People only known by their titles in movies.
In General:
- Several Soviet comedies by Leonid Gaidai (including Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures and Kidnapping, Caucasian Style) feature a trio of bumbling crooks, whose names are never spoken aloud. In fact, the only way to know even their nicknames is from the end credits, where they're revealed to be the Coward, the Fool, and the Pro.
- The character Charlie Chaplin played in most of his films was usually just called "The Tramp", as well as being an example of The Tramp.
Specific Movies:
- 3 Days to Kill: The Albino is a man with albinism, who's always referred to this way.
- The American President has this as such a driving theme that it's reflected in the title of the movie. Andrew Shepard can't even get his best friend to address him by name when they're shooting pool. Once their romantic relationship takes off, Sidney becomes the only member of the cast to call him by his name (other than his daughter by his first wife, who calls him "Dad").A.J.: Nice shot, Mr. President.
President Shepherd: 'Nice shot, Mr. President?' You won't even call me by my name when we're playing pool?
A.J.: I will not do it playing pool, I will not do it in a school. I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam I Am.
President Shepherd: At ease, A.J., at ease. - In Ask a Policeman, the Squire and the Coastguard are only ever addressed by their job title. The Chief Constable's name is mentioned once, when Dudfoot reads it off his business card, but otherwise he is only referred to as Chief Constable.
- In Australia, Hugh Jackman's character is only called the Drover.
- In Baghead (2023), The Solicitor is never named, but just referred to as 'The Solicitor'. It is possible he may not even have a name.
- Barbarella: The Black Queen is only ever called that, or by the typical royal titles. Alternatively "Great Tyrant" when she has yet to show up and the movie is trying to fake you out regarding her gender. She did get a proper name (Slupe) in the original comics, but she was probably lying about it.
- In Batman Returns, the Ice Princess's real name is unknown; she was only referred to as "The Ice Princess" by reporters after her kidnapping by The Penguin. Similarly, the performers' real names for the Red Triangle Circus Gang are unknown.
- From Bunraku, the bartender is known only as Bartender. Or occasionally Barkeep.
- The majority of characters in Cemetery Man refer to Francesco as "Engineer." Nobody calls him by his first name, except perhaps Franco.
- Change of Habit has a Loan Shark known only as The Banker.
- Subverted with Lady Tremaine from Cinderella (2015). In the promotional material for the film
◊, Tremaine is credited as "The Wicked Stepmother." She is, however, identified as "Lady Tremaine" throughout the actual film. (In the original animated Disney version, she is never addressed as such, although the herald at the Prince's ball calls Anastasia and Drizella "the daughters of Lady Tremaine.") - One of the protagonists in Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away is an acrobat known only as the Aerialist.
- Clue: The Cook, the Cop, the Motorist, and the Singing Telegram are only ever referred as such, even by the characters that know their names. May also count for Professor Plum and Colonel Mustard, who are a professor and colonel, respectively, and the colors are not their real surnames.
- In The Curiosity of Chance, Chance and his sister refer to their Army officer father as "Sir."
- This appears to be a cultural norm for Skeksis in The Dark Crystal, as they exclusively refer to each other by their titles in the movie. The prequel series does occasionally have them use each other's names but they still seem to prefer being addressed by their titles.
- The Butcher and the Postman in Delicatessen constantly refer to each other as "Boucher" and "Facteur" (it's a French movie).
- Miss Sweet from Doctor in Clover is mostly just referred to as Matron, which is her position in the hospital.
- The Driver from Drive (2011) is never given a name, not even in the end credits.
- None of the characters in The Driver have names. In the credits they're listed as The Driver, The Detective, The Player. etc.
- In Erik the Viking, one of the character's is known as Sven's Dad... because he's Sven the Berserk's dad. He's even listed as "Sven's Dad" in the credits.
- The cab driver from Escape from New York even introduces himself as "Cabbie".
- Exam: The Invigilator, the security guard and the CEO, who are never given names, only their positions.
- Many of the characters in The Fall, including the Indian, the Black Bandit, and "the actor with only one leg".
- The Feast series rarely gives the main characters actual names; no names are ever mentioned in the dialogue and the in-film bios and the credits just use nicknames ("Hot Wheels", "Shitkicker", "Secrets", etc.) or just refer to the characters by what they are ("Heroine", "Bartender", "Bossman", etc.)
- The Gentlemen has a boxing coach who's only ever referred to (even in the credits) as "the Coach".
- Of the main characters in Guns, Girls and Gambling, , only the Sheriffs (Hutchins and Cowley), Vivian and (possibly) Mr. Crow are consistently addressed by their actual names. Everybody else is referred to by a nickname (e.g. Mo, Redfoot and Dark Eyes), a physical description (The Blonde), a job title (The Chief, The Rancher), a self-given title (The Cowboy, The Indian), a description based on where they first appeared (The Girl Next Door), or , the case of the Elvis Impersonators, the name Elvis which an additional descriptor (Asian, Gay, Little Person, and Elvis).
- Hannie Caulder: The Preacher is only known by that name.
- The Harder They Come: The preacher who takes in Ivanhoe (and whose ward runs off with Ivanhoe) is simply called Preacher throughout the movie.
- Hocus Pocus: Max is repeatedly called "Hollywood" by Salem, Massachusetts, delinquents Jay and Ernie (sorry, Ice) because he has recently moved to Salem from Southern California — and in Jay and Ice's minds, the only important thing about Southern California is Hollywood. (And the fact that "Holly" is a female name might also be a factor in humiliating Max.)
- Hostile Waters has "Pumps", a sailor who sits in front of a bank of control valves and is responsible for ballasting the sub and maintaining equal pressure in all compartments.
- Though they are given names in the film proper, marketing for Inception referred to the main characters by their role in the heist (The Extractor, The Architect, The Tourist, The Mark, The Shade, The Point Man, and The Forger).
- In In the Name of the King, Jason Statham's character is always called Farmer. When asked by his son, he explains that it's his belief that everyone should be called by his or her job. Some sources claim that his real name is Damon. In fact, his real name is revealed to be Prince Camden Conreid, although he doesn't know it for much of the film.
- In the classic Norwegian christmas movie The Journey to the Yule Star, everyone except the main heroine Sonja/Gulltopp, as well as three of the washing staff are only known by their titles. These include the King, the Queen, the Jester, the Crone and the Count. The Harlequin may be a case of His Name Really Is "Barkeep", as he's introduced to the court as "a person by the name of Harlequin]].
- In the Jurassic Park sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park, when the Tyrannosaurus rampages through the streets of San Diego, one poor man makes a failed attempt to get into a locked building and becomes dinosaur food. He's forever memorialized in the credits as "Unlucky Bastard." Talk about truth in advertising...
- In Kill Bill the protagonist is known as The Bride. Later, she is called by the nickname Kiddo. Only later do we discover her real name is Beatrix Kiddo, but she is still called The Bride in the credits. The second film adds "a.k.a. Black Mamba a.k.a. Beatrix Kiddo a.k.a. Mommy"
- The Last Witch Hunter:
- The leader of the witches is simply known as the Witch Queen.
- Axe and Cross' Dolans seem to use no name beyond [number]th Dolan.
- To some extent in Legend of the Black Scorpion, due to rank. The Empress says that it has been so long since anyone called her by her real name that she had forgotten it.
- Lucky Number Slevin has major characters named The Rabbi, The Fairy and so forth. When anyone asks why they are called what they are, the answer invariably is "because he is one."
- In A Man Called Sledge, John Marley's character is only ever addressed as 'Old Man'.
- The title character of El Mariachi is only known by that name, even in the sequels where he can no longer play guitar. By Once Upon a Time in Mexico, people treat it like it's his real name and shorten it to "El" (singular masculine "The", in Spanish).
- In The Matrix, some programs are named after their function (e.g. the Oracle, the Trainman, the Keymaker, the Architect). Others are named for a distinguishing feature (e.g. the Merovingian, the Twins).
- Mean Machine: The Governor is only known by his job title.
- Monsters Crash the Pajama Party. The Mad Scientist is named "Mad Doctor" and even has it on his lab coat, and is only ever addressed by that name.
- In The Monster Squad, we never find out Fat Kid's name until his They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! moment of utter badassery, in which he informs his former bullies that his name is HORACE!
- In Moonrise Kingdom, the woman from social services is known only as "Social Services."
- The Mountie: The Posthumous Character Grayling and Cleroa retrieve from a tree at the start of the film, and whose murder becomes a driving force for Grayling, is only known to the locals as 'the Mountain Man'.
- In Mystery Road, Sarge is only ever addressed as 'Sarge' or 'Sergeant': never by his name.
- During Freddy's rampage at the pool party in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge, one of the partiers tries to reason with him, and we're treated to a sequence of the guy treating Freddy like some kind of animal while trying talk him down ("It's okay, nobody's gonna hurt you"); Freddy hurls the guy at a barbecue, which blows up when the kid hits it. The credits just list the character as "Do-Gooder."
- The Bootlegger from Night Nurse.
- No Kidding, Matron and Cook's names aren't revealed, so the two of them are referred to by their occupations.
- The Professor, the spymaster in Hitchcock's North By Northwest.
- In The Odd Angry Shot, the unit's medic is never addressed as anything other than 'Medic'. And the One-Scene Wonder that is the Padre.
- The boss of the hero's cowboy outfit in Open Range uses simply "Boss" as his first name, even introducing himself as "Boss Spearman" and that's the only name anyone for most of the film knows him as. Turns out, he understandably sees his real first, Bluebonnet, as so embarrassing, he only reveals it to his closest friend Charlie, just before the final showdown, when they think they will likely die anyway and still makes Charlie swear never reveal it on the off chance they survive.
- Blackbeard's voodoo zombies in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides are referred to only as "Quartermaster" and "Gunner".
- The Producers: The Bartender is called "innkeeper" by Bialystock while he and Bloom celebrate the expected failure of Springtime For Hitler.
- The coffee shop owner in Pulp Fiction is credited as "Coffee Shop" due to his only line in the film being "I'm just a coffee shop — " before being interrupted.
- Lady from The Quick and the Dead. She has a real name, but nobody in the town knows it and the audience doesn't learn it till quite late in the movie.
- Red Sparrow: Matron's real name is never given, even in the credits; her dress uniform at the end of the film doesn't even have a nametape on it.
- Red Wolf: The movie's Big Bad is the traitorous first mate of a ship who ordered a mass hijacking... and is simply referred to as First Mate the entire film, even by his equally-evil henchwoman-girlfriend.
- Repo! The Genetic Opera abounds with these characters — Grave-Robber, Single Mother, Band Leader, News Reporter, and the Repo Man all count.
- Robin Hood (2018): The Sheriff of Nottingham isn't referred to by name.
- In RoboCop 3, the head of OCP is simply referred to as the "CEO". In a case of All There in the Manual, while it still doesn't state his first name, the comic adaptation by Dark Horse Comics reveals he's Bob Morton's father.
- Hilariously used in Rock N Rolla, with the Councilor, to the point when another character gives him something and says "It has your name on it," it actually says "The Councilor."
- In Satan's Cheerleaders, Sheriff Bubb keeps adressing the monk as 'Monk', and it is not clear if he is addressing him by title or if his surname actually is 'Monk'.
- "The Girl" in the play and movie The Seven Year Itch.
- A police officer in Sinister is only referred to as Deputy So-and-So. In the sequel, he's no longer a deputy but still isn't given a name and is credited simply as Ex-Deputy So-and-So.
- In Snow White & the Huntsman, the Huntsman is exclusively known by his job title, though his real name is supposedly Eric.
- In the Russian film Stalker (1979) by Andrei Tarkovsky, the three main characters are Stalker, Writer, and Professor, each named for his profession. The viewers are never told their "real" names.
- Star Wars did this at first, later adding in the names.
- The Emperor was never named, although the novel adaptation supplies the name Palpatine, which is used in the prequels.
- In The Empire Strikes Back, everybody refers to Boba Fett as "Bounty Hunter". The Star Wars Holiday Special, his first actual appearance, gave his name, which is (barely) used in Return of the Jedi.
- Tank Girl. Tank Girl only calls Jet Girl by that name or some variation (e.g. Jet, Jettina, etc.).
- In Ten Dead Men, Hart's Torture Technician is only known as 'the Projects Manager'.
- In The Terror of the Tongs, Beggar is an agent of an underground movement against the tongs who poses an beggar on the waterfront. He is never referred to as anything other than 'Beggar'.
- In That Thing You Do!, not only is the bass player never referred to by any other name, but he is listed in the credits as T. B. Player.
- Twice Round the Daffodils: Matron's name is never given, and she is only referred to by her job title.
- Pretty much everybody in Undercover Brother: Undercover Brother, Conspiracy Brother, Smart Brother, Sista Girl, the Chief, the Man, Mr. Feather, and White She-Devil. The only main character with a clear name is Lance, the token white guy.
- Nobody in Vampires vs. Zombies every addresses the General by name: only rank.
- The Waterboy: Everybody refers to Bobby Boucher's overprotective mother as "Mama". Bobby later finds out from old letters that her first name is Helen.
- In Waterworld, the main character is known only as the Mariner. Subverted in the extended edition, wherein, after the heroes reach Dry Land, Helen gives the Mariner a real name, just before he heads back out onto the ocean. It's "Ulysses," the Latin version of 'Odysseus', the eponymous protagonist of Homer's Odyssey.
- Sarah Silverman's character in The Way of the Gun is credited simply as "Raving Bitch".
- In The White Ribbon, children have names but adults only referred as The School Teacher, the Doctor, the Baron, etc.
- In Zathura, the astronaut is referred to by everyone (including himself at one point) as "The Astronaut", on account of him never saying his name. The other characters learn his name in his final scene, in what turns out to be a reveal with significant implications.
- Zombieland: all the main characters call themselves after the city they are from instead of their names, a tradition started by Tallahassee. The only exception is Wichita, who reveals her name to be Krista to Colombus at the end of the first movie.
