History Main / EmbarrassingFirstName

* In season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', panicky bodyguard Sargeant Hatred reluctantly reveals that his first name is Courtney, thanks to an old-fashioned mother. Despite being an EX-villain, accidentally growing breasts, and being highly emotional, "Hatred" suits him far better.

Compare RealJokeName, and FluffyTheTerrible. Contrast AwesomeMcCoolName.

* Dr. [=McKay=] of ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' prefers to be addressed by his middle name, Rodney, because his first name is Meredith. Strangely his teammates don't know it; you'd expect that it would've been in his file, unless he had it legally changed. Good luck getting his sister to stop calling him that, though. An AlternateUniverse [=McKay=] goes a step further and prefers to be called Rod. Then again alternate-[=McKay=] is so damn awesome that maybe he goes by Meredith but his reputation precedes him enough for everyone to call him Rod, if you know what I mean. The [=McKay=] from the main timeline laments that he could never get anyone to call him "Rod". For reference, Meredith was originally a ''man''[='s=] name (Welsh for "great lord") before migrating into gender-neutral and, eventually, mostly female territory.

* In the film adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}},'' we have CanonForeigner Wyborne "Wybie" Lovat.

** ''Franchise/MyLittlePonyGeneration5'': Officially, [[{{Tomboy}} Zipp Storm]] is known as Princess Zephyrina, which comes to a head when Pipp gives her a FirstNameUltimatum in [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyMakeYourMark "Bridlewoodstock"]] for [[spoiler:telling Electric Blue that they should do the opening act when the other bands have already agreed separately to do the same]].

** ''Franchise/MyLittlePonyGeneration5'': Officially, Zipp Storm is known as Princess Zephyrina, which comes to a head when Pipp gives her a FirstNameUltimatum in [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyMakeYourMark "Bridlewoodstock"]] for [[spoiler:telling Electric Blue that they should do the opening act when the other bands have already agreed separately to do the same]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Family Appreciation Day", we find that Diamond Tiara's dad is [[{{Pun}} saddled]] with the name ''Filthy'' Rich. He prefers to be called just "Rich", obviously. His grandfather is named Stinking Rich.

* ''Series/InspectorMorse'''s first name was not revealed for some time on the show, because he was embarrassed about it. Even lovers only called him "Morse". His first name was eventually revealed to be Endeavour - a combination of his having a Quaker mother and a father who ''really'' admired Captain Cook. When an old friend from his university days shows up, it's revealed that his student nickname was "Pagan", because he refused to give his Christian name.

** In the prequel, the younger Morse doesn't use his first name either - despite it being [[Series/{{Endeavour}} the name of the show]].

* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': “Mac” McDonald’s first name is revealed to be… Ronald. Yes, his real name is Ronald McDonald.
* ''Series/JandaKembang'': Seli is embarassed of her full first-name "Seliatun" since Neneng mocks it as boorish which in turn doesn't fit Seli's belief that she is upper-class.

* On ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', Plankton's first name was revealed to be Sheldon in the episode "Plankton's Army". Karen mocks him mercilessly once she learns this.

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', Bella is ''constantly'' correcting people if and when they call her Isabella. Her Rule63 SpearCounterpart Beau also corrects people if they call him Beaufort.

* ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'':
** A running gag has people making fun of Mikado Ryugamine's extremely pretentious name (it literally translates as "The Emperor of Dragon Peak"). At least one person thought it was a really awesome name. Most people, however, (including Mikado himself) want to ask WhoNamesTheirKidDude.

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'':

* The primary antagonist of ''Film/{{Deadpool}}'' goes by "Ajax", and spends the majority of the movie trying to get Wade to call him that after Wade discovers that his real name is "Francis", after stealing one of his laundry tags.
---> '''Wade''': ''(laughing derisively)'' He got "Ajax" off a ''dish soap!''

* ''{{Literature/Idlewild}}'': Doom the vampire. Aloysius Doom.

--> '''Valkyrie:''' ''Gravid''. What does that name mean, anyhow?\\

* In ''Literature/TerraIgnota'',Mycroft comments early on that while his own first name used to be one of the most common (presumably due to Sherlock Holmes fans), his past conduct made it so that it lost popularity and people named Mycroft are inclined to go by other names in public, like Mycroft Guildbreaker going by Martin Guildbreaker instead. Once the reader learns that Mycroft's [[spoiler:a serial killer]], this makes a lot of sense.

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' Bella is ''constantly'' correcting people if and when they call her Isabella. Her Rule63 SpearCounterpart Beau also corrects people if they call him Beaufort.

'''Tonks:''' Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus. ''[shudders]'' It's Tonks.\\

* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', while the people themselves don't seem to mind, Katniss notes that a lot of District 1's denizens ''should'' be embarrassed by their names, the likes of which include Glimmer, Marvel, Cashmere, and Gloss. This doubles as HypocriticalHumor, given District 12 has some bizarre name, such as [[PunnyName Peeta]] the baker. Pita bread? Then there's the likes of Beetee and Wiress in District 3. Plus a tribute named Woof in ''Catching Fire''.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' spinoff mini-series ''Death: The Time of Your Life'', Foxglove's "minder" is Boris, who partly fits the trope of a ScaryBlackMan. Unfortunately, there are some things you can't hide from Death, so when in the course of a conversation she addresses him by his real name, Endymion, he hastens to point out to everyone present that he really prefers to be called Boris.

* In ''Film/RockyMountain'', Capt. Lafe Barstow asks Jimmy Wheat why the initial on his sign-up papers was 'B'. Jimmy explains that his actual first is 'Buck': meaning that his real name is actually 'Buck Wheat'. Barstow then makes a joke about him being named after a pancake.

* This is the plot of children's book ''Chrysanthemum''. The titular character loved her name until she began school. The other kids [[KidsAreCruel began teasing her]] for having a long name and being named after a flower. Eventually, Chrysanthemum learns to like her name again when her teacher reveals her name is "Delphinium" and she wants to name her child "Chrysanthemum" if they're a girl.

* The male lead of ''LightNovel/BludgeoningAngelDokurochan'' is named [[CherryBlossomGirl Sakura]]. Poor guy.
* ''Manga/BocchiTheRock'' has Ikuyo Kita who hates being referred to by her first name since she thinks it's too old-fashioned and it makes her name sound like a pun (Kita Ikuyo can be read as "I'm here! Let's go!").

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' has a running gag of people making fun of Mikado Ryugamine's extremely pretentious name (lit. "The Emperor of Dragon Peak").
** At least one person thought it was a really awesome name. Most people, however, (including Mikado himself) want to ask WhoNamesTheirKidDude
*** Everytime Izaya's name is mentioned to a person who doesn't know him, it's commented upon. He was going to be named 'Rinya' if the reading of his name did not go through.

* In ''LightNovel/KonoSuba'', Darkness absolutely hates her real first name [[spoiler:Lalatina]]. At one point Kazuma threatens to do something so horrible and embarrassing to her that it'll make her want to die of shame -- a real feat considering she's a [[TooKinkyToTorture hardcore masochist who literally gets off on being insulted and humiliated]]. Naturally, what he meant was revealing her real name to all their friends, and when they praise her heroism ("Three cheers for [[spoiler:Lalatina]]!") she actually curls up and wishes herself dead.

* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' canon, Sasaki's given name is unknown, so when Fujiwara asked her what it was in ''Fanfic/YouGotHaruhiRolled'', the writer decided to give her the name of... [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]]. She's so embarrassed about this that even her ''mother'' is on a LastNameBasis with her.

* ''Series/{{Willow}}'': Upon growing up, Elora Danan's known as Dove, and had been renamed Brünhilde. She's not fond of being called this or Elora. Willow agrees with disliking Brünhilde.

* In ''Anime/{{Bakugan}}'' Dan's last name is "Kuso". "Kuso" essentially means "shit". It's odd since the series is Japanese so it's not a CriticalResearchFailure, and it's [[{{Shonen}} a kid show]] at that. [[note]]Although Japan is very lax with strong interjections and seems to have little if any concept of "cuss words". You can find various words that translate to "damn" and "shit" used in children's anime quite often.[[/note]]