Naming Conventions

There are obvious basic trends in character names. You will never encounter a tough-guy character in a drama with the name "Maurice" or "Adelbert." You will never see a computer geek named "Rocco" or "Lefty". "Ethel" is always dowdy, while "Jennifer" is always a bombshell.

Society has stereotypes that go with most names, and television writers play to those stereotypes. Comedy -- especially broad or satirical comedy -- can play against type with names, and sometimes talented writing can spawn a new stereotype to go with an old name. The rest of the time, though, writers go with what is known or expected, or else they risk having the characters dismissed by the viewers for reasons that they only vaguely understand themselves.

Foreign and outright alien characters have more leeway, but even with them, certain practices have become standardized.

A primary example of gleeful inversion would be Terry Pratchett's Discworld -- you would expect Death's white horse to have a formidable, dark-sounding name. Instead, it's called Binky.

See also Language Tropes. Compare Title Tropes.

Characters

 * Adam and Or Eve
 * The Adjectival Man
 * The Adjectival Superhero
 * Aerith and Bob
 * Affectionate Nickname
 * Alice Allusion
 * Alliterative Family
 * Alliterative Name
 * Almost Famous Name
 * Alucard
 * Always V Sexy
 * Animal-Themed Superbeing
 * Appropriated Appellation
 * As Long As It Sounds Foreign
 * Awesome McCoolname
 * Be My Valentine
 * The Butcher
 * Captain Color Beard
 * Captain Superhero
 * Character Name Alias
 * Cherry Blossom Girl
 * Code Name
 * Color Character
 * The Danza
 * Dark Age of Supernames
 * Darkness Von Gothickname
 * Day of the Week Name
 * Dead Guy Junior
 * Diseased Name
 * Doctor Doctor Doctor
 * Do Not Call Me Paul
 * Don't Call Me Sir
 * Dr. Genericius
 * Dub Name Change
 * Earn Your Title
 * Embarrassing First Name
 * Embarrassing Middle Name
 * Embarrassing Nickname
 * Evil Roy
 * Fail O'Suckyname
 * Famous-Named Foreigner
 * First-Name Basis
 * Flintstone Theming
 * Friendly Address Privileges
 * Full-Name Basis
 * Gender Blender Name
 * Ghetto Name
 * Giver of Lame Names
 * A Good Name for A Rock Band
 * The Great Whodini
 * Gunman With Three Names
 * Hello, Insert Name Here
 * Hey, You
 * His Name Really Is "Barkeep"
 * Hollywood Spelling
 * Hometown Nickname
 * House Pseudonym
 * I Am X, Son of Y
 * I Call Him "Mister Happy"
 * I Call Her "Vera"
 * I Have Many Names
 * Ironic Name
 * Ironic Nickname
 * In-Series Nickname
 * Insult of Endearment
 * Johnny McCoolname
 * Just the First Citizen
 * A Kind of One
 * Ladyella
 * Large Ham Title
 * Last-Minute Baby-Naming
 * Last-Name Basis
 * Law of Alien Names
 * Letter Motif
 * Let X Be the Unknown
 * Line-of-Sight Name
 * Louis Cypher
 * Luke Nounverber
 * The Master
 * Max Trope
 * Meaningful Name
 * Meaningful Rename
 * Meaningful Titles
 * Aristocrats Are Evil
 * Evil Chancellor
 * The Good Captain
 * Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate
 * A Mech By Any Other Name
 * Melting Pot Nomenclature
 * Mister Descriptor
 * Mister Strangenoun
 * Multiethnic Name
 * Mr. Smith
 * My Hero Zero
 * My Name Is Not Durwood
 * My Nayme Is
 * Mysterious Middle Initial
 * Named After Somebody Famous
 * Named By Democracy
 * Named By the Adaptation
 * Named Like My Name
 * Name Face Name
 * Name McAdjective
 * Name Order Confusion
 * Names Given to Computers
 * Name's the Same
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast
 * Name of Cain
 * Names to Trust Immediately
 * Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom
 * NameTron
 * Nameless Narrative
 * Nom De Mom
 * No Need for Names
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
 * Nom De Guerre
 * No Name Given
 * Only Known By Their Nickname
 * The Notable Numeral
 * Noun Verber
 * Odd Name Out
 * Ominous Mundanity
 * One Bad Mother
 * One Mario Limit
 * One Steve Limit
 * Only Known By Initials
 * Only One Name
 * One-Letter Name
 * Overly Long Name
 * Patronymic
 * Pen Name
 * Plain Name
 * Porn Names
 * Preppy Name
 * Prophetic Names
 * A Protagonist Is Ryu
 * Psmith Psyndrome
 * Punny Name
 * Real Joke Name
 * Real Name As an Alias
 * Red Baron
 * Repetitive Name
 * Robot Names
 * Same Face, Different Name
 * Scarlet Fever
 * Sdrawkcab Name
 * Secret Public Identity
 * Sesquipedalian Smith
 * She Is the King
 * Significant Monogram
 * SI Prefix Name
 * Some Call Me... Tim
 * Something Person
 * Superhero Sobriquets
 * Spike of All Trades
 * Speak of the Devil
 * Species Surname
 * Spell My Name With a Blank
 * Spell My Name With an "S"
 * Spell My Name With a "The"
 * Stellar Name
 * Steven Ulysses Perhero
 * Stock Foreign Name
 * Sue Donym
 * Terms of Endangerment
 * Themed Aliases
 * Theme Naming
 * Family Theme Naming
 * Odd Name Out
 * Theme Initials
 * Theme Twin Naming
 * The "The" Title Confusion
 * They Call Him "Sword"
 * They Call Me Mister Tibbs
 * Thing-O-Matic
 * This Is My Name On Foreign
 * Thoroughly Mistaken Identity
 * Tomboyish Name
 * Tom the Dark Lord
 * The Trope Formerly Known As X
 * The Trope Kid
 * The Trope Without a Title
 * Try to Fit That On A Business Card
 * Tuckerization
 * Two First Names
 * Unfortunate Names
 * Unnamed Parent
 * The Unpronounceable
 * Verbal Tic Name
 * A Villain Named Zrg
 * The Von Trope Family
 * Wacky Americans Have Wacky Names
 * Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?
 * Who Is This Guy Again?
 * X Makes Anything Cool
 * You Are Number Six
 * Seven Is Nana

Ensembles

 * Egocentric Team Naming
 * Myspeld Rokband
 * Portmanteau Couple Name
 * The Something Force
 * Unified Naming System
 * The Wildcats

Locations

 * Cutesy Name Town
 * Egopolis
 * Descriptively Named Species
 * Descriptive Ville
 * I Don't Like the Sound of That Place
 * Istanbul Not Constantinople
 * Naming Your Colony World
 * New Neo City
 * Numbered Homeworld
 * One Federation Limit
 * Please Select New City Name
 * Premiseville

Occasions

 * You Mean Xmas
 * You Called Me "X" - It Must Be Serious

Things

 * Call a Human A Meatbag
 * Call a Rabbit A Smeerp
 * Call a Smeerp A Rabbit
 * Cute As a Bouncing Betty
 * Excalibur in The Stone
 * Foo Fu
 * Magic By Any Other Name
 * My Verbin' Noun
 * Namesake Gag
 * Operation Blank
 * Reporting Names
 * Sci Fi Name Buzzwords
 * Photoprotoneutron Torpedo
 * Virus and Cure Names
 * We Will Use Wiki Words in The Future
 * Weapon of Peace
 * What Did You Expect When You Named It?

Pets and Sidekicks

 * Deathbringer the Adorable
 * A Dog Named "Dog"
 * Fluffy the Terrible
 * Formally-Named Pet
 * Pokémon Speak
 * Stock Animal Name
 * We Named the Monkey Jack

Useful Notes

 * Russian Naming Convention

Any

 * Age of Titles
 * All There in The Script
 * Descriptively Named Species
 * Double X
 * Everything's Better With Bob
 * Exactly What It Says On the Tin
 * Franken X
 * Generic Name
 * Insistent Terminology
 * The Magnificent
 * Named After Their Planet
 * NameDar
 * Naturalized Name
 * Non-Indicative Name
 * Now I Know What to Name Him
 * Obligatory Corporate Initialism
 * Planet of Steves
 * Production Nickname
 * Punctuation Shaker
 * Portmantitle
 * Significant Anagram
 * Squat's in A Name
 * Stage Names
 * Sudden Name Change
 * Xtreme Kool Letterz