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The names of some Comic Book characters are about as subtle as the characters themselves...
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  • This is a plot point in an issue of 1963, where USA realizes that Brian Ruby, the man who tried to kill Leo Harley Osborne, was really his archenemy the Red Brain. How? He knew the Red Brain was too vain to use an alias that didn't allude to his true identity.
  • 2000 AD:
    • Judge Dredd's full name is Joseph Dredd, and he was designed to strike dread into people's hearts. The real name of his enemy, Judge Death, is in fact Sidney D'Eath. Chief Judge Solomon is named for the Biblical king and judge with a gift of wise judgement.
    • Almost universal in the series Kingdom, in which most characters have punny names that double as a comment on their role in the plot. Notable examples:
      • Gene the Hack-Man — Deadly with blades, he's also the last genetically pure Aux on Earth.
      • Leezee Sower — She carries the seed that could potentially annihilate Them.
      • Paul Numan — He's a "new man" on Earth, having come down from space after 1,800 years.
      • Rex Horizon — A multi-layered one, beyond the standard Aux pop culture/dog naming convention. Firstly, as he himself lampshades, he's king of all he surveys "as far as the horizon". And secondly he's taken a tribe of feral Aux and taught them to use technology and build a society — adopting a similar role to Rex Harrison's character in My Fair Lady.
  • The Adventures of Daniel Boom aka Loud Boy:
    • Loud Boy's real name is Daniel Boom.
    • All of the five heroes have this, actually; the chaos-causing Destructo Kid's real name is Rex Rodriguez note , the hissy fit-throwing Tantrum Girl's real name is Violet Fitz note , and the Smart Girl Chatterbox's real name is Jeannie S. Boom note . Hilariously inverted, sort of, with Fidget, the hyperactive one who can't stay still; his real name is Sid Down note .
  • Albedo: Erma Felna EDF has lots of names from many different Earth origins, despite the sci-fi and furry backgrounds of the characters:
    • The titular heroine is named after Erma Werke, the German acronym for Erfurter Maschinenfabrik, who was a German weapons manufacturer during World War II, who went bankrupt in 1997. Ironically enough, most of the weapons they designed were rifles, while Erma uses handguns and revolvers instead. In a more technical sense, Erma derivates from the Germanic root for whole or universal. Taking into account she's also a spaceship captain and the heroine of the story, it fits well on her.
    • Erma's son Rojigo, is by Word of God, a very bad anagram of Gojira.
    • While it doesn't have a meaning in-series, Erma's best friend Toki means time or crested ibis in Japanese. In Korean, at least with double K (토끼), it means rabbit, despite being a mouse and her main enemy being rabbits.
    • Toki's first boyfriend is named Oshiro, which means big white in Japanese. Oddly enough, his fur is orange.
    • Itzak Arrat's name is one of the many ways to spell the Hebrew name Yithzak or Isaac and his name can both relate the biblical one and the historical one (Yitzak Rabin). Interestingly, his father is named Joseph, possibly after the human father of Jesus.
  • Lampshaded in Albion, where Zip Nolan doesn't believe the Spider's real name is Alfred Chinard because "A. Chinard" is an anagram of "arachnid." "It's a phony name!" The Spider then sarcastically claims his true name to be "Arthur O'Pod" — arthropod.
  • The Asterix comics. Every name in the english translation at least means something, from incompetent bard Cacofonix to Briton chieftan Zebigbos. In the original french language though, while everyone have a Punny Name it's not necessarily a meangful one.
    • Translators do this wonderfully with Obelix's dog. In French, he is Idéfix — similar to the phrase for "fixed idea". In English, the name is Dogmatix, which adds a pun and keeps the meaning. (In Hungarian they kept the name, since idée fixe is a reasonably well-known loan phrase, and since 'idé' is the same as the Hungarian for the dog command "here").
    • The translators added a lot of these in for the villagers, which in the French mostly have absurd names, but in the English have names that fit their role, like Unhygenix, the fishmonger who sells stale fish.
    • "Asterix" is a pun on "asterisk", meaning little star (as he is tiny and the "star" of the comic). "Obelix" is a pun on "obelisk", the other punctuation used for footnotes as companion to the asterisk — * and †. Both characters are shaped loosely like the typographical symbols (Asterix has long arms, long legs, a very small body and two large protruding wings on his helmet, making six "points" — Obelix has a shortish head, long arms, and a very long and large lower body with his legs underneath it, making him roughly dagger-shaped). Obelix also has another meaning attached — his job is to make and deliver menhirs, which are tall stone monuments similar to obelisks. Some people suggest his name might also be a play on O (round) + belly + the "ix" suffix all male Gaulish characters have, which fits as he is pretty fat.
  • Used frequently in Astro City, but these are one of the the least obvious examples - Charles and Royal Williams from "The Dark Ages" grow up to become a cop and a robber.
    • In a meta-example, the Silver Agent is named because after the Silver Age of comic books, which he embodies via his actions. It's also fitting that the "Silver Age" era of Astro City ends when he was executed for a crime that he didn't commit.
  • The protagonist of Black Magick is Detective Rowan Black. In the first issue she is asked for specifically by name by a hostage-taker whom she does not know and has never met before. In the following issues his name is revealed to be Rowan White. This helps the other police understand the situation in their own frame of reference, since they figure he must have asked for Rowan specifically because of their name similarities, but Rowan and her coven realize that it is some kind of message.
  • Michael Caesar from the The Boondocks comic strip. He likes to rap and his initials are...
  • In Cul-de-sac there's a girl who combines this with an ironic (nick)name — her name is Loris Slothrup and she's an artist who does things about four times faster then normal a la Wayside School's Bee Bee Gunn.
  • The French comic Cosa Nostra has Vincenze Abruto, a particularly inept Mafia enforcer whose name is one letter away from "abruti" ("dumbass"). As a result, whenever he's reporting yet another failure to his bosses, he thinks they're engaging in Accidental Misnaming.
    Abruto: No, with an "o".
  • One of the main characters in the Dead Space Graphic Novel is a priest. His name? Deakin Abbott.
  • Many of the villains in Dick Tracy famously had nicknames describing their physical appearance or criminal specialty, such as Flattop, Pouch, Pruneface, the Brow, the Mole. During the first fifteen years of this long-lived strip, it was also commonplace for characters to possess names that become descriptive when spelled backwards: a midget named Trohs, a bandleader named Seton, a playboy named Kroywen, an honest man named Toirtap, a crook named Doolb, and (long before Stephen King was born) a killer named Redrum.
    • Of course the character himself is Richard Tracy, nicknamed Dick. Dick is slang for detective.
  • Many characters from Carl Barks's Duck comics, including the miserly, Scottish Scrooge McDuck; Bungling Inventor Gyro Gearloose; and the mean, greedy Flintheart Glomgold.
  • Most of the Wolfrider elves in ElfQuest have meaningful names. Cutter is good with a sword (and also likes to cut through hypocrisy and bullshit), Skywise is a stargazer, Pike and Redlance are spearmen, Strongbow and his son Dart are archers, Treestump is short and stocky (and also stubborn and unyielding), One-Eye - well, for obvious reasons, and Bearclaw... well, I guess he just likes pastries.
    • Justified in that Wolfriders do tend to name themselves after their deeds, changing name when they perform a huge one (e.g. Redlance used to be called Redmark until he saved his chief using, yes, a lance). The other tribes tend to have non-meaningful names.
    • Female Wolfriders, on the other hand, tend to have names inspired by nature: Moonshade, Nightfall, Rainsong, Dewshine... Rainsong's name is also in honor of her father, who was named Rain, and who sang when exercising his healing powers (which however Rainsong did not inherit).
      • Played straight with Tyleet, whose name means "healer's gift", being the first "artificially" conceived elf through a healer making the recognition happen.
      • Which in turn means that Leetah's name means healer (or according to God, "healing light"), which she got because everyone knew she was a healer even before she was born.
  • A minor villain from Empowered is named "King Tyrant Lizard", the literal translation of "tyrannosaurus rex".
    • Willy Pete from Empowered. "Willy Pete" is what they call white phosphorous in military jargon. White phosphorous is a strong incendiary. Willy Pete is an incredibly powerful and vicious fire elemental whose body burns several times hotter than the surface of the sun.
  • Gaston Lagaffe: Gaston Lagaffe's name literally means "blunder, big mistake" ("la gaffe"). Prunelle's name fits the sourpuss character that he is.
  • In Godzilla Awakening, the prequel comic to Godzilla (2014), the antagonist monster (Shinomura) is named after Shi No' Mure which literally translates into "swarm of death". This make sense due to the fact Shinomura is really a conglomerate monster made up of smaller creatures.
  • Horror comics, especially the EC-esque variety, tend to have talking names in quantities more than one could stand. Just a random example, "Prelude to Armageddon" by Wally Wood (a bit NFSW). The nubile girl is the only aversion, as her "name" is Melody and given to her by the hero (she speaks in notes). The hero is a centaur named Sentor Equinus. His god Satoris is a bit satyr-ish. The enemy god is Blud, his ilk the Demen and his high priest Karion. Armageddon outta here...
  • Iznogoud:
    • Iznogoud is a phonetic spelling of "is no good" in French.
    • Wa'at Alahf, a.k.a. Dilat Laraht, i.e. "dilate la rate", refers to laughing uproariously in French — for an extremely Deadpan Snarker character.
    • The Caliph's brothers Dheround, Troiround and Katround translate to "Two-round", "Three-round" and "Four-round" respectively. Note that the Caliph's first name is "Haroun" (the Arabic version of "Aaron"); since you don't pronounce the "H" in French, it sounds like "a-roun(d)" and is also an example of Family Theme Naming.
    • In the German translation, the henchman is named Tunichgud (do-no-good).
  • Jommeke: Choco the monkey is called that way because he likes to eat choco. Madam Pepermunt uses peppermint as ammo, therefore her name. Boemel is a tramp who always carries a bottle in his back pocket (boemelen is Flemish for drinking large quantities of alcohol). The witches Haakneus ("Hook nose"), Pierehaar ("Long thin hair") and Steketand ("Tooth that sticks out") also have their physical appearances hinted at in their names. Jan Haring is a sailor, so having a fish species ("herring") as your last name is logical.
  • The Big Bad of Kick-Ass is named John Genovese.
    • This is a reference to Kitty Genovese, a woman who was murdered apparently without her neighbors bothering to intervene (the situation may have been more complex, but that was the public perception). This incident is commonly cited as sparking the real-life superhero movement.
    • Genovese is also the name of a major Mafia boss/family.
  • De Kiekeboes: Leon Van Der Neffe is Kiekeboe's neighbour. "Van Der Neffe" is Antwerp dialect for "From next door". Fernand Goegebuer is Kiekeboe's neighbour from past the street. His name literally means "Good neighbour". Dédé La Canaille is a villain, which is already hinted at by his name "canaille" (French for "crook" or "thief").
  • In Midnight Nation, the detective who will choose which way to tip the Balance Between Good and Evil has the last name of Gray. I wonder why...
  • Misfit City: The town of Cannon Cove is called that because it was there that the pirate "Black Mary" and her Tillamook crew fired cannons on a Fur Trader ship, sinking it.
  • Mr. Dayville ("devil") and Satan (later Phoenix) the horse of the story "Winner Loses All" from Misty
  • Jade Singer from My Little Pony Micro Series Issue#1 . Jade as in "Jaded" and her last name Singer which singers are often called artists. I.E "Jaded Artist".
    • The four named ponies from My Little Pony Micro Series Issue #3, Wheat Grass, Flax Seed, Tofu, and Tempeh, all are names of products that would be otherwise considered highly organic or part of a natural way of lifestyle. Moreso, Tempeh continues to go on and on about soy products, which is apt, as tempeh is a foodstuff made from soybeans.
  • Nero:
    • Madam Pheip smokes pipe, just like her last name reveals.
    • Abraham Tuizentfloot is a pirate so it's fitting that his name would be "fleet of thousand".
    • Jan Spier is the World's Strongest Man. But with a name like "Spier" ("Muscle") this should not come as a surprise.
  • There is a lot of this going on in Noble Causes. Race Noble is a speedster, Rusty had his consciousness trapped in a robotic body, Zephyr has air control powers, Celeste has stellar energy powers, etc. The Noble family is huge on... coincidences, evidently. Even Zephyr's husband Slate is a rock man.
  • In Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja , the powerful Reality Warper Psychopathic Manchild is named Alfie O'Meagan, a mashup of "alpha" and "omega".
  • Paulus de Boskabouter: Oehoeboeroe the owl and Krakras the crow have both a Verbal Tic Name based on the sounds these animals make.
  • Piet Pienter en Bert Bibber:
    • Piet Pienter is smart, just like his last name "pienter" implies.
    • Bert Bibber is a coward, lampshaded by his last name "bibber" (translation: "shiver").
    • Professor Kumulus has a scientific name.
    • Theo Flitser is a photographer. A "flitser" is the device used to flash the camera.
  • In Rapunzel's Revenge, there is a man named Brute who is strong, not very bright, and works for Mother Gothel. Justified and maybe subverted when we find out that Gothel gave him that name, and something like a magical lobotomy, making Brute neither his real name nor a proper description.
  • In Image Comics' Rat Queens, the Four Daves are an adventuring party of four men, all of them named Dave.
  • Samurai Grandpa: The Protagonist of the comic, the titular Samurai Grandpa, is named Ojichan. Ojichan is itself the Japanese word for "grandpa".
  • Disney's Scamp is a scamp. The only one of his siblings that looks exactly like his father the Tramp, his name is also the only one that rhymes with his father's.
  • In Mike Grell's Shaman's Tears, two of the villains (who are in the business of patenting hybrid human-animal life forms) are named "Patrick Pending" and "Regus Patoff". Yes, "Pat Pending" and "Reg. US Pat Off", if you missed the incredibly lame pun.
  • The protagonist of Sleepless, Lady Pyppenia, is nicknamed Poppy. Poppies are the flowers from which opium (a drug that relieves pain and causes unconsciousness) is derived, and are associated with sleep or drowsiness. Lady Poppy is guarded by a Sir Cyrenic, a knight of the Sleepless Order whose magic vow prevents him from falling asleep.
  • In Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), Julie-Su's mother was named "Mari-Su", which certainly fit the view of Julie's half-sister Lien-Da as a sickeningly perfect being.
  • Star Trek: Early Voyages:
    • In "The Fires of Pharos", Project Pharos is the Federation operation to construct a "lighthouse" to transmit navigational data to ships in the Marrat Nebula in order to keep track of illegal traffic and the brigands operating in the system. The Lighthouse of Alexandria, otherwise known as the Pharos of Alexandria, was a huge lighthouse in Ancient Egypt and one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
    • In "The Flat, Gold Forever", the Enterprise's shuttlecraft Icarus crashes to Prairie in flames in much the same way as the figure of the same name from Greek Classical Mythology fell to Earth after flying too close to The Sun.
    • In "Thanatos" and "Nemesis", the Temazi worship an alien race who visited their planet thousands of years ago as gods with Thanatos being the monarch of the heavens. The Klingons refer to the weapons that these aliens left on the Temazi homeworld as the Thanatos cache. In Greek mythology, Thanatos was the personification of death.
  • Star Wars: Invasion: Subverted and lampshaded in Issue 5, where the characters meet a Vratix named Spraug, which means "Fearless". The others note that Spraug is visibly shaking when talking to them, and he replies that it's just a name. He's also generally depicted as a coward.
  • Strikeforce: Morituri is centered on humans who get super-powers through a process that kills them within a year. The inventor of the process is Dr. Tuolemas; if you change the first letter of his name from T to K, it means "death" in Finnish.
  • Suske en Wiske:
    • Arch-Enemy Dr. Krimson has the word "crime" in his name.
    • Theofiel Boemerang is an annoying salesman who, just like a boomerang, keeps coming back.
  • Tex Willer was born in Texas (specifically near Rockspsings), as at least one character guessed upon hearing his name.
  • In Thunderbolts, it's revealed than the axe-wielding Headsman's real name is "Cleavon Twain", as in "cleave in twain" (or in simpler terms, "cut in two").
  • Tintin:
    • Captain Haddock's last name is a fish species, fitting for a sea captain.
    • Mik Kanrokitoff in Flight 714, a journalist who covers space-related news. To be fair, it might be a pen name.
    • And in the French version, the same character was named Ezdanitoff, which could be translated as "isn't that awesome" in the Flemish dialect. Well, well.
  • Tom Poes:
    • The town's psychiatrist is named "Zielknijper" (literally translated: "Soulpincher"), which became a Dutch neologism later.
    • Wal Rus is a walrus.
    • Hieper is the small villain, while Super is the large one.
    • Professor Sickbock is a goat, therefore his name (which literally translates into Goateegoat.
    • Hocus P. Pas, an evil wizard, whose name alludes to a typical magic spell.
    • Marquis de Canteclaer. He is a rooster, so it's fitting that he is named Canteclaer, after the rooster in Reynard the Fox.
    • Garmt Grootgrut is the local grocer, so his last name (literally "Great Groceries") really fits his profession.
    • Wammes Waggel is a silly goose, who are known to "waggel" ("walk like a duck/goose").
  • Transformers: More than Meets the Eye features a subversion and a Deconstruction. They meet an Autobot named Dent, but his name was changed because he had the same name as a more important Autobot named Prowl (The other bots wonder why had chose such a stupid name, but Ratchet says that all the best were taken). Then they meet a medic named Ambulon, it seems like a play on the word Ambulance, but it really means to ambulate, or to move about. He was forced into an experiment to turn him into a combiner, and his alt-mode was permanently changed into a leg, and after that he defected. Ratchet's line takes a darker meaning when he says it to Ambulon.
  • Wetworks features Clayton Maure, alias Claymore, an elite soldier and demolitions expert.
  • Wilhelm Busch's stories often have these, or rather names with a meaningful sound. One example: The guy Dümmel isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. (May not work in other languages, though.)
    • "Pater Filucius" abounds with this, especially as it is to a large extent an allegory of religious conflicts of the era. Thus Gottlieb Michael is Germany (Der deutsche Michel - the German Michael is the German counterpart to John Bull or Uncle Sam, named after the Archangel Michael, patron saint of Germany), his aunts Petrine and Pauline (named after St. Peter and St. Paul) represent the Catholic and Protestant churches, and his lady love, Angelica, refers to the Anglican church (Bush recommending to end the interdenominational strife by establishing something like the Church of England in Germany).
  • In Violine, Violine is named for her violet eyes, and Redder means "saviour" in Dutch (which is the original language of the comic). Van Beursen roughly translates to "of wallets" in Dutch.
  • Zipi y Zape: The twins are named from the Spanish word zipizape ("chaos", "turmoil"). Peloto takes his name from one of the meanings of the Spanish word pelota ("suck up"), Sapientín's name obviously comes from sapient. The neighbourhood burglar is known as Manitas ("sticky fingers"), etc.
  • Zombies Christmas Carol has the Hungry Death as a powerful metaphor for the poor and needy, which is emphasized with Ignorance and Want from the original story.

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