Various shows are
popular or
influential when it comes to
tropes. One measure is how readily we name tropes from shows or other works.
This should not be done lightly and is not a badge of honor. Using trope namers lightly or as a badge of honor is
Trope Namer Syndrome and leads to confusion, renames, and possible deletion of tropes.
A series usually gets to name a trope if it's
so widely known for the trope (even outside the
circle of nerds) it's basically an icon of it, or if it has a term for the situation that is simply
Made of Win. Or if it happens to be the
Trope Maker, too. Of course, since
Most Tropers Are Young Nerds, we do kinda swing closer to the
geek side of things. But whaddaya expect? This
is the Internet, after all!
Also, we at
TV Tropes don't want tropes named directly after a trope namer, since the
trope namer may always get its own page. If they
are the Trope Namer, the trope name should reflect the difference, for example
Rashomon-Style. This is doubly true for characters, who must
embody the trope so well that one could point to them and say
"Yeah, kinda like him" and other
tropers will immediately agree (
without having to consult Google in the process).
Keep in mind, however, that calling a work "the Trope Namer" in the initial
YKTTW write-up simply because
you took the preliminary title from it (
especially if you are naming the
trope after a character) is
very presumptuous: chances are high that the troper
Hive Mind will disagree about whether or not the work is widely known enough to qualify. Of course, such
trope proposals aren't technically
named yet; the title may be subject to change in YKTTW if someone else comes up with a better title. (For the purpose of actually
finding a better title, see
Naming A Trope.)
See also
Image Source, a listing of the various works (and sometimes real life) which the various trope page images are derived from.
Works and creators that have inspired trope names are listed in the subpages linked below. Keep in mind that animated films fall under the
Film category, not
Western Animation.
Sometimes we don't quite get it right the first time, leading to a rename. Any tropes that were renamed from their original name go there (and under the new Trope Namer if there is one), not under their former Trope Namers.