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|'''[http://www.superdickery.com/index.php?option{{=}}com_content&view{{=}}article&id{{=}}762:the-gay-ghost-really-ought-to-consider-a-name-change&catid{{=}}36:stupor-powers-index&Itemid{{=}}38 Superdickery]'''}}
So you're feeling unimportant and want to make a name for yourself, a name worth remembering. Or maybe you want a nickname o stand out among your friends. Maybe you just need a change of pace and want to shake things up.
Or, let's say you're a superhero - you've got the powers, got the costume, got the cool origin story, now you just need to pick the perfect superhero name for evildoers to tremble at. Maybe you go with an [[Awesome McCoolname]] that describes your powers, or a [[Dark Age of Supernames|grim n' gritty]] one-syllable name that strikes fear into evildoers, or you can aim to be the next classic superhero who triumphs over the setting's [[Legion of Doom]]!
Whatever the case, you've picked your name and... Wait, what's this? [[Narm|Why is everybody laughing]]? Let's see what you... oh dear. It seems your choice was an especially [[Unfortunate Names|Unfortunate Name]] - you picked out a '''Fail O'Suckyname'''.
If this happens, it's going to be a ''good while'' of being the local [[Butt Monkey|punchline]] before you can live it down - if you're lucky, anyway. If not and you [[Never Live It Down]], your only hopes are to become famous enough one day for everyone to not automatically think of something else when they hear it, or to become enough of [[The Dreaded]] that people piss themselves in fear rather than laughter. Many are the
'''Please note that this trope is only about embarrassing names ''that the character specifically chooses''
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Gohan from ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' picked the name 'The Great Saiyaman', complete with ridiculous costume. He never seemed to notice the bystanders he just saved were staring at him incredulously. The one time he actually was called out for his ridiculous name, he started throwing a tantrum that terrified the wits out of the poor guys.
* Ships in ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' are [[Theme Naming|named after flowers.]]<ref>Just like British anti-submarine corvettes during [[WWII]].</ref> One of them has the unfortunate name of the ''Pansy''. Guess what happens to it in battle.
* ''[[Bleach]]'' gives us a hilarious in-universe fictional example in the form of the Seaweed Ambassador. It's made all the funnier by the fact that his creator, Byakuya, is ''the'' [[Aloof Big Brother]].
* ''[[Gundam]]'':
* ''[[Sentai]]'' parody ''[[Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman]]''. All of the protagonists are office drones in their daily life and the color uniforms they wear are the result of their bosses questioning them on good colors. Unfortunately, they chose these colors before they found out about the sentai-thing, assuming they were choosing colors good for business. Thus, you get characters announcing themselves as the "Moss green" and "Salmon pink" Rangers.
* ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'': The character Shitt. P. of the Shimon family.
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{{quote|'''Tomoe:''' Okay, let's see... "Fate Wanderer: The Destiny", "Fearful Body: The Muscle", and "The Prince of Fists, Mr. Punch". They all suck. You're terrible at this.
'''Kotetsu:''' Y-You don't have to say it like that... }}
* One legendary [[Bully Hunter]] in ''[[Daily Lives of High School Boys]]'' is called "Rubber Shooter." While the Japanese themselves has no doubt as for what it meant -- "Rubber" means rubber bands in Japanese—due to [[Separated by a Common Language]],
* In the original non-dubbed ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' episode where [[Big Bad|Kagemaru]] first appears, after Manjoume challenged him using his nickname ("Manjoume Thunder"), Fubuki tries to do the same and give himself a cool nickname of his own. Unfortunately, the best he can come up with is "Blizzard Prince"; the look of embarrassment on his sister's face says it all.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Pictured above is the Whizzer, who has pretty much been a walking joke since [[The Silver Age of Comic Books]] due to his snicker-inducing name (for non-US readers, "taking a whizz" means urinating). The fact that his costume is yellow probably doesn't help matters. His origin? Mongoose blood gives you superpowers! In ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]],'' even Spider-Man laughs at his name and pee-yellow costume. When Spidey asks the Whizzer why he chose his name, the Whizzer says it was the sound he made when he ran, and that it sounded better in the 50s. [[Deadpool]] also riffs on him a bit for it at one point.<ref>Given his origin, why the hell didn't he call himself the Mongoose? "Let the snakes among men beware!"</ref> When the character debuted in 1939, football player (and later US Supreme Court Justice) [[wikipedia:Byron White|Byron "Whizzer" White]] had been playing in the NFL for a year, having been given the nickname by a newspaper columnist during his college career. So perhaps it made more sense at the time.
** For some kind of 70th anniversary thing, Marvel did a story set in the [[Golden Age]] where he explained that "Whizzer" was his college nickname - he thought they were calling him "Wizard", and by the time he worked out they ''weren't''...
*** Good job ''[[The Beano]]'' isn't available in the US - it has a character called Billy Whizz, named that for the same reason as the Whizzer (he has super speed).
* Also in the ''[[Spider-Man]]'' universe, [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|the Shocker]] gets this, presumably because his name is also a term for a sexual act (and an obscene gesture.) Being a [[Deadpan Snarker]], Spider-Man makes fun of these folks. In ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' when Spidey first meets the Shocker and asks him "Who are you supposed to be? The Vibrator?" Also from [[Spider-Man]], Kraven the Hunter apparently forgot that "craven" means "cowardly". They try to justify it by revealing his full name to be "Sergei Kravinoff".
** Others from Spider-Man's [[Rogues Gallery]]: Jackson "Big Wheel" Wheele; Frederick "Big Man" Foswell; Jason "Demogoblin" Macendale (what, is he the goblin you try in the store before you decide you want to buy it?); Miss Arrow (if only for the implication that she isn't a good shot). Spider-Man also got a lot of amusement out of the name "[[New Warriors|Night Thrasher]]". He thinks it makes him sound like he has terrible nightmares. In one issue, Spidey teams up with Thrasher and [[The Punisher]]. Naturally, Spidey doesn't get along with either of them (both of them being [[Darker and Edgier]] heroes), and eventually grumbles about being lectured by "One guy who sounds like he has naughty dreams and another guy who sounds like he likes to spank people." Then there was the time the Blue Shield attempted to apprehend Spider-Man for not registering with the Initiative. Spider-Man took the time to question why his health insurance premiums had gone up so much (for non-US posters, Blue Shield is also the name of a major health insurance company).
** Rocket Racer; he himself admits in a solo story that "all the good names were taken".
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* [[Bury Your Gays|While he was alive]] "Freedom Ring" got a lot of flack for having a pretty dumb alias. It was also invoked gay symbolism -- "freedom rings" are rainbow-colored rings on a chain, a well-known gay signifier of the '90s. This, however, was likely intentional as the character was an open homosexual, and prior to being killed by evil alternate universe Tony Stark, Iron Maniac, Freedom Ring was the most prominent gay superhero in Marvel. Creator Robert Kirkman regretted killing the character as he represented about 20% of the overall homosexual hero census in the Universe.
* ''[[Batman]]'' villain [http://luchins.com/what-were-they-thinking/the-definition-of-bad-ass/ Mr. Polka-Dot.] Also Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Whose real names are Dumphrey Dumson and Deever Tweed. And Humpty Dumpty, who bears the unfortunate real name of Humphry Dumpler.
* ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' examples:
** The villainess "The White Rabbit", which is hardly a name to inspire terror. Then again, [[Harmless Villain|she's not at all scary anyway]].
** Not to mention the Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly's costumed identity during ''[[The Clone Saga]]''. Even ''he'' hated the name, although to be fair, it was thought up by ''Daily Bugle'' reporter Ken Ellis. Ken had based the name on Ben's costume, which was a brighter red version of Spider-Man's costume with a blue jacket over the top.
* [http://luchins.com/what-were-they-thinking/names/ Dr. Drool].
* During the time the [[Blackhawk]]s [[Dork Age|became superheroes]], some of them got ridiculous names to go with their equally silly costumes. The already silly-named Chop-Chop became "Dr. Hands," and Chuck became "The Listener," complete with ear-covered costume.
* During the time the [[Dark Age of Supernames]] reigned supreme, names trying to sound "extreme" or [[Xtreme Kool Letterz|"kool"]] usually ended up being hilarious instead. D-list [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] villain [http://comiccoverage.typepad.com/comic_coverage/2008/08/worst-cover-ever-the-american-recessionwhen-cap-was-crap.html "Blistik"] sounds more like a lip balm than a serious threat.<ref>Actually, Blistik ''was'' a brand of lip balm made by Blistex.</ref>
* [[New Warriors|Speedball]] probably crosses into this territory when you realise that a [[Kid Appeal Character|brightly-coloured, bouncy comic relief character]] shares his name with a [[Hero-Killer|lethal drugs cocktail]] that's polished off more entertainment careers than [[Big Brother|Celebrity Big Brother]].
** Either Steve Ditko or Tom DeFalco probably noticed Speedball brand art supplies around their studios - they're very common among comic artists—and thought it sounded like a good hero name. I'm just glad to know they probably know little about narcotic cocktails.
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* [[Have a Gay Old Time|The Gay Ghost]] is one of the most infamous examples in comic history. For the record, in his later appearances (however few there have been), he's been known as the ''Grim'' Ghost—evidently the "Gay" moniker was something akin to an [[Ironic Nickname]].
** [[Grant Morrison]] memorably lampshaded this, having [[Animal Man]] meet the Ghost in a comic book afterlife and having the Ghost beg not to be brought back. (Apparently it's [[Unfortunate Implications|better to be dead than gay]]...)
* The ''[[Champions]]'' comic books
* Combining this trope with [[Unfortunate Implications]], John Walker, aka Super-Patriot, recruited a team of super-strong allies called the Bold Urban Commandos, or "Buckies", led by African-American Lemar Hoskins. When Walker replaced Steve Rogers as [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]], Hoskins took the identity of Bucky, until someone brought up the fact that 'Bucky' was demeaning, since slave-owners in the 1800s sometimes called their male slaves 'Bucks'. Hoskins promptly changed his name to Battlestar.
* In ''[[Power Pack]]'' Alex Power takes the name "Gee" when he gets his gravity based powers. He realizes how stupid this sounds just before the group changes powers. When he finally gets his original powers back at the very end of the series years latter he quietly starts uses "Zero-G" instead. The [[Marvel Adventurers]] based reboot makes him Zero-G at the start.
* [https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Stepford_Cuckoos_(Earth-616)#Trivia The Stepford Cuckoos], who appear in ''[[X-Men]]'' and various related comics. These five mutant-clone-sisters prefer to use "Five-in-One" as their "hero name", but their origin - which has similarities to both ''[[The Stepford Wives]]'' and ''[[The Midwich Cuckoos]]'' - gave them a nickname that has been hard to shake. Given their incredible psychic and matter-manipulation powers when used as cooperatively, their name seems kind of... undignified.
* [[MAD|Captain Klutz]]; of course, [[Affectionate Parody| that's the general idea]], and it's arguably better than his real name, Ringo Fonebone.
== [[Film]] ==
* One of [[Roger Ebert]]'s rules is that if a comedy has characters with silly names, it's probably an unfunny comedy grasping for straws.
** Or actors. When [[Siskel and Ebert]] reviewed ''[[UHF (film)|UHF]]'', being generally unfamiliar with media outside film, they derided "[["Weird Al" Yankovic]]" as an obviously made-up name in the vein of "Yahoo Serious", and apparently saw nothing in the movie that could dispel their impression that it was cut from the very same cloth as ''[[Young Einstein]]''.
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'''Mr. Brown:''' Yeah, yeah, but "Mr. Brown"? That's little too close to "Mr. Shit".
'''Mr. Pink:''' "Mr. Pink" sounds like "Mr. Pussy". }}
* Evelyn Tremble in
* ''[[The Specials]]'': To be fair, Small is at least a better name than Mr. Smart. But then, so is [[Country Matters|Captain C***face]].
* Karl Berger, aka K. the Butcher Shitter from ''[[Violent Shit]]''.
* Archie Benjamin, aka Horny the Clown from ''Drive Thru''.
* Pazuzu, the demon in ''[[The Exorcist]]''. Fans of that classic horror film might notice that the name is never spoken out loud, even though it was in the script. Director William Friedkin felt the name sounded silly and mandated that it never be said by any character in the film. And as evidenced by the sequel ''[[Exorcist II: The Heretic]]'', he was right. The scene where it was spoken [[Nightmare Retardant| kind of ruined the mood]].
== [[Literature]] ==
* In the story-within-a-story of ''Stolen from Gypsies'', one character {{spoiler|actually [[Sweet Polly Oliver|the hero's love interest in disguise]]}} is a rakish highwayman who took the name "the Dim Avenger". While the intended meaning of Dim was "dark", the character tends to get asked if their name means they are stupid.
* In the first novel of the ''[[Evil Genius Trilogy]]'', one character early on is a [[Jerk Jock]] who is trying to chose a sufficiently threatening villain name, but all of his choices lead the others to laugh at him (e.g. choosing the Decimator, and then having it pointed out that decimate literally means "kill 10%"). Of course, the Axis Institute's coursework slowly destroys this little habit- {{spoiler|right before he [[Superpower Meltdown|loses control of his powers and incinerates himself]].}}
* The comedy book ''How to Be a Superhero'' has section devoted to avoiding choices like this, e.g. Mr. AC/DC might not be good choice even if you do have electrical powers. Then there's the poor guy who got his powers from and named himself "Purple Helmet".
* Zits from ''[[Flight (novel)|Flight]]''.
* ''[[Good Omens]]''' secondary set of Bikers of the Apocalypse, Grievous Bodily Harm, Cruelty to Animals, Really Cool People, and Treading In Dogshit (formerly All Foreigners Especially The French, formerly Things Not Working Properly Even When You've Given Them [[Percussive Maintenance|A Good Thumping]], never actually No Alcohol Lager, briefly Embarrassing Personal Problems, and finally [[It Makes Sense in Context|People Covered In Fish]]).
* ''[[Wild Cards]]'' had Snotman, who was unable to make people forget his old name even after he has become the Reflector.
** Similarly, Nuclear [[Action Bomb]] Drake Thomas was dubbed "Little Fat Boy" by government agents unfamiliar with the concept of [[Bullying a Dragon]], and the name stuck even after he started calling himself "Ra".
* ''[[Discworld]]'': The rats in ''[[The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents]]'' named themselves from the labels on discarded food packaging, resulting in names like Dangerous Beans and Nourishing. Peaches is not so bad.
* Like the Discworld talking rats, wyrmen in ''[[Perdido Street Station]]'' take names from whatever gibberish they overhear that sounds good. Teafortwo, Isaac's wyrman gofer, has a sister named Bottletop and a son called Scabies.
* Most of ''[[Redwall]]'''s vermin characters are [[Only Known by Their Nickname]], and their nicknames tend to be based on unflattering physical attributes. "Redtooth" is bearable. "Stinky" is worrying. Also, the [[Unfortunate Names|unlucky hare by the name of "Stiffener Medick"]]. Ow.
* Professor Pippy P. Poopypants from ''[[Captain Underpants]]''. That book was about him
** In fact, he comes from a country where ''everybody'' for a reason that's stated to be too boring and stupid to be explained has a moronic name.
* In ''[[Hush, Hush]]'', the [[Fallen Angel]] who stalks, harasses, terrifies and almost murders Nora calls himself Patch. The author clearly intended this to be a cool and gangster-like name but seriously, what kind of fallen angel who remains [[Bastard Boyfriend|borderline sociopathic]] even after being seemingly redeemed by love names himself ''Patch''? A name that sounds much more apt for a ''[[One Hundred and One Dalmatians|dog]]''?
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* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'': One of the main protagonists of the series adopts an assumed name so he can easily blend in with the locals when he visits an unremarkable backwater planet named Earth. The "minimal research" he did before deciding on his "nicely inconspicuous" moniker led him to settle on Ford Prefect.<ref>A rather silly car made by the Ford motor company for the British market. For those of you familiar with ''[[Harry Potter]]'', it's along similar lines to the Ford Anglia</ref>
== [[Live
* In an old ''[[All That]]'' sketch, a Mayor is auditioning several superheroes for the city, though only encountering examples of [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|generally sucky powers]]. The final one is basically a [[Superman]] [[Expy]] with all of his powers and no weakness whatsoever. He would be an automatic shoo-in were it not for his name of Superty-Duper Man. In the end, the Mayor resolves to save the city herself, strapping on a cape and flying away.
* A ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode featured the rise of "Mothers Opposed to the Occult"... M.O.O. for short.
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* Similarly, in her autobiography, Chyna mentioned several of the names that the WWE had thought up for her. Some were decent, if cliche, such as Phalan, Sheera, Venus, and Tigress. One she singled out as particularly bad... TEEVA GWEEVE.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Aberrant]]'', being a deconstruction of superheroics, touches on this: the rise of superpowered Novas, many of whom think they're now required to don costumes and take up aliases, have spawned a budding fashion industry dedicated to not only making non-stupid costumes, but also to come up with fitting and stylish names a Nova can use without feeling silly or raise [[Unfortunate Implications]]. A few sucky names still crop up, though.
* Just about every unique name in the campaign setting provided with the legendarily bad RPG ''[[The Spawn of Fashan]]''. The land of "Boosboodle"? Monsters called "maki", "gruf" and "foklom", among others?
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''Elona'', there is a random name generation system that allows you to pick an alias at the beginning and also applies to randomly generated magic items. This can lead to items being generated with names such as Sparkle Homo, Mustache Fortress, Pimp of Awesomeness, or, more likely, a name that is complete gibberish like Foreigner Kitty or Princess of Rebel-rouser
* ''Robotech: Invasion''. "Wait, our group is named F.A.I.L.!?"
* It's possible for players to invoke this trope in games where [[Hello, Insert Name Here|characters can be named]].
** Far more common in games where you can name other characters.
*** "This is my grandson. You two have been rivals ever since you were children, now what was his name again?..... Oh yes, now I remember, his name is Asshole!"
*** Also, naming your Metapod "penis." Its only move was "harden".
** If it evolved from Caterpie, it has Tackle and String Shot. [[Don't Explain the Joke|Tackle is slang for penis, and String Shot is...yeah.]]
* [[Borderlands|King Wee Wee]]. Yeah.
* ''[[Darius
* ''[[Touhou]]'': [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Medicine Melancholy]].
* Lyric from ''[[Sonic Boom]]''. Yeah, of all the nouns in the English language, "lyric" isn't exactly a [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Name to Run Away From Really Fast]], nor is it the best name for a snake, or a villain. But then, he [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain| wasn't much of a villain either.]]
* In ''[[Shantae|Shantae: Half-Genie Hero]]'', Risky attacks the town with her Part Omni-Organic, Partially Titanic, Ocean-Optional Tinkerslug.
{{quote|'''Shantae:''' [[Fun with Acronyms| P.O.O.P. T.O.O.T.]]?
'''Risky:''' Don't call it that!}}
* ''[[Pokémon Sword and Shield]]'' has, uhm, Mustard. Yeah, this is the name of a boss trainer in the Isle of Armor DLC, and while he's a [[Cool Old Guy]] and the most powerful trainer in the game (level-wise) the name makes you think he's a hot dog vendor or something.
* Burgerpants, the cashier at the [[Burger Fool]] in ''[[Undertale]]''. Yeah, it's not his real name, but his jerk of a boss calls him that. To be fair, he got that nickname after he was caught stealing burgers from his workplace because the weight of the burgers he was smuggling in his pants caused them to fall down.
* [[Enforced Trope|Probably done on purpose]] for [[Rule of Funny|comedic effect]] in ''[[Battletoads]]'', where the three protagonists are named Zit, Pimple, and Rash.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Magellan]]'' has "Psi-Jector" - [http://magellanverse.com/?p=472 he thinks] it's a great (and obvious) name: ''"I'm a tactile psychic... I project images of thoughts... PSI-JECTOR!"'' but everyone else just pays out on him - "Psi-Jerktor", "Re-Jector"...
* The defunct ''Queer Nation'' (in which a pink meteor gives all homosexuals on the planet superpowers) had a gay, ditzy, male bartender with telepathic powers name himself "Cocktale", just because it was his favorite drink.
* The villain of ''[[Van Von Hunter]]'' unintentionally gets himself dubbed "The Flaming Prince". It was supposed to be "The Prince of Flames" but his assistant hastily made the announcement before he was finished with his out-loud brainstorming. The villain's father visits and asks what the name is really supposed to mean, then the prince walks out to
* And the winner is: [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/080424 Lord Moldypants] from the ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' parody of ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]''.
* From ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', Elliot's
== [[Web Original]] ==
* The [[Whateley Universe]] includes several mentions of them. The students are warned to be careful even with their non
* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' has Firebert, The Cheat's commando name.
** There's also Strong Bad's short-lived attempt to get people to start calling him "The Lege" (as in "the legend"), until he realizes [[Dumbass Has a Point|Homestar was right]] about it looking like it was pronounced "The Leg".
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* ''[[Chicken Maker]]'' has Zitty NotCoolguy who exists as a parallel to the sites [[Awesome McCoolname|Shades McCoolguy]].
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' had this in its series finale, with Jack having been in a band called the Skunks Punks:
{{quote|Headline: '''The Skunks Stink!'''
Jack: Yeah, we walked right into that one. }}
* An episode of ''[[Freakazoid!]]'' featured a hero originally named Lord Bravery having copyright issues and eventually ending up with the name "Lord Smoked Meats and Fishes." People then refused to get help from him.
* ''[[Minoriteam]]'' had an entire episode devoted to [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]] the Black Coq in a nonstop session of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]].
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'''Sea Man:''' ''Sea '''Man'''''! Look, Swallow, we should be able to divert the water with that pipe.
'''Narrator:''' And so, Semen and Swallow get to... get to work. ''*laughs*'' }}
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''
** "Homer to the Max": Homer's proposed new names for himself are not only idiotic -- "Rembrandt Q. Einstein"—but, except for one ([[Awesome McCoolname|Max Power]]!), misspelled on his name-change application.
** And of course:
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** In another episode Homer tries to imitate Bart's secret identity "El-Barto". He decides to call himself "El-Homo".
** Homer to Bart: "Do you want to change your name to Homer, Junior? The kids can call you ''Hoju''!"
* Deliberately and appropriately true of the [[Butt Monkey|Toilenator]] from ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''.
* In an almost subversion of the trope, an episode of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' features a group of villains who go under the acronym E.V.I.L. which is appropriate. However, the acronym stands for [[Fun with Acronyms|Every Villain Is Lemons]].
* In a ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW3dg9VURMU parody sketch] on ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' a new member is inducted into the Joes. While trying to come up with a cool code-name he accidentally slips on a spilled drink and is summarily dubbed "Fumbles", much to his chagrin. He [[Face Heel Turn|jumps]] over to Cobra to get revenge and is suggested an equally horrible code-name ("[[Freud Was Right|Trouser-Snake]]" because [[Line-of-Sight Name|he's in Cobra and has cool pants]]) which he accepts resignedly. He [[Beware the Nice Ones|turns out to be]] an incredibly [[Badass]] [[Cold Sniper]] who single-handedly destroys the Joes (save for Duke, [[Cruel Mercy|who he leaves alive]]), with Cobra Commander nervously congratulating him:
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* In the third ''[[Jimmy Timmy Power Hour]]'', [[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron|Jimmy]] and [[The Fairly OddParents|Timmy]] [[Create Your Own Villain|created a villain]] and named ''him'' "Shirley".
* ''[[Totally Spies!]]:'' Jerry's [[Evil Twin]] created a team of villains and named it '''L'''eague '''A'''iming to '''M'''enace and '''O'''verthrow the '''S'''pies and even had t-shirts with the acronym before someone pointed out it's L.A.M.O.S.
* In a similar vein, the ''[[League of Super Evil]]'' (LOSE) and Uniform Neighborhood Code of Orderly Living (UNCOOL).
* ''[[The Life and Times of Juniper Lee]]'' was another show where groups had trouble with acronyms. One group of villains was the high-tech hate group '''H'''umans for the '''A'''bolishment of '''M'''agic. The later episode "Sealed with a Fist" featured the nefarious '''L'''eague '''O'''f '''V'''illainous '''E'''vildoers, opposed by '''H'''eroes '''A'''gainst '''T'''errible '''E'''vildoers. In defense of both those groups, none of their members were all-too bright.
* ''[[Regular Show]]'': In one episode, Rigby is inspired to change his name by [[Attention Whore|a fame-hungry rock star named The Urge]], who also picked out his name; he does this by picking two words entirely at random and lands on... ''Trash Boat''. Naturally, not only does he end up the city laughingstock, but the [[Bile Fascination]] ends up becoming so strong that <s>Rigby</s> Trash Boat [[Fifteen Minutes of Fame|eventually overshadows The Urge]] - which is why {{spoiler|a washed-up future version of the rock star travels back in time to kill <s>Rigby</s> Trash Boat and reclaim his fame}}.
* The Red Guy from ''[[Cow and Chicken]]'' has many pseudonyms
* In ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy|Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure]]'', the song "Scary-O" (which Billy starts because, according to him, [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|"they always have songs in animated movies"]]) is performed by [[Shout-Out|Sergeant Pooper's]] [[The Beatles|Lonely Fart Club Sandwich]], which is produced by Billy and the Butt-Tones Undermath Records. Uh... yeah.
* The ''[[Beetlejuice (animation)|Beetlejuice]]'' episode "The Neitherworld's Least Wanted", had a gang of villains who called themselves the '''S'''ociety of '''N'''eitherworld '''O'''utlaws, '''T'''hugs, '''R'''ogues, '''A'''ntagonists, and '''G'''angsters, [[Fun with Acronyms| aka '''S.N.O.T.R.A.G.''']]
* [[Baseball Episode]]s of ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' tend to have teams with silly names. The short "Baseball Bugs" had the Gashouse Gorillas and the Tee Totallers. Another short, "Gone Batty", had the Greenvile Goons and the Sweetwater Shnooks.
* Third-party bad guys with dumb names seemed common in ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 series)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]''. There was Wingnut and Screwloose, Dirtbag and Groundchuck, Scumbug and Antrax [[Those Two Bad Guys|(seeing a trend here?)]], the Badd Family (Bedelia, Buford, and Bubba), Wally Airhead, and Creepy Eddie (though in his defense, he ''was'' pretty creepy). The comic adaptation from Mirage adds others, like the intergalactic criminal Bellybomb. (Although [[List of Transgressions|given his rap sheet]], he's pretty dangerous.)
* Ahem, Condiment King, who first appeared in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]''. Sure, he was intended to be a lame villain, but even in ''[[DC Super Hero Girls]]'' (where ''every'' villain and hero is a parody-version of their mainstream selves) Batgirl is unable to say [[Stock Phrases| "Not so fast, Condiment King!"]] because she can't say it without cracking up.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* A historical atlas of New York City described the turfs of gangs in the early 1900s—Post "Gangs of New York", but pre-Prohibition. One of the gangs was named "The Pansy Gang".
** There is a still-active gang in Chicago called the Gaylords.
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* There was a motorcycle gang in the '80s called the Cupcakes. When they were involved in drug dealing, newscasters often had to preface stories about them by saying things like, [[Fluffy the Terrible|"Don't let their name fool you--they're dangerous."]]
* Canada's Reform party for a brief time was named the Canadian Reform Alliance Party, but you can just call them CRAP. Their full name was the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party, but the extra initial just meant it could be construed as "See? Crap!" Which was really no better. To nobody's surprise, this name was the brainchild of its first leader, [[Bunny Ears Lawyer|Stockwell Day]].
* Similarly, the USA had "the Committee to Re-Elect the President" during the Nixon years. Technically CREP, but critics had little trouble turning it into CREEP
* I guess this is quite possibly one reason why the ''other'' white supremacist group, The Knights of the White Camellia, didn't last long.
* When the US Tea Party movement was in its infancy, some members actually called themselves "Teabaggers", in reference to the early protests involving things like mailing massive numbers of tea bags to members of Congress. This stopped when someone found out what teabagging was. Using the name now, or bringing this up, is [[Flame Bait|generally not recommended,]] and is used in a derogatory manner by critics of the movement. This derogatory was ushered in by a [[Hurricane of Puns]] mockery by then-MSNBC commentator David Shuster.
* Hermione Granger's Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (SPEW) in ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' was actually named for a real-life Victorian feminist society in England, the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women... which eventually had to rename itself the Society for Promoting the Training of Women (SPTW) because of its amusing acronym.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131016183535/http://www.rapdict.org/Fudge_Town_Mafia_Crips The Fudge Town Mafia Crips]
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* M.I.L.F. - Moro Islamic Liberation Front [[wikipedia:Moro Islamic Liberation Front|(yes, really).]]
* The Rank of Petty Officer in the Navy is a bit demeaning for some, even though its equal to the rank of Sergeant.
* [https://www.masterfoods.com.au/products/masterfoods-creamy-white-finishing-sauce-pouch-160g Creamy White Finishing Sauce], a product made by MasterFoods,
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nad%27s Nad's]. Oddly, it seems the name hasn't kept it from being one of the most popular hair-removal products in the industry.
* Ben & Jerry’s is known for its clever and unique ice cream flavors with [[Punny Name]]s , but it’s had a few bad ideas too:
** Wavy Gravy. Now, in all fairness, they had nothing but good intentions here, naming the flavor after New Age counterculture artist, comedian, and philanthropist Hugh Nanton Romney Jr., who used the stage name Wavy Gravy, but unfortunately, when used to name an ice cream flavor it sounded… unappetizing. Naturally, there was no actual gravy in it (it had caramel, cashews, almonds, and chocolate hazelnut fudge swirl) but it still sounded kind of disgusting. They brought it back twice on the request of a small cult following (it didn’t last long either time) and when they announced on Twitter in 2018 that they might do so again, that small cult following was gone; the Tweet only got 85 likes and a slew of replies saying they would prefer any discontinued flavor other than this one.
** Black and Tan was worse. They introduced this one to pay homage to a popular brand of British beer. (And it wouldn’t be the first time they released a flavor based on an alcoholic beverage, they have one called Urban Bourbon.) Nobody told them, it seemed, that the beer had been named after the paramilitary police force recruited during the Irish War of Independence, noted for their brutality. The ice cream flavor didn’t do much except bring back bad memories of one of the darkest chapters of Britain’s modern history. Quite a few folks in Ireland wrote in to remind them, leading B&J to apologize and quickly halt production, so fast that there is literally nobody online that reviewed the flavor, so there’s no way to tell if it was even decent ice cream.
** Fossil Fuel. Yeah, they came up with a sweet chocolate swirl flavor with cookie crumbs and gummy dinosaurs in it and then gave it a name that was a synonym for petroleum, coal, and natural gas. Fortunately, they realized their error quickly, and changed the name to Unfudge Our Future, a clear [[Take That]] aimed at controversial Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
* In [[Australian Rules Football]], Melbourne were originally nicknamed the "Fuschias", and Hawthorn were the "Mayblooms". They have since changed to "Demons" and "Hawks", respectively. Sydney (formerly South Melbourne) are ''still'' nicknamed the "Swans". In the 19th and early 20th century, Essendon's colors of black and red resulted in them being unfortunately referred to as the "Blood-stained Niggers". With the advent of [[World War Two]], the proximity of the air force base led them to adopt the official nickname of the "Bombers", though they were, and are, also known as the "Dons". Similarly, South Melbourne (''not'' Sydney, because the forced transfer of the club to NSW involved the team name formally becoming the "Sydney Swans") were known for many years as the Blood-stained Angels, or the Bloods for short, due to their predominantly white shirt with a red sash or yoke.
* Melbourne's soccer teams appear to be following the lame name tradition: "Melbourne Victory" wasn't that great a name, especially given that it's a lame pun on the state of Victoria, but at least it's better than the new team, Melbourne Heart. [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|What kind of a lame name is Heart, anyway?]]
* American college athletics has given us teams such as:
** The UC Santa Cruz Fighting Banana Slugs.
** The Kent State Golden Flashes.
** The South Carolina Gamecocks.
** The Evergreen State College Geoducks <ref>a type of Clam, pronounced [[Dirty Jobs|GOO-ee-duck]]</ref>
** Oregon State Beavers.
*** And their instate rivals, the University of Oregon Ducks.
** The University of Akron (Ohio) Zips.
** Years ago, Scottsdale (Arizona) Community College let the students vote on the team name. Thus, for a number of years, they were the Fighting Artichokes. The team color was ''pink''.
** Then there are the Heidelberg College (Ohio) Student Princes and Whittier College (Cal.) Poets.
** The Wilmington College (Ohio) Fighting Quakers. [[Your Head Asplode|Yes]].
** The (University of) Maryland Terrapins. Fear the Turtle, indeed.
*** Hey now, the diamondback terrapin is the only animal incapable of moving backwards!
**** Be that as it may, I would hate to be on their track team
** California's Long Beach state gives us the Dirtbags for Baseball
** Delta State University in Mississippi: The Fighting Okra.
** A Special mention should be made of Alabama college's official team nickname... the Crimson Tide.
*** The Panamanian soccer teams (and sometimes also for other sports) use the "Red Tide" variant because of the color of their uniform. [[Everything Sounds Sexier in French|It sounds much better in Spanish]], since [[Values Dissonance|they don't use that moniker as a metaphor for]] the ''other'' thing.
*** This one's professional, but the Detroit ''[[Does This Remind You of Anything?|Red Wings?]]''
** In the late 80's, the official nickname of the sports teams at St. Andrews Presbyterian College (NC) was the Knights, but the most popular school team, women's volleyball, were universally referred to as the "Loons".
** Ohio State's Buckeyes and Indiana State's Sycamores -- ''trees'', people.
** The Whitman Missionaries have apparently embraced the ridiculousness of their mascot by coining the chant: "Missionaries! Missionaries! We're on top!"
** Don't forget the Carnegie-Mellon Tartans.
** The University of North Carolina School of the Arts have the Fighting Pickles as a mascot. It largely serves as a joke, since they also have no sports teams, as they're an arts conservatory, though they do crown a Pickle King and Queen every year.
** Wake Forest University has the Demon Deacons. This was seen as an improvement over their old mascot, the Fighting Baptists.
** The University of Evansville Purple Aces don't have a particularly unfortunate name- but the mascot is a ''"a turn of the century riverboat gambler"'' named ''Ace Purple''.
* High school football:
** Frankfort has the "Hot Dogs" (hey, everybody loves a wiener).
** The Nimrods can be found at a high school in Michigan. Even if you know that Nimrod [[You Keep Using That Word|a powerful king and not a lunkhead]], it still counts (he got showed up by [[The Bible|Abraham]] in the end).
** Camas High School is home to the Papermakers. Really. However, their [http://htosports.com/photos/softball/CAMAS-SOFTBALL/homelogo.jpg mascot] is surprisingly awesome.
*** Along the same lines you have the Tillamook Cheese Makers. For a few years the mascot was a cow.
** The Montgomery Biscuits from Alabama? Google the mascot. Go on, Google him!
*** They should merge with the Cairo (Ga.) Syrupmakers.
** Hereford, TX, has a High School whose teams are named the Whitefaces. Sounds racist, but it's actually a breed of cattle.
** The infamous [[wikipedia:Butte County High School|Butte Pirates]].
** Teams from a small town in Minnesota are saddled with Scarlets. Never had a mascot; common opponent chant: "What's a Scarlet?"
* New Zealand's national soccer team is the All-Whites. ''Ouch''. They're not very good. Their national rugby team, the slightly better named All-Blacks, however, has a winning record against every team it's competed against.
** It Gets Worse: The name of the national basketball team is the Tall-Blacks, intended as a play on All-Blacks.
** When guest-starring on ''[[Mock the Week]]'' New Zealand comedian Jarred Christmas noted the irony of the first [[World Cup]] the All-Whites qualified for being in [[South Africa]].<ref>[[Did Not Do the Research|Though this is not exactly accurate]], the first World Cup they qualified for is actually in Spain on 1982.</ref>
** Made fun of in [https://web.archive.org/web/20121223054457/http://www.studs-up.com/2010/05/whats-in-a-name/ this comic].
* The city of Anaheim seems to have bad luck with team names:
** In hockey, they had the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, originally named after the Disney film. After being sold by Disney, the new owners changed their name... to the Anaheim Ducks.<ref>Renaming the hockey team seems to have worked, however: that same year, they won the Stanley Cup, and have been contenders in most seasons ever since.</ref>
** And then there's the story of the Angels. At first, they were Los Angeles Angels, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|in Los Angeles]]. In 1965, they relocated to Anaheim and renamed themselves The California Angels. A contract renegotiation in 1997 required that they use the city name, so they became The Anaheim Angels. Then, in 2005, their new owner wanted to hearken back to the team's history (read: gain market support from Los Angeles), despite the stipulation in their contract. Thus, they became saddled with the unwieldy moniker The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
* Former [[NASCAR]] driver Dick Trickle.
** And, from the pre-[[WW 2]] Grand Prix era, Dick Seaman.
* The World Taekwondo Federation... [[Fun with Acronyms|WTF]]
* One of the early NFL teams, based in a small Pennsylvania town called Pottsville, was called the Maroons. At the time, "maroon" was a popular slang term meaning, well, "dumbass". The fact that the Maroons are to date the only NFL team to ever have their championship title ''revoked'' doesn't help their image.
* ''ESPN the Magazine'''s monthly feature of collectibles once featured high school sports merchandise specifically from schools with bizarre team names. Some, like the Punchers and the Atom Smashers, were actually pretty cool. Others, like the Earwigs, were silly. Two examples stood out in particular: The ''Hobos'' and the ''Beetdiggers''.
* The baseball player Boof Bonser
** Also, Nick Swisher
* [[wikipedia:Bernhard Langer|Bernhard Langer]]. [[Separated by a Common Language|While Langer may not seem that bad]] to [[Eagle Land|Americans]], [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/langer#English take note of its meaning in Hiberno-English].
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[[Category:Naming Conventions]]
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