To name a work is a delicate art: it has to capture the essence of the work (at least most of the time) and do justice to the content. With biopics and other biographical works, this is slightly trickier since a real person's life rarely follows a particular, simplistic theme that eases the process of naming.
Sometimes you can use certain phrases that you think represent the person well: "Raging Bull" for Jake LaMotta or "The Pursuit of Happyness" for Christopher Gardner. But some other times it's best to just name it after the person. Usually it's their last name. Sometimes the given name. It just has this immediate impact. Probably because being mononymous traditionally carries a certain honour (Plato, Rafael, and so forth), this has a certain effect of grandeur.
Sub-Trope of One-Word Title (although some variations include the), and may even overlap with One-Letter Title (W.). Also a Sub-Trope of Character Title. Not to be confused with a variation where the trope is applied to fictional characters, common in TV series in order to highlight the title character's central role.
Examples
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Films — Animation
- Charlotte (2021) (Charlotte Salomon)
Films — Live-Action
- Alexander (Alexander the Great)
- Ali (Muhammad Ali)
- Amadeus (a slightly odd example, as the protagonist is Antonio Salieri; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is just the object of his obsession)
- Amelia (Amelia Earhart)
- Amy (Amy Winehouse)
- Artemisia (Artemisia Gentileschi)
- Aurore (Aurore Gagnon)
- Babe (Babe Didrikson)
- Also The Babe (This time for Babe Ruth)
- Barry (Barack Obama)
- Basquiat (Jean-Michel Basquiat)
- Becket (Thomas Becket)
- Bronson (Charles Bronson, not to be confused with the actor of that name)
- Bugsy (Bugsy Siegel)
- Caligula (Caligula)
- Camila (Camila O'Gorman
)
- Capone (Al Capone)
- Capote (Truman Capote)
- Carlos (Carlos the Jackal)
- Carrington (Dora Carrington)
- Casanova (Giacomo Girolamo Casanova)
- Cass (Cass Pennant)
- Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin)
- Che (Che Guevara; actually a duology with a subtitle each.)
- Che!, a different film.
- Chisum (John Chisum)
- Chopper (Mark 'Chopper' Read)
- Christine (Christine Chubbuck)
- Cleopatra (Cleopatra; an extreme case with at least five films titled as such, the most famous being the one with Elizabeth Taylor, as well as a 1934 film with Claudette Colbert note .)
- Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette)
- Cromwell (Oliver Cromwell)
- Cobb (Ty Cobb)
- Dahmer (Jeffrey Dahmer)
- Danton (Georges Danton)
- Dempsey (Jack Dempsey)
- Dillinger (John Dillinger)
- Disraeli (Benjamin Disraeli)
- Domino (Domino Harvey)
- Elgar (Edward Elgar)
- Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth I)
- Emily (Emily Brontë, distinguishing her from her similarly notable sisters)
- Elvis (Elvis Presley)
- Evita (Eva Perón)
- Faustina (Mary Faustina Kowalska/Saint Faustina)
- Fidel (Fidel Castro)
- Frances (Frances Farmer)
- Freud: The Secret Passion (Sigmund Freud)
- Frida (Frida Kahlo)
- Gainsbourg (Serge Gainsbourg)
- Galileo (Galileo Galilei)
- Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi)
- Gia (Gia Marie Carangi)
- Gie (Soe Hok Gie)
- Golda (Golda Meir)
- Gosnell (Kermit Gosnell)
- Gotti (John Gotti)
- Hamill (Matt Hamill)
- Hannibal (Hannibal of Carthage)
- Hansie (Hansie Cronje)
- Harriet (Harriet Tubman)
- Hawking (Stephen Hawking)
- Hoffa (Jimmy Hoffa)
- Houdini (Harry Houdini)
- Iris (Iris Murdoch)
- Isadora (Isadora Duncan)
- J. Edgar (John Edgar Hoover)
- Jackie (Jackie Kennedy)
- Jenifer (Jenifer Estess)
- Jinnah (Muhammad Ali Jinnah)
- Jobs (Steve Jobs)
- Joy (2015) (Joy Mangano)
- Juarez (Benito Juarez)
- Judy (Judy Garland)
- Kalashnikov (Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov - original Russian title, worldwide release title is "AK-47")
- Kennedy (John F. Kennedy)
- Kinsey (Alfred Kinsey)
- Klimt (Gustav Klimt)
- Lenny (Lenny Bruce)
- Leonie (Leonie Gilmour)
- Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln)
- Lovelace (Linda Lovelace)
- Luther (Martin Luther)
- Mahler (Gustav Mahler)
- Margaret (Margaret Thatcher)
- Marie (Marie Ragghianti)
- Marley (Bob Marley)
- Milk (Harvey Milk)
- Modigliani (Amedeo Modigliani)
- Napoléon (1927) (Napoléon Bonaparte)
- Napoléon (1955) (Napoléon Bonaparte)
- Napoleon (2023) (Napoléon Bonaparte)
- Nero (Nero)
- Nixon (Richard Nixon)
- Oppenheimer (Robert Oppenheimer)
- Patton (George S. Patton)
- Prefontaine (Steve Prefontaine)
- Piñero (Miguel Piñero)
- Pollock (Paul Jackson Pollock)
- Ray (Ray Charles)
- Sadat (Anwar Sadat)
- Selena (Selena Quintanilla-Pérez)
- Serpico (Frank Serpico)
- Silkwood (Karen Silkwood)
- Sinatra (Frank Sinatra)
- Sissi and its sequels (Empress Elisabeth "Sissi/Sisi" of Austria)
- Snowden (Edward Snowden)
- Soraya (Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari)
- Spartacus (Spartacus)
- Spencer (Diana, Princess of Wales, born Lady Diana Spencer)
- Starkweather (Charles Starkweather)
- Sylvia (Sylvia Plath)
- Tatsumi (Yoshihiro Tatsumi)
- Tchaikovsky (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
- Till (Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till)
- Tolkien (J. R. R. Tolkien)
- Truman (Harry Truman)
- Trumbo (Dalton Trumbo)
- Tyson (Mike Tyson)
- W.. (George W. Bush)
- Weird ("Weird Al" Yankovic)
- Whitney (Whitney Houston)
- Wilde (Oscar Wilde)
- Wilson (Woodrow Wilson)
- Winchell (Walter Winchell)
- Winnie (Winnie Mandela)
- Wittgenstein (Ludwig Wittgenstein)
- Zola (Aziah "Zola" King)
Live-Action TV
- Attila (Attila the Hun)
- Benito (Benito Mussolini)
- Dickinson (Emily Dickinson)
- King (Martin Luther King)
- Napoléon (2002) (Napoléon Bonaparte)
Theatre
- Barnum (P.T. Barnum)
- Coco (Coco Chanel)
- Diana (Diana, Princess of Wales)
- Elisabeth (Empress Elisabeth of Austria)
- Evita (Eva "Evita" Perón)
- Fiorello! (Fiorello LaGuardia)
- Gypsy (Gypsy Rose Lee)
- Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton)
- Harriet (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
- Kean (Edmund Kean)
- Sophie (Sophie Tucker)
- Schikaneder (Emanuel and Eleonore Schikaneder)
- Mozart! (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Web Original
- In a Cracked photoplasty on biopics you would naturally see some examples.
Western Animation
- Ryan: documentary animated short about Canadian animator Ryan Larkin
In-universe examples
- The Play Within A Show Freud! that Joey appears in Friends.
