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Name and Name

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Well, The Noun and the Noun meets Character Title. Usually the title characters are either lovers or Heterosexual Life-Partners. This is also a standard title form for Buddy Cop Shows. It's also the obvious choice for a Sketch Show starring a Double Act.

A variant, often found in slacker comedy films, is "Name and Name Do Stuff". (See also Episode Finishes the Title.)

If one of the names is mostly irrelevant, see Lesser Star.

Sub-Trope of Multi-Character Title. See also Alliteration & Adventurers. If the characters are lawyers or similar professional partners (or names that evoke this), may overlap with The Law Firm of Pun, Pun, and Wordplay.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 

    Arts 

    Ballads 

    Comedy 
  • (Dean) Martin and (Jerry) Lewis (before their respective solo careers)note 
  • Kathy and Mo (Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney)
  • Kato-chan and Ken-chan
  • Penn & Teller

    Comic Books 

    Comic Strips 

    Eastern Animation 

    Fairy Tales 

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 

    Live-Action TV 

    Music 
Artists
  • Aly & A.J.
  • Baby Rasta y Gringo
  • Bachman-Turner Overdrive originally called themselves "Bachman-Turner", but people kept thinking they were a folk group, so "Overdrive" was added to the name.
  • Big & Rich, comprising Big Kenny and John Rich. The group name also doubles as a pun.
  • Brooks & Dunn
  • Captain & Tennille
  • Chad and Jeremy (1960s folk duo)
  • Chaka Demus and Pliers (known for their hit song "Murder She Wrote"note )
  • Coheed and Cambria
  • Coverdale-Page, a collaboration album between David Coverdale and Jimmy Page.
  • Crosby, Stills, (and) Nash (and Young)
  • Devine & Statton (covered New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle")
  • Donny and Marie Osmond are often known simply as "Donny and Marie".
  • DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (also an example of Character Name and the Noun Phrase)
  • Emerson, Lake & Palmer
  • England Dan and John Ford Coley (known for their hit song "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight"; England Dan went on to a very successful solo country career under his real name of Dan Seals)
  • Eric B. & Rakim
  • Flanders and Swann
  • (Lester) Flatt and (Earl) Scruggs — a very well-known and respected Bluegrass duo.
  • Garfunkel and Oates – Deliberately named themselves after "pop's most famous second bananas", with Riki Lindhome performing as "Garfunkel" and Kate Micucci as "Oates".
  • Daryl Hall & John Oates (also known as simply "Hall and Oates")
  • Ed Lover and Doctor Drenote , hosts of Yo! MTV Raps.
  • Homer and Jethro
  • When Amy Ray and Emily Saliers originally founded the Indigo Girls, they initially called themselves "Saliers and Ray".note 
  • Jan and Dean
  • John Otway + Wild Willy Barrett
  • K-Ci and Jojo (formed after Jodeci broke up)
  • Little T and One Track Mike
  • Loggins and Messina (a singer-producer duo consisting of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messinanote )
  • Mel & Kim
  • Peaches and Herbnote 
  • Peter, Paul and Mary
  • Run–D.M.C.
  • Salt-N-Pepa (consisting of Cheryl James ["Salt"] and Sandra Denton ["Pepa"]note )
  • Sandler and Young
  • Seals and Crofts
  • Sharon, Lois & Bram
  • She & Him
  • Simon & Garfunkel
  • Sonny & Cher
  • Steve & Eydie
  • Wilson Phillips is actually a bit of a subversion, since "Wilson" refers to two members: Carnie and Wendy Wilson, who are the daughters of Brian Wilson.
  • Wisin y Yandel
  • Zager and Evans
Works
  • "Betty and Dupree", a folk song done by several different artists.
  • Carrie & Lowell, a Sufjan Stevens album.
  • "Duncan and Brady", another folk song.
  • The song "Fair and Just" by Kevin Bloody Wilson is a parody of cop shows like Starsky & Hutch. It would probably make Kev's attitude towards Australian police clear enough even without the piggy grunts and squeals.
  • The old jazz standard "Frankie and Johnny", which some people may know from its recurring references in classic animated shorts.
  • "Lady Ice and Mr Hex" by Heaven 17.
  • "Pancho and Lefty" by Townes Van Zandt

    Myths & Religion 
  • The Bible:
    • Adam and Eve
    • Cain and Abel
    • David and Goliath
  • Cupid And Psyche
  • Samson and Delilah (the title of a number of film adaptations about both figures and the hair-cutting incident)
  • Castor and Pollux, the twins who make up the constellation Gemini

    Other 
  • Until 1970, the NBC Nightly News was known as The Huntley-Brinkley Report, named for lead anchors Chet Huntley (who reported from New York City) and David Brinkley (who reported from Washington, D.C.).

    Pinball 

    Radio 

    Tabletop Games 
  • Gotrek and Felix in Warhammer Fantasy Battle.
  • Noughts and Crosses (AKA: Tic-Tac-Toe)

    Theatre 

    Theme Parks 

    Video Games 

    Web Animation 

    Webcomics 

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 

    Real Life 
  • Clothing store chain Abercrombie and Fitch
  • In the UK, TV presenters Ant and Dec, who pretty much always appear together, and always with Ant on the left and Dec on the right for ease of identification.
  • Baskin-Robbins ice cream
  • Ben and Jerry ice cream
  • Mike and Ike candy
  • Numerous countries take this form:
  • Most law firms take this form as well.
  • Many advertising agencies also use this trope.
  • Salt and pepper (not the rap group mentioned above, but the condiments) are often referred to in this order.
  • The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (with the "Barnum & Bailey" part itself an example)
  • Scientists sometimes use a "mortar and pestle" when doing experiments. Pharmacists traditionally used this tool, and quite a few still do.
  • In the U.K., when people got to the beach, they will sometimes bring a "bucket and spade"note  (i.e., for making sand castles, etc.).
  • Cookies and Cream (sometimes written as "cookies'n cream")
  • Black & Decker, the original makers of the DustBuster. Now the second level of another example; it merged with Stanley Works in 2010, creating Stanley Black & Decker.
  • 20th Century Fox was originally called "20th Century-Fox" (with a dash), which was originally the result of a merger between 20th Century Pictures (which first used the now famous fanfare), and Fox Films.
  • Square Co. Ltd., and Enix Co. Ltd. merged in 2003 to become Square Enix
  • Pinball company Bally had owned Midway for some time, but in 1983, they merged to become Bally-Midway.note 
  • A number of animation studios had taken this form including:
  • Heatter-Quigley (normally made game shows, but are remembered by animation fans as the co-creators of Wacky Races)
  • Goodson-Todman productions (later became Mark Goodson productions)note 
  • Television production companies Lorimar and Telepictures merged together to form Lorimar-Telepictures before being acquired by Warner Bros. Television.
  • Speaking of Warner Bros., after merging with Seven Arts Productions, they were known for a while as "Warner Bros.-Seven Arts", with a distinctive "W7" logo.
  • The two infamous feuding families, the Hatfields and the McCoys. note 
  • Shields and Yarnell, a mime duo.
  • For a while Universal Pictures was known as "Universal-International" (note the dash) after they merged with a company called "International Pictures". This name was discontinued once "Music Corporation of America" (MCA) bought out the company.
  • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was the result of a three-way merger between Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Picturesnote , and Louis B. Mayer Productions.
  • In figure skating, this is an enforced trope when referring to competing couples, both in pairs skating and ice dancing, with the woman always being named first.
  • There's a decent amount of this in the world of firearms, though it's not as common as it used to be. Smith & Wesson, Heckler & Koch, and Brügger & Thomet are the best known examples. Averted by Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc., which has always marketed its products simply as Ruger.
  • The Louisiana Purchase was explored by (Meriwether) Lewis and (William) Clark.

Waldorf: Hey, they left us out of this entry!
Statler: I think they were trying to improve it.
Waldorf: If that's what they wanted, they should've just blanked the whole thing out!
Both: Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh!

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