Troperville
Editing Help
Tools
Toys
|
There are only two ways a child can go with a name like Pippin Galadriel Moonchild, and Pepper had chosen the other one.
Rachel: I was thinking, if it's a girl, how about Sandrine? It’s French.
Ross: Huh. That's a really pretty name ... for an industrial solvent.
Similar to Embarrassing Middle Name, this trope covers instances when a character has a first name that they don't like to be called by. Such characters use a variety of tactics to avoid their real first name:
- Getting a nickname (often one that hints at their embarrassing name).
- Picking a new first name.
- Claiming their middle name is their first name.
- Insisting that everyone call them by their last name.
If the first name is just the beginning in terms of embarrassment, then you might want to file the whole thing under Unfortunate Names.
Examples
Anime and Manga
- Zeta Gundam has a male lead named Camille, who naturally hates his feminine-sounding name. He eventually falls in love with a girl named Four, who has similar issues with her name (in her case, because it signifies that she is a number rather than an individual).
- Ranma 1/2 actually uses this as a plot point for one character: one Chinese village has a tradition that the person who gives a newborn baby its first bath must be the one to name it. Unfortunately, this gave panty stealing pervert Happosai the chance to name a baby, and since he loves women's garments so much he thought that the perfect name for a little boy would be Pantyhose. Pantyhose hates his name, and is on a constant quest to force Happosai to give him a new one, since Happosai is the only one who can change it. Unfortunately, his own choice of replacement first names aren't much better.
- For the curious, the other names Taro could have ended up with (Happosai begins trying to list some alternatives in Taro's first story before he finally decides that he just can't think of a better name then "Pantyhose Taro"), include, between the anime and the manga, "Loincloth Shiro", "Underwear Saburo", "Cockroach Goro", "Bellywrap Shishiro", and "Heartburn Rokuro".
- The Token Loli of Flame Of Recca was very reluctant in giving her name to the heroes. The reason? Her name is Ganko (Stubborn). Cue much taunting and laughing from The Hero and The Big Guy.
- In Naru Taru, Shiina Tamai writes her first name in katakana (phoenetic characters) because she hates the kanji used for it, which is read as "empty husk" or "a seed that shall never sprout". It actually becomes a critical plot point near the end of the manga.
- The male lead of Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan is named Sakura. Poor guy.
- In Mahou Sensei Negima, the leader of a group of powerful, dangerous, though punch-clocky bounty hunters calls himself Alexander Zaystev, also known as the "Twilight Zaystev". His real name? Chiko-tan.
- Kurosaki Ichigo from Bleach. Sure, the kanji read "to protect one thing" but it's also homonymous with "strawberry." It doesn't help him maintain a badass image. (Even the mangaka himself is not above exploiting this, with chapter titles such as 'The Death and the Strawberry.")
- Later on a character can't resist the temptation and starts calling him "Berry-tan."
- Run-Run/La-La in Mahoujin Guru Guru is utterly embarrassed by her name, and can get violently angry if people constantly repeat it or, worse, sing it. She will also go do all in her power to prevent people who don't know her name from ever learning it and is annoyed by Nike's persistence in the matter.
- The main character of the manga Okama Report is named, well, Okama, which more or less means "gay guy."
- In the Read Or Die OVAs, Nancy "Miss Deep" Makuhari is embarassed by her Western first name and prefers to go by her code name.
- Though she also finds her code name a bit embarassing as well, as she muses that it sounds like a porn star's name.
- D.Gray-Man has Bad Ass, Jerkass, sword-wielding Estrogen Brigade Bait Kanda Yu. Calling him by his first name will lead to swift annihilation.
- In the original Japanese version of Dragon Ball (the original), Bulma hesitatingly says her name when Goku asks what it is. This is because she original thought her name was embarrasing because of what it sounded like (in the manga; in the anime, Goku just though it was a "funny name"). All of this got lost in both the Vancouver dub, and in Funimation's redub.
Comic Books
- Grunge of Gen13's first name is Percy, no surprise he uses his middle name instead.
- In Preacher, Bad Ass Irish vampire Cassidy goes by his last name. His first name: Proinsias. (Apparently pronounced "Francis", but that wouldn't help his image any.) "It's... a perfectly respectable Gaelic name... Oh Jaysis, Jesse, don't tell anyone!"
- Well, it's the Irish Gaelic equivalent/translation of "Francis", but it's actually pronounced "pryne-SHEE-as". Yeah, I wouldn't tell anyone either.
- Jughead and Jellybean Jones (from the Archie Comics) are named Forsythe and Forsythia respectively. In one story, Jughead goes out of his way to keep Jellybean's name from being revealed to the public via billboard, and both characters have had stories where people who try to call them by their real names ended up with misfortune.
- Oddly, in Jughead's case, his distaste for his name is partly because any girl who hears it thinks it's suave and romantic and starts chasing him.
- In the Tintin comics, the first name of Captain Haddock is only mentioned once (in the last finished album, no less). The Captain gets momentary amnesia after getting hit in the head, and when told by Tintin that his first name is Archibald he snarks and says that the name is ridiculous. Which might explain why nobody ever calls him by his first name otherwise.
- Miracleman featured a cold hearted, stone-tough assassin named... Evelyn Cream. Wow.
- Few characters in the Brit series of comics realize that the title character's name is short for Brittany.
- In Knights Of The Dinner Table, Crutch is a tough as nails biker and ex-con. It turns out his given name is Leslie.
- When the Penguin first revealed his full name, he said, "Yes, my name is Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot. And, please, no jokes."
Film
- Hilts, from The Great Escape. Actually, he'd prefer Captain Hilts, but please, just don't call him Virgil.
- Mervyn, the Sheriff of Rottingham from Robin Hood Men In Tights. (Apparently this name is only allowed if one is the Governor of the Bank of England).
- Another character had her name changed TO Latrine before the movie took place. It used to be Shithouse.
- In Meet The Parents, Greg's real first name is Gaylord. His parents also call him "Gay".
- What sort of parents call their son Gaylord Focker?
- The dominatrix from Shortbus is named Jennifer Aniston.
- Ash from the Evil Dead movies. His real first name is actually Ashley... which is probably why he goes by Ash even as the clueless yuppie from the first movie.
- In Quantum Of Solace, the agent sent to pick up James Bond in Bolivia only gives her name as "Fields," and deflects further questions about it. Given that the credits give her first name as Strawberry, it's hard to blame her.
- "Bud" White's real name is Wendall in LA Confidential.
- Cobra's title character is actually named Marion Cobretti. He lampshades it at one point, when he explains "I would have preferred a more masculine name... like Alice."
- The character of Boss Spearman in Open Range turns out to actually be named "Bluebonnet".
- And then of course, there's Michael Bolton, poor put-upon office worker (and not the "no-talent ass clown") from Office Space. "Why should I change my name? He's the one who sucks."
- In The Wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson's real name is Robin Raminski.
- Stripes: "The name's Francis Soyer, but everybody calls me Psycho. Any of you guys call me Francis, and I'll kill you."
Literature
- Several protagonists from novels by Robert A Heinlein.
- Glory Road has Evelyn Cyril Gordon, who went by E.C., often elided to "Easy", and later by "Scar" after he was injured in the Vietnam War. Which got misheard by his employer, the Empress of the Nine Universes, so he became "Oscar".
- The Puppet Masters has "Sam", a secret agent who goes through several false identities. Only late in the novel does he go right up to his father and ask, "Dad, why did you name me Elihu?"
- The Number Of The Beast has Dejah Thoris Burroughs, who goes by D.T., or "Deety", and her husband Zebadiah John Carter, who goes by "Zebbie". Both names are a Shout Out to the John Carter Of Mars novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, heavily lampshaded
- "Remember, it's not Mars. It's Barsoom!".
- In White Plume Mountain by Paul Kidd, the tough-as-nails ranger known only as The Justicar is eventually revealed to have been named Evelyn by his birth parents.
- Mr. Krupp, aka Captain Underpants, is named Benny.
- In PG Wodehouse's books, Jeeves' first name was eventually revealed to be Reginald. This is shocking not because the name doesn't suit him, but because we always assumed Jeeves didn't have a first name. Brinkley/Bingley's tendency to call him "Reggie" made matters even more embarrassing for all concerned.
- It is also revealed at one point that Bertie Wooster's middle name is Wilberforce. His father had won some money on horse betting the day before Bertie's christening, and the horse's name was Wilberforce. Bertie himself says that "if ever I marry and have a son, Green Swizzle Wooster is the name that will go down in the register". Green Swizzle is a type of cocktail.
- In "Big Money", the rich man's name is T Patterson Frisby. What does the "T" stand for? Torquil. Naturally, he doesn't use it, after all the bullying he got at school.
- Nearly
 everyone in the Drones Club has a nickname, which makes the most sense for characters like "Tuppy" (Hildebrand) Glossop.
- In Little Women, Laurie's actual first name is Theodore. That's not bad in itself, but considering that his friends used to call him "Dora", it's not surprising that he went with a variation of his last name, Lawrence.
- Good Omens: Pepper's full name is Pippin Galadriel Moonchild. Don't call her that, though.
- Also the young witch Anathema Device - apparently, her mother liked the pronunciation of it but was a little less clear on its meaning...
- Harry Potter's Nymphadora Tonks, "who prefers to be known by her surname only" ("So would you if your fool of a mother had called you 'Nymphadora'"). While her mother Andromeda presumably uses this first name, and her father calls her "Dora," everyone else uses Tonks. (Including her husband. Which creates all sorts of awkward, since that might not be her last name at all anymore... But that's a matter for another trope.)
- After going by "Tonks" for long, she'd presumably keep it. Women aren't legally obliged to change their names when they marry, after all.
- People do tend to retain nicknames for life. And in this case "Tonks" definitely functions as a nickname.
- Plus the risk of being called 'nympho' at school? High, regardless of her behaviour...
- Rowling was once asked "Why didn't Tonks go by her middle name?" during a radio interview. The answer: "Her middle name is Vulpecula. Does that answer your question?" No one knows if the writer was joking or not.
- "Vulpecula" is a real name, by the way. It means "little fox", which is kind of entertaining given that she marries a werewolf. And it's a constellation, which fits the family naming convention.
- Robinette Broadhead (a man), from Frederik Pohl's Heechee saga.
- Ermintrude from Nation by Terry Pratchett, who changes her name to "Daphne" at the first possible opportunity.
- Pratchett also likes inversions, e.g. Agnes in Discworld and Kirsty in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy, both of whom are disappointed by their very ordinary-sounding names and insist on going by others.
- Moist von Lipwig. He's learned to live with it, though.
- And his other half, Adora Belle Dearheart.
- The very end of The Sherwood Ring reveals that Pat Thorn's real first name is one of these — Peacable, named after his ancestor.
- The 1632 series features three kids whose parents were hippies, and thus are all named after Tolkien characters (Faramir, Gwaihir and Elrond); their father later sobers up a bit and gives them the pseudonyms of Frank, Gerry and Ron so they don't get beaten up at school.
- The War Against The Chtorr. Colonel Badass Elizabeth Tirelli is always referred to by her nickname Lizard (a pun on 'Liz'), even by her boyfriend.
- In The Wheel Of Time, Tomboy Min Farshaw hates her full name, Elmindreda, which is most notorious as a folklore character who is shallow and flighty — not to mention very, very girly.
- In Barrayar, Lieutenant Koudelka ("Kou" to his friends) and Miss Droushnakovi ("Drou" to her friends) are embarassed at their wedding when they have to publically admit to their first names, Clement and Ludmilla. (Drou continues to go by her nickname even though she chooses to take her husband's last name)
- The title character of Yann Martel's Life Of Pi is named Piscine Molitor Patel (after a swimming pool in France that his uncle greatly admires). He shortens this to Pi Patel to escape the inevitable schoolyard taunts about "Piscine" sounding like "pissing."
- Slartibartfast of Hitchhikers Guide. It's not so much embarrassing as just "not important".
- Witch Week takes place in a world where witchcraft is a serious crime. Dulcinea Pilgrim is a girl who is named after the most famous witch in history, so it's small wonder she goes by "Nan" and has asked the headmistress of her school to keep her real name a secret. Of course, the headmistress forgets....
- "They stick you with a name like "Wendell", you look for an alias"
- As if "Percy" wasn't silly enough, Lord John's lover/stepbrother in Diana Gabaldon's Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade isn't actually named Percival, but Perseverance.
- Another Gabaldon example: In An Echo In The Bone, we meet brothers Herman and Vermin. This trope is speculated upon. A little more excusable given that they are in actuality the sisters Hermione and Ermintrude. And in A Breath Of Snow And Ashes, Roger christens a little girl, who the family name in his honor... Rogerina.
- In Beyond the Magic Sphere, the main character's name is S.B. Fields. She refuses to tell anyone her real first name, which turns out to be Strawberry.
- Gratuity "Tip" Tucci in The True Meaning Of Smekday. Gratuity's mom wasn't all that bright, and didn't know what the word Gratuity meant.
Live Action TV
- Bill McNeal from News Radio was actually Evelyn William McNeal.
- Late in Cheers' run, Vera revealed that Norm's first name was Hillary.
- Carla's boyfriend Eddie's real name is Guy.
- In an episode of Night Court, Dan reveals that his real name is Reinhold (the creator of the show was Reinhold Weege.)
- When Mac and Quon Li's daughter is born, she wants to name her after the storybook horse Flicka. They make it her middle name after Renee.
- And in reality shows, one of The Amazing Race 7's co-ed teams is named Meredith and Gretchen. Meredith is the guy.
- Mac Gyver always seemed embarrassed by his first name. Even former lovers only ever called him "MacGyver" (his grandfather called him "bud"). In one of the show's final episodes, his first name was revealed to be "Angus", which isn't really all that embarrassing. His embarrassment was probably based on the name originally scripted for him, which was "Stacey".
- A more infamous example is Kramer on Seinfeld, who went several seasons before finally revealing his first name was Cosmo.
- Also, Elaine dates a man who shared his name with serial killer, Joel Rifkin. After one too many embarrassing moments, he opts to change it. This leads to his breakup with Elaine as neither likes the other's choices for a new first name.
- One episode of Kids Incorporated revealed that the character who had previously been known only as "The Kid" was embarrassed by his traditional African first name, Ras'san (Also the actor's first name; with two or three exceptions, every character on the show was The Danza). After a Very Special Episode taught him not to be ashamed of his heritage, everyone started calling him Ras'san. Right up to the end of the episode, after which it was never mentioned again. The guy left the show shortly afterwards.
- Fox Mulder of The X Files once told Scully that he made his parents call him Mulder.
- Interestingly, his middle name is the perfectly normal William.
- Doctor McKay of Stargate Atlantis prefers to be adressed by his middle name, Rodney, because his first name is Meredith.
- Jesse's real first name on Full House was Hermes.
- Inspector Morse's first name was not revealed for some time on the show, because he was embarrassed about it. Even lovers only called him "Morse". His first name was eventually revealed to be Endeavour.
- This practice has a history with him: one of his college friends from Oxford reveals that his nickname all through school was "Pagan", because he refused to give his Christian name.
- Boycie in Only Fools And Horses is actually named Aubrey Boyce. Even his wife calls him Boycie.
- This editor vaguely recalls an episode of The Wonder Years in which one of the characters is challenged to find out the name of the school psycho. Eventually he discovers the guy's name is Florence. Hence the craziness.
- Dr. Cox of Scrubs has the first name Perry. This isn't notable (and probably not said) until you know that he hates apparently 'gay' names like Quinn or, well, Perry.
- His first name is actually revealed to be Percival, for which Perry is short for.
- Gay Perry? Does that remind anybody of anything?
- And in the most recent season, Perry's full name is revealed to be Percival Ulysses Cox.
- Uncle Phil from Mad About You thought he was dying and made the Buchmans promise to name their first son after him. He then revealed that his real first name was "Deuteronomy". He didn't hold them to their promise.
- When his "dying" proved to be a false alarm, he revealed that his reasoning was sound if a little odd-Deuteronomy is such an unusual name that there would never be any of the confusion in child identification that so plagues the parents who were foolish enough to name their child "Joe".
- Later they ended up naming their daughter Mabel, which it could be argued was a lateral move at best.
- Due South's second Ray goes by his middle name; his name is actually Stanley Kowalski. His father "had a thing for Marlon Brando." The themed naming is exacerbated by an ex-wife named Stella.
- In one episode of Life Support, the character Penne finally gets her revenge on her parents for giving her an awful name by sending them to Germany and getting them arrested under its strict child-naming legislation.
- On the show Boy Meets World, Mr. Feeny reveals Cory's real name in the series finale.
Mr. Feeny: So, Mr. Matthews...
Cory: You think we've known each other long enough for you to call me Cory?
Mr. Feeny: I think we've known each other, long enough, for me to call you Cornelius.
Cory: Ssh! Mr. Feeny, come on! Not even Topanga knows that!
- Another episode showed Feeny knowing the real name of professional wrestler Vader as Leslie (Although it's actually Leon in Real Life...)
- Myron Lawrence Finkelstein fron Dharma And Greg, who usually goes by his middle name.
- Adam Klaus in Jonathan Creek turns out to be using a stage name when his older sister Kitty arrives and refers to him exclusively as Chester, not a name with much credibility for a stage illusionist. (Kitty's Scottish accent throws suspicions on Adam's supposed American-ness as well.)
- Andy (a girl) in Kyle XY, who lets everyone believe that her name is short for Andrea... it's actually short for Andromeda.
- Lt. Provenza of The Closer has yet to reveal his first name. ("What's your first name?" "Lieutenant.")
- Peter Falk gave the same answer when asked what Columbo's first name was. (A close-up of a badge seen in the second episode reveals it to be "Frank," though this wasn't clear until the show came out on DVD.)
- Absolutely Fabulous: Eurydice Colette Clytemnestra Dido Bathsheba Rabelais Patricia Cocteau Stone.
- In Friends Chandler's first name is considered embarrassing. In one episode, they name one of Phoebe's brother's triplets after him:
Chandler: So uh, now that little Chandler turned out to be a girl, what are they gonna name her?
Phoebe: They're gonna call her Chandler.
Chandler: That's kind of a masculine name, don't you think?
Phoebe: Works on you.
- He also has an embarrassing last name:
Chandler: From now on, I have no first name.
Joey: So - you're just Bing?
Chandler: I have no name.
- On The Pretender, Dark Action Girl Miss Parker once threatened to shoot someone who was about to reveal her first name (hardly an empty threat). Her first name is unknown to this day.
- You mean her first name isn't "Miss"???
- Get Smart's Chief unwillingly reveals his first name, Thaddeus, under oath.
- On Desperate Housewives, Mike and Susan name their son Maynard, after Mike's uncle. Susan's not happy about this and would have preferred Connor, afraid for what her poor son will have to suffer through in school. They compromise by calling him MJ.
- All In The Family - Archie's given name is Archibald Bunker.
- The Vicar Of Dibley Geraldine Granger's actual first name is revealed to be Boadecea, although this is inconsistent with the later revelation that her name is actually Geraldine Julie Andrews Dick Van Dyke Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Chim Chiminey Chim Chiminey Chim Chim Cher-ee Granger.
- Doc Cochran from Deadwood has the first name of Amos. He won't allow Merrick to print it in the vaccine announcement.
- Wow, has everyone forgotten about Beulah Lisa Wilkes, Will's once-fiancee?
Music
- The 'Boy named Sue' from the song of the same name.
- Of course, it's implied to have just made him into a badass.
Newspaper Comics
Video Games
Web Comics
- Female example: In El Goonish Shive, rabid feminist Susan's full name is Tiffany Susan Pompoms.
- In GPF, Trudy's real name is Moonbeam Gertrude Glowerhausen. (Hippie parents, y'see.) Anyone who learned this information would not live long enough to share it.
- Roast Beef of Achewood was initially believed to be a girl when he was born, so his parents gave him the name of Cassandra. No wonder he became The Woobie.
- From Gunnerkrigg Court, George Parley. It's embarrassing because she's a girl.
- Fox Maharassa in Boy Meets Boy is actually named Kailen. This is also his Berserk Button, as demonstrated here.
- In a Questionable Content strip, it is revealed Raven's first name is Blodwyn (her parents are Welsh), prompting amused reactions.
- Richard from "Looking For Group" doesn't really hide his first name, but he still tries to confuse anyone who'd ask him by concealing it in a hurricane of nicknames. And of course, calling him Dick is just asking for being fwooshed.
- Riffington (a.k.a Riff) from Sluggy Freelance.
- Another Gaming Comic brings us "Joe Chaos", who's actual name is Irving. Not so bad. Then we have Dang, who's name eventually turns out to be Davros.
- KK from Freakangels real name is Kolfinnia Kokokoho, considering that Kolfinnia means winter in some Norse language and Kokokoho means Night Owl in japanese it's actually a well intended name, of course that dosen't stop KK from being extremely angry at anyone who calls her that.
- Darklight from The Heroes Of Middlecenter uses Darklight to cover up her real name, which is... Daffodil.
- Blossom from Rhapsodies has the first name of Petronilla. While she doesn't go out of her way to keep it a secret she prefers that it's only known as an initial.
Web Original
- In the League Of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions Sailor Evil's full name is Griselda Ethylene Evil & she didn't want to be known as Sailor Griselda.
- Anaesthesia "Anna" Grout from Survival Of The Fittest. Arguably Dacey Ashcroft, although replace embarrassing with 'too feminine'.
- V4 character Yelizaveta 'Bounce' Volkova, even though that's just the roughly corresponding Russian name for Elizabeth.
- Tech Infantry has Andrea Treschi. It's a guy, but he's not too concerned about the name. On the other hand, there's Corporal Tess. Corporal Reichenspurger Tess, whose parents moved from a planet that followed the Asian custom of "family name first" to one that followed the Western custom of "family name last". The bureaucrat processing their paperwork screwed hers up, so she just has everyone call her by her "last" name.
- The full name of Dr. Poque, the Big Bad of Mega64, is "Dr. Diarrhea Poque", as revealed at the end of episode 4 of season 2. Derek and Rocko find out much earlier on in the first season's second episode, though the name wasn't actually revealed then. Rocko does comment that it sounds like "some kind of butt disease", however.
Western Animation
- On Spongebob Squarepants, Plankton's first name was revealed to be Sheldon in the episode "Plankton's Army".
- On Kids Next Door, the episode "Operation: SLUMBER" revealed that Numbuh 86's real name was Fanny. Cue butt jokes.
- The jokes would have been considerably worse if she'd lived in the UK... which, judging fom her accent, she probably has.
- Dr. Drakken of Kim Possible was born Drew Theodore P. Lipsky, as if any one part of that wasn't bad enough on its own.
- On Gummi Bears, the evil Duke Igthorn's secret first name was... Sigmund. Duke Sigi Igthorn.
- On Drawn Together, Captain Hero's first name is Leslie.
- In the Dexters Laboratory episode "A Boy Named Sue", Mandark revealed that his hippy-dippy parents had named him Susan. The title of the episode is itself derived from the song written by Shel Silverstein and sung by Johnny Cash, about a boy who wants to kill his father for naming him Sue.
- Also on Recess: Tomboy Spinelli's first name is Ashley. This embarrasses her mainly because her sworn enemies are a gang of girls called "The Ashleys".
- Evil, ambitious Mad Scientist and high school principal Cinnamon J. Scudworth in Clone High. Yes, he is the primary antagonist of the series, and, yah, he's male.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty Emily Dickinson Jones in Duck Dodgers is a subversion; while Dodgers finds it funny, Emily himself insists that the 25th-and-a-half century no longer has gender-specific names.
- While it may have been a reasonable first name when the comic books were first written, the Animated Adaptation of Teen Titans pokes fun at the fact that Beast Boy has the first name... Garfield.
- In Lilo And Stitch The Series, it's revealed that Pleakly's first name is... Wendy. While he insists that it means "powerful warrior" on his planet, it still earns him lots of chuckles, and he refuses to go by it unless he has to. Oddly, the anime, while it serves as an Alternate Continuity to most of the Lilo And Stitch canon, kept Pleakly's first name as Wendy.
- In Phineas And Ferb's Cliptastic Countdown, we find Major Monogram's first name is Francis, much to the amusement of Dr. Doofenshmirtz (who isn't really one to talk, considering his first name is Heinz).
- Cartoon or comic, Will Vandom of W.I.T.C.H. can NEVER escape her real name. In the comics, it's "Wilhelmina" and in the first episode of the cartoon, it's revealed to be "Wilma". The comics made a recent example when Will flipped out over her relatives calling her baby brother (named William) "Will"... and then, they all started calling her "Wilhelmina" once they found out her real name, much to her displeasure.
- Although he had always had it since his first appearance in the games, Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog portrays Miles "Tails" Prower as "hating" his real name. In the episode in question, Sonic even threatens to spill the beans if Tails doesn't do what he tells him.
- Averted with Milhouse Van Houten, who should be embarrassed by his first name but, for some reason, isn't.
- While he never expressed any dislike for his real name, Shaggy almost never went by his real name of Norville Rogers... for some incomprehensible reason.
Real Life
- Topologist RH Bing. He was named after his father Rupert Henry but since he was born in Texas his mother found that name too British so as a compromise named him just RH. After becoming professor at Wisconsin, he marked his name as "R only H only Bing" to emphasize that it's just the letters, and his nameplate came back "Ronly Honly Bing".
- Comedian Henry Cho has a similar act talking about his (probably fictional) dumbass redneck friend, Jonly Bonly Stewart.
- A double-shot example for both first and middle name: Astronaut Gus Grissom's real first name was Virgil, but hated being referred to by that moniker. When being interviewed by NASA publicists for the Cold War space race they suggested using Grissom's middle name as Gus seemed inappropriate for an astronaut. Grissom didn't have a problem with that but suggested NASA might not want to refer to one its American astronauts as Ivan. "Gus it is, then...."
- Lafayette Ronald Hubbard.
- John Wayne was born 'Marion Robert Morrison', later changed to 'Marion Michael Morrison' when his parents decided to name a later child Robert.
- Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116. It's pronounced "Albin". You may groan now.
- There is a phenomenon common in the US, but not unknown elsewhere in the English-speaking world - parents hear a name whose origin and meaning they do not know, and think that it would be "a lovely name for a baby girl." It then becomes popular as a female name - once "everyone" thinks of it as a female name, it rarely, if ever, is used again as a male name. Names that this has happened to include Meredith, Hilary, Shirley, Ashley, Evelyn and Beverly, while Dana, Micah, Logan, Bailey, and Riley are in the process of transition.
- Stacey, Tracey and Kelly were once boy's names too.
- Kelly Slater proves sometimes that name is still used.
- And Tracy Morgan for that name. (Can anyone think of any male Stacys younger than Keach?)
- The chances of this happening skyrocket if the male name ends in "-a" — seen as a quintessentially female ending. This has wrought havoc with Russian diminutives, e.g. Sasha is a diminutive of either Aleksandr or Aleksandra, yet is only given to girls in the English-speaking world, with boys who are called Sasha presumably being ridiculed. One can only imagine what Sacha Baron Cohen went through in school.
- And no, he's not related to figure-skater Sasha Cohen.
- It becomes a certainty when a celebrity has such a name. "Misha" is a diminutive of "Mikhail / Michael," but Mischa Barton has ensured that the name now has a severe case of "girl-cooties." Similarly, there were several Byzantine emperors called Alexis, but Joan Collins' character of Alexis Carrington from the '80's soap Dynasty has meant that few men in English-speaking countries now bear the name.
- Similarly, the male name Hayden, although it doesn't end in "-a", is now increasingly associated with females thanks to Hayden Panettiere.
- Not to forget the daughter of the famous children's television hostess "Xuxa", Sasha. The woman even tried to sue whoever else put the name on their daughters! Didn't work, of course.
- One shudders to think that “Attila” may be a matter of “when”, not “if”.
- The really hilarious example is "Andrea", which in the U.S. is almost exclusively a girl's name despite coming from the Greek root for "man".
- But...but...that's this troper's name! Why can't I stop laughing?
- Andrea is also a female name in Spanish-speaking countries. In Italy, source of a great deal of immigration to Argentina, Andrea is a male name. Cue family embarrassment when Italian ancestors came visit Argentinian relatives and learned about the new granddaughter...
- Names like Carla, Charlotte, etc. (female variants of Charles) also suffer from this.
- Meet Landocalrissian Butler. No, he's not a smuggler, or a card player, but he seems to be quite a scoundrel.
- Vicky Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopalian bishop. He wasn't expected to survive infancy, and his parents were expecting a girl.
- Ulysses S. Grant's real name was Hiram Ulysses Grant; he was very embarassed by his first name as it made his initials HUG.
- Rule of thumb for naming conventions in Brazil: one's monthly wage - if any at all - is inversely proportional to the probability that one's child's name is going to be a Funetik Aksent version of a legitimate English name. Dienifers, Dions and Maicous abound among the poorer classes.
- While serving in the air force in WWI, the Canadian diplomat and Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson was given the name "Mike" by a flight instructor who thought "Lester" wasn't manly enough, a moniker that he was known by for the rest of his life. (It could have been worse. Lester had a brother named Marmaduke.)
- When Kemal Amin Kasem began working in radio, one of his bosses thought his name sounded too ethnic and had him change it to Casey.
- I don't know how no one's mentioned this yet, but, well, Dwayne Johnson. You may know him better by his stage name, "The Rock."
- There are probably too many pro wrestling examples, but a case of an embarrassing last name was recently lampshaded when Shawn Micheals is called by his actual last name (Hickenbottom). Though it was apparently to "protect his identity", but Triple H couldn't help but be amused.
- Almanzo Wilder, husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder. He explains that his name is a family tradition dating back to the Crusades, in which some ancient Wilder owed his life to an "El Manzoor". Contrary to this trope, though, he used it socially.
- His older sister, Eliza Jane, also hated her name after an unfortunate incident at school, even telling her niece to call her "E.J."
- Almanzo does have a lot of nicknames, though: his siblings call him "Mannie" or "'Manzo," and his wife calls him "Manly."
- Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan's real first name is Lynn. Nolan is his middle name.
- Not quite an embarassing first name but the current Mayor of London, Boris Johnson revels in the nickname "Bo Jo" when people feel like shortening his name. As one Tory MP noted "With initials like that, you can't just use them on their own'.
- Occurs often with celebrity's children. Frank Zappa is the worst case, being the father of Moon Unit, Diva Thin Muffin, Dweezil and Ahmet.
- But those are fun names, unlike Chastity, China/Chynna, Apple or Scout...
- Dweezil Zappa is a subversion of the trope. When he was born, the hospital refused to put the name "Dweezil" on the birth certificate because they deemed it too embarrassing. When he got older and discovered the name on his birth certificate did not match what he had been called all his life, he went and had his name legally changed to Dweezil.
- In Russia, some too educated parents decided to give their son the name BOCHrVF260602. That is, Biological Object Human, of the family of Voronin-Frolov, born June 26th 2002. The authorities refused to register the name, the legal argument seems to be still going on.
- Pelham Grenville Wodehouse. He used his initials professionally, and his friends called him "Plum".
- People who share a namesake with a Hurricane or Cyclone, particularly if the storm in question was really destructive:
- Andrew
- Charley
- Gloria
- Ivan
- Katrina
- In fall 2005, the woman by that name who owned the URL katrina.com turned down all offers (some presumably quite lucrative) to purchase the domain name, and instead put a hotlink to the Red Cross website at the top, in a personal Crowning Moment Of Awesome.
- Rita
- Roxanne
- Another double whammy: Ike. Tina Turner jokes doubled in the time before it hit.
- Wilma
|
|
