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Examples of characters with Alliterative Names in Likably Terrific Live-Action TV Series.


  • 2 Broke Girls, in one episode, had Caroline's aunt Charity Channingnote .
  • Ten Eight Officers On Duty:
  • 30 Rock has Showrunner Liz Lemon, although "Liz" is short for "Elizabeth". Tracy sometimes calls her "LL".
  • The 100 has Bellamy Blake, Jasper Jordan and Raven Reyes — all main characters.
  • Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has Melinda May and Akela Amador.
  • All About Me gives us Colin Craddock.
  • Arrested Development had Byron Bluth. It also works with his nickname, "Buster".
  • Laurel Lance from Arrow both is and isn't as she is known by her middle name rather than her first given name Dinah. In another name change example, Malcolm Merlyn.
  • Barbary Coast has Cash Conover.
  • Better Than Us: Sonya Safronov.
  • In an episode of The Big Bang Theory, Raj brings up the aforementioned alliterative naming techniques of Stan Lee.
  • The Big Comfy Couch has Granny Garbanzo (sort of).
  • The first season of Blackadder features the Jumping Jews of Jerusalem.
  • The Blacklist protagonist is Raymond Reddington.
    • One of the season 1 characters was Meera Malik.
    • Reddington's "cleaner" is Kate Kaplan.
    • One of the people on Red's list was Crispin Crandall.
    • Liz's adoptive father was Sam Scott.
  • Blue Bloods episode "Occupational Hazards" features one-shot character John Johannson.
  • BIA:
    • Chiara Callegri
    • Daisy Durant
    • Mara Morales
  • Bobby Brady from The Brady Bunch.
  • Walter White from Breaking Bad. Interestingly enough, his name was chosen because it sounded so plain and unassuming. Lampshaded by Hank at one point:
    Hank: W.W., who do you think that is, huh? Woodrow Wilson? Willy Wonka? ... Walter White?
  • Bret Maverick: Barney Broomick in "Hallie".
  • Laura Lancing from The Brittas Empire.
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine has this apparently be a form of Author Appeal for Detective Peralta. When making up characters for he and his Captain to play, he names them Bret Barley and Gerald Jimes (he even says Jimes' fake dead wife is called Jane Jimes).
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer has Cordelia Chase, played by Charisma Carpenter.
  • Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum: Dr. Abobrinha, the show's primary antagonist, insists that his real name is Pompeu Pompilho Pomposo.
  • Castle: Rick Castle is a dashing writer who uses a Pen Name. His given name is Richard Rodgers.
  • Cheers: Cliff Clavin.
  • Over half of the main cast of Coppers End had names like this:
    • Sam Short
    • Eddie Edwards
    • Penny Pringle
    • Chipper Collins
  • The BBC Mini Series Cranford: Lady Ludlow's awesome name is of the title plus surname variant.
  • Criminal Minds:
    • Jennifer Jareau or JJ.
    • Haley Hotchner, Aaron Hotchner's wife.
  • Crusoe has Santos Santana (Joaquim De Almeida).
  • Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle from CSI. Downplayed with LVPD Officer Ray O'Riley.
  • CSI: NY:
    • Averted by Jo Danville, who had refused to take her husband's last name while they were married.
      Jo: Otherwise, my name would've been Jo Josephson...please!
    • Mac's late wife's maiden name had been Claire Conrad. Comes up when his step-son Reed shows up in season 3.
    • There was a villain from Danny's past named Sonny Sassone who showed up in the first two seasons.
  • The Dead Zone, Arthur Allen (George Murdock) in "Enigma".
  • Dekh Bhai Dekh features a character named Durgadas Diwan.
  • Deputy: Bishop's first name turns out to be Brianna.
  • Doctor Who:
  • Silvan Summers in Elvis And Slick Monty.
  • Eureka has Beverly Barlowe. Bonus points for her running a Bed & Breakfast.
  • Farscape: Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu who joins the crew of Moya in the final season. She's usually referred to by just her first name.
  • Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe from Frasier.
  • Saul Silva from Fate: The Winx Saga.
  • Lincoln Lee from Fringe.
  • There are surprisingly few in Game of Thrones, given the large cast: Sansa Stark, Podrick Payne, Lancel Lannister, Salladhor Saan, Mandon Moore, Boros Blount, Galbart Glover, Cley Cerwyn and Leo Lefford. Lancel's name is even lampshaded when Robert asks if he was named by a half-wit with a stutter.
  • Gaslit:
    • Martha Mitchell.
    • Howard Hunt.
    • Charles Colson.
  • Ghostwriter has Jamal Jenkins.
  • Gilligan's Island has Ginger Grant (AKA: "the movie star").
  • Girls: All four lead characters: Hannah Horvath, Marnie Mathison, Jessa Johansson, and Shoshana Shapiro. Additionally Marnie and Shoshana pair up with their respective "ancestors" Miranda and Charlotte.
  • Glee: Sue Sylvester note  and Artie Abrams from as well as Holly Holiday, Sebastian Smythe and Azimio Adams (and Quinn's mentioned sister Frannie Fabray). And Jesse St. James, if you omit the "St." in his name.
  • From Gossip Girl, there's initially only Bart Bass, Chuck's father, and Anne Archibald, Nate's mother. Later seasons introduces more alliteratively-named characters: Damien Dalgaard, Rick Rhodes, Agnes Andrews, Bree Buckley...
  • Gotham: In "Welcome Back, Jim Gordon", Fish Mooney's full name is revealed to be Maria Mercedes Mooney.
  • Catherine Cross (Catherine Cross) in The Grid.
  • Hannah Montana:
  • Hardball's central protagonist is Mikey Mahaki.
  • Henry Danger: The title character's name is Henry Hart. His Social Studies teacher is Sharona Shapen while Captain Man's fix-it guy is Schwoz Schwartz.
  • Heroes:
    • One of the heroes is named Peter Petrelli.
    • The villain's real name is Gabriel Gray. Peter Petrelli and Gabriel Gray are the only powered characters in the series to have these alliterative names. They also seem to be set up as nemeses. They are also the only two characters who have multiple powers, although for different reasons.
    • Richard Drucker, who's a half-step from Dick.
    • As of season 4, there is Samuel Sullivan.
  • Hindsight: Becca Brady's best friend is named Lolly Levine.
  • Home Improvement:
    • Tim Taylor.
    • Wilson W. Wilson, Jr.
  • ''Hooperman: Harry Hooperman (John Ritter), Betty Bushkin (Alix Elias), and Susan Smith (Debrah Farentino).
  • The adaptation Horatio Hornblower:
    • It has the honourable handsome hero Horatio Hornblower. His friend Duchess of Wharfedale likes to call him "Mr Aitch".
    • "The Duchess and the Devil": Duchess of Wharfedale is actually an actress whose real name is Katherine "Kitty" Cobham.
    • Maria Mason, a daughter of Horatio's landlady and his friend. She later marries, and her name loses the alliterative appeal but she sure does not mind.
  • House: Martha M. Masters, a med student brought in as an intern in season 7.
  • iCarly: Spencer Shay, Gibby Gibson and Magic Malika, although it's doubtful that's her proper first name.
  • Lucy's husband Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy.
  • The InBESTigators: Three of the four detectives (Ava Andrikides, Kyle Kilmson and Maudie Miller) have one, with Ezra Banks being the odd man out.
  • The live-action Incredible Hulk series had Robert Bruce Banner (sort of) renamed David in order to invert this trope.note  Curiously, this trope applies to the actor playing the character, Bill Bixby.
  • Insane Clown Posse Theater has Sugar Slam.
  • Inside George Webley has Dirty Dora, a One-Shot Character from "Noblesse Oblige".
  • Interview with the Vampire (2022): The identical twins in "The Thing Lay Still" are named Matthew and Mark MacPhail.
  • The IT Crowd: Maurice Moss. He's mostly referred to as just Moss.
  • Just Roll With It: has Blair Bennett and her stepfather Byron Blatt.
  • Kamen Rider:
    • The main protagonist of Kamen Rider Ghost name is Takeru Tenkuuji.
    • As well, the main and secondary riders for Kamen Rider Gaim are named Kouta Kazuraba and Kaito Kumon.
    • The Oni in Kamen Rider Hibiki exhibit Alliterative Names, at least when their names are transliterated into romaji. As an added bonus, the main characters' names seem to line up with their titles (if you wrote them out in kana, they all have the first same sound)
      • Hibiki: Hitoshi Hidaka
      • Ibuki: Iori Izumi
      • Zanki: Zaoumaru Zaitsuhara
      • Todoroki: Tomizo Todayama (although he was originally meant to take the Zanki title as well, but decides that he needs to define his own path)
  • Law & Order: LA: Carlton Campbell (Jesse Luken) in Harbor City.
  • LazyTown: Robbie Rotten. Also his Icelandic name, Glanni Glæpur.
  • Lost:
    • Claire's aunt is Lindsey Littleton.
    • The air hostess from Oceanic flight 815 was named Cindy Chandler.
    • Also, there's Jack's ex-wife Sarah Shephard.
  • Recurring character Penny Parker on MacGyver (1985), who even lampshades her double initials.
  • M*A*S*H: Two recurring background characters.
    • Staff Sgt. Zelmo Zale who had a long-running feud with Klinger.
    • Nurse Kealani Kellye. Interesting case of The Danza, as Kellye's actress' name is Kellye Nakahara — her first name is the character's surname.
  • Don Draper from Mad Men.
  • Detective Eve Edison from Mann & Machine.
  • Steve Sellers (William Gregory Lee) in The Mentalist.
  • Stan Switek from Miami Vice.
  • The Middle Man, in homage to it's Silver Age-comic roots, has a fair amount of this: Wendy Watson, Guy Goddard, and Tommy Tam come to mind in addition to the MiddleMan himself.
  • Monday Mornings: Dr. Harding Hooten, the Chief of Medical Staff. His In-Series Nickname is likewise alliterative and has double H's: His doctors call him "Hardly Human".
  • Murdoch Mysteries:
    • Constable Henry Higgins. He's a relatively minor character.
    • Exaggerated when his full name is revealed: Henry Hieronymous Higgins.
    • Downplayed when he marries and adds his wife's name to his own and goes by Henry Higgins-Newsome.
  • NewsRadio:
  • NCIS: New Orleans has Patton Plame.
  • Next of Kin gives us Philip Prentice.
  • The Night Manager: Richard Roper is the villain of the piece, though he goes by "Dickie".
  • Nightwatch (2015): Titus Tero. Also applies to his son Tanner.
  • Northern Exposure: Mike Monroe (Anthony Edwards).
  • NUMB3RS: Susan Stone in "Jack of All Trades".
  • On the House has Charlie Cattermole.
  • Our Miss Brooks has student athlete "Stretch" Snodgrass. Ironically, in "Madison Mascot", it turns out that not only does he not know what alliterative means, he can't even pronounce the word.
  • Perfect Strangers gives us Balki Bartokomous.
  • Person of Interest: Sarah Shahi played Sameen Shaw.
  • Power Rangers:
  • Pretty Little Liars has Aria's younger brother Mike Montgomery.
  • A Prince Among Men has Beverley Baker, one of Gary's two secretaries.
  • Smug Snake Brad Bellick from Prison Break.
  • Pushing Daisies loves these: Deedee Duffield, Wilfred Woodruff, Harold Hundin, Billy Balsam, Erin Embry, Calista Cod, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles...
  • Sarah Stewart and Sam Stewart in Raising Dad.
  • Max Meladze in The Recruit (2022).
  • The Red Green Show: "Hi, I'm Winston Rothschild of Rothschild's Sewage and Septic Sucking Services!"
  • Red Oaks: Nash Nasser.
  • Renegade loves this: we have Reno Raines framed for the murder of Bernard "Buzzy" Burrell being pursued by Donald "Dutch" Dickson.
  • Red Dwarf:
    • Kristine Kochanski, a beautiful officer and Lister's great crush, at some continuities his ex-girlfriend.
    • The Talkie Toaster. It might have been a part of marketing strategy to make this device more appealing.
    • Cat's alter ego Duane Dibley. In "Back to Reality", which marked his first appearance, Cat immediately recognizes this is an extremely dorky name and he insists he does not want to be Duane Dibley.
    • One of the sentient vending machines from season 10 is known as Taiwan Tony. Kryten affectionately calls him TT.
    • Lister at one point claimed to have a gay friend called "Bent Bob".
  • Riverdale:
    • Archie Andrews
    • Jughead Jones
    • Chuck Clayton
    • Kevin Keller
    • Moose Mason
    • Fangs Fogarty
    • Terrance Pop Tate
    • Tabitha Tate
    • Toni Topaz
    • Edgar Evernever
    • Evelyn Evernever
    • Penny Peabody
    • Dilton Doiley
    • Britta Beach
    • Ben Button
    • Percival Pickens
  • Lou Lu in Rodney
  • The first episode of Room at the Bottom (1967) had a One-Shot Character called Cyril Culpepper.
  • Evan Earp (Jim Varney) in The Rousters.
  • Sadakatsiz:
    • Several characters have both their first and last names starting with the phoneme "a": Ali Arslan, Aras Ateşoğlu, and Ayse Ateşoğlu, and Asya Arslan. However, Asya's case is special because she divorces her husband, so she returns to being named Asya Yilmaz during most of the show's run, making her a subversion.
    • After becoming Haluk's wife, Gönül adopts the surname Güçlü, thus both of her names start with a soft "g".
  • Saved by the Bell:
    • Kelly Kapowski
    • Becky Belding
  • Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld.
  • Tons of secondary characters on 7th Heaven, including Cecilia Smith, Jordan Johanson, and Peter and Paris Petrowski.
  • Sex/Life:
    • Sasha Snow, Billie's friend.
    • CCooper Connolly, Billie's husband.
  • Shining Vale: Patricia 'Pat' Phelps.
  • Skins gives us Franky Fitzgerald, Jonah Jeremiah Jones, Lara Lloyd, Mini McGuinness and Thomas Tomone. Not to mention Tony Stonem. The American version has Chris Collins and Cadie Campbell.
  • Smallville :
    • Keeping up with its comic book origins, has Lois Lane, Lionel Luthor, Lana Lang, Lucy Lane, and Lex Luthor (though his first name is actually short for Alexander). The Luthor tree also gets another one after The Reveal that Tess Mercer was born Lutessa Lena Luthor.
    • We also get some expanded family trees that run with the theme, such as Lana's parents (Laura and Lewis) and Lex's mom Lillian and grandparents (Lachlan and Eliza.) Also, in a dream world, Lex married Lana and their daughter's name was Lily. Mind you, some of Smallville's LL names are Older Than They Think, mentioned once or twice in gold/silver age comic stories.
    • Alec Abrams/ Stephen Swift, Cassandra Carver, Graham Garrett, Linda Lake, and Maggie McDougal
  • Sons Of Thunder: Donna Dinova (Lisa Lo Cicero).
  • Maggie Morales (Natalie Martinez) on Sons Of Tucson.
  • Standoff: Cheryl Carrera (Gina Torres).
  • Star Trek: Picard: Kar Kantar, the Romulan warlord who attacks La Sirena near the end of "Absolute Candor."
  • Stranger Things: Chrissy Cunningham
  • Suits:
  • The Swedish advent calendar Superhjältejul had quite a few. Supersnällasilversara, Järn-Jerry (though slightly justified as these are both the names of superheroes, and superheroes tend to have these quite a lot), Frigolit Fragile, the Tinnitus Triplets, Flemming Flink…
  • Lucky London on Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad.
  • Supernatural:
  • Switch! (1997) parodied the ZDF News' most senior broadcaster duo, who are called Claus Kleber and Gundula Gause, just as many other Germans did. Needless to say, their interaction in the parody is equally rhyme-ridden.
  • Teen Wolf:
    • Allison Argent
    • Stiles Stilinski.
  • Today's Special: Muffy Mouse.
  • The Trouble With Normal: Stansfield Schlick.
  • The Twilight Zone (1959):
    • In "The Bard", the star of The Tragic Cycle is the acclaimed young actor Rocky Rhodes.
    • In "Ring-A-Ding Girl", the protagonist's name is Barbara "Bunny" Blake while the manager of the Howardsville television station is named Ben Braden.
    • In "The Brain Center at Whipple's", the protagonist's name is Wallace V. Whipple.
  • The Twilight Zone (1985):
  • The Character Narrator of Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter, Wilhelm Winter.
  • In The Vampire Diaries, Stefan Salvatore and Bonnie Bennett.
  • Veronica Mars:
    • Charisma Carpenter played Kendall Casablancas. Hard to believe it was a coincidence that the name of her character starts with double /k/-sound.
    • Cassidy Casablancas.
    • Had Madison and Mac been switched back after being Switched at Birth, they would have been Madison McKenzie and Cindy Sinclair.
  • Voyagers!: The Kid Hero, Jeffrey Jones. His first and last names both start with J.
  • Walker, Texas Ranger:
    • Ricky Ricketts, a money launderer who serves as the villain of Season 3's "The Big Bingo Bamboozle". Along with having the villain of this episode falling under this trope, an Alliterative Title is also included.
    • Season 5's "Patriot" has Trivette's cousin, Jeffrey "JJ" Jordan, a US Army Lieutenant stationed at Fort Kimball who was suspicious of his Sergeant Major's activities. His Sergeant Major was actually the leader of a white supremacist organization known as the Freedom Brigade, and when he learned that JJ caught on to his schemes, he killed him to keep him from talking, setting off the episode's plot.
    • "Crusader" in Season 6 has the titular Cody "the Crusader" Conway (played by "Rowdy" Roddy Piper), a pro wrestler trying to mend his relationship with his son and ex-wife, who are both on the run from her mob boss Bad Boss after she witnesses him commit a murder, all the while coping with a life-threatening aneurysm should he ever try to wrestle again.
    • Season 9's "Desperate Measures" had Randi Ruiz and Hitch Harrelson, who serve as two of of six villains in the episode and two of four convicts who escaped a prison bus bound for the Gatesville Women's Prisonnote . The former, along with her best friend, Aurora Slaughter, is a convicted serial bank robber and murderer who went on to continue their crime spree after their boyfriends freed them from the bus. The latter was sentenced to life without parole for murdering three men, and was left to fend for herself along with her cellmate, Lara Pope (who was unjustly imprisoned for a murder her ex-husband, Garrett, committed), during the escape, and while trying to remain inconspicuous, unknowingly gave Gage a ride back to Dallas after his motorcycle broke down due to two thugs whom he roughed up for harassing them cut the drive belt.
  • The West Wing has Press Secretary Claudia "C.J." Cregg and Communications Director Sam Seaborn.
  • The Hero of Whiplash is Christopher Cobb.
  • Wonder Woman (1975): Wonder Woman, Marion Mariposa
  • Zoe Ever After: Miguel Maldonado (Ignacio Serricchio) and James Jean (Thomas Mikal Ford).


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