I Have Many Names / Literature

Characters with many names in literature.

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• Robert Rankin: Hugo Artemis Solon Saturnicus Reginald Arthur Rune.
• Roger Zelazny:
  • Sam, the protagonist of Lord of Light, lists some of his many names in the opening of the book. Of course, he is the self-styled Buddha of his world, and the Buddha also had many names. It's never revealed whether Sam is also his original given name, or just something English-sounding that he fashioned from the title Mahasamatman (which literally means, at least as it is presented in the novel, "Great-Souled Sam").
  • Conrad Nomikos, in This Immortal, has tons of names, almost all starting with Konstantin, because he's been creating a new identity for himself every twenty years or so for centuries.
  • The narrator of My Name Is Legion has a back door into the global data bank that allows him to document just about any identity he cares to invent. Proving that history classes in his time suck, no one ever seems to think anything of him using names like Albert Schweitzer, James Madison, or John Donne. His original name is never revealed, even in the two conversations with mind-readers.
• Stephen King: The recurring character Randall Flagg also goes by the Man in Black, the Walkin' Dude, the Dark Man, Old Creeping Judas, Richard Fry, Russell Faraday, Marten Broadcloak, Nyarlahotep, He Who Walks Behind the Rows, Walter Padick, and Walter O'Dim, among other names.

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• The Adventures of Tom Rynosseros: The main character has the birth name of Tom Tyson; throughout his stories, he is called Blue Tyson, the Blue Captain, Tom o'Bedlam, and Tom Rynosseros.
• American Gods: In the House on the Rock scene, when Wednesday tells Shadow the many names he has been called over the centuries, leaving the most well known for Shadow to say, "Odin." He later claims to have as many names as there are ways for a human to die, which is pretty accurate.
• Anna Karenina: Most characters have a first name, patronymic, surname, Russian nickname, and English nickname(s). his, Darya, Darya Alexandrovna, Princess Oblonskaya and Dolly are all the same person, and she may be referred to by all these names in a single conversation.
• Area 51: Aspasia uses numerous aliases over the millennia, Al-Iblis and Domeka being just a couple.
• The Baroque Cycle: Jack Shaftoe is known as Half-Cocked Jack (for coolness reasons), L'Emmerdeur, the King of the Vagabonds, Ali Zaybak, Quicksilver, Sword of Divine Fire, and Jack the Coiner.
• The Bartimaeus Trilogy: Bartimaeus does this a lot. However, only the main one seems to have power over him. Additionally none of them are his true name, but Bartimaeus is forced onto his nameless essence to summon him.
• Bazil Broketail: Waakzaam the Great, also known as the Dominator of the Twelve Worlds, Deceiver or Lord of Evil.
• The Belgariad:
  • Parodied, like many other tropes, in The Malloreon, in the form of another Overly Long Gag:
    King Belgarion of Riva, Overlord of the West, Lord of the Western Sea, Godslayer, and general all-around hero, had an extended argument with his co-ruler, Queen Ce'Nedra of Riva, Imperial Princess of the Tolnedran Empire and Jewel of the House of Borune. The subject of their discussion hinged on the question of just who should have the privilege of carrying Crown Prince Geran, Heir to the Throne of Riva, hereditary Keeper of the Orb, and, until recently, the Child of Dark.
  • Earlier, when Belgarath's identity is still a tenuous secret and source of much confusion to Garion, the old man states that he has many names and chooses to go by "Wolf" at the moment, suggesting he takes many aliases as he travels the world. However, once the cat of his true name is out of the bag, he sticks with that for the rest of the series and never attempts to go incognito, although he has some other titles such as "Disciple of Aldur" and "Ancient and Beloved" that come in for some use. Garion, of course, goes on to attain the above additional appellations afterwards.
  • Then there's Silk. Well, that was his name at the Drasnian spy academy. His birth name is Kheldar, and since he's a prince of the Drasnian Royal House, he can call himself "Prince Kheldar." As a spy, he naturally assumes aliases, the most common being Radek of Boktor and Ambar of Kotu. Interestingly, he is also treated thus in the prophecies, unlike the other characters, who have one prophetic name each. In the first book he is called the Rat; in the second, the Guide; and in the third, the Nimble Thief. He reverts back to the Guide for the rest of the books. In an interesting bit of deconstruction, Garion gets Silk to admit that each of his names goes with a particular persona, but even he doesn't know who he really is.
    Garion: Then Prince Kheldar is as much a fiction as Ambar and Radek, isn't he?
    Silk: Of course he is.
    Garion: But where's the real Silk?
    Silk: It's very hard to say, Garion. Sometimes I think I lost him years ago.
• Black Legion:
  • The main character is called Sekhandur Khayon, Iskander Cain, Khayon the Black, Kingbreaker, Ygethmor and a long list of other titles, most of which he's not particularly fond of.
  • The Anthropomorphic Personification that Tlaloc encounters on its way calls itself Solar Priest, Avatar, Astronomican, Imperious, the Ghost and the Voice at different points of the meeting.
• Voltaire's Candide contains one — which is to be expected, as it's a parody of just about everything on the face of the planet. One minor character is consistently addressed as Don Fernando d'Ibaraa y Figueora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza. Played for comic effect with the man's poor servant in the musical.
• The Cat Who... Series:
  • In book #2 (The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern), when Qwill meets George Verne Tait and his wife Signe, George says their cat's name is Yu, the Chinese word for jade (which he's a notorious collector of). His wife, however, says her name is Freya. When Qwill adopts her, he renames her Yum Yum, after the heroine in The Mikado (who is also the ward of a man named Ko-Ko).
  • In book #16 (The Cat Who Came to Breakfast), unusually for the trope, it's an island instead of a person. Qwill has always called the place Breakfast Island, but natives call it Providence Island, the rich summer residents call it Grand Island, and the developers and tourists call it Pear Island.
• A Chorus of Dragons: The dragon Sharanakal has gone by a long list of titles and names over his life, including Earth Terror, Ground Shaker, World Ripper, Night's Fire, Betrayal of Foundations, Toppler of Cities, and Old Man.
• John C. Wright's Chronicles of Chaos (The Orphans of Chaos, The Fugitives of Chaos, and The Titans of Chaos) makes full use of the many names of the Greek gods who appear as characters in the book. Normally, they are referred to by legitimate but obscure variants, but they can engage in a Badass Boast that rattles them off. The title characters have two sets of names that they know of, and additional ones when they escape their Laser-Guided Amnesia; in an I Know Your True Name situation, a villain tries to invoke all three sets of names to use magic on them, and is foiled because one of them hid one of his names.
  • War of the Dreaming features Oberon — who is also Odin, Zeus, and the proto-Indo-European god who inspired all of them.
• In P.C. Hodgell's Chronicles of the Kencyrath, heroine Jame picks up many names. Her real name is Jamethiel, but that's an ill-fated name to give anyone because of the infamy of its last bearer, so she's Jame — but many people try and back-form the nickname to Jameth, since it's the only name in her culture except for the bad one that would have that abbreviation. She is called Talisman in the thieves' guild, the B'tyrr (which also means Talisman) as a tavern dancer, and Jamie by her old tutor. Her epithets include Priest's Bane and Lordan of Ivory.
• Lord Foul from The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: "I have many names. To the Lords of Revelstone I am Lord Foul the Despiser; to the Giants of Seareach, Satansheart and Soulcrusher. The Ramen name me Fangthane. In the dreams of the Bloodguard, I am Corruption. But the people of the Land call me the Gray Slayer." He is also called the Master and the Maker. Later he picks up another — A'Jeroth, Lord of the Seven Hells.
  • Covenant's response to asking Foul who he is and hearing him reel all of these Names to Run Away from Really Fast off? "Forget it." It's probably the only moment for the next three books that the reader actually likes him.
• In the Cormoran Strike Novels, each one of Strike's many friends and acquaintances seem to know him by a different name. Robin is bemused when during her first day on the job, she receives calls for "Oggy," "Monkey Boy" and simply "Mr. Strike." Detective Inspector Richard Anstis calls him "Mystic Bob," and his ex-girlfriend Charlotte Campbell calls him "Bluey" because of his middle name being "Blue." Shanker calls him "Bunsen," although he's not sure why. A complete list can be found here. At one point, Robin jokingly asks him if, among his many names, anyone has ever called him "Lightning."^note "Lightning Strike"
• The Cosmere:
  • Hoid, the mysterious traveller who appears in almost all of the works in the metaseries. He's extremely long-lived and has been to many worlds, so the names stack up. Some of the most prominent are Cephandrius (implied to be his original name) and Wit, the name he goes by in The Stormlight Archive (although (the King's) Wit is more of a job title, but is what everyone calls him regardless).
  • Vasher from Warbreaker turns out to also be the historical figures Kalad the Usurper and Peacegiver. His first Returned name was Warbreaker the Peaceful. And when he turns up in Words of Radiance, he's going by Zahel.
• Many of the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods in H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos have many names. Examples include Azathoth ("The Blind Idiot God", "The Nuclear Chaos" or "The Daemon Sultan"), Nyarlathotep ("The Crawling Chaos" or "The Messenger and Soul of the Outer Gods"), Shub Niggurath ("The Black Goat in the Woods with a Thousand Young"), and of course Cthulhu ("The Sleeping God", "Master of R'lyeh" or "The Great Priest") himself.
  • When it comes to the number of names, Nyarlathotep is pretty much the undisputed champ: he has a thousand different forms, each with its own name. Examples include "The Haunter in the Dark", "The Black Man", "The Dark Pharaoh" and 997 more.
    • Nyarly is such a good example that even some of his 'masks' have several names themselves. His presence extends itself far beyond the Cthulhu Mythos; see Randall Flagg in the Literature section.
  • Lovecraft plays this straight (especially with passages from The Necronomicon) and often has any given story be internally consistent with the name, but using a variation of the name or title in other stories.
  • This tendency is oft-parodied in the Discworld 'verse. In Discworld Noir, for example, the monster summoned up is called Nylonathotep, the Laddering Horror, who can be contacted using the Necrotelecomnicon.
• Justified in Daemon, where Jon Ross was an identity thief.^note The spoiler is an important Reveal.
• The Dalemark Quartet: The Undying tend to rack up names in general, but the musician-mage born Mallard indisputably takes the cake. Ready? Here goes: Mage Mallard, Duck, Oril, Tanamoril, Osfameron, the Wanderer, Wend, Wend Orilson. Usually, he's called either Duck or Wend, the names he's called in the two books in which he features prominently, The Spellcoats and The Crown of Dalemark respectively.
• Dirk Gently from Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently series of books apparently changes his name on a periodic basis for reasons that he rarely explains. He started life (apparently) as Svlad Cjelli, but by the time of the first book, he is doing business as Dirk Gently.
  • Reasons which might be related to the way he will look at you as if trying to figure out whether he owes you money, and if not, whether you might lend him some.
• Terry Pratchett's Death, as mentioned in the quote. In the Discworld book Mort, a list of his titles includes "The Stealer of Souls, Defeater of Empires, Swallower of Oceans, Thief of Years, The Ultimate Reality, Harvester of Mankind" before Death himself gets fed up and interrupts the herald announcing him.
  • Pteppic, new pharaoh of Djelibeybi in Pyramids, is referred to by his stubbornly traditional high priest Dios when meeting foreign diplomats as "His Greatness the King Pteppicymon XXVIII, Lord of the Heavens, Charioteer of the Wagon of the Sun, Steersman of the Barque of the Sun, Guardian of the Secret Knowledge, Lord of the Horizon, Keeper of the Way, the Flail of Mercy, the High-Born One, the Never-dying King" every time he opens his mouth.
  • It is mentioned in Thud! and possibly The Fifth Elephant that a vampire, having plenty of free time because of their long life, tends to spend much of it making up the longest possible names. In Thud!, we're introduced to a new vampire on the Watch, and her name is told to Vimes as, "Salacia...the names go on for a few pages, but they end in 'von Humpeding'."
  • Or Moist von Lipwig, conman-turned-civil-servant from Going Postal, Making Money, and Raising Steam. He was hanged under the name Albert Spangler, but he used lots of others, including (apparently) "Ethel Snake".
  • Granny Weatherwax is known to the trolls as "She Who Is to Be Avoided" and to the dwarfs as "Go Around the Other Side of the Mountain," titles about which she has mixed feelings.
  • Commander Vimes of the City Watch has had a few names over the books. "The Butcher," for example. Also "Old Stoneface", which was also a nickname of his famous ancestor. And in Night Watch he went by the name of John Keel. Also, after having a few honors bestowed upon him (under protest), his proper full name and title is "His Grace, the Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes." Though he absolutely hates being called "Your Grace," and allows "Sir" only if the person speaking to him insists on being formal. Those who have his trust and respect (a short list) call him simply "Mister Vimes." Among the dwarfs, he's also known as "Blackboard Monitor Vimes." And people like Sybil (his wife), and Colon, who have known him longer than anyone else alive and when entering times of crisis, call him "Sam".
• The infinity and transcendence of God is evident in The Divine Comedy because Dante refuses just to call him God. To show how that phrase fails to capture Him, Dante will call him by unique titles like the First Good, the Deep Mind, the Eternal Light, the Highest Joy, the end of all desire, and a lot more.
• Dragon Queen: the old man claims to have many names, but the reader never actually gets one. Making this, strangely enough, also an example of No Name Given.
• Kesa Khan whilst on a shamanic high in the Drenai novel Waylander II, probably a direct Shout-Out to one of Odin's speeches, made while in a similar state.
• The Dresden Files: A certain character is known as Donar Vadderung, Santa Claus, and Odin, plus all the other names the last two have accumulated throughout the centuries (see the Mythology section).
• Paul Atreides from Dune has been called "Muad'Dib", "Usul", "the Emperor", "Kwisatz Haderach", "Mahdi", and "the Preacher".
  • The Sandworms are referred to as "Sandworms", "the Old Man of the Desert", "the Grandfather of the Desert", "the Great Maker", "The Worm Who Is God", or "Shai-Hulud", depending on who's speaking about them.
• The Empirium Trilogy:
  • Corien was Kalmaroth before being banished to the Deep along with his kin. After escaping, he renamed himself to Corien and began building an empire with him on top. By the Third Age, he's only known as the Undying Emperor to all humans and most- if not all- of his underlings.
  • When they first contact Eliana, the Prophet states that they have many names before giving her their more well known moniker.
• Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion often does the actual "I have many names" line, especially John Daker, who got so confused by all the lifetimes he could remember that he often just used Erekosë (the first of the alternate lives he was pulled into) rather than trying to keep track of who he was at the moment.
• In Everworld, gods tend to have this, as they do in Real Life. In Everworld-Egypt take this up to eleven; Sobek won't even talk to you if you don't address him by his full title ("Lord Sobek, god of the crocodiles of the Nile, called Rager, son of Seth and his consort Neith, called the nurse of crocodiles"), and the Pharaoh's herald spends at least five minutes reciting incarnations of Ra before the Amazons lead the protagonists away.
• In Everybody Loves Large Chests, Bob the God of Chaos has a different name every time the author writes about him/her/it. In addition, his/her/its title tends to variate with each mention as well. Even gender isn't set in stone. As for his/her/its appearance, that changes as often as the name and can range from a Victorian dandy in a top hat to a green blob with guitars for legs. Strangely, everyone who is aware of Bob knows exactly who is mentioned every time someone says the name, even though the name is always different.
• Garrett, P.I.: In Cold Copper Tears, Garrett has to track down a woman who'd introduced herself to him as Jill Craight. This task proves especially difficult when it turns out that she has a different name for every person who knows her. (Her real name is revealed to be Hester Podegill, which is Lampshaded as the only one dumb enough to be real.)
• Nikita of The Girl from the Miracles District has a slew of false names (even Nikita isn't the real one, though that's the one she's adopted for personal use) to use in different hideouts, parts of the city, and with different people, all in effort to hide from whoever might be following her. She mentions Erynia, Carmen, Anna and Mantis in her narration, but there are many more.
• Good Omens: Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan and Lord of Darkness a.k.a. Adam.
• Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi: Due to being set in alternate Imperial China, notable people often have at least 3 names: a birth name, a courtesy name, and a title. The main character Wei Ying (魏婴) has the courtesy name Wuxian（无羡）and the title Yiling Patriarch（夷陵老祖). The love interest Lan Zhan (蓝湛) has the courtesy name Wangji (忘机) and the title Hanguang-Jun (含光君). All of these names are used based on personal relationships and situations.
• Harry Potter series
  • Tom Riddle is also known as Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord, You-Know-Who, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Of course, the use of these names varies depending on the speaker's relationship to Voldemort or the period of his life that is being discussed. The Dark Lord is generally reserved for Death Eaters or other allies of Voldemort, while his opponents (who are often too afraid (and not without reason) use "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named". Furthermore, the character's birth name "Tom Riddle" is used by the narration when referring to the character's younger years, or sometimes to include his entire life. Furthermore, Albus Dumbledore has referred to Voldemort by Tom Riddle to the latter's face in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, as does Harry himself in Deathly Hallows.
  • Harry Potter; The Boy-Who-Lived, The Chosen One, Undesirable No. 1., etc.
• Robert A. Heinlein:
  • In the novel Glory Road, the female lead actually uses this phrase when she tells narrator/main character Oscar Gordon:
    "I Have Many Names... Would you like to call me 'Etarre'? ... Or it could be 'Esther' just as closely. Or 'Aster.' Or even 'Estrellita.'"
  • Time Enough for Love opens with a nearly page-long list of some of the names Woodrow Wilson Smith has used in his life.
• Maya Angelou goes by at least six names in the autobiographical I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Sister, Maya, My, Ritie, and Margurite being the acceptable ones. The more unsympathetic characters call her "Margaret", and there's a chapter on a white employer who tries to shorten it to "Mary".
• In Incarnations of Immortality, Piers Anthony's character Satan is also known as the Lord of Lies, Master of Evil, Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub, Lucifer, and Parry. Although this isn't straight, as Satan, Beelzebub, and Lucifer are completely different people; upon assuming the role of the Incarnation of Evil, they each picked an (already existing) name for the Devil to use as an alias. The fact that there actually has been more than one officeholder is one of those "deep dark secrets that somehow the entire world knows by the end of the series" that pervade the author's settings.
• Inheritance Cycle: has Eragon, known to his home village Carvahall as Eragon Garrowson, to the elves and dwarves as Argetlam (meaning silver hand), Firesword to the Urgals and the rest as Eragon Shadeslayer.
  • And later as Eragon Bromson
• Joe Ledger: Mr. Church aka The Deacon, aka St. Germain. These are just the ones we know.
• Journey to Chaos: Tasio's nicknames are numerous because no one wants to attract his attention by using his real name. Some of them are: The Trickster, The Herald of Chaos, The King of the Tricksters, the Ambivalent Saboteur, the Toxic Worm, the Overturner of Fortune, Aio Ricse, and Patron of Inventors.
• Randall Flagg in the works of Stephen King has been known as Walter Padick, Walter O'Dim, Richard Fry, Russell Faraday, Robert Franq, Marten Broadclaok, The Man in Black, The Walkin' Dude, Maerlyn, and a few others.
  • The Dark Tower reveals Walter Paddick is his real name.
  • The trope is actually stated near-verbatim by Tom Cullen in The Stand, when he's in his trance: "He has many names...". Later, Glen Bateman says to a group of Flagg's men: "Call him Beelzebub, because that’s his name, too. Call him Nyarlathotep and Ahaz and Astaroth. Call him R’lyeh and Seti and Anubis. His name is Legion and he’s an apostate of hell and you men kiss his ass.”
• In Dorothy Dunnett's King Hereafter, Thorfinn Sigurdsson, thanks to being a Composite Character, is also known by his Christian name, Macbeth. However, because this means that Thorfinn's wife must now also be a Composite Character, she is variously known as Ingibjorg, Margaret, Gruoch, and (usually) Groa.
• In Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, the most powerful and feared of the historical Warlock Kings had his true name lost to history, but was known by many titles. Most commonly, he was called the Black Jester for his sadistic sense of humor (originally intended as an insult, but he rather liked it); he was also known as Mwr and Naus. His followers addressed him as "Dread Lord" or "Proud Heart of Fear". But his original name was Choron, and his reincarnation in the present of the story is Stephen Darige.
• China Miéville loves including intricate titles for some of his characters — from King Rat: "I'm the big time crime boss. I'm the one that stinks. I'm the scavenger chief... I'm the intruder, I killed the usurper... I killed half your continent once... I make you blind with my piss. I'm the one with the hardest teeth in the world. I'm the Whiskered boy, I'm the Duke of the sewers, I run the underground. I'm the king. I'm King Rat."
• Land of Oz: Played for Laughs in, of all places, the Oz sequel Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz:
  Oz: I was born in Omaha, and my father, who was a politician, named me Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, Diggs being the last name because he could think of no more to go before it. Taken altogether, it was a dreadfully long name to weigh down a poor innocent child, and one of the hardest lessons I ever learned was to remember my own name. When I grew up I just called myself O. Z., because the other initials were P-I-N-H-E-A-D; and that spelled 'pinhead', which was a reflection on my intelligence.
• Last of the Mohicans is full of this, as most characters have an English name, a French name, and an Indian name. And sometimes a nickname for good measure. Cora and Alice are exceptions.
  • The protagonist (Natty Bumppo) has gone by many names over his lifetime, but in this particular novel is most often called Hawkeye. The French call him La Longue Carabine.
  • His enemy Magua is called The Sly Fox, or in French, Le Renard Subtil.
• Lizard Music: The Chicken Man gives a different alias every time he shows up, which is eventually lampshaded when a statement of his gets attributed to every alias he's given out up until that point. When Victor asks which is his real name, he asks Victor which he likes best. Victor responds, "Charles Swan", and the Chicken Man says to call him Charlie, which Victor does for the rest of the book.
• "She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita." (We must not forget Mrs. Richard F. Schiller. And it's strongly implied that no one but Humbert ever called her "Lolita".)
• Malazan Book of the Fallen:
  • The Crippled God is also referred to as the Fallen God and the Chained One. But his real name is Kaminsod.
  • Anomander Rake, being a millennia-old Ascendant, has so many names and titles it's ridiculous. Those include, but are not limited to: Anomandaris Dragnipurake, Anomandaris Irake, Black-Winged Lord, Blacksword, First Son of Mother Dark, Knight of High House Dark, Lord of Moon's Spawn and Mane of Chaos.
• In MARZENA every character and even organisation of the story seems to have multiple names. Marian/Marzena Hale/Volkolov, Vivianne Lodeveck Zoudenhaden (Livia), Helena Boudreau/Grüneswald, Lauren Hackenhoek/Renée Fritzhaber, Ju-Hon Gwon-ki/John Gorski, MLK/ Kevin Fordson, The C-Section/the Agency/Coven/Starcloud, IJS has a German and a Russian version.
• The Mental State: Saif, the resident international crime-lord, uses a variety of different pseudonyms when dealing with foreign terrorists working for him. He does this in order to convince his underlings that they share a nationality, when, in fact, he is a white-haired Caucasian.
• Les Misérables: Jean Valjean, being a fugitive, refers to himself as Monsieur Madeleine, Ultime Fauchelevent and Urbain Fabre over the course of the work; he also receives the nickname Monsieur Leblanc. Javert becomes Monsieur DeMasi, Les Gremlin and Hano'n. Not to mention Euphrasie/Cosette/The Lark/Mademoiselle Lanoire.
• Monster of the Year: The cast includes a Frankenstein monster with at least four names. According to Igor, the man who made the monster named him Sigmund, but used a brain from a man named Fred. So sometimes they call him Sigmund (or "Siggie" for short), sometimes they call him Fred, and sometimes they call him Sigmund Fred. But usually Igor doesn't call him anything, since it just upsets him (and indeed, he's starting to growl at this point in the conversation).
  Sigmund Fred (in response to the last part): "Just make sure you call me for dinner."
• Jace from The Mortal Instruments. He doesn't really have a surname. He was Jace Wayland, Jace Morgenstern, Jace Herondale and Jace Lightwood.
• The hero of Mr Blank has tons and tons of names, and they're all fake. In the sequel he goes through the fictional biographies of many of these names.
• Kvothe from The Name of the Wind invokes this trope at the very beginning of his tale by claiming that "I've had more names than anyone has a right to." His titles/names include Maedre (which can mean the Flame, the Thunder, or the Broken Tree depending on how it's spoken), E'lir, Dulator, Shadicar, Lightfinger, Six-String, Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe the Arcane, and Kvothe Kingkiller. "But I was brought up as Kvothe. My father once told me it meant "to know."" He also goes by Kote to the town he lives in and Reshi to his student.
• Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Nine Billion Names of God" deals with enumerating the titular nine billion names.
• One can go several chapters into One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich before realising that Ivan Denisovich and Shukhov are the same man. Some editions will attempt to help make sense of this by including a list of characters, with their full names and all their nicknames, before the novel.
• The One Who Eats Monsters has Ryn, who in ages past has been known as Erynis^note An alternate spelling of the daughter of Thanatos, God of Death, Adrasteia^note "Inescapable" in Greek, Nemesis^note Goddess of vengeance, Lailah^note "Night" in Hebrew, The Implacable One, The One From Whom There's No Escape, and she is the titular One Who Eats Monsters. Luckily, she's only an agent of vengeance if you have it coming.
• In L. Jagi Lamplighter's Prospero Lost, a character comments that with his generosity, Father Christmas can be known by many names.
• Repairman Jack uses so many different surnames for his various false identities, he keeps them organized by working his way through the alphabet over and over (Adams, then Byers, etc).
• In Rob Roy, the titular character is alternatively named Robert Campbell and MacGregor when he is not going by his infamous nickname.
• Safehold:
  • The Ridiculously Human Robot with the personality of female soldier Nimue Alban takes on the identity of Merlin Athrawes to enter Safeholdian society. It stays that way initially, but as the series goes on Merlin takes advantage of his robotic body's ability to change appearance to assume different identities, such as Ahbraim Zhevons and Dialydd Mab, so he can perform tasks he can't do or be seen doing as Merlin. As his roster grows, he laments he needs a chart to keep track of everyone.
  • Madam Ahnzhelyk Phonda, born Nynian Rychtair, becomes Aivah Pahrsahn from the fifth book onward. Aivah is a chessmaster among chessmasters, and uses a huge slew of identities to maintain holdings and assets without their being traced back to her. Eventually, starting in book 8, the narration settles on her birth name, Nynian.
• Second Apocalypse: Mog-Pharau (“No-God”), Lokung (“Dead-God”), Tsurumah (“Hated One”), Mursiris (“Wicked North”). Cara-Sincurimoi (“Angel of Endless Hunger”), Great Ruiner and World-Breaker are all names that various cultures have given the Eldritch Abomination that the Consult want to resurrect.
• The Shadow had numerous alternate identities such as John Haverson, Henry Arnaud, Lamont Cranston, George Clarendon, Fritz, Clifford Gage, etc. Of course, anonymity was much more his MO than it usually is with masked heroes. The Gray Seal had the alternate identity of Larry the Bat. The Spider had the alternate identity of Blinky McQuade.
• In The Shattered Kingdoms, the mercenary protagonist is known as the Mongrel to most of those who hire her, Lahlil to her birth family, and Meiran to her adoptive family. The narration of the first book (in which she isn't usually a point-of-view character) uses all three, depending on whose point of view we're currently occupying. Some of the characters are briefly confused at hearing one name when they only know another. In the second book, though, she's more consistently referred to as Lahlil, in keeping with the shift in the action to the homeland of her birth parents.
• Sisterhood Series by Fern Michaels: In Razor Sharp, there is a madam of a high-end brothel who goes by the names Lily Flowers, Crystal Clark, Ann Marie Anders, Caroline Summers and she will never tell you what her real birth name is. Vanishing Act has a pair of identity thieves going by names like Sara Brickman and Dennis Carson, Angela and Derek Bookman, Bonnie and Clyde, Tammy Jessup, James Ferris, Timothy Black, Bethany Nolan, and their real names are Margaret Pearson and William "Bill" Bell.
• The Sister Verse and the Talons of Ruin has the Lord in White, which is also referred to as Mercury, the Red Willow, and Xil-Nasha by different groups, likely as a result of its long-standing influence over every civilization.
• Accounting in A Song of Ice and Fire for the vast array of first names, surnames, nicknames (especially nicknames), diminutives, aliases, and titles, almost any character has at least two or three names to go by.
  • Arya. She has gone by Arya Stark, Arya Underfoot, Arya Horseface, Arry, Lumpyhead, Weasel, Nan short for Nymeria, Squab, Salty, Cat, Beth, and simply "no one".
  • Tormund Giantsbane, Tall-Talker, Horn-Blower, and Breaker of Ice, Tormund Thunderfist, Husband to Bears, Mead-King of Ruddy Hall, Speaker to Gods and Father of Hosts.
  • Daenerys Targaryen, Dany, Daenerys Stormborn, The Unburnt, Mother of Dragons, Mother, Mysha, The Silver Queen, Silver Lady, Child of Three, Daughter of Death, Slayer of Lies, Bride of Fire, The Dragon Queen, Khaleesi, Breaker of Chains, Queen of Meereen...
• Jay from Spaceforce (2012) uses a variety of aliases interchangeably as the situation demands. Justified in that in the Taysan Empire some names seem to be appropriate for different castes, and his job as spy usually involves impersonating a suitable identity. Jay isn't even his real name, but it's probable that he doesn't use his birth name - Jhal - because it reveals his working-class origins.
• In the Spiral Arm series, many of the important characters have at least two, their birth-name and their office-name. Some of the characters have also changed names, used aliases, and accumulated titles, resulting in a truly impressive number of appellations. For instance, there is Ringbao della Costa, aka Ludovic IX Krauzer, aka Slim, aka Little Hugh O'Carroll, aka the Ghost of Ardow, aka Rinty.
• The Stand: Randall Flagg has nearly as many aliases and nicknames as there are ways to die; prior to the Captain Trips superflu he is known as Richard Frye, Robert Franq, Ramsey Forrest, Russell Faraday, Robert Freemont, Richard Freemantle and possibly Raymond Fiegler. His superstitious followers bestow many nicknames on him, such as the Walkin Dude, the Midnight Rambler, the tall man, or Old Creeping Judas. To all survivors he is usually referred to as the dark man.
• Star Wars Legends: In the X-Wing Series, Gara Petothal/Lara Nostil/Kirney Slane once says in the narration that she can't clearly remember all the names she's had, or what she's done in each identity. She's a form of Deep Cover Agent, and deeply messed up.
• Takeshi Kovacs, variously known as Mamba Lev, The Icepick, One Hand Rending.
• Sovereigns in Fiona Patton's Tales of the Branion Realm, patterned after medieval Britain, are styled: "Aristok of Branion, Heathland, Kormandeux, Aquilliard and Roland, Gracious Sovereign of the Triarchy, Most High Patron of the Knights of the Sword, Hereditary Earl of the Columbas Islands, and Vessel of the Living Flame." Not only do these titles increase (since the series spans several centuries), the Aristok is required to repeat them all during her coronation ceremony.
• Milady from The Three Musketeers. She uses or is referred to by the following names throughout the novel:
  • Charlotte Backson (the name Milady's brother-in-law, Lord de Winter, attempts to bestow upon her in his plan to banish her to the colonies)
  • Anne de Breuil (the name Athos knew Milady by when he met her)
  • Comtesse de La Fère (the title and name Milady assumed when she married Athos, who was Comte de La Fère at the time)
  • Milady de Winter, Baroness of Sheffield (the general name Milady is referred to throughout the story)
  • Lady Clarick (a variation on the previous name; in some English translations, this is translated as Clarisse or Clarice). Athos even makes a sober gibe at that (at least he did in d'Artagnan And Three Musketeers): "So many of you and so few of me..."
• In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth works this is rather common, due, among other things, to: having names and their translations in various languages, Elven custom gifting them with several names, people gaining names and epithets due to their achievements, and more so if they travel and gain lots more names in different places.
  • There are even Elven terms for the various types of names according to originator and function. The general extra epithet was called the epessë, the after-name. It was usually an honorary title or nickname, sometimes chosen by the Elf personally.)
  • Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings: "Many are my names in many countries: Mithrandir among the Elves, Tharkûn to the Dwarves; Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf, to the east I go not." Additionally don't forget Gandalf Greyhame, Gandalf the Grey, The Grey Pilgrim (a translation of Mithrandir), The White Rider and Gandalf the White. Also Greybeard, Stormcrow and Láthspell (Ill-news) as insults (although "Stormcrow" is later used by Gandalf himself).
  • Aragorn son of Arathorn, chieftain of the Dúnedain of Arnor, Captain of the Host of the West, bearer of the Star of the North, wielder of the Sword Reforged, victorious in battle, whose hands bring healing, the Elfstone, Elessar of the line of Valandil, Isildur's son, Elendil's son of Númenor. And that's before he added the royal titles and not counting at least two aliases and three running-related nicknames.
    • In the Affectionate Parody Bored of the Rings, Arrowroot son of Arrowshirt, True Son of Araplane — the Aragorn-analogue — drops the Trope name while parodying the above scene. His allies heave a long-suffering sigh as they confirm it to be true while at the same time keeping him from actually reciting the names, other than his usual alias Stomper.
  • Tom Bombadil is called "Forn" by the dwarves, also known by the Men as Orald. And by the Elves as Iarwain Ben-Adar ("the eldest and fatherless").
  • Sauron has many, many names (and titles), the most amusing of which is probably The Nameless One. Depending on how you count, he can easily beat even Aragorn and Gandalf.
  • And Nazgûl/Black Riders/Ringwraiths/The Nine. Ringwraiths is a translation of Nazgûl. They're also passingly referenced as Úlairi in The Silmarillion.
    • And their leader, the Lord of the Nazgûl/Witch-king of Angmar/Black Captain.
  • Also, Saruman/Curunír/Curumo, Saruman the White, Saruman of Many Colors, the White Wizard, nicknamed Sharkey.
  • Even Frodo and Sam got elvish nicknames in the drafts (which translate as Endurance Beyond Hope and Hope Unquenchable).
  • Tolkien liked this in general, which is understandable — it's extremely common in mythology, and he was a mythological scholar.
    • It might also be attributable to the fact that he was a linguist first and foremost. It's generally only in fiction that very old things, places, races, etc., have only one name. In real life, these things accumulate many names from different peoples, languages, and contexts. Tolkien always wrote with the different linguistic contexts in mind.
  • Túrin son of Húrin from The Silmarillion is also called the Mormegil, the son of Morwen, Adanedhel, Neithan, Gorthol, Agarwaen son of Úmarth, Thurin, and Turambar. Played with in that he deliberately chose all but his birth name for himself as part of an attempt to avoid his destiny. It didn't work.
  • They look petty after Túrin, but one shouldn't forget Galadriel/Galadhriel/Alatáriel (same name with mistaken etymology and therefore spelling or in a different if related language), also called Artanis, also called Nerwen; her brother Finrod, Findaráto, Felagund (Hewer/Lord of Caves), Ingoldo (The Wise), Nóm the Wise, Lord/King of Nargothrond, Friend of Men (Atandil/Edennil); or her cousin Nelyafinwë, also called Nelyo, Maitimo, Russandol and Dægred Winsterhand, but more commonly known as Maedhros the Tall. All the House of Finwë have a fair share of names for that matter (father name + mother name + Sindarin name + Old English name...not to mention a standard epithet, ex, Caranthir the Dark or Celegorm the Fair).
  • Entish names are the full and long-winded description of the named object, so, if they could be translated, they would most likely be this trope taken up to eleven.
  • Even Gondolin is said to have seven names. Plus at least one known name in Quenya (Ondolindë). It's sometimes referred to as the "Hidden City" or "Hidden Kingdom" (...which is also a way to refer to Doriath.)
  • In The Hobbit, Bilbo gives both Smaug and himself a whole bunch of epithets during their conversations.
• In the John Brunner fantasy novel The Traveller in Black, the title character is described as "having many names, but only one nature". A subversion, in that he's never actually called anything but "the traveller".
• In The Vampire Chronicles novel Memnoch the Devil, the eponymous character hates the names that humanity has created for him (e.g. The Devil, Satan, Lucifer), preferring to use his real name. Naturally, Lestat immediately declares his intention to start using the other names all the time just to piss him off.
• Vorkosigan Saga: In The Vor Game, after uncovering a third alias Victor Rotha / Lord Vorkosigan / Admiral Naismith has been using, Cavilo asks "How many people are you, anyway?"
• Watership Downhas El-Ahrairah, The Prince With a Thousand Enemies, whom Lord Frith calls “Digger, Listener, Runner, Prince with the Swift Warning.”
• Unsurprisingly in a work steeped in myth, lore, and legend, Rand al'Thor suffers from this in The Wheel of Time: he is known as the Dragon Reborn, He Who Comes with the Dawn, the Car'a'carn, and the Coramoor, not to mention all the lands he has become king or lord of, and he's also the reincarnation of Lews Therin Telamon who has own set of lengthy titles: Lord of the Morning (which may overlap with another title — prince of the dawn), the Dragon, Kinslayer, Ruler of the Nine Rods of Dominion, Wearer of the Ring of Tamyrlin...
  • Also, the Dark One, who is known by a different name virtually everywhere, and the Forsaken, who all have at least two names—their birth names, of which we only know a few, and the ones the Dark One gave them, plus all of the aliases they have taken, and the rebirths. For example, we have Elan Morin/Ishamael/Moridin/Ba'alzamon/Betrayer Of Hope/Nae'blis, Mieren/Lanfear/Silvie/Selene/Keille and (True Name Unknown)/Balthamel/Aran'gar/Halima.
• In Tom Holt's Who's Afraid of Beowulf? King Hrolf gains much needed time by asking his antagonist his name. The Sorceror King can't resist reeling off a Tolkienesque list of names and titles, giving just enough time for Hrolf's plan to work.
• Chameleon from Wings of Fire, also known as Shapeshifter, Soar, Bog, and Cirrus. And those are only the aliases we know — he has at least two more of them.
• The titular Winnie the Pooh (or rather, Winnie ther Pooh, as this is why it's okay for him to be called "Winnie"), more commonly referred to simply as Pooh, properly known as Edward Bear, and lives under the name of Sanders. (It's written in gold lettering above his front door.)
• Women of the Otherworld: In Industrial Magic, Lucas has a conversation along these lines with a druid spirit.
  Lucas: Your name, please.
  Esus: My name is war! My name is pestilence! My name is misery and pain and everlasting torment!
  Lucas: Perhaps, but as a form of address, it is rather unwieldy. What do your friends call you?
• The Lone Power of Young Wizards seems to have at least one name from every type of being It's ever involved Itself with. And since Its role in the universe is to run around trying to corrupt everyone...
  • Machu Picchu (Peach), the helpful parrot, also turns out to have had *cough* a few previous names.

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