Misused (new crowner 8/9/13): Fail O Suckyname

Does not illustrate, and chronically misused. This is a subtrope of Unfortunate Name where someone chose their own Unfortunate Name, usually a superhero with a bad name. Across the site it gets used as Unfortunate Name. Part of the problem, I think, is the "O'Suckyname" doesn't sound like a code name or alias and really does sound like a given name.

I also pulled a bunch of bad examples off the page itself.

From the first 20 Related links (discounting I Read That As):

Tabletop Game/Aberrant: Correct; Abnormal Ammo: Correct Ace Attorney: Victims: Incorrect Adolf Hitler: Incorrect (twice) Adventures of Mario and Sonic: Correct Adventure Time: Minor: Incorrect Agents of Cracked: Correct, I think. Age of Mythology: Incorrect Aliens: Infestation: Incorrect, I'm guessing. Ali G Indahouse: Incorrect

American Dragon: Jake Long: Seems to be incorrect. American McGee's Alice: Incorrect An American Tail: Seemingly incorrect An American Tail: Repeat of the above. Angel Investigations: Actually, this one is weird. It lists an inversion which is a guy whose name means "brave and undefeated warrior." That just seems to be a bad use of this trope, but unrelated to my issue of misuse. Anime & Manga: Incorrect. Anime & Manga: Incorrect (same character) Anime And Manga: Incorrect (... same character) Ansem Retort: Unsure. Looked incorrect at first, but a spoiler made me question it. Ansem Retort: Repeat of the above.

We can safely say 13-16 of the first 20 uses of the trope are incorrect.

This has come up before, but it doesn't seem like anything really came of it: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1295606751037122900. I liked the idea of renaming it to Suckyname Man.

There is the issue that there are plenty of inbounds. I say make this trope Suckyname Man, and turn Fail O Suckyname into a redirect for Unfortunate Name.

Thoughts?

edited 2nd May '13 7:37:39 AM by Larkmarn

With 480 wicks, that sounds reasonable, wlthough I some questions about whether the distinction between Unfortunate Names and Fail O Suckyname is a good one.

The issue that caused all these incorrect links was probably that Awesome Mc Cool Name and Fail O Sucky Name sounded like contrasting sister tropes.

I support the Suckyname Man idea.

edited 2nd May '13 7:42:22 AM by salmonpunch

To Suckyname Man.

Although there might be something to say for Suckyname Girl. Superheroes need not always be male, you know.

edited 2nd May '13 7:46:03 AM by Catbert

Wow, I had no idea that Fail O Suckyname was supposed to be about superheroes picking bad names for themselves.

@ Catbert: Yeah, good point. It's why I think making it redirect to Unfortunate Name makes sense.

I think that just needlessly confuses things... given that Men Are Generic, Women Are Special, people will assume that the use of "Girl" in there will have some special meaning. Captain Suckyname, might be a gender neutral possibility? But Suckyname Man seems more self-given.

You and a lot of people (myself included, for quite some time).

edited 2nd May '13 7:58:21 AM by Larkmarn

Personally I wonder what qualifies as a sucky name. I find some to just be unusual, but I may be missing some language issue. Some are awesome (see sports section, search for "Ducks").

But is it an Audience Reaction for names someone, somwhere, found funny, or names actually acknowledged as bad in-story?

Good question. Some are trivia, some are Have a Gay Old Time, some just mean something weird in another language, and some appear to be Complaining About Characters You Dont Like. Some clear definition would be nice (unless we just want to throw this in the Just for Fun bin).

We could make the trope YMMV, and only allow lampshaded examples on works pages with an In-Universe tag.

Have a Gay Old Time and foreign language ones should still be mentioned, at least somewhere.

I thought Fail O Sucky Name required some in-universe reaction to the ugliness of the name already.

I like the idea with creating a redirect to Unfortunate Name, and I think I'd like to have Fail O Sucky Name as the title that sticks because it's catchy and pairs nicely with Awesome Mc Cool Name.

Suckyname Man ain't bad, and I fully support the idea that it should have the female variant, like Nice Girl/Nice Guy or Ms. Imagination/Mr. Imagination.

I think "names that are self-chosen and mocked" is probably the best distinction. Lampshades also work. That still includes non-story uses like sports, and it encourages something that's more than Zero Context Examples. It also excludes names that aren't bad, but just not awesome. Which the trope should already, but sometimes it's hard to tell.

I think Mocked Moniker might do for a good name.

I like that.

Because let's face it, "character name that some troper finds silly" is not a trope.

Agreed, with the caveat that there are clearly examples of works where the author intended the character to have a sucky name for humorous reasons.

You mean as a part of a parody where it isn't mentioned in any way? Well, in those cases, I'd say they still serve to add to the humour, since it adds to the overall ridiculousness, so they're sort of lampshaded by the tone of the story itself. Or the other way around. A parody of a proper name is often a deliberately silly one. It's not necessarily a straight example, but it is playing with the trope.

+1 for Mocked Moniker.

Should this trope include only superheroes? Mocked Monicker sounds very much like it. But I think this should be more broad as Tropes Are Flexible.

I keep thinking about one example I added and whether it would fit. And whether it fits now, for that matter.

• Joy Hopewell from "Good Country People" sees herself as an ugly crippled woman and changes her name to Hulga. She's glad that it's so ugly and her mother also comments that it must we the worst sounding name ever.

Now when I think of it, the trope description focuses on superheroes. It might have been one of those eager edits by an irresponsible newbie which I was back in the day...

I don't see why a trope like this would limit itself to superheroes. Whenever a character needs an alias for himself and picks something ridiculous, that sounds like the same trope to me.

Yes, it's not exclusively about superheroes, but any time someone chooses their own name. Your example is a perfect fit.

^^ Like an Atrocious Alias or something? Doesn't quite carry the same jingle as MM though.

I think Mocked Moniker can still work. Moniker doesn't necessarily have to be a superhero term, and "Mocked" is key because it helps explain that the name has to be mocked or questioned in-universe.

I don't even get the direct connection between "superhero" and "moniker" (as opposed to a serial killer, informant, or author who don't want to use her real name). It just a term for what someone is calling herself. Sure, practically all superheroes have one, but it's hardly an exclusive term.

@17: It limits itself to superheroes because that's what the description says.

It's an Example as a Thesis case, which naturally limits the description more than what the trope is. Or specifically, the description doesn't limit it as much as simply not explicitly including everything that should be included. Or else we'd have to cut all non-superhero examples, which would be most of the page.

We're suggesting to change that part of the description, on grounds of Tropes Are Not Narrow.

edited 3rd May '13 10:06:43 AM by Spark9

It's not, though. That's just a consequence of Example As Thesis, which should probably get a bit of a rewrite.

EDIT: Double ninja'd.

edited 3rd May '13 12:05:17 PM by Larkmarn