History Main / MeltingPotNomenclature

* ''OnePiece'' has this sometimes. Some characters are given European-sounding names, but they're actually following Asian naming conventions. Thus Monkey D. Luffy's first name is actually Luffy, while his family name is Monkey D. Yes. His middle initial is his ''family name''. Others are meant to be from a Western culture, but are given strange and unfitting names ({{Word of God}} says Sanji is French, but his name means "three o'clock snack" in Japanese).
* Most characters in ''{{Mai-Otome}}'', which takes place on a far-future LostColony, have Japanese given names and European family names.

* ''{{Clerks}}'' gives us Dante Hicks. {{Word of God}} states that he is half-Irish, half-Italian.

* Happens in the ''VorkosiganSaga'' with French (Pierre), Russian (Ivan, Piotr), and English (Miles) names occuring in the same family. Though this is {{justified}} (or possibly more like {{handwaved}}) by the multi-ethnic group that settled Barrayar. ''Cryoburn'' takes place on a planet with obvious Japanese influence, but several of the characters have a Japanese given name and Western surname, or the other way around.

* [[DubNameChange The English translation]] of ''{{Pokemon}}'' has this because the translators have an obsession with giving ''everyone'' [[MeaningfulName Meaningful]]/[[PunnyName Punny Names]], so they'll go with whatever makes the best pun rather than the most consistency. (e.g. Bianca (Italian), Cheren (Bulgarian), Volkner (German), Cyrus (Persian), Amanita (Spanish), [[OverlyLongGag Rood (Dutch), Bronius (Latin), Giallo (Italian again), Ryoku (Japanese), Gorm (Gaelic), Zinzolin (French), etc.]])
* Can happen in ''{{The Sims 2}}'' with townies and [=NPCs=] (because their names are picked at random), causing names such as Abhjeet Copur.

* [[TropeNamer Naturally]], this is the case in UsefulNotes/{{the United States}}, where it is quite common for a person to have a first name deriving from a completely different language than their last name.

Compare AerithAndBob, which combines real names with fictional ones in a single setting.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' follows on from this. Korra is a MyNaymeIs variant of Cora. The "fabulous bending brothers" are {{Mako}} (firebender, Japanese) and Bolin (earthbender, Chinese). Hiroshi Sato and his daughter Asami have Japanese names and are descended from Fire Nation colonists, which may also be the case for Shiro Shinobi. Korra's parents Tonraq and Senna have Eskimo names, as does Narook the noodle-shop owner. Tenzin is Tibetan (a ShoutOut to the Dalai Lama), as is Pema. Jinora comes from Sanskrit "Jinorasa." Ikki is Uzbek for "two." Butakha is Indonesian for "bald." Lin Bei Fong is Chinese. Saikhan is Mongol. Hasook is Korean. Tarrlok is Irish made to look Eskimo. And "Lightning Bolt" Zolt is odd--the only name close to Zolt in the real world is the Hungarian name "Zoltan." This is the result of people from all over the world coming together in Republic City.

* In ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the Water Tribes generally have vaguely Eskimo-sounding names, but there's also a couple like Yue (Chinese). Earth Kingdom has names like Bumi (Indonesian), Jet, Long Feng (Chinese), Haru, Suki (Japanese), Song (Korean), Toph (Hebrew), and Koko (French), though this is probably more justified than the rest, what with the Earth Kingdom being much bigger than any of the other nations. Fire Nation gives us names like Roku, Iroh, Mai (Japanese), Lu Ten, Ty Lee, Li, Luo (Chinese), and even a couple of Latin-derived names (Ursa, Azula).

* In ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the Water Tribes generally have vaguely Eskimo-sounding names, but there's also a couple like Yue (Chinese). Earth Kingdom has names like Bumi (Hindi), Jet, Long Feng (Chinese), Haru, Suki (Japanese), and Koko (French), though this is probably more justified than the rest, what with the Earth Kingdom being much bigger than any of the other nations. Fire Nation gives us names like Roku, Iroh, Mai (Japanese), Lu Ten, Ty Lee, Li, Luo (Chinese), and even a couple of Latin-derived names (Ursa, Azula).

* In ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the Water Tribes generally have vaguely Eskimo-sounding names, but there's also a couple like Yue (Chinese). Earth Kingdom has names like Bumi (Hindi), Jet, Long Fenng (Chinese), Haru, Suki (Japanese), and Koko (French), though this is probably more justified than the rest, what with the Earth Kingdom being much bigger than any of the other nations. Fire Nation gives us names like Roku, Iroh, Mai (Japanese), Lu Ten, Ty Lee, Li, Luo (Chinese), and even a couple of Latin-derived names (Ursa, Azula).

* In ''{{Berserk}}'', we have the Italian Renaissance-[[FantasyCounterpartCulture ish]] port of Vritanis, where the van Damion (meaning 'from Damion' in Dutch, but 'Damion' does not sound like a Dutch place name at all) family lives. They have kids with names like Magnifico and Farnese (Italian).

* In ''{{Berserk}}'', we have the Italian Renaissance-[[FantasyCounterpartCulture ish]] port of Vritanis, where the van Damion (Dutch sounding) family lives. They have kids with names like Magnifico and Farnese (Italian).

* [[DubNameChange The English translation]] of ''{{Pokemon}}'' has this because the translators have an obsession with giving ''everyone'' [[MeaningfulName Meaningful]]/[[PunnyName Punny Names]], so they'll go with whatever makes the best pun rather than the most consistency. (e.g. Bianca (Italian), Cheren (Bulgarian), Volkner (German), Cyrus (Persian), Amanita (Spanish), [[OverlyLongGag Rood (Dutch), Bronius (Latin), Giallo (Italian again), Ryoku (Japanese), Gorm (Gaelic), Zinzolin (French), ...]])

* ''FireEmblem:'' In Daien alone, there are names like Micaiah (Hebrew), Nolan (Irish), Leonardo (Italian), Meg, Edward, Jill (English), and Izuka (Japanese).
* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender:'' The Water Tribes generally have vaguely Eskimo-sounding names, but there's also a couple like Yue (Chinese). Earth Kingdom has names like Bumi (Hindi), Jet, Long Fenng (Chinese), Haru, Suki (Japanese), and Koko (French), though this is probably more justified than the rest, what with the Earth Kingdom being much bigger than any of the other nations. Fire Nation gives us names like Roku, Iroh, Mai (Japanese), Lu Ten, Ty Lee, Li, Luo (Chinese), and even a couple of Latin-derived names (Ursa, Azula).
* Happens in the ''VorkosiganSaga'' with French (Pierre), Russian (Ivan, Piotr), and English (Miles) names occuring in the same family. Though this is {{justified}} (or possibly more like {{handwaved}}) by the multi-ethnic group that settled Barrayar.
** ''Cryoburn'' takes place on a planet with obvious Japanese influence, but several of the characters have a Japanese given name and Western surname, or the other way around.

* ''OnePiece'' has this sometimes. Some characters are given European-sounding names, but they're actually following Asian naming conventions. Thus Monkey D. Luffy's first name is actually Luffy, while his family name is Monkey D. Yes. His middle initial is his ''family name''. Others are meant to be from a Western culture, but are given strange and unfitting names (WordOfGod says Sanji is French, but his name means "three o'clock snack" in Japanese).

* EndersGame has this at the Battle Academy, which is full of children from around the world.

* [[TropeNamer Naturally]], this is the case in the RealLife United States, where it is quite common for a person to have a first name deriving from a completely different language than their last name.
* Dutch Fantasy/Scifi author Tais Teng likes to do this in futuristic settings or stories taking place in particularly large cities. The worst example is his charlatan SherlockHolmes expy, one of the last pure-blooded human beings in the universe; his full name is [[KingArthur Percy]] [[LatinLover d'Arezzo]] [[BlueBlood y]] [[BonnieScotland Mac]] [[GratuitousJapanese Shimonoseki]].
* Can happen in TheSims 2 with townies and [=NPCs=] (because their names are picked at random), causing names such as Abhjeet Copur.
* The ViewAskewniverse gives us Dante Hicks. WordOfGod states that he is half-Irish, half-Italian.
* In ''{{Everworld}}'' ancient cultures survive, but often live close to each other in patterns totally different from our world. One result is a large number of BlackVikings (and Asian Vikings, etc.), including a pair of brothers named Sven and Sancho (whose mother was apparently an Aztec).

* The ViewAskewniverse gives us Dante Hicks. WordOfGod states that he is half-Irish, half-Italian.

* ''AvatarTheLastAirbender:'' The Water Tribes generally have vaguely Eskimo-sounding names, but there's also a couple like Yue (Chinese). Earth Kingdom has names like Bumi (Hindi), Jet, Long Fenng (Chinese), Haru, Suki (Japanese), and Koko (French). Fire Nation gives us names like Roku, Iroh, Mai (Japanese), Lu Ten, Ty Lee, Li, Luo (Chinese), and even a couple of Latin-derived names (Ursa, Azula).

* [[DubNameChange The English translation]] of ''{{Pokemon}}'' has this because the translators have an obsession with giving ''[[{{Understatement}} everyone]]'' [[MeaningfulName Meaningful]]/[[PunnyName Punny Names]], so they'll go with whatever makes the best pun rather than the most consistency. (e.g. Bianca (Italian), Cheren (Bulgarian), Volkner (German), Cyrus (Persian), Amanita (Spanish), [[OverlyLongGag Rood (Dutch), Bronius (Latin), Giallo (Italian again), Ryoku (Japanese), Gorm (Gaelic), Zinzolin (French), ...]])

* Can happen in TheSims 2 with townies and [=NPCs=] (because their names are picked at random), causing names such as Abhjeet Copur.

There is some TruthInTelevision to this, in countries that have large and diverse immigrant populations. It is particularly common in America, in which descendants of European, Asian, and African settlers and slaves outnumber descendants of the natives, and intercultural marriage results in a huge mishmash of names across the board.

* Can happen in TheSims 2 with townies and NPCs (because their names are picked at random), causing names such as Abhjeet Copur.

* Dutch Fantasy/Scifi author Tais Teng likes to do this in futuristic settings or stories taking place in particularly large cities. The worst example is his charlatan SherlockHolmes expy, one of the last pure-blooded human beings in the universe; his full name is [[KingArthur Percy]] [[LatinLover d'Arezzo]] [[BlueBlood y]] [[BonnieScotland Mac]] [[GratuitousJapanese Shimonoseki]].

* Dutch Fantasy/Scifi author Tais Teng likes to do this in futuristic settings or stories taking place in particularly large cities. The worst example is his charlatan SherlockHolmes expy, one of the last pure-blooded human beings in the universe; his full name is [[KnightErrant Percy]] [[LatinLover d'Arezzo]] [[BlueBlood y]] [[BonnieScotland Mac]] [[GratuitousJapanese Shimonoseki]].

* [[TropeNamer Naturally]], this is the case in the RealLife United States, where it is quite common for a person to have a first name deriving from a completely different language than their last name.

* [[DubNameChange The English translation]] of ''{{Pokemon}}'' has this because the translators have an obsession with giving ''[[Understatement everyone]]'' [[MeaningfulName Meaningful]]/[[PunnyName Punny Names]], so they'll go with whatever makes the best pun rather than the most consistency. (e.g. Bianca (Italian), Cheren (Bulgarian), Volkner (German), Cyrus (Persian), Amanita (Spanish), [[OverlyLongGag Rood (Dutch), Bronius (Latin), Giallo (Italian again), Ryoku (Japanese), Gorm (Gaelic), Zinzolin (French), ...]])

* In ''{{Havemercy}}'', the main characters' [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Fantasy Counterpart Russia]] seems to contain a mix of French and British names with a handful of names from other languages thrown in for good measure, with no explanation for the mix or why nobody's name sounds as though it comes from the same language as the name of the country itself. The neighboring pseudo-China country, meanwhile, mixes Chinese, Japanese, and Korean-sounding names -- though it ''is'' an empire which has conquered a lot of territory.

** ''Cryoburn'' takes place on a planet with obvious Japanese influence, but a large number of characters have a Japanese given name and Western surname, or the other way around.

* EndersGame has this at the Battle Academy, which is full of children from around the world.

* Most characters in ''{{Mai-Otome}}'', which takes place on a far-future LostColony, have Japanese given names and European family names.

* ''OnePiece'' has this sometimes. Some characters are given European-sounding names, but they're actually following Asian naming conventions. Thus Monkey D. Luffy's first name is actually Luffy, while his family name is Monkey D. Yes. His middle initial is his ''family name''. Others are meant to be from a Western culture, but are given strange and unfitting names (WordOfGod says Sanji is French, but his name means "three o'clock snack" in Japanese).