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Meaningful Name
alt title(s): Meaningful Names
"My name is Alice, but-"
"It's a stupid name enough!" Humpty Dumpty interrupted impatiently; "What does it mean?"
"Must a name mean something?" Alice asked doubtfully.
"Of course it must," Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh...
-Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass

A name that has a direct, barely-hidden meaning to it. The first, last, or full name says something primal about the character. Often has multiple layers. To hide the meaning a bit, use an alternate spelling or foreign equivalent. Instead of writers having to make up random words or think of real names, they can use mythological names or old words.

As an example, it is common to use for heroic characters names associated with hunting. So, apart from Hunter, which is a valid first and last name in English, you can use a translation to another language (Jager, or the phonetic Yeager), or the name of a predatory animal (Wolf, Hawk) or a translation of that (Wolfe, Lupin, Lupis, Wulf).

Very common in cartoons, where the meaning is most times not hidden at all, except that the target audience may not have the vocabulary to get the joke. Also common in Anime, since Japanese names have a lot of obvious literal meaning to start with. See notes at Theme Naming.

Real-life examples of this are often referred to as "aptronyms". The magazine New Scientist refers to it as "nominative determinism" in a tongue-in-cheek manner, and encourages people to send examples in.

Of course this goes back to the Bible (and probably turns up in the books of other religions).

Compare Prophetic Names, Steven Ulysses Perhero. See also Names To Run Away From Really Fast, which is about names indicating being a Bad Ass and heavily overlaps with this trope, and Punny Name, which many of these names fall into as well. If the name is obviously supposed to be meaningful, but the meaning is wrong, see Hollywood Meaningful Name.

According to The Other Wiki, the proper name for this trope is "charactonym".
Examples:

Anime/Manga
  • Suzumiya Haruhi: Whether it's accidental or not, Kyon's name may actually be a good nickname for a Deadpan Snarker. Quoting Wikipedia's entry about the Cynics: "Their name is thought to be derived either from the building in Athens called Cynosarges, the earliest home of the school, or from the Greek word for a dog, cyon (κύων,kýōn)".
    • Considering what Haruhi uses him for...He really is her dog!
    • Another possibility: Haruhi in the novels loves the Tanabata festival (the story arc wasn't animated), the myth behind which involves two lovers separated and only allowed to meet once a year. The Korean name for the man can be romanized as 'Kyonu', which is pretty darn close.
      • Also considering how Tanigawa Nagaru has referenced ancient Greece (amongst several other things) he might be fully aware of the multiple possible meanings.
    • Yuki Nagato is a somewhat subverted example. Her Image Song and vaguely autobiographical poetry in one of the later novels hint that her name should be read as "snow". The actual kanji used means "having hope".
  • Pretty much everyone in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, in particular, the main character, Itoshiki Nozomu. When his name is compressed together, it resembles the kanji for zetsubou, or despair. Fitting, as the character is constantly in despair, sometimes over his own name.
  • In Read Or Die, superpowered bibliomaniac Yomiko Readman's name contains a double whammy. Immediately obvious to English speakers is her last name, but the kanji used for her first name mean "reading child". Unusually, her name is at least partially explained by the fact that she comes from a family of bibliomaniacs, which is also essentially the origin of her paper-related powers.
  • Simoun features a war between three countries: the Holy Land ("kyuukoku") of Simulacrum, the Argentum Archipelago ("shoukoku"), and the Plumbum Highlands ("reikoku"). Kyuukoku ("Holy Land" or "shrine nation"), written with different kanji, means "a patriot who saves her country." Shoukoku also means "one's own country" (i.e. Japan, an industrialized archipelago), and reikoku also means "cold-hearted ruthlessness." Simulacrum is the home of the series' protagonists, Argentum is an industrialized country with high technology, and Plumbum is a nation of ruthless religious fanatics. "Argentum" and "Plumbum" also mean "silver" and "lead" respectively in Latin, and "Simulacrum" means "an image, likeness or portrait", but in modern usage generally means a copy or simulation.
  • Frequently seen in Rumiko Takahashi's works. Takahashi is perhaps the master of the name with multiple levels of meaning. Very often her characters have ordinary-seeming names, but she uses kanji other than the usual ones to write them, setting up a punning conflict between what is heard and what is read.
    • For example, the annoying holy man in Urusei Yatsura has a name that is pronounced "Sakuranbou" (the Japanese word for the Cherry fruit), but is spelled the with the characters meaning "deranged priest." Just to add to the confusion, he usually goes by the nickname "Cherry" (in English). Moroboshi Ataru's name literally means "struck by a falling star," which not only describes his fate rather accurately, but is often visually punned on in the commercial bumpers (a star falls out of the show's logo and hits him in the head). Mendou's name is a fairly common surname, but here it's written with kanji that mean "annoying bastard". And "Lum" was Rumiko Takahashi's own nickname as a child (whether this means Lum is a Mary Sue is debatable); it was also the last name of Japan's first major bikini model, Agnes Lum, whose looks Lum was modeled after.
    • Characters in her most famous work, Ranma 1/2, frequently have names that are puns in three or more languages including English and Chinese. The emotionally unstable patriarch of the Tendo family, Soun, has a name that literally means "Fast Road to Heaven", but which can also be read as "weeping man" — describing him perfectly.
    • She goes all out in Maison Ikkoku, which takes place at a boarding house with numbered rooms...and everyone living there has their room's number in their name. For example, Yotsuya's name translates as "four valleys" and it's the name of a famous district in Tokyo...guess which room he lives in. Kyoko, the boarding house manager, has the character for "zero" in her name, and even the non-boarder characters have number-themed names.
  • Jubei-Chan has Bantarou, whose name comes from "Taro" (a common male name in Japanese) and "Banchou" (which means "boss" or "ringleader"), and his simian-like sidekicks Oozaru and Kozaru, whose names translate as "Big Monkey" and "Little Monkey" respectively. Jiyu's name means "Spiritual Freedom" which is exactly the effect her sword has on the undead. (In fact, it brings them back to life.)
  • Several characters on Eyeshield 21 have meaningful names. Some of these names are reflective of their abilities, which means they also count as Steven Ulysses Perhero. For example:
    • Sena Kobayakawa's last name means "small, swift river", while his first name can be read as "what shoals?"
    • Mamori Anezaki's first name means "protectpr" (and she's certainly protective of Sena early in the series), while her last name means "promontory sister".
    • Yoichi Hiruma's name means "daytime night market". Also, his last name is spelled with kanji meaning "leech demon" (since he clamps tightly onto any talented player he can get for his team), and his first name is spelled with kanji meaning "bewitching one" (because he's fairly persuasive). This also means that his last name can be read as "demon in broad daylight".
    • Ryokan Kurita's first name means "powerful" and is spelled with the kanji for "good" and "broad-minded" (sure enough, he's a certified Gentle Giant), and his last name means "field of chestnuts" (referring to the shape of his head).
    • Daikichi Komusubi's first name means "great amount of good fortune", and "komusubi" is a rank in sumo wrestling.
    • Manabu Yukimitsu's first name means "study" (since that's what his mother made him do since grade school).
    • Tetsuo Ishimaru's last name means "stone circle" or "great stone", possibly a reference to his stoic yet easygoing personality.
    • Natsuhiko Taki, the Devil Bats' blonde, dimwitted, and boastful tight end, has a first name meaning "prince of summer".
    • Joe Tetsuma, the powerhouse wide receiver for the Seibu Wild Gunmen who plows through the defense like a train, has a last name that means "iron horse".
    • Shien Mushanokoji, the quarterback for the Seibu Wild Gunmen, has a last name that means "warrior's trail", but is spelled with the kanji for "child" (hence his frequently used nickname, "The Kid").
    • Ohira and Onishi Hiroshi, the linemen for the Kyoshin Poseidons, have names that mean "Pacific Ocean" and "Atlantic Ocean", respectively. The Poseidons also have Kengo Mizumachi, whose name means "strong waiting time in the water" (since he used to be on Kyoshin's swim team).
  • Yu-Gi-Oh is notorious for giving its one-off and non-friendly recurring characters names that Anviliciously reflect the type of deck they play. Its sequel, Yu-Gi-Oh GX, has all but weaned itself off of this trope, but it still pops up sometimes (most notably with the Pro Duelists that show up in the second half of Season 2).
  • Kamui's name in X1999 means 'Power of God'.
  • Rau Le Creuset of Gundam SEED, whose assumed last name is French for "The Crucible", a reference to the play of the same name about the Puritan witch hunts, which in turn refers to both prejudiced sides of the Natural/Coordinator conflict (which plan to wipe the other side out for being what they are), and to Rau's belief in his worthiness to judge all of humanity with a sentence of death.
    • in Gundam SEED Destiny Neo Roanoke is actually Mu La Flaga with Amnesia,(we would put it in spoilers but its kind of obvious) Roanoke was an island that was the first american english colony where everyone dissapeared, Neo means new.
  • Subversion: In Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, a Monster Of The Week has a name that means "felony" and is of a species whose name means "villain." Of course, as the plot was one character's attempt to prove him innocent and the true culprit guilty, the names were an Anvilicious way of making him the obvious suspect (which he was anyway.)
  • The title character from the manga Yotsuba&!, who shares a name with her distinctive four-ponytail hairstyle (yotsuba is Japanese for "four-leaf" as in "four-leaf clover").
  • All the characters in Gundam Wing - the 5 pilots Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei names are derived from the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively in various languages. There is also Noin (9), Lady Une (1), Treize (13) and Zechs (6)/Milliardo (1,000,000,000). Additionally, Relena Peacecraft is a pacifist.
  • Mamoru ("to protect") from Sailor Moon. The US version managed to somewhat retain the pun by giving him the surname Shields.
    • Not to mention Tsukino Usagi whose name is pronounced the same as Rabbit of the Moon (and they then had trouble finding the moon princess.) All the sailor senshi have names that reflect their specific elements.
  • Another "Mamoru" comes from Blue Seed, although nobody really calls him by his first name (except for Valencia from the sequel OVA series); in this case, he was named by the Aragami who assigned him to protect Kaede. His last name, Kusanagi, is a reference to the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.
  • A lot of names in Yu Yu Hakusho are of this type. "Yuusuke" means "ghost helper;" "Urameshi" is what Japanese ghosts who are haunting a house wail; "Kuwabara kuwabara" is a charm against ghosts lightning (Kuwabara himself actually chants this at one point); "Kurama" and "Hiei" are Japanese mountains said to be sites of high demon activity; Ice Maiden Yukina's name means "snow flower," while the "Hi" in "Hiei" sounds like a word for fire; "Yukimura Keiko" means "snow village firefly child," and refers to a Chinese folk tale about a poor child who studied diligently by the light of fireflies reflected in the snow; all of the ferry girls have names associated with flowers and plants ("Botan"=peony; "Ayame"=iris; "Hinageshi"="poppy"). This plant naming even goes for Sensui (whose name is a kanji anagram of "suisen", "daffodil") and Itsuki ("flowering tree"), perhaps to note the severity of their Face Heel Turn.
  • The names Kyou and Asu of the sisters in Binbou Shimai Monogatari mean "today" and "tomorrow", respectively. It signifies the moments one should concentrate on in life and also gets mention in the opening theme.
  • The Keronians in Keroro Gunsou all have meaningful names:
    • Keroro comes from "kerokero", the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound a frog makes.
    • Tamama comes from "otamajakushi", which is Japanese for "tadpole". It can also be linked to "tamatama", which means "unexpected" (referring to his fierce mood swings).
    • Giroro comes from "girogiro", which means "sharp-eyed".
    • Kururu comes from "kurukuru", which means "spinning" or "wound up" (referring to his whorl mark and the spirals on his Nerd Glasses). It can also be linked to "kuru", which means "hunchback" (referring to Kururu's stooped posture).
    • Dororo comes from "doron", which is onomatopoeia for a Ninja vanishing. It can also be linked to "dorodoro", which means "syrupy" (which describes Dororo's sentimental and emotional tendencies).
  • Spike's Evil Counterpart in Cowboy Bebop is named Vicious. Can you guess what his personality and behavior is like?
    • And What about Spike himself? His name is very pointed, don't you think?
  • The Villain Protagonist of Death Note has the properly ironic name of "Light." To top it off, it's spelled with the character for "moon" and his last name "Yagami" also means "night god." His pseudonym, "Kira," is "killer" in Gratuitous English.
    • Also, Yagami backwards is "I'm a gay." Just saying.
    • How to Read 13 notes that Near's real name, "Nate River", is supposed to symbolize that his talents flow from L, therefore he is L's natural successor.
  • By contrast to Light, another Night God with a little black book Of Doom is the Anti Villain of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's. Okay, honestly she's not a villain at all, but her book is properly called the Tome of the Night Sky, so the name still fits.
  • Hikari and Sora of Digimon Adventure. Hikari means "light," and not only is hers the Crest of Light, her partner evolves into an angel. Sora means "sky," and she has the bird Digimon, Piyomon.
    • Actually, all Digimon have Meaningful Names before the 'mon' part.
    • Digimon Savers protagonist Daimon Masaru: An alternate reading of the kanji for his given name gives us 'dai-mon-dai,' which sounds like 'big problem.' So Yeah.
  • In Full Metal Alchemist, Riza Hawkeye is a sharpshooter. In a flashback in the manga, one military man in her area tells another not to worry because "we have a hawk's eye on us". Yeah. The name means nothing for her father, who is never seen handling firearms or practicing any sort of aiming-based activity.
    • In old French Roi/Roy meant King, Colonel Roy Mustang is a man who wants to become ruler of Amestris. This one might be accidental, as Roy is a common English name.
    • There's also Alex-Louis Armstrong, who is incredibly strong and uses alchemy to gain incredible super-strength.
  • Michel in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch is named for the angel Michael. The alteration in the name, other than playing up his connection to Michal, is the first clue that there's something a bit off with his supposed Mission From God.
  • In Haibane Renmei, every Haibane is given a Meaningful Name based on their dreams (which may or may not represent how they died) when they first appear.
  • Katou Yue in Angel Sanctuary was given his first name Yue by his father, because his wife cheated on him and so Yue obviously wasn't his child, always reminding him of the incident. Yue is a term used for children born dead or dying shortly after birth. (Generally it means something like tragic accident, lethal occurence etc) The name didn't work as a bad omen, as Katou was able to grow into a annoying teenager, but while the manga goes on, he gets killed once and sacrifices himself three times getting always beyond the border of death... before jumping right back into action, always more killing and slashing. In the end, he uses a doomsday device too summon a meteor smashing heaven saving Setsuna a third time and ultimately leaving Yuki no time to ressurect him before the series ending
  • In Ouran High School Host Club, Tamaki is engaged to Eclair Tonnerre, a girl whose name means "lightning thunder" in French. Not only is that mind-blowingly heavy-handed, thunder and lightning are the only fears of the protagonist.
  • The protagonists of Tekkonkinkreet are known as Kuro and Shiro — "Black" and "White". "White" is innocent and untouched by the evil that surrounds him, while "Black" is malicious and violent. Because this is a Taoist fable, Black and White complement and complete each other (à la Yin and Yang).
    • Also significant in the story are Rat, an old yakuza, and Serpent, who may or may not be an alien. Kuro and Shiro call themselves "Neko", or the Cats. Needless to say, there are many cats, snakes and rats that feature prominently in the background in the manga. Not to mention the Minotaur, who knows the labyrinth.
  • Soul Eater: Maka is an anagram of kama, the Japanese name for a scythe. Three guesses what her partner Soul turns into. It also means "earth" in Native American, possibly a reflection of her down-to-earth personality.
    • On the other hand, the characters ought to have been wary of Medusa from the beginning considering where her name comes from...
  • Zoids Chaotic Century has a few Meaningful Names. Like a lot of anime, Zoids is fond of its Gratuitous German: examples include the hero, Ban Freiheit ("freedom"); his Organoid, Seig ("victory"); and Karl Schwarz ("black"), who has a fondness for black lilies. More notably, there's the Oracular Urchin Fine - Italian for "the end" - who has the power to destroy all Zoids in order to save the world. Unfortunately, the significance of these names is obscured by apparent mistranslation in the English dub: Freiheit becomes Flyheight, Seig becomes Zeke, Schwarz becomes Shubaltz, and Fine is renamed Fiona. This becomes somewhat awkward when a line is retained from the original script wherein another character remarks upon the fatalistic connotations of Fine's name, something that obviously doesn't apply to the name "Fiona" (Wikipedia: "white, pale or fair").
    • Zoids New Century Zero uses Gratuitous German in its names for the Liger Zero's three armor units, each designed for a specific purpose: Jaeger ("hunter"), for speed; Schneider ("cutter" or "tailor"), equipped with numerous blades; and Panzer ("tank"), loaded with missiles and heavy artillery. Some character names are arguably intended to be meaningful - Bit Cloud's surname may refer to his carefree, wandering nature; Vega Obscura's to the fact that little is known about him; Jamie Hemeros' surname may be derived from the Greek word for "tame" or "mild," particularly fitting in contrast with the nature of his alter-ego, Wild Eagle.
  • Most (if not all?) of the characters from Naruto are affected by this. In the Rookie 9 alone, we have...
    • Team 7:
      • Naruto Uzumaki- Naruto being a reference to his love of ramen, and Uzumaki to the Rasengan technique. There's also a place in Japan called the Naruto whirlpool (Naruto no Uzushio)
      • Sasuke Uchiha- Uchiha being a type of Japanese fan and the clan symbol, and Sasuke being a stock name for a ninja character.
      • Sakura Haruno- Sakura being a reference to her hair colour, and the phrase Haru no sakura meaning "spring's cherry blossoms ".
    • Team 8: Hinata Hyuuga (Her names forming a pun around the sun, linked to the Hyuuga clan symbol), Kiba Inuzuka (as a dog ninja, his first name means fang, also a reference to his Facial Markings, and his family name means, well, dog), and Shino Aburame (In Japan, the last name comes first, so Aburame Shino resembles "Aburamashi," the Japanese word for cockroach).
    • Team 10: Chouji Akimichi (Chouji referring both to the butterfly-form of his chakra, and his caterpillar-like eating habits), Shikamaru Nara (a reference to his clan's deer-rearing, shika meaning deer and Nara being a city known for its' free-roaming deer), Ino Yamanaka (Ino referring to her boarish personality).
      • These characters names form Ino-Shika-Cho, a combo in a card game, in much the same way as their techniques mesh together for a combo.
  • The "Shishioh" in Shishioh Guy means "Lion King." Lions are synonymous with courage, and Guy pilots a robot nicknamed "Brave King" which also has an actual (giant robot) lion at its core. Also, the kanji used for "Gai" is used in constructs to mean "victory."
    • So we're not mentioning the Primevals' naming scheme? Or, for that matter, [[spoilers: Amami Mamoru ("mamoru" as before meaning "to protect"), whose Meaningful Name was acknowledged in the show itself]]?
  • For God's sake, people: Speed Racer. Speed Racer!
    • Just to make it worse, we have his older brother Rex. Who is believed dead in a racing accident and then comes back as Racer X. Okay, on three, we all groan. One, two...
  • In Kure-nai, Murasaki Kuhouin is believed to have been named after Murasaki from the Tale Of Genji. Both characters are kidnapped as little girls and develop a relationship of sorts with their caretaker. Note, however, that Kure-nai sports an inverted Hikaru Genji Plan.
  • The main characters of Wolf's Rain are all named after aspects of a wolf. Kiba = fang, Hige = whisker, Tsume = claw, and Toboe = howl. (Blue also has blue eyes.) Their powers correspond with their name as well. Kiba can bend steel with his jaws; Tsume is the second-best fighter and early on tends to "use" a switchblade while fighting; Toboe often howls to get help or find someone; and Hige has the best sense of smell. Cher Degré also has a meaningful name—cher is French for "dear," although the correct feminine form is chère. Her ex-husband Hubb Lebowski constantly tries to get back together with her, to the point of abandoning his job to find her when she goes off in search of Cheza and when she dies, she is quite painfully mourned by him.
  • Grenadier actually has a little wit with regards to the main character's name: Her given name, Rushuna, is a play on a Rushana Buddha, a statue exemplifying the essence of the Buddha, while her surname, Tendou, translates to "Heavenly Path." Her espousal of the Ultimate Strategy ("ending a fight gently and without fighting"), her almost unrelentingly kind and chipper demeanor, and her honest, unironic caring for everyone she meets makes her name almost as accurate as she is.
    • It also makes sense that she finds her way to Tenshi ("angel").
  • The magical owl Ikebukuro from Cosplay Complex gets its name from a commercial district in Tokyo, which is known for "Otome Road", a street with otaku shops aimed at a female audience. The district also has a statue of an owl behind the station.
  • In Doujin Work, Najimi's full name is a play on "Osananajimi" which means "childhood friend", a character type that is a staple of hentai games. She also is another character's childhood friend in the series.
  • Lockon Stratos from Gundam 00 is said to be an expert marksman. This is Justified, by the fact that all the original Gundam Meisters names are Code Names.
  • Maria Graceburt from Mai-Otome tries to hold herself and her students up to a high standard of discipline and dignity. She herself comments that all she wanted to do after retiring from her old life as a Lady Of War was to age gracefully.
  • The titular character's codename in Golgo 13 means something, most likely, but nobody's sure what. The most popular theory is that it's a call-out to Golgotha, the hill on which Christ was crucified, and the thirteenth disciple, Judas. Given that the series has a skeleton wearing a crown of thorns as its icon, this is probably a good guess.
  • One Piece author Eiichiro Oda does this so frequently he ends up creating Meaningful Names by accident. Some obvious ones are Zoro (a swordsman) and Usopp (playing off Aesop and the Japanese "Uso" meaning "to lie"). The accidental case is Rob Lucci, one of Luffy's single-most difficult opponents. Oda had no idea that "Lucci" was also Italian for "Light", and unknowingly gave the villain's name the meaning of "Steal the Light."
  • Meow's kung-fu style in Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran incorporates a lot of techniques inspired by the movement of cats.
  • Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai has Mune-Mune. Mune means "chest" in Japanese. You get three guesses as to what her, uh, "defining" feature is.
  • Almost every character in Princess Tutu has a name that means something. Ahiru means "duck" in Japanese (and was translated in the dub), which makes sense because she is a duck. Most of the animals in the series follow suit. Mytho's name comes from the greek word "Mythos" which means "story"—a fitting name for a prince from a Story. His true name, Siegfried, is from the prince from Swan Lake. There's others, too, but those are some of the main ones.
  • Chrono Crusade has a few meaningful names in the series. The most obvious is Chrono, whose name comes from the greek for "time". Aion's name, in contrast, means "forever". And then there's Joshua Christopher's name—"Christopher" means "bearing Christ", and Joshua is from the same name that we get the name "Jesus" from.
  • Vinland Saga: Askeladd means 'boy born amongst ashes', kind of a male, Norse, macho version of Cinderella. Askeladd was the son of a slave, and worked a smithy as a child. Hence he was called Askeladd. Bjorn is a border-line example, it means Bear, and while he is a berserker, but it's also a rather common name, even in modern times. (The troper's cousin is named Bjorn for instance, and this troper is from Australia!)
  • Strike Witches: the characters in this alternate history based series are real world military pilots twisted into magical lolis. Their names are gender-reversed versions of the originals (Erich Hartmann -> Erica Hartmann, Pierre Clostermann -> Perrine Clostermann etc.)
    • A particularly clever touch is Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen, the gender-swapped version of the Finnish WW 2 pilot Eino Ilmari Juutilainen. Ilmatar is the name of an ancient Finnish sky goddess.
  • Planetes: Hachimaki's surname, Hoshino, means of the stars, and sure enough, he's an astronaut. Tanabe's forename means love, and she believes that love can solve everything.
  • Princess Mononoke has Lady Eboshi, an Anti Villain who both cares for the poor and disenfranchised and ruthlessly tears down nature (until the end). Eboshi can be read as "Icon of a mother and child" (i.e., The Madonna and Child or "image on a tombstone".
  • G Gundam gives us Schwarz Bruder, whose name is German for "black brother" and thus a dead giveaway to his true identity.

Western Animation
  • Dick Dastardly, Muttley, and basically any character from Wacky Races.
  • Captain Planet And The Planeteers — Villain names were very obvious puns:
    • Dr. Blight, sought to destroy the environment.
    • Looten Plunder, sought to make money by destroying the environment.
    • Duke Nukem, sought to turn the entire world into a glowing radioactive place. The other Duke Nukem exists because his name was not trademarked.
  • The Plutarkians in the 90's Biker Mice From Mars series are all named after cheeses with the Biker Mice's arch nemesis Lawrence Limburger being named after the infamous Limburger cheese.
    • 2008 introduces Ronaldo Rump, a bizarre hybrid of Donald Trump, Ricky Ricardo, possibly Ricardo Montalban, and a big, fat rump.
  • Fireman Sam has Bella Lasagne and Mandy Flood. Ironically the Welsh title for Fireman Sam is Sam Tan which translates to Sam Fire- and Sam's main job is to put out fires so i consider it to be ironic.
  • American Dragon Jake Long:
    • Long, despite the fact that it's the last name of Jake's Caucasian father, is one of the Chinese words for dragon.
    • Rose, the love interest/misguided bad-guy protege, is a beautiful thing with thorns (Thorn was her Secret Identity's original name). (It's such a common name for a Femme Fatale, Disney had to change her alias or risk copyright infringement for there was already a DC character with the same names.)
    • Jake's grandfather and Mentor is named Lao Shi, Chinese for "respected teacher".
  • The Boondocks
    • Mr. Wuncler: the archetypical scheming, old, white, businessman. His name is pronounced just like "The Once'ler", the narrator and misguided, remorseful villain of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, who destroys essentially the whole world to make a quick buck.
    • Also the main character Huey Freeman is named after Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton. His surname Freeman is also significant as it means "a free man."
    • Ed Wuncler's pal, Gin Rummy, is a thinly veiled "gangsta" analogue of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (who even quotes Rumsfeld's "known unknowns" speech after a botched convenience store robbery).
  • Transformers are almost always named this way, either by their abilities, or their alternate form. Brawn, for example, is a rough-and-ready brawler who believes in might over microchips, while Skywarp has the ability to teleport. Other examples include Rattrap, Inferno, Sky-Byte, and Evac, to name just a small few. Usually, if a transformer undergoes a major change in their body(such as an entirely new alternate form), they'll even change their names to match it. Basically, a Transformer gets a Code Name (generally of the Descriptive type) as a real name.
    • Additionally, Transformers Animated has the human villain Prometheus Black, A.K.A. Meltdown, who got his powers from an accident after stealing some of Bumblebee's hydraulic fluid. The parallels to the titan Prometheus should be obvious — especially if you know of the versions in which Prometheus was an arrogant upstart who stole the Divine Fire without knowing what he was meddling with, rather than being in the right, with Zeus just being afraid of progress. The other human villains all fall under the Steven Ulysses Perhero subset.
    • What's interesting is, the speedster Nino Sexton overhears someone saying he came through in a nanosecond, so he calls himself Nanosec. His codename's resemblence to his real name is, in-story, pure coincidence, and the other human villains may well be the same. Slow-Mo, on the other hand, is said to be named for the Hasbro executive Samantha Lomow.
  • The Disney Animated Canon has a few...
    • Beauty And The Beast, Belle means "beauty", Lumiere is a candelabra, Cogsworth is a clock, Mrs. Potts is a teapot
    • The Lion King, Simba means "lion", Mufasa means "king", Nala means "gift", Rafiki means "friend"
      • Word Of God has it that before Scar received his scar and his subsequent name change, his name was Taka which means "trash." If my parents named me this, I would be a bit put off as well.
    • Three words: Cruella de Vil
  • Virtually almost every single character of Avatar The Last Airbender has a name of Asian origin varying from Mandarin Chinese to Korean slang. Given the theme of the show, the ones of non-Asian are often referenced and regarded as unusual to the other characters.
    • Zuko's mother is named Ursa (the Latin word for "female bear") displaying her role as his Mama Bear.
    • Zuko is once written as "Resurrected Rule," though another time it was "ancestors robber" on a wanted poster. It is logical to assume that his parents originally used the first "spelling," given that he was a royal child, and his father changed the "spelling" for the wanted posters to indicate that he had been disowned.
    • Swordsman Piandao of the episode "Sokka's Master" is named after a type of Chinese saber. This is somewhat ironic as his own weapon looks similar to a jian, a straight double-edged sword, and not a curved single-edged sword.
    • Taking into account the Chinese characters used to write his name on the title card in "Tales of Ba Sing Se" Aang's name seems to mean "Ascending Peace"
    • Toph's name has a quadruple meaning: it is a kind of sandstone reflecting her element, a Hebrew word for "drum" refering to her ability to sense with vibration, a play on "tough" for her attitude, and a homonym of "toff", British slang for an upper-class person (which she is).
      • Did we say quadruple? Make that sextuple, on her passport in "The Serpent's Pass" her name is written to mean "supported lotus", which is indicative of how her parents saw her, as a fragile china doll. Conversely, on the title card in "Tales of Ba Sing Se" her name is written to mean "entrusted man".
    • An odd example is the baby that the Gaang help deliver was given the appropriate but out of place name "Hope". The DVD Commentary said it was suppose to be a Chinese name that meant "Hope", but then either the meaning would be lost, or there would be a case of You Are The Translated Foreign Word.
    • The Earth King's name, Kuei (which is only mentioned in supplementary information) may be a transliteration of two words different words that respectively mean "chief" and "puppet", where as his Evil Chancellor Long Feng's name means "Dragon Phoenix", which in Chinese tradition represented the throne.
    • The north pole's princess and Sokka's love interest Yue has a double meaning as well, being in Chinese a word for moon, due to her being reincarnation of moon's spirit and in Japanese meaning a sad incident and used for children dying shortly after birth, such it might have happened to her, due to her being weak at birth.
  • Kappa Mikey has a Yes Man character actually referred to as "Yes Man" by everyone on the show. It's heavily implied that this is his actual name.
    • Mikey Simon's stage name is, well, "Kappa Mikey." A kappa is a mythical Japanese amphibian. Ozu once explained that a kappa is a water creature that lives on land, and is thus a fish out of water, much like Mikey himself, who is an American living in Japan. Making things even weirder, kappas are said to like cucumbers and kappa makki is a type of sushi, meaning it's also a Punny Name.
  • Gargoyles is interesting in that gargoyles do not have names normally, and past history had humans giving them a name, like Goliath. When learning to trust Elisa, the various gargoyles of the Manhattan Clan chose names from their surroundings. Hudson, for the river, and Brooklyn, Lexington, Broadway, and Bronx.
  • The main bad guy from Samurai Jack is Aku, which is Japanese for "evil, wickedness".
  • Goofy, so named because he's, well, rather goofy.
  • Vlad from Danny Phantom which means "rule", a name that fits him like a glove. Also an in-joke to the vampire-like thing he's got going on. In fact, he originally was planned to be one.
  • In Kung Fu Panda, not only does the titular panda have a name which reflects his personality yet is contrary to his destiny (Po means "peace"), but his master is named Shifu ("teacher" or "master"). Meanwhile, the facility where the villain is held, Chorh-Gom, literally means "sitting in prison" while Tai Lung himself translates very close to "Cat Dragon"...the latter having a rather effective if Anvilicious double meaning.
    • This troper asked her parents if any of the names had any meaning. Her father replied that Oogway (Wu Gui) meant Turtle. (Three guesses what Oogway is; the first two don't count.) Though for Tai Lung, he said it might have meant 'Ultimate Dragon.' This troper then started laughing.
      • With a name like that, it's no wonder Tai Lung grew up convinced he was meant to have the Dragon Scroll. What else was he supposed to do with his life, read tea leaves? The fact Shifu jumped the gun in naming him so may just reflect the red panda's own shortcomings, however: he also did not understand the meaning of the blank scroll, nor did he recognize the real Dragon Warrior when he was right in front of him. Blinded by pride indeed.
  • In South Park, Ms. Choksondik dies in an... interesting way.
  • This troper remembers a short-lived Saturday morning cartoon called Skeleton Warriors, and also remembers wondering how anyone could be idiotic enough to trust implicitly someone with the name "Baron Dark".
  • Warp Darkmatter, Buzz Lightyear's Evil Counterpart from Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command, was Buzz Lightyear's Partner before an apparent Face Heel Turn. He even points out how evil sounding his name is, and mocks Buzz for not being Genre Savvy enough to notice.
  • Every character in the show Chowder is named after food, keeping with the show's cooking theme.
  • Kim Possible includes minor villains Adrena Lynn ("extreme"-stunt TV host), and shapeshifting socialite Camille Leon, not to mention the heroes, Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. It's even lampshaded a few times. When Kim loses her memory, she says "Kim Possible" "doesn't sound like a name".
  • Career criminal, Snake Jailbird from The Simpsons.
  • Subverted by Moral Orel with Mr. Nohammer, owner of Nohammer Hardware. Despite clearly having a sign that says "We Have Hammers" on his store and lining his store with wall-to-wall hammers, people still call him asking about whether or not he sells hammers. He's forced to constantly tell people "It's just my name!" *sob*.
  • In The Backyardigans, Word Of God says that Uniqua is her name and her species. Ah, that's why she's so unique; all you gotta do is trade the A on the end of her name for an E.
  • Not overused in Code Lyoko, but Odd Della Robbia's first name and Ulrich Stern's surname certainly fit well with their characters. Also, the gym teacher is Jim Moralès and the science teacher is Suzanne Hertz. Ironically (for an Animesque), the one Japanese character, Yumi Ishiyama, hasn't a particularly meaningful name.
    • Plus, Kadic Academy owes its name to science-fiction writer Philip K Dick.

Live Action TV
  • Doctor Who, "Image of the Fendahl" features a character named Dr. Fendelman, who has no idea that it is his hidden genetic destiny to aid an ancient and malevolent life force known as the Fendahl. As the Completely Useless Encyclopedia points out, it's a shame other aliens weren't so transparent, as the heroes could just go through their phone book and round up every Joe Dalekagent and Mary Autonduplicate.
    • However, this example is a little different from the others; the name is an in-story indication that the Fendahl have been meddling with humanity for a long time, and the unusual name is noticed and commented on by characters in the story.
    • A Doctor Who example that has no such in-story explanation is Tremas in The Keeper of Traken; his body is taken over by the Master, whose title is an anagram of "Tremas".
    • And how about Mr. You Are Not Alone?
      • That could be just a coincidence. Don't forget about Jenny, who is a cloned daughter of the Doctor. The Face of Boe must have run into her countless times, as well...
    • The Master as portrayed by John Simm went by the alias "Harold Saxon". Not only is "Mister Saxon" an anagram of "Master No. Six" (Simm was the sixth actor to appear in the role) but King Harold was the last of the Saxon rulers, in the same way that the Master's death left the Doctor as the last Time Lord - that we know of. The show's producers have claimed the "Master No. Six" anagram was not intentional.
    • And the Doctor himself? In The Sound of Drums, The Master believes the Doctor chose his name so as to associate himself with "the man who makes people better". The Master's choice of name is naturally a massive hint towards his egotism ("a psychiatrist's field day", from the same episode). And of course, "Master" was chosen for the Doctor's arch-nemesis due to the academic connection.
    • Many of the alien races encountered in the New Series are given a Meaningful Name. In Fear Her, we meet an alien spore called the Isolus whose motivating demon is loneliness (isolation); the Carrionites in The Shakespeare Code were specifically designed to be like carrion creatures; the Adipose in Partners in Crime are made of living fat cells; the Pyrovile in The Fire of Pompeii thrive on the atmosphere of an erupting volcano; the Vespiform in The Unicorn and the Wasp takes the form of a giant wasp occasionally disguised as a human; I could go on ...
  • Jeannie in I Dream Of Jeannie, who of course is a genie.
  • Power Rangers has taken to doing this in recent years.
    • Wild Force had an Anti Villain named Zen-Aku (good-evil) who would Kick The Dog one minute and Pet The Dog the next for his own reasons.
    • SPD's aliens are frequently named after the animal they resemble, such as doglike Anubis "Doggie" Kruger of Sirius, catlike Kat Manx and Dr. Felix, apelike Sgt. Silverback, and birdlike Fowler Birdy. With humans it's not quite as gimmicky: Blue Ranger Sky has a flying Zord, Jack was once a thief, etc.
    • Mystic Force is somewhat sneakier: Water-powered Madison shares a name with the mermaid in Splash (as well as sharing Tomoyo's name in the less-than-wonderful Cardcaptor Sakura dub. Both Madisons have a penchant for capturing the other characters on film.) and her tomboyish, hyperactive sister is named Vida (Life.) A moon-powered apprentice magician is named Clare (clair de lune is French for moonlight.) The Rangers' friend Leelee's last name, Pimvare, is an anagram of 'vampire.' It turns out she's The Mole, and daughter of the vampiric villainess Necrolai. Oddly, some denizens of the mystical dimension are named after weapons (Leanbow, Bowen, Daggeron) but are never shown to use their namesakes in battle.
    • In Overdrive, Mackenzie "Mack" Hartford's Humongous Mecha is based on a dump truck, and the Pink Ranger's name is Rose. Mack's name may also be a play on the computer company, since he is ultimately revealed to be a robot.
  • The only two of LazyTown's 9 recurring characters this doesn't apply to in some form are Stephanie and Ziggy. They are not total exceptions though, as in the Icelandic language versions that pre-dated LazyTown, Stephanie was named Solla Stirða (Solla Stiff), while Ziggy was Siggi Sæti (Siggi Sweet).
    • Sportacus is a corny, but appropriate, name for a athletic but not super-powered hero.
    • Trixie, the mischievous tomboy is, well, tricksy.
    • Mayor Milford Meanswell might not be very competent, but he means well.
    • Ms. Bessie Busybody is the town gossip.
    • The miserly rich kid's name is Stingy.
  • Pixel is the town computer geek/games addict.
  • Villain Robbie Rotten actually isn't quite as rotten as he thinks he is, usually behaving in a manner closer to bratty than evil.
  • Neds Declassified School Survival Guide has a bully named Billy Loomer, a mean girl named Missy Meany, and a woodshop teacher named Dusty Chopsaw.
  • The Heroes villain Sylar's real name is Gabriel Gray, "Gabriel" being a nod to his obviously Catholic background (and additionally, Maya at one point describes him as "Just like the angel."), and "Gray" meaning dull or ordinary which he lamented being prior to his finding out he had superpowers.
    • But for a show with a character actually named Hiro (meaning he's a "hero", plus the in-show reason was he was named after "Hiroshima", thus giving poignancy to his quest to stop New York from being destroyed by a nuclear bomb), Sylar's pretty subtle.
    • And as his good counterpart, we have Peter (a saint and angel just as Gabriel). Angela Petrelli subverts this only in the fact that she isn't an angel.
    • Also, both the names Peter Petrelli and Gabriel Gray are a subtle nod to the legions of classic comic book superheroes / -villains whose first and last names begin with the same letter (Peter Parker, Lex Luthor, etc.)
    • How about Gabriel Grey Matter.
  • About half the characters on Lost have barely veiled names, either of the personality variety (Jack Shepherd, Miles Strom) or of the winks-to-philosophers variety (John Locke, Danielle Rousseau, Charlotte Staples Lewis, Desmond David Hume).
  • Brothers And Sisters- Katherine "Kitty" Walker.
  • Hoshi Sato of Star Trek Enterprise - "hoshi" is Japanese for "star", "sato" can be read as "at home" - her name essentially means "at home by the stars".
    • And in the original series, Uhura means "freedom"—one of the Federation's ideals at the time. Fanon and Expanded Universe material have her full name as "Nyota Uhura," which means "Star Freedom." (Though "Nyota" might be Jossed now.)
  • The Live action/CGI combined show Ace Lightning is packed with meaningful names (no surprise really, since the show’s about a corny superhero videogame come to life): Ace Lightning (the hero, duh) Sparx (the spunky redhead sidekick) Lord Fear (bad guy) Lady Illusion (temptress), Anvil (the team muscle) Dirty Rat (exactly what it sounds like) Random Virus (guy with a good evil complex of epic proportions.
    • These meaningful names can also apply to the humans however: The teenage protagonist Mark Hollander’s name is from the God, Mars, and relates to war and battle. The resident Geek is more commonly known as the rather comical Chuck (and has a habit of throwing up whenever stressed or disturbed). The nice, helpful Girlfriend and Girl Next Door Samantha Thompson’s name means “listener” (which works for her) and it’s quite obvious that the owner of the carnival wasn’t named “Duff” accidentally.
  • Threes Company had Jack Tripper - a ladykiller in a different sense...
  • "A Thing About Machines," an episode of The Twilight Zone, tells the story of Bartlett Finchley. Lord Finchley was a technophobe in a poem by Hillaire Belloc.
  • In an episode of Ugly Betty, the judge is quite appropriately surnamed Biotch.

Literature
  • The Harry Potter books use this constantly. An exhaustive list of such examples can be found here. Some are:
    • The first name of Professor Snape, "Severus", means "grouchy" in Latin.
    • "Beauxbatons", the French wizard school, means literally "good wands" or "handsome wands".
    • Professor Remus Lupin was a werewolf — "Remus" being a mythical child raised by wolves (brother to Romulus, founder of Rome), and "Lupin" as described above. He appears aware of this as he uses "Romulus" as a pseudonym for a radio broadcast. This editor can't have been the only person who knew ahead of time that Remus Lupin would turn out to be a werewolf.
    • Another werewolf is called Fenrir Greyback. Fenrir is a wolf in Norse Mythology who is destined to eat the sun. Greyback is obvious.
    • Sirius Black could turn into a black dog (Sirius being known as the Dog Star).
    • The (ahem) aromatic Mundungus Fletcher's first name is an obsolete word for tobacco with an unpleasant odor.
    • "James" means "he supplanted", and James Potter supplants Snape's place as Lily's best friend before becoming her love interest.
    • In fact, half the characters in the novels seem to have such names.
  • Almost every name in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the novel and both movies, but especially the first movie).
  • In the Neal Stephenson novel Snow Crash, the hero and protagonist of the story is named Hiroaki "Hiro" Protagonist. This is a subversion, as he actually changed his name to this.
  • Patricia McKillip's Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy has a character named Deth, and a historical figure named Yrth. It eventually is revealed that 1) they're the same character; 2) he's a member of the race of Earth-Masters; and 3) the trilogy is about his plans for his death.
  • In French, the name of Edmond Dantes from The Count Of Monte Cristo sounds pretty much like "demon" and, well, "Dante" (usually associated with his Inferno and giving the French adjective "dantesque," which applies to cosmically horrible, hell-like situations). Which makes his complete name read like something along the lines of "infernal demon" or "demon from Dante's Inferno]]. Hey, you don't name your kid like that if you just expect him to me a nice and cute sailor.
    • It also seems plausible that Monte Cristo, besides being the name of an island, references Jesus' Sermon on the Mount which actually repudiated the type of "eye-for-an-eye" justice which Dantes puruses in this persona.
  • In Jim Butcher's Codex Alera, it's always fun to see how long it takes readers to realize that "Tavi" is short for Octavian, and he is the rightful heir to the throne.
  • The Wheel Of Time does this for most of the main characters
    • Rand Al'Thor is named after King Arthur, and the Norse God Thor
    • the Andor Royal family are all named after people from the legend of King Arthur (hint)
    • Several Heroes of the Horn are named after actual legends
    • The Forsaken are mostly named after Demons and monsters
    • Just way too many to mention
  • The Brothers Karamazov: kara- in Turkish means "black" and maz in Russian means "paint" or "smear". The titular brothers' father is a lecher and libertine who is openly wicked. All throughout the book, characters speak of the "Karamazovian" nature inside of the brothers despite their efforts to separate themselves from their father.
    • Not just this, but Crime And Punishment: One character's name is from then St. Petersburg slang for a brothel.
  • Repeatedly, explicitly and joyfully played with by Iain M Banks in his Culture novels, in which the ultra-intelligent AI "Minds" of the Culture choose their own names when emplaced in a ship. A warship may have a name like Attitude Adjuster, Lasting Damage or Killing Time, the "slightly weird" General Contact Units rejoice in names like Only Slightly Bent and I Thought He Was With You, whereas more "normal" Culture vessels can have names from the obvious relevant (Quietly Confident, Grey Area), through the arbitrary (Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The, Yawning Angel) to the absolutely surreal(Absolutely No You-Know-What, Pure Big Mad Boat Man). All of these, apparently, are Meaningful Names, and reflect the ship's personality in some way. A complete list can be found here.
  • Ben Elton's novel Dead Famous centres around the contestants on a reality TV show called House Arrest (an obvious parody of Big Brother). As a result, many of the characters have names which echo the real life figures they are based on: Dervla Nolan (Anna Nolan, a contestant on the first series of Big Brother), Woggle (Paul Ferguson, known as "Bubble" on the show), Geraldine Hennessy (Lorraine Heggessey, the then controller of BBC 1) and others.
  • Terry Pratchett indulges in this quite gleefully in his Discworld novels, with the names for, of all things, camels. Apparently the author has a bit of a phobia of camels, as they all sport names like 'Evil Minded Son of a Bitch' ("That's an odd name for a camel..." "S'a good name for THIS camel!"), 'You Bastard', and 'Evil Smelling Bugger'. Having had some experience with camels, this troper is inclined to agree with Pratchett's assessment of them.
    • Some human characters also have names like this—the Serial Killer villain of Night Watch is named Carcer (as in incarcerate) Dun (as in whodunit).
    • Lampshade Hanging in Wee Free Men when Miss Tick points out that this is "a good name for a witch" because it sounds like "mystic". Less obvious is her first name, Perspicacia, which comes from "perspicacious", meaning "observant".
    • In Thief of Time, the Auditor who first assumes human shape calls herself Myria LeJean - 'myriad' and 'legion', referring to the Auditors' lack of individuality. After she pulls a Heel Face Turn, Susan convinces her to adopt the name 'Unity' instead.
    • Death's apprentice, Mort.
      • What a coincidence.
  • Ayn Rand often gave weak names to characters she wanted to seem unsympathetic. The pinnacle was probably Wesley Mouch, a lobbyist in Atlas Shrugged, whose name contains hints of weasel, slouch, louse, and mooch without actually coming out and giving him any of those names.
  • In Flannery O'Connor's short "Good Country People", guess what traveling bible salesman Manley Pointer's ulterior motive is?
  • Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea—"Nemo" is Latin for "no one". This might be because of a tendency in Victorian literature to reassure the reader that "this isn't real". (And yes, that means that movie was actually titled "Finding No One".)
    • Averted in that Nemo is NOT his real name, but a name he chose to himself after building the Nautilus and exiling hinself in the sea.
    • It's taken from the Odyssey. It's usually translated as "nobody" or "no man" there (the story of the Cyclops).
    • Only sort-of. The Odyssey is Greek, so the name Odysseus gives to mean "no one" is "Outis". It's only "Nemo" in translations into Latin.
  • In David Prill's novel Second Coming Attractions (a novel lampooning the inspirational Christian film industry, an generally unknown entity that's apparently still in need of a good skewering), there are characters named Ricky Bible, Rance Jericho, Grant Godlee, Buck Verilee, and Paul Pedphill (!). The first two are actors' stage names; the rest, though, are apparently people's legal names. And humor this broad is the least of the novel's problems...
  • American Gods positively delights in this: Low Key Lyesmith, Mr. Wednesday, Mr. Nancy, Jacquel & Ibis...
    • Not to mention Shadow himself, who is frequently seen to unconsciously imitate the people with whom he hangs out.
    • Mr. Nancy isn't given a first name in either book, but I like to think it's Compton...
  • The narrator of What Was She Thinking? (filmed as Notes on a Scandal) is named Barbara Covett. Um, yeah.
  • In the Role Playing Game Werewolf The Apocalypse, it is common for characters to take a meaningful name for themselves after their goals or deeds, such as Evan Heals-The-Past and Celeste Walks-The-Spiral-Backwards.
  • This troper admits to doing this in short stories...guess which character "Evangeline Harpe" was a Gender Flip of? (Oh, and her Dead Little Sister is "Caroline".)
  • In House Of Leaves, you have Holloway ("Hollow way") Roberts.
    • Can also be read as "hallway"
    • Also, Johnny Truant
  • Naming a colony "Roanoke" shoulda been a hint in The Last Colony. Lampshade Hanging ensues when, after he figures out what's happening, the main character chews himself out for having missed the reference.
  • The Star Wars Expanded Universe isn't too subtle with this either. I can think of two examples off the top of my head, both Biblical, and there's probably more; Mara Jade ("Mara" meaning "bitter", and jaded people tend to be just that) and Luke Skywalker himself (meaning "luminous", and it fits with his pacifist personality). Oddly enough, the first example is actually both a straight example and a subversion; Timothy Zahn originally intended for the two of them to be Happily Married eventually, and he won out (and lo, did the shippers cheer).
  • Tad Williams's Otherland series includes a character who goes by the name of John Dread. His mother gave him the name "Johnny Wulgaru" because, according to the book, a "Wulgaru" is a type of demon in the mythology of the Australian aborigines, and she wanted him to grow up to be a monster who would take her revenge on the white man for destroying her people's way of life. Later, when the Big Bad hires him to be The Dragon, he starts to go by the alias "Johnny More Dread", because the Big Bad thinks of himself as being like King Arthur and "More Dread" sounds like Mordred. And, yes, he follows Mordred's example.
  • HP Lovecraft had an especially blatant case: Asenath Waite, whose name means "she belongs to her father". She has been possessed by her father's spirit, who moves from host body to host body.
  • The titular creatures of The Legend Of Rah And The Muggles are supposed to set great store by the significance of names. This mostly manifests itself in an implausible degree of nominative determism such that it's clearly so common for a pair of best friends or Sickeningly Sweethearts to have names that differ by a single letter that it never gets remarked upon.
  • Most of the Everafters (People and creatures from fairy tales) in The Sisters Grimm have obviously meaningful public names. Most of them are only enough to make it obvious who's who if you already know that Everafters exist — such as Ms. White and Mrs. Heart — but a few are so extreme that you'd expect them to be remarked upon even by people who have no reason to suspect their possessors are anything but ordinary people — Charming and Canis aren't exactly common surnames, nor is Robin Goodfellow a full name you'd normally expect a schoolboy to have. Some are legitimately obscure.
  • Played with twice in Robert Zubrin's The Holy Land. The American terrorists have names (David Crockett Christianson, George Washington Jones, Mickey Mantle Ostrowski, and Thomas Jefferson Clark) unabashedly evocative of Americana, and the aliens looking for a country to punish for their vile deeds know this. The Americans point out that the terrorists all legally changed their names (to David Crockett Christianson de Peru, George Washington Jones de Peru, Mickey Mantle Ostrowski de Peru, and Thomas Jefferson Clark de Peru). Peru gets PWNED.
    • Douglas