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"[T]he most adorable MacGuffin of all time: the Child. OK, you know what, we're not doing that. He's the Baby Yoda. We're calling him 'Baby Yoda'."
Honest Trailers for The Mandaloriannote 

A name given to something, such as a character, by fan communities. It is sometimes possible to read an entire forum about a show and never see a direct reference to the scripted name. A natural result if the producers take too long in providing a character with an official name.

Sometimes fan communities give nicknames to entire groups of characters if the series doesn't already give a name. Anime fans often use [Main Character]-tachi, meaning "the group associated with [Main Character]." Another option is -gumi, meaning "[Main Character]'s (metaphorical) troop." These can also be applied in jest to Western fandoms: Harry-tachi, Frodo-gumi, etcetera.

Note that these aren't specifically limited to characters. Common sets, props, and special effects can also earn nicknames from the fans. Even (parts of) the series itself can be referred to with a nickname. Works suffering from Recycled Title syndrome often have a fan nickname to avoid confusion. Also, in series that sequels are numbered, the first is often nicknamed with a Title 1 when it officially doesn't have it.

See also In-Series Nickname and Red Baron (when the characters do this). Sub-tropes are:

Not to be confused with Fan Community Nicknames, which are names for the communities themselves. Actual canon nicknames used onscreen, however witty, also don't count, unless they were adopted by the producers as a Shout-Out to the fans, or are used far more extensively in the fandom than in-Canon. Also compare Canon Name, which is a Fan Nickname applied to a nameless hero who was given that name in adaptations, and I Am Not Shazam, where a character is mistakenly called the name of the work.

Ascended Fan Nickname is a Sub-Trope where a fan nickname becomes an In-Series Nickname or is otherwise used in official material (e.g. advertising).


Example Subpages:

Other Examples:

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    Advertising 
  • The dad in the GrubHub "Delivery Dance" ad has the fan nickname "Boogieman".
  • Since we don't hear the GEICO Gecko's name often, some people have come up with different names for him, often names beginning with "G" to invoke Alliterative Name (like Greggie or Gordon). With that said, he does have a real name, Martin.

    Animation 
  • The Lost Media Wiki search for the short About Dressy Sally resulted in it getting the name "Clockman", after Mr. Kadabra emerging from Sally's clock to bring her to his house.
  • Fans of Happy Heroes sometimes give Smart S. the nickname "Smartass" due to it being a Pun on his name that fits his personality.
  • The Georgian animated short I'll Return as the Rain is colloquially known as Gogona da Tovlis Gunda (basically means "The Girl and the Snowman") and Tovlis Gunda by the general public.
  • Noonbory and the Super 7 has some variant thereof. The entire series is called Tooba Tooba Noonbory in South Korea, not just the second season, but Western fans usually refer to the first season as Noonbory and the Super 7 and the second as Tooba Tooba Noonbory for the sake of convenience. They're different enough due to a Genre Shift.
  • Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf:
    • Xi Di Di/Little Brother Happy or Xiao Xi Ur/Little Happy for Weslie.
    • Hui Da Guh/ Big Brother Grey or Hui Da Xu/ Old Man Grey for Wolffy.
    • The goats (and Wolnie sometimes) tend to be called just by their adjectives (lazy, etc.). Or the goats are called in the same "format" as Weslie's nicknames.
    • The show as a whole is sometimes nicknamed Xi Hui, which is based off of the Chinese title, Xi Yang Yang Yu Hui Tai Lang.
    • The first season doesn't have a unique name compared to the other ones, so fans will sometimes call it Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 530 Edition, the 530 referring to the number of episodes in that season.
  • Episode 16 of Pleasant Goat Fun Class: The Earth Carnival is the sole appearance of a flower girl character who became popular within the (extremely small) American fanbase due to her unique and cute design. She was nicknamed "Sister Bloom" despite already having an official name, Miss Rainforest.

    Audio Plays 
  • We're Alive:
    • After the "Little Ones" "grew up" fans began referring to them as either "Inklings" or "ADLOs" (A Fun with Acronyms Advanced Little Ones)
    • Ink himself is a Fan Nickname for the lead zombie, who is covered in tattoos and wears a blue, pin-striped suit. Most fans assume him to be Bill Roberts (whose nickname was Ink).
    • Datu's ability to fix just about anything has led to him being dubbed "King Datu the Resourceful."

    Celebrities 
  • French people nicknamed national superstar Jean-Paul Belmondo "Bébel".
  • Chris Pine has a variety of nicknames that include (but are not limited to) Captain Fine, Berkeley Nopapz, and most hilariously, Princess Whitelaw.
  • Michael Fassbender's fans call him Fassy (he knows that and he's fine with it).
  • Hugh Jackman's name is sometimes spelled as "Huge Ackman."
  • Benedict Cumberbatch is an interesting example. When he's in a specific state of being, many fans tend to use the suffix 'batch' following an adjective. For instance, if he has his natural reddish hair colour, they may refer to him as Gingerbatch. If he is acting in a nerdy/awkward sort of way? He's Dorkybatch. If a fan is referring to a specific body part of Benedict or something else that he owns, fans use the prefix 'cumber'. Examples of this include cumberfeet, cumberjeans, and cumberbum.
    • There are also a number of his fans that refer to him as either "Benny" or "the 'Batch".
    • In fact, Tumblr shows us that, thanks to the utter ridiculousness of his name, virtually any combination of two improbable words of many syllables will work as a nickname for Billiardball Custardbath/Beanbag Comelycat/Burgerking Candygram/etc.
  • Maggie Trollsbane - For her massive popularity on IMDB.
  • Tom Hiddleston's fans are known to call him "Hiddles" when talking about him.
  • In the Supernatural fandom, Misha Collins is sometimes referred to as MishMish or "The Overlord". He encourages the latter.
    • Jared Padalecki has accumulated several over the show's fifteen-year run, but his most common ones are Moose, Padamoose, and Puppy. His first son Thomas was known as Padababy for a time, but this has fallen away as Thomas gained two more siblings in favor of just calling them by their names.
    • Jensen Ackles' then-unborn daughter, Justice Jay (shortened to "JJ" by her parents) was nicknamed Princess Ackles for a time.
  • In the Merlin fandom, Colin Morgan is known as the "Irish Pixie". He's also known as Cols.
    • After a picture of Colin's bulge went viral within the Merlin fandom on Tumblr, fans now refer to Colin's manhood as "D" or "The D."
    • Bradley James' nickname within the fandom is "Bradders".
  • In The Vampire Diaries fandom, Paul Wesley is known as P-Dub. This is his nickname because his first name Paul starts with the letter P and his last name starts with the letter W; the word "Dub" means Dubya for W. His fan base are known as P-Dubbers.
    • Ian's nickname is Smolderhalder or Smoldeypants. His fan base is known as Somerholics.
    • Nina's nickname is Neens or Miss Neens. Her fan base is called Dobrevics.
  • Mary McDonnell has a comparatively small but incredibly devoted fan following on Tumblr, which likes to come up with fond nicknames including, but not limited to: Mary McMagicHair, Mary McFlawless, and Mary McSassypants.
  • Robert Pattinson's nickname is R-Pattz. It's been reported that he'd like to strangle whoever came up with the name.
  • Kristen Stewart's nickname is K-Stew.
  • Kat Dennings is "Jewish Christina Hendricks". Makes sense if you've seen her on the red carpet.
  • Michael Jackson was often called "Wacko Jacko" in the years prior to his death.
  • Daniel Radcliffe's nickname is DanRad.
  • Conan O'Brien was nicknamed "Coco" by Tom Hanks. It caught on and became exceedingly popular during the Tonight Show debacle. Conan absolutely hated it but has since then reluctantly embraced it (his official website even goes by the name "teamcoco.com". He is, however, horrified that even his own children sometimes call him "Coco".
  • Karl Urban is Kiwi Bruce Campbell, because he's that awesome.
  • To certain Marx Brothers fans, Margaret Dumont is "The Marx Sister" because she was the only consistent leading lady in the movies, and because her standard stock character (a feisty-but-gullible Grand Dame who inevitably becomes the target of Groucho's swindling) is almost as iconic as those that the Brothers themselves played.
  • Guillermo del Toro: The Latino Peter Jackson.
    • He's also reportedly said he'd like to be known as the Fat David Cronenberg, due to their mutual love of creature horror and filming in Toronto.
    • He's known in Japan as "Totoro" due to being large, fat and friendly. He actually let Mana Ashida call him Totoro-san during the filming of Pacific Rim because she couldn't pronounce his real name.
  • Elizabeth Olsen: The Anti-Olsen or The Talented Olsen. Also, her breasts have been referred to as "Elizabeth Olsen's Twins".
  • Yūga Yamato, Takarazuka Revue and Sera Myu actress, is nicknamed Tani because of her birth name, Kaoru Tanioka.
    • All Takarasiennes have at least one nickname, referred to as their aishou ("pet name," "nickname," or "term of endearment"). There's no rhyme or reason behind them getting an aishou: their actual names (ex: Tani), alternate readings of their names, memorable incidents behind the scenes, etc. It's considered impolite to use a Takarasienne's real name unless they themselves chose to disclose it, or continue working in the entertainment industry after retirement from Zuka under their real name. (Ex: Tsukino Himeka is now using her real name, Fujioka Sayaka.)
  • Kate Winslet is sometimes referred to as "Dame Kate", because her getting a Damehood seems that inevitable at this point.
  • J. R. R. Tolkien is sometimes affectionately referred to as "Jonald Ronald Rolkien Tolkien" or "JRRT" (pronounced and sometimes spelled "jirt", rhymes with shirt).

    Comic Strips 
  • "Blandthony" or "Blanthony", and "Porn Stache" are two common nicknames for Anthony from For Better or for Worse in reference to his milquetoast personality in comparison to Liz's other suitors and his distinctive mustache, respectively.
  • In Dilbert, a talking cat was introduced for a few appearances. Fans dubbed him "Catbert" (after "Dogbert" and "Ratbert") in their requests for more of the character, and Scott Adams, deciding that whenever fans spontaneously and independently name a character for you suggested you were on to something, adopted the name officially and made Catbert a recurring character as the Human Resources Manager at Dilbert's work place.
    • We've never learned Dilbert's mother's real name, but she's commonly referred to by fans as "the Dilmom".
  • The Comics Curmudgeon has dubbed the Anthropomorphic Personification of death from Funky Winkerbean "Masky McDeath". It caught on among the commentators.
    • The strip has quite a few, actually: Saint Lisa, Mopey Pete, Boy Lisa (or Duhrin), Cancerdeathville, etc. Even the author himself, Tom Batiuk, has a few with "Tombat" and "Batominc" (as in "BATOM, Inc.") being the most popular. In fact, nearly everyone and everything has a fan nickname - an inevitability when the only readership a strip has are people intent on mocking it relentlessly.
  • Original Patty is a nickname given to a character from Peanuts to distinguish her from Peppermint Patty.
  • U.S. Acres fans use "Blorson" as a nickname for an Orson-like pig in a Garfield strip.

    Fan Works 
  • Abraxas (Hrodvitnon):
    • One fan-given nickname for Monster X, which the author herself used in the Chapter 9 author notes, is Grahamdorah. Another popular nickname, analogously based on one of Ghidorah's Red Barons, is the Two Who Are One.
    • Though it isn't used In-Universe, San's alternate movie-canon name Kevin is used by the author and some reviewers at times.
    • Speaking of San, the Alternate Self who's been regenerated alongside Ichi and Ni as Ghidorah re-forms From a Single Cell has earned the nickname San-2 since reviewer SyfyGuy2 first used it, to distinguish him from Vivienne's brother.
    • The infant Manda has earned the nickname Baby Noodle.

  • My Immortal:
    • Outside the infamous fanfiction, Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way is commonly referred to as Enoby. This comes from a typo made by the author ("ebony’s name is ENOBY nut mary su OK!") that people decided to take literally.
    • Dumbledore is also referred to as Dumblydore based on but one of the multiple misspellings of his name.
  • A Sad Story is known in some circles as "A Bad Story", with good reason.
  • How I Became Yours has picked up a couple , such as Barbietara and Lobzula.
    • "Zuko the Malevolent Swiss Chard" has also cropped up in some corners of the Internet.
  • Thirty H's is the unofficial name for Thirty Hs , a Harry Potter Fanfic with a bizarre title and an even more bizarre story. I told you I hate chumpits.
  • Some notoriously bad fanfics undergo The Scottish Trope, e.g. Celebrian being known in some circles as "C*l*br**n".
  • Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy:
  • ToyHammer gives us Emma, who in the future would reincarnate into the God Emperor of Mankind (not spoilers because this happens during her introduction). Appropriately, her Fan Nickname is 'the Emma-peror'.
  • Kyon: Big Damn Hero's "Big Damn Harem" which consists of Haruhi, Yuki, Mikuru, Tsuruya and Kanae.
  • "Madora The Explorer" is one nickname given to Madara in Naruto Veangance Revelaitons, based on one misspelling of his name. "Madorka" is another.
  • Nightmare Nyx or Queen Nyxie or any such variant is used by Past Sins fans when referring to the aged up Nyx... who doesn't act at all like Nightmare Moon.
  • The Pony POV Series has a couple of examples in Dark World. First, fans took to calling Dark World!Applebloom "Saint Applebloom" because of her characterization in that timeline (which eventually became Ascended Fanon). Later on, when Nightmare Eclipse/Paradox first reveals herself, but before we learn her name, fans took to calling her Nightmare Ouroboros and Nightmare Encore; the first for the recurring motif in her reveal, and the latter for her plan.
  • Some websites refer to Dakari-King Mykan, the author of My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic and The End of Ends, as "Canadian Chris-Chan", due to similarities in their work.
  • Advice and Trust: Many commenters on Sufficient Velocity have taken to calling Kaworu "Rainbow Trout," due to Strypgia's description of what Rei sees when she looks at him. Said name is always written out in rainbow text. Rei is also occasionally referred to as TsundeRei, which gave birth to one of their two ship names, TsundeReinbowTrout.
  • The Undertale fan AU Underfell generally has two varieties depending on how seriously the user takes the verse:
    • There's "Fell" for when its played straight (e.g. fell!Frisk, fell!Flowey, etc.)
    • Then there's "Edge" for the more humorous interpretation. Sans is sometimes called "Edge" when he is crossed over with other versions of himself in the staple Undertale multiverses.
  • What Hath Joined Together: Prince Shining Armor is called "The King in the North" after the reveal that he's leading the Crystal Empire in a rebellion.
  • Dungeon Keeper Ami has the Dark God Crowned Death, the God of death. Having lost many battles against the protagonist, Keeper Mercury, he started getting more frustrated and petty as the story went on. Getting a fan nickname that even made its way to the story: Crying Death.

    TV Networks 
  • "Aunty" is the nickname of both The BBC in the UK and The ABC in Australia, the latter in imitation of the former.
    • The BBC is also known as the Beeb, or sometimes Auntie Beeb.
  • The United States:
    • TBS was nicknamed "The Beastmaster Station" in the 1990s due to its frequent showings of The Beastmaster.
    • HBO was nicknamed "Hey, Beastmaster's On!" for reasons stated above.
    • When Cartoon Network underwent its infamous Network Decay of live-action shows in 2009-11, many naysayers called it "The Live-Action Network" or simply "The Network".
    • ABC is sometimes called "The Alphabet Network" because of its name alone.
    • NBC is often called "The Peacock Network" because of its famous logo.
    • CBS was called the "network for the living dead" in the 1980s due to its programs gearing more towards older audiences. Despite a return to that kind of programming in the 2000s and 2010s, the nickname hasn't gotten quite as much traction.
      • Likewise, it was called "the Tiffany network" in the 1990s due to aiming toward younger audiences. This is a humorous repurposing of the nickname; it was originally called "the Tiffany network" in the 1950s and 60s on account of its high-quality products, particularly in colour (the "Tiffany" in question being the jeweller Tiffany & Co.).
      • The network was nicknamed "Can't Broadcast Sports" when it lost the broadcasting rights to the NFL in 1994.
    • A&E (Arts & Entertainment) was basically The World War II Channel in its early years.
    • PBS is known as "Primarily British Shows" due to airing many British imports.
    • GSN:
      • October 1997 though April 1998 is referred to as the "Dark Period" after they lost the rights to the Goodson-Todman library (except The Price Is Right and the 1994-95 season of Family Feud).
      • The Steve Harvey Network since about 2013, due to its constant marathons of the Harvey version of Family Feud.
  • Mexico
    • TV Azteca: Oh boy, since the Azteca part of their name refer to the Aztecs, they got lots of these, based in some Mexican native tribe:
      • TV Huasteca
      • TV Olmeca
      • TV Chichimeca
      • TV Aztecaca ("TV Aztecrap", or "TV Shit Yourself")
      • TV Apesta ("TV Sucks", due to the massive Network Decay from its old days of Imevisión)
      • TV Salinazteca (Portmanteau of TV Azteca with its holding company Grupo Salinas, in reference to the legendarily crooked president Carlos Salinas de Gortari).
    • Televisa has lots of them too:
    • Grupo Milenio, another big-time media company in Mexico, is known for the same previous reasons as "Grupo PRIlenio".
  • Canada
    • TVA, and to some extent Quebecor Media, is called Celine Dion Channel because of the overexposure the diva receives on the airwaves.
  • Australian free-to-air television network SBS, jokingly said to stand for "Sex Between Soccer" or "Sex, Blood and Soccer".
  • The Japanese TV stations TBS (not the US one) and MBS are called "The Real Robot Network" due to the abundance of Real Robot shows that aired there since the 2000s.
  • Similar to the above, Korean TV stations SBS and KBS are referred to as "Some Bull Shit" and "Korean Bull Shit" by the in-country American military.
  • Hunan Broadcasting System gained the nickname "Mango TV" from the appearance of their logo, which is supposed to be a white fish and a golden grain but looks a lot like a mango. The network has since taken to using "Mango TV" as an official alternate name.
  • The Philippines sure love thier networks:
    • Creator/ABSCBN is called the Kapamilya Network, and the fans of the network and its shows are called "Kapamilyas". It also got the name A-bias-CBN by right-wing supporters of Rodrigo Duterte, who was president at that time and was critical of the network's liberal stance, as well as the "Katol Network" for the shape of its logo, which looks like a mosquito coil.
    • GMA Network is often called the "Kapuso" (heartmate) network, and the fans of its shows are called as "Kapusos". Detractors call the network "Kanguso", meaning "jaw-liked".

    Other 
  • Many of the trope names listed here on TV Tropes could ultimately be considered fan nicknames, or at least fan nicknames of literary conventions established elsewhere when applied to a specific show, genre, or situation.
  • Since almost every product by Apple follows the pattern if the lowercase letter "i" and one single word (iPod, iPad, iTunes, iPhone,) the iPod Touch has always stood out, so many people have simply shortened it down to "iTouch."
  • The Samsung Galaxy Note 7, following its notorious explosive battery issues, was also known as "Samsung Galaxy ISIS" or "Samsung Galaxy Allahu Akbar".
  • Huawei is known in Mexico as "Jagüey", a tree that grows throughout the country.
  • Xiaomi is known in Mexico as "Chayote", a local vegetable that resembles a green squash.
    • Also known as "Calidad-Precio" (Price-to-Quality), due to Youtube channel TP Resurrection's insistence on buying phones that offer the best price-to-quality ratio, a metric that in 2019 was dominated by Xiaomi.
  • Scilons for Scientologists by Anonymous; also "clams" by the protesters, particularly the pre-Chanology ones, at OperationClambake.com due to one of L. Ron Hubbard's "thought experiments" being to imagine clams "snapping open and shut! Open and shut! Open! Shut!" on a beach (I think it had something to do with perceiving the universe or thetans).
    • Clams are what Hubbard believed humans had evolved from. (Being Hubbard, research failure is a given.)
    • Replacing the s in any of these, including the real name, with a $ is also quite common. This happens to Micro$oft too.
  • The 1970s style handlebar mustache is popularly known as the "Porn Stache".
  • Leona Helmsley was referred to as the "Queen of Mean" (see The Other Wiki for details).
  • In various entertainment industries, if the offspring of a previously (or even still) well-known celebrity becomes a celebrity in their own right, those unfamiliar (or even familiar) with the fame of the parent will often refer to the parent as "[offspring]'s [parent]". For example, Lionel Richie has been referred to by fans of his (adopted) daughter Nicole Richie as "Nicole's father". When the offspring has completely eclipsed the fame of the parent (e.g. Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Aniston, Miley Cyrus) it will always be mentioned. See also "Boruto's Dad".
  • Due to a prank that sparked an edit war over on The Other Wiki on the day his papacy was announced (and the fact that he and Ian McDiarmid look more than a little alike), Pope Benedict XVI is still called Pope Sidious in some parts of the interwebs.
    • Also Emperor Popeatine or Darth Benedict. (The resemblance sparked a lot of comments.)
    • 'Papa Ratzi', due to similarity with the word paparazzi and his pre-Papal last name of Ratzinger.
    • Due to his history in the Hitler Youth and somewhat strained relationships with some influential Jewish organizations, some people refer to him as "Pope Nazi" or "der Popenfuhrer".
    • Due to the pronunciation of this name, he was nicknamed in both Spanish-speaking countries and Italy as "Ratzinger Z" or "Mazin Pope".
    • The Book of the Apocalypse refers to the election of the "Black Pope" as a harbinger of the Final Judgement. Cue African cardinal Peter Turkson being regarded by the 2005 Conclave as a possible Pope candidate, and earning the nicknames of "Black Pope" and "Nigga Pope" as a result.
  • Metformin, the front-line medication for type 2 diabetes, can have a disruptive effect on the digestive system, especially for those still acclimating to it, leading to the nickname 'metfartmin'.
  • Amlodipine is known in Mexico as "AMLO-di-Pinos", a pun on the current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and the former presidential residence Los Pinos.
  • Electronics and the stores that sell them are rich veins of Fan Nicknames. For instance, the Blackberry series of mobile phones (many other functions) have been nicknamed Crackberries: like the concentrated form of cocaine known as "crack", the things are very expensive and either massively addictive or something you need rehab to get away from.
    • For another example, the first USB mice Apple produced for release with the then-new iMac received the uncomplimentary nickname "hockey pucks", both for the ridiculously non-ergonomic design and for the best use their shape permitted for them.
  • It's very rare to find an account of Wild Bill Hickok's death or a discussion of his murderer without the phrase "the coward Jack McCall" coming up at least once.
  • In February of 2010, Washington D.C., which typically shuts down for a mere three or four inches of snow, received more than thirty inches in one week. Residents have used a number of nicknames of varying levels of cleverness to the experience, but the two most common are definitely "Snowpocalypse" and "Snowmageddon."
  • Nicknames have been a big NASA thing.
    • Vomit Comet: The KC 135 weightlessness trainer
    • Flying Bedstead: The LLTV, or Lunar Landing Training Vehicle. This nickname was actually taken from the similar-looking 1954 Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig, a strange VTOL research "aircraft."
    • LM: Lunar Module, but pronounced 'Lem' after the old Lunar Excursion Module name
  • The Hugo Award category "Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form" is sometimes called "Best Doctor Who Episode", as that show has dominated the category since it returned to air (the only exception being Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog winning in 2009)
  • Many tragedies have their own nicknames.
    • The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 is usually called the "Oklahoma City Bombing", "Oklahoma City" or "OKC".
    • The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 are usually called "September 11th (terrorist) attacks", the "9/11 attacks" or simply "9/11".
    • The deadly tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean in December 2004 is usually simply known as "the tsunami" as it was practically the only tsunami in public consciousness at the time.
    • The shootings at Columbine High School were called "Littleton" around the time it actually happened, but it now goes almost exclusively by "Columbine".
    • The shootings at Virginia Tech are almost always called "Virginia Tech" and are almost never referred to as "Blacksburg".
    • The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary are alternatively called "Sandy Hook" or "Newtown", with the latter being used a little more often.
    • The January 2015 Paris shootings are usually called "Charlie Hebdo", after the magazine headquarters that was shot up. "Paris" usually explicitly refers to the much deadlier November 2015 attack.
    • While the shooting at Pulse nightclub can be referred to as either "Orlando" or "Pulse", the former is generally the preferred name.
    • The "Unite the Right" white supremacist rally in 2017, which devolved into brawls with counter-protesters and a vehicle ramming terrorist attack by one of the white supremacists, are commonly referred to as "Unite the Right" by the white supremacists themselves, but to everyone else are almost universally called "Charlottesville", after the city the rally took place in. Unlike the Virginia Tech shootings, the University of Virginia is almost never referred to, mainly as most of the events took place off the campus.
  • Most pre-installed figures for 3D posing programs (like Poser, Daz Studio, Bryce etc. etc.) have their own name (e.g. Victoria is probably the most used female figure, and usually nicknamed "Vicky"), but the figures of Poser 4 (and downward) weren't named by their vendors. The 3D scene calls them Posette and Dork.
  • Among Jack the Ripper historians, Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly note  are commonly referred to as "the Canonical Five" (that is, the five women that are universally agreed to be victims of the original Ripper, rather than one of his copycats or contemporaries).
  • The V of Doom: The Viacom logo used in the mid-to-late 1970s known for having its logo race towards you as a synth horn blares accompanied by a timpani drum.
    • The S from Hell: The Screen Gems logo used in the late 1960s known for the "screeching" synth horn as its logo forms.
  • Amiga Power, attempting to insult its competitors The One and Amiga Action without actually naming them, compromised by dubbing them (Currant Bun - Ed) and (Michael Jackson - Ed), respectively. (And yes, the "- Ed" part is integral to both nicknames.)
  • The Boeing 747 is nicknamed Jumbo and Queen of the Skiesnote . Debuting in 1969, the 747 is still flying with major and flag-carrier airlines worldwide fifty years later, including Air China, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Lufthansa, and QANTAS.
  • The the Airbus A380 is known as SuperJumbo.
  • A style of dress shoes typically worn by children during the early 20th centurynote  and later exclusively worn by girls and women are known as "Mary Jane" shoes after the Buster Brown character of the same name.
  • The Hugo Award is known as "the Rocket", since the design is a pulp-era SF rocketship.
  • The now-discontinued Itanium processor architecture by Intel was pejoratively given the nickname "Itanic" by Usenet user Kraig Finstad within hours of Intel announcing its name on October 4, 1999. This proved to be prophetic as the Itanium line never caught on outside server and enterprise users despite Intel's initial desire to replace the x86 architecture, and Itanium was ultimately superseded by AMD's x86-64 extensionsnote  which augmented the venerable x86 instruction set.

    Pinball 
  • James Bond 007 (Stern): The jetpack mechanism on the higher-tier versions (a figurine of Bond attached to a moving rod) was informally dubbed "Bond on a wand" shortly after the game was revealed, referencing a different mechanic in Stern's The Rolling Stones that the community commonly called "Mick on a stick."

    Roleplays 
  • Ruby Quest:
    • 'Bear Zombie' and 'Spinesnake' for the first monster encountered who turned out to be Stitches.
    • 'Hound Zombie', 'Hook Zombie', 'Plant Zombie', and 'Bellsprout' for the second monster, Daisy. She was also called 'Maddie', but that was more a case of mistaken identity, since Maddie was another patient who died permanently.
    • Stitches for the body found on the wall of the Dummy Room Which turned out to be his actual name.
    • Monitorface or Monitorhead for Bella, since her first few appearances were monitors showing her face.
    • Subject #6 though he's actually #5 or just Nook for Tom Nook, to avoid confusing him with the protagonist Tom.
    • 'Emobird' for Jay.
    • 'Spade' for Ace because he wore an Ace of Spades logo on his shirt before the facility was abandoned, and signed his name like that. Calling him this mostly stopped once it was made clear his name was Ace.
    • 'Sven' for the goat skull in the cabinet, to fit in with the Animal Crossing Theme Naming ('Sven' being a goat villager from that game). He's also assumed to be the same person as 'Dr. S', who signed one of the many notes found around the facility.
    • 'Mr Water Cooler' for a water cooler in one room, which became a meme among players because its taps look a bit like an unamused expression.
  • Survival of the Fittest:
    • Handlers occasionally give characters nicknames based on their personality traits and the like, and occasionally a character gets a malicious nickname made for the purpose of mocking them. Prominent examples of fan nicknames in SOTF include Kenurton Larris for v3 character Ken Lawson, BB for Blood Boy (people tend to prefer calling him by the shorthand "BB" for whatever reason), and in the mocking sense "* charactername* v2" for characters that are obvious clones of previous SOTF characters. "Mariavel v2" = Melina, "Damien v2" = Eduardo, and "Oliver v2" = Gabe Theobaldt, for example.
    • A number of members (although it was sparked by the character's handler) have begun to refer to Bobby Jacks as 'Bocelot' due to performing an Offhand Backshoot on another character (and hitting him in the head). Members joke that soon he will be ricocheting bullets off walls, and that before long he will have one of his arms cut off.
    • Handlers sometimes give nicknames to characters who share the same first names to differentiate them. For example in V4, there's Happy!Nick (Nick LeMonde) and Sad!Nick (Nick Reid). And Sarax, Stan and Seizure Girl for Sarah Xu, Sarah Tan and Sarah Atwell respectively.
    • From The Program, the SotF Mini Alternate Universe game, Logan Sorenson is almost always referred to as Lolgan.

    Scale Models 
Note: some of these are also used by LEGO fans.

  • The Carpet Monster / Feeding The Carpet Monster: Losing small parts that fall off the desk or workbench. Every modeller fears the Carpet Monster.
  • Rivet Counter: usually derogatory nickname tending to refer to the "Stop Having Fun" Guys of scale modelling. Though sometimes it just means someone has an eye for tiny details, more usually it refers to people obsessed with scale accuracy even in ways nobody but them will ever see on the finished model.
  • AMS: After-Market Syndrome, a terrible condition where modellers find themselves instinctively detailing every model they buy to a ludicrous extent with photo-etch and other aftermarket parts.
  • Trumpy: Trumpeter Models.
  • DML: Dragon Models Limited.
  • PE / PE Parts: Photo-etched metal, a medium often used for particularly small or fine details that wouldn't be practical to make in moulded plastic.
  • Build pile: Term used for any kits you haven't yet made to imply an order that seldom exists.
  • WEM: White Ensign Models, a company mostly specializing in aftermarket warship parts.
    • Mad Pete: Peter Hall, WEM's chief designer. So-called for the incredibly fine details of the company's products, such as windscreen wipers for a 1:350 scale battleship.
  • GMM: Gold Medal Models, another company mostly specializing in aftermarket warship parts.
  • Sinkhole: An area on a model where the plastic has warped inwards, typically due to something on the other side.
  • Ejector pin mark / Knock-out mark: Usually shallow depression on a kit where a metal pin is used to punch a sprue out of a mould. The bane of the Rivet Counter.
  • Flash: Thin excess plastic around the edges of kit parts, caused by moulds not fitting together firmly.
  • Motorisation Hole: Large holes present in the undersides of many 60s / 70s armoured vehicle kits which were originally intended to have battery-operated motors installed.
  • Link-and-length: One method of assembling track links for armoured vehicles, consisting of several "lengths" of track links cast as single pieces (typically the top and bottom runs) with the remainder separate "links" which have to be manually attached to each other.
  • CA: Cyanoacrylate, better known as superglue.
  • Dio: Short for "diorama", an extended model base involving scenery. Many model contests require at least one vehicle in a diorama and use the term "vignette" to refer to a diorama without any vehicles in it.
  • Aztec stairs: Ship modelling term for crudely moulded plastic kit stairs more closely resembling the side of a stepped pyramid than anything that might conceivably be fitted to a ship.
  • Kitbash: Model made from two or more separate kits. Directly mentioned in the various incarnations of Star Trek — if you see a new (and/or odd-looking) space-station or ship, chances are it was constructed via kitbashing.
    • "Kitbash" has also worked its way into the Transformers and Gundam fandoms to refer to the same phenomenon: custom figures or model kits constructed by incorporating parts other than those originally from the figure or model kit being customized.
  • Scratchbuild: Model made largely or entirely from basic materials rather than manufactured ones.
    • A common epithet among scratchbuilders is to call a model kit a "shake-the-box" kit, on the implication that Real Men Scratchbuild because all you have to do to assemble a kit is shake all the parts around in the box that it came in. Has expanded to be applied by non-scratchbuilders to some excessively easy/beginner-level kits, too. Also applies to kits that are factory-packaged with their pieces loose in the box instead of on sprues, and thus might not be complete even when new. This usage is closest to the term's roots in field repair of combat vehicles, where often all one could do was shake the parts box and hope.
  • OOB: Out Of the Box, building a kit only from the parts actually included, plus paint and glue. Also called "Box Stock".
  • Factory Stock: A model that's exactly as built by the subject's manufacturer. May or may not be Box Stock. Used mostly in car modelling.
  • Bitz Box: A box of all the excess arms, guns and other add-ons that come with Games Workshop models, and are saved for later customizations. Games Workshop, recognizing this trend, started advertising how many extra bits came with given models. Also called the "parts box".
    • AMT had been advertising 2-in-1 or 3-in-1 (stock, customized and race) versions of their car kits as far back as the late '50s, so it's not a new thing in any way.
  • Revellogram: Revell-Monogram.
  • Darkside: NASCAR race car, pre-early '70s
  • Mainstreamer: Car that's been converted from the high performance or otherwise top-of-the-line version as kitted to a middle-of-the-line spec.
  • Light commercial: Pickup truck, cargo van and sometimes civil emergency vehicles.
  • NNL: Model show/contest where each entrant gets to vote best in each category, as opposed to a "people's choice" where everyone who comes through the doors gets a vote (usually won by a large-scale red '57 Chevy)
  • 1:1 (pronounced "one to one"): The real thing.
  • Promo: Factory-built models commissioned by the vehicle's manufacturer.
  • Annual: Car or light truck kit that was updated yearly to reflect the latest version of the kit's subject. Usually based on the same tooling as a promo.
  • "Panzer IV in Outer Space" Syndrome: Modifying kits with components from a kit from a different period, especially if it is obvious (and not feasible/seen in real life; a 1932 Ford with a Chevy V8 from a '90s Corvette doesn't count).

    Theatre 
  • The Phantom of the Opera due to its various incarnations in different media is being put here. Most of the nicknames are used to differentiate between the different versions.
    • Leroux!Phantom, Leroux!Erik - The original book version. This one wears a black cloth mask over his whole face, has a skull-like face, doesn't have a nose, and smells like death.
    • Kay!Phantom - The version from the Susan Kay novel. Noted for wearing a white whole mask, has an addiction to opiates, is a chick magnet until he takes the mask off, and apparently had a kid with Christine.
    • Crawford!Phantom - This refers generally to the ALW stage version, which is typically portrayed as a distinct entity from the movie version below. The name comes from the actor who originated the part, Michael Crawford.
      • While the Usenet newsgroup Rec.Theatre.Musicals was at its most vital, Michael Crawford himself was almost universally called "The Pants".
    • Gerik, Movie!Erik, Movie!Phantom - All are commonly used to identify the version from the Andrew Lloyd Webber movie adaptation despite how many movie versions actually exist. The first name is a portmanteau of the name of the actor who portrayed the titular character and said character's actual name despite it never being said once in either the stage or movie version.
      • Third-degree sunburn - The phantom's "deformity" in the ALW movie.
      • The Dread Pirate Roberts Dancers - the background dancers in the "Point of No Return" scene in the ALW movie. Usually somewhat derogatory.
    • The Fop - A general derogatory nickname for Raoul. You can guess which part of the fanbase uses this one. Use it with extreme caution — calling Raoul a fop on certain sites will result in, at best, a lot of virtual eye rolling and pointed inquiries as to whether or not you have read a) the original novel or b) a dictionary.
  • The sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, gained the derisive nickname "Paint Never Dries"; that Andrew Lloyd Webber was fined for painting the Adelphi Theatre didn't help matters.
    • Meg Giry in the sequel is sometimes called "NutMeg" for her obsessive, increasingly unbalanced behaviour (particularly by those who see it as Character Derailment).
  • While the emcee character in Mystère has the name Moha-Samedi, he's often referred to as "The Man in Pink" due to his brightly-coloured suit.
  • The Merchant of Venice contains—depending on which version of the script you're reading—either two guys named Salerio and Solanio or two guys named Salarino and Solanio and a third guy, a messenger, named Salerio. Either way, these two (or three) characters have long been known to actors as "the Sallies" or "the Salads".
  • To superstitious actors, Macbeth was often dubbed as "The Scottish Play".
  • In the rock musical Rent, Mark's scarf is sometimes referred to affectionately as "the Marf."
  • The Fresh Prince of Denmark.
  • Enjolras's red-and-gold vest in Les Misérables sometimes goes by the affectionate nickname "the Red Vest of Doom."
  • The Book of Mormon’s Elder McKinley is popular with fans, but has no canon first name - so the fan base has given him the name Connor.
    • Background characters Elders Thomas and Church are also popular enough to have picked up fan-chosen first names - Chris and James, respectively.
  • Fans of Takarazuka Revue may refer to a troupe during a certain top star's tenure as "top star's nickname + -gumi". For example, the members of Moon Troupe while Tamaki Ryou (Tama) was top star can be called "Tamagumi". The troupes themselves are referred to interchangably in the English fandom with their actual English and Romaji names: Moon Troupe/Tsukigumi, Snow Troupe/Yukigumi, Flower Troupe/Hanagumi, Star Troupe/Hoshigumi, and Cosmos Troupe/Soragumi.
  • Because of the aversion of One-Steve Limit regarding the Catherines in Six, Katherine Howard is called K Howard (which appeared in-show) or Kat (a fan creation).

    Theme Parks 
  • Because of the use of the Godzilla from Shin Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Evangelion: The Real 4-D, the new design for King Ghidorah featured is called "Shin Ghidorah" or "Shin King Ghidorah".
  • Journey into Imagination:
    • The Dreamfinder's ship in the original ride did not have an official name until it was finally called "The Dream-Catching Machine" by Disney for a Walt Disney Archives exhibit, so fans call it either "The Dreamcatcher" or "The Dream Machine" instead.
    • The ride's near universally disliked second incarnation, Journey Into YOUR Imagination, is often referred to as "Journey Into Your (Lack of) Imagination".

    Toys 
  • Shelfwarmer: A toy that, for whatever reason, ends up under-selling or over-distributed, resulting in large numbers of unsold toys taking up space on retail shelves. Inspired by the sports term "benchwarmer."
  • LEGO:
    • 'The Danish Crack''.
    • Also, 'Anti-Parent Devices (APD), because of their ubiquity as a child's toy and their effect on bare feet.
  • BIONICLE has its share:
    • Nicknames for the Matoran lines:
      • "McToran" (due to being available through McDonald's) for the original Tohunga toys when that name got dropped for legal reasons
      • "MoLtoran" for the Mask of Light Matoran
      • "Metruan" for the Metru Nui Matoran
      • "Voyatoran" and "Doomtoran" for the Voya Nui Matoran (the latter coming from the book title Island of Doom)
      • "Mahritoran" for the Mahri Nui Matoran; and "Kardatoran" for the Karda Nui Matoran.
    • "Olda" and "Mata" for the team name of the original Toa. "Mata" later became official.
    • "Kratana" for the Kraata/Krana hybrid.
    • "Fauxrok" or "Fohrok" for the fake Bohrok.
    • "Keetorange" for the color of Keetongu (and many later sets) that's somewhere between yellow and very light orange.
    • "Bonkles" or "Bonks" for the theme in general.
  • The Red Strike series version of the Nerf Recon CS-6 is called the Habenero, due to it looking similar to a gun of that name in an early Nerf video game.
  • Transformers:
    • See Western Animation and Film for terms specific to the cartoons and the live-action films respectively.
    • Kibble: Parts of the alternate mode that protrude noticeably from the robot mode. Toys with excessive amounts of kibble are often referred to as "shellformers" (in that their alternate mode is basically a kibble "shell" that wraps around the robot inside).
    • The Hive or The Swarm: In the toylines for Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Transformers: Prime, toys of Bumblebee were significantly over-represented in case assortments, resulting in large numbers of unsold Bumblebees shelf-warming after everyone who wanted one had managed to acquire him.
    • Shirt and Pants: Refers to the "Powerlinx" combination gimmick possessed by some Autobots in the Transformers: Energon toyline. Two Autobots with this gimmick could combine together into a single super robot, with one forming the upper body and the other forming the lower body, and every Transformer with the gimmick had both an upper body ("shirt") mode and a lower body ("pants") mode (in addition to the standard robot and vehicle modes).
    • Trailguy: The Autobot Trailbreaker, who is now officially known as Trailcutter due to copyright issues. (The Spotlight: Trailcutter comic, written by James Roberts, gives an in-story reason for the change in names.)
  • My Little Pony:
    • See Western Animation for terms specific to, or used interchangeably with the cartoons.
    • Fakie: A toy not made by Hasbro but made to look like a My Little Pony.
    • Bait: A pony that's so badly damaged that it's only good for customization.
    • Nirvana: Ponies of international origin.
    • Argie: Ponies made in or exclusive to Argentina.
    • Generation Zero (G0): My Pretty Pony, the precursor to the original "G1" incarnation.
    • Original 6: The original six ponies from the first year of the series – Blossom, Bluebelle, Butterscotch, Cotton-Candy, Minty, and Snuzzle.
    • Core 7: Also known as the "Core Ponies". The late G3 change to focus on, and only release, seven ponies - Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Cheerilee, Toola Roola, StarSong, and Sweetie Belle.
    • Princess Rinse 'N' Spit: An infamous bootleg pony that goes by the canon name of just "Pretty Pony". She's well-known for her large, vaguely horse-like teeth.
    • Dream Beauty Celestia: The large talking Celestia toy, referred to as thus because it is the same size as ponies from the G1 Dream Beauties subline. Also sometimes known as "Hasbrolestia". Also derogatorily called "Pinklestia", for obvious reasons. Granted, this name applies to every Celestia toy out there except for the Limited-Run white Talking Celestia.
    • Earthling: A term for non-unicorn and non-pegasus ponies (AKA, "normal" ponies). It's been displaced with "earth pony" since G3.
    • Unipeg: Prior to G4, this was the most common term for a Winged Unicorn. It's since been replaced with "alicorn".
  • amiibo hunters term especially rare figures "Unicorns". Likewise, Villager, Marth, and Wii Fit Trainer are collectively known as the "Holy Trinity" because they were the first unicorns to become notorious.

    Vehicles 
  • Japan
    • Hachi-Roku - Toyota AE86 (famously used in the manga and anime series, Initial D)
    • Hachi-Go - Toyota AE85
    • Hakosuka - Historic Nissan Skylines (due to their box-like shapes, along with the first two syllables of the Skyline's Japanese transliteration)
    • Evo - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
    • Sil-Eighty - A Nissan 180SX with a Nissan Silvia front end
      • Also known as a "strawberry face" in reference to the Silvia's codename S15 due to the Japanese words for 1 and 5 which are ichi and go, "ichigo" meaning strawberry in Japanese
    • Onevia - A Nissan Silvia with a Nissan 180SX front end
    • Godzilla - A Nissan Skyline GTR
    • S.2.K - A Honda S2000
    • Scooby - Subarus, in particular the Impreza
    • Seven - A Mazda RX-7
    • Dorito - A Mazda RX-7, in reference to the triangular rotor that spins in its Wankel engine.
    • Brap brap - A Mazda RX-7, in reference to the characteristic sound they make while idling
    • Inte-R - A Honda Integra Type R
    • Hotdog and Pizza Pie - The fourth and fifth-generation Mitsubishi Lancers respectively, mainly used in the Philippines. Said nicknames are in reference to the cars' and tail-light designs, which bore a crude resemblance to a sausage on the fourth-gen Lancer and a slice of pizza on the succeeding model. The fourth-generation Lancer is also named as Bilog (round), or Itlog (egg) due to the shape of the aformentioned front-lights and tail-lights along with the door handles.
    • Box-type - The common nickname for the second-generation Mitsubishi Lancer in the Philippines, due to its rather rectangular shape.
    • Macho - name for the coupe version of the sixth-generation Toyota Corona. When Filipino basketball player Robert Jaworski appeared in a print ad promoting that car (the team Jaworski was playing at the time was owned by the local Toyota subsidiary), the Macho Machine tagline stuck.
    • Singkit - Meaning "slant-eyed" or in anime parlance, Tsurime Eyes, the common nickname for the third-generation Mitsubishi Lancer or Mirage in the Philippines, due to the shape of its front headlights. Others call it the Cyclone type instead after its engine.
    • Small Body and Big Body - The E90 and E100 model Toyota Corollas respectively, which were quite ubitiquous in the Philippines during the 90s. The "Big Body" was so called due to its larger size and rounder overall shape compared to the E90.
      • Lea Salonga Mags - A specific style of five-spoke rims that came as standard equipment on higher-end E100 Corollas, named after the Filipino Broadway actress who sang in a Corolla commercial which prominently showed the rims.
    • Suzuki's GSX-R line of sport bikes are affectionately called "Gixxers" by British enthusiasts. This was eventually made canon with the release of the Suzuki Gixxer entry-level motorcycle.
  • Germany
    • Beetle - A Volkswagen Type 1; this nickname was eventually made canon when the New Beetle was launched around the 2000s.
    • Vocho - The Volkswagen Type 1 as known in Mexico, one of its best selling markets.
    • Bus, Camper, Combi - A Volkswagen Type 2. The latter nickname comes from a trim called "Kombinationskraftwagen" (combined motor vehicle), and was mostly applied in Latin America.
      • Also known in Denmark as "Rugbrød" (rye bread) and in Brazil as "Pão de forma" (bread loaf) due to its long, rectangular shape.
      • South Africa called it "Volksie Bus".
      • In the US, further divided into “Splitty/Split Window”(1950-67 models with a two-piece windshield)and “Bay/Bay Window”(1968-79 models with a one-piece windshield and larger side windows).
  • Bimmer - A BMW.
  • Kidney Grille - The iconic grille on every BMW model.
    • Beaver Teeth - A somewhat pejorative nickname for newer model BM Ws which attracted attention for their comically large grilles.
  • United Kingdom
    • Landy - Land Rover. Eventually made official when Jaguar Land Rover filed a trademark for the nickname in 2014
  • The United States
    • Bowtie - Chevrolet
    • Hemi - Referring to a car with hemispherical cylinder heads (generally referring to Mopar engines)
    • Mopar - Chrysler Corporation and/or its' products, from the name of the company's parts operation.
    • Goat - A Pontiac GTO
    • Transvette - An F-Body Pontiac Trans Am fitted with Corvette wheels
    • T-Top - A roof of a car with removable panels on both sides of a central pillar
    • Knucklehead/Panhead/Shovelhead/Evo - Engines developed and manufactured by Harley-Davidson for their Big Twin motorcycle lines from 1936 to 1999. The Knucklehead, Panhead and Shovelhead nicknames were coined by enthusiasts due to the shape of the valve covers used, though Harley referred to them as OHVs in their official literature; these became so widely used that the company eventually acknowleged them in their history pages.
    • Twinkie - A Harley-Davidson Twin Cam engine, sometimes used pejoratively by enthusiasts who prefer the older Evolution engine.
    • Jimmy - Any GMC truck, originated as a nickname but was later adopted by the company for their version of the Chevy Blazer.
    • Screaming Jimmy - GMC heavy-duty truck powered by a Detroit Diesel two-stroke engine.
    • My Little Boomer - The Ford Mustang horse emblem. Coined by Regular Car Reviews.
    • Jelly Bean and Catfish - The first and third-generation Ford Taurus models, respectively, due to their bodyshell design. The "Catfish" moniker was more of a pejorative to those who did not take kindly to the rather eccentric design of the third generation, which Ford took note when designing the subsequent model.

    Web Animation 
  • Homestar Runner
    • Kidstar - 1-Up from the 20X6 universe. He's the anime equivalent of Homestar, and his idol Stinkoman dismisses him as being "just a kid". His name wasn't officially revealed until a year after he first appeared.
    • Marzichan - The 20X6 version of Marzipan who originally only appeared in a Main Page. Was later officially named "Marzi-Mei" when she re-appeared in the last level of Stinkoman 20X6.
    • Visor Robot - A robot with a visor. Oddly enough, the series creators now actually refer to this robot as "Visor Robot".
  • Linkin Ball Z - Any of the Trillions of combinations of Dragon Ball Z and the band Linkin Park commonly seen in Fan Vids.
    • Yah rly, and that's just on Youtube...
  • Fans of Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series generally refer to Yami Bakura and Yami Marik as "Florence" and "Melvin", respectively. That may also be their 'canon' names.
    • "Melvin" was originally a mocking joke name from Yami "[We came here to fight] Marik! Not his imaginary friend Melvin!" "Florence" was the name Yami Bakura bitterly said his parents wanted to name him, and that same episode ends with him saying that "Florence is back." Both took off with fans and became recurring names shortly thereafter, though "Florence" at least still goes by Bakura most of the time, presumably because "real" Bakura isn't active enough for there to be much confusion anyway.
  • If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device is often shortened to simply "Text-To-Speech" or "Emperor Text-To-Speech".
  • Mystery Skulls Animated: Bara Ghost for Lewis.
  • Red vs. Blue
    • Cecil - Caboose's twin brother, who may or may not actually exist.note 
    • iTex - When it was unclear when Tex exactly was a real person or not, Tex when she was definitely an AI was iTex
    • iFrags - AI programs that are a piece of the alpha
    • eFrags - AI programs that are pieces of the iFrag Epsilon
    • Alpha Church, aChurch, Robo Church - The name for the Alpha AI. To differentiate him from Dr. Church
    • Epsilon Church is the Epsilon version
    • Coffee Man - That one guard with really unfortunate timing in Season 9, so named because he was carrying two cups of coffee.
    • "Shark Face" - That one badass pyro mook from Season 9 that actually manages to give two Freelancers a decent fight. Later ascended as an in-universe nickname.
      • His friends are Muscles/Sleeveless (the guy with exposed arms), Blondie/Hot Lips (the knife fighting chick revealed to have blond hair in season 10), and Dr. Pill/Pillman/Pill Guy (the guy with the pill logo who apparently knows CT pretty well).
    • The pilot is only known by her callsign, Four Seven Niner, but some people call her Lucy for some reason.

    Web Videos 
  • Twitch streamer The 8-Bit Drummer's chat and 8-Bit himself commonly refers to Megalovania as Megan, due to how often that song and remixes of it are played.
  • Channel Awesome:
    • Kickassia:
      • N. Bison, as a result of him being the Nostalgia Critic dressed as M. Bison.
      • The Nostalgia Chick's Sarah Palin persona is known as "Nostalgia Palin".
    • The Critic's Japanese fandom (yes, it does exist) has nicknamed the Chick "Nosuko", combining a Japanese contraction of "Nostalgia" with a common Japanese female name ending.
    • The name "Ask That Guy" probably counts too, as to distinguish him from Doug's handle That Guy With The Glasses.
    • "Tigwatig" for thatguywiththeglasses.com, aka TGWTG.
    • Atop the Fourth Wall
      • 'Meg the Magic Gun Girl' for the girl whose soul is inside Linkara's magic gun.
      • Linkara's Power Rangers costume has earned the nickname "Pimpkara".
  • Parodied in ClickHole's "This Will Change The Way You Watch 'Back To The Future'", which asserts that Back to the Future is merely a nickname given to the film by fans and the official title is Back Time the Future.
  • Don't Hug Me I'm Scared:
    • Sketchbook: "Notepad", "Paige"
    • Red Guy: "Harry"
    • Bird Guy: "Robin"
  • Dream:
    • In one of the Minecraft Manhunts, Sapnap is given the fan nickname "Sapitus Napitus" because while Dream was chasing Sapnap, Dream called him that in "Minecraft Speedrunner VS 3 Hunters" (7:45)
    • Dream and his friends GeorgeNotFound and Sapnap are called by fans the Dream Team.
    • Dream himself is often called "Green Boy" in both an affectionate and derogatory sense (depending on the context), most famously used by Wilbur Soot in L'Manburg's "Decree of Independance" [sic] on the Dream SMP.note 
  • Hitler Rants: The Downfall parody meme has a lot of these. Hitler himself is often called "Dolfy" by fans, Burgdorf has the fan nickname of "Burger-Dork", and Goebbels' nickname "Skeletor" probably started as one of these before actually becomming an In-Series Nickname.
  • lonelygirl15
    • BDJ - Bree, Daniel and Jonas collectively.
    • TAAG - Teen Angst Adventure Gang. All the main characters as a team.
    • The Creators - Always with capitalised initial letters. The executive producers of the show, who often use this name themselves.
    • Bambi - Nadia Dalton.
    • Pharma Guy - Ted McKinley.
  • The Mario Party TV group calls Peach and Toadette "Team Tuna" when they're on the same team in 2 Vs. 2 games, even when it's not Mario Party 7. Likewise, they call the tag team of Yoshi and DK 'Team Danimals'.
  • On Cinema: Fans of Gregg often called themselves Greggheads (there is even a subreddit that has that name). It refers to Gregg's practice of referring to fandoms of film franchises as (name of franchise)Heads such as Bond Heads and Hobbit Heads.
  • In Rhett & Link's "Epic Rap Battle," Rhett gives a guy a Half-Nelson, and Link gives the same guy a Full-Nelson. The fandom has decided to name him "Nelson."
  • The Slender Man Mythos:
    • The Slender Man, paragon of nightmares and source of paranoia, is affectionately referred to as "Slendy".
    • And in the Slendy-inspired web series Marble Hornets, totheark/Masked Man, a silent man in a creepy theatre mask who attacks, stalks, and watches the protoganist sleep at night, is generally referred to simply as "Masky".
    • The second Masky, introduced in Entry #41, has been frequently nicknamed either "Hoody" or "Blasky".
    • The boys of Marble Hornets themselves have become known in some circles as "the Wifers."
    • While Tim's sideburns are affectionately known as the Suttonchops.
  • Detractors of Steam Train like to call it "Trainwreck".
  • El Superboy Primo: ERod, due to his increasingly obsessive and over-the-top hatred of Man of Steel and Zack Snyder.
  • TFS at the Table: Nedra, the Punchy Princess.
  • The Tipping Forties crew has come up with a few, most of them for Tales of Symphonia:

    Real Life 
  • In Armageddon (1998), Bruce Willis's character says that NASA undoubtedly has a crew of guys "just sitting around thinking shit up". These guys... the crew that sits around thinking shit up, are known as the "Steely Eyed Missile Men" for their ability to coolly and calmly think up technological solutions to the hardest problems on Earth or in Space.
    • Being called a 'Steely-Eyed Missile Man' is the absolute highest of NASA compliments; those 'guys that sit around thinking shit up' are the very best at what they do, so being counted among their ranks means you've really impressed people. And only the best of those people, the ones who come through under incredible pressure, get to be called "steely-eyed missile men."
    • Making a correct decision with incomplete data under incredible pressure is the mark of a Steely-Eyed Missile Man. During Challenger mission STS-51-F (six months before the ill-fated 51-L mission), the center engine went down in the only in-flight engine failure in the Shuttle program, after two temperature sensors went off-scale high (indicating overheat), causing the only in-flight abort (an abort-to-orbit, in which the shuttle can reach orbit but not its planned orbit). Reasoning that the sensor readings were themselves faulty and not the engine chambers, since the engines were progressively throttling back at altitude to reduce the acceleration load on the crew, Booster Systems Officer Jenny M. Howard instructed the cabin crew to inhibit any further temperature-related shutdowns of the engines. Her decision averted a second engine shutdown (the shuttle was still two minutes away from the altitude where it could reach orbit on a single engine), saving spacecraft and crew.
    • SCE to AUX.
  • People related to Video Games:
  • There's a whole language of fan nicknames in the CB Radio circuit, it would take far too much space to list them all here, though.
  • The now-almost defunct Mexican airline Aerocalifornia was named ''Aerotambo" (Tambo is Mexican slang for someone who is going to fall, and also means barrel or jail) due to their awful service.
  • Mexican supermarket chain Soriana is known as "SoPRIana", from that one time the ruling political party PRI gave away millions of pesos in Soriana gift cards in exchange for voting for Enrique Peña Nieto in 2012.
  • Rail Enthusiasts have all kinds of nicknames for railroad equipment:
    • The London Midland and Scottish Railway Stanier Class 5 4-6-0s were nicknamed "Black Fives" due to their black livery and Class 5 power rating
    • The Santa Fe Railway's red and silver paint scheme was nicknamed "Warbonnet"
    • EMD's GP series of locomotives were nicknamed "Geeps"
    • General Electric's Universal Series locomotives were nicknamed "U-Boats"
    • Track maintenance workers are nicknamed "Gandy dancers"
    • The early Amtrak trains with the mismatched rolling stock donated from all the railroads that it had taken over passenger rail service from were nicknamed "rainbow consists".
    • The Burlington Northern (now Metra's BNSF line) suburban Chicago commuter train route has been nicknamed the "race track" for the third track allowing many express trains to pass.
    • A red, white and blue livery on Amtrak trains in the '90s was nicknamed the "Pepsi can" due to its resemblance to the Pepsi logo at the time.
    • Amtrak's electric EMD AEM-7's were nicknamed "Toasters" due to their appearance.
    • Small Amtrak stations with little services are known as "Amshaks"
    • The Santa Fe Railway and Southern Pacific Railway tried to merge in the 1980s, and they felt so confident about the Interstate Commerce Commission approving their merger that they already started using a new paint scheme which was nicknamed "Kodachrome" for its resemeblance to the packaging of Kodak Kodachrome film. The initials of the new comapny were to be SPSF, which after the merger was rejected railfans and rail employees alike joked that it stood for "Shouldn't Paint So Fast".
    • Defunct railway companies are called "fallen flags"
    • Rail employees call railfans "foamers" from the idea that railfans "foam at the mouth" while railfanning
  • The seven home video distributors that rose above the rest of the pack before the end of 1982, when the Australasian home video scene experienced its first boom, are collectively known as the Magnificent Seven.
  • Smartphone enthusiasts nicknamed the Chinese consumer electronics firm (and Oppo offshoot) Realme as "Realmeme", perhaps in keeping with the "dank meme" culture of the 2010s and 2020s.
  • McDonald's has several, depending on the region:
    • In parts of the United States and Canada, it's nicknamed "McD's", "Mickey D's", or (less commonly) "Mac and Don's". "McDick's" is heard in Canada as well.
    • In Britain, "Maccy D's" or "Macca's" are occasionally used.
    • In Germany, it's nicknamed "Mekkes".
    • In France, "MacDo" is common, and used as a colloquial term for fast food in general.
    • In the Phillipines, it's nicknamed "McDo's".
    • In Japan, it's commonly shortened to "Makku", except in the Kansai region, where "Makudo" is used instead.
    • In Australia, the more common name is "Macca's", to the point where it's been adopted by the company itself.
    • In Brazil, the nickname is "Méqui", which has also been adopted by the company.
    • In Sweden, a nickname sometimes appearing in advertising is "Donken".
    • Some English dialects refer the fast-food chain as "The M".
  • Due to the LGBTQ+ community being referred to by way longer abbreviations such as "LGBTQIA2S+", people—especially those in right-wing circles—have been derisively calling it "Alphabet Soup" or "the WiFi Password community".

 
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Punch of Kill Everything

Lugnut uses his fan-coined Punch of Kill Everything in a fit of rage.

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