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Jack Nicholson's an actor, and Jack Black, he rocks for laughs. Jack Skellington's the pumpkin king with jolly epitaphs. Bruce Campbell played Jack Stiles, who was the "Jack Of All Trades". And Jackie Chan did his own stunts while juggling live grenades.
"Jack and Jill, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack Be Nimble, Jack Spratt... were all Mother Goose's friends named Jack?"
Not a lot of real people have it, but many, many fictional people do; they've got Jack. There is something fascinating about the name Jack. Where does it come from? What does it mean? What kind of feeling does the name invoke in the common individual?
It seems Hollywood has a pool of stock names they draw from, and for one reason or another, Jack is the name most often drawn. It's short, easy to remember, easy to yell. The short-A and sharp consonant sounds carry well over long distances when you're angry or in trouble.
And you know what? That's just fine.
What was once a nickname for John has blossomed into a given name for badasses, psychopaths, and Big Damn Heroes alike. The name Jack is the name you run to like a bear to honey, but could very easily be the name you run from like a bat out of hell. It's this versatility that makes the name kind of like a jack-of-all-trades with many writers and authors seemingly declaring it as the perfect name to give to any character for anything and everything in any type of story, ever since the days of nursery rhymes like Jack & Jill and Jack and The Beanstalk, making it Older Than Print. It also has the connotation of good luck, as in the Jacks of Spades, Clubs, Hearts and Diamonds.
English-language Fairy Tales often feature Jack as the hero, as long as he is a commoner. ( Prince Charming, if he is named, tends to get the full John.) This is paralleled in many other European languages, such as the German Hans, the Scottish Highlands Ian, or the Russian Prince Ivan.
Jack is the name of legends. And only legendary characters may have it. Compare Go Ask Alice. Not to be confused with what Candle Jack does to people who sa
This trope also has absolutely no relation to the last round of most You Don't Know Jack games.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Jack Atlas, the "King of Riding Duel" in Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds
- Mahou Sensei Negima gave us Jack Rakan in the Manga. He does this.
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- 'Jack' is also the name of the main character from the very obscure manga Shanghai Youma Kikai.
- The manga Jack Frost comes to mind as well.
- Black Jack, though it's not his real name.
Comic Books
- The Joker's real name is sometimes given as "Jack Napier" — most likely a pun on "jackanape". Including in the first Burton film, where he's played by Jack Nicholson...
- Jack Ryder
- Jack Knight, the lead character of Starman. The mythic resonance of the name comes up now and then during the series; at one point, Jack's father, Ted, monologues to himself that he always knew that Jack was destined to be the hero in the family: that's why he named him "Jack".
- Jack Giant from Wildguard: Casting Call, though his name is really JustForPun.
Film
- Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean
- And, of course, Jack The Undead Monkey.
- Jack Gruber in Die Hard. What's that, you say his name was Hans? Well, not in the German version...
- Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Which makes two sets of Jack S. names in two of Disney's most successful modern films.
- Jack Slater in Last Action Hero
- Jack Putter, the everyman character in Innerspace.
- Jack Dawson of Titanic.
- He really existed. But was probably illiterate, and shovelled coal all day.
- That there really was a "J. Dawson" who died when the Titanic sank is just a coincidence. Cameron didn't learn about him until after the movie came out.
- Jonathan "Jack" O'Neil(l) of Stargate and Stargate SG-1.
- Jack-Jack Parr of The Incredibles. Yes he's a baby , but one which can shapeshift, levitate, is superstrong, telekinetic, and has Eye Beams. Among other things.
- Jack Driscoll from King Kong
- The 2007 film Walk Hard starred both Jack Black and Jack White (as Paul McCartney and Elvis Presley, respectively).
- The unnamed narrator of Fight Club is commonly referred to as Jack (because of the "I am Jack's..." dialog).
- The titular character of the Robin Williams movie Jack.
- He also played Jack Dundee in The Best of Times and Jack Moniker in Club Paradise. Not that anyone remembers those films...
- Jack the Forest Boy in Legend, played by a very young Tom Cruise.
- Who can forget Jack Burton from Big Troublein Little China?
- General Jack D. Ripper, commander of Burpleson Air Force Base in Dr Strangelove.
- Jack Carter from Get Carter.
- Jack Twist from Brokeback Mountain. Played by a Jake (Gyllenhaal).
- Jack Banning, Peter Pan's son in Hook.
- Jack Nicholson has played at least two characters named Jack ("The Shining", "Batman"). Lot of Jacks there between the actor and the characters.
Literature
- The various Jacks of nursery rhymes and fairy tales such as: Jack and Jill, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack-Be-Nimble, Little Jack Horner, Jack Spratt, Jack Frost etc.
- The comic book Fables proposes that all these Jacks (except Jack Spratt and Jack Ketch) are actually one very clever con man and trickster, who is a standout from the ensemble cast of the book. He eventually got his own spinoff series, Jack of Fables.
- Jack Spratt in the Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crimes series also appears to be Jack of Jack and the beanstalk, Jack the giant-killer ("He was only 6'5'', hardly a giant") and several other fairy tale Jacks.
- Mostly obviously Jack Spratt: "Jack Spratt could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean. And so betwixt the two of them, they licked the platter clean." In DI Spratt's backstory in the "Nursery Crimes" series, this unhealthy diet led to her death.
- Yet another work to propose the preponderance of heroic Jacks is no coincidence is Charles de Lint's Jack the Giant-Killer (collected as part one of Jack of Kinrowan), in which the name is actually a title for heroic mortals connected to Faerie-kind.
- The most likely explanation for the multitude of fictional heroes named Jack in fairy tales and folklore is that Jack was another word for 'fool' in medieval and Renaissance England. Several of the classic English fairy tales involve a foolish hero (foolish enough to, say, sell his cow for a handful of 'magic' beans) bumbling his way to success through wit or luck. The foolish connotation of the word Jack is where we get the name of the playing card (reflecting the King, Queen and Fool of the royal court).
- The Jack character is very popular in Appalachian culture, where he is shown as clever and something of a rogue, but mostly kindhearted. His various adventures are known as "Jack Tales", including "Jack and the Bean Tree".
- Another explanation is that Jack is just a fill in name, Jack could be anybody, the average Joe so to speak. Fairytales from other countries often had their own "Jacks" such as the German Hans. The prologue to Don't Look Back, Jack!, a book of Scottish folktales collected by travelling storyteller Duncan Williamson, calls the folktale Jack an "everyman" character.
- Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey, of the Aubrey-Maturin series (Master and Commander in the movie.)
- Dr. Jack Ryan, a main character in The Hunt For Red October, and most of the fictional novels written by Tom Clancy.
- Jack Merridew who represents savagery in Lord Of The Flies.
- Jaqen H'ghar of A Song Of Ice And Fire
- The Man Jack, the villain from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Later turns out that there's a whole guild of men named Jack, though their purpose is never really explained.
- Jack Flash/Jack Carter is a multidimensional constant in Hal Duncan's The Book of All Hours. It's implied that all the other crazy Jacks in fiction and history are echoes or alternate reality versions of him.
- Jack Torrance from The Shining. Played in The Film Of The Book by... Jack Nicholson.
- Captain Jack West jnr. from Seven Ancient Wonders by Matthew Reilly.
- Jack Crawford, Will Graham's highly competent partner from Red Dragon.
- "Half-Cocked" Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds, L'Emmerdeur, Ali Zaybak, Sword of Divine Fire, of Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle.
- Black Jack Randall. Would be somewhat badass, if he wasn't a crazy rapist.
- Captain Jack Havock from Philip Reeve's Larklight trilogy
- Jack Pumpkinhead from The Marvelous Land of Oz and other Oz books.
Live Action TV
- Jack McPhee of Dawsons Creek. In the season 3 finale his sister even refers to him by the trope name.
- Captain Jack Harkness of Doctor Who and Torchwood
- Jack Harkness took the name of the original Jack Harkness, so it's highly likely that his real name isn't Jack.
- Don't forget The Adventures of Jack Harkaway from The Mind Robber.
- Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey, of the Aubrey-Maturin series (Master and Commander in the movie.)
- Jack Donaghy of 30 Rock
- Also Jack Rudolph on Studio 60. NBC legal would only let Sorkin/Fey use the name "Jack" for the evil network suit character.
- Jack Bauer of 24
- Jack Shephard of Lost
- Also the name of the serial killer in Frequency.
- Jonathan "Jack" O'Neil(l) of Stargate and Stargate SG-1.
- Jack McCoy of Law And Order: Classic Original Recipe
- Jack Stiles of Jack Of All Trades. Not a long-lived show, but come on, it's Bruce Campbell!
- When Sabrina Spellman turns herself into a boy she goes by the name Jack Sprattski.
- Jack Landors, Red Ranger from Power Rangers SPD.
- Jack Cox, in Scrubs. He may be a small child, but he is certainly the son of a Bad Ass.
- Djaq in Robin Hood, technically pronounced "Jark"; usually known as "Jack" in English. A woman, who took her brother's name on becoming a Sweet Polly Oliver, but lives up to the name's reputation by being a total Badass.
- Captain Jack, the Martian insurgent and host to a parasitic Shadow servitor in the Babylon 5 fourth season episode "Racing Mars".
- Sheriff Jack Carter from Eureka
- Daddy Badass of Alias, Jack Bristow. It's worth noting that his given name is actually 'Jonathan'.
- Jack Malloy from Unhappily Ever After.
- Jack Malone in Without A Trace
- Jack of All Trades, the main villain on Profiler
- Jack Large, one of the seven most evil men in the land, from Black Adder
- Jack Rimmer, the headmaster of Waterloo Road.
- Jack Gibson, in "Sea Change".
- Prince Jack Benjamin of Kings. His given name? Jonathan.
Music
- Jumpin' Jack Flash, the titular character of the Rolling Stones song.
- Referenced in Don Mc Lean's "American Pie": "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack Flash sat on a candlestick"
- Captain Jack, the titular character of the Billy Joel song. Comes from a slang term for heroin.
- Captain Jack was a Eurodance duo composed of musicians Franky Dee and Sunny, until Dee's death. You may recall them from one of the Dance Dance Revolution setlists.
- The actual song is a catchy remix of a military cadence by the same name.
- The tar-boy in "Click Goes the Shears" is called Jack.
Professional Wrestling
Close Professional Wrestling
Role Playing Games
- Bobby Jacks and Jack O'Connor from Survival Of The Fittest
- Incredibly common, both in the flavor text and in many games, in White Wolf's Changeling The Lost. Understandable, as it's a game of modern-day faerie tales.
Theater
Video Games
- In Metal Gear Solid, Raiden's real name is Jack (and commits sacrilege by calling it a "boring" name!)
- To make matters worse, his girlfriend is named Rose.
- Big Boss on the other hand... Hell, he's got an Eyepatch of Power, and not only saves the world from a secret war (twice) he also starts his own secret war (twice). He's mostly just named that to service a joke reference to MGS2 if you say it's your favorite MGS game at the beginning of MGS3. He also says his name is John, but as mentioned before, Jack and John are basically the same name.
- Jak of Jak And Daxter
- Harvest Moon: the fanname for the original male protagonist is Jack. His actual default name is "Pete", but no one ever calls him that.
- Kingdom Hearts uses two Disney Characters with this name, Jack Skellington from A Nightmare Before Christmas and Jack Sparrow from Pirates Of The Caribbean, as world-specific party-members. To avoid problems with the game's character-status system, the later is called "Sparrow" in the game's Pause-*menu.
- Not to mention Jaq the mouse, originally from Cinderella, who appears in Birth By Sleep.
- Jack Ryan of BioShock, but it's very easy to miss the fact that he even has a name.
- Jack Levin, pilot of the Astro Robin from F-Zero X.
- Jack Russell, the main character of Radiata Stories.
- Jack Van Burace/Vambrace, one of the leads in Wild ARMs.
- Jack Cayman from Mad World. His Right arm is robotic and has a chainsaw attached.
- Jack Corvus from Mega Man Star Force
- Resident Evil 4 has Jack Krauser, who is pretty much the definition of Bad Ass.
- The Big Bad in Fable is named Jack of Blades
- Jack Mower, The Hero of Nox.
- Guess what the killer Russian robots from the Tekken series are named. Hint: it's not Ivan. And they DO attack.
- Would Jazz Jackrabbit count?
- You Don't Know Jack! seems to invoke this, even though no-one there's named Jack.
- Yes there is- The bald guy was nicknamed "Jack" by fans, and the UK and German versions have hosts named Jack (Jack Cake and Quizmaster Jack, respectively).
- Captain John Price from Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Web Comics
Western Animation
- Captain Jack, the alligator, from The Simpsons
- Samurai Jack, in which "Jack" is the titular character's alias, rather than his true name.
- He adopts it after a few hoodlums refer to him as Jack as a sort-of placeholder name (they don't know his real one, after all), and he assumes it's some kind of title.
- Jack Spicer of Xiaolin Showdown
- Candle Jack, a villain in Freakazoid who would kidnap anyone who said his name. He was only in two episodes, but spawned a big Internet me
- Transformers: Even Mechanical Lifeforms from distant worlds aren't exempt. Wheeljack is the most obvious example, but there's also Skyjack, Jackpot, Jackknife, and, because Japan has different naming conventions for Transformers, a few that are just called Jack.
- Jack Fenton
- Darkwing Duck counted in his rogue's gallery the evil toymaker Quackerjack.
Real Life
- Eerie Real Life example: Jack The Ripper, a sinister Serial Killer from Victorian-era London whose true identity was never found. This mystique has actually caused him to be mentioned in and become an actual character in many works of fiction.
- Spring Heeled Jack, in Victorian-era London.
- The killer dubbed Springheel Jack in the Stephen King short story Strawberry Spring (found in Night Shift).
- As well as the main character of the Philip Pullman novella of the same name. The Batman of Victorian London, 'e is!
- Jack Nicholson. Just...Jack Nicholson.
- Who has, as mentioned above, played at least two fictional Jacks.
- Jack Black is Jack in Heat Vision And Jack. In it, he performs a Jack Attack, which involves swinging around a pole. Why isn't this higher on the list?
- He once hosted the MTV Movie Awards, and got to introduce punk duo The White Stripes, which began with him saying: "My name's Jack Black - his name's Jack White..."
- For an even bigger stretch, look no further than Tropic Thunder, where Jack's co-star Ben Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, an actor who'd just been in the role of... Simple Jack.
- A real life example who also fits the list below - Calico Jack, a famous 18th century pirate, who made the Jolly Roger flag an icon of piracy and also had both Anne Bonny and Mary Read in his crew. His real name was John Rackham.
- One nickname for Royal Navy sailors is "Jack Tars".
- Real Life example: CS Lewis was known as "Jack" to his friends. Given that the "C.S." stood for Clive Staples, one can't really blame him.
- Why hasn't anyone mentioned Jack Thompson yet?
- Jack Russell Terriers, tenacious little dogs that take on pit bulls and teach kids that reading is fun.
- Jack Chick
- When Tiger Woods wins another major golf tournament, whose record is he trying to break? Jack Nicklaus, the "Golden Bear". (No, they are not Petting Zoo People.)
- Jackpot!
As mentioned earlier, Jack used to be a nickname for John. As such, John has been a name of choice to give heroic characters too, probably because it's a very common, Anglo-Saxon name that makes the hero an "everyman". It should be noted that most Johns in fiction go by their surnames, compared to the Jacks, who prefer their given names.
Comic Books
- John Constantine of Hellblazer
- Folk hero John Henry
- John Hartigan of Sin City.
- The Fables spin-off Jack of Fables has Wicked John who looks exactly like Jack with black hair instead of blond. It's eventually revealed that Jack is a copy of Wicked John, the original trickster. John was the one that really did many of the things Jack is credited with like climbing the beanstalk and killing the giants, because most people have forgotten him and remember Jack.
Fan Fic
Film
Literature
- John Clark from the Tom Clancy novels, codename "Snake" (mentioned in Without Remorse). Also, the Jack Ryan mentioned above has the birth name John Patrick Ryan.
- Jonathan Harker of Dracula fame.
- Jon Snow (pronounced like "John") of A Song Of Ice And Fire
- John Yossarian of Catch-22, only revealed at the end in a throwaway line and easy to miss.
Live Action TV
- John Sheppard, Stargate Atlantis. He's usually called "Colonel Sheppard", although he's technically a Lieutenant Colonel (it's the US military system that also calls everyone with a star "General").
- Not everyone with a star is called General, some are called Admirals
- As well as Jack Harkness, Torchwood has Captain John Hart. Jack's Evil Counterpart (and ex-lover).
- John Sheridan of Babylon 5.
- John Locke of LOST is almost always referred to by his last name.
- Johnathan Archer from Star Trek
- John Crichton from Farscape
- "Mr. Big" of Sex And The City is named John, which we only learn during the last shot of the series finale.
- John Casey of Chuck
Radio
Role Playing Games
Video Games
- Naked Snake/Big Boss of Metal Gear Solid is named John, but goes by the nickname of "Jack."
- Hell, there is a four man Jack Attack in MGS 4 with the aforementioned "Jack" (Raiden) along with three Johns. Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki, Johnathon, and Raiden's son, "Little John".
- Master Chief of Halo is called JOHN-117
- In the Castlevania games, Quincy Morris' son and grandson are both named John and Jonathan.
- John Shepard from Mass Effect
- John Raimi from Geist
- Fans tend to call the player character in Harvest Moon "Jack", even after his name was officially revealed to be Pete in Puzzle de Harvest Moon.
Western Animation
Real Life
- American President John F Kennedy (was commonly referred to as "Jack")
- And his son 'John-John'
- A ton of politicians have been named John.
- The Apostle John
- The other John, the Baptist one
- Admiral John Arbuthnot Fisher, better known as "Jackie" Fisher.
- Watch any NASCAR race, and you'll hear a lot about jack-men. (They jack the cars. No, not jack, lift.)
- A toilet.
- Any unidentified male in criminal investigations, particularly dead victims, are called "John Doe."
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