History Main / SpecialPersonNormalName

** Other major [=Spartan-IIs=] include Fred, Linda, Kelly, William, James, Sam, and Kurt. As a whole, humanity's greatest soldiers and defenders have utterly mundane names.

** Played with in the posters for the first film, as a joke on the fact that the two lead actors were literally named Jones and Smith, which are very common surnames in America.

* In the HBO series ''Series/TrueBlood'', one of the main characters is a vampire named Bill Compton, and (as in the book) Sookie is surprised that he has such a boring name.

* In ''VideoGame/Mother3'', Lucas is a pretty normal name for a kid living in Tazmily, especially when compared to the names of the people who live there like "Flint, Hinawa, Lighter, Fuel, Wess, Duster, etc.". Lucas is one of only Two People in the world who can use PK Love, [[spoiler: and use that power to pull the 7 needles trapping the Dark Dragon under the Nowhere Islands.]] Subverted, as per WordOfGod his name is pronounced "lü-KAAH", not "LOO-kas".

[[folder:Film — Animated]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', most [[BondCreatures Palismen]] have {{Punny Name}}s like Owlbert (Eda's owl Palisman), [[AwesomeMcCoolName cool-sounding names]] like Ghost (Amity's cat Palisman), or names that relate to their owners in some way like Clover (Willow's bee Palisman). The major exception is Hunter's Palisman, a red cardinal named Flapjack. [[spoiler:This in and of itself is a hint at his past however -- the term "flapjack" doesn't exist on the Boiling Isles, meaning he had to have been named by a human. This, among other things, implies that Caleb Wittebane, Emperor Belos's brother, was his original owner.]] Boscha's palisman, Maya, also has a normal name but in her case the name is never said out loud and therefore not particularily notable.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The female Crystal Gems are named for their [[HeartDrive Gem]], and the creators seem to have gone out of their way to use ones that are actual names for the Gems that are main characters: [[TheSmartGuy Pearl]], [[BigFun Amethyst]], [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Garnet]], [[spoiler:[[HotBlooded Ruby]] and [[TheStoic Sapphire]]]]. The main character, meanwhile, is [[AllLovingHero Steven]]. Though less ordinary is his full name, [[AwesomeMcCoolName Steven Quartz Universe]]. PlayedForLaughs in one episode, when he's shocked, ''shocked'' to learn that his father was actually born Greg ''[=DeMayo=]'', having changed it as an adult. Steven grumbles that that's a much cooler name than plain old "Universe."

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', most [[BondCreatures Palismen]] have {{Punny Name}}s like Owlbert (Eda's owl Palisman), [[AwesomeMcCoolName cool-sounding names]] like Ghost (Amity's cat Palisman), or names that relate to their owners in some way like Clover (Willow's bee Palisman). The major exception is Hunter's Palisman, a red cardinal named Flapjack. [[spoiler:This in and of itself is a hint at his past however -- the term "flapjack" doesn't exist on the Boiling Isles, meaning he had to have been named by a human. This, among other things, implies that Caleb Wittebane, Emperor Belos's brother, was his original owner.]]

* The standard for naming beings in the celestial hierarchy of ''Series/TheGoodPlace''. Michael and Trevor are reality-bending [[DimensionLord dimension lords]], and the overseer of [[FireAndBrimstoneHell the Bad Place]] is called Shawn. Then there's the all-knowing, [[RealityWarper extremely powerful]] [[BenevolentAI informational delivery system]] known simply as [[PhysicalGod Janet]]. Also, [[spoiler: there's Gen, the closest thing the series has to God insofar. She's the real supreme Judge of the Afterlife]].

* The BigBad undead evil sorceress in ''Manga/RecordOfLodossWar'' is just named "Karla", being about the only character in the entire world [[AerithAndBob with an actual real world name.]]
* The high priestess of the temple in ''Anime/RuneSoldierLouie'' is named Jenny. Just "Chief Priestess Jenny".

* ''Webcomic/{{Housepets}}'' features a trio of demigods: The [[AsianFoxSpirit Great Kitsune]] and his pals the [[DragonsAreDivine Spirit Drgon]] and her brother the Cosmic Gryphon...Pete. (The [[Film/PetesDragon1977 reference]] is clear, but other characters express surprise over the mundane name.)

** Her name was most likely chosen by transliterating the word "moniker" (meaning name) to Japanese. Her name is literally just "name".

* Brought up in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/37186546/ Tingle]]", where Kate Bishop develops a particular grudge match with a henchman she calls 'Scarlip' as he has a scar over his lip. After defeating his master, the Spot, with the aid of Yelena Belova and Peter Parker, Scarlip attempts to become the new Spot using his equipment, culminating in a final confrontation with Kate where he reveals that his name is Robert "Bob" Smith, which Kate finds very anti-climactic.

* ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017'': The most powerful witch in history, in whose memory the Luna Nova academy was founded, is named... Jennifer. This is actually something of [[RealityIsUnrealistic the "Tiffany Problem"]], as Jennifer (as a Cornish derivation of the famously medieval [[Myth/KingArthur Guinevere]]) does have its roots in the Middle Ages, but it was not a common modern name until the 20th century.

* Clark Kent in ''Series/{{Smallville}}''. Sure, his birth name was [[AerithAndBob Kal-El]] but it's very rare for anyone to call him that, and they never [[SecretIdentity call him]] {{Superman}} until the very last episode. Dude can bench press a glacier. His name is totally ordinary.

* Normally played straight on ''Franchise/StarTrek'', where the great starship captains have names like [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Jim (Kirk)]], [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Jon (Archer)]], [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Ben (Sisko)]], [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Kathryn (Janeway)]], [[Series/StarTrekDiscovery Christopher (Pike)]], and [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Jean-Luc (Picard) (common enough in the francophone world)]]. Nicely inverted, though, on the rare occasions where we see these human names from an alien perspective. In one episode of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', for example ("Civilization"), Archer tells a woman he's working with on a pre-first-contact planet that he's an investigator from "another city."

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', most [[BondCreatures Palismen]] have {{Punny Name}}s like Owlbert, [[AwesomeMcCoolName cool-sounding names]] like Ghost, or names that relate to their owners in some way like Clover. The major exception is Hunter's Palisman, a red cardinal named Flapjack. [[spoiler:This in and of itself is a hint at his past however -- the term "flapjack" doesn't exist on the Boiling Isles, meaning he had to have been named by a human. This, among other things, implies that Caleb Wittebane, Emperor Belos's brother, was his original owner.]]

** The protagonist is Monkey D. Luffy, while his grandfather is Monkey D. Garp. His father averts this, being named [[AwesomeMcCoolname Dragon]]. The D. in their names makes them special InUniverse, though the few people who know why aren't telling.

*** This is parodied in ''[[WebComic/{{Hiimdaisy}} Let's Destroy the Shagohod!]]'' whereas at first an awestruck Ocelot thought that Naked Snake's real name is something awesome like "[[AwesomeMcCoolname Manly McBeefington]]", only for Snake to say that his name is "John".

** In fact, with the exceptions of Jade, [[AwesomeMcCoolName Dirk]], and possibly Rose, the kids' first names by themselves can be considered fairly normal.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The female Crystal Gems are named for their [[HeartDrive Gem]], and the creators seem to have gone out of their way to use ones that are actual names for the Gems that are main characters: [[TheSmartGuy Pearl]], [[BigFun Amethyst]], [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Garnet]], [[spoiler:[[HotBlooded Ruby]] and [[TheStoic Sapphire]]]]. The main character, meanwhile, is [[AllLovingHero Steven]]. Though less ordinary is his full name, [[AwesomeMcCoolName Steven Quartz Universe]]. PlayedForLaughs in one episode, when he's shocked, ''shocked'' to learn that his father was actually born Greg ''[=DeMayo=]'', having changed it as an adult. Steven grumbles that that's a much cooler name than plain old "Universe".

* The names of some celebrities from non-Anglophone countries can come across this way when you know the literal translations of their names, like hunky acting great [[Creator/AntonioBanderas Anthony Flags]], suave sophisticated Parisian crooner [[Creator/MauriceChevalier Morris Knight]] and silky-voiced song stylist [[Music/EnriqueIglesias Henry Churches]], the son of legendary singer Julius Churches (or maybe it's July Churches).[[note]]Even better is the full name of Julio Iglesias--Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva, "Julius Joseph Churches of the Cave"[[/note]] Though AmazonianBeauty actress[=/=]model [[Creator/GalGadot Wave Riverbanks]] might count more as AwesomeMccoolname or HippieName.

* In ''Film/TheManFromEarth'', a group of professors go to say goodbye to a colleague who is suddenly moving away and leaving his position for seemingly no reason. Eventually the professor moving away, Professor [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld John]] [[PunnyName Oldman]], tells them that he is in reality an immortal who has walked the Earth since [[ContemporaryCaveman the Neolithic Era]], and he has to keep moving to prevent anyone from noticing that he doesn't age. At one point while his colleagues question him and try to test whether his story is true or not, they ask him what his real name is. John claims that, for most of his [[TimeAbyss 14,000 year life]], he has generally called himself some variation of John, or gone by other names that are pretty close to John.

* Brought up in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/37186546/ Tingle]]", where Kate Bishop develops a particular grudge match with a henchman she calls 'Scarlip' as he has a scar over his lip. After defeating his master, the Spot, with the aid of Yelena Belova and Kate Bishop, Scarlip attempts to become the new Spot using his equipment, culminating in a final confrontation with Kate where he reveals that his name is Robert "Bob" Smith, which Kate finds very anti-climactic.