TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Ask The Tropers

Go To

Have a question about how the TVTropes wiki works? No one knows this community better than the people in it, so ask away! Ask the Tropers is the page you come to when you have a question burning in your brain and the support pages didn't help. It's not for everything, though. For a list of all the resources for your questions, click here. You can also go to this Directory thread for ongoing cleanup projects.

Ask the Tropers:

Trope Related Question:

Make Private (For security bugs or stuff only for moderators)

Unsung Since: Jun, 2016
2019-06-06 09:33:26

It can be. Characters who change their name to something they themselves find cool. Characters whose names are commented on in-universe. Meaningful Names that would seem ridiculously over the top or on-the-nose in real life.

Edited by Unsung
Pichu-kun Since: Jan, 2001
2019-06-06 09:59:24

But is it in-universe only?

Unsung Since: Jun, 2016
2019-06-06 11:29:25

I imagine the answer's probably going to come back to yes, because either it's clear-cut enough that it's probably deliberate on the creator's part or so subjective that the number of examples is basically endless.

Though I would be interested in cases where this somehow happened accidentally. Translations and cultural differences and such. Though we probably do have a translation trope that covers that.

Pichu-kun Since: Jan, 2001
2019-06-06 11:33:43

I guess the clean-up thread should be revived because almost all examples are tropers opinions on what sounds cool.

Willbyr MOD (Y2K)
2019-06-06 11:34:52

^ I'd be fine with restricting it to IUEO for that very reason.

Brainulator9 Since: Aug, 2018
2019-06-06 12:48:20

Agreed. This isn't YMMV, and this sort of gushing belongs on Sugar Wiki.

Contains 20% less fat than the leading value brand!
Unsung Since: Jun, 2016
2019-06-06 12:54:55

^^^ Which subpage in particular do you mean? I'm looking over Films and Literature atm, and they do seem to be mostly in-universe and/or Meaningful Names so far.

Pichu-kun Since: Jan, 2001
2019-06-06 13:45:50

First two examples off of Literature are mainly out-of-universe reactions:

  • Oliver Twist has the title character. The Artful Dodger has a cool nickname, but his real name, Jack Dawkins, is fairly banal.
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is full of unlikely names that sound pretty cool.
    • Hotblack Desiato, which is actually the name of rather posh, London estate agents.
    • Zaphod Beeblebrox, fitting his eccentric rock star/politician/dingbat personality.
    • "Slartibartfast," which was created to sound obscene but not be. Adams started with Phartiphukborlz and changed it just enough to get past the censors.
    • And, of course, Ford Prefect, although it sounds much cooler to American readers who mostly didn't realize that he's actually named after a sensible British motorcar.

Likewise, the first two examples off of the anime page:

Unsung Since: Jun, 2016
2019-06-06 15:18:15

Those seem like clear-cut cases where the creator came up with names they thought would sound cool, or in the case of Hitchhiker's Guide, are names characters in-universe think sound cool. I mean, "Glory Hunter?"

Edited by Unsung
Pichu-kun Since: Jan, 2001
2019-06-06 16:26:01

There's no way to know for sure what the creator wanted without a Word of God.

Unsung Since: Jun, 2016
2019-06-06 16:39:52

That's an oversimplification. Whether or not a thing is cool is subjective, but like Names to Run Away from Really Fast, I do think we can tell when a name is used for deliberate effect, and we can certainly tell when a name is a lot "cooler" and more over-the-top than most names we encounter in day-to-day life in the real world.

naturalironist Since: Jul, 2016
2019-06-06 20:46:07

I swear there was a thread about this a few months ago. This is a heavily misused trope.

But at it's heart, it's not subjective- it's about cramming together words with positive or "awesome" connotations into an unusual name. Stuff like Lightening Mc Queen, Danger Swiftstrike, etc.

Of the examples you'd proposed, the Attack On Titan and D. Gray Man examples seem legit.

I don't think this trope needs a change in definition, but it's one of those tropes like Captain Obvious that sounds like you can stick it anywhere, so people do.

"It's just a show; I should really just relax"
Pichu-kun Since: Jan, 2001
2019-06-07 05:48:58

I've seen it used on Characters.Warrior Cats pages in confusing manners. Scorchwind and Silverflame are listed under Awesome McCoolname but characters like Adderfang and Sandstorm don't. It seems too subjective as different people have opinions on what is "cool".

Unsung Since: Jun, 2016
2019-06-07 07:38:27

That just means nobody has gotten around to adding a specific entry to a given character, probably because of the redundancy factor. It's a series where all the names are like that, with Awesome McCoolname listed as a general trope for the work overall. There's no reason you couldn't add it, though. Other than maybe a given name being more appropriately listed under Luke Nounverber, Meaningful Name, Names to Run Away from Really Fast, etc., which could be seen as more specific subtropes in cases like this.

Edited by Unsung
Top