History Main / NominalImportance

* ''Manga/OnePiece'' features a power in its later chapters referred to as Conqueror's Haki, said to be usable by only one person in a million (although we've met nine of them so far, [[Main/OddlyCommonRarity but that's a trope for a different time]]). It supposedly knocks out all people in the vicinity of the user, with only those of abnormally strong will being able to resist it; in practice, it only seems to affect anyone whose name the audience doesn't know.

* ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' averts this as well, thanks to the fact that just about everyone in the game- friend or foe, and even dead bodies you come across that were planted specifically by the developers, rather than being killed by rival factions or hostile mutants- have first and last names. Most of these names in the U.S. version at least follow a strange convention, however- while the first name is usually something common to the region, such as Sergei or Vasilya, the last names are usually straight from the dictionary. Which is why it's always hilarious to see a guy named [[AwesomeMcCoolname Max Dinosaur]]. It is because stalkers are given the first name and a nickname, not the last name. This is most likely a reference to the custom of organized criminals in Russia. On the other hand, soldiers in the Zone are referred to by their rank and last name.

* ''VideoGame/Undertale'' does a variant of this with its CharacterPortraits and VoiceGrunting. Most important characters will have one or both uniquely to themself.
* Similarly to its predecessor, ''VideoGame/Deltarune'' also exclusively gives unique portraits and voice grunts to characters who are either important to the story or previously appeared in and had these in Undertale.

* {{Averted|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''. LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, a large chunk are not important to the plot at all, others are relevant only to their connections to a more plot-important character, and everyone else is a ChekhovsGunman waiting to fire.

* Averted in ''Literature/HarryPotter'', where the majority of the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters have names, whether they turn out to be important or not. In the first book, there are names mentioned in the Sorting ceremony that don't really do anything until later books, like Blaise Zabini. Even the Riddle estate's caretaker who gets killed by Voldemort in the first chapter of the fourth book, and an Arab wizard who smuggles magic carpets and never shows up again in the story after the conversation about him, have names. Exceptions can be counted on one hand and include Hermione's InvisibleParents and the Muggle Prime Minister.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' had an interesting variant, where the creators decided that any character important enough to be named was important enough to be taken from some previous version of ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' canon. That being said, the number of named characters was [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters probably more than strictly necessary]] (though at least some would have probably been important if the show hadn't been LeftHanging).

* As demonstrated in LetsPlay/{{Slowbeef}}'s LetsPlay, ''Amazon: Guardians of Eden'' consistently inverts this trope in a very odd manner: with the exception of secondary protagonist Maya, ''every'' important, speaking character introduced after the third chapter will go unnamed, but non-speaking and unimportant background characters will be given both full names ''and'' strangely elaborate backstories that the player character really has no way of knowing in the first place. This comes to a head with the shopkeeper Arturo Ascension in chapter six, who sells you items you need to finish the game - since they gave him a name, they go out of their way to ThirdPersonPerson all of his interactions with you in an incredibly awkward fashion, rather than just letting him talk to you.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidTheTwinSnakes'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' with the [[FacelessMooks mask-wearing]] Genome Army and the Gurlokovich Mercenaries. Every single one of them carries a dog tag that reveals their name and can be obtained by holding them up at gunpoint, but the names are never mentioned in-game and have no actual impact on the plot or gameplay outside of being [[OneHundredPercentCompletion something to collect for completion]]. The one straight example is Johnny Sasaki, the ComicRelief ButtMonkey guard who is featured in the first two games, has a relative in the third, and plays a major role and gets the girl in the fourth.

* ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'': Aside from the Effects and Madotsuki herself, absolutely nothing is named. Despite this, {{Fan Nickname}}s have been created for just about everything, and are almost universally accepted as their true names, such as "Uboa" for a particularly memorable JumpScare character.

* VideoGame/Undertale does a variant of this with its CharacterPortraits and VoiceGrunting. Most important characters will have one or both uniquely to themself.
* Similarly to its predecessor, VideoGame/Deltarune also exclusively gives unique portraits and voice grunts to characters who are either important to the story or previously appeared in and had these in Undertale.

* An odd variation in the official English translation of the ''Manga/DetectiveConan''/''[[MarketBasedTitle Case Closed]]'' manga, where if a character has a DubNameChange, then you can expect them to be important.

* Lampshaded in [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20121009.html this]] ''[[Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob Inexplicable Adventures Of Bob]]'' strip, where Bob comes to the urgent rescue of two very minor characters who "barely have names."

'''Vampire:''' ''[looking forlorn''' ...No.

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* Regular enemies in the ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' series are identified on the HUD simply with their aircraft model names. However, the rare ace pilots additionally have their callsigns appended to the plane model, marking them as priority targets, since they are usually much more dangerous than regular {{mook}}s. ''[[VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar The Belkan War]]'', which shifts the gameplay focus from blasting through nameless hordes to more personal one-on-one dogfights, takes this trope to the extreme, with [[http://acecombat.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_aces_in_Ace_Combat_Zero 169 named enemy aces]] (more than the rest of the series combined), ''each'' of whom has a unique short biography unlocked after shooting him/her down.

*** In ''Persona 3 [[UpdatedRerelease Portable]]'' you can have a strange conversation with a man who, while lacking a name (he's called "Man Drinking Alone", has his own CharacterPortrait. It was immediately assumed this man was an EarlyBirdCameo for an upcoming Creator/{{Atlus}} title. Cue cries of IKnewIt when the game ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'' was revealed, starring the aforementioned man (whose real name is Vincent).

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* [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls''. Occasionally, the story includes named {{Mooks}} or relatively minor characters with no bearing to the plot to be killed off, yet receiving a bit of characterisation beforehand. Two particular examples of how this trope is played with are shown below. Note that both characters are original-exclusive.

* In ''Fanfic/NotAsPlanned'', the only characters with names are canon characters from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', such as Elrond. The girl who is the main character has no name in the story. She meets no named characters, except Elrond. This shows that the girl and her associates are not important persons.
* Averted in ''Fanfic/WhatLiesBeyondTheWalls''. Dozens of characters have first and/or last names, and many members of the Long Patrol even have their rank stated. But many named characters serve as nothing more than being [[MauveShirt Mauve Shirts]], some of whom [[ForgottenFallenFriend are never mentioned again]].
* Averted in ''Fanfic/TiberiumWars''. Many characters have their full name and rank stated, and some even have a decent chunk of a chapter focus on them. And several of them are casually killed off without impacting the plot or any of the central cast.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'':
** Between all the non-plot important [=NPCs=], there's a rather huge group of them that are named. They compensate their lack of plot importance by forming part of the global affinity chart and tending to play important roles in sidequests and [[SidequestSidestory sidequest arcs]].
** When a {{Mook}} has a non-generic name accompanied by a fancy name tag, they're a unique monster (usually fought as a sidequest miniboss), and that means they're going to give you [[BossInMookClothing one hell of a fight]]. Battles against these kinds of enemies have their own theme, fittingly titled "You Will Know Our Names."

* Many of the ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' games, ''Ark of Napishtim'', ''Origin'', and most remakes in particular, avert this. Every character gets their own name regardless of their importance to the story. In some games, every character gets a portrait as well.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'':
** Between all the non-plot important [=NPCs=], there's a rather huge group of them that are named. They compensate their lack of plot importance by forming part of the global affinity chart and tending to play important roles in sidequests and [[SidequestSidestory sidequest arcs]].
** When a {{Mook}} has a non-generic name accompanied by a fancy name tag, they're a unique monster (usually fought as a sidequest miniboss), and that means they're going to give you [[BossInMookClothing one hell of a fight]]. Battles against these kinds of enemies have their own theme, fittingly titled "You Will Know Our Names."

* In ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', removing the [[PowerLimiter Limiter]] of a character who has a name and portrait unlocks their ability to use top-tier attacks. But when the Limiters get removed on all of humanity...it turns out that nameless, no-portrait [=NPCs=] have an alarming tendency to transform into hideously mutated beasts. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Good job, Heroes]].

* ''HypeTheTimeQuest'' averts this by going out of its way to name almost all the {{NPC}}s, down to Maliq, a one-off thug who attacks you. Though there is the exception of a few guards and an executioner.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'''s classic episode "Once More, With Feeling" never names the VillainOfTheWeek. The credits show that his name is Sweet.

* ''[[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork Mega Man Battle Network]]'': If you encounter a character with a unique sprite and name, and their name isn't Mayl, Yai, or Yuichiro; than there is a 95% chance you will have to fight their Net Navi at some point. Later Subverted with Mayl, who's Net Navi: Roll, finally becomes a boss in 4, but played straight with her Gutsman, and Glyde starting from 4 onward.