Colourful Theme Naming



"Those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color."

- Ozpin

One form of Theme Naming is to name characters after colors. The colors may reflect their personalities (for example, red being violent and white being innocent), but there is often no correlation at all.

See also Color Character, when a character incorporates the name of a color into the name of of a superhero or masked hero.

Anime and Manga

 * The girls of Tokyo Mew Mew are all named after plants or desserts, and their last names follow the pattern of Color Place (Momomiya = Peach Shrine, Midorikawa = Green River, etc.)
 * Several major characters in Code Geass have the word 'red' in their names. Lelouch Lamperouge's surname is French for 'red lamp'. Suzaku Kururugi's first name is the same as that of a mythical scarlet phoenix. Kallen's Japanese surname, Kouzuki, is written with the kanji for 'crimson moon'. It has been suggested that Li Xing Ke's name may also be a reference to red, (Shinkuu, the Japanese pronunciation of his surname, means "deep crimson", but is written with different characters).
 * Almost everyone in Rosario + Vampire has the kanji for a color somewhere in their names. Akashiya Moka (red), Aono Tsukune (blue), Shirayuki Mizore (white), Kurono Kurumu (black), Morioka Ginei (silver) and Sendou Yukari (written with the kanji for "purple"). These colors are appropriate for the characters, such as Mizore having ice powers and Gin being a werewolf.
 * In Darker than Black, those who work for the Syndicate have color-themed code names, mostly in Chinese. There's Hei (black), Yin (silver), Bai (white), Huang (yellow), and Amber (obvious), to name a few.
 * The Red Ribbon Army in Dragon Ball has such soldiers as: Colonel Silver, General White, Sergeant Purple, General Blue, Adjutant Black, and Commander Red.
 * The characters of Amatsuki all have a traditional Japanese dye colour in their name, which are often reflected in their designs. E.g. 'Kon' is a dark blue colour, and the character Kon had blue eyes and favoured blue clothes.
 * The Pokédex holders from Pokémon Special are named for the video game characters they're based on (Red, Blue, Green etc.), with Yellow and Emerald being canon foreigners.
 * The first Pretty Cure series actually gained this trope in the English dub, with Nagisa becoming Natalie Blackstone and Honoka becoming Hannah Whitehouse.
 * In fact, Honoka's original surname is Yukishiro, meaning "snow castle", but if the "shiro" part is written differently, the meaning becomes "snow white".
 * Nagisa had it in the original too. "Misumi" was spelled with the kanji "sumi", which means "black ink".
 * Bleach has Ichigo Kurosaki and Toshiro Hitsugaya. Kuro means black, and Ichigo wears a black trench coat and wields a black sword that shoots black energy bolts out of it. Shiro means white, and Hitsugaya is An Ice Person with white hair.
 * There is also Juushiro Ukitake, who also has white hair. In an omake its shown he likes to give gifts to Hitsugaya because they're both 'Shiro-chan'.
 * The Three Admirals in One Piece follow this as well: Their code-names are Akainu (Red Dog), Aokiji (Blue Pheasant) and Kizaru (Yellow Monkey). Also a case of Religious and Mythological Theme Naming, as a dog, pheasant, and monkey were the animals that accompanied the folk hero Momotaro on his journey.
 * In the Legend of Zelda: Four Swords manga, Link wields the Four Sword, which splits him into four versions of himself, each wearing a different-colored tunic. There's Green, Blue, Red, and Vio, which is short for Violet.
 * Everyone in Magic Kaito has this: black (Kuroba), blue (Aoko), red (Akako), white (Hakuba), grey (Ginzou), and pink (Momoi).
 * Numerous characters have color-coded names in Brigadoon Marin and Melan. Notably, the Gun-swordsmen's last names refer to their color. Thus, Melan is "Melan Blue."
 * The Cthuwulf in the Iczer series. Named characters are Cobalt, Sepia, Sir Violet, Sister Grey, and Commander Magenta (from the Golden Warrior Iczer-One manga).
 * In Kuroko no Basuke, all of the members of the Generation of Miracles have names spelled with colors. And with the exception of Kuroko, they all have matching hair and eye colors.
 * Kuroko, "Kuro"/Black
 * Kise, "Ki"/Yellow
 * Midorima, "Midori"/Green
 * Aomine, "Ao"/Blue
 * Murasakibara, "Murasaki"/Purple
 * Akashi, "Aka"/Red
 * Momoi, "Momo"/Pink
 * The four prefects at Weston Academy in Black Butler have names that match their house colors: Lawrence Bluewer of the Blue House, Edgar Redmond of the Red House, Gregory Violet of the Purple House, and Herman Greenhill of the Green House. Their eye colors also follow the theme. Something strange may or may not be involved.

Comic Books

 * The Ravens, very obscure vampiric foes of the original X-Factor, all had color names: Crimson, Azure, Coral, Cerise, Beryl, Ruby, and Cobalt.

Films -- Live-Action

 * Mr. Blue, Mr. Grey, Mr. Brown and Mr. Green (note that these are all quite normal American surnames) from The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
 * Reservoir Dogs contained an Homage to The Taking of Pelham 123 with Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue, Mr. Brown, Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink, and Mr. White. (Although, to be fair, these names were assigned aliases deliberately chosen to adhere to a theme.)
 * Some guy on some other job is Mr. Purple.
 * In Quantum of Solace, Mr. White's employer is a certain Dominic Greene, and one of Greene's subordinates is a Mr. Slate.
 * Coincidentally occurs among a few cast members of School of Rock: Jack Black, Mike White, Sarah Silverman and Jordan-Clair Green.

Literature

 * In Thief of Time, after, they name themselves after various colours, possibly a nod towards Reservoir Dogs. Since there's so many of them, they're hard pressed for available colors, such as one furiously arguing that yes, dark avocado is a color so shut up. Not to mention arguing over which colors are higher in hierarchy and trying to take them for themselves.
 * There is a famous series of picture books from Sweden about three unmarried sisters sharing a house. While not their real names, they are always called after the colours they wear: Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender. Their neighbour is similarly known as Uncle Blue.
 * In the Casson family series, all four children are named after colours, their parents being artists. The eldest is Cadmium Gold, and the colour yellow sums up her personality pretty good, she is bright, cheerful and everyone likes her. Her younger brother Indigo (dark blue) is quieter, thoughtful and sensitive. He also likes to watch the starry sky at night. Saffron on the other hand is a proud, independent girl who feels lonely and isolated since she found out that she was adopted when her mother, her stepmother's twin sister, died. Saffron is outspoken, direct and can be quite harsh at times. It is said that she resembles Cadmium, meaning she is very pretty. As Saffron is red this fits her perfectly. The youngest is Permanent Rose, an adorable, very stubborn girl and the artist of the family. She nearly died when she was born, so her mother named her Permanent Rose, as a promise that she would stay.
 * From the Aubrey-Maturin series: Aubrey and his friend and fellow post-captain Heneage Dundas discuss the captain of HMS Iris, who not only wants to dress his bargemen in the colors of the rainbow (due to the connotation of his ships name), but specifically seeks out sailors named for said colors: e.g., with surnames like "Scarlett," "White," or "Green." He offered Dundas a brass "chaser" cannon in exchange for one of his sailors whose name was Blew. (Dundas declined, sharing with Aubrey a dislike for "costumed" bargemen.)
 * In Warrior Cats, the first part of cats' names come from things a forest cat would know, such as plants, animals, and natural objects. They also use a lot of colors - every basic color except purple and pink. They even use some more unusual colors, such as "golden", "silver", "copper", "russet", "tawny", "amber", and "fallow". Oddly enough, out of 750-ish characters, "white" is the most common prefix of all, and even "fallow" got used about five times, but "brown" only got used once, and the cat in question disappeared from the cast list before receiving his warrior name.
 * One of the characters of Low Fantasy Shy Leopardess by Leslie Barringer is a Knight Errant who says that because his three servants have the family name "Colore," he calls them "Rosso, Verde, and Nero" (Red, Green, and Black).

Live-Action TV

 * In Captain Scarlet, all code names are colours: Captain Scarlet, Lieutenant Green, Colonel White, and so on.
 * The vast majority of Super Sentai shows feature color-based codenames for its heroes, to the point that it's easier to name the handful of exceptions where they don't use color-based codenames (which are JAKQ Dengekitai, Battle Fever J, Taiyou Sentai Sun Vulcan, Dengeki Sentai Changeman, Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger andGosei Sentai Dairanger).
 * A couple of Sentai series (Denshi Sentai Denziman and Dai Sentai Goggle Five) worked this in even the heroes' civilian names.
 * Blue's Clues has this with the title character... who in a subversion of color-related norms is female. Magenta is another character whose color matches her name.
 * Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act Zero has the three policemen Kuroi (black), Shiroi (white) and Akai (red).

Tabletop Games

 * Cluedo (known as Clue in America) has all the main characters named after the colors of the pawns used in the older versions (Miss Scarlet, Mrs. White, Mrs. Peacock, Prof. Plum, Mr. or Rev. Green, and Col. Mustard). The victim's name is Dr. Black (though changed to Mr. Boddy in the American version). Extended versions and variations keep with the trend, naming characters after other colors. There was Miss Peach, Mme. Rose, M. Brunette, Capt. Brown, Inspector Brown, Rusty (also brown), Sgt. Gray, Mr. Slate-Gray, Lord Gray, Lady Lavender, Prince Azure, and Mrs. Meadow-Brook (blue-green), though of course (since some colors are repeated) they're not all used in the same variations.
 * And in the French version: Dr. Lenoir (the victim), Dr./Rev. Olive (Rev. Green), Prof. Violet (Prof Plum), Melle Rose (Miss Scarlet), Mme Leblanc (Mrs. White), Mme Pervenche (Mrs. Peacock)... And Col. Mustard, whose name was literally translated.
 * The Yu-Gi-Oh card game has the Dark World archetype, each of which has a name similar to that of a color. They all have the common tie in that their effects depend on being discarded from the player's hand by the opponent.
 * Goldd: Gold, or yellow.
 * Siilva: Silver, or gray.
 * Scarr: Scarlet, or red.
 * Gren: Green.
 * Renge: Orange.
 * Zure: Azure, or blue.
 * Beiige: Beige, or brown.
 * Reign-Beaux: Rainbow. Incidentally, he's the strongest of the bunch.

Video Games

 * The first generation of Pokémon games have color-themed town names (playing the games on the SNES's Super Game Boy or through one of the Stadium games on the N64 yields a different color scheme for each town based on the name).
 * The second generation games combine this with theme naming based on plants - for example, Ecruteak (teakwood and the color ecru), Cianwood (wood in general and cyan), and Mahogany (both a type of wood and a color derived from it).
 * Red and Blue are the main characters of the original games. A character named Leaf (after "LeafGreen") was added in the remakes as it adds the ability to choose the PC's gender found in later games (storywise, she's pretty much just Red, but female). The sequels, Pokémon Gold and Silver, have Gold (later renamed Ethan), Kris, and Silver as main characters. It wasn't until after that generation that they stopped naming characters after colors.
 * Two generations got color-named games - the others are named after valuable minerals, which also have homonymous colors (except Crystal and Diamond).
 * All of the Seven Sages in Pokémon Black and White are named after colours of the rainbow... except for Ghetsis, who shares Musical Theme Naming (G-C#).
 * Cheren and Bianca, also from Black & White, complement each other in both personalities and names - Cheren is Slavic for black, Bianca is Italian for white.
 * Phantom Brave examples include Ash, Walnut, Scarlet, and I'm fairly sure Marona, Castile and Sulphur count as well. Of course there are others.
 * In Touhou Project, Chen, Ran, and Yukari's names mean Orange, Indigo, and Purple respectively. Each name's color's position on the electromagnetic spectrum corresponds to its owner's power level with purple being the strongest and orange being the weakest.
 * And then there are the Scarlet sisters, and Lily Black.
 * In Final Fantasy Tactics A2, you get to engage with the Cinquleur, whose names are Ruuj (red), Bliu (blue), Verre (green), Nware (black), and Blanch (white), each representing their job class.
 * Both the Erusean Air Force and the Belkan Air Force from Ace Combat use colours for squadron names, though Belka uses the German versions. In an aversion of the Law of Chromatic Superiority, Yellow Squadron is Erusea's elite unit.
 * Every major character in Gunstar Heroes is named after a color, with the exception of Pink's two sidekicks, as well as Smash Daisaku.
 * RED and BLU of Team Fortress 2, natch (which doubles as Fun with Acronyms). Other fronts for the organizations seen in the in-game signage also follows this convention (such as Red Bread and Blue Corn in the Granary map), as do the names of their founders, Redmond and Blutarch Mann.
 * The villains of Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus are called Rosso (red) the Crimson, Azul (blue) the Cerulean, Shelke (amber) the Transparent, Nero (black) the Sable and Weiss (white) the Immaculate.
 * Red and Blue, heroes of Treasure Hunter G, are members of an entire family of color-based names. Other characters are exempt from the theme, though.
 * SaGa Frontier brings us twins Blue and Rouge, as well as Red, who seems to be an expy of the Treasure Hunter G character.
 * All of the characters of VVVVVV are named after colors. For bonus points, all of their names also start with the letter "V" (Viridian, Vermilion, Violet, etc.; hence the game's title).
 * The Path: All the girls' names are variations on "Red".
 * Kingdom Hearts has a colourful music theme of the 'bell' type Heartless (Red Nocturne, Blue Rhapsody, Yellow Opera and Green Requiem in the first game and Chain of Memories; Crimson Jazz, Silver Rock, and Emerald Blues in Kingdom Hearts II).
 * About a dozen more were added in 358/2 Days.

Web Comics

 * In the Sequential Art Webcomic, the squirrel sisters Scarlet, Amber, Jade and Violet. Though when written it's rather 4M83R, 5C4RL37, J4D3 and V10L37.
 * CRFH: Michael Redford Green and his sister Blue.
 * In the (short-lived) WCI High, there was a trio of girls named Goldie, Sylvie, and Rusty.
 * In Plus EV, the mother's name is Violet. Her first daughter is Scarlett, which is a shade of red. And violet is a mixture of red and blue. So it was logical to give their second daughter a name that's a shade of blue, and thus she was named... Ultramarine!
 * In No Rest for The Wicked, Perrault remembers the red theme of Red's name.

Web Original

 * RWBY: The girls of Team RWBY all have names which are or reference colors. ("Ruby Rose" is obvious; "Weiss Schnee"="Snow White" in German; "Blake" is an old English word for "black"; "Yang Xiao Long" is Chinese for "Little Dragon of the Sun", but includes characters which can mean "yellow" or "gold".) Furthermore this is true to a large extent throughout the setting as a whole . Monty Oum encouraged fans to name OC's following this convention.