Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Difference between revisions

* Prospector, the accountant from Nergal aboard the ''Nadesico'' in ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'', is somewhere between this and [[No Name Given]], since he never gets an actual name.

* The Captain, The Doktor and The Major from ''[[Hellsing]]''. While there are [[Fanon]] names for The Captain and The Major (Hans Gunsche and Montana Max respectively), they have never been officially named by Hirano within ''Hellsing'' canon.

* In ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]'', everyone calls her just "the Major". Which is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|exactly what it says on her shoulders]].

** Her name is known to both the reader/viewer and her teammates however. It's Motoko Kusanagi. It's described as an "Obvious Alias" in the manga however. According to the creator, an English equivalent of her name would be something like "Jane Excalibur". Obvious alias indeed. Appropriately enough, the creator's own last name (Masamune) is also a type of famous sword.

** Most of his faculty colleagues just go by their job descriptions as well, such as The Dean, The Lecturer in Recent Runes, and the [[Cloudcuckoolander|Bursar]]. The Bursar's real name has been given as Arthur A. Dinwiddie ("That's Dinwiddie with an o."), but it's rarely used. This was [[lampshade]]d in ''The Last Continent''.

{{quote|''"One of us must know his name, surely? Good grief, I should hope we at least know our colleagues' ''names.'' Isn't that so..." he looked at the Dean, hesitated, and then said, "Dean?"''}}

{{quote|'''Stupid Looking Kid:''' I think it's Keith.

'''Maurice:''' You never said you had a name!

* In ''[[The Alchemist]]'', almost every character is referred to by their occupation (the titular alchemist, the crystal salesman, etc.), and only a select few characters actually have names (including the main character, Santiago the shepherd, but even he is victim to this trope; his name is only mentioned in the first line of the book and he is simply referred to as "the boy" afterward).

** It could be an allusion to Ernest Hemingway's ''[[The Old Man and the Sea]]'', for the main character's name was also Santiago, but he is almost strictly referred to as 'the old man' throughout the novel.

** Farmer Maggot's wife is never referred to by name.

** In ''[[The Hobbit]]'', neither the Elvenking or the Master of Lake-Town are named. In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' the former's name is revealed to be Thranduil.

* The man in the yellow suit from ''[[Tuck Everlasting]]'' is always referred to as such.

* Gabriel from the ''[[Wicked Lovely]]'' series. The leader of the hounds is always the Gabriel. It's a name of rank, not birth.

* There are three characters in ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'' with names; Alice herself and the White Rabbit's servants, Pat and Bill. (There's also the Rabbit's maid, Mary, and Alice's cat Dinah, but they don't actually appear). The rest are only known by their species (the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Mock Turtle etc.), their title (the King, Queen and Knave of Hearts, the Duchess) or their profession (the Hatter, the Cook, the Footmen).

* ''[[Daemon]]'' gives us The Major, who is never known by any other name. {{spoiler|Turns out, he's not even a Major in any branch of any military, though it seems he used to be.}}

* In ''[[Sea of Trolls|The Sea of Trolls]]'' and the sequels, [[The Obi-Wan]] is only referred to as "the Bard" or "Dragon Tongue."

* "The Bane" from ''[[The Underland Chronicles]]'', though in Book 4, {{spoiler|we find out that his name is [[Evil Albino|Pearlpelt]].}}

* At the end of the first ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]'' book, Eragon gets a telepathic message from someone called "The Weeping Sage," or "The Cripple Who Is Whole." {{spoiler|Subverted in that in the next book, we find out his name is Oromis.}}

* The [[Big Bad]] of the ''[[Fablehaven]]'' series is always called "the Sphinx" (or "the Ethiopian" at one point). He's not really a sphinx, he's just called this because he's full of riddles and mysteries.

* The emperor in ''[[Detectives in Togas]]'' is mentioned several times, but never by name. From the dates given in the story, we can conclude it's Tiberius, second Roman emperor.

* The Consul in [[Dan Simmons]]'s ''[[Hyperion]]''.

* The characters in ''[[The Annals of the Chosen]]'' are either known by their profession or [[Only Known by Their Nickname|a meaningful nickname]]. For example, the titular Chosen are generally known by nicknames based on their role, such as the Leader being Boss and the Swordsman being Blade or Sword.

* The woman in yellow in ''[[A Dirge for Prester John]]'', called Theotokos, which is clearly not her real name. She is an authority figure, but how literally we should take this title is unclear as yet.

 

* Lieutenant Murtagh from ''[[Family Matters]]'' had his first name name legally changed to "Liuetenant." When he told this to Carl, and Carl asked him what his name was before the change, he answered that it was "Sergeant."

* Nursie in ''[[Blackadder]] II'', sort of. She certainly goes by her title, even though it's not even role she properly fills anymore (granted she continues to do so anyway) but she does admit her real name as being Bernard.

** Not only the audience, but the main characters as well. They never bothered to ask.

* The One-Armed Man, in ''[[The Fugitive (TV series)|The Fugitive]]''.

* In ''[[The X-Files]]'', the Cigarette Smoking Man's first name was never revealed, and he didn't even get a last name or initials until midway through the sixth season. Many other significant characters are only given descriptive names like "the First Elder" and "the Well-Manicured Man."

* "Daddy's assistant" (also [[The Ghost]]) in ''[[The Latest Buzz]]''.

* The main antagonist for the first two seasons of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' is known only as "The Demon" for the first season, which is expanded to "the Yellow-Eyed Demon" for the second (out of necessity after other demons started showing up). His real name, Azazel, was only revealed {{spoiler|four episodes into the season ''after'' his death.}}

* In the ''[[Leverage]]'' episode "The Bottle Job", the villain [[All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks|Mark Doyle's]] two henchmen are repeatedly introduced as "Liam" and "Liam's Brother".

* ''[[La Femme Nikita]]'': Apparently by official policy, the head of Section 1 is referred to as Operations and addressed as "Sir", except sometimes by Madeleine and George.

* In ''[[Entourage]]'', Ari's wife is always referred to as "Mrs. Ari Gold" and her first name is never mentioned until the final season (it's {{spoiler|Melissa}}).

* Subverted in the [[Wizards of Waverly Place]] episode "My Tutor Tutor", which introduces a tutor whose name is Tutor. Apparently this is a common practice in the wizarding world, where parents name their children what they hope them to be. This doesn't always work, though, in the case of [[Embarrassing First Name|Dr. Butcher]].

 

== [[Music]] ==

* The protagonist in ''[[Dungeon Siege]]'' is simply called "Farmer". The third game however gives the character the name of Lady Montbarron.

* The protagonist of ''[[Bastion]]'' is referred to only as "The Kid" by the narrator Rucks.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==