People only known by their titles in live-action TV.
- Kevin, the Butt-Monkey of Al fondo hay sitio, is often called Pollo Gordo ("Fat Chicken").
- Angel:
- "The Host" had been appearing for nearly a full season before we learned his name was Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan, Lorne for short. He stated that he preferred not to go by Lorne because his green skin would cause people to crack Lorne Greene jokes.
- His real name was not only unknown to the audience, but the main characters as well. They never bothered to ask.
- The main characters of Backup all work closely together in one police response van. Thus Sergeant Parkin is just Sarge, Susan Li is called Bruce, ditto Token, Oz, Thug, Flub, Dippy etc etc. When Bruce has been temporarily in command, she is called up over an incident involving PC Barrett. If it wasn't for the scene immediately afterward when Thug is being asked questions about the same incident you'd probably never guess who Barrett was.
- Batman TV Series: Miss Iceland from Green Ice / Deep Freeze is never known by his real name.
- Battlestar Galactica:
- Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol wasn't referred to by his full name until well into the series. Even his lover, Sharon Valerii, calls him "Chief." Word of God was originally she was going to use his name when she was shot but his name had not been mentioned before and they didn't want people suddenly being jerked out of the moment by his being referred to as Galen for the first time. Even after he is later demoted several people call him Chief, probably by force of habit.
- Similarly, most of the pilots are rarely if ever called by anything except their call signs; even Helo's lover (also Sharon Valerii, but a different one) calls him Helo. Hence the subtle power of the scene where she is given the call sign Athena. It shows that the pilots now understand she is a different person to Boomer (the original Sharon Valerii) and have accepted her as one of them despite the fact that they know full well she is a Cylon.
- The Australian version of The Biggest Loser, has the Commando. While his real name (Steve Willis) is openly known, he's nearly always called Commando on-screen.
- Nursie in Blackadder II, sort of. She certainly goes by her title, but it's no longer her official role (although she continues to do it anyway). She does admit that her real name is 'Bernard'.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- The Master. His name is actually Heinrich Nest, but nobody has called him that in centuries.
- Downplayed with Buffy herself. Most people call her by her name, but villains usually just refer to her as "the Slayer".
- El Chavo del ocho: The title character himself is only called that way by everyone, even in the classroom list. Whenever he's asked about his real name, he's always interrupted before he can say it out loud, and the issue isn't brought up again at least for a few episodes.
- The first barkeeper on Cheers was known as "Coach" because he was Sam's coach when he was a major-league pitcher. Although Coach himself thought he got the nickname because he always traveled cheap.
- In the TV adaptation of James Clavell's The Children's Story, the new teacher explicitly tells the children to call her "Teacher" whenever they ask her name. (In the original book, the narrator refers to her throughout as "the new teacher," but she does tell the children her name when asked — the narrator just doesn't say what that name is. Clavell wanted her to represent an idea without being specifically tied to a particular nationality or ethnicity.)
- Community:
- Humorously subverted with Star-Burns. Everyone at Greendale calls him that, despite him constantly reminding people that his name is Alex Osbourne.
- Dean Pelton is called Dean more than he's called Craig. The fact he constantly makes dean-related puns (it's his whole i-dean-tity) doesn't help.
- Doctor Who:
- The Doctor, along with several other Time Lords like the Master, the Rani, the War Chief, and the Monk, operate like this, although most known Time Lords do have names. Fanon has that it that losing their name is an intrinsic part of becoming a renegade Time Lord, though some Renegades still have them. Drax seems to get away with using his real name, but then again, he isn't nearly as big a troublemaker as the other Renegades.
- The Expanded Universe has given names to all the major renegades, apart from the Doctor. The Monk is Mortimus, the Master is Koschei, the War Chief is Magnus and the Rani is Ushas. However, it's not clear whether any of these are birth names, or Time Lord Academy nicknames like the Doctor's (Theta Sigma, or Thete).
- It's also worth noting that Magnus first appeared in a Doctor Who Magazine comic strip, where the intent seemed to be that he was the Master. Then David McIntee named the Master Koschei, and Gary Russell attributed Magnus to the War Chief to tie everything up.
- Interestingly, even at the time a letter to Doctor Who Magazine asking whether Magnus was the Master or the War Chief was met with an enigmatic "You're right, it is one of those."
- When the Tenth Doctor encounters a woman from his own future whom he has not yet met, River Song, his future wife, she convinces him that he will one day trust her implicitly by whispering his true name in his ear.
- Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart is usually referred to as The Brigadier.
- In "The Doctor's Wife", the Doctor receives a message from a Time Lord named the Corsair. Turns out it was a trap. He finds part of the Corsair, though.
- In fact, it has been revealed that the oldest question in the universe, the one the Doctor has been running from his entire life is "Doctor Who?" Bad Things can happen if it's revealed to the wrong people for reasons revealed over the arc.
- However, it turns out that the name chosen by a Time Lord is a "real name" to a sufficient degree that when the Doctor and the Master are addressed by Lord President Rassilon, it's as "Lord Doctor" and "Lord Master". And for all we know, names like "Rassilon" or "Romanadvoratrelundar" could be similar words in other languages — quite likely since taking a name with a meaning seems to be the custom. The "the" in "The Rani" demonstrates this; we don't know what a Rani is (unless the alien Mad Scientist considers herself a Hindu queen for some reasonnote ) but there's such a thing and she calls herself one of those. Long story short: the Doctor's birth name is not the only name considered their "true" name.
- The Thin Marine and the Fat Marine from "A Good Man Goes to War". "We're the thin, fat, gay, married, Anglican marines, why would we need names as well?"
- "The Wedding of River Song": In the alternate reality created by River Song refusing to shoot the Doctor, causing a fixed moment in time not to occur, Amy is the leader of a resistance movement, and Rory is her second-in-command, who she only knows as "Captain Williams". When she meets the Doctor she tells him that she has vague memories from the original universe of being married to a man called "Rory" but can't remember anything about him. The Doctor asks her what Captain Williams' first name is, and she simply replies "Captain".
- Mountain Man, the Robertsons' slow-talking neighbor from Duck Dynasty.
- In Emerald City, the Cardinal Witches are usually referred to by the name of the Cardinal point they represent, i.e. "East" and "West". Only Glinda's personal name has been revealed and regularly used.
- In Entourage, Ari's wife is always referred to as "Mrs. Ari Gold" and her first name is never mentioned until the final season (it's Melissa).
- Lieutenant Murtagh from Family Matters had his first name name legally changed to "Lieutenant." When he told this to Carl, and Carl asked him what his name was before the change, he answered that it was "Sergeant."
- Pilot from Farscape. He (and other members of his race) have names the translator microbes couldn't cope with.
- La Femme Nikita: Apparently by official policy, the head of Section 1 is referred to as Operations and addressed as "Sir", except sometimes by Madeleine, who is of very high rank, and George, whose position outranks Operations.
- Friday Night Lights: Main character Eric Taylor is almost always referred to as Coach. Because he coaches high school football in a football obsessed town in Texas, even the adults tend to refer to him as Coach.
- The Friends episode "The One With The Breast Milk" features Joey's rival in the world of spraying cologne at department store patrons, a laconic cowboy known only as "The 'Hombre' Guy". When he loses his poise in the last scene, his name turns out to be Todd.
- The Head Office Guy from Fries With That is only ever referred to by his job title in the Beefy's fast food chain.
- The One-Armed Man, in The Fugitive. Eventually, he starts getting referred to as "Fred Johnson", as this is a name he uses as an alias on several occasions. In the final episode, The One-Armed Man vehemently denies that "Fred Johnson" is his real name. Investigation reveals he had previously used the name "Gus Evans", but this may or may not be his actual identity.
- Game of Thrones:
- The Spice King, who receives Daenerys outside Qarth, lampshades it by insisting his name is too intricate for foreigners to pronounce.
- The wildling leader who captures Jon and Qhorin is known only as Lord of Bones.
- The head of the Faith of the Seven forsakes his name upon ascent and is known only by his rank: High Septon.
- Get Smart:
- Agent 99 is always referred to as 99. In the episode where she and Max get married, her real name is presumably said during the wedding vows. But a wedding guest gets bored and falls asleep and his snoring drowns out that part of the vows
- In Season 1, The Chief's first name is revealed to be Thaddeus. But he's usually just called "The Chief" or "Chief"
- Ghosts (UK): One of the ghosts haunting the house that the main couple live in is only known as The Captain.
- Gilligan's Island had the Skipper and the Professor. (And Gilligan, too, although that at least was the character's actual last name.) Technically, they have names. It's just that they aren't used outside the pilot. The Professor is "Roy Hinkley", and the Skipper is "Jonas Grumby". There is no official word on Gilligan's first name, but the fan rumor is "Willy".
- On Haven, everyone calls police chief Garland Wuoronos "the Chief". Including his son, Nathan, a sign of their strained relationship. To a lesser extent, Reverend Driscoll is most often referred to as "the Rev."
- In If It Moves, File It, the Minister's name is never given, and he is only referred to as "Minister".
- On In for a Penny, the Sergeant's name was never given, and he was referred to by his rank in the police force.
- The Waitress and The Lawyer on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The fact that no one (including her admirer Charlie) can be bothered to remember the Waitress' name after their long shared history is a Running Gag.
- The RT leader in Janda Kembang is always referred to as "Pak RT" while his name, Romli, is only mentioned once in episode 28, long after he is Put on a Bus.
- "Daddy's assistant" (also The Ghost) in The Latest Buzz.
- In the Leverage episode "The Bottle Job", the villain Mark Doyle's two henchmen are repeatedly introduced as "Liam" and "Liam's Brother".
- In Lockie Leonard, everyone calls the local police sergeant 'Sarge' Leonard. Even his wife and sons.
- The Mandalorian: Because the main character rarely, if ever, bothers to introduce himself by his actual name, Din Djarin, he's usually just referred to as "Mandalorian", or "Mando" for short. It works because, by the New Republic Era, Mandalorians are rare enough you generally wouldn't encounter more than one at a time.
- Marley's Ghosts: The Vicar presumably has an actual name, but it's not used either by her or anyone else.
- The Duke of Cornwall in Merlin (1998). His name in the actual legends is usually Gorlois or Hoel, or sometimes not mentioned. In this series, however, he is simply referred to as "Cornwall". Made even stranger in the novelizations, where the name Gorlois was attributed to him, but many characters continued to call him Cornwall.
- Misfits: Rudy routinely refers to Alex, a good-looking bartender as the "Handsome Barman". Matt Stokoe, who plays Alex, even refers to his character by that name in an online Greatest Hits video.
- Subverted in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries with Mr. Butler. It is his actual last name, and just a funny coincidence.
- Motherland: Fort Salem: The Marshal only referred to as his title, or Head Marshal to distinguish him from the others.
- The Muppets:
- Several characters on The Muppet Show are known by their titles/professions only. Famous examples are the Swedish Chef and the Newsman. (An Overly Long Name was given for the Swedish Chef by the guest star in one episode,note but it was very possibly a joke.)
- In The Muppet Movie, Sweetums is only referred to as "Jack." As he puts it, "Jack not name, jack job!" For those that don't get it, his job is moving cars around at Mad Man Mooney's... which he does by lifting them up by the bumper.
- Earl always refers to Darnell on My Name Is Earl as "Crab Man," and his relatives (or pets) as "Crab Man's (insert position of relative or pet)." "Y2K" shows us why — when Earl and Darnell first met, Earl couldn't remember his name and the nickname just stuck. Darnell himself uses it when he gets his own version of the theme song.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 gave us "Brain Guy," whose official name was actually "Observer," even in the credits, for quite a while. Eventually "Brain Guy" stuck, though, especially when he was forced to confront his former fellow Observers in favor of humanity.
- Mall Cop from Naturally, Sadie.
- Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide has a few, such as Backpack Boy and Coconut Head.
- Odd Squad has Oprah (no, not that Oprah), who is almost always referred to as "Ms. O", a title for female Odd Squad Directors in the Management department. The only ones who are known to call her by her actual name are O'Donahue, her former partner, and Oscar after being promoted to President of the Scientists, and it's implied that only those who are close to her can refer to her as such. In Season 3, she is referred to as "Big O" or "The Big O", which is a title for those in the position of the same name, who serves as the head of all Odd Squad precincts worldwide.
- The Hero of Olympus gets called anything but his real name. Mercenary and Son of Aegeus are often used.
- The Outpost: The members of The Three are only ever referred to by the number of their position within the triad.
- Control in Person of Interest is known only by her codename. She serves as the head of a covert intelligence agency.
- The Quartermaster, a.k.a. QM, in Pixelface.
- Almost everyone has a number, not a name, in The Prisoner (1967), but "Number Two" is a job and title as well. Over the course of the series, many different people serve as Number Two, who would appear to run The Village.
- The Supervisor, though possessed of a number (28), is always called "Supervisor". "The Butler" has no number, and is always referred to as "The Butler" in the credits.
- Number 54 is referred to as 'The General'.
- The narrator in Pushing Daisies refers to every character, even minor or guest characters, by their full name. However, he always calls the main character Ned "The Pie Maker" (and "Young Ned" in childhood flashbacks), although most of the characters in the show do call him by his first name. His last name hasn't been given.
- Red Dwarf: The Cat is a member of a species of humanoid cats.
- Kill Crazy is only ever referred to as Kill Crazy. Even the nametag on his prison coveralls gives his name as Kill Crazy.
- In Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham is usually just called "the sheriff". This is especially funny after Isabella becomes the sheriff, because since the audience doesn't know that his real name is Vaisey, she still calls him "the sheriff", even though he isn't.
- As with the CEO in the third movie, OCP's head in RoboCop: The Series is only referred to as "the Chairman".
- In Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Sabrina always calls her quizmaster "Quizmaster." She later finds out in one episode that his name is Albert, and she remarks that she always thought his name really was Quizmaster and the fact that it was his occupation was just a happy coincidence.
- Scream Queens (2015): The Chanels do have names, but Chanel Oberlin (AKA Chanel #1) refuses to even learn their names and so it takes longer for the Pledges to learn them as well. Chanel even attempted this with the pledges but did learn their names out of necessity since Zayday and Grace refused to go along with that shit. It's even considered a form of membership into the Kappas to be deemed a Chanel Number, as Hester becomes Chanel #6 during the series.
- The Janitor from Scrubs — he even calls himself that. In the final episode, he tells J.D. his real name is Glenn Matthews. But unfortunately as soon as J.D. leaves, an orderly walks by and says "Hey Tommy". The Janitor responds with "What's up?", thus leaving his true name a mystery. That is, until Word of God confirmed that the Janitor was telling the truth for once.
- The Governor from The Slammer.
- Government ministers on Spooks are consistently referred to by their titles, even semi-regular characters like the Home Secretary.
- Star Trek:
- In the first Star Trek: The Original Series pilot, "The Cage," Captain Pike's second-in-command is only addressed as "Number One" (i.e. first officer). It's uncertain whether this would have persisted had that version of the show become the actual series. A novel by D.C. Fontana claims she hails from a planet where everyone is genetically engineered, and her name actually is "Number One." However her canon appearances in Star Trek: Discovery reveal her actual first name to be Una. Which means 'One'...
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
- Quark subverts this: he specifically asks people not to call him "barkeep" and gets very annoyed when they do.
- The Female Changeling, one of the series' main antagonists, is only ever called this. Since all Changelings are part of a single link, none of them have individual names, apart from Changelings who were separated from the link like Odo. Even the moniker "changeling" is an Appropriated Appelation the otherwise nameless species adopts to describe themselves.
- Star Trek: Voyager has the Emergency Medical Hologram, but since that was too long, they just called him The Doctor, which he kept for the entire series despite frequent prodding by other crew members to come up with a name (and the occasional Reset Button when an episode had him adopt one on his own). In his case, it was because he had a computer's knowledge of languages, and everything he liked the sound of tended to mean something offensive in some language or another. He did eventually decide on a name for himself in the series finale: Joe. However, the timeline in which he decided on this name was negated by Voyager coming home.
- The Chef in Star Trek: Enterprise, who remains unseen until the finale, where his part is taken up by Will Riker, experiencing life on Enterprise NX-01 in a holodeck simulation.
- Stella: "Daddy," the undertaker, is known as such by everyone in Pontyberry. Similarly, Aunty Brenda introduces herself as "Aunty Brenda" — she even runs for the council with posters saying "Vote Aunty Brenda."
- The main antagonist for the first two seasons of Supernatural is known only as "The Demon" for the first season, which is expanded to "the Yellow-Eyed Demon" for the second (out of necessity after other demons started showing up). His real name, Azazel, was only revealed four episodes into the season after his death.
- Zigzagged with host Greg Davies in Taskmaster. Everyone calls Greg by his name in the studio, but in the pre-recorded challenges, he is called The Taskmaster instead.
- As of Season 3 of Teen Wolf, Stiles' dad has only ever been referred to as Sheriff Stilinski or simply the sheriff.
- Téléfrançais! has a pilot who is only known as Pilote.
- Many of the White Lodge and Black Lodge residents in Twin Peaks are known only by a title- "The Man From Another Place", "The Giant", etc.
- In the game shows Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego and Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego, as in all other related media, Lynne Thigpen's character is referred to only as "The Chief" with no actual name for her character ever being given.
- In The X-Files, the Cigarette Smoking Man's actual name was only revealed gradually — he didn't even get a last name or initials until midway through the sixth season. (His full name? Carl Gerhard Busch Spender. He was usually referred to as "Smoking Man" or "Cancer Man".) Many other significant X-Files characters are only given descriptive names like "the First Elder" and "the Well-Manicured Man."
- Yellowstone features an itinerant cowboy who simply goes by Cowboy, even though he inevitably works alongside other cowboys.
- In Yes, Minister, the Prime Minister is only referred to by his title. Extraordinarily, this is kept up when Hacker gets promoted into Yes, Prime Minister: he only gets referred to as "His/Your/My Predecessor". Make what you will of that (ghostwritten) Self-Insert Fic by Margaret Thatcher ...
- In the series the Prime Minister is never referred to as "him" or "her" until the episode where he resigns. It was broadcast in the 1980's when the real PM was Margaret Thatcher,although the writers were careful to never indicate which party Hacker was a member of.
- In the book adaptation of Yes, Prime Minsiter, written by the authors of the TV series, there is a brief reference (in a news clipping) to Hacker's predecessor, who is named Herbert Attwell. (The name is reminiscent of real life British Prime Ministers Herbert H. Asquith and Clement Attlee.)
- Matron from You're Only Young Twice (1971) is only known by her title, with no first or last names given.
