History UnfortunateNames / Literature

** Cheery Littlebottom. She's a dwarf, and apparently her name is traditional and perfectly respectable in Dwarvish, but in [[TranslationConvention Morporkian]]... not so much. When he first meets her, Vimes makes a point of ''not'' reacting to her name until she is out of earshot (which earns him some respect from her), at which point he can't help but chuckle to himself. (As very briefly revealed in ''Literature/MenAtArms'' when Carrot greets her in Dwarfish, the Dwarfish version of the name is [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike even worse in Morporkian]] - Sh'rt'azs.)

* The eponymous character of ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh''. In-universe, Christopher Robin is asked (by his father) why a male bear is named "Winnie". Christopher's response is that his name is actually Winnie-''the''-Pooh, as if that explained everything. The RealLife explanation is that he was named after a bear called [[CanadaEh Winnipeg]] who lived in the London Zoo.

* In ''Belle Prater's Boy'', the title character's birth name is Belle Ball, and her niece asks why her parents gave her such a silly name (they meant it to mean "belle of the ball"). What makes it even more unfortunate is that Belle is considered quite plain compared to her sister Love.

* In ''Belle Prater's Boy'', the title character's birth name is Belle Ball, and her niece asks why her parents gave her such a silly name (they meant it to mean "belle of the ball").

* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': One of the new rookies at the evil WizardSchool is named [[XTremeKoolLetterz Starlyght Mornyngmyst]], a name which is immediately ridiculed by the other witches as totally ridiculous. Lauren, one of the top students, even remarks that Starlyght's parents must have hated her to give her that name.

* Played with in ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant''. Sorcerers choose their own names, and some characters pick names like "Ghastly", "Wrong" or "Weeper" simply because they fit them, and it's better to have an unfortunate name that fits than a cool name which doesn't fit you at all.

* In one novel from ''Literature/EightySeventhPrecinct'' series, arrested criminal [[PoliceBrutality gets beaten by the police]] because he insists that his name is Creator/ErnestHemingway. It turns out to be his real name.

* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': One of the new rookies at the evil WizardSchool is named [[XTremeKoolLetterz Starlyght Mornyngmyst]], a name which is immediately ridiculed by the other witches as totally ridiculous. Lauren, one of the Scholomance elites, even remarks that Starlyght's parents must have hated her to give her that name.

** Arvedui, king of Arthedain and Aragorn's ancestor, has a name meaning "last king." Not exactly a great thing to have hanging over your head, especially when you're the heir to a rapidly-shrinking VestigialEmpire. The seer who named him said that if a pivotal choice in the safety of the realm was made correctly, then Arvedui would change his name and the kingdom would continue to prosper. Unfortunately, it ended up being a MeaningfulName instead.

* ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'': This is the [[PlanetOfHats hat]] of the citizens of New Swissland. The series' overall main antagonist, Professor Pippy P. Poopypants, hails from New Swissland, and despite his desire for people to take him seriously, everyone keeps laughing at his silly name, which eventually leads to him snapping and becoming a supervillain. He forces everyone on Earth to change their names into silly ones [[IncredibleShrinkingMan or else he will shrink them]]. When he's defeated by Captain Underpants for the first time, he decides to change his name to avoid the mockery. Unfortunately for him, he went with his maternal grandfather's name, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Tippy Tinkletrousers]].

* ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants'': The whole plot of this book revolves around this trope with the titular villain. In fact, he came from the country of New Swissland, where everyone has a silly name. He later forces everyone on Earth to change their names into silly ones [[IncredibleShrinkingMan or else he will shrink them]]. Later on, Professor Poopypants tries to make his name less silly by renaming himself [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Tippy Tinkletrousers]].

* In ''The Adventures of Captain Vrungel'' by Andrey Nekrasov, the captain plans to call his ship ''Pobeda'' (the ''Victory''). However, thanks to an accident in the port, the two first letters fall off, leaving ''Beda'' (the ''Peril''). By the time it's noticed, the ship's already far in the sea, so it remains the ''Beda'' for the rest of the plot.

* A running gag in Joan Hess's ''Maggody'' mysteries is the cockamamie names that Stump County residents apply to their kids. Some get phonetically-spelled versions of words that might've been tolerable (if rustic) had they spelled correctly, like Hospiss; others sport names that the parents just thought sounded interesting, like Rubella Belinda. Occasionally this is elevated to a Weird Theme Name trope, as with brothers Diesel and Petrol.
* In the Hooker/Butterworth ''MASH'' novels there's a pompous newscaster whose name is Dan Rhotten. He constantly has to remind people that it's pronounced "ROW-ten."

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': [[DeconstructedTrope This forms part of]] [[AwesomeMcCoolName Varamyr Sixskins']] StartOfDarkness: in accordance to some Free Folk tribal superstitions/ traditions, his sister nicknamed him "Lump" as a child, partially to help deter bad luck from seeking her brother out, partially as a term of endearment, but also to help toughen him up before he could choose his own adult name. Unfortunately for everybody else in the region, calling a budding, very powerful ChildMage with anger management issues and a lack of empathy something highly embarrassing others could tease him about/ abuse him for [[DisproportionateRetribution backfired]]. Badly. [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Oops]]. Moreover, while his name when we met him is pretty cool, it makes you wonder what it was when he could only control four animals.

** The Librarian of Unseen University, who was [[ForcedTransformation
turned into an orangutan]] during the events of ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'' and has since grown used to [[CursedWithAwesome his new form's advantages]], is [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep only ever known as "The Librarian"]]. He prefers to keep his real name a secret, not only because he doesn't want the other wizards changing him back to a human against his will, but because his real name is apparently ''Horace Worblehat''.

** The Librarian of Unseen University, who was [[BalefulPolymorph turned into an orangutan]] during the events of ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'' and has since grown used to [[CursedWithAwesome his new form's advantages]], is [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep only ever known as "The Librarian"]]. He prefers to keep his real name a secret, not only because he doesn't want the other wizards changing him back to a human against his will, but because his real name is apparently ''Horace Worblehat''.

* ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'': When the title character introduces himself in ''Mr. Midshipman Hornblower'', the immediate response is "what an infernal piece of bad luck for you." He then picks up even more {{Embarrassing Nickname}}s.