Rhyme Theme Naming

Their fourth, imaginary brother is named Phooey.

Obelix: O chief Vitalstatistix, the Normans are landing! And they've got ever such funny names! They all end in "af"!
Asterix: That's right! Their chief is called Timandahaf!
Vitalstatistix: Ha, ha, ha! Did you hear that, Getafix, Cacofonix, Operatix, Acoustix, Polyfonix, Harmonix?

— Asterix, Asterix and the Normans

In fiction, it is common to give the members of the same group, family or ensemble a Theme Naming to emphasize their unity. The two most standard ways of achieving this is by having the characters' name revolve around a particular subject/topic or field (e.g. plants or celestial objects), or by having them follow a linguistic quirk.

This trope is about the latter. Specifically, this is when a collective group of characters are given names that rhyme with each other, sometimes with one character having an Odd Name Out.

This is particularly common for Theme Twin Naming, especially Always Identical Twins, since the characters already have identical appearances, so it would naturally follow that they are also given phonetically-similar names.

Compare Rhyming Names, for singular characters or places who are given rhyming first and last names to make them sound more quirky and/or memorable, although both tropes can be used together, particularly for siblings/family members that are given a rhyming surname in addition to their already rhyming given names. See also Alphabetical Theme Naming.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• One of the main villains of Anpanman is named Dokin-chan. She has a sister named Kokin-chan. The two also look exactly alike—save for the fact that the former is red, while the latter is blue.
• Two pairs of siblings in Asteroid in Love have these, which also overlap with Alphabetical Theme Naming: The Konohata siblings Mira and Misa, as well as the Sakurai siblings Mikage and Chikage.
• Ginro and his brother Kinro from Dr. STONE.
• K-On! has Yui Hirasawa and her younger sister Ui.
• Kindergarten Wars has the Silver family, which consists of five sisters named Stacy, Nancy, Gracy, Tracy, and Cathy.
• Several families in Kengan Ashura have members sharing similar names:
  • Kazuo's second son named Yasuo, and he is much closer to the latter than with his older son, Kenzo (who moves out from the house in the sequel, leaving Kazuo with Yasuo).
  • Metsudo's son is named Retsudo.
  • Karla and her brother, Sarla.
• Aililu and Lilu from Maken-ki!.
• Ouran High School Host Club has the trickster Hitachiin twins, Kaoru and Hikaru.
• Penguindrum: Himari and her friends Hikari and Hibari. The latter two went on to become a famous idol duo, but keep Himari in their thoughts.
• The Story Between a Dumb Prefect and a High School Girl with an Inappropriate Skirt Length: Tougo's dad is named Shougo.^note The Kohinata family have names involving rhyme (Poemu, Ririku, Raimu), but none of them rhyme with each other.

Asian Animation

• There are two pairs of rhyming names in Gattu Battu: the main characters Gattu and Battu, and Sher Singh's minions Danya and Banya.

Comic Books

• Asterix: Every character has a Punny Name with a nationality-specific ending (with occasional exceptions like Ptenisnet the Egyptian):
  • -ix for the Gauls (Asterix, Obelix, Vitalstatistix)^note After the Gaulish kings Ambiorix and especially Vercingetorix, although they had those names because "rix" means "king".
  • -us for the Romans (Cantankerus, Coronavirus)^note Truth in Television; male ancient Romans did indeed have "us" at the end of their names.
  • -is for the Egyptians (Edifis, Artifis)
  • -ic for Goths (Rhetoric, Electric) ^note After the Visigoth King Alaric and possibly the Gepid King Adaric
  • -ax/-os for the Britons (Relax, Mykingdomforanos) ^note After the British kings Segovax and Cartivellaunos
  • -af or -sson for the Scandinavians (Timandahaf, Nescaf, Nogoodreasson)
• The Disney Ducks Comic Universe has Donald's triplet nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
• As well as Gnasher the dog, Dennis the Menace (UK)'s pets include Rasher the pig, and the more rarely seen Splasher the frog.

Fan Works

• In Dumbledore Dreams, the Black house elves are Kreacher, Breacher, Treacher and Preacher.
• Hogwarts Dawn: In the first chapter as part of their "life improvement plan" for Harry, Fred and George enlist several hulking students nicknamed Smasher, Gnasher, Thrasher and Crusher as bodyguards.
• Maris Stella: Two sisters on the cheerleading squad are named Melissa and Clarissa.
• PreCure in a Nutshell: Flappy and Choppy get the parody names of Flipflop and Porkchop.
• In Tales of the Hunger Games, the District Two female tributes of the 95th Hunger Games (4th Quinquennial Quell) are twin sisters named Nina and Dina Dalton.

Film — Animated

• According to supplementary materials, the Bimbettes (Gaston's blonde admirers) from Beauty and the Beast are individually named Claudette, Laurette, and Paulette.
• Cars features twin fangirls named Mia and Tia.
• In Happy Feet Two, the krill all have names that rhyme with "krill".
• In Kiki's Delivery Service, Kiki's name rhymes with that of her pet cat, Jiji.
• The tie-in comic for Lady and the Tramp names the two females of the eponymous couple's litter as Ruffy and Fluffy. In the Direct to Video sequel, Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, they are renamed to Annette and Colette. And of course, there's Tramp and Scamp, who are father and son.
• Monsters University has Terri and Terry, a pair of Conjoined Twins who are different in almost every way, except for their shared body. Doubles as Rhyming Names, as their surname is Perry.
• The Prince of Egypt: The supplementary reveals that Tzipporah and her sisters have rhyming names: Ephorah, Ajolidoforah, and Jethrodiadah.

Film — Live Action

• Biff Tannen from Back to the Future is revealed in Back to the Future: The Animated Series to have a daughter named Tiff (which is short for Tiffany), and in Back to the Future: The Game to have two brothers named Cliff and Riff. In the second film he has a grandson named Griff, continuing the rhyming name throughout the generations. Averted in the third film by Biff's ancestor, Buford (aka "Mad Dog"), and in the game by his father Irving "Kid" Tannen.
• In The Great Muppet Caper, the models/henchwomen are Marla, Carla and Darla.
• In Hairspray, twin sisters Noreen and Doreen are two of the dancers on the Corny Collins Show.
• The Parent Trap (1998): The twin sisters' names are Hallie and Annie.
• In Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (2018), the three ace cheerleaders from Bucky's posse are named Stacey, Tracey, and Lacey.

Literature

• There's a poem about three fishermen named Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.
• The children's book Delilah Darling is in the Classroom features the teacher's two hamsters Wally and Dolly.
• Fury (Salman Rushdie): Malik finds himself attracted to women named Mila and Neela in quick succession, and briefly lampshades the coincidence.
• In The Giant's Bath, by Margaret Mahy, the two sisters are named Belinda and Melinda.
• The Hobbit: Many of the dwarves in Thorin's company have similar sounding names: Oin and Gloin, Balin and Dwalin, Fili and Kili, Ori, Nori and Dori, and Bifur, Bofur and Bombur. This doubles as Family Theme Naming, as all of the characters with rhyming names are either brothers or cousins. The whole group themselves are distant relatives of one other through Thorin.
• Junie B. Jones: Junie B.'s twin friends are named Camille and Chenille. They invite Junie's other friend Lucille to play with them only because their names rhyme.
• In The Land of Stories the Book Huggers are named Mindy, Cindy, Lindy and Wendy.
• In the Little Princess book "I Want to Make a Friend", there are three mean kids, two girls and a boy. The girls are named Molly and Polly.
• Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: The sister ships, Princesses Ouragonea, Typhonea, and Kyklonea, all whose names end in "-onea".
• Roys Bedoys: The three Bedoys siblings are Roys, Loys, and Joys.
• The short story "The Ride" from the Star Wars: Canto Bight anthology features three brothers (collectively known as the Lucky Three) named Dodi, Thodi and Wodi.
• In The Tale of Peter Rabbit, two of Peter's sisters are named Flopsy and Mopsy.
• The Terrible Two has the two main characters and best friends Miles and Niles. This is commented on throughout the series and even serves as a significant plot point once or twice.
• In What's a Gonzo?, a picture-book based on Muppet Babies (1984), Gonzo dreams of creatures named Zonzo, Momzo (a meaningful name since she's a mother), Tonzo, Donzo, Bronzo, the Flying Flonzos, Klonzo, Alfonso, Rhonzo, and the Great Garbonzo.

Live-Action TV

• On Modern Family, Cameron Tucker has a twin sister named Pameron.
• Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn is about a set of quadruplets. All of the boys' names (Nicky, Ricky and Dicky) rhyme but their sister Dawn's name doesn't.

Music

• Two of the girls from Preschool Popstars are Hailey and Bailey. The last one, however, is named Jazz.

Puppet Shows

• Sesame Street:
  • Two guys in a skit are named Stan and Dan.
  • There are two cat brothers named Chip and Dip.
  • Two sketches feature the Rhymies: Larry, Mary and Barry.
  • A parody of The Elves And The Shoemaker has elves named Squeaky, Sneaky, and Leaky.

Religion & Mythology

• The Bible:
  • The book of Numbers has the five daughters of Zelophehad: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
  • Books of Samuel: Samuel's father Elkanah is married to women named Hannah and Peninnah. Some traditions present the two wives as sisters, although this is never actually stated in the Bible.
• In Norse Mythology, Odin has a pair of ravens named Huginn and Muninn.
• The verses of the Old Norse poem, "Grottasöngr" (or "The Mill's Songs" in English) are sung by Fenja and Menja, a pair of slave giantesses who are forced to grind wealth using the titular mill and sing songs for the king who bought them.

Theatre

• The main protagonists of The Blue Bird are a pair of siblings named Mytyl and Tyltyl.

Video Games

• The boxy protagonists of of BoxBoy! are named Qbby, Qucy, and Qudy. They encounter smaller boxes called Qbabies in Bye-Bye BoxBoy!, which fits when used in the singular (a Qbaby).
• Bread & Fred features a pair of penguins by the names Bread and Fred in the multiplayer mode. As for the single-player, we have Greg and Jeff.
• The main protagonists of Bubble Bobble are a pair of twin brothers named Bubblun and Bobblun while their love interests are a pair of sisters named Patty and Betty.
• Diner Dash Adventures features twin brothers Norbert and Dorbert.
• Final Fantasy IV: The Magus sisters are individually named Sandy, Mindy and Cindy (or Dogu, Magu and Ragu, in the original Japanese).
• Harvest Town has sisters May and Fay, and the Allen siblings: Jerry and Sherry.
• The ghosts in Oh Shit! are named Joey (red), Willy (blue), and Frankie (pink), with Paul the orange ghost being the Odd Name Out.
• The ghosts in Pac-Man are named Inky (blue), Pinky (pink) and Blinky (red). Plus the orange ghost, who is always given an Odd Name Out (it's Clyde in the original, Sue in Ms. Pac-Man and Tim in Pac-Man Jr.).
• The Sims 2 has the Caliente sisters, Dina and Nina. The Sims 4, which is set in an Alternate Continuity, gives them a mother named Katrina.

Visual Novels

• The Fujibayashi twins from CLANNAD are named Kyou and Ryou.
• The House in Fata Morgana names its Official Couple Michel and Giselle, although their names are only revealed late in the game.

Web Animation

• In AstroLOLogy, the Gemini twins have the rhyming names Gerry and Gary.

Western Animation

• The Rockhopper Crew of 3-2-1 Penguins! is made up of Captain Zidgel, First Officer Midgel, Doctor Fidgel and Kevin
• In Animaniacs, the two Warner brothers (not the company, brothers with the surname Warner) are named Yakko and Wakko.
• In the Arthur episode "Binky Goes Nuts", Binky dreams that he has two classmates named Ron and Don, who are allergic to their hands.
• Ben 10 has this with Ben and his cousin Gwen. Ben 10: Alien Force takes this further, introducing Gwen's older brother Ken, to the amusement of Kevin, who lampshades this trope. Ben's reaction implies that this is not rare. Ken is also the name of Ben's son from a possible future (Kevin's is Devlin, so...)
• Camp Lazlo has the dung beetle brothers, Chip and Skip.
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Looten Plunder, one of the antagonists, has two henchmen named Oakey and Dokey Pinehead.
• Disenchantment: All of King Zøg's older male relatives have names that ends with either "-øg" or "-øgg", proceeding down the alphabet as time progressed, starting with Dreamland's first king, Agøgg, all the way to his older brother King Yøg. Zøg is the last of this trend due to no letter coming after Z, hence why his son is named "Derek".
• Hanna-Barbera cartoons frequently has a pair of duos with rhyming names:
  • Pixie and Dixie from Pixie, Dixie and Mr. Jinks
  • Breezly and Sneezly (part of The Peter Potamus Show)
• Heckle and Jeckle are two identical talking magpies who trick other people and get into trouble.
• Jingaroo features a pair of marsupial moles named Toot and Snoot.
• Kim Possible has Kim and her two younger twin brothers Jim and Tim.
• Littlest Pet Shop (2012) has the Biskit Twins, Brittany and Whittany.
• Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies has the monkeys Chip, Pip, and Flip.
• Tessa and Vanessa of Pepper Ann. Their Day In The Limelight episode "Vanessa Less Tessa" has a Show Within a Show with protagonists Gina and Tina.
• Molly and Polly from Pigeon Street ("Molly and Polly, they're two of a kind / They look both the same when they're seen from behind / But when they turn round then it's easy to see / Who's Molly with an M and Polly with a P").
• The Pound Puppies (1980s) episode "Pups on the Loose" featured a case of theme triplet naming, where Rusty and Lucy's three puppies were named Andy, Mandy, and Candy.
• Rugrats:
  • The DeVille twins are normally called Phil and Lil, although their actual names are Philip and Lillian.
  • Tommy's father and uncle are named Stu and Drew, and their father is named Lou. They also mention an uncle Hugh.
  • Tommy has two cousins named Timmy Ray and Tammy Fae.
  • Phil and Lil have cousins named Hedley and Smedley.
• The Simpsons:
  • The Flanders brothers are named Rod and Todd.
  • The Mackleberry twins, Sherri and Terri. And their brothers Jerry and Larry, and their parents Barry and Mary.
  • One episode features two sisters Bonnie and Connie.
• Super Noobs has alien warriors Memnock and Zenblock. They play with this trope even more through the names they give to the human disguises they have to use in public to avoid having their identities exposed, which are Bob and Rob. Their nicknames, Mem and Zen are however subverted because the last letters of their nicknames do not really match but come in pretty close. They are also identical to each other, only differing in skin color, teeth, and nose shape but whether they are related to each other or not is debatable.
• In Tom and Jerry, the dog Spike has a son named Tyke.
• Total Drama:
  • The first generation has the single-minded best friends Katie and Sadie.
  • The third generation brings the Polar Opposite Twins Amy and Samey (whose actual name is Sammy, but Amy prefers to call her like this because she considers her sister an inferior version of her).
• Totally Spies!: WOOHP founder and leader Gerald James "Jerry" Lewis has an Evil Twin brother nicknamed "Terry". The Spin-Off series, Amazing Spiez reveal that they also have a sister named Sherry.
• Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!: Two characters, who are commonly seen with their friend Earl, are named Huggy and Buggy.

Real Life

• Generation Names are names used by a generation of a same family containing the same character. They are used in China and other Chinese-influenced countries.
• The Marx Brothers have rhyming stage names: Zeppo, Groucho, Harpo, and Chico—which they are almost universally known as. Their actual first names are, respectively, Herbert, Julius, Arthur and Leonard.
• Simon Cowell's three dogs are named Squiddly, Diddly and Freddy.

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