Basic Trope: Debating what to name a baby, pet, or thing.
- Straight: Alice is pregnant and she and her husband Bob are talking about what to name the baby. She suggests Giovanni for a boy, but he thinks that sounds too much like a Renaissance artist and suggests Jack, which Alice thinks is too plain.
- Exaggerated:
- They go through every name in history.
- They need to think of names for quadruplets, a new cat, and a new boat.
- Downplayed: Alice briefly says, "If it's a girl, what about Denise?", but we don't hear Bob's reply.
- Justified: That's the kind of conversation that pops up when you're expecting a baby.
- Inverted: Alice gives birth to a baby boy, and she and Bob immediately decide to call him Chris, even speaking in unison.
- Subverted: It looks like Bob is listing weird names for the baby while he and Alice are in the car—turns out he was just really hungry and naming all the fast food places they passed while Alice was listing baby names.
- Double Subverted: Through a mouthful of burger, Bob continues, "And think, every single one of those places would make a great, strong name for the baby!"
- Parodied:
- Zigzagged:
- Averted:
- Alice is not pregnant.
- Alice and Bob immediately agree on what to name the baby.
- The baby's name isn't discussed until it's born, whereupon she immediately names him Chris and Bob goes along with it.
- Enforced:
- Lamsphaded: "We still haven't decided on a name!"
- Invoked: "Hey, let's discuss names for the baby."
- Exploited:
- Defied: Alice decides to just choose something random and Bob decides to go along with whatever she suggests.
- Discussed: "Should we have kids? Would we ever be able to decide on a name for the kid?"
- Conversed: "Sitcom characters always have the hardest time naming babies."
- Implied: The conversation the parents have when the baby is born implies they've talked about names before:Alice: "Whoa, he does not look like a David!"Bob: "He doesn't look like a Paul either!"
- Deconstructed:
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs: Bob keeps suggesting ridiculous names, like "Goopy" or "Potato", but when Alice suggests Olga, he turns it down for being "an unusual name".
- Played for Drama: Alice suggests naming the baby Edith, but Bob says no because that's the name of his dead mother and it makes him sad.
- Played for Horror:
Back to Debating Names.
