Character Name Alias: Difference between revisions

* The [[Martian Manhunter]], shapeshifted into an (apparently) Japanese woman, as "[[Sailor Moon|Hino Rei]]". Seriously. What's more: ''[[Batman]]'' picked up on the reference. Out-of-universe, this is supposedly due to someone pranking the author when he asked for a name connected with Mars.

* Spyboy's partner Bombshell attended his sleeper personality's high school under the name "Marta Hari."

 

== [[Fan Work]] ==

** He also dresses up as an alien named "[[Star Wars|Darth Vader]]"

* ''[[Austin Powers]]: International Man of Mystery''. Austin and Vanessa meet Number Two in the casino.

** Although this may have been a name that popped into his head without knowledge of their cultural meaning, given his status as a human popsicle.

* In ''[[Fletch]]'', the title character goes by a number of aliases:

** Real people: Ted Nugent, [[Igor Stravinsky]], Gordon Liddy and [[Harry Truman|Harry S. Truman]].

** Just plain weird: Dr. Rosenpenis

* In ''[[The Saint]]'' with Val Kilmer, all of Simon's aliases are names of Catholic saints.

* Real-person name example from ''[[In the Line of Fire]]'': Would-be presidential assassin Mitch Leary uses the name Booth (as in John Wilkes -) when taunting Agent Frank Horrigan (a former JFK bodyguard) over the phone.

'''Leary:''' Because Booth had flair, panache - a leap to the stage after he shot Lincoln. }}

* In ''[[The Birdcage]]'', the flamboyantly gay housekeeper is pretending to be a stereotypical butler and introduces himself as [[I Am Spartacus|Spartacus.]]

* The otherwise forgettable made-for-TV ''[[X-Men|Generation X]]'' movie had [[Psychic Powers|Emma Frost]] pass off herself and Banshee off as Hootie and the Blowfish without the police officer batting an eyelash.

** "Agents Hootie and Blowfish." Luckily, Emma has also messed with the guard's mindsight.

* In ''[[Shock Treatment]]'', it turns out that Cosmo and Nation McKinley {{spoiler|are not real doctors, but character actors who use an assortment of last names -- all those of U.S. presidents}}.

* In ''[[The Player]]'', the blackmailer uses the alias 'Joe Gillis' (the narrator from ''[[Sunset Boulevard]]'') but this is intentional because he knows the connotations will rattle his target.

* In ''[[Notting Hill]]'' Julia Roberts' character (a famous actress) uses fake aliases taken from cartoon characters to check into hotels.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* [[Roger Zelazny]] wrote a series of short stories, collected in ''My Name Is Legion'', about a secret agent whose real name even his employer didn't know, whose aliases were always the names of obscure-but-notable historical figures. (In a break from the usual procedure, the historical figure always had ''nothing whatever'' to do with the job at hand; for instance, on his first appearance he was undercover as an engineer, but using a name whose original owner was a doctor.)

* In ''The Darkest Evening of the Year'' by [[Dean Koontz]], one of the villains uses at least two aliases from Kurt Vonnegut novels.

** In ''False Memory'', another Dean Koontz novel, the evil psychologist is named Mark [[Louis Cypher|Ahriman]]. Not only is his last name identical to the name of the chief figure of evil in Zoroastrianism, but when he travels, he uses aliases that have two things in common: very ordinary first names, and last names that are the name of the Devil. One example is "Jim Shaitan," Shaitan being one of the names for the Devil in Islam.

* In Colin Bateman's ''Mystery Man'' the narrator, who runs a crime bookshop, goes by a succession of names of crime writers and fictional detectives - unfortunately the people he's talking to are more genned up on their crime fiction than he expects and there are [[Running Gag|a few]] "oh, like the writer?" jokes.

* In the [[Ellery Queen]] novel ''The Origin of Evil'', there is a character who calls himself Alfred Wallace. Recognising the connotations of the name (Wallace was a naturalist and contemporary of Darwin who independently proposed a theory of natural selection) is what starts Ellery down the path to the solution of the mystery.

* In [[Daniel Pinkwater]]'s ''Young Adult Novel'', the Wild Dada Ducks of Himmler High School, who use their Dada names instead of their real names, include the Honorable Venustiano Carranza (President of Mexico), previously known as Pecos Bill.

* The main character of ''Little Brother'' originally goes by "w1n5t0n", as in the protagonist of ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]''. When the plot starts heating up, he realized it might be a tad too obvious, and gets a new alias.

* In ''[[Neverwhere]]'', the Marquis de Carabas admits to taking that pseudonym from "[[Puss in Boots|a lie in a fairy-tale]]".

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* In an episode of ''[[Life On Mars]]'', Sam Tyler goes undercover as "Tony Blair" with Annie as his wife, "Cherie". When Gene tags along, Sam introduces him as "Gordon Brown".

** In the American version, he's "Detective Skywalker," making it more of an [[I'm Mr. Future Pop Culture Reference]].

** And Kate, has gone by the names Annie (staying with Ray Mullen), Monica (to marry Kevin the cop), Joan (to receive mail), Maggie (to rob a bank), and Lucy (bonding with Cassidy). These are all the names of saints.

** And John Locke went by Jeremy Bentham (both the names of English philosophers).

* ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' plays a similar name game with other notable fictional detectives. Keith Mars has memorably introduced himself as [[Monk|"Adrian Monk"]] and as "[[Nancy Drew|Carson Drew, and my daughter Nancy]]". Veronica, infiltrating a rival school, went by the name [[Archie Comics|Betty]], saying she was Horny, the mascot for the Rhinos, the team at her old school...Riverdale.

*** And the reverse: He referred to himself as "Fred Scarran" during an Earth episode.

* The aliases used in ''[[Leverage]]'' generally have some connection to the heist they're pulling. [[Word of God]] states that this is because Hardison picks them.

* ''[[The Middleman]]'' did this in every single episode, not just with the heroes' aliases; in any given episode, virtually every proper name, real or alias, was part of a pop-culture-allusion theme of the week.

'''Judge''': Quiet, Dr. Crippen! }}

* In the ''[[X-Files]]'' episode "El Mundo Gira," detained Mexican immigrants identify themselves to the INS as Juan Valdez, Cesar Chavez, Jose Feliciano, Placido Domingo and Erik Estrada.

** In Season 6's "Arcadia", Mulder and Scully's aliases while undercover as a married couple are Rob and Laura Petrie. Given the age of their neighbors, it's suprising no one made the allusion to [[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]. It is used for laughs here, as the two spend parts of the episode correcting the pronunciation of "Petrie". It's pronounced like the dish, thank you very much.

* Modified slightly in the [[Hustle]] episode "Conned Out of Luck" - Mickey mentions Ash to [[The Mark]] as "Mr. Bond", after which Ash simply can't resist introducing himself as "Bond... [[James Bond]]. *[[Beat]]* No relation."

* There's one ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' episode where Sophia gives her name as Melanie Griffith.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Family Guy]]'': "I'm Officer T.J. Hooker. ''Sheriff'' Officer T.J. Hooker. And this is my partner MacMillan and Wife".

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In [[Homestuck]], Dave tells Terezi that his name is [[Ben Stiller]].

* Hilary of [[Other Peoples Business]] introduces herself as [[Rachel Maddow]].

 

* ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'': Occurs in ''[[Spin-Off|The Program]]'', when [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Kami Steele]] attempts to introduce herself to Luke Mendoza and Ryan Montoya as [[Kill Bill|Beatrix Kiddo]]. Hilariously, both characters see right through it, mostly because they ''already know she is Kami''.

* ''[[Red Panda Adventures]]'': Kit gets spotted using one of these on a hotel register.

'''Kit:''' As long as most desk clerks are men, it's a pretty safe alias. }}

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* The 2010 Orwell Prize for best political blog was ironically awarded to an anonymous blogger calling himself [[Nineteen Eighty-Four|Winston Smith]].

 

[[Category:Naming Conventions]]

[[Category:Character Name Alias]]