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Portmanteau Couple Name / Real Life

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  • This technique has wormed its way into news and gossip coverage of real-life couples, with such shining examples as Bennifer (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, later Affleck and Jennifer Garner), TomKat (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes), and Brangelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie).
    • Ben Affleck later lampshaded this trope in the intro to one of his times hosting Saturday Night Live. Noting the amount of money people have made with Bennifer T-shirts, and irritated that he hasn't gotten any of it, he showed off his own custom T-shirts with possible future relationships: "Benyonce", "Boprah", and "Mary-Kate and AshFleck". And then, "BenGay", pairing him with either Marcia Gay Harden, or recurring co-star Matt Damon.
    • Parodying this practice, Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report has taken to referring to the pairing of William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman as "Filliam H. Muffman".
    • In the E! recap show The Soup makes the parody even more extreme, pulling the "Celebrity Hookup Name Generator" each time they know about a new celebrity couple. The resultant names are often full of double entendres and/or very tongue in cheek.
    • Khlomar. A suitably silly name for a couple that went from meeting to marriage as quickly as Khloé Kardashian and Lamar Odom did.
    • Among WNBA fans, "The VanderQuigs" are Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley, a married couple who were the Chicago Sky's starting backcourt for several years until "Sloot" left for the New York Liberty in free agency after the 2022 season.
    • Another one is Speidi for Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag.
    • Even hopeless cynics can't help but get a kick out of the Miranda Kerr/Orlando Bloom coupling: Kerrbloom.
  • Bill and Hillary Clinton as "Billary" originated from the 1980 Arkansas gubernatorial elections. It was a disparaging term aimed at Hillary's prominent role in Bill's career; many thought her outspokenness unseemly for a political wife. However, some of the couple's fans have adopted it, particularly in the wake of Hillary's tenure as Secretary of State.
  • Parodied again by Stephen Colbert — discussing the fans' perception of his relationship with Jon Stewart, he coined the term "Colbewart".
  • "CAndy" for Conan O'Brien/Andy Richter. They are well-aware of the coinage, and mention it occasionally on the show. Has existed since back when Andy was still on Late Night in the '90s.
    • The Now Show Book of Records suggests "Shellack" for Barack and Michelle.
  • The Mighty Boosh creators Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt are known pretty universally in Boosh RPF slash fandom as Noelian.
  • Chenzel, which is Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, famous as the originators of the roles of Glinda and Elphaba respectively in Wicked.
  • When Neil Gaiman began dating singer Amanda Palmer, a fan on Twitter suggested their celebrity couple couple name should be "Gaimanda". Neil Gaiman's response: "please don't". (At one point, they lampshaded this trope by suggesting they be collectively referred to as "Steve.")
  • Technically not a couple name, but it is a portmanteau for the parents... Liger and tigon are combinations of tigers and lions. Male parent goes first (i.e. liger = lion daddy, tiger mommy).
    • The name for a Serval/Caracal crossbreed is "Servical".
      • There's also "Zorse" — a zebra/horse hybrid and "Zonkey" — a zebra/donkey hybrid.
      • This runs rampant with naming hybrids: Grolar bear or pizzly (polar bear/grizzly), wholphin (dolphin/false killer whale), blynx (bobcat/lynx).
      • Also, any "designer dog" is likely to have this, puggles (pug/beagle) and Labradoodles (Labrador Retriever/poodle) being famous examples.
      • If a Cavalier canoodles a Poodle the result is a Cavoodle.
  • Miramax got its name from the combination of the Weinstein Brothers' parents' names (Miriam + Max)
  • Another non-shipping example: Sports Illustrated referred to the San Francisco Giants' dominating pair of starting pitchers, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, as "Lincecain".
    • Similarly, Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry = Robbery. (Appropriate, since the former is a notorious cheater.)
  • In a self-imposed example, Ian Murdock in 1993 named his fledgling GNU/Linux distribution using a portmanteau with his then-girlfriend, Debra. Fortunately for Debian, the couple got married in 1996. They got divorced in 2007.
  • Older Than Television: George Bernard Shaw referred to G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc as "Chesterbelloc". Almost certainly a non-shipping example though. Well, almost certainly.
  • Star Trek RPF has quite a few, with Shatnoy (Shatner/Nimoy) and Pinto (Pine/Quinto) being the two most common (although Urbine (Urban/Pine) is gaining in popularity as well).
  • Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade's last name is a merger of the original last names of him and his wife.
  • In 1895 King Leopold II of Belgium met "grande horizontale" Cleo de Merode; gossipmongers started referring to them as "Cleopolde".
  • After appearing in Sherlock Holmes (2009), the fandom reacted not only to the relations between the characters, but actually pairing the actors gathered a pretty large fanbase. RDJude (Robert Downey Jr./Jude Law) in particular.
  • The Blur fandom usually does this; examples are Gramon (Graham/Damon), Gralex (Graham/Alex) and Dalex (Damon/Alex).
  • When James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender's have been shipped together following X-Men: First Class as well as in interviews, the world now has "Fassavoy," "McFassy" and "Mcbender."
  • Tilena (Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter) is becoming quite popular on Tumblr. Of course, they actually were a couple in real life.
  • After showing off their bromance at the LA Premiere of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Tom Felton joked that he and Rupert Grint are now Rom/Tupert.
  • The Glee Project contenders Damian McGinty and Cameron Mitchell were given the name Dameron (and in rarer cases, Camian) after their impressive friendship was shown throughout the show. The bromance ship name is used both by fans and by official media sources as is evident in interviews and published articles. Their fellow TGP cast mates have also used the portmanteau and many of them often refer to it in numerous interviews and personal comments in Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. The two themselves have acknowledged and used the term, jokingly admitting that their Dameron Bromance will live on forever.
  • Authors K. A. Applegate and Michael Grant are married, and have admitted that any book credited to one of them has the other as an unofficial co-writer. As such, fans often refer to them together as AppleGrant.
  • Israeli Tennis duo Andy Ram and Jonathan (Yoni) Erlich are usually referred to by the media as AndiYoni.
  • Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, aka the Earl and Countess of Grantham, had already played husband and wife twice before they were tapped for the series, and thanks to a confused security guy at the Golden Globes, have been dubbed "the McGonnevilles". Tumblr, as Tumblr does, took note and ran away with it.
  • Invoked with InTheLittleWood and his girlfriend Kaeyi, whose channel is called KaeyisDream. Their joint channel is called InTheLittleDream.
  • Mother Series Fandom VIP Tomato (best known for translating Mother 3) uses the nickname "Poemato" in the video game streams and projects he does with his wife, who uses the web name Poe Trader. For example, this one.
  • Pioneering Silent Movie power couple Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks built an estate in Beverly Hills. The press started calling it Pickfair.
  • The husband-and-wife team of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball formed the Desilu television production company, most famous for producing Star Trek: The Original Series.
  • Similarly (perhaps inspired by Desilu), then husband-and-wife Courteney Cox and David Arquette formed a production company named Coquette Productions.
  • Trance producer Ram Boon produced the song "RAMelia (Tribute to Amelia)" combining his name with his late wife's.
  • Non-romantic but leading to a Discussed Trope moment: Brandon Heath and Mandisa ended up doing a tour together which was dubbed the Brandisa Tour. Neither was happy with the apparent shipping that implied, leading to them discussing why romance wasn't going to happen; Brandon was happily in a relationship and Mandisa stated that he wasn't her type which she described as "big black born again believer with a beard, joking at the end that Brandon only fit the last two qualities.
  • DC Extended Universe fans have taken to referring to Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill as "Benry", which the actors have commented on. An alternative is referring to them as "Caffleck".
  • Fans of the adorable friendship between "First Couple of Horror" Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who play Ed and Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring Universe, promptly christened them "Parmiga". This was later adopted by the production team, most notably director Michael Chaves.
  • American Horror Story fans call Sarah Paulson and Lily Rabe "Raulson". There is also "Parmiga" for Evan Peters and Taissa Farmiganote .
  • The 100: Co-stars Eliza Taylor and Bob Morley, who played the popular Clarke/Bellamy ship, are married in real life and fans like to refer to them as "Beliza". There is also "Elycia" for Eliza and Alycia Debnam-Carey, who played her on-screen love interest, Lexa.
  • For Supernatural Real-Person Fic there's "J2" (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, Sam and Dean's actors; sometimes also used to describe the two in general and not just Actor Shipping), "Cockles" (Castiel's actor Misha Collins and Jensen Ackles), and "Mishalecki" (Misha Collins and Jared Padalecki).
  • Arrowverse:
  • Some Frozen fans have taken to referring to Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell as "Bellzel".
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are known collectively as "Bryke" by the fandom.
  • Jane De Leon and Janella Salvador, the lead actresses of the 2022 adaptation of Darna, are often referred to collectively as "JaneNella" by the fandom.
  • Carmilla the Series:
    • Lead actresses Elise Bauman and Natasha Negovanlis are often shipped together because they play the Official Couple, Laura and Carmilla. Their ship name is Negovanman.
    • Same goes for Annie Briggs and Sophia Walker, who have been dubbed "Wriggs." Their characters, Perry and Mattie, are also commonly shipped.
  • Once Upon a Time:
  • Wednesday fans who ship Jenna Ortega and Emma Myers together call them "Jemma".
  • House of the Dragon: Rhaenyra/Alicent shippers that also ship the actresses Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke tend to call them "D'Cooke".
  • The common portmanteau for super-famous singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs Pro Bowler Travis Kelce, is usually "Tayvis", but sometimes seen as "Traylor".

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