Mister Strangenoun

General Turgidson: Strangelove. What kind of a name is that? That ain't no kraut name, is it, Stainsy?

Mr. Staines: He changed it when he became a citizen. It used to be Merkwürdigliebe.

— Doctor Strangelove

Characters with arbitrary, improbable words as their Only One Name.

If the word is a Meaningful Name, it's Mister Descriptor; it may also be a "Miss X" Pun. See also Luke Nounverber.

Not to be confused with Doctor Strangelove, though he is an example of this trope.

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Examples:

Comic Books

• Half of the characters in The Amazing Screw-On Head fit this formula, and the other half seems to: the titular Mr. Head, his former manservant Mr. Manifold turned archnemesis Emperor Mr. Zombie, and his new manservant Mr. Groin.

Films — Animated

• Miss Forcible and Miss Spink from Coraline.

Films — Live-Action

• Mr. Creosote in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.
• Dark City: All of the Strangers go by these names, such as Mr. Hand, Mr. Book and Mr. Wall.
• Of course, there is Dr. Strangelove of Doctor Strangelove. It's even Lampshaded, as the page quote demonstrates.
• Reservoir Dogs had a whole host of Mr.'s: White, Orange, Blonde, Pink, Brown, and Blue.

Literature

• In The Truth, the villainous duo Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip have names like this.
• Even moreso in Thief of Time when the auditors decide that their names shall be Mr./Mrs. <insert colour here> and hundreds show up all demanding unique names.
• The Spookshow in American Gods use this. And are mocked for it.
  "Do you guys just see things and pick names? 'Oh, you be Mister Sidewalk, he's Mister Carpet, say hello to Mister Airplane'?"
• The Great Gatsby has a section that's mainly a Long List of people who have visited Gatsby's house, many of them named unflatteringly in this style.
• Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which in A Wrinkle in Time. Justified in that they're not quite human.
• The Undertaking in Kim Newman's Diogenes Club stories, an Edwardian version of the Men in Black, has agents with names like Mr. Hay and Mr. Bee, continuing down at least as far as Mr. Eggs.
• The Witchfinder Army in Good Omens employs a long list of these. Justified in that none of them actually exist and are merely Line-of-Sight Aliases written on the payroll by Witchfinder General Shadwell, who is not known for his creativity, in order to get more pay than the Witchfinder Army's real 2-person roster warrants.
• Mr. Teatime (T-AH-tim-EY) the assassin from Hogfather.
• The Maunts (Nuns) in Wicked take names based on their proffesion in the Mauntery: Sister Doctor, Sister Apothecary, Sister Hammer, Sister Cupboard, Sister Cook, Sister Condiment(?), Sister Grave.
• Common in J. B. Morton's Beachcomber columns, with such characters as Professor Hugetrouser, Dr Strabismus and Lord Shortcake.
• In the Young Amelia Bedelia books, Amelia Bedelia's dog is named "Finally" because she was so excited to finally get her after waiting so long to have a dog.
• Most of the judges in Uncommon Law have names like this: Mr Justice Wool, Lord Lick, Lord Arrowroot, Lord Sheep...

Live Action TV

• Mr. Bean.
• Monty Python's Flying Circus, especially with the Pepperpots ("Oh, hello, Mrs. Premise!" "Hello, Mrs. Conclusion!"). There are a great many examples throughout the series' history. Subverted with "Mr. Last," who was actually named after one of the show's crew. Some more for the road: Mrs. Thing, Mrs. Entity, Mrs. Gorilla, her friend Mrs. Non-Gorilla, Mr. Clean Air System, and Mrs. Niggerbaiter.
• A Bit of Fry and Laurie had a few, such as Mr. Smear.
• Some of the fake reporters and interview subjects in Brass Eye, for example "Gypsum Fantastic" for a random slaughterhouse worker in the "Animals" episode.
• The Doctor Who story "The Pirate Planet" comes close with Mr. Fibuli, which is one letter away from "fibula" (an Ancient Roman ornamental toga-fastening pin).
• Nurse Unloop from The Kids in the Hall.
• Mr Numbers and Mr Wrench of Fargo, although these are probably fake names and we never find out what their real ones are.
• In Ace of Wands (an early 1970's british children's supernatural adventure series) there was a story where the villain's henchmen posed as a busker band◊. Their names were Mr Spoon, Mr Drum and Mr Accordion, named after the instruments they play.

Music

• Used by a lot of musicians. Mister Joker, Mr. Mister, Mr. Kite, Mister Monster, Mr. Leen, Mr. Bones, Mr. Gang, Mr. E...
• And speaking of Mr. Kite, The Beatles have a song titled "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite", which is based on a real life circus poster which included the titular line
• In calypso, a common trend was for musicians to call themselves "Lord ____," starting with Lord Kitchener but moving into Strangenoun territory with Lord Beginner, Lord Invader and others. Many Carnival revelers took on high-faluting names, either to suggest nobility (as above), ferocity (Mighty Tiger), both (Black Stalin), and...well...whatever Red Plastic Bag was going for.

Web Original

• Whateley Universe:
  • Ayla and the Birthday Brawl (Chap 12), Mister Brown, White, Black, and Green:
  Whoever was doing the legwork and running the heist got to pick the team names for the job, and he'd gone with the Reservoir Dogs naming style. Or was that Pelham One Two Three?
  The last job they'd done had been in Phoenix, and Mister Brown had been running it, so they'd gone with his choice of names. Monsieur Bleu, Senor Rojo, etc.

Western Animation

• Mr. Doe and Mr. Cardholder on The Venture Bros.
• Bojack Horseman: Mr. Peanutbutter. Given he's a grown dog with child-like arrested development, it overlaps with Meaningful Name.

Other

• The Men in Black of UFO lore are known to call themselves such names.
• Some of the names in Rowan Atkinson's routine with the teacher taking attendance. The clean version has people named Undermanager and Haemoglobin; the dirty version has Clitoris ("Where are you, Clitoris?") and Herpes ("Still with us, I see.").

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