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The worst possible moment?

Rebecca: Happy New Year, Brian.
Brian: Happy New Year, Alice.
Rebecca: Alice?

In an emotional moment, a character gets someone's name wrong. Often this reveals that current drama has triggered a memory of a similar situation in the past. If the name isn't familiar, cue a Flashback to who they were; if it is, there's probably some backstory between the characters we weren't aware of before.

If the wrong name pops up during sex (or at the altar), the speaker may not live much longer.

If the speaker is senile, or generally a Cloudcuckoolander, it's more likely to be Accidental Misnaming or Thoroughly Mistaken Identity, but it may overlap with this. Otherwise the two generally don't overlap, as this is a Freudian Slip rather than a genuine lapse in memory.

A You Remind Me of X situation may prompt this.

Only counts if it makes it to a final cut; somebody calling a character by the actor's name in the Blooper Reel isn't one of these.


Examples:

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    Advertising 
  • There was a British car commercial where a man has a nightmare about his car getting wrecked and wakes up shouting the car's name. Of course, since he gave it a feminine name, this causes some misunderstandings with his wife.
  • There was a Swedish radio commercial where you can hear a couple (presumably) having sex when the man says the name Anneli. His wife's reaction, roughly translated: "And who the fuck is Anneli?"
  • An advertisement for Shenmue started off looking like Ryo narrating his life before saying "But enough about me, let's talk about you, Nozomi..." Dissolve to reveal a couple in the middle of the act; the woman angrily demands to know who Nozomi is and punches the gun in the face.

    Anime & Manga 
  • In Beastars, Haru shouts Louis' name when Legosi finds her in the dark. Whoops!
  • Bleach: Months after he nearly killed her and turned his backs on Gotei 13, Hinamori still calls Aizen "Captain Aizen", which Rangiku understands is merely out of habit.
  • Case Closed: Hattori has a really bad habit of blurting out Conan's real (last) name.
  • In Corsair, Canale does this twice (with the people in question in reverse). Amusingly he's more upset about it than either Ayace or Sesaam are.
  • Atsushi in Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! does this at the series climax, when he repeatedly calls his Evil Former Friend Kinshiro by his old nickname of "Kin-chan". It turns out to be a Berserk Button, as Kinshiro then spends half an episode trying to kill him.
  • One scene in Kodocha has Tsuyoshi call the teacher "mom" by accident. Akito says he does this every year.
  • In Lupin III: The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure, Inspector Zenigata arrests the Big Bad while shouting out "You're under arrest, Lupin!". Lupin (far away from the man being arrested) points out his mistake. Zenigata sheepishly admits that it's a force of habit.
  • In Recorder and Randsell, one of the students does the "call the teacher mom" variation. As Atsushi is Younger Than They Look, his friend shortly afterward calls him "Dad" by accident.

    Comic Books 
  • The second issue of Adventure Time simulates an actor flub when Marceline calls Bubblegum "Hynden" (a reference to Bubblegum's real-world voice actor in the original animated series, Hynden Walch).
  • In one MAD "A Lighter Side Of", a man is apparently cheating on his girlfriend and avoided being found out. He's almost in the clear until he says the wrong girl's name.
  • A very not-funny example at the end of Maus, when a dying and delirious Vladek warmly refers to his second son Art as "Richieu", his first son who died in the Holocaust, and in doing so pretty much confirms Art's belief that his father always loved his dead firstborn more than him.
  • In "That Crazy Guy", Suzi learns that her boyfriend is a Jerkass and a womanizer when he calls her "Betty" instead of her name.

    Comic Strips 
  • Played for Laughs in one Big Nate strip where Nate wanted to impress Jenny (his crush, who definitely does not reciprocate) by shooting a basketball. He accidentally says Gina (who he mutually hates) instead.
  • Crabgrass: This comic, Miles makes the classic mistake where he calls his teacher "mom". He proceeds to hide in the boys' bathroom out of embarrassment.

    Fan Works 
  • In Advice and Trust, Ritsuko gets irritated after Gendo murmurs Yui's name while having sex with her.
  • In All These Empty Spaces, the morning after a one-night stand, the woman tells Oliver he called out someone else's name during sex. He's utterly shocked and isn't even sure whose name he said (which as she points out is a sign he's really messed up), and is horrified to realize it was Laurel, who's dead.
    "The name of a dead woman he had wronged in so many ways. A name he had no right to ever say in this context ever again."
  • Played with in the Ask a Pony blog The Royal Sketchbook. Like in canon, ponies use Princess Celestia's name in replacement of "God". Unfortunately, Twilight uses it in the wrong situation with her girlfriend, Luna (AKA Celestia's sister). They ended up having a huge fight over it.
  • The Concubine Mo Chronicles has a feverish Lan Wangji forgetting Wei Wuxian is supposed to be dead and very much needs for his survival to stay a secret, and calling for him right in front of his brother Lan Xichen — who loathes Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian keeps his cool and makes the Emperor believe Wangji is far too sick to distinguish between his first love and his current concubine, invoking the trope.
  • In Croft and Son, Dante calls Nero 'Vergil' after the latter starts sounding a bit too much like his father.
  • In Doorstep Harry calls Ron's name while having sex with Ginny.
  • Eleutherophobia:
    • In Back to the Future, Dan accidentally calls Tom "Visser Seventeen" while drunk, and says that he can't make him do anything. Since the entire plot of the fic is Tom being frustrated that his relatives keep conflating him with his Yeerk, he doesn't take this well.
    • In Escape from L.A., Eva and Tom pretend that they're still Controllers while stranded two years in the past. When they infiltrate the San Diego Yeerk Pool, she accidentally calls him Temrash 114, even though he was infested by Essa 412 at the time.
  • Feynites Aftermath mentions that Luo Binghe mastered the art of not mistaking one of his many, many, many wives for another in order to maintain harmony within his harem.
  • Played With in Flash by Northwest, where Shayera calls the story version of Carter Hall by the name she knows him as. Except in the story he goes by Joe Gardnernote , so her calling him that makes him think that Shayera is seeing another man named Carter.
  • Ginny Weasley and the Half-Blood Prince: During the Deathly Hallows chapters, Ginny gets caught breaking into the Headmaster's office, and Snape gives her the shockingly light "punishment" of detention with Hagrid. Then he says he's going to send her home after, and when Ginny starts arguing, Snape yells "I will keep you safe, Lily!" Since Ginny has been told she has more than a passing resemblance to Harry's mother Lily, she realizes something is up with Snape far earlier than anyone else does.
  • Katzenjammer: After Starscream wakes up with a hangover and a Decepticon named Tidearrow that he doesn't remember, he asks the stranger what he called him while they were intimate the previous night. Tidearrow says the jet called him Megatron, Dreadmoon, and another name he doesn't get the chance to say before Starscream yells at him to shut up.
  • In the Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story fanfic "The Girl Who Loved Yachiyo Nanami," Yachiyo befriends a classmate named Akiko, an Identical Stranger to her childhood friend Mifuyu (who is currently missing, having joined the Wings of the Magius). The two slowly become closer overtime, and one night, while Akiko is staying over at Yachiyo's house, she ends up comforting the veteran Magical Girl after the latter has a nightmare. Just as both begin to engage in some intimacy, Yachiyo gasps out Mifuyu's name, ruining the moment, and hurting Akiko's feelings.
  • In No Redemption Harry leaves after Snape calls him "James" during sex.
  • The One I Love Is...: At the end of chapter 5, Shinji notices that a girl is sleeping in his bed, and he mutters “Rei?”. Asuka was NOT amused:
    "Rei-chan?" I groaned, still half asleep.
    "Wrong girl, you baka."
  • RWBY: Scars: A flashback to Yang's conception has Raven halfway say Summer's name during a one-night stand with Taiyang. She notices her mistake before she finishes the name.
  • In Sister Floriana, after Flori helps cheer up a feverish Sister Diana, Diana inadvertently calls her mama.
  • A comparatively subtle example of this in the Stargate SG-1 fic “Remnant”; after Daniel Jackson has been taken as a host by the Goa’uld Zipacna, SG-1 take him to an Asgard-protected planet so that Zipacna can be safely killed. Zipacna attempts to save his life by pretending to be Daniel and arguing that ‘Daniel’ believes that Earth will need Zipacna’s knowledge to stop Anubis, but Zipacna slips up when he refers to Daniel’s wife Sha’re as Amaunet- the Goa’uld that took her as a host- apparently due to Daniel deliberately giving Zipacna the wrong name, thus confirming that Daniel wasn’t in control.
  • In the Law & Order: UK story "Substitute", the widow of Matt's friend becomes increasingly dependent on him. Although he realizes that it's a problem, he doesn't realize how severe it is until she calls him by the man's name during a drunken binge.
  • This WarioWare fancomic has Ashley accidentally calling Wario "Dad".
  • In the The Legend of Zelda fanfic The Weekly Hyrule News, Link's friend Sheik reveals that "he" is actually Princess Zelda, and Link and Zelda have sex. After, right before Link falls asleep, he says "I love you, Sheik," and Zelda is left very confused as to how she is supposed to feel about that.
  • In the Star Trek: Voyager porn parody Hardcore Entertainment Presents: Seven Does Voyager, Tom Penis notices Sexy of Nine spying on him having sex with Ballbuster Torres as part of the Borg's study of intimate relationships.
    BALLBUSTER: Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh God, Tom!
    TOM PENIS: Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh God, Sexy of Nine!
    BALLBUSTER: WHAT?! You're calling HER name when you come? You petaQ!
    In fury, Ballbuster sinks her teeth into Tom's ballocks.
    TOM PENIS: AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! No, I meant that Borg bitch is watching us!

    Film — Animated 
  • In Ciao Alberto, (a short sequel to Luca), Alberto calls Massimo "Dad" during an argument. The Creative Closing Credits implies that he keeps doing it after they make up.
  • Finding Nemo: As they are about to be swallowed by the whale, Marlin shouts at Dory (who claims to speak whale) that "You think you can do these things, but you just can't, Nemo!", doubling up as a Meaningful Echo.
  • In Meet the Robinsons, Lewis, an orphan desperate to find his birth mother, accidentally calls Wilbur's mom, Franny, "Mom" during an emotional moment. This is part of what prompts Franny to want to adopt Lewis, which would be great, except that Lewis is a Time Traveler and the younger version of Franny's husband. Talk about awkward.
  • Parodied in the Monsters University short Party Central, in which Mike and Sulley set up door stations to take monsters from a ROR party to theirs, with a human couple's bedroom in between them. Art tells one monster that he saw his girlfriend making out with someone else in the closet, and as he runs through the humans' room shouting "Janelle, baby!", the wife gets up and asks her husband "Who's Janelle?"
  • Toy Story 4: After Forky and Woody fall out of the RV and get separated from their owner Bonnie, the latter gives the former a talking-to about his complex about being "garbage" and not a toy, inadvertently revealing that Woody's not as over his old owner as he seemed to be.
    Woody: Maybe you don't like being [a toy], but you are one nonetheless, which means you are going to be there for Andy when he-
    Forky: (confused) Who's Andy?
    Woody: ...I mean Bonnie.

    Film — Live-Action 
  • In Akeelah and the Bee, the heroine's teacher calls her "Denise," whom she eventually discovers is his dead daughter.
  • Bull Durham has Annie call out Crash's name when she's having sex with Nuke. When Nuke objects, she first tries to laugh it off by telling him he shouldn't listen to what a woman says in the throes of passion, then switches to:
    "Honey, would you rather I were making love to him using your name or making love to you using his?"
  • In Clerks, Dante is explaining to Randal his ex-girlfriend's infidelity, leading to this exchange:
    Randal: She cheated on you how many times?
    Dante: Eight and a half.
    Randal: Eight and a half?
    Dante: Party at John Kay's senior year. I get blitzed and pass out in this bedroom. Caitlin comes in and jumps all over me.
    Randal: So that's cheating?
    Dante: No, in the middle of it she called me Brad.
    Randal: She called you Brad?
    Dante: Called me Brad.
    Randal: Eh, that's not cheating. People say crazy shit during sex. One time I called this girl "mom."
  • Death Walks on High Heels: Coming out of surgery, and still under the effect of the anaesthetic, Robert murmurs the 'Nicole' over and over to his wife. Unfortunately, his wife's name is Vanessa and Nicole is the name of his mistress.
  • Deconstructing Harry: Harry Block's books are all Roman A Clefs, and in one scene, he calls his former sister-in-law (and former lover) Lucy "Leslie", her book Expy.
    Lucy: Lucy. I'm Lucy, motherfucker! Not Leslie!
  • Halfway through En La Cama, this signals the switch from no-strings-attached hook-up to more complicated realistic encounter — both parties had initially claimed to have no other attachments, which turns out to be Blatant Lies.
  • In Face/Off, Archer (disguised as Troy) finds out that Adam, the son of Troy's ex-girlfriend, is also Troy's son, and Archer is reminded of his own dead son Michael, and calls Adam "Michael" while hugging him.
  • In Five, Roseannne yields to her attraction to Michael and the two of them kiss. However, as they are doing so, she calls him 'Steve'; her husband's name. Realising what she she has just said scares her and she runs away.
  • In Girl, Interrupted, during an escape attempt, a hysterical Lisa calls Susannah "Jamie", her dead best friend, signifying just how badly Lisa is going off the rails. Susannah, who up until that point had been happy to go along with Lisa's exploits, is notably disturbed by this.
  • Phil Conners gets away with the bedroom version in Groundhog Day when he calls Nancy "Rita" in the heat of the moment. He sidetracks her by proposing marriage (of course, she won't remember it the next day).
  • In the film version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Sirius calls Harry "James" (Harry's father's name) during the final battle, without even realizing the mistake. This shows how much he misses his best friend and that he's seeing James in Harry. Particularly nasty since those are Sirius' last words before Bellatrix kills him. Although an addition by the director, many fans consider this an inspired one, since it neatly sums up in one word what took many pages to convey in the book.
  • In Hot Tub Time Machine, during Nick's intense pool sex scene he shouts out the name of his wife, Courtney, while the girl insists on being called Tara.
  • In the movie adaptation of I Miss You, I Miss You, a teacher accidentally calls Tina by her dead twin sister's name. She freaks out.
    Tina: Tina! My name is Tina, damn it! Cilla is dead! DEAD! Do you get that, you damned... bastard?!
  • In Lust For Life 1956, Van Gogh accidentally addresses Paul Gaugin as "Theo" (the name of his brother), and hastily corrects himself.
  • Kagi: Part of the kinky role-play that Ikuko and her husband Anzai do as their marriage starts going to weird places. She pretends to be drunk and to call out another man's name during sex, because he has a cuckold fetish.
  • In the 1959 film adaptation of On the Beach, everyone's having fun frolicking outside, including the American submarine captain whose family was killed in the nuclear holocaust. Then he accidentally uses the name of his dead wife when he is affectionately calling his current Love Interest an "outrageous liar". The mood becomes subdued very quickly after that.
  • Passenger 57. John Cutter calls stewardess Marti the name of his dead wife Lisa by mistake due to Marti and Lisa having a simiar appearance and personality. — he doesn't realize this until she points it out later.
  • Prom Wars: During the School Play completion, Percy plays one half of a couple in an Awful Wedded Life and accidentally calls his "wife" by his (real world) ex-girlfriend Diana's name during an argument about adultery (to the real Diana's severe embarrassment). After an awkward pause the actor playing his wife works that into the play by asking if Diana is another one of his mistresses and getting mad that he can't remember her name, to the judge's delight.
  • Python: Lisa's lover Roberta gets mad at the beginning when, in the midst of oral sex, Lisa calls her Robert (then spends a while trying to deny this).
    Roberta: There was no "-ta" at the end.
  • In Sam, Cynthia sneaks back into Doc's apartment and attempts to reconcile with him by massaging him while he's asleep. Not quite waking up, Doc murmurs "That feels good, Sam". This leads to Cynthia assuming that Doc is gay.
  • Scandal in Sorrento: Antonio and Violante are walking down a road with a panoramic view of the harbor and he is pouring on the charm. But he ruins the mood by accidentally calling her "Sofia", Violante's rival for his affections. She stalks off in a huff.
  • Spaceballs:
    Lone Starr: On this ship, you are to refer to me as "Idiot", not "You, Captain!"
  • In The Sound of Music, Captain Von Trapp accidentally calls Maria "Captain" when telling her to leave. She has a similar moment when they first meet, slipping up and calling him "Reverend—" before correcting herself. (She's a postulate and his authoritative manner clearly reminds her of her Mother Superior).
  • One of the darkest examples is in the The Vanishing: the wrong name just signifies how obsessed Rex is with Saskia even three years after her vanishing. His obsession doesn't end well.
  • Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?: Georgie's ex-wife Gloria left him partly because he called her Jan and later Sandra during sex.

    Literature 
  • In Bad Monkeys, Jane seduces a young missionary who was preaching on the street corner. When they are having sex, he calls her "sister". She immediately freaks out.
  • In Doctrine of Labyrinths Mildmay unwittingly calls Mehitabel "Ginevra" (the name of his dead ex-girlfriend) during sex on more than one occasion. She isn't that bothered as their relationship is more of a Friends with Benefits kind of deal, but it doesn't do her ego any favours. To his credit, he's mortified when she finally draws his attention to what he's been doing.
  • In The Culture novel Excession, one character is The Casanova who has a persistent problem with remembering the names of his conquests during sex. At the end of the novel, he becomes a Ladykiller in Love, and ironically, his new partner (who he sees as the love of his life) botches his name.
  • This is the cause for a near First Grade Dropout when the main 6-year-old boy accidentally calls his teacher "Mommy".
  • In the first book of the Flavia de Luce series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Colonel de Luce accidentally calls Flavia "Harriet" during a talk, lost in his memories and not immediately realizing that he's talking to his daughter there, not his deceased wife. Flavia doesn't call him out on it because she doesn't want to interrupt his reminiscences. It's said often within the series that Flavia is one of Harriet's daughters who's the most similar to her mother.
  • In Donald E. Westlake's God Save The Mark Fred tries sneaking through the ground-floor apartment in the building behind his to avoid some shooters. A naked woman sits up, spots him, and calls for "George" to get rid of the prowler. Unfortunately, the man in bed with her happens to be named Frank.
  • In The Heroes of Olympus, Nico was attempting to bring his sister Bianca back from the Underworld, but instead finds Hazel, a half-sister whom he had never met before. During one conversation, he begins to call her "Bianca," but corrects himself. Hazel doesn't fail to pick up on it.
  • Hybrid × Heart Magias Academy Ataraxia: Aine gets pulled into an orgy and is pleasured by Grace, but when she orgasms, she cries out her love interest Kizuna's name before passing out. Grace gets pissed off that Aine is not paying attention to her and has been tainted by a man, then orders her minions to find Kizuna and kill him. Fortunately, Kizuna defeats all his assassins.
  • During Knife Edge, Jude calls a random girl "Cara" by mistake. When she notices, he denies knowing anyone called Cara.
  • In The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester, Principal Frankel keeps calling Sam "Billy," the name of her boyfriend who died thirty years ago.
  • May the Best Man Win: Lukas has spent his whole life as The Unfavorite to his older brother Jason, who died a few months ago. When he tells his family that he might get into Stanford, his mom, who is slightly drunk, says, "I'm proud of you, Jas-" before she catches herself.
  • The Mermaid's Daughter: In this sequel to The Little Mermaid, Prince Charmless spends twenty years calling his wife by the mermaid's name.
  • Middlesex: In his youth, Lefty visits a brothel and chooses a girl who resembles the sister he truly wanted. And he calls the prostitute by her name.
    The girl fills a hookah for him. Soon he drifts off, no longer hearing the voice in his head. In the soft hashish dream of the ensuing hours, he loses sense of who he is and who he's with. The limbs of the prostitute become those of another woman. A few times he calls out a name, but by then he is too stoned to notice. Only later, showing him out, does the girl bring him back to reality. "By the way, I'm Irini. We don't have a Desdemona here."
  • Mountain Man Dance Moves: The McSweeney's Book of Lists includes a list of names that you could believably pass off as generic cries of passion if you got into this sort of situation during sex. Examples include "Moe", "Osgood" and "Deepak".
  • In Newsflesh, after metaphorically sleeping with Becks, Shaun calls her George and literally sleeps, inadvertently revealing to her and later the team that he and George had been sleeping together. This is met with varying reactions because of the Brother–Sister Incest, though some remembered that Shaun and George were Not Blood Siblings.
  • In the spy thriller The Ninth Directive a female agent that Quiller is having sex with calls out another man's name during orgasm. He politely pretends not to have heard but the morning after, knowing that he did, she explains that he was another agent killed in the line of duty, and shows Quiller the gun she intends to use to avenge him.
  • In Paper Towns, Jase Worthington accidentally says Margo's name instead of "Becca", the girl he was ready to have sex with. This immediately kills the mood and disappoints the eavesdropping Quentin, who was hoping to see Becca naked.
  • In Peacebreakers, Kiera's boyfriend Kenneth Mortimer violently breaks up with her after she calls him Evan (and later Danny) during foreplay.
  • In Seeds of Yesterday, Cathy repeatedly slips up and calls her twin grandchildren Darren and Deidre by the names of her deceased twin siblings Cory and Carrie, due to both their strong physical and personality resemblance to the latter pair and she herself wanting a Replacement Goldfish for them. This irritates both her son Jory (their father), and her brother/husband Chris, both of whom frequently and angrily remind her that they are not the same.
  • Sherlock Holmes: Becomes a plot point in "The Crooked Man", where the dead man's wife had been heard to shout "David! David!" in a stormy discussion with her husband, whose name is James. But as Watson points out, the other man's name is Henry. Holmes actually says that this was the clue that should have revealed the whole thing from the beginning "had I been that ideal reasoner you are so fond of depicting": the starting point of the story was James pulling off an Uriah Gambit on Henry to snag his fiancée, a very religious woman.
  • The Ship Who...:
    • At the end of The City Who Fought, Chaundra calls her boyfriend Amos "Simeon", the name of her shellperson partner. Amos, who has always been jealous of her relationship with Simeon, storms out. Simeon promptly calls him on it, pointing out among other things that Amos took Simeon's name to deceive invaders on the station, and it's not surprising Chaundra slipped when she's been calling him that for several weeks.
    • In The Ship Who Searched, Alex accidentally calls his random hookup partner Tia. Fortunately, she isn't that bothered by it and just calls him Giorgi in return. Alex is more disturbed by it because it makes him realize that he is falling for Tia (who is a Brain and therefore can't leave her life support tube).
  • In the second book of Six of Crows, a confrontation between Kaz and Jesper leads to Kaz accidentally calling Jesper "Jordie", the name of Kaz's dead older brother.
  • In the bodice-ripper Romance Novel The Silver Witch, the hero and heroine repeatedly slip up and call each other "Beau" or "Amanda", when their names are "Connor" and "Ashley". This is not a case of Retargeted Lust, however. They are actually the reincarnation of a couple murdered 100 years ago.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire:
    • Robert Baratheon referred to his new wife Cersei as "Lyanna" (his deceased fiancee and Lost Lenore) on their wedding night. This had continent-wide consequences.
    • A heartwarming/tearjerking example in Archmaester Gyldayn's Histories. Towards the end of his life, the bedridden Jaehaerys I Targaryen would sometimes mistake his caregiver, Alicent Hightower, as one of his daughters, all except one of whom he outlived. In the very end, he would solely mistake her as Saera, his sole surviving daughter, who left for Essos years ago after he disowned her, and never returned even for her father's last days.
  • In Starter For Ten, just when he seems to have finally sorted out his Betty and Veronica situation, Brian drunkenly calls Rebecca "Alice" at midnight on New Year's Eve.
  • Sweet Valley High: While on a date with a girl who happens to be a dead ringer for his dead girlfriend Tricia, Steven repeatedly slips up and calls her "Tricia". When she presses him about this, he tells her the whole story. Despite the revelation that she's clearly nothing more than a Replacement Goldfish, she continues to date him. (And to think she didn't even know that in addition to this, he was cheating on his girlfriend Cara with her).
  • Late in Ugly Love, Miles calls Tate "Rachel" - she being his ex-girlfriend who he's still hung up on - in the middle of sex. He tries to say he wasn't thinking about Rachel, but Tate lies that it's fine and insists they finish. Tate does end their relationship soon after, though.
  • In Wolf Hall, after the death of his wife in the Sweating Sickness, Cromwell takes up with her sister Johane. It's implied that he's accidentally called her "Liz" more than once in casual conversation, which (along with the awkwardness and the fact that her husband's still alive even if he doesn't share her bed) contributes to them ceasing the affair.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Late in the seventh season of 24, as Jack is suffering from the debilitating effects of a biological agent, while discussing a system the President (Allison Taylor) put in place, he, in a fit of anger, accidentally refers to David Palmer (presidential candidate in Day 1, and president in Days 2 and 3).
  • Played for Laughs in Agent Carter. Howard Stark has been captured by a Femme Fatale who smugly explains that she seduced him a while back in order to get information for her Evil Plan. Being The Casanova, Stark can't remember who she is and starts reeling off various names, getting a Pistol-Whipping every time he gets it wrong. At the end of the episode Stark eventually remembers that she was using the name "Ida".
  • Alias had such a moment, when Jack started losing his mind and his daughter Sidney had to pretend to be her own mother.
  • Altered Carbon: Kristin Ortega accidentally calls Takeshi Kovac's "Elias" while high on pain medication, as he looks exactly like her former lover Elias Ryker, having been sleeved into his body. Kovacs is ready to walk out at this point, but Vernon convinces him he needs to stay; even if he's not the man she wants by her bedside, he's the man she has right now.
  • In a mid-first season episode of Angel, shortly after Wesley joined Angel Investigations, Angel refers to Wes as "Doyle", a member of their team who was killed recently.
  • Arrow: Oliver Queen (posing as a Millionaire Playboy to cover for his vigilantism) claims he was with a woman to explain why he ditched his bodyguard again, saying he'll introduce her when he remembers what her name was.
  • Battlestar Galactica (2003): When Starbuck has a one-night stand with Gaius Baltar, she calls him Lee during climax. Neither of them is very happy about this.
  • In The Big Bang Theory episode "The Classified Materials Turbulence", Stuart and Penny's date goes downhill after she calls him by her ex-boyfriend Leonard's name in the heat of the moment.
  • On Boy Meets World, Cory discusses this with Angela when he suspects that Shawn and Topanga might have feelings for each other:
    Cory: Let me ask you this: In all the time that you were with Shawn, did he ever call out the name "Topanga"?
    Angela: No, but he called out the name "Cory".
    Cory: [flattered] In what context?
  • In Breaking Bad, Walt calls his son "Jesse", the name of the junkie ex-student who he's secretly been cooking meth with, in a moment of drunken and emotional bonding. Luckily, nothing ever comes of it — Walter Jr. doesn't know who Jesse is and sees no significance in the slip.
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Jake and Amy have both accidentally called Captain Holt “dad” or “father” on multiple occasions, which gets especially Freudian after the two of them get married. One such incident causes Boyle to casually reveal that he once referred to his wife as “mom” while having sex with her, much to Jake’s horror. When Rosa bonded with a suspect over their mutual disdain for Gina, she told him about an incident where Gina called Rosa "Gina".
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • In "Superstar", wimpy geek Jonathan casts a spell that makes everybody think he's the greatest guy on the planet. As a result, Anya and Buffy end up saying his name during intimate moments with Xander and Riley respectively.
    • In "Seeing Red", lesbian couple Tara and Willow are smooching when Tara looks out the window and sees:
      Tara: Xander!
      Willow: OK, not quite the response I was looking for...
  • An episode of El Chapulín Colorado has a woman who accidentally calls her husband "Firitóbulo", which was the name of her (late) first husband. The guy isn't amused, especially since the woman insists on keeping portrays of Firitóbulo all over the house, and later calls a spirit medium to try and channel him.
  • Cheers had a season three episode revolve around Sam gloating Diane cried out his name while having sex with Frasier.
  • Chico and the Man: Ed (the Man) accidentally calls Raul "Chico" at the end of Raul's first episode. When called out on it Ed covers by saying that "you're [Mexicans] all Chicos to me." A couple of seasons later Ed finally deals with Chico's death.
  • Cobra Kai: In a completely non-comedic example, in season 4 it's clear that Miguel sees Johnny as a father since he is the only adult man in his life and is literally dating his mother, but has been hesitant to tell him due to the fact that Johnny's real biological son, Robby, is both Miguel's rival and clearly is still very important to Johnny. But one night Miguel comes to Johnny's apartment to find him incredibly drunk (after a fight with Terry Silver) and helps him get into bed. Johnny then opens up about he wants to be a better father and feels like he has always done a poor job. Miguel tries to assure him that he isn't a failure and then finally admits that he loves him like a father. How does Johnny respond?
    Johnny: I love you too, Robby.
  • Criminal Minds: When Reid is shot, Blake cradles him and calls him Ethan. After Reid comes out of surgery, he asks her about it, and she explains that Ethan was her son who had died at a young age. Seeing the much-younger Reid potentially dying had reminded her of it and it's ultimately what makes her leave the team.
  • CSI: NY: After Mac quickly shuns a public display of affection from Peyton when he hears Stella coming around the corner in "Raising Shane", she gives him the cold shoulder. As he tries to make up with her the next day, Peyton interrupts him saying no excuse is good enough. Still trying to get her to listen to his apology, he accidentally calls her "Claire", his late wife's name. Needless to say, that only upsets her more and she turns her back on him and walks away.
  • After the villain of the ''Decoy' episode "Ladies' Man" is shot, he screams for his girlfriend Maggie to help him. When she doesn't come, he starts calling her by his ex-wife Lois's name, then "Ma."
  • In Dexter, Arthur often calls his daughter Rebecca "Vera" after the name of his deceased sister, but the family seems to have come to see it as a nickname for her... until the son finally calls him out on it.
  • Doctor Who:
    • In "Pyramids of Mars", the Fourth Doctor accidentally calls Sarah "Vicky" when she comes in wearing a dress similar to one worn by Second Doctor companion Victoria. Whoops.
    • "Vincent and the Doctor" has a sad example when the 11th Doctor accidentally calls Vincent van Gogh "Rory", and Amy goes "Who?" In the previous episode, Rory was erased from existence, remembered only by the Doctor.
  • Variation from the Dollhouse episode "Vows": Echo gets her own name wrong. She's talking down her "husband" after he hits her, but the blow to the head causes her imprint to glitch, and she uses the name of her imprint in the pilot.
  • On ER, Doug calls his random one-night stand by the wrong name. In a nice subversion, she isn't the least bit upset at this, revealing that she's forgotten his name as well.
  • In an episode of Family Matters, Steve murmurs Laura's name while snuggling with Myra at the local makeout point. She's understandably pissed.
  • A very sad example on Family Ties. After a friend of hers commits suicide, Mallory begins spending time with the friend's mother, hoping to ease their mutual grief. Unfortunately, after a minor disagreement, the woman begins screaming at her, calling her by her daughter's name, deeply upsetting and frightening Mallory and revealing that she's been subconsciously (or deliberately) trying to replace her daughter with Mallory, both in trying to make up for not being there for her and lashing out in anger at her for killing herself. This is actually foreshadowed earlier in the episode when she absently says "Rosalie and Nick seem very happy together", in front of Elyse and Steven, who don't have the heart to correct her.
  • Frasier:
    • Frasier, giving his brother Niles a long-overdue rant on how he needs to stand up to his wife, ends up referring to her by his own ex-wife's name. While someone else might try to argue that it was a slip of the tongue, Frasier happens to be a Freudian psychologist: "Well, that's destroyed any credibility I might have had—Dad, do you want to have a go?"
    • Frasier's first hint that his cousin is in love with another woman than the one he's due to marry is when he refers to her as Crystal (his fiancée's name is Marianne).
  • Friends:
    • Ross's infamous "I take thee, Rachel" line during his wedding to Emily, leading to their divorce a few months later. Word of God says inspiration for this scene came when Ross's actor, David Schwimmer, was filming a different scene and accidentally said "Rachel" instead of "Emily" at one point.
    • Rachel Green, trying in vain to teach Joey to sail, eventually snaps "Greens don't quit!" When he points out he's not a Green, she realizes she's channeling her father.
    • After reuniting with her old boyfriend David, Phoebe keeps accidentally calling him Mike, the name of her most recent boyfriend, much to David's chagrin. The real Mike ends up traveling all the way to Barbados to see her and asks her to take him back. She does, and they marry a few episodes before the Grand Finale.
    • Played for Laughs in "The One with Five Steaks and an Eggplant" where the Girl of the Week claims Chandler was so bad in bed she had to stop herself from calling the name of her ex.
  • Game of Thrones takes the A Song of Ice and Fire example from above in Literature but adds a little Adaptational Nice Guy to Cersei's motives. In the show, Cersei explains that she had genuine feelings for Robert and she was initially determined to make the marriage work, but after hearing Robert do this she realized she would, at best, be a Replacement Goldfish for Lyanna and at worst be a Poor Man's Substitute. In the books, she already hated Robert from the start because he'd killed Prince Rhaegar, who she originally wanted to marry, and his outburst just cemented it.
  • General Hospital. Lucy and Kevin are making out when she calls him "Damian" (someone she had an unresolved crush on). She's rather dismissive of his anger until he asks her how she would feel if he'd called her "Felicia" (his unresolved crush) and she immediately understands her mistake.
  • A variation on Gilmore Girls when Emily tells her granddaughter "just wait till your father comes home", referring to Rory's grandfather. The line goes unnoticed by either Gilmore lady, but it drives home how Rory has slipped into the role her grandparents wanted for her mother (and started to find it just as stifling).
  • House of the Dragon: During Laena Velaryon's funeral, Viserys Targaryen accidentally calls his current wife, Alicent Hightower, by the name of his first wife, Aemma Arryn, suggesting that he never moves on from her.
  • In Kim's Convenience, Mr. Kim helps Kimchee (the friend of the former's estranged son Jung and, unbeknownst to him, also said son's housemate) fix the toilet in his apartment. When Kimchee compliments him, Mr. Kim responds with, "You good assistant, Jung." This is one of the first signs that Mr. Kim still cherishes his son despite the two being on bad terms and not having spoken to each other for many years. Kimchee quickly changes the subject after a moment of awkward silence.
  • In the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Locum", Olivia discovers that the parents of an adopted girl, Mackenzie, have been changing her appearance to look like that of their biological daughter, Ella, who went missing ten years before. When Olivia confronts them, the mother bursts out with, "I love Ella!"
    Olivia: You mean Mackenzie.
    Mackenzie: No, she meant Ella.
  • In the Lost episode "Walkabout", after Locke, Kate, and Michael are attacked by a boar, Locke accidentally (and conspicuously) calls Kate "Helen". Later in the series in a flashback, we discover Helen is his ex-girlfriend that left him due to his obsession with his father.
  • In a jealousy-themed episode of Mad About You, protagonist Paul gets into trouble for shouting out his own name during sex.
  • When Roger Sterling has a heart attack during Season 2 of Mad Men, nearly going Out with a Bang, he yells out the name of the one-night stands he's with (one of the Doublemint Twins, if memory serves). Don Draper finds him, and (after calling the ambulance) starts to slap Roger in the face, yelling "Your wife's name is Mona!"
  • In Malcolm in the Middle, Lois is serving jury duty for a motorcycle theft case. When one of the jurors doesn't want to send him to jail, Lois says that jail will do more good than three years of military school. When the other jurors point out that the defendant had never been to military school she starts insisting that she'd read that in the evidence before accidentally calling him 'Francis', the name of her own delinquent son. She immediately recognizes the issues with this and leaves the jury.
  • While Tony and Deborah are having sex in Men Behaving Badly, Tony mistakes an innocent moan for "Jim" and calls her out on it. He's satisfied with her explanation that she really just said "mmmm", but then when they get back to it she cries out "JIM! JIM! OH JIM!" just to annoy him.
  • Neighbours:
    • Stuart arranges with Max to have his wife Stephanie committed in hopes that Max can take control of her medical decisions (she was delaying cancer treatments because of possible risk to her pregnancy). When arguing with Karl about it later, Stuart accidentally refers to Steph as Sindi, making it obvious that he's acting on his own feelings about his wife's committal the previous year.
    • A weird case when Paige almost hooks up with Mark's brother Tyler after her breakup with the former. When she calls him "Brennan", which is what she and a lot of other people had always called Mark, Tyler realises she's not over him despite her protests.
  • Discussed in The Office (US). While Dwight is still depressed over Angela breaking up with him, her new boyfriend, Andy (who does not know she used to date Dwight), is talking about how the two were making out and she moaned "Oh, D"— Angela's nickname for Dwight, though Andy misinterprets it as being short for his own name. The realization that Angela still has feelings for him puts Dwight in a much better mood.
    • In "Survivor Man", Jim is briefly in charge of the office in Michael's absence. Several employees have birthdays in close proximity to each other, so Jim decides to have one big birthday party instead of individual ones. The idea in enormously unpopular, then Toby mentions that he never got a proper birthday party on his own birthday two months ago and wants in. This inclusion is met with even more resistance. Then this happens:
      Phyllis: Hey Michael— I mean, Jim—
      Jim: (looks at camera with freaked-out expression)
  • On Perfect Strangers, Balki is dating a woman who is a dead ringer for ex-girlfriend Mary Ann. When Larry and Jennifer try to talk to him about this, he denies it—until he slips up and calls the woman Mary Ann.
  • A Tear Jerker example in Person of Interest. After being drugged by the Villain of the Week, Finch shares a Friendship Moment with John Reese whom he calls "Nathan", his Only Friend who was killed before the series begins.
  • During Power Rangers Time Force Fight Against Fate arc, Alex replaces (back) Wes as Red Ranger. During Megazord battle, Jen calls him "Wes" when reporting how dire the situation is. Given the Love Triangle between them, it reaches Does This Remind You of Anything? level.
  • In Primeval, Nick frequently refers to Jenny as Claudia (the two look alike, but Claudia stopped existing shortly before Jenny showed up). She doesn't like this at all.
  • The Professionals. Bodie does this deliberately to cause problems between Doyle and his Girl of the Week.
    Bodie: You must be Rachel. He's told me all about you.
    Doyle: (later in the car) Her name was Claire!
  • QI had this once when Sue Perkins was on the show. Stephen Fry refers to her as "Mel" at one point, the name of her comedy partner. After being corrected by Alan, he Face Palms as the audience and panelists roar with laughter.
  • In the Red Dwarf episode "Confidence and Paranoia", when Rimmer is talking to a hallucination representing Lister's paranoia, made real by a mutated flu virus, Paranoia says that Lister once called his PE teacher "daddy".
  • This happens twice in the Sabrina the Teenage Witch episode "Spellmanian Slip", with Sabrina blurting out the wrong guy's name instead of the name of the guy who's engaged with her. The first time it happens is Played for Drama, as it causes Sabrina to use magical means to delve deeper inside her subconscious to find out why this happened in the first place (and because the guy is someone Sabrina has only recently broken up and is currently Amicable Exes with), while the second time is Played for Laughs because the guy in question was an Unlucky Childhood Friend whom Sabrina no longer harbors romantic feelings to at all.
  • On Saved by the Bell, an increasingly distant and distracted Kelly calls her boyfriend Zack "Jeff", the name of her hot college co-worker. Understandably, the relationship does not last much longer.
  • Scoundrels (2010): Hope and Tad's disastrous attempt at Their First Time ends awkwardly when he calls her "Heather" when they start making out. While she later forgives him, she still thinks he has awful taste in women for liking her sister.
  • Played with on an episode of Scrubs J.D. is sleeping with his girlfriend Danni when she shouts out her own name during climax. J.D. is disconcerted but doesn't suspect infidelity. He should have, as it turns out, as she was in fact also sleeping with a man who shared her name.
  • In an episode of Sherlock, the titular character invites his friend Molly Hooper to solve crimes with him for a day, replacing Watson, who at the time refused to speak to him. Near the end of the day, while deep in thought, he mistakenly calls her "John".
  • In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Spock's Brain", Kirk and his landing party are trying to rescue Spock. Kirk says, "Tricorder readings, Mr. Spock… Mr. Scott."
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation:
    • When Data is believed dead in the episode "The Most Toys", Worf is assigned to his usual station and Picard accidentally calls him "Data" while issuing orders.
    • When Picard does some Mental Time Travel in "All Good Things...", he asks Worf to do a task that's actually Tasha Yar's job (Worf having taken over the role of Security Officer after Tasha's death).
  • Supernatural:
  • Variation on The West Wing: after Bartlet's secretary dies suddenly, he unconsciously calls out for her a few times. Then she walks into the Oval Office to talk Bartlet into running for re-election.
  • One arc of What I Like About You sees Holly falling for new guy Vince while she was still dating Henry. She spends a few episodes assuring Henry that he has nothing to worry about before finally responding to his "I love you, Holly," with "I love you too, Vince."
  • One famous episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway? had Drew Carey asking the audience for an example of "something you wished you didn't do" as a subject for an Irish Drinking Song. An audience member promptly suggested "called out the wrong name in bed" and they used it. The song itself, however, went (hilariously) Off the Rails before they could go into it.
    Colin: (Beat) Meow!
  • In Wolf Hall, Cromwell and Johane discuss the improbability of keeping up their affair. Then he accidentally calls her "Liz"—his wife and her sister, dead now for a few years—and she stops in her tracks, angry and hurt by the realization that she's a Replacement Goldfish. He does it again later while delirious from a fever, asking "her" permission to love Johane, so his feelings towards her are slightly more complicated.

    Music 
  • Mentioned in the Aerosmith song "Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees)": "I was believer when you told me that you loved me/ And then you called me someone else's name."
  • Ray Charles' 1961 single "I Believe to My Soul".
    Last night, you were dreamin' and I heard you say...
    (female voice)...Oh, Johnny.
    ...when you know my name is Ray.
  • "Spirit of the Age" by Hawkwind gives it a sci-fi twist:
    Your android replica is playing up again, oh it's no joke
    When she comes she moans another's name
  • "My Name Is Not Susan" by Whitney Houston explores this trope.
  • Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" is a classic example of this trope.
    One thing I do have on my mind - if you can clarify, please do:
    It's the way you call me by another guy's name when I try to make love to you.
  • In a song by Brazilian comedy group Mamonas Assassinas about a cuckold:
    And in the bed, when ablaze
    You call me by another name
    But there's an easy explanation
    My name is Dejair
    Dead easy to mix up
    With Trucker John
  • In "Jealousy" by Natalie Merchant, the narrator contemplates whether her ex does this with his new girlfriend:
    While she's touching you, just by mistake
    Accidentally, do you say my name?
  • "She's Got Issues" by The Offspring give us this gem:
    Now, she talks about her ex non-stop, but I don't mind.
    But when she calls out his name in bed, that's where I draw the line.
  • In "Flo" by Smash Mouth, this is one of the signs that the narrator's girlfriend isn't over her ex:
    Florence, if you hear this won't you come and take your girlfriend back.
    She's been calling out your name every time we're in the sack.
  • Rick Springfield's song "They Call Me Bruce" is a tongue-in-cheek rant about how people keep confusing him with Bruce Springsteen.
  • Bobby Vee's "Rubber Ball":
    You go and squeeze me 'til I'm all aflame
    (She calls you by some other guy's name)
    But like a rubber ball, I come bouncin' back to you
    Rubber ball, I come bouncin' back to you
  • There is a dancehall song called "Wrong Name (Who the Hell Is Kim?)", which is about a man who calls the singer "Kim", and other names, during pillow talk. She breaks up with him and kicks him out.
    Just when I thought, soon, you'd ask the question,
    You calling me Kim, Sharon and Susan
  • In "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Confession Part III"
    I'm so sorry, Debbie! *gasp* I mean Bridgett!

    Radio 

    Stand-Up Comedy 
  • Bill Cosby joked about the tendency for parents to call their kids by the wrong name when angry in the special Himself:
    "Ralph! Roquefort! Rutabaga— what is your name, boy?! And don't you lie to me, because you live here, and I'll find out who you are!"
  • According to Walter, Jeff Dunham did this once during sex with his wife. The name he yelled out was "Phillip".
  • Jeff Foxworthy mentions this as a real danger for someone who's always dating different people.
    "Hey, Sarah, I was thinking—"
    "Did you just call me 'Sarah'?"
    (Beat) "No. I said, 'Is 'ere a beer in the refrigerator?' I'm really thirsty."
  • Dylan Moran points out that it might be even worse to have the right name said in the wrong way.
    "Because everyone wants to hear, 'Oh, John!' But no one wants to hear [angry] 'John!' Or, [confused] '...John?' Or worst of all, [patronizing] 'Oh, John...'
  • Jeff Ross featured this in one of his poems, "Becky I Said":
    "Becky," I said, "you're the girl for me."
    "Becky," I said, "you're the world to me."
    "Becky," I said, "will you marry me?"
    "Jeff," she said, "my name's Karen."

    Theatre 
  • At the end of the "Now/Later/Soon" trio in A Little Night Music, the still-drowsy Fredrik longingly invokes Desiree's name where earlier he had used his wife's name (Anne).
  • In The Odd Couple, when Oscar wishes Felix good night, Felix answers him, "Good night, Frances." Felix doesn't realize what he's said, but Oscar does and is unnerved.

    Video Games 
  • Riddler's boss battle in Batman: Arkham Knight:
    Riddler: Die, Father! I-I mean, Batman.
  • In Cultist Simulator, while romancing Rose, it's mentioned she once calls the Player Character by the name of another potential cultist mid-coitus. "We never mentioned it after." The potential cultist in question is Victor, another Edge-aspect cultist — and her brother.
  • In Metroid Fusion, Samus mentally nicknames the (nameless) AI overseeing her mission "Adam" after a former Commanding Officer she served under. Towards the end of the game, when Samus confronts the AI over the Galactic Federation's shady goals involving Metroids, as well as the X Parasites, she accidentally calls him Adam aloud when trying to convince him to stop the Federation from coming to the Biologic Space Laboratories to capture and research the X, leading to the reveal that the AI actually is Adam.
  • In Persona 5, during your Confidant with Makoto Niijima, the Student Council President and a party member, she meets her new friend Eiko's boyfriend and becomes suspicious of him, believing that he's trying to scam Eiko into going into debt, and thus force her to sell herself to the sex trade. Noticing how Tsukasa calls everyone "princess" to avoid getting the names of his marks mixed up, Makoto texts Tsukasa to meet up with her in the same style that Eiko uses, and Tsukasa eventually slips up and calls Eiko "Makoto," thereby outing himself.
  • Played for Drama in The Walking Dead. At dinner, Kenny asks Clementine to pass a can of food, but calls her Duck, making it very clear that despite surface appearances, he (understandably) still hasn't got over the death of his son.

    Visual Novels 
  • Sort of in Melody, because it happens during masturbation, not sex. The title character blurts out the protagonist's name while using her vibrator, and is then too shocked with herself to continue.

    Webcomics 
  • Goblins: When Big-Ears is upset by Thaco's suggestion that they abandon Fumbles:
    Big-Ears: Well I'm not abandoning my friend! I am not letting One Eye die!
    (astonished looks)
    Big-Ears: I mean... (buries his face in his hands) You know what I mean.
  • In Gunnerkrigg Court, when Antimony falls off a bridge, Mr. Eglamore shouts the name of her mother, Surma (whom he loved). Reynardine, who also had loved her mother, also initially calls her by her mother's name, as does Coyote, but that was before being formally introduced (Annie is a dead ringer for Surma at her age).
  • Juvenile Diversion: Kyle blurts out Meg's name while having sex with Jenny because he catches her peeking on them. Unfortunately, Jenny doesn't see Meg and gets angry at Kyle for doing this.
  • Ménage à 3:
    • DiDi, who has trouble keeping track of her countless boyfriends, is prone to calling them by the wrong name at any time, including moments of passion. They generally forgive her, because she's DiDi, but it's rough on them. See, for example, strip #462 (June 08, 2011; NSFW).
    • Matt is peculiarly prone to having his sexual partners call out Gary's name, somewhat to his cost in mental stability:
      • First, DiDi does this, traumatizing him so badly that he requires professional treatment. (Strip #590, April 19, 2012; NSFW.)
      • Then later, Peggy does the same, due to a genuine if weird case of comedy Mistaken Identity. This time, he decides it's an auditory hallucination, until they discover the mistake. (Strip #898, June 12, 2014; NSFW.)
  • Pixie Trix Comix: Axl suffers a classic "during sex" case (in flashback) here, explaining why Nikki has just broken up with him.
  • In Questionable Content Marten goes to a party and has a casual hookup. He is disappointed at the lack of connection, since the girl calls him by the wrong name. He gets called on the spot by his friends when they realize he can't remember her name.
  • Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal has several weird cases of the "during sex" variant:
    • The comic managed to subvert this: It's his name, but he's upset because she's not supposed to know it.
    • It's not so noticeable when you're accidentally calling the name of your childhood sweetheart, Ohmygodyes.
    • "Oh Hziulquigmnzhah of Cykranosh, the dread spawn of Cxaxukluth! ...It was just a slip of the tongue!"
  • Something*Positive:
    • Fred, who is developing Alzheimer's, once confused Pee Jee for Faye, his dead wife. Made worse by the fact he goes on to make romantic advances toward her.
    • The first hint that Davan and Eva's relationship isn't going to work out is Eva calling out her abusive ex-boyfriend Marcus' name when Davan pleasures her orally.
  • In Todd Allison & the Petunia Violet, Todd Allison calls Petunia "Jacqueline" while drunk and half-asleep. Petunia speculates that it might be his dead wife's name and gets into a panic the next day when he asks her if he did or said anything weird the previous night.
  • In Weak Hero, Gray falls into a Tranquil Fury when reminded of Stephen's hospitalisation and beats down Wolf even though he's barely able to stand himself. When Ben arrives on the scene and hurries over to help Gray, the semi-delirious Gray sees his silhouette, calls out Stephen's name, and then falls unconscious in Ben's arms.

    Web Original 

    Western Animation 
  • In the American Dad! episode "Surro-Gate", Stan kidnaps Terry and Greg's new daughter to take her to Arizona and put her up for adoption (rather than let her be raised by the homosexual couple). The couple (being news anchors) start a national manhunt for him. When a lesbian couple rescues him from an angry mob and bring him home to meet their kids, to show him how normal and healthy their family is, it backfires and he takes their kids as well... When Stan hears them fighting in the back seat, he yells at them using the names of his own kids, Steve and Hayley, making him realize that the kids are no different from his own, and stop the car just inches from the border.
  • Big City Greens: In "Backflip Bill", Cricket decides to help Bill train to be a gymnastics pro like he was when he was a kid, vowing not to make the same mistakes that Gramma did (thinking she was merely unsupportive). However, Cricket quickly becomes an abusive coach who pushes Bill much and too far, until he finally has enough and screams "STOP IT, MA!". This makes Cricket realize that was what happened the first time, and that he'd become every bit the competitive, selfish jerkass that Gramma was.
  • In an episode of Bob the Builder, Spud accidentally calls Wendy "Bob", then quickly corrects himself, as he's very used to apologizing to Bob instead of Wendy if Spud did something wrong and got into trouble.
  • BoJack Horseman: In "Head in the Clouds", during the introduction to Philbert, BoJack (who's a bit high on painkillers) accidentally calls Flip "Herb", the name of his deceased former friend and the creator of his first series, Horsin' Around.
  • Family Guy:
    • In "North by North Quahog", Peter is understandably offended when Lois blurts out "George!" (as in Clooney) during sex. A little later, she blurts out "Mel!" (they were in Gibson's hotel room). She finally calls out the right name in the end after they get the spark back in their marriage.
    • An earlier episode has Peter reference the opposite where, during sex, he calls Lois Frank.
  • Fish Hooks: In "Fish Prom" as Oscar is confronting Angela and confessing his loneliness, it culminates in him accidentally calling her "Bea", resulting in her breaking up with him.
  • The Hey Arnold! episode "Helga's Masquerade" has Helga attend a costume party dressed like Arnold's crush Lila (as well as copying her mannerisms to the letter) in order to get closer to him. Arnold is infatuated by her outfit and spends most of the evening with her. Guess where this is going...
  • In the third Jimmy Timmy Power Hour, Jimmy and Timmy go after the villain with weapons from Jimmy's lab, only for Timmy to discover that the weapons are completely useless thanks to Jimmy losing his intelligence earlier.
    Timmy: Cosmo, you idiot! Sorry, force of habit. Jimmy, you idiot!
  • Moral Orel: Florence, an overweight woman, is infatuated with Reverend Putty, while he's interested in her svelte, attractive roommate Dottie. When Florence gets him to have sex with her, guess whose name he yells out?
  • The Owl House:
    • In "Lost in Language", in one of Amity Blight's diary entries, she tells of a time when she called one of her teachers "mom".
    • During "King's Tide", and throughout the third season as his sanity starts to deteriorate, Emperor Belos starts calling Hunter "Caleb". Caleb was the name of Belos's brother, who Belos murdered after he fell in love with a witch, and who Hunter is a clone of. The fact that Belos calls him by his brother's name indicates that he never saw Hunter or any of the other Caleb-clones as their own people.
      • In a similar vein, in "Thanks to Them", he calls Flapjack "Evelyn", that being the name of Caleb's witch lover.
  • An episode of Recess had Spinelli call Mrs. Grotke "Mama" while trying to keep her from slipping on a piece of junk in the parking lot. Naturally she is teased mercilessly for this.
  • The Simpsons:
    • In "Lisa the Vegetarian", Lisa defiantly steals the suckling pig from the Simpson backyard BBBQ*:
      Marge: Bart, nooooo!
      Bart: (standing beside her) What?
      Marge: Sorry, force of habit. Lisa, nooooo!
    • When Bleeding Gums Murphy was saying his goodbyes to Lisa, a few other famous figureheads joined him, including Mufasa, who called out to Kimba, before quickly changing back to Simba (a reference to the controversy regarding The Lion King's apparent similarity to Kimba the White Lion).
    • In one episode Marge says that Homer calls out his bowling ball's name during sex.
    • There's Ralph Wiggum's ineradicable tendency to call his teacher, Miss Hoover, "mommy".
    • A variation in "The Burns Cage" when Smithers dates Julio, who breaks up with him when Smithers calls him "sir," making it clear he's not over Burns.
    • One episode has Marge developing a close friendship with Smithers and sleepily calling Homer by his name after they've had sex. In this case, there's no fear of an affair, but the incident causes Homer to realize that someone other than him is meeting Marge's emotional needs, meaning he's just there for sex (which he welcomes at first).
  • In The Spectacular Spider-Man, Peter has just walked away from his girlfriend Liz Allan, and thinks to himself, "Wow, Gwen is so cool. I mean Liz!" Gwen is his best friend/obvious real Love Interest.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants: In "SpongeBob, You're Fired!", SpongeBob tries out new jobs after getting fired from the Krusty Krab, but he gets fired every time. When that happens, he impulsively shouts "But I've given you the best years of my life, Mr. Krabs!"
    • Also in "Welcome to the Chum Bucket" when Mr. Krabs loses SpongeBob in a bet to Plankton, the latter tries making SpongeBob more comfortable at his job (to make him work for him), SpongeBob also gets more chipper... until he starts bawling again after accidentally calling Plankton "Mr. Krabs".
  • The Steven Universe episode "Sworn to the Sword" has Pearl's feelings for Rose Quartz peep out during the "Do It For Her/Him" montage, by substituting "him" for "her". At the end of the episode, when Steven refuses to allow Connie to sacrifice herself as his knight (as Pearl tried to do for Rose), the two get into a shouting match.
    Pearl: You shouldn't be anywhere near the fight. You're too important!
    Steven: I am not!
    Pearl: Yes, you are!
    Steven: NO!
    Pearl: WHY WON'T YOU JUST LET ME DO THIS FOR YOU, ROSE?!
    Beat
    Pearl: (turns blue) I-I mean, let her... do this... Why won't you let Connie do this, for you... (drops sword) That's... enough... for today.
  • Total Drama:
    • Courtney is the bank teller in "Ocean's Eight - Or Nine" and therefore the judge as to which team deserves the loot of the bank robbery. She confidently states it's Duncan before correcting herself and saying it's the Gaffers. Duncan is her love interest and the Gaffers the team he is part of. The Gaffers did make it to the wicket first, but Courtney's image of impartiality gets a notch
    • In the confessional in "Newf Kids on the Rock", Gwen criticizes Heather for letting her feelings for Alejandro mess up her game. She goes on to explain that she knows what she's talking about because last season, her relationship with Duncan made things difficult for her. Her own words startle her because it was Trent she was in a relationship with. Gwen tries to correct herself, but because she's not convincing she attempts to break open the camera to get the tape.

    Real Life 
  • In an episode of The Brady Bunch the Bradys get a trampoline and are having fun with it in their backyard. Greg turns to Jan and says "why don't you try it, Eve?" (Eve Plumb plays Jan.) According to Barry Williams, the actor who played Greg, they messed up takes like this a lot but this was the only one to make it to air.
  • In the episode 'I will remember you' of Angel, Buffy and Angel get another shot at being together that doesn't work out. This storyline upset Sarah Michelle Gellar so much she had trouble filming the final scenes. You can hear David Boreanaz call her Sarah instead of "Buffy" in an effort to comfort her.
  • There were some outtakes of The Cosby Show where the actors slipped up and used real names instead of character names as in the above example, but they always caught it.
  • While preparing for "Ambush", the live episode of ER, series star George Clooney states that the main things the cast had been warned about was not to curse nor call anyone by their real names. Fortunately, neither thing happened.
  • While making The Frighteners, Michael J. Fox kept yelling "Doc!" instead of "Judge!". Some instances of it were shown in the Hilarious Outtakes.
  • Be honest. At some point, you accidentally called your teacher ‘mom’ or ‘dad’.

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Rosalia

"SUCK IT, ROSALIA!"

How well does it match the trope?

4.76 (17 votes)

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Main / BrickJoke

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