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  • 7 Seeds has Hana first think it's being subverted as she reads the name "Takashi" in Mark's Apocalyptic Log and thinks it's just a coincidence, since it's also her father's name. It's later played straight, as the Takashi mentioned really is her father.
  • A variation happens in Accel World. Every Duel Avatar's name, which includes a color followed by another word is unique, so everyone finds it odd that Black Vise, the second-in-command of the Acceleration Research Society, happens to have the same color as heroine Black Lotus(aka Kuroyukihime). It turns out that "Black Vise" is a fake name, and it's an alternate identity assumed by Ivory Tower, a high-ranking member of the White Legion.
  • Adolf has three title characters: Adolf Kaufmann, German diplomat's kid; Adolf Kamil, the son of a German baker, and that one.
  • In Arabian Nights: Adventures of Sinbad, there are 2 characters named Ali Baba: Sinbad's friend and a former desert raider, and the leader of the forthy thieves. The two are frequently confused with each other.
  • ARIA: The animation features Alicia and Alice which are the same name (Italian/English). It never was brought up.
  • Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto is about Cesare Borgia and the people surrounding him in real-life European history, so of course it has a lot of Johns/Juans/Giovannis. It averts this by having Cesare's brother, who in real life was called Juan when in Spain and Giovanni when in Italy, always called Juan, so as not to be confused with Giovanni de'Medici, who plays a much larger role in the story. The problem comes when Cesare's cousin, another Juan Borgia, enters the picture. The story solves it by having main character Angelo ask if this Juan is Cesare's brother, and having them explain that he's not. He also goes by the nickname Silencio, and he is almost never called Juan. He's known to history as Cardinal Juan Borgia the Younger, because there was a third Juan Borgia around in real life. There are also several Giulianos, but one is a small child, one is Giovanni's assassinated uncle who only appears in flashbacks, and one is the archenemy of Cesare and his father, so they aren't likely to be confused.
  • This is actually a plot point in the first episode of Devil May Cry: The Animated Series. Patty Lowell is believed to be the heir to the Lowell family fortune but the real heir is actually a woman who also has the name Patty Lowell. The older Patty tricked her rivals into thinking the younger Patty was the true heir so they'd focus all their efforts on killing the girl while the woman could claim her fortune unopposed.
  • Classi9: This trope is the reason why most of Class S- is on Last-Name Basis, there are two students named Franz, Liszt and Haydn.
  • School Rumble has the Japanese Delinquent Kenji Harima (or, in the Japanese surname-first style, "Harima Kenji") and the American exchange student Harry McKenzie — names which, when pronounced with a Japanese accent, sound nearly identical. Naturally, one of them is often confused for the other in conversation, and Hilarity Ensues.
    • Also, one of the main girls is called "Suou", she briefly dates a boy called "Asou", nobody seemed to care how similar-sounding their names where.
  • Rave Master has two characters named Musica, because the author liked the name and couldn't decide which of the concepts to use. Also, there were two main characters named Gale; one the main character's father and one the primary antagonist for the first half of the series. When the latter was named, he was initially assumed to be the former.
  • Nana's two main characters are Nana Komatsu and Nana Osaki. "Nana" as in "Seven", that is. Nana O. promptly nicknames Nana K. "Hachi" (which can mean "eight", and is also a reference to the famous dog Hachikō due to her clingy personality).
    • And later on there are two Misatos and two Rens.
  • In Gantz there are Kei Kurono and Kei Kishimoto. Less confusing than other examples by the fact that Kurono is a lecherous teen boy, and Kishimoto is a sweet but depressive busty girl. Not to mention that each one is of opposite gender.
  • Den-noh Coil has two characters with same-sounding given names, Okonogi Yuko and Amasawa Yuko. They get different nicknames (Yasako and Isako) quickly.
  • Gakuen Alice has two characters with the same name: Misaki, a teacher and Misaki Harada, a middle school student, both of which are major characters.
  • CLANNAD has a main character by the name of Tomoya with a primary female character by the name of Tomoyo. Only a one-letter difference.
    • And also Tomo, her half sister in the sort of sequel.
  • Koi Koi 7 has two characters named Yayoi Asuka. One is a pink-haired ditz, the other is an eyepatch-wearing silver-haired ruthless type. Once the latter Yayoi is rebooted, she then goes by "Gantai-chan" (literally "Eyepatch-chan").
  • Get Backers has a Kaoru Haruki, a Haruki Emishi and a Kaoru Ujiie.
  • In an episode of Excel♡Saga, the heroine Excel puts up fliers around the city in an effort to find her missing partner Hyatt. In the next episode, one of the fliers is found by two girls named Mikago Hyatt and Excel Kobayashi, who misunderstand and think they're wanted for auditions for a band. These two show up again in another episode as guests on a TV show to sing the Excel Saga theme song.
  • Shadow Star has the major character Akira Sakura, and minor characters Aki Sato and Aki Honda. None of them are ever mixed up with one another, and it's really just as well - especially given Aki Honda's nature.
  • Bleach has two [[filler]] characters named Koga. Go Koga is one of the Bounts in the Bount filler arc, and Koga Kuchiki is Byakuya and Rukia's uncle, who was sealed away for betraying Soul Society, and is released to become one of the major villains of the Zanpakuto Rebellion filler arc.
  • The CLAMP metaseries does this very confusingly. There's Syaoran and Sakura, their son, Syaoran, his girlfriend, Sakura, and the latter two's clones, Syaoran and Sakura. Played with in that everyone with the same name looks exactly alike. Except for the Syaoran that DOESN'T look alike them, Li Syaoran AKA Watanuki Kimihiro.
    • Making that worse, the latter pair ARE the aforementioned parents. And if we take them at their word that the Tsubasa multiverse includes all Clamp universes, there's also Cardcaptor's Sakura and Syaoran. Head hurting yet?
      • But oh it gets better! The non-clone Syaoran and Sakura, who imply several times during the series that their names are pseudonymous are in the final chapter both revealed to be named Tsubasa.
    • And now there's Sakura in their new manga, Gate 7, who doesn't seem to have anything in common with any of their other Sakuras.
  • Case Closed uses this in some mysteries for added... mystery. Not to mention they have a huge list of minor characters, so every once in awhile names are going to HAVE to cross with each other. For example, the series' character sheet listed two one-shot chatacters called Hiroki, and there's at least one more not listed there.
    • Hilariously used in a recent case where one suspect was also named Kudo Shinichi (aka the main character.) Then he was promptly murdered. Status Quo Is God
  • Baccano! has both a Nick and a Nicholas, as well as a Gustave and a Gustavo and a Goose.
  • In Arata: The Legend, both main characters are named Arata. They're generally distinguished between each other by refering to The Hero by his last name, Hinohara. In Japanese, the reader can distinguish between the two in the dialogue by whether or not "Arata" is written with kana or kanji; Hinohara's name is written with the latter, and any character in either world that knows about the nature of the switch will have their dialogue use the correct kanji/kana when referring their respective Arata.
  • The sheer number of characters in The Prince of Tennis means that names end up being repeated. There are three Hiroshis (Wakato, Yagyuu and Chinen), two Hikarus (Amane and Zaizen), two Kentarous (Aoi and Minami) and so on. Luckily the majority of them are on a Last-Name Basis. (Note also that many of these names are homophones, but written with different kanji.)
  • Monster has two Martins, two Adolfs, and two Karls. There are also three different Ottos, although one is a story-book character within the series.
  • While the Naruto manga alone, as a sheer result of a huge-ass cast with databooks giving practically every character seen for even a moment a name, has its share of exceptions.
    • Both one of Danzo's bodyguards and the host of the 7-tailed beast are named "Fu," both of whom you can use in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3.
    • The Third and Fourth Raikage, who are father and son, are both named Ay
    • Both Sasori's puppet armor (and thus the person he made it from) and the Big Bad of the sixth movie/third Shippuden movie are named "Hiruko".
    • A subject of Orochimaru's cursed seal experiments and the main villain of the Three Tails filler arc are named "Guren."
    • A minor filler character is named "Yagura", which later turned out the name of the former Three Tailed beast host and the Fourth Mizukage.
    • There are two unrelated Fuma Clans (one from a filler arc, one mentioned to be where Pain's first Animal Path came from). However, the Japanese spellings of these characters names are different.
    • There was a filler character called Jiroubo in addition to the canon Jiroubo.
    • Matsuri was used as the name of Gaara's student/fangirl and a girl in Konohamaru's academy class.
    • In the anime, Sabu for some reason had his name changed to Kin, which was the name of one of the Sound Village genin.
    • There are a few Menmas. One is an amnesiac ninja from a [[Part 1 filler arc]], whom Naruto names Menma due to finding him while harvesting bamboo. Another is the Big Bad of the Road to Ninja movie, Menma Uzumaki.
  • In Eyeshield 21, the Kyoshin Poseidons have two Hiroshis on their team (Hiroshi Ohira and Hiroshi Onishi).
  • My-Otome has two recurring characters named Mikoto, one an Expy of the My-HiME character of the same name, the other is Queen Mashiro's pet cat. There actually is a connection between them.
  • One Piece isn't extremely keen on following the One Steve Limit, possibly because it's hard to think of a unique name for every single one of all those characters:
    • The series has a couple people named John: Zoro's old friend and fellow Bounty Hunter Johnny, Marine John Giant, one of the Zombie Generals of Thriller Bark was named Captain John, and the G8 filler arc features a Marine Vice Admiral named Johnathan.
    • Ace's cover story, where he's hunting down Blackbeard (real name Marshall D. Teach), once has him run into a similar-looking but completely unrelated Dr. Blackbeard, who he mistook for Teach and kicked in the face. This resulted in the angry townspeople throwing Ace into a river.
    • It has also has two Jones's - Hody Jones and Davy Jones himself.
    • Scotch is the name of both the pirate X Drake battles on one of Kaido's islands as well as one of the Yeti Cool Brothers.
    • If you take Filler into consideration, certain filler characters share names with significant canon characters, such as the filler Marine Drake and X Drake, as well as Luffy in a Greek dub where he was also called Drake, a filler pirate Bonney and Jewelry Bonney, and so on.
    • Holding the record for One Piece, there are four characters named Billy: A pirate in Loguetown, a bandit in Alabasta, a cook working for the Marines, and an electric bird in Merveille. All of them are non-canon, meaning the manga could produce an official Billy at any moment.
    • One Piece also has several characters called "Marie" or similar (the nurse Marie, Boa "Mari" Marigold, the housewife Maria Negikuma, the diva Maria Napole, and Kaido's underling Black Maria) and "Catherine" or similar (Baroque Works agent Miss Catherine, pirate Catarina Devon and waitress Gatherine).
    • There's also two "Scarlet"s: A perverted gorilla from Shiki's pirate crew in the tenth movie, and the former crown princess of Dressrosa, who also happens to be Rebecca's mother. However, the latter's name is slightly different in that it is spelled "Scarlett", with two "t"s.
    • In English, there's two characters named Carrot; a young boy from Usopp's Pirates, and a young female rabbit Mink introduced way later. This doesn't apply to the Japanese version, where their names are different. To avoid confusion, the former Carrot is usually referred to by his Japanese name Ninjin, while the Mink is referred to as Carrot.
    • There's also three characters named Sora: a mermaid who works in the Mermaid Café in Fishman Island, a fictional Marine hero from their propaganda strip Sora, Warrior of the Sea, and Sanji's mother.
    • A close example: There's "Axe-Hand" Morgan, ex-captain in the Marines whom Luffy defeated in East Blue; and "Big News" Morgans, president of the World Economic Journal and an oft-invited guest at Big Mom's tea parties. The similarities are not as pronounced to the Japanese readers as "Morgan" is spelled "Mōgan" in katakana, while "Morgans" is spelled "Moruganzu".
    • They are two women with the name Tsuru: A veteran Vice Admiral and a tea house owner in Wano. Though the latter is referred to as "O-Tsuru," as by Fedual Japanese Honorifics for women.
    • There are two characters named Minatomo: one is a joke character Oda created early in the series, the other is a carpenter in Wano. Many initially thought they were the same person until Oda clarified that they were different, though are related, meaning Minatomo is their family name.
    • There's two Kaku: One introduced as a shipwright in Water 7 and a minor gangster in Wano. There's also a random civilian in Water 7 named Kakukaku and one of Kin'emon's katana is named Kakusan.
    • Fish-Man Island has mermaid quintuplets named Ichika, Nika, Sanka, Yonka... and Yonka Two.note 
      • An unrelated and far more important Nika, a mythical warrior of liberation known as the Sun God, later comes into the picture as well.
  • Digimon has pairs of monsters with the same names that are distinguished by their levels—Rapidmon (Armor) from the Digimon 02 movie and Rapidmon (Ultimate) from Digimon Tamers, and Kumamon (Rookie), originally Bearmon, from Digimon World 3 and Kumamon (Hybrid), originally Chakkumon, from Digimon Frontier. When two digimon are different enough but of the same name and level, fans list the year the new one was introduced to draw a distinction such Adventure and Adventure 02s Agumon and Savers' Agumon (2006).
    • Some are fixed by Dub Name Change. There are two digimon named Deathmon who are completely unrelated. The dub names the new one Ghoulmon to distinguish them. Then there are two digimon named Deathmeramon, who are only superficially related. The Dub changes the new one to Skullmeramon.
    • Digimon Adventure tri.: The newest additions to The Team are a pair with very similar names: Meiko and Meicoomon. They call each other by even more similar nicknames, "Mei" and "Mei-chan", respectively.
    • There are two mons in the Digimon franchise known as Hackmon, one is a Digimon from the main series and one is an Appmon that appeared in Digimon Universe: App Monsters.
  • Miyuki has two girls named Miyuki. Both are love interests for the protagonist. One of them is his stepsister. Confusion between the two does become a bit of a plot point.
  • YuYu Hakusho has Kurama's little stepbrother Shuuichi, which is same as Kurama's human name.
  • Lupin III:
  • Hayate the Combat Butler's Izumi and Isumi, are mixed up by fans often, but haven't yet had the issue within the story. Until the story, they apparently had little interaction and even their social groups are separated, so it might never come up.
    • Most of the male characters have similar-sounding names, but given the Unwanted Harem style of the story, they're never likely to come to even meet.
  • Ghost Sweeper Mikami has two Orihime; one's a weaver for spirits and gods, the other is the legendary star goddess whose doomed love affair the Tanabata festival celebrates. Still, since they're both practically one-shots (the former, after her first appearance, is only referred to by name once or twice afterwards, and the latter is a one-shot), there's no risk of confusion whatsoever.
  • Bakuman。 has two Hattoris, who are apparently not related. Akira Hattori is the main characters' editor, while Yujirou Hattori is Eiji Nizuma and Shinta Fukuda's editor. Yujirou is typically referred to by his first name to keep them separate, and when he calls Akira by his last name, Akira thinks to himself that he has the same last name.
  • Haruhi Suzumiya: There's only one Haruhi. When Kyon asks about her in the movie Disappearance, only one character can remember a Haruhi from years ago. This is a name so common in Japan that it doesn't get a One-Mario Limit in spite of the series popularity, but in her world, she really is that special.
  • Played With in Ichinensei ni Nacchattara. The people who knew Iori as a teenager and see him as a first grader don't suspect anything, because teenagers turning into children is impossible and they assume that "Iori-chan" just happens to have the same name as someone they know. Of course, both Ioris are the same person. Later, when Iori has gone past the Despair Event Horizon he questions whether or not he ever was a teenager or had just received memories of someone with the same name, a la Swamp Thing. Of course, this is not the case and he gets better.
  • In Sketchbook, cat lover Sora encounters a new stray cat and decides to call him Haa. Her brother then points out that there's already a cat with that name around, so she comes up with a new one. She also names all Calico's "Mike", after the Japanese name for Calico "Mikeneko", resulting in "Mike the 2nd", "Mike the 3rd", etc. Eventually neither Sora, nor the cats themselves can remember who's who.
  • In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, there's Kyouko and Kyousuke, both recurring characters. This may not look identical, but since "-ko" and "-suke" are gender-specific name suffixes, their name were practically homophonous. So, when a character called 杏子 was introduced after Kyousuke, people thought her name would be pronounced Anko because of this trope.
  • The World God Only Knows has two characters named Ryou. One is a delinquent at Keima's school, and the other is Nora's human partner.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion oddly has Ikari as the last name for two main characters (father and son) and a secondary character whose first name is Hikari.
  • Subverted in X1999. One character is named Seishirou Sakurazuka. Another one is named Seiichirou Aoki- and is referred to as Aoki, probably in order to avoid confusion.
  • In the Ace Attorney manga, there are two characters named Buck in the English version, one with the last name Montana and one with the last name Wheatley. Their names are both puns; Montana's refers to his buck tooth, while Wheatley's refers to his occupation as president of a buckwheat company. Years later, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice introduces Bucky Whet, the heir to a soba shop, whose name is also a pun on buckwheat.
  • The Yuri Genre manga Lonely Wolf, Lonely Sheep revolves around two woman named Kakimoto Imari developing a bond after they meet at a clinic. Their name is written the same way, they were born in the same year, and their birthdays are one day apart.
  • Read or Die has a character named Maggie who's Drake's daughter. Meanwhile, in sister series Read or Dream, one of the main characters is Maggie Mui. Naturally, when crossover series R.O.D the TV came out this trope came into effect (Drake even has a double take when Maggie Mui introduces herself.)
  • Descendants of Darkness has Hisoka Kurosaki and his dead older half sister also named Hisoka which is quite sad when it is implied that Hisoka's father Nagare seemed to have cared more about his daughter than he did about his son
  • Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha INNOCENT reveals in a later chapter that there are actually two characters meant to represent Precia's Cat Girl Familiar Rynith in this Grade School AU: Rynith the 2nd, the ordinary cat of the Testarossa family, and Rynith Lanster, the occasional housekeeper of the Testarossa family and older sister of Teana.
  • The TV anime version of Hellsing has two Enricos: Stivaletti and Maxwell.
  • In Saki, there are two cases.
    • Hiroko Murosashi and Hiroko "FunaQ" Funakubo. The two never interact, though, as the former is one of Nodoka's kohai from Takatobara Junior High, and the latter is a second-year player from Senriyama who is the coach's niece and Hiroe and Kinue's cousin.
    • Yoshiko Yasukouchi, a player for Shindoji, and Yoshiko Kainou, a professional mahjong player.
    • While the viewer knows that Saki and Teru are sisters, many people in universe believe that it's just a coincidence that they happen to have the same last name, since they go to different schools in different prefectures. It also doesn't help that Teru refuses to admit that Saki is her sister.
  • Played with in Magi: Labyrinth of Magic. Someone tells Aladdin the name of the leader of the local thieves group, which is the same as a friend of his. Aladdin brushes this off as a coincidence, and the person who told him admits that the name is pretty common. Unfortunately...
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Wing's head writer Katsuyuki Sumizawa seems fond of the name "Catherine", the anime and its related stories contain no less than five different women with that name or variations thereof: the anime has Trowa's adoptive sister Cathy Bloom and Relena's mother Katrina, the prequel manga Episode Zero has Quatre's mother Katherine, and the sequel novel Frozen Teardrop introduces Sally Po's daughter Kathy and Quatre's younger sister Katherine (presumably named for her mother)note .
  • "This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind while writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name wil not be affected." - Rule #2 of the Death Note.
  • There are technically two "Hiroyuki's" in Wandering Son. Cool Big Sis Yuki's birth name is shared with Nitori's father.
  • Used as a plot point in Inside Mari. Mari shares the name of Yori's older sister.
  • The two protagonists of A Silent Voice have very similar names. They're a boy named Shouya and a girl named Shouko.
  • This trope has actually led to the occasional Dub Name Change in foreign adaptations of Dragon Ball, such as the English dub changing Shen's name to "Hero" since they had already named the Crane Hermit "Master Shen", or the French dub changing Mr. Satan to Hercule since Piccolo was already named "Satan Petit Coeur".
    • The Italian dub is very confusing. For some reason, it features three people named Satan. First, the Ox-King gets mysteriously named "Al Satan" during his first appearance, a name which is never mentioned again for him. It is mentioned however when Demon King Piccolo appears, as he gets called "Al Satan" too. Because why not. Then of course in Dragon Ball Z we have Mr. Satan, the character known in the English-speaking world as Hercule.
    • Two Saiyan characters are named "Panbukin" (a pun on "Pumpkin") in Dragon Ball Z: the short bald Saiyan who the Z-Fighters fight in the Pendulum Room in a filler episode, and the stocky member of Bardock's squad in the special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku. In English, they both got Dub Name Changes to Scarface and Shugesh respectively.
    • The trope is briefly averted in an episode of the first series where a police officer asks a lost Goku which Bulma is he looking for.
    • The Dragon Ball: Adventure Special revealed that Ranfan, a contestant in the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, has a husband named Trunks, which would much later be the name of Bulma and Vegeta's Kid from the Future.
    • Also, Vegeta's father was King Vegeta, and it was also the name of the Saiyan race home planet. This is rarely an issue, however, as King Vegeta and Planet Vegeta were destroyed by Frieza a long time ago and so they're only referenced, or appear in flashbacks.
    • With Dragon Ball Super, there is now a second character named "Black". Although "Goku Black" is an In-Series Nickname given by the good guys (his real name is Zamasu), Adjutant Black's name is either a Code Name or his real name.
    • In the anime only, there had been Maron, a girl Krillin dated, and later Marron, Krillin's daughter. Fans have joked about the implications of his daughter being named after an ex.
  • The two main females in Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 have similar names: Mirai and Mari.
  • Played with in Fuuka; the title is referring to two different Fuukas. However, one of them has already died by the time we meet the other.
  • Enforced in Brave10. Traditionally the Sanada Ten Braves include two figures named Unno Rokuro and Mochizuki Rokuro. When Mochizuki Rokuro shows up in story, it's immediately clear how confusing having two Rokuros will be, so he volunteers for a rename, claiming Rokuro's a lame name anyway*. This annoys Unno Rokuro, but before he can react Yukimura jumps in to acknowledge "there's only one Rokuro for me" and gives the kid the name Benmaru instead.
  • In Yuri!!! on Ice, there are two characters named Yuri: Japanese Yuri Katsuki (the main character) and Russian Yuri Plisetsky. Yuri Katsuki's sister Mari nicknames the Russian Yuri "Yurio" to avoid confusion, which he isn't too fond of.
  • In The Seven Deadly Sins, there is the main heroine Princess Elizabeth Liones, and Meliodas' deceased lover Elizabeth, who is usually referred to as Liz. It is later revealed that the princess is Liz's reincarnation.
  • The anime of Tiger Mask has five wrestlers named after the tiger: Tiger Mask, Big Tiger, Black Tiger, King Tiger and Tiger the Great.
    • Being fully of Legacy Characters, the sequel Tiger Mask W has a new Tiger Mask and King Tiger, plus Big Tiger the Second, Tiger the Black, Tiger the Great the Third, and the newly-debuted gimmicks of Tiger the Dark and Spring Tiger. Lampshaded in one episode, where Nagata, in a tag team with Tiger Mask, called out "Tiger!" and both Tiger Mask and the opposing team, composed by Big Tiger the Second and Tiger the Black, turned to hear what he wanted.
  • In Future Card Buddyfight, the main character's little sister is named Hanako Mikado. Hanako is also the name of a Villain of the Week, a Cute Ghost Girl haunting a bathroom in Aibo Academy (which is a reference to the Japanese urban legend of Hanako-san).
  • Symbolic example in Michiko & Hatchin: after the title characters are separated, Hatchin winds up in the care of another woman also named Michiko, and chooses to stay with her, because she seems a lot nicer. Until she tries to sell Hatchin and a bunch of other children as Sex Slaves, of course.
  • In DEVILMAN crybaby, there are two characters named Miki: Miki Makimura (who existed in the original Devilman) and Miki Kuroda, who are friends and both members of the track team. The latter is nicknamed "Miko" to avoid confusion with the former. The nickname turns out to be the source of Miko's insecurities since it serves as a reminder that she's Always Second Best to Miki, whom she envies and wishes to beat in at least one track event. In Japanese it's played with, since while their names sound the same they're written differently (Miki's name is written in kanji while Miko's name is in katakana).
  • In Wangan Midnight, Akio Asakura buys the infamous Devil Z and finds out that its deceased previous owners, all of which died driving the car in horrific accidents, all had names that are also read as "Akio Asakura" (if reading in Western order), the key difference being the characters used for the names. This contributes to the belief that the car has a mind of its own, as if everyone with that same name reading is drawn to drive it, only to be "rejected" and killed behind the wheel.
  • Attack on Titan sometimes doubles-up on names used for minor characters. Examples include Abel note , Dirk note  as well as a Tom, Tomas and Thomasnote .
    • There's also Ymir who happens to have the same name as the arguably most important person/deity/being to have lived in the world of AoT, due to a cult passing her off as Ymir herself. Also later in the story is revealed that Eren was named after his father's friend.
  • Happens in the movie to Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head Kidou Kyuukyuu Keisatsu, due to it having a crossover with Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion. Drive Head has a character named Hayato Isurugi, and the protagonist of Shinkalion is Hayato Hayasugi. However, the Drive Head character is given a very small role in the movie, and typically goes by a Last-Name Basis anyway.
  • Kaguya-sama: Love Is War has two Momos, two Kyokos, and four Makis (though one of them is actually a nickname and spelled "Makkii", while another is a baby specifically named after one of the others). One of each of the Momos and Kyokos are only listed in the class ranking, and one of the Maki's appears in a single scene. Interestingly, said second Kyoko also shares a surname with Kaguya's mother, though there's no indication that they're related.
  • The titular characters, plural, of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure are this trope distilled. Each one of the eight parts stars a different character named Jojo. Somewhat zig-zagged in that every Jojo after the second are typically referred to by their full names rather than their nickname (since that's the point where multiple Jojos start appearing in the same part), but Jojos #7 and #8 were named after their predecessors Jonathan Joestar (#1 and #7) and Josuke Higashikata (#4 and #8). Jojo #7 goes by 'Johnny', and the Japanese spelling of Josuke-8 is different than that of 4.
    • Also, Josuke-8 was, in-universe, named after another character's dog, also named Josuke, and coincidentally, with Norisuke Higashikata IV before the latter changed it.note 
    • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders has two Dans- Steely Dan/Dan of Steel and Daniel J. D'Arby, elder of the D'Arby brothers.
  • In Yuri is My Job!, there seem to be two Mitsukis- Mitsuki Ayanokouji(whose family name is an alias on the job) is Hime's coworker, who dislikes her, while Mitsuki Yano is Hime's former friend, who exposed her as a chronic liar and ruined her reputation. It turns out that both Mitsukis are the same person, much to Hime's shock.
  • Danganronpa 3, like Puella Magi Madoka Magica above, has a Kyouko (Kirigiri, from the first game) and a Kyousuke (Munakata, who debuts in the anime).
  • By the end of Ill Boy, Ill Girl, there are exactly three "Shou Yamai"s: the Boy (the "Shou" is written as "Life" in kanji), the Girl (the "Shou" is written as "death" in kanji), and the disease named after them (pronounced "Yamai-shou" in Japanese).
  • Zigzagged in Karakuri Circus with three characters (a puppet and two Automaton) sharing the name with the popular mask of Commedia dell'Arte Arlecchino. Namely, the first uses its French name Arlequin, the second uses the Italian one (Arlecchino) and the last one uses the English Harlequin.
  • The heroine of Sengoku Komachi Kurou Tan is Ayanokouji Shizuko and she introduces herself as such to Oda Nobunaga. Seeing as the Ayanokouji clan exists, he checks with them to see she is a part of that family or if they know anything about her. Seeing as she came from the future, they obviously didn't.
  • In Tokyo Godfathers, three homeless people find an abandon baby and name her "Kiyoko." During their subsequent adventures, they encounter two more Kiyokos, one a bride and one a nurse who is also Gin's estranged daughter. This ties into the general theme of Contrived Coincidences that hint at divine guidance.
  • My Hero Academia :
    • The original has Setsuna Tokage, a member of Class 1-B of U.A. while the spinoff series, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes has a character named Rapt Tokage, who's a punk. Given that they both have reptilian-themed Quirks, they may be related, but it's never officially confirmed whether they are.
    • Borderline case with Present Mic’s given name Hizashi and Midoriya’s absent dad Hisashi. The Japanese of the names is likely the same but they’re Romanized with slightly different spellings.
  • Moriarty the Patriot: Discussed and subverted. Sherlock has the misfortune of meeting three different Williams in the series, but they all use different nicknames (Liam, Bill, and Billy, although "Liam" was gifted to him by Sherlock himself). Sherlock has an exasperated moment upon meeting Billy, commenting "Jeez, another William?"
  • Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle: The eponymous Princess is named Aurora, but she typically goes by her middle name, Sya Lis (when she isn't just called "the Princess", anyway), as several other members of her family, including her mother and aunt, are also named Aurora.
  • In TerraforMARS, Joseph Newton is a mighty super soldier who's enamored with the female lead, Michelle Davis. However, it is revealed that in the past he went out of his way to ruin the relationship of a friend with a girl who happened to also be named Michelle. He never comments about this, but it serves to emphasize how his crush on Davis, even if seemingly sincere, is no good news.
  • Yugioh Sevens plays around with this before ultimately averting it. After finding evidence of a lost Goha sibling named Yuuga, the protagonists wonder if it might be their friend Yuuga Ohdo. It turns out to be a coincidence, and Yuuga Goha would go on to become an Arc Villain.

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