Rename (alt names crowner 4/17): Plain Name

Okay, Plain Name seems to have a little problem. Right now, the definition is "a character that has a plain name", but this by its own is People Sit On Chairs. Besides, how do we decide if a name is plain?

I think we should change it for when a character points it out, not just when the character's name is simple and plain.

edited 6th Jun '11 4:27:43 PM by chihuahua0

Yeah, that's obviously Chairs. It might have been an attempt to create a parallel to things like Steve Ulyses Per Hero (I think that's the proper name) where none of that applied.

Fight smart, not fair.

Hey, I know! For each section, put in a single entry: every name not covered by any significant or unique name trope. :D

Looking at the examples, this looks like another trope altogether. What I see is someone who has a plain name who is surrounded by fantastic ones.

The only problem is I think we already have that one as Aerith and Bob.

edited 7th Jun '11 12:22:08 PM by pokedude10

^ Yes, an ordinary name as the exception to a setting of fantastic names is tropable, and yes, Aerith and Bob covers ...

Wait a minute, Aerith and Bob covers the general mixture of fantastic and plain names. It doesn't mandate that one is an exception to the other's rule (and whether we need that distinction at all is debatable).

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

Having a plain name might be a trope if it is explicitly pointed out that the name doesn't fit someone. Like the second coming of Jesus being named Teddy Jo. Someone who you would think would have a kickass name due to being someone very important instead has a Plain Name.

But that is not even really close this trope.

edited 7th Jun '11 2:01:31 PM by Arha

I don't really think that this is a trope unless the plain name carries some significance within the work by virtue of its plainness.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

That's what I thought too, like the Harry Potter example (Voldemort doesn't like his given name, which says something about his character). It could also be a trope if it's someone that people would expect to have a grandiose name or title, but they turn out to have a really simple one (like Tim from Monty Python And The Holy Grail).

Well, that covers the Vamprire Bill example too.

I swear we have this though: Some Call Me "Tim"?

Ninja Edit: Never mind.

edited 7th Jun '11 2:22:39 PM by chihuahua0

^^ That's what I was going for. It's not just the super special person have a plain name, it's that people in the story are surprised that someone in their position has such a plain name.

edited 7th Jun '11 2:22:11 PM by Arha

Interesting... the original YKTTW actually says, "Please try to limit yourself to instances in which a character would be expected to have an extravagant name, but doesn't." Trope decay, maybe?

So can I still go ahead with my YKTTW?

This is where my signature is.

Better name than this one, at least. You can probably mine this one for some examples.

Aye Ayer caps, I still need more examples though

This is where my signature is.

So what are we going to do with the Plain Name itself? Redefine it to when it's explicitly pointed out? Cut it?

Its usage is still anemic, so perhaps something's wrong with it, at least.

I think that Tom the Dark Lord trope pretty much covers most of the part of Plain Name that is not People Sitting On Chairs, so I would be fine with cutting Plain Name itself. Another option would be to rework it to fit its originally intended definition of "instances in which a character would be expected to have an extravagant name, but doesn't." Basically, I think the main options are the following:

• Cut Plain Name, moving appropriate examples to the Tom the Dark Lord that have not already been moved there.
• Keep Plain Name as a supertrope to Tom the Dark Lord, rewrite the definition to emphasize that the trope is about "instances in which a character would be expected to have an extravagant name, but doesn't," cut examples that do not fit that definition, and possibly rename the trope to something like Extraordinary Person Plain Name *
  Extraordinary Being Plain Name
  or Extraordinary Person Ordinary Name.

Does it seem worth it to make a page action crowner with those two options on it?

edited 13th Jan '12 5:33:29 PM by LouieW

"irhgT nm0w tehre might b ea lotof th1nmgs i dont udarstannd, ubt oim ujst goinjg to keepfollowing this pazth i belieove iN !!!!!1 d

How should "instances in which a character would be expected to have an extravagant name, but doesn't," actually work? Should we discount Super Heroes, whose real names are just generally plain?

edited 3rd Feb '12 3:48:21 AM by ThatHuman

something

I'd say cut this. If there are a lot of nonvillainous examples, maybe they can be taken to YKTTW?

That Human,

I admit that I do not have the best answer to that question, but I would guess that types of characters who generally have plain names would not count. I am thinking that examples of say some super powerful lord of everything named Bill would be more of what the trope would cover.

Anyway, there is now a page action crowner for this trope here with the options I mentioned in my last post.

"irhgT nm0w tehre might b ea lotof th1nmgs i dont udarstannd, ubt oim ujst goinjg to keepfollowing this pazth i belieove iN !!!!!1 d

This has been open a month. Calling to keep as a supertrope to Dark Lord Tom.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick

Alt names crowner added with suggestions from the thread. Feel free to add more.

Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.

Bump for votes.

"Learning without thinking is labor lost. Thinking without learning is dangerous."

Calling crowner in favor of the winning title. Make it so.

Done, with all the details.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman