gives us such bizarrely named characters as Chyna, Olive, Fletcher, Angus, and Paisley. It also gives us the normally named Cameron and Lexi. There are two weird last names, Chestnut and Houndstooth, compared to the very normal Parks, Doyle, Quimby, and Reed.
Battlestar Galactica (2003) simultaneously carries forward the names of several characters from the original series (as either real names or callsigns), makes frequent use of modern western/American naming conventions, and tosses traditional Greco-Roman names into the mix. As a result, character names run the gamut from near normal (William Adama, Sharon Valerii, Laura Roslin) through slightly unusual but still valid (D'Anna Biers, Anastasia Dualla, Saul Tigh) to downright weird (When was the last time you met someone called Eladio Puasha, or Safiya Sanne, or Galen Tyrol, or Gaius Baltar?)
Gaius is a Roman name, and a fairly common one at that; see for instance the not-terribly obscure political leader Gaius Julius Caesar. Galen was a famous Roman doctor, Callandra is a known Greek name, and Eladio is a somewhat common Spanish name.note Like Don Eladio in Breaking Bad. So they're the Colonial equivalent of real-life biblical names like David, John, Hannah as above.
And "Safiya" is a fairly common (albeit dated) female name in Turkey. Likewise, "Sanne" would not be out of place if it was written as "San", with the pronounciation remaining unchanged. Doesn't change the fact that Colonial names are all over the place.
Then there's mixes like Callandra Henderson, Sekou Hamilton, Louis Hoshi, Billy Keikeya, or Robin Wenutu.
It can sort of be explain by the fact that the characters originate from 12 different planets. The Capricans have more western name, while the other colonies vary in strangeness. The issue is that the series doesn't make it very easy to discern this.
Caprica, by the same token. In the same training camp you have a girl called Lacy... and another girl called Hippolyta. The naming conventions stand out because most of the main characters have modern, "normal" names, and it feels like the writers decided to mess around with Greek, Roman, and other unusual names after they gave most of the main characters more mundane names.
In Blake's 7, the human/Terran citizens of the far-future Federation include present-day or almost present-day names like Roj Blake, Kerr Avon (unusual combination, but both real names), Travis, Sarkoff, Sondheim, Hal and Dayna Mellanby, Del Tarrant ...; and unfamiliar names like Olag Gan, Vila Restal, and Servalan. (Not counting names belonging to non-Terrans like Cally or Zen.)
In Bones, the main characters are (not counting nicknames or last names) are Jack, Angela, Camille, and Lance. With the leads being Seeley and Temperance.
Topanga in Boy Meets World at least had an implied excuse that her weird name was probably a result of their equally weird parents (at least with how they were characterized at the time). However, in Girl Meets World, Stuart Minkus named his kid Farkle with no in-universe reason being apparent so far.
The core cast consists of Buffy, Willow, Xander and Rupert. The last one is older than the others, British, and mostly goes by his last name, Giles.
In the expanded cast there are names such as Cordelia, Spike, Angel and Drusilla alongside Tara, Joyce, Dawn and Riley. Somewhat justified in that most of the odd names are nicknames and the characters' actual names are rather plain (for example, Oz is Daniel, Spike is William and Angel is Liam).
The fact that people on the Hellmouth have unusual names was lampshaded in the very first episode of the show.
Xander is a nickname for Alexander. Willow is a pretty normal name. Buffy's the weird one. Meanwhile, the woman who plays Cordelia is actually named Charisma.
Carrusel shows some examples of this. In-universe, we have the siblings Pablo and Marcelina (ok, so Marcelina is not tremendously out there, but still way more unusual than Pablo). And Carrusel being the remake of Senorita Maestra, compare the surnames of the original teacher Jacinta Pichimahuida (very unusual) vs. the remake's teacher Ximena Fernandez (very common).
Carnival Row seems divided three ways, with "normal" Western names (Sophie, Joshua, Ezra), "unusual" ones (Absalom, Aisling, Imogen), and "completely out of left field" ones, most of which are common nouns (Tourmaline, Vignette, Piety).
Characters in El corazón nunca se equivoca are named as follows: Elsa, Carlota, Soledad, Nora, Dora, Diego, Mateo, Eduardo, Thiago, Amapola, Aristóteles, Arquímedes, Cuauhtémoc, Olegario and Ubaldo.
In Dark Angel the names of Max's X5 "family" run the whole gamut:
With X6s we have Dalton, Bullet, Fixit, Zero and Ralph (a girl)
Justified in that they made up the names themselves, and the normal ones likely came from any contact with the outside world (which was admittedly pretty scarce).
In The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, the main protagonists are Brea, Deethra... and Rian, whose name looks like it comes from Earth rather than Thra. It's pronounced 'Ree-an', however, rather than like 'Ryan'.
Names in Dark Matter (2015) range from normal-sounding to futuristic and spacey.
Time Lords have names ranging from the ridiculous (Romanadvoratrelundar) to the mundane (Susan). Although, Susan may not be her real name — according to the TARDIS Index File, her Gallifreyan name is Arkytior, which translates as "Rose". Also, it's revealed (much later) that Time Lords pick the names they'll be known by, and those names are quite official (Lord President Rassilon addressed the Doctor and the Master as "Lord Doctor" and "Lord Master" while being particularly formal). It makes sense that these names would be derived from all sources — words describing what they do (like the Doctor and the Master), names of people on worlds that had an impact on them (presumably Susan, possibly anyone whose name isn't a dictionary word), or whatever they felt sounded cool at the time (Romana's whole name, and the Doctor's "school" name of Theta Sigma).
Some of the Doctor's companions teeter on this trope as well, running the gamut from relatively common (Sarah, Jamie, Mel, etc) all the way to names like Leela and Perpugilliam (Peri for short).
This can also be the case for whole planets, such as the home planet of the Slitheen family, which is called Raxacoricofallapatorious, which was revealed in "Love & Monsters" to have a sister planet named... Clom.
The Sevateem people from "The Face of Evil" are called Leela, Neeva, Andor, Calib and... Tomas? However, the latter is justified by the fact that they are revealed to be the distant descendants of the crew of a spacecraft from Earth.
"Midnight" names its human cast Joe, Claude, Jethro, Sky, Val, Biff, Dee Dee and Winfold.
"The Time of Angels" gives us Bishop Octavian and clerics Angelo, Christian and Bob. All are holy names, suggesting the existence of a Saint Bob or some such between now and then.
Kazran Sardick in "A Christmas Carol". It's set on an Earth colony, and he's the only character with a name like that; the other named residents of Sardickstown are Abigail Pettigrew; her family Isabella, Eric and Benjamin; and Kazran's father, Elliot.
In Emerald City, the names in Oz cover the whole spectrum from the fantastical (Glinda, Mombi, Tip) to the mundane (Elizabeth, Jack, Anna).
In Family Matters, Waldo Faldo's family have some rather... um... colorful names: he has two sisters, Quesadilla and Noxima, cousins, Doofus and Bobaloba-Ding-Dong, and an Aunt Velveeta, married to his Uncle Jalapeño, and their twin boys, Nacho and Gary.
Eddie: "Gary"?! Waldo: Yeah, there's something odd about him.
Firefly: Setting Mal(colm) Reynolds aside, we have... Kaywinnet "Kaylee" Frye, Zoe Alleyne, Inara Serra, Derrial Book, Jayne Cobb, Hoban Washburne, and River and... Simon Tam? Okay, Zoe's an everyday name, and Kaylee is approaching normal (though it's a nickname), but what better example than "River and Simon".
Even the cast suffers from this: Nathan, Gina, Alan, Adam, Ron, and Sean vs. Morena, Jewel, and Summer.
Friends: Chandler was a much more unusual name than the likes of Joey or Rachel.
Well, Aerys and Robb. People from Westeros tend to have European names, some familiar (Robert, Jon) and others more exotic (Eddard, Sandor, Cersei, Yoren), while others still are typical European names with odd spellings (Olyvar, Petyr). People whose families hail from outside Westeros, such as the Dothraki and the Targaryens, have fantastical names (Aerysnote though the most apparently popular Targaryens' first name, Aegon, is actually a slight modification on Egon, an actual German name, Drogo).
This trope is particularly apparent with denizens of the Vale in Westeros. They tend to have common sounding names for a fantasy setting, with pronunciations and spellings slightly altered - Jon, Lysa, Petyr, Anya and Yohn - alongside names like Ser Vardis and Ser Waymar.
This is actually somewhat historically accurate given the show's quasi-Medieval setting. Name spellings were much more fluid in the past to the point where even the same person might spell their own name differently on different occasions. This why, even today some very common names are pronounced the same, but spelled differently (e.g Catherine & Katherine).
House Stark has Eddard and Robb, but Stark men tend to have names that are less fantastic (Brandon, Robb, Ned, Jon, Ben) than the girls (Lyanna, Sansa, Arya).
The mainline branch of House Lannister has Tywin, Cersei and Tyrion as fantastic names. Jaime, Kevan, Willem, Martyn and Lord Tytos are unusually spelt variations of familiar names, while canon foreigners like Reginald and Orson have real world common names.
This also goes for place names. The continent of Westeros boasts names like King's Landing and the North, while Essos is home to places like Braavos, Meereen, and Valyria.
House of the Dragon: Rhaenyra Targaryen's two elder sons have traditional Valyrian names, Jacaerys and Lucerys, while her youngest has the Westerosi name Joffrey. Justified as Rhaenyra had not thought of a name yet, which her husband Laenor took advantage of to name the child after his late lover.
Alicent Hightower: That's an unusual name for a Velaryon.
On Good Omens, some characters have normal names (Adam Young, Pepper, Brian, Newton), while others have weird names (Aziraphale, Crowley, Dog, Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery).
Hawaii Five-0 gives us Kono, Chin Ho, Kamekona, Danno… and Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett.
The recurring villains are Sang Min, Wo Fat, and Victor.
Of course, Danno is usually called "Danny," many other recurring characters have very common American names — Max, Jenna, Catherine, Grace, Rachel — and you would expect a lot of Asian or Hawaiian names in a show set in Honolulu, so I'd argue that it's justified in this 'verse. (It's still odd that they didn't feminize Kono's name when they updated the series, though.)
Interview with the Vampire (2022): When it comes to French names, there are ordinary ones like Louis, Antoinette and Nicolas, but Lestat is not an actual French name; it was made up by Anne Rice, an American who isn't a native French speaker. "Lestat" violates French pronunciation rules because the final "t" should be silent (just like how the "s" in Louis and Nicolas are silent note although Lestat mispronounces the latter in episode 6; his actor Sam Reid is Australian, so he says "Nicolas" like an anglophone would), yet it's pronounced with the "t" sound at the end.
Key & Peele's "East/West Bowl" skits is chiefly a Long List of fictional American football players with a Ghetto Name. The first skit in particular showcases this trope the best, as it starts with names like D'Marcus Willums and Tyroil Smoochie-Wallace before becoming increasingly absurd and ridiculous to names like Shakiraquan T.G.I.F. Carter, Donkey Teeth, and (The player formerly known as Mousecop), before ending with...Dan Smith.
On Kickin' It, you have characters named Jack, Jerry, Kim, Eddie, and Rudy, which don't sound so bad. Then there's Milton. Of the actor's names, Mateo is the "oddball" (compared to Leo, Dylan, Olivia, Alex, and Jason).
On The Last Kingdom, which takes place in 9th century England, because a few Norse and Saxon names have remained current to the present day, you have familiar names like Edmund and Alfred alongside others like Uhtred, Ubba, and Aethelwold.
Legend of the Seeker does this quite a bit, both with its principal cast (Richard, Kahlan, and Cara, along with Zeddicus and Darken Rahl), and with its guests (Nicci, Flynn and Bridget alongside Demmin Nass, Du Chaillu, and Ranssyn Fane).
David Letterman did a gag in which he invited Osama Bin Laden's brother Darryl Bin Laden onstage.
Look Around You is set in a truly bizarre universe where Mary, Jean, Imhotep and Lord Scotland are casually used as names in a math problem, Partario is a real name, and "n+9+9" is known as "cDonald's theorem". And in the second series, it's legal to change your name to Computer or Synthesizer.
The Board of Shamen in The Mighty Boosh is made up of aliens and strangely dressed humanoids, but Saboo is the only member with an exotic name while the rest are extremely common - for example, the strangest looking member is named Tony Harrison.
Inverted in the ''The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power much like in the books, where the actually normal-sounding names are the Aeriths in the setting among the fantasy names. Of course, most of those names are worn by the Canon Foreigner characters.
Several humans have completely realistic names, such as Bronwyn (an English common name), and her son, Theo, whose name is either the diminutive of names like Theodor/Theodora or even a name on its own in real life.
Mighty Med has characters named Oliver, Skylar, Alan, and Gus — and if you're willing to stretch it, Horace, Jordan, Wallace, Clyde, and Stefanie. Nothing too bad. The remaining name? Kazimieras. No wonder he goes by "Kaz".
Melevisione has Tonio, Nina, Lucio along with arcaic names like Odessa and entirely made-up names based on animals, like Rosarospa, Varana, Salamandra, or plants, like Linfa, Quercia, Giglio. Also on physics like Eco, Lampo, Baleno or arabic names Abu, Ben-Set, Shirin
Modern Family has a non-fantasy example with Cam's list of friends he wanted to invite to his fundraiser in Regrets Only: Longinus, Pepper, Lamichael, Steven and Stephan, aaand… Bob.
The members of the Spanish Inquisition in Monty Python's Flying Circus are Cardinal Ximénez, Cardinal Biggles and Cardinal Fang.
In Mork & Mindy, humans have typical names like Mindy and Fred, while Orkans have names like Mork and Zelka, with the exception of one Orkan, who's inexplicably named Orson.
An Inverted example occurs in The Orville episode "Krill." While disguised as aliens, Ed panics when asked for his and Gordon's name, and blurts out "Chris and Devon." The aliens comment that those are unusual names, but otherwise don't question it.
In the short lived 80s series Otherworld, one of the sons of the family trapped in a foreign dimension is apparently named "Smith".
In Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, the rangers are Leo, Kai, Damon, Maya, and Mike. All pretty normal, right? Well, the one left out of that list is Kendrix. The only one without a normal name, who happens to be from Earth, while Maya, who has a real name, is from a fictional planet. Kendrix is left over from the original concept of the series, which is that it would have taken placesome years after after the end of Power Rangers in Space.
SPD gave us characters named Jack, Elizabeth, and Sydney alongside ones called Boom and Bridge. Everyone in the series has a nickname, almostnote Syd = Sydney, Z = Elizabeth, Sky = Schuyler, an actual if uncommon present-day-Earth name, Doggie = Anubis Cruger, and even Jack is often short for Jonathan., but no source gives us other names for Bridge and Boom, so it could be that their parents are just as interesting as they are. (However, Bridge is sometimes short for Bridget, which can be a male name on very rare occasion.)
We even met Boom's parents, and a character who didn't know them (aside from the fact that they were Boom's parents) hesitated before referring to them as "Mr. and Mrs. Boom." They sort of chuckled, but didn't offer an alternative. Whether that means it is or isn't their real last name is a good question.
Way back in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Jason, Tommy, Billy, Zack, Kimberly, and… Trini. Trini is a slang term for a native of Trinidad as well as a short form of the Spanish name "Trinidad", which refers to the Trinity (in fact, Chicano singer Trini Lopez was named Trinidad and used Trini as a nickname.) Despite this, the actress and the character were Vietnamese. However, in the unaired pilot episode, the character of Trini was played by Hispanic-American actress Audri Dubois. The character was rewritten for Thuy Trang, but the name stuck.
In Power Rangers Mystic Force, the magic realm has inhabitants who wouldn't seem out of place in a Tolkien novel, such as Udonna, Daggeron and Calindor, next to Clare and Phineas. Phineas isn't even a human, he's a half-troll half-goblin. It doesn't really apply with regards to the Rangers themselves, who have regular human names that the fantasy names of the magic realm deliberately contrast against, but Daggeron is also the Sixth Ranger, so he gets to be the Odd Name Out.
Noted by Bob Barker in The Price Is Right when the four players on contestant's row were Garcelia, Jolinda, Evlira... and Mike. It's even funnier that Mike's last name is Lampiñano.
Psych: In "This Episode Sucks", Margo says that one of her housemates probably made a suspicious call asking for a pint of blood. The housemates' names are "Jake, Eddie, Lucien." Shawn, Gus, and Juliet immediately ask to talk to Lucien. It was actually Eddie - aka "Edward". There's also the Running Gag in which Shawn will introduce himself and Gus to someone by saying "I'm Shawn Spencer and this is my partner, (some ridiculous or foreign-sounding pseudonym, e.g. Lavender Gooms)." Not only do people not even blink at the idea, they often take to referring to Gus by whatever Shawn introduced him as for the remainder of the episode.
The eponymous family from Republic of Doyle seems to switch each generation, from Malachy to Jake to Tinny.
Malachy and Jake are pretty reasonable names for an Ulster-Scots/Irish background like Newfoundland, especially with a surname like Doyle. We should maybe just hope 'Tinny' is short for something, though.
Her actual name is Katrina. With her mother being named Kathleen, 'Kat' was probably already taken.
In Salute Your Shorts, the campers are named or nicknamed: Zizi, Telly, Dina, Donkeylips, Sponge, Budnick, Ug (the counselor), and... Michael. This was probably done to show that he didn't really fit in, as he was the last to arrive and the others already had established relationships. Eventually, Michael got replaced with the obnoxious Pinsky.
The main cast of Seinfeld: Jerry, George, Elaine, and Cosmo. No wonder the latter goes by "Kramer".
George once mentioned that he wanted to name his first child, 7, after Mickey Mantle's number. Whether he meant the word or the number is unclear. He told that to a couple that was expecting and became upset when they decided to "steal" it from him.
More noticeable in the modern re-make of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock, where the traditional last-name basis for the characters is dropped, giving us Sherlock and John.
Non-Tau'ri humans in Stargate SG-1 run the gamut from things like Odai Ventrell, Narim, and Adan Corso, to folks like Jonas Quinn who could've been from a small town on Earth.
One could even argue that the show's title team exemplifies this, with its members being Sam, Daniel, Jack, and Teal'c. Later continued with Sam, Cam, Daniel, Vala, and Teal'c. Still holds true, though in this case there are actually two aliens on the team — Vala just happens to have a name that sounds normal enough that it doesn't raise any questions. Her stepmother and sort-of daughter are both named Adria, which might not be an Earth name, but definitely sounds like it could be. Her father, on the other hand, has the Polish name Jacek.
Also in play with Earth's space fleet. Prometheus, Daedalus, Apollo, Odyssey, and ... George Hammond. There is an explanation for this one, though, both in- and out-of-universe: it was originally going to be named Phoenix, but was renamed when the actor who had played George Hammond died of a heart attack, and the writers incorporated it into the story.
The other ships that don't follow the pattern are the Korolev and the Sun Tzu, but since they are Russian and Chinese respectively and therefore not named by the USAF, they get a pass.
Star Trek has several examples because many characters are from different planets/countries. It's more conspicuous when none of the characters in question is an alien. Jim Kirk's brother is named Sam, Sam's son is Peter, and Sam's wife is... Aurelan?
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Worf has a one-quarter human son Alexander (named by his half-human mate K'Ehlyr). On the Klingon homeworld, this sets the boy apart from other Klingons whose names are wholly Klingon spelled in mixed cases, usually beginning with K, and often accented with an apostrophe.
The names of demons in Supernatural show a lot of variety. For the first two seasons their primary antagonist were the demons Azazel and Meg. See also Lilith, Ruby, Samhain, and Alastair.
Meg was just the name of the girl she was wearing when they met her. The girl's ghost turns up and lambasts them at the start of season four. They keep using her name for the demon, because it's simpler. 'Ruby' probably picked that name for Rule of Cool.
The show's angel names seem to come in two flavors: names with the -el suffix (Castiel, Gabriel, Samandriel, etc) and Biblical names that aren't necessarily angelic by tradition (Rachel, Naomi, Zachariah, etc.). Whether a name seems "Aerith" or "Bob" depends on how many people have been named after that particular religious figure in Real Life:
Their main angel connections are Castiel, Uriel, and Zachariah. A Biblical name, yes, but one which departs from the Semitic -el pattern most egregiously. Zachariah was a man, and the fellow so called tends to refer to the race of man as 'hairless apes' at best. 'Anna Milton' does not count, even though other angels continue to call her by it even once she's recognized, because it's a pseudonym.
'Michael' and 'Gabriel' have had so many people named after them, their names look normal. Raphael not quite so much. Lucifer only gets called by his titles; apparently that stricken-from-the-book-of-life thing was for reals. Or he was actually named that, which makes him one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-others.
A leading candidate for his angel name is actually Sammael. Owch.
The angel Balthazar, anyone? (The name is apocryphally attached to one of the three wise men, along with Melchior and Caspar. Balthazar's the Arab.)
The hunting community is mostly Sam's and John's and Bobby's, but Gordon Walker's partner is named Kubrick.
In The Thundermans, the names in the band are Oyster, Gideon, Angus (replaced by Wolfgang) and Max.
The names of the vampires in True Blood ranges from the old-worldy/exotic—Sophie-Anne Leclerq, Russell Edgington, Talbot, Pamela Swynford De Beaufort—to the downright plain—Eric, Jessica, Bill. Lampshaded by Sookie (er... is that Cajun for something?); "Bill? I thought it might be Antoine or Basil or, like, Langford maybe. But Bill? Vampire Bill?"
The Tomorrow People (1973): The 90s series has Adam, Lisa, Kevin, Ami, Jade, and...Megabyte. Lampshaded in Monsoon Man, "Family Name; goes back generations."
Utopia Falls: People in New Babyl have a mix of names common now (Gerald, Sage, Anna), more exotic but still used (Bodhi, Reia) and ones that while not invented are pretty unheard of (Tempo, Chyra, Brooklyn etc).
Vagrant Queen: Though many of the other galaxy's individuals are given different names, some have those from Earth (like Eileen) with no explanation.
During a Props game on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Wayne Brady and Colin Mochrie enacted a gladiator battle. Wayne announced himself with a booming "Spartacus!", while Colin retorted with a casual "Phil".
Wonder Woman (1975): The two princesses of Paradise Island: Drusilla and Diana. Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman, respectively
In Worzel Gummidge, scarecrows are generally called weird things like Worzel Gummidge and Soggy Boggart, but one is called Anna Arrow. The animals' names also vary, from Daisy (a cow) to Ratter (a dog).
, her Gallifreyan name is Arkytior, which translates as "Rose". Also, it's revealed (much later) that Time Lords pick the names they'll be known by, and those names are quite official (Lord President Rassilon addressed the Doctor and the Master as "Lord Doctor" and "Lord Master" while being particularly formal). It makes sense that these names would be derived from all sources — words describing what they do (like the Doctor and the Master), names of people on worlds that had an impact on them (presumably Susan, possibly anyone whose name isn't a dictionary word), or whatever they felt sounded cool at the time (Romana's whole name, and the Doctor's "school" name of Theta Sigma).