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Many superheroes and their associates have surnames that are also common given names. This is almost as common as the Alliterative Name, and, in fact, many heroes qualify in both categories. This is a side-effect of the American habit of using common last names as first names - most British readers would not recognise most of these surnames as first names.
This can make a Last Name Basis to be difficult to realize at first.
Examples
Superheroes
- Clark Kent
- Bruce Wayne
- Robins Jason Todd and Tim Drake
- Hush Thomas Elliot. When he and Bruce were kids, it was lampshaded by the two of them.
- Barry Allen and Bart Allen
- Jay Garrick as well, and Wally West might count, although the only West that leaps to mind is the guy from Heroes.
- Peter Parker (though "Parker" has only recently become common as a given name)
- Charles Xavier (although this is pronounced differently to the first name, which is generally pronounced "zavv-ee-ay" rather than "ex-ay-vee-er"; of course, the last name is also generally pronounced this way, but Middle America wouldn't have noticed it started with an X). The pronunciation is actually more slippery than this, as it has changed since the time of St. Francis Xavier (Which is pronounced Zay-Vee-Er, by the by). Javier is a phonetic respelling of the name in modern Spanish. However, the Portuguese pronounce the name with a sh sound.
- Xavier is a common given name?
- Reed Richards almost qualifies.
- It's almost a requirement for a Green Lantern from Earth:
- Bobby "Iceman" Drake
- Steve Rogers almost qualifies.
- Donald Blake
- Cain Marko is an egregious example, where a given name that doesn't make a particularly good surname is pressed into service to make a Meaningful Name.
- Kent "Dr. Fate" Nelson
- Ronald Raymond, the first Firestorm
- Rex "Hourman" Tyler
- Crispus Allen, the current Spectre
- Ted "Wildcat" Grant
- Power Rangers has a few:
- Bridge Carson. (Green/Blue/Red S.P.D Ranger)
- Chad Lee. (Blue Lightspeed Rescue Ranger)
- Cole Evans comes close. (Red Wild Force Ranger)
- Dana Mitchell. (Pink Lightspeed Rescue Raner)
- Ethan James. (Blue Dino Thunder Ranger)
- Jason Scott. (Red Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger/Gold Zeo Ranger)
- Jen Scotts comes close. (Pink Time Force Ranger)
- Justin Stewart comes close. (Blue Turbo Ranger)
- Nick Russell. (Red Mystic Force Ranger)
- Ryan Mitchell. (Titanium Lightspeed Rescue Ranger)
- Shane Clarke comes close. (Red Wind Ranger)
- Tommy Oliver. (Green/White Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger/Red Zeo Ranger/Red Turbo Ranger/Black Dino Thunder Ranger)
- Wes Collins comes close. (Red Time Force Ranger)
- Zack Taylor. (Black Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger)
Non-costumed Heroes and Associates
- Roy Raymond, TV Detective
- Steve Trevor
- Jim Gordon
- Dick Tracy
- Alex Raymond (wait, he's a cartoonist!)
- Philip Nowlan (So's he.)
- Jonas Quinn (what's even more amusing is that he's an alien, but his name sounds less alien than that of his actor, Corin Nemec)
- James Kirk
- Quinn Mallory
- Marcus & Spencer Damon
- Charles Logan
- Patrick Jane of The Mentalist, though his surname is common to women, not men.
- Shawn Spencer
- John Connor
Rare Female Examples
Fictional examples outside comic books
- Ann Marie was the main character of the 1960s show That Girl and actually complained about her name at times.
- Jimmy James, "the man so nice they named him twice," in News Radio.
- In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All, Max Galactica's real name is revealed to be Billy Bob Johns. Nick hangs a lampshade on it in one inner monologue. "Yikes! The poor guy's got three first names! I guess that is pretty odd."
- There are more than a few pro-wrestlers that fit here: Steve Austin, Simon Dean, Chris Harris, Trevor Murdoch, Mark Henry, Matt Morgan, Nick & Matt Jackson, Kip James, Kelly Kelly, Donovan Morgan, Ricky Marvin, Brian Christopher, Shane Douglas, Dave Taylor, Chuck Taylor (no relation), Vin Gerard, Jerry Lynn and Shelton Benjamin. Mickie James is a female wrestler with two traditionally male names, Alex Shelley a male wrestler with two female names. Shawn Michaels, Stevie Richards, Davey Richards (no relation), Christopher Daniels, Eddie Edwards, Jimmy Jacobs, Jack Evans, Erick Stevens and Petey Williams come close.
- Simon Dean is actually named after wrestler Dean Malenko, whose real name is Dean Simon.
- Ricky Bobby, the titular NASCAR prodigy from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. This is lampshaded early on, when his team's owner states, "He's got two first names!"
- From Survival Of The Fittest: Mason Lucien, Chance Burton, Thom Chuck, Blake Ross, Matthew Drew, Horace Malcolm, Jack Russell, and Ryan Gilbert.
- From the Scrubs episode "My Occurrence":
Hematopathologist: Call me Dr. Bob.
J.D.: You go by your first name?
Hematopathologist: No, first name's Fred.
J.D.: Fred Bob?
Real Life
[Note: All the examples in this entry so far have been situations in which people have given names to characters. In that spirit, please limit entries here to people who have given themselves names (stage names, pen names, pseudonyms, etc.) consisting of two first names. Many people have a first name as a family name in real life, but this section should be reserved for people who have made an intentional choice to do so.]
- Tim Allen the father on Home Improvement, was born Timothy Allen Dick.
- Rose Marie was a supporting player on The Dick Van Dyke Show and a panelist on The Hollywood Squares. She seldom used her surname, Curley.
- Jon Stewart from The Daily Show
- Inevitable, since Stewart is a showbiz adaptation of his middle name. He was born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz.
- Check out the Discussion page for some of the tropers discussing their own experiences...
- Elton John, who was born Reginald Dwight.
- Stan Lee (born Stanley Leiber).
- His use of the pen name "Stan Lee" was based on his first name "Stan-ley."
- John Wayne (born Marion Michael Morrison)
- Cary Grant (born Archibald Leach)
- Kevin James from The King of Queens (born Kevin George Knipfing)
- Radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, born Paul Harvey Aurandt.
- Danny Thomas (born Amos Yakoob).
- Tom Jones (born Thomas Jones Woodward).
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