Arms and Armor Theme Naming

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Authors like to use themes to create a sense of unity or cohesiveness within their work. Some extend themes to the names of the characters, often beyond the similarities that would be expected for characters from the same culture or who all speak the same language. One variation is to name a set of characters or groups after weapons or armor. This almost invariably has martial meanings. Characters with such names are likely to be fighters of some sort.

Has nothing to do with the Theme Naming of actual weapons.

Examples of Arms and Armor Theme Naming include:


Anime and Manga

  • Almost everyone in Scrapped Princess is named after a type or brand of firearm or ammunition.
  • All of the military characters in Fullmetal Alchemist are named after actual planes, tanks, weapons, and other technology from World War I onward.

Comic Books

  • The Marvel Universe has the covert organizations S.H.I.E.L.D., A.R.M.O.R., S.W.O.R.D. and H.A.M.M.E.R.
  • Elf Quest has a family with theme naming. Strongbow's son is named Dart, and Dart's son is Bowki (combining his father's name with his erstwhile friend Geoki). The line can be extended to four generations if you use "archery" rather than "weapons" as theme: Strongbow's mother was named Trueflight.
    • The Wolfriders also have Cutter (partly named for his swordsmanelfship), Redlance (who's good with a spear) and Pike (likewise). On the other hand, Wolfrider women tend to have pastoral names.

Film

  • Webley the farmer in Hot Fuzz has a tremendous stash of unlicensed weapons his barn.
  • In The Matrix trilogy, the crew aboard the Mjolnir all have names that have to do with guns: Roland, Maggie, AK, Colt, and Mauser. Mjolnir itself, of course, is named after the weapon of Thor from Norse Mythology.

Live Action TV

  • The Winchesters from Supernatural are named after the rifle.

Video Games

  • Mega Man Legends 2 has a pair of air-pirate Recurring Bosses named Bola and Klaymoor.
  • Super Robot Wars features several characters named for brands of guns, including Kyosuke Nanbu, Excellen Browning, Ingram Plisken and his clone Viletta (presumably supposed to be Beretta) Badim. Ingram's most famous Humongous Mecha, the Astranagant, is another example (Astra + Nagant).
  • Dragon Quest Swords has sword-themed names all over the place. The hero's father is named Claymore, the hero's two traveling companions are Fleurette and Anlace, the Big Bad is called Xiphos, and a few of the game's locations are mostly named for legendary weapons (Caliburn Cave and Arondight/Alondite Heights).
  • In the Evolution games for Dreamcast, each of the playable characters are named after a type of fire arm (Mag Launcher, Linear Cannon, Pepper Box, Gre Nade etc).
  • In the original Japanese version of Ghost Trick, Kamilla's name is Kanon, while her dog is named Missile. Ironic, since they're two of the sweetest and weakest people in the game until Missile dies and Takes a Level In Badass.
  • Wing Commander 'verse has most Confederation (Human) Space Fighter types named after cold steel weapons - Epee, Rapier, Sabre, Broadsword, Crossbow, Morningstar, Stiletto, Gladius, Excalibur, Longbow, Lance.
  • Terran fighter ships in X3: Terran Conflict have names of swords. Rapier, Scimitar, Sabre, et cetera.
  • All members of Mizo's gang in Jak X: Combat Racing are named after something sharp. A mizo is a type of Bowie knife, and then there are Edje (edgy), Razer (razor), Cutter, Shiv (a prison-made knife) and Kleiver (cleaver), even though he wasn't originally a member.
  • Fallout 3 features Flak, Shrapnel, Barrett, Machete, Timebomb, and Hammer, all spread out throughout the wasteland.
  • Battlestar Galactica Online has Colonial Escort ships named after weapons: Scythe, Maul, Glaive and Halberd.
  • Bora fighters in Tachyon the Fringe are named for weapons: Cutlass, Battleaxe, Mace, etc.

Web Comics

  • The protagonists of Loserz are named Benjamin Winchester, Jodie Beretta and Eric Remington.

Western Animation

  • The Insecticons in Transformers have bomb-related named: Bombshell, Shrapnel, and Kickback.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Arms_and_Armor_Theme_Naming?oldid=1858037"