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Let me introduce, Captain Jack, Captain Jack, Captain Jack and... er... I always forget his name...
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. - The Great Luke Ski, "You Don't Know Jack"
"Jack and Jill, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack Be Nimble, Jack Spratt... were all Mother Goose's friends named Jack?" - Billy, The Family Circus
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. This trope also has absolutely no relation to the last round of most You Don't Know Jack games.
Examples
- Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean
- And, of course, Jack The Undead Monkey.
- 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 Jack, the alligator, from The Simpsons
- 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.
- 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 MGS 2 if you say it's your favorite MGS game at the beginning of MGS 3. He also says his name is John, but as mentioned before, Jack and John are basically the same name.
- Jack Malone in Without A Trace
- Jack Gruber in Die Hard. What, you say there wasn't a Jack in this movie? Well, in the German version, there was...
- Jack Bristow in Alias
- Samurai Jack, in which "Jack" is the titular character's alias, rather than his true name.
- Jak of Jak And Daxter
- Jack Spicer of Xiaolin Showdown
- Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Which makes two sets of Jack S. names in two of Disney's most successful modern films.
- Harvest Moon: the fanname for the usual hero (blue hat,blue overalls,brown hair,usually has some connection to the Mineral Town girls) is Jack(his actual default name is "Pete").
- Jack Slater in Last Action Hero
- 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 rouge, 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.
- 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!
- 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
- 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.
- Jack Nicholson. Just...Jack Nicholson.
- Jonathan "Jack" O'Neil(l) of Stargate and Stargate SG-1.
- "Half-Cocked" Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds, L'Emmerdeur, Ali Zaybak, Sword of Divine Fire, of Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle.
- 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 McCoy of Law And Order: Classic Original Recipe
- Jack of All Trades, the main villain on Profiler
- Samurai Jack
- Jack Stiles of Jack Of All Trades. Not a long-lived show, but come on, it's Bruce Campbell!
- The various Jack robots of the Tekken series.
- When Sabrina Spellman turns herself into a boy she goes by the name Jack Sprattski.
- 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, the reaper from Jack. Within his universe, however, he is a subversion.
- Jack Knight, the lead character of Starman
- Dr. Jack Ryan, a main character in The Hunt For Red October, and most of the fictional novels written by Tom Clancy.
- Jack Driscoll from King Kong
- Jack Cox, in Scrubs. He may be a small child, but he is certainly the son of a Bad Ass.
- Jack Landors, Red Ranger from Power Rangers SPD.
- 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.
- The 2007 film Walk Hard starred both Jack Black and Jack White (as Paul McCartney and Elvis Presley, respectively).
- While the main character of the Harvest Moon games can be given any name, his "official" name is Jack.
- Djaq in Robin Hood (a woman, her adopted male name is pronounced the same way though)
- 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 Atlas, the "King of Riding Duel" in Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds
- The Joker's real name is sometimes given as "Jack Napier" — most likely a pun on "jacknape". Including in the first Burton film, where he's played by Jack Nicholson...
- Jack the Forest Boy in the movie Legend, played by a very young Tom Cruise.
- Jack Giant from Wildguard: Casting Call, though his name is really JustForPun.
- Mahou Sensei Negima gave us Jack Rakan in the Manga. He does this.◊
- 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.
- The Big Bad in Fable is named Jack of Blades
- Who can forget Jack Burton from Big Troublein Little China?
- Jack Russell, the main character of Radiata Stories.
- It should be noted, Jack Russell is likely so named because he is incredibly bouncy, happy, and well, terrier-like.
- Jack Snipe, the Foolamancer from Erfworld
- Jack Ryan of BioShock, but it's very easy to miss the fact that he even has a name.
- Captain Jack, the Martian insurgent and host to a parasitic Shadow servitor in the Babylon 5 fourth season episode "Racing Mars".
- General Jack D. Ripper, commander of Burpleson Air Force Base in Dr Strangelove.
- Jack Levin, pilot of the Astro Robin from F-Zero X.
- Jack Van Burace/Vambrace, one of the leads in Wild ARMs.
- Jack Rimmer, the headmaster of Waterloo Road.
- Jack Merridew who represents savagery in Lord Of The Flies.
- Jack Mower, The Hero of Nox.
- Sheriff Jack Carter from Eureka
- Jumpin' Jack Flash, the titular character of the Rolling Stones song.
- Captain Jack, the titular character of the Billy Joel song. Comes from a slang term for heroin.
- Bobby Jacks and Jack O'Connor from Survival Of The Fittest
- 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 Fenton
- 'Jack' is also the name of the main character from the very obscure manga Shanghai Youma Kikai.
- 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.
- Mr. Jack Worthing of The Importance Of Being Earnest. The play being Oscar Wilde, his Love Interest goes on about how Jack is a vile name that "produces no [musical] vibrations" whatsoever, and how the only man she could marry is one named Ernest — good thing he's pretending to have that very name. The ending reveals he doesn't even have to pretend — his real name is Ernest John Moncrieff.
- 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.
- Jack Carter from the movie Get Carter.
- Jack Cayman from Mad World. His Right arm is robotic and has a chainsaw attached, nuff said.
- Jack Torrance from The Shining. Played in The Film Of The Book by... Jack Nicholson.
- Jack Twist from Brokeback Mountain. Played by a Jake (Gyllenhaal).
- Jack Banning, Peter Pan's son in the movie Hook.
- Black Jack Randall. Would be somewhat badass, if he wasn't a crazy rapist.
- Jack Swagger. Also known as the All-American American.
- Resident Evil 4 has Jack Krauser, who is pretty much the definition of Bad Ass.
- One nickname for Royal Navy sailors is "Jack Tars".
- Jack Large, one of the seven most evil men in the land, from Black Adder
- 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.
- Jack Schiff, resident Cloud Cuckoo Lander from TRU-Life Adventures
- Why hasn't anyone mentioned Jack Thompson yet?
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.
- 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".
- John McClane of Die Hard
- Master Chief of Halo is called JOHN-117
- John Connor of Terminator
- John Kruger of Eraser
- John Kimble of Kindergarden Cop
- John Matrix of Commando
- John Rambo of Rambo
- 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.
- John Constantine of Hellblazer
- Cleric John Preston of Equilibrium
- John Lee of The Replacement Killers
- John Hartigan of Sin City.
- 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").
- John Casey of Chuck
- Jonathan Harker of Dracula fame. In the Castlevania games, Quincy Morris' son and grandson are both named John and Jonathan.
- American President John F. Kennedy (was commonly referred to as "Jack")
- As well as Jack Harkness, Torchwood has Captain John Hart. Jack's Evil Counterpart (and ex-lover).
- John Sheridan of Babylon 5.
- John Yossarian of Catch-22, only revealed at the end in a throwaway line and easy to miss.
- John Locke of LOST is almost always referred to by his last name.
- Johnathan Archer from Star Trek
- Folk hero John Henry
- Admiral John Arbuthnot Fisher, better known as "Jackie" Fisher.
- The Apostle John
- The other John, the Baptist one
- John Crichton from Farscape
- Jon Snow (pronounced like "John") of A Song Of Ice And Fire
- The Justice League has a John Smith (Red Tornado), John Stewart (Green Lantern) and John Jones (Martian Manhunter, real name J'onn J'onzz, pronounced more like "Jean" than "John). The Flash does some Lampshade Hanging in one episode ("I'll go call the Johns").
- John Shepard from Mass Effect
- John Raimi from Geist
- 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.
- John Spartan, the Demolition Man, who most certainly doesn't go by Jack, and gets no nicknaming at all in the future. In fact, most characters address him with both first and last name.
- Survival Of The Fittest again: John Rizzolo.
- John Freeman, who was Gordon Freeman's brother.
- John Avery "Whit" Whittaker from Adventures In Odyssey. During his Middle East expedition, his role is temporarily filled by a new character named... Jack Allen.
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