History PlayingWith / UnnamedParent

* '''Invoked''': The character is the kind of preschool-aged kid mentioned above as an example of a Justified Trope. They are kidnapped by someone intending to hold them for ransom, but the burglar finds that they can't simply ask the kid who their parents are, because they don't know.

%%* '''Implied''': ???

** [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep The parents' names really *are* "Mom" and "Dad"]].

* '''Parodied''': [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep The parents' names are actually "Mom" and "Dad."]]

* '''Enforced''': "The parents really aren't that important to the show. It really works better if we don't give them names."

Back to UnnamedParent

** The kids are only called "Brother," "Sister," "Son," "Daughter," and similarly with uncles, aunts, and cousins.

* '''Reconstructed''': But in such a culture, the kids themselves still use more familiar names. For instance, the father's name is "Father", but his kids don't call him "Father"," they call him "Daddy".

** The protagonist is so young that he has yet to learn that his parents have names other than "Mommy" and "Daddy." See MostWritersAreAdults.

** The parents' names are known to the audience, but their son and daughter are only addressed with pet names ("sweetie," etc.) that don't even qualify as [[KnownOnlyByTheirNickname nicknames]], and are only referred to as "Alice and Bob's son/daughter."

* '''Zig Zagged''':

* '''Invoked''': The character is the kind of preschool-aged kid mentioned above as an example of a Justified Trope. He is kidnapped by someone intending to hold him for ransom, but the burglar finds that he can't simply ask the kid who his parents are, because he doesn't know.

* '''Defied''': Whether because he's very young or because he's TheDitz, the character turns out not to know his parents' names. Someone who does know immediately corrects this gap in his knowledge.

* '''Deconstructed''': A culture with strong PlanetOfSteves tendencies in which all mothers and fathers have their names changed to "Mother" or "Father." What were their names before they were "Mother" and "Father," you ask? "Husband" and "Wife," of course.
* '''Reconstructed''': But in such a culture, the kids themselves still use more familiar names. For instance, the father's name is "Father," but his kids don't call him "Father," they call him "Daddy."

* '''Justified''': The protagonist is so young that he has yet to learn that his parents have names other than "Mommy" and "Daddy." See MostWritersAreAdults.

** Unlike the conventional practice in American culture and elsewhere, the parents want their kids to call them by their names just like they would for anyone else.

* '''Discussed''': ???

* '''Exaggerated''': The kids are only called "Brother," "Sister," "Son," "Daughter," and similarly with uncles, aunts, and cousins.

* '''Parodied''': The parents' names are actually "Mom" and "Dad."

* '''Exploited''': ???

** Because the child's last name is knows, the last name of the parents is known. LastNameBasis is used, even when FirstNameBasis would have been more natural.

* '''Straight''': The parents are called "Mum"/"Mom" and "Dad"

* '''Downplayed''': ???

* '''Deconstructed''': A culture with strong PlanetOfSteves tendencies in which all mothers and fathers have their names changed to "Mother" or "Father." What were their names before they were "Mother" and "Father," you ask? "Husband" and "Wife," of course.
* '''Reconstructed''': But in such a culture, the kids themselves still use more familiar names. For instance, the father's name is "Father," but his kids don't call him "Father," they call him "Daddy."
* '''Zigzagged''':

* '''Conversed''': "I have a life of my own, you know. I'm not like those mothers on our kids' cartoons, who don't even have names of their own beyond "Mommy."

* '''Inverted''': Unlike the conventional practice in American culture and elsewhere, the parents want their kids to call them by their names just like they would for anyone else.

* '''Zigzagged''': The parents are left nameless, unintentionally, just because they aren't that important. At a later stage of the show's history, they are more important, but still don't have names, and the writers resist giving them names because it would be awkward. Finally, the writers go ahead and decide on names for the parents and reveal them to the audience.

* '''Defied''': Whether because he's very young or because he's TheRalphWiggum, the character turns out not to know his parents' names. Someone who does know immediately corrects this gap in his knowledge.

** The parents' names are known to the audience, but their son and daughter are only addressed with pet names ("sweetie," etc.) that don't even qualify as nicknames, and are only referred to as "Alice and Bob's son/daughter."