Meaningful Name/Western Animation

It's not really difficult to figure out the meaning behind the names of some Western Animation characters.

""Hard. Head. It's not just a name, you know.""
 * Dick Dastardly, Muttley, and any character from Wacky Races.
 * In one episode of Yogi's Treasure Hunt, Dastardly announces his full name as Richard Milhous Dastardly, further cementing him as a "Tricky Dick".
 * Many old Hanna-Barbera characters have Meaningful Names. Mr. Jinx is periodically shown to have bad luck. You know Scooby Doo's cousin Scooby-Dum isn't going to be the sharpest knife in the drawer. And guess what color Grape Ape is?
 * Futurama:
 * Bender is a "bender" -- a robot who was manufactured for the sole purpose of bending metal objects. Also, one slang meaning of "bender" is "a bout of heavy drinking", which is appropriate for Bender since he runs on alcohol. His name also brings to mind John Bender from The Breakfast Club, a famous rebellious asshole. The other meaning (homosexual man, UK slang) is not quite as appropriate, unless the writers are trying to hint at something.
 * Leela's full name - Turanga Leela - is a reference to the Turangalila-Symphonie, a piece of music most famous for prominently featuring the ondes Martenot, forerunner of the classc sci-fi staple the theremin. Also, in the case of purple-haired Leela. "Lila" means "purple" in German.
 * In Futurama's famously esoteric style of humor, "Farnsworth" was the name of the man who built the first television system.
 * Morgan Proctor is a bureaucrat. Her name is triply appropriate, the first being the most obvious, though the others work if you stretch it : She's a bureaucrat, so she's anal, and she's also something of an ass.
 * In "Fear of a Bot Panet", a planet inhabited by robots was named "Chapek 9" as a reference to Karel Capek's coining of the term "robot".
 * The kids involved in the re-enactment of the Sith-il War provide us with these gems: Darth Stroyer, Darth Trocious, Darth Urderer and Darth Sploder.
 * The old show Beany and Cecil has a villain named Dishonest John.
 * Captain Planet and the Planeteers villain names were very obvious puns:
 * Dr. Blight sought to destroy the environment.
 * Looten Plunder sought to make money by destroying the environment. His name even sounds like Loot and Plunder. He also has a nephew named Robin Plunder, obviously a pun off Rob and Plunder.
 * Duke Nukem sought to turn the entire world into a glowing radioactive place. The other Duke Nukem exists because his name was not trademarked.
 * The Plutarkians in the 90's Biker Mice From Mars series are all named after cheeses with the Biker Mice's arch nemesis Lawrence Limburger being named after the infamous Limburger cheese.
 * 2008 introduces Ronaldo Rump, a bizarre hybrid of Donald Trump, Ricky Ricardo, possibly Ricardo Montalban, and a big, fat rump.
 * Fireman Sam has Bella Lasagne and Mandy Flood. Ironically the Welsh title for Fireman Sam is Sam Tan which translates to Sam Fire- and Sam's main job is to put out fires.
 * American Dragon: Jake Long
 * Long, even though it's the last name of Jake's Caucasian father, is one of the Chinese words for dragon.
 * Rose, the love interest/misguided bad-guy protege, is a beautiful thing with thorns (Thorn was her Secret Identity's original name). (It's such a common name for a Femme Fatale, Disney had to change her alias or risk copyright infringement for there was already a DC character with the same names.)
 * Jake's grandfather and Mentors is named Lao Shi, Chinese for "respected teacher".
 * The Boondocks
 * Mr. Wuncler: the archetypical scheming, old, white, businessman. His name is pronounced just like "The Once'ler", the Narrator and misguided, remorseful villain of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, who destroys essentially the whole world to make a quick buck.
 * The main character Huey Freeman is named after Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton. His surname Freeman is also significant as it means "a free man".
 * Ed Wuncler's pal, Gin Rummy, is a thinly veiled "gangsta" analogue of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (who even quotes Rumsfeld's "known unknowns" speech after a botched convenience store robbery).
 * Aaron McGruder loses a thousand subtlety points for naming the successful, well-off black man Tom Dubois. As in "Uncle". And W.E.B. Dubois.
 * Transformers are almost always named this way, either by their abilities, or their alternate form. Usually, if a transformer undergoes a major change in their body(such as a new alternate form), they'll even change their names to match it. A Transformer gets a Code Name (generally of the Descriptive type) as a real name.
 * Brawn, for example, is a rough-and-ready brawler who believes in might over microchips.
 * Skywarp has the ability to teleport. And push people down stairs, according to TFWiki.
 * Other examples include Rattrap, Inferno, Sky-Byte, and Evac, to name just a small few.
 * Transformers Animated has the human villain Prometheus Black, A.K.A. Meltdown, who got his powers from an accident after stealing some of Bumblebee's hydraulic fluid. The parallels to the titan Prometheus should be obvious -- especially if you know of the versions in which Prometheus was an arrogant upstart who stole the Divine Fire without knowing what he was meddling with, rather than being in the right, with Zeus just being afraid of progress. The other human villains all fall under the Steven Ulysses Perhero subset.
 * What's interesting is, the speedster Nino Sexton overhears someone saying he came through in a nanosecond, so he calls himself Nanosec. His codename's resemblance to his real name is, in-story, pure coincidence, and the other human villains may well be the same. Slow-Mo, on the other hand, is said to be named for the Hasbro executive Samantha Lomow.
 * There are times that the character is introduced and named... in the story that gives him whatever it is he's named for. So Crosshairs, Pointblank, Slugslinger, Triggerhappy, and Sureshot were given these names at some point long before we met them, unrelated to their jobs or whatever it is they turn into, and their weaponry is nothing special. Then, by pure coincidence, these particular bots wind up in the events that make the Targetmasters (that is, human-sized Nebulan aliens in mobile suits turn into guns for them and act as gunners.) Meanwhile, four Autobots have lived all their lives with names such as Chromedome, Hardhead, Brainstorm, and Cerebros and by coincidence become Headmasters (same idea, only with heads.) Having head-related names beforehand make no sense either - most characters tend to have heads, and theirs don't do anything others' don't pre-Nebulos. At least the Decepticon Headmasters' head names make sense: Mindwipe possesses Mind Control powers and Skullcruncher is a giant gator who will crunch on your skull. And the rest of you.
 * In the IDW comics, Hardhead never actually becomes a Headmaster, but he still has a Meaningful Name. The guy shrugs off a shot to the face at point-blank range!


 * Virtually almost every single character of Avatar: The Last Airbender has a name of Asian origin varying from Mandarin Chinese to Korean slang. Given the theme of the show, the ones of non-Asian are often referenced and regarded as unusual to the other characters.
 * Zuko's mother is named Ursa (the Latin word for "bear") displaying her role as his Mama Bear.
 * Zuko is once written as "Resurrected Rule", though another time it was "ancestors robber" on a wanted poster. It is logical to assume that his parents originally used the first "spelling", given that he was a royal child, and his father changed the "spelling" for the wanted posters to indicate that he had been disowned. Also, the first spelling of Zuko's name can also be translated to read "Reclaimed Honor". No really.
 * Swordsman Piandao of the episode "Sokka's Master" is named after a type of Chinese saber (though not the type he used, which is a jian).
 * Taking into account the Chinese characters used to write his name on the title card in "Tales of Ba Sing Se", Aang's name seems to mean "Ascending Peace".
 * Katara's name comes from a possibly phoenitic word of perhaps the same word, which means "beautiful." The individual parts of the name mean "block", "pagoda", and "pull."
 * Toph's name has a sextuple meaning: it is a kind of sandstone reflecting her element, a Hebrew word for "drum" referring to her ability to sense with vibration, a play on "tough" for her attitude, and a homonym of "toff", British slang for an upper-class person (which she is). On her passport in "The Serpent's Pass" her name is written to mean "supported lotus", which is indicative of how her parents saw her, as a fragile china doll. Conversely, on the title card in "Tales of Ba Sing Se" her name is written to mean "entrusted man".
 * The baby that the Gaang help deliver, who was given the appropriate but out of place name "Hope". The DVD Commentary said it was supposed to be a Chinese name that meant "Hope", but then either the meaning would be lost, or there would be a case of You Are the Translated Foreign Word.
 * The Earth King's name, Kuei (which is only mentioned in supplementary information) may be a transliteration of two words different words that respectively mean "chief" and "puppet", where as his Evil Chancellor Long Feng's name means "Dragon Phoenix", which in Chinese tradition represented the throne.
 * The north pole's princess and Sokka's love interest Yue has a double meaning as well, being in Chinese a word for moon,  and in Japanese meaning a sad incident and used for children dying shortly after birth, such it might have happened to her, due to her being weak at birth.
 * King Bumi's name (Bumi) means "Earth" in Tamil.
 * Suki is a verb meaning "to like/love" in Japanese. Suki's name is also pronounced the same way as the Japanese word for the Moon.
 * As the Fire Nation has largely Indian names, "Azula" is no doubt derived from "Asura". It fits her. Azula could also be seen as a modification of "Azul." Appropriate, as most of her firebending techniques are blue. In fact, it has been said that Azula was originally going to be "Prince Azul," before the Avatar folks decided to make her female.
 * According to the Avatar wiki, Ozai's name can mean either "leisurely year" (he spends a lot of time ordering others around from the comfort of his palace) or "flaming calamity", which...yeah.
 * In Mandarin, Zhao means "to look / search for (someone)". Guess what Admiral Zhao does throughout the first season.
 * Kappa Mikey
 * Mikey Simon's stage name is, well, "Kappa Mikey." A kappa is a mythical Japanese amphibian. Ozu once explained that a kappa is a water creature that lives on land, and is thus a fish out of water, much like Mikey himself, who is an American living in Japan. Making things even weirder, kappas are said to like cucumbers and kappa makki is a type of sushi, meaning it's also a Punny Name.
 * There is a Yes-Man character actually referred to as "Yes Man" by everyone on the show. It's heavily implied that this is his actual name.
 * Gargoyles is interesting in that gargoyles do not have names normally, and past history had humans giving them a name, like Goliath.
 * When learning to trust Elisa, the various gargoyles of the Manhattan Clan chose names from their surroundings. Hudson, for the river, and Brooklyn, Lexington, Broadway, and Bronx.
 * When Demona has evil clones of the clan created (to go with Goliath's evil clone Thailog), she gives them names from Los Angeles neighborhoods/landmarks.
 * Demona herself is an interesting case: While she is certainly evil enough to merit the name, she wasn't that evil when she first got the name. (Her ally Macbeth gave it to her because, and I quote, "You fight like a demon!")
 * In many ways, Goliath's name is both played straight and subverted. In the first episode, he was named for having the strength of the biblical Goliath. However, it is also pointed out that the first Goliath was a bully and monster, something the gargoyle is definitely not. Furthermore, Goliath and his arch nemesis (DAVID Xanatos) invert the David Versus Goliath trope, providing another subversion.
 * There is also Fox's father, Reynard.
 * Though it's worth noting that Fox's birth name is Janine; she had it changed to "Fox," which is also what her last name meant (before she got married). Halcyon's first name may also be notable, since it sets him up as the "peaceful" analogue to his daughter and son-in-law.
 * Angela happens to have a karmically opposite name and world views to her mother, Demona.
 * The main bad guy from Samurai Jack is Aku, which is Japanese for "evil, wickedness".
 * SpongeBob SquarePants. He's a sponge, he wears square pants.
 * The giant hand of a sailor that appear in the theme song and in some episodes is named Hans. He also has a German accent.
 * Goofy, so named because he's, well, rather goofy.
 * Danny Phantom
 * Vlad, which means "rule", a name that fits him like a glove. Also an in-joke to the vampire-like thing he's got going on. In fact, he originally was planned to be one.
 * Anti-Hero Valerie Gray
 * Fire-haired musician Ember McLain
 * Nikolai Technus, a ghost who can control technology.
 * Clockwork, "Master of Time". He actually has a clock in his chest...
 * In South Park:
 * Ms. Choksondik dies in an...interesting way.
 * Except the reporter says she didn't, she just happened to have had oral sex some time shortly beforehand.
 * Token Black combines Meaningful Name with Lampshade Hanging.
 * Butters' alter-ego Marjorine, which is a play on the word "margarine," a butter substitute.
 * In Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy:
 * Jonny 2x4 because he carries around a piece of wood named Plank, meaning there's two names to note.
 * The Kanker Sisters, menaces to the Eds. Their last name is derived from a foreign word for cancer.
 * A short-lived Saturday morning cartoon called Skeleton Warriors, with a character named "Baron Dark".
 * Warp Darkmatter, Buzz Lightyear's Evil Counterpart from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, was Buzz Lightyear's partner before an apparent Face Heel Turn. He even points out how evil sounding his name is, and mocks Buzz for not being Genre Savvy enough to notice.
 * Kim Possible includes minor villains Adrena Lynn ("extreme"-stunt TV host), and shapeshifting socialite Camille Leon, and the heroes, Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. It's even lampshaded a few times. When Kim loses her memory, she says "'Kim Possible' doesn't sound like a name."
 * The Simpsons
 * Matt Groening named the title characters after his own family; his parents are called Homer and Margaret, and two of his sisters are Lisa and Maggie. He drew the line at calling the boy "Matt", feeling that this would make the gag too obvious; instead he chose "Bart" because this is an anagram of "brat". He asked his animation team to come up with Grampa's name, and by sheer coincidence they chose "Abraham", the name of one of Groening's own grandfathers.
 * Judge Constance Harm. "Constance" means "unchanging", and "harm" is... well...
 * Larry Kidkill, who displays Apu's children at his zoo.
 * Career criminal, Snake Jailbird.
 * The FOX [network] censor from Treehouse of Horror VIII, named Fox Censor.
 * Arthur Fortune, the hip billionaire.
 * Subverted by Moral Orel with Mr. Nohammer, owner of Nohammer Hardware. Despite clearly having a sign that says "We Have Hammers" on his store and lining his store with wall-to-wall hammers, people still call him asking about whether or not he sells hammers. He's forced to constantly tell people "It's just my name!" * sob*.
 * In The Backyardigans, Word of God says that Uniqua is her name and her species. Ah, that's why she's so unique; all you gotta do is trade the A on the end of her name for an E. Also, the first four letters of Austin the kangaroo's name are the same as Australia, where kangaroos reside.
 * Not overused in Code Lyoko, but...
 * Odd Della Robbia's first name and Ulrich Stern's surname certainly fit well with their characters.
 * The gym teacher is Jim Moralès and the science teacher is Suzanne Hertz.
 * Yumi Ishiyama: "yumi" is the Japanese word for bow, as in a bow-and-arrow.
 * "Sissi" is a nickname, but still very fitting for Élisabeth Delmas, the self-proclaimed princess of the school.
 * Kadic Academy owes its name to science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick.
 * The parents on Rugrats were always taking advice from a doctor named "Lipschitz," whose advice was nearly always, well... just that.
 * In the Disney's Aladdin TV series there's Abis Mal, Mechanikles, Ayam Aghoul, Amin Damoolah (though his name is ironic), Queen Hippsodeth, and Abis Mal's ancestor Abnor Mal. In fact, his lack of a Punny Name could be the first indicator that Mozenrath is the Knight of Cerebus, and his name is still a pun, it's just a Shout-Out rather than a punny name with a meaning.
 * The Powerpuff Girls has a number of these.
 * The one-shot villain Abracadaver, a zombie wizard whose name in life was Al Lusion
 * Nerdy, paste-eating kid Elmer Sglue, who gets turned into a paste monster one episode.
 * Sara Bellum, who does all of the real thinking involved with running Townsville (the Mayor is somewhat dim-witted.)
 * Sedusa, a combination of "seduce" and "medusa", which perfectly describe her two superpowers
 * To some degree, Professor Utonium ("Professor" can shorten to "Pr.", and befitting the Animesque style, this reads "Pr. Utonium"--which is how "plutonium" would be rendered, more or less, and the first two syllables also evoke the word "utopia", a perfect place, befitting his goal of creating the "perfect little girls".)
 * Lou Gubrious, another one-shot, who created a device that makes people sad. Formerly, when he was happier, he was called Hal Larious.
 * Blossom and Bubbles themselves were given meaningful names. Blossom because of her directness and opening right up to the Professor and Bubbles because she's cute and bubbly. Poor Buttercup.
 * Histeria!: Just listen to how Loud Kiddington and Froggo speak, and you'll see how they got their names.
 * An episode of Ben 10 Alien Force introduces a character named Mike Morningstar. Turns out that he was not so much a Louis Cypher as simply being generically evil.
 * Sushi Pack is rife with these. All the members of the Sushi Pack and the Legion of Low Tide are named after the type of sushi they are. Recurring villains Titanium Chef (a sushi chef), Sir Darkly (sadness and gloom personified), and The Collector also count, and one-shots A. Scientist and The Prevaricator (who can only tell lies).
 * Jimmy Two-Shoes takes place in Miseryville, which is Fire and Brimstone Hell. Thus, the characters include Lucius Heinous VII, named after Lucifer, the demon of pride, his son Beezy (which can only be short for "Beelzebub", the demon of gluttony) and Heloise (meaning famous warrior). Also, there's Jimmy's dog Cerbee, named after the three-headed dog in Greek Mythology, Jez, named after King Ahab's wife, and Molotov, named after Stalin's protege.
 * The eponymous main character of P.J. Sparkles. A self-chosen last name, inspired by the sparkles she acquired when she became a Magical Girl.
 * A Pup Named Scooby-Doo had a bully character named Red Herring, who Fred would blame as the monster Once an Episode. Given his name, it was never him except for the one time Fred made a agreement with the rest of the gang NOT to blame Red Herring.
 * The Fairly OddParents
 * Princess Mandie (pronounced "Man-Die")
 * Ms. Doombringer
 * Officer Shallowgrave (who has a voice like a shallow grave, to quote Cosmo)
 * Vicky has been described as "Icky with a V".
 * Chester's father. While his first name is normal, his last name is "McBadBat". His distinctive characteristic is that he was a pro baseball player until he lost his team a game.
 * Rich kid, Remy Buxaplenty.
 * The Looney Tunes: Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, and so on. Wile E. Coyote goes a bit beyond just the name of the animal, as he is a wiley coyote (see what they did there?). And it gets cleverer -- Pepe LePew is a stinky skunk (even though in real life skunks only smell when they spray) which makes everyone go pew! Speedy Gonzales is a speedy little mouse from Mexico. And Taz is a tasmanian devil.
 * In Winx Club, with the exception of Bloom, all the girls' names reflect their power source. Flora is named after the Roman goddess of flowers and has power over plants, Stella (star) draws her powers from the sun and moon, Musa is reminiscent of musica (music), and Tecna is derived from tecnologia (technology). The Trix disguise this is a bit with English-derived names: Icy (power over ice), Stormy (weather), and Darcy (darkness).
 * Every named character in The Mr. Men Show.
 * The members of Sector V on Codename: Kids Next Door:
 * Nigel Uno (Numbuh 1): "Uno" is Spanish for "one" (though oddly, he's British).
 * Hoagie P. Gilligan, Jr. (Numbuh 2): Appropriately enough, a twofer reference: the surname "Gilligan" is from the eponymous second in command of the Minnow on Gilligans Island; the generational suffix "Jr." is also meaningful, as "Jr." is used at the end of most men's and boys' names to signify that they were named after their fathers [if their fathers had no other males in the families with the name given to their sons prior to their sons' births] and are considered second generation.
 * Also, a hoagie is a type of sandwich, and Numbuh 2 liked to eat a lot.
 * Kuki Sanban (Numbuh 3): "Sanban" is Japanese for "third" (san "three", -ban is a Japanese suffix used in creating ordinal numbers); "Kuki" is a reference to her ditzy personality ("kooky"). Her little sister's name, Mushi, translates as "insect," her irritable father Kani means "crab," and her mother is Genki (more likely a reference to Kuki, as Genki doesn't act like her namesake).
 * Wallabee "Wally" Beatles (Numbuh 4): The Beatles had four original members (even though Wally is Australian, not Liverpudlian). Numbuh Four is also the unluckiest member of the group (which is a reference to the Chinese belief that the number four is bad luck [much like the number 13 in Western culture]).
 * Abigail Lincoln (Numbuh 5): Has same initials as Abraham Lincoln; Abraham Lincoln's face is on the $5.00 bill.
 * Numerous other characters also have names and numbers related to their function within the show (e.g., the operative who decommissions is Numbuh 86; submariner Numbuh 20,000; Numbuh 10-Speed of the KND Central Bike Hub is named Lance [as in Armstrong]).
 * Sort of a meta example, the voice actor for Bradley the Skunk is Dee Bradley Baker. Mr. Warburten claims this was a complete coincidence.
 * Teen Titans pulls this off with an episode. The episode where Cyborg and Beast Boy enter Raven's mind is called "Nevermore". As in "Quoth the raven, nevermore."
 * Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: While he isn't an enemy of the Rangers, the aptly named Senator Wheiner certainly behaves like a Jerkass and makes very uncomfortable for the Rangers and their Benevolent Boss Commander Walsh. The series implied that Wheiner and his ilk made the Rangers a barely tolerated entity on the core worlds, even though the frontier worlds welcomed the fact they stood between them and invasion by the Crown Empire.
 * Ugly Americans has Mark Lilly, an innocent, idealistic social worker, Callie Maggotbone, a female demon, and Leonard Powers, a wizard.
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars
 * Separatist general Whorm Loathsom. Ouch.
 * Savage Opress. Go on, guess what side he's on. (However, he actually wasn't so bad before he was chosen as Dooku's new warrior and the Nightsisters messed with his head. His brother Feral also shows no sign of overt evilness, though in both cases, you gotta assume nobody connected with the Nightsisters is a saint.)
 * Castle owner Owen deCastle in the What's New, Scooby-Doo? episode "The Vampire Strikes Back".
 * Tutenstein gives us Cleopatra "Cleo" Carter, Egypt enthusiast and Secret Keeper of a resurrected pharaoh. Her first name is obvious, while "Carter" alludes to Howard Carter, the archaeologist who found the real-life Tutankhamun's tomb.
 * The cast of Swat Kats. They're all cats, and most are named after cat species.
 * Commander Bem, an alien from the planet Pandro in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "Bem". Bem is a science fiction acronym for "Bug Eyed Monster".
 * Superfriends 1973/74 episodes.
 * "The Balloon People". The villain Dr. Noah Tall (Know-It-All) desires knowledge in order to gain power, so he wants to "know it all". His not-too-bright assistant Twisty regularly uses Spoonerisms, indicating his "twisty" mind. The chief of the U.S. Government's Environment Protection Bureau is named Simon Pure.
 * The villain Dr. Shamon. He has a giant magnet in the shape of the letter U, and the episode is titled "The Shamon U" (shame on you).
 * "The Androids". Dr. Rebos' assistant is named "Loco", and he acts in a stupid and (borderline) crazy manner.
 * "The Fantastic Frerps". The villain King Plasto is obsessed with using plastic. He has two assistants named Styro ("styrofoam") and Polly Ethyl Lene ("polyethylene").
 * "The Mysterious Moles". The villains have a Giant Underground Drill that they use to dig down to the bottom of a cave. Their names? Minnie and Maximus Mole.
 * "Gulliver's Gigantic Goof". A scientist named Gulliver is determined to shrink the entire world population down to a tiny size.
 * "Too Hot To Handle". Professor von Knowalot (know a lot). Kobar's home planet is normally quite hot (140 degrees Fahrenheit), and is called Solar Terrarium.
 * "The Water People". An undersea researcher with his own submarine is named "Professor Matey" (as in "Ahoy, matey!").
 * G.I. Joe, in all its incarnations is made of this, as most of the characters have names or code-names closely related to their specialties.
 * Duke, the all-American hero, is named after John Wayne.
 * Scarlet is a redhead (last name O'Hara)
 * Ripcord (originally) was a para-trooper.
 * Torch burns stuff.
 * Buzzer uses a chainsaw.
 * Wild Weasel (named after an aerial maneuver) is a pilot.
 * Croc-Master is... well...
 * The New Adventures of Superman episode "The Team of Terror". The villainess is named Satana.
 * Jonny Quest
 * "The Devil's Tower". The villain is named "Von Deufel", very similar to "Teufel" ("devil" in German).
 * Dr. Zin. If you flip the "Z" you get an "S" for "Sin".
 * Word Girl has a great vocabulary. The Butcher not only has meat-relates superpowers, but also butchers the English language. And Lady Redundant Woman's name contains redundancy in containing "Lady" and "Woman".
 * Applies to a good chunk of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic characters. A few examples:
 * Princess Luna controls the moon. Notably her sister and counterpart Princess Celestia has a name more closely related to the heavens in general rather than the sun. Of course, when she's first introduced she has control of both the sun and moon...
 * Rainbow Dash is a super speedy pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail.
 * Fluttershy is very shy. Her name's a play on "shutterfly" after all.
 * Twilight Sparkle: She brings peace between the day and the night, earning the twilight part, while the sparkle refers to her ability with magic.
 * Apple-Jack is an apple farmer. Pretty straight forward, really. Goes for her sister Apple Bloom and brother Big Macintosh, too.
 * Rarity has the ability to find rare gems.
 * Discord is the embodiment of disharmony.
 * Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. The former is a useless rich girl, while the latter actually wears a diamond tiara that matches her cutie mark.
 * The Ursa Minor and Ursa Major are named after the constellations their bodies represent.
 * The Great and Powerful Trixie performs magic tricks.
 * The queen of the insectoid, shapeshifting Changelings is named Chrysalis, which is what insects use to change into their mature form.
 * Silver Shill, who plays the roll of a shill in a scam.
 * Really, most My Little Pony characters have a Meaningful Name that either refers to their personality, species, or design (most often their marking).
 * In WITCH, Will's name is Wilma, though it was originally Wilhelmina in the comics. The name from which it is derived, Wilhelm, is formed from two words: wil (will or desire) and helm (helmet or protection)--thus, it could be construed to mean desire/will to protect, very fitting for a Guardian of the Veil. There's also the obvious significance in that the first letter of each of the girls' names spells out witch.
 * Caleb's name could also be significant. There is a character in the Bible named Caleb who was sent by Moses into Israel as a spy. He was also one of only two of said spies to live to see the Promised Land. The name itself means dog, which could also speak to Caleb's loyalty.
 * The Smurfs. Lampshaded in the song "Just Like Their Names" from The Smurfs and the Magic Flute. Also from the same movie, Matthew McCreep and Lady Prattle.
 * Some of the one-shot villains in the cartoon show, like Maestro, Dr. Charlatan, Ghostwriter.
 * Xiaolin Showdown has a lot of fun with this.
 * The Shen Gong Wu names are fairly self-explanatory (Fist of Tebbigong, Monkey Staff, Ants in the Pants, Sweet Baby Among Us, etc.)
 * We have the obvious Clay, Chase Young, Tubbimura, and Hannibal Bean...
 * Along with several Bilingual Bonuses: businessman's daughter Kimiko (Japanese for "Noble daughter"), The Chosen One Making a Splash Omi (Yoruba for "Water," along with Finnish possessive article "own", though this may be a coincidence), and the winner is Raimundo (Spanish for "Wise protector").
 * Queen Tyr'ahnee from Duck Dodgers. Fittingly, she's the Big Bad of the series, and the show's opening theme even says "Duck Dodgers is fighting tyranny" just as she appears in the sequence.