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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.
Superheroes:
- Clark Kent
- Bruce Wayne
- Barry Allen and Bart Allen
- 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, and the French with a j sound.
- 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
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
Rare female examples (where the surname works as a female given name:
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 a few pro-wrestlers that fit here: Steve Austin, Simon Dean, Chris Harris, Trevor Murdoch, Mark Henry, Gail Kim, Matt Morgan, Kip James, Kelly Kelly, Donovan Morgan, Ricky Marvin, Brian Christopher, Shane Douglas and Mickie James (who, oddly enough, is a female wrestler with two traditionally male names). Stevie Richards 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!"
Real Life:
- Larry David (co-creator of Seinfeld and executive producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm)
- Agatha Christie, the famous English mystery writer.
- Also the unrelated American actress Julie Christie.
- Famed Disney animator Frank Thomas.
- Conan creator Robert E. Howard
- Or for that matter, former child star Ron Howard. (No relation)
- Both actor James Dean and singer/sausage man Jimmy Dean
- Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry or Texas Congressman Ron Paul
- The writer Henry James.
- Billy Joel.
- Comic book writer and author Peter David.
- Comic writer and former Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas.
- In a particularly extreme example, a man with three first names: Jason David Frank of Power Rangers fame.
- 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.
- Thomas B. Thomas was an announcer in the Northeastern US during the 1970s and '80s.
- All three sons on Home Improvement were played by three-first-name actors: Zachary Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Taran Noah Smith (though that one barely counts, as Smith isn't a very common first name). The main character, the father, was played by Tim Allen, born Timothy Allen Dick.
- Not to mention that the family name on the show was Taylor, so the character names count, too.
- Jon Stewart (yes, now that one).
- Inevitable, since Stewart is a showbiz adaptation of his middle name. He was born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz.
- More American actors/actresses: Molly Shannon, Shannon Elizabeth, Elizabeth Ashley, Ashley Judd, Judd Nelson, Nelson Eddy ...
- Check out the Discussion page for some of the tropers discussing their own experiences...
- Elton John. And he switched to this after starting out as Reginald Dwight.
- American race car driver Mark Martin falls into this, too. As does Tony Stewart. And Danica Patrick, just in case you thought I only watched NASCAR.
- Mountain climbers George Mallory and Edmund Hillary.
- Patrick Stewart
- Stan Lee (born Stanley Leiber).
- His use of the pen name "Stan Lee" was based on his first name "Stan-ley."
- All three of the Jonas Brothers.
- The actor John Wayne.
- Robert Sean Leonard for three first names.
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