Egocentric Team Naming

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This is when someone names his team/group after himself. Sometimes Justified in that the Group Namer is the most famous member, but sometimes it's just a point of self aggrandizement. And sometimes it won't even be noticed by the namer.

Note this doesn't include "X and the Ys" names unless Y is very strongly related to X (and X is not an in-universe fictional name) which would be Face of the Band, or instances like The Mighty Ducks where they named the team after someone else (in that case, to get that someone to sponsor them).

Examples of Egocentric Team Naming include:

Anime and Manga

  • In Beck, when the main characters are trying to come up with a name for their band, lead guitarist Ryuusuke spends a moment on the floor writing ideas. When he's finished, he holds it up proudly, and every suggestion contains his name, like "The Ryuusuke Experience" and so on. Of course, no-one was impressed, though the fangirls that hang around them were amused.
  • Dragon Ball: The Ginyu Force, named after Captain Ginyu.
  • In One Piece, the group of pirates the series follows is called the Straw Hat Pirates, even though Luffy, the captain, is the only one who wears a straw hat. This goes for most other pirates, who are either named after the captain (Whitebeard Pirates, Kidd Pirates, Buggy Pirates) or an attribute of the captain that no other crewmember has (Spade Pirates, Red-Haired Pirates, Firetank Pirates). Less often, a pirate crew has a name that actually covers the whole crew rather than just the captain.
  • Haruhi Suzumiya: Haruhi's SOS Brigade doesn't look like this... until you expand the acronym and find that the second S stands for Suzumiya.
  • In Azumanga Daioh, Yukari has the class separate into two teams for a game of dodge-ball. Naturally, she's the leader of one of the teams, named "Team Yukari".
  • Shaman King has Ren's team—which he named Team "The Ren".
  • Shinta Fukuda from Bakuman｡ likes to refer to the group of mangaka protagonists trying to get published as "Team Fukuda". He first tried to go for "Team Niizuma" after the fact that, albeit quickly, he, Mashiro and Nakai worked under Niizuma, but quickly changes it to the current form when talking to Mashiro on the phone.

Comic Books

  • Mr. Fantastic named the Fantastic Four and himself simultaneously. Their Evil Counterpart, the U-Foes, are named after the member whose idea it was to get bombarded with cosmic rays in the first place: Simon Utrecht, alias Vector. It's important to note, though, that this was Ironclad's idea.
  • Professor X, The X-Men (denied in-universe, but c'mon...).
  • Among the New X-Men groups, one member was codenamed Hellion, and the team advisor chose the name... the Hellions. A different member lampshades this: "Hey, did we just become Hellion and the Hellions?"
  • Mr. T and the T-Force
  • Archie Comics
    • Archie named his rock 'n' roll group "The Archies". You'd think Reggie (if no-one else) would have a problem with that.
    • That Wilkin Boy features Bingo's band the Bingoes, who were just Expies of the Archies.
  • Blue Devil Annual #1 had several supernatural-themed characters team up. At the end, the Creeper suggests they be a regular team called "The Creeper's Spirit Squad". Which everyone thinks "the stupidest idea I've ever heard!"
  • Would you believe that the Incorruptibly Purely Pure and Humble Superman has TWO?! Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to Team Superman and The Supermen of America.
  • The Sinestro Corps in the Green Lantern, which could have been called the Yellow Lantern Corps, but was instead named after its founder.

Film

  • Casino Royale 1967: Once James Bond becomes head of MI 6 after the previous M gets offed, the very first thing he does is rename all his agents, male and female, James Bond 007 as a ploy to confuse the enemy.

Literature

  • Invoked in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: When Harry's secret group of students was caught and brought before the headmaster, Dumbledore claimed responsibility for the whole thing, noting how their charter specifically read "Dumbledore's Army, not Potter's Army".

Live-Action TV

  • In Angel, there's Angel Investigations, and when he leaves, the group all try to name the group after themselves, but decide to keep the original name.
  • Happy Days
    • A somewhat similar bit occurs after Arnold's burns down, and Al and Fonzie are preparing to reopen. (Fonzie has invested his life savings.) Al wants to call the new establishment Big Al's, and Fonzie wants to call it Fonzie's. The finally compromise and call it... Arnold's.
    • Also from Happy Days, fictional bands "Johnny Fish and the Fins" and "Leather Tuscadaro and the Suedes".
  • In Monk, Randy Disher's garage rock band was called "The Randy Disher Project".
  • The Big Bang Theory
    • Sheldon tries to get Leonard's app development team to name the app after himself, twice. The first time Sheldon uses an acronym and the second time he spells his name backward.
    • In another episode the guys team up to help Sheldon get over his fear of public speaking, comparing themselves to the X-Men. Sheldon thinks that "Since I am Sheldon Cooper, you shall be my C-Men."
  • Friends:

Monica: Go, Team Monica!
(murderous glares)
Monica: Okay, we'll think of a name later.

  • The Colbert Report: Stephen Colbert mocked this, claiming to have had a band in the eighties called "Stephen and the Colberts".
  • This trend is the source of humor in The Kids in The Hall sketch about the three-man garage band "Rod Torkelson's Armada Featuring Herman Menderchuk".

Music

  • Bon Jovi, named after lead singer Jon Bon Jovi. SNL did a sketch about this.
  • Van Halen, named after brothers Eddie (lead guitar) and Alex (drums)
  • Daughtry, formed and fronted by American Idol season 5 finalist Chris Daughtry.
  • Alice Cooper.
  • Dio (Ronnie James Dio et al.)
  • Meat Loaf Soul aka just Meat Loaf.
  • Maybe Marilyn Manson.
  • Santana, named after lead guitarist Carlos Santana.
  • Bill Haley and his Comets (cf. Halley's Comet).
  • The Beatles used in their early years both "Johnny and the Moondogs" and "Long John and the Silvermen" (referencing {{[[[Treasure Island]] Long John Silver}}).
  • Ben Folds Five (a trio)
  • Selena Gomez and The Scene. Note that "The Scene" part comes from the fact that Selena has been called a wannabe "scene" and thus only refers to Selena. Selena actually wanted to form a band with a band identity, a la Paramore; it was her label that wanted her name in the group's name.
  • In a similar fashion to the above, Marina and the Diamonds is often mistaken for this. The "Diamonds" part refers to her fans.

Video Games

  • Super Mario Bros., unless you go with the "Mario Mario and Luigi Mario" explanation.
  • Sonic Heroes gives us Team Sonic and Team Rose. Averted by Team Dark and Team Chaotix. At the end of the game, for the sake of a Title Drop Sonic refers to them collectively as "Sonic Heroes!" You'd think he might've asked first if the others were okay with that...
  • In Star Control II, there's a part where you can pick the name of your new coalition. Options include "The New Alliance of Free Stars", "The Concordance of Alien Nations", "The United Federation of Worlds" and "The Empire of (Insert your name here)". Hayes is a bit put off if you choose the Empire of Me option, but goes along with it.
  • This is the basic premise of Mario Party 2. The Mario characters create a new world that is initially named Mario Land, but each one wants to name the world after himself or herself, so they have a contest to determine who gets to name it.
  • Attempted but failed by Deadpool in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, who attempts to name the team "Deadpool and His Lackeys!"
  • Various team names in the Fire Emblem series invoke this. For example Lyndis' Legion and The Greil Mercenaries. Interestingly the Greil Mercenaries kept that name even after they changed leadership.
  • Actually called out in the Sly Cooper games. In the third game, the main villain Dr. M accuses Sly of thinking himself better than his teammates. Sly denies this, saying that he and his team are equals. M retorts that if that's true, then why are they called the Cooper Gang?

Web Animation

  • From the Space Tree episode "Allon's Crib", where Allon is replaced in his trio:

pinkfrosting88: You see, Reginald is too valuable to our trio. Plus, he finally named us.
Reginald: That's right. Say hello to The Reginalds.
Allon: What the hell? How come you're named after him?

Web Comics

  • Schlock Mercenary revolves around a band of mercenaries, "Tagon's Toughs", led by Kaff Tagon. After a venture capitalist buys the company early on, there's a three-way argument between people who want to name the group for themselves, but Tagon wins out because he's already gotten the business cards printed.

Web Original

  • Slovenian shooting team Polenar Tactical, most famous for the YouTube Channel of the same name, is named after leader Žiga Polajnar. The team's spelling is deliberately nonstandard for for uniqueness/search engine optimization purposes.

Western Animation

  • In the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The Drill", Sokka sees the Earth Kingdom's "Terra Team" gains a minor obsession with giving his own group a cool name. While he knows to name it after Aang instead of himself, one idea he tries to justify like this - "The Boomer-Aang Gang"—is named after his own weapon.
  • Jackie Chan Adventures
    • Jade names their group of allies "the J-Team" (which sticks). It's ostensibly after Jackie, but...
    • When Finn, Ratso, and Chow finally get fed up with just being treated as mooks all the time, Finn decides to form his own gang with them, but he can never settle on any suitable name, most of them all involving or inspired by his name somewhere in it.
  • The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius
    • When Jimmy and his friends gain superpowers due to cosmic radiation, he immediately calls them the "N-Men" (as in Neutron Men), despite a couple of protests.
    • In the episode where they form a band, Sheen proposes the name "Sheen and the Sheenettes".
  • G.I. Joe's original founding member was Lt. (later General) Joseph Colton—code name GIJOE.
  • Frisky Dingo featured Awesome X and the X-ticles, a team of well-funded badass normals. They Fight Crime.
  • In Phineas and Ferb: Summer Belongs to You!, Dr. Doofenshmirtz tries this after hitching a ride from his enemies:

Doofenshmirtz: Woohoo! Team Doofenshmirtz, ho! (Perry and Monogram glare) What? Like I'm going to let you name the team? Organization Without a Cool Acronym?

  • Wakfu
    • When trying to come up with a name for their Five-Man Band, Sadlygrove and Rubilax suggest "The Brotherhood of Grovy" and "Rubi and Fools", respectively. They eventually settle for "The Brotherhood of the Tofu", after the Team Pet.
    • Appears again in the second season.

Justice Knight: We're gonna form a close and powerful group aiming to capture Anathar. And we will call it... THE JUSTICE CLIQUE!

Real Life

  • Semi-example: The Cleveland Browns were named after their first coach, Paul Brown, after a "name the team" contest. Brown himself preferred the name "Panthers", but someone else already had the rights to the name "Cleveland Panthers".
  • The Charlotte Bobcats were named after their owners Robert "Bob" Jackson.
  • The New York Rangers are so named because its founder was "Tex" Rickard, leading to the nickname "Tex's Rangers".


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