Fan Nickname/Web Comics

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • And Shine Heaven Now: iJeeves - the Jeeves I-Jin.
  • Blank It: Where do we start? The authors apparently have names for all characters, but they're rarely revealed to readers. Practically everything in the comic has been given a name by fans:
    • The selectively intangible people whose hamlet was centered around the shovelbeam — Unsettlers, or Adumbrates
    • The female purple-dressed Unsettler that Lemmo named — Misty. Some readers had trouble getting out of the habit after the comic finally revealed her name to be Marina.
    • Wendall the cookie — Chip the Biscuitd00d
    • The two baby foxes that were created when the original fox (Socks) was split in two — Parasox
    • The giant bees with axes instead of stingers — Buzzkills
    • The giant gold-coloured robotic salamander...thing — Robomander
  • Bob and George
    • Helmut - The Helmeted Author.
    • Shador - The Shadowy Author.
  • CRFH
  • But I'm a Cat Person
    • Cybele's Master, who has yet to be seen out-of-mask, gets called Nevada-san thanks to his sweatshirt.
  • Ctrl+Alt+Del
    • WordsWordsWordsWords etc the Comic.
      • There's also Text: The Comic.
    • B^U - the face/facial expression that everyone seems to have, which looks remarkably like that emoticon.
    • By extension, creator Tim Buckley is often called "B^Uckley".
    • On Image Boards, "Fuckley" is used almost as commonly.
    • Also, though less commonly, he's called "Bum Tickley"
    • Leela and Bender for Lilah and Zeke, to the point where no one notices anymore.
    • One-Eye for Kate, to the point where everyone forgot her name.
    • "Babby" for Abby.
  • Darths and Droids
    • Grievalorum - General Grievous, formerly known as Valorum.
  • Dinosaur Comics
    • Dromiceiomimus is often called Dromi by fans because her name is hard to spell.
  • Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire
    • Deus Ex Miranda - Mama Bear Miranda Deegan.
    • TIM - The Infernomancer (The InfernoMancer; "There are some who call me...Tim?").
    • Lord Dominus - derisive name for the main character and his use of Omniscient Morality License.
      • First Puppet - derisive name for the female lead and her dependence on Dominus, The Chessmaster.
      • The Inappropriate Wall - derisive name for a freaking recurrent pile of bricks.
      • Collateral Damage Man - derisive name for blah blah blah blah blah. Celesto Morgan
      • First Caste through Fifth Caste, Churchspace, Deegandrug, Glasswood, Invisible King, Jocks, Mookinsertion, Progenitor, Red Shirt Soup Wench, etc. The Hatedom is practically rewriting the entire strip. (This just in, they are...)
    • Snuggles/Eyebuddy/Squiggly/Snuggl'thu'lu/TED - nickname for the tentacle eye thing of the chaos dimension, based on his Alternate Character Interpretation as an innocent childlike being who just wants hugs.
    • The Aardvark - Supergreg, the frail and crippled white mage after turning into an overt Superman Expy in a medieval setting. How was this received? "The Aardvark" was coined later out of fear that he might come if his name was spoken.
    • Patches - A fan nickname for Jacob's necromantic golem before he received the name Quilt. Got referenced in the comic as a Discontinuity Nod.
  • Drowtales:
    • Squishy - the dragon like biogolem that Ariel gets from Mel'arnach due to her commenting that "It's kind of goo-ish."
    • Piss'inhermouth - An unnamed Hot-Blooded daughter of Sil'lice, for saying that she will "pin [Zala'ess] to a freaking wall and piss in her mouth".
    • Sniffle, Snifile, SyFAIL - Syphile, especially since at one point she throws down her crossbow and complains that it's not fair.
      • The Failcloak - her distinctive high-collared cloak, which seems to show up pretty much every time she does something stupid.
  • Tristram in Earthsong was often referred to as Vampy McEmopants before his story was re-drafted to be less melodramatic.
  • Eerie Cuties:
    • Grace or GrrAce: Ace under the effects of the Tiresias Orb in and since "Big Girls Don't Cry."
  • Eight Bit Theater
    • "Helldoken" for Black Mage's super-powered evil version of his standard Hadoken spell.
    • "Magus" for the dark god that appears to speak with Black Mage at times, since the sprite used for him is that of Magus from Chrono Trigger.
  • El Goonish Shive
    • Tess - Female!Tedd. Used in out-of-continuity strips long ago. This convention spread as more characters switched genders, then overloaded when the entire main cast did and was replaced...

A Fan: fTedd is a female version of Tedd, who is usually male.
Tess is Tedd's analog in a different reality, and is always (as far as we've seen so far) female.
After all, if Tess was TFed into a male form, she wouldn't suddenly become Tedd. She'd be mTess.
You start mixing and matching your nomenclatures and you'll make discussion on this board an even bigger clusterfudge than it already is.

      • This practice was pretty much abandoned when a discussion thread revealed that no two posters had the same nickname for mGrace
    • Susman, Manase - mSusan and mNanase. It hurts, yet they cannot stop.
    • Rocky, Indiana Gandalf - The unpetrified wizard in a trenchcoat.
    • Mamase - Nanase's mom.
    • Gluece - Grace in context of "Grace glues everything to everything" fan-meme.
    • The two French immortals are generally known as Denise and Bernard, based on the names often used as examples in French textbooks.
  • Erfworld
    • Scarlet - Lady Sylvia Lazarus, a Unaroyal warlord. So called because of her red hair and the fact that her name wasn't mentioned until book 2 text update 8.
  • Girl Genius
    • Da Boyz: the collective name for the Jagers Maxim, Ognian, and Dimo
    • Agatha's pocket watch sized clanks are called "Dingbots." They build more dingbots, creating swarms, although later generations are less capable than the originals. Their jealous adoration of Agatha has led to the suggestion that a swarm of dingbots be called a "devotion." And, called this in The Merch section and once in the scene jump dropbox.
    • "Mamma's Girlz": becoming popular for the three nameless fake-Jager barmaids in Volume 8.
    • "Der Kestle": popular as a nickname for Castle Heterodyne (that's how the Jägers call it).
    • Pinkie: Zola. Because she wears a lot of pink. Definitely a derogatory term. Also, she is actually called that in-comic. And once in the scene jump dropbox ("Agatha Settles Pinkie's Hash").
    • Lugatha and Lunevka: known Lucrezia's "essentiae".
    • "Sneaky Gate": a trick that sometimes allows readers to read the comic before it is officially up on the website. In-comic it is an actual gate.
  • Goblins
    • The GAP - Chief, Thaco, Complains, Big Ears, and sometimes Fumbles. Stands for Goblin Adventuring Party.
    • Thac0 - Thaco. This indicates that the poster is in on the gaming joke inherent in his name.
    • A lot of nicknames have been thrown around as shorthand for the various Alternate Universe players in the Maze of Many arc. Mostly applied to Minmax in particular due to how well his name lends itself to such things. PsiMax, MinMask, MinceMax, and so on.
    • FMK - The Forgath - Minmax - Kin trio.
  • Gunnerkrigg Court
    • Red and Blue - The two Regional Fairies from Chapter 8. Named for their respective hair color.
      • The second pair of fairies are also referred to by their hair color, but none of the fans can agree what those colors are. (Green, Teal, or Lime? Purple or Fuchsia?)
    • Rey or Renardad - Renard-Reynardine.
    • Suicide Fairies - The Regional Fairies who undergo the test to become human. (While this is a misnomer, since they Cannot Self Terminate, it's a heck of a lot more memorable than any of the more-accurate alternatives, like "Euthanasia Fairies".) Later used on the cast page.
    • Adminbot, the Guardbots, Horsebot, and Barberbot - Various robots, named after their job or appearance. (Following the example set when Tom Siddell referred to two other robots as Boxbot and Doorbot.)
    • Birminghell, Bummingham, Evil Birmingham, Zimmingham, Zim City - Zimmy's Black Bug Room, which was modeled after her (and the author's) hometown of Birmingham.
    • Not-Jones - Brinnie, before the revelation of her name, back when the only information about her was the Word of Tom that she and Jones are not the same person.
    • Chuckles - Ysengrin.
    • Beesmuth - The wisp who claimed it's Seed Bismuth.
    • Frankenbot (later abbreviated to Frank) - The first-generation robot that Kat reactivated, due to his resemblance to Boris Karloff's portrayal of the character.
    • Courtnie and Frannie - now that there are more than one Annies.
  • HERO: It's hard to discuss a nameless protagonist, so HERO's nameless protagonist was fanicked "Lost", after Valentine introduces him by explaining that "He's lost. I said he could come with me," and Vin deliberately misunderstands it as his name.
  • Homestuck
    • Wayward Vagabond, Peregrine Mendicant, and Aimless Renegade are almost exclusively referred to using their initials (WV, PM, and AR) outside of the comic.
      • This also helped by the fact that they have two (or more!) such names each. And both of them have the same initials.
      • The initials are actually used in the Text Parser commands.
    • "Mutie" was also commonly used to refer to the four-eyed mutant kitten that Rose found. Later became the canonical nickname, and is short for "Vodka Mutini."
    • Horace Focker for Sagittarius-themed troll Equius (centaursTesticle).
    • BLUH BLUH HUGE BITCH for Vriska Serket (arachnidsGrip), because she, well, kind of is.
    • Hass "The Flame" Harley for Jade's Grandpa, in a gag carried over from Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff.
    • "Fatferi" for Feferi (cuttlefishCuller), referring to the Fanon idea that she is overweight.
    • Eridan Ampora (caligulasAquarium) is usually called the "Douche of Hope" in light of certain events.
      • Before that, we just called him a douche.
    • John's new hammer, which people were nicknaming minutes after it was revealed. "Vriskammer" and "Warhammer of Vriskyhoo" are the most common though.
      • Turns out it's actually called the "Pop-A-Matic Vrillyhoo Hammer," so they weren't too far off.
    • "Kanpire", "Kanaya-pire", or "Vampaya" for Kanaya Maryam (grimAuxiliatrix) after she is transformed into a vampire.
    • Post-God-Tier-resurrection, Aradia Megido (apocalypseArisen) became known as Alive-radia.
    • Before his name was revealed, Doc Scratch was simply known as "White Text Guy."
    • When the author showed up wearing a Hero of Space God-Tier outfit, the Hatedom promptly dubbed him the Waste of Space. This was funny enough that the actual fandom picked it up as a slightly more affectionate joke.
    • When Jade Harley ascended to the God Tier, and gained a pair of dog ears in the process, many people hit upon the pun "Dog Tier".
      • It had been floating around for a while before that to describe Jadesprite.
    • Jack wearing the Black Queen's ring has long been nicknamed "Bec Noir," so naturally PM wearing the White Queen's ring was quickly dubbed "Bec Blanche."
    • Karkat's guardian is commonly known as "Crabdad," while Vriska's extremely abusive guardian is "Spidermom." The former was actually mentioned in-canon as a Fandom Nod.
      • There's also "Goatdad" for Gamzee's guardian and "Seahorsedad" for Eridan's.
    • The Auto-Responder is commonly referred to as Shades Prick.
    • Before their names were revealed, Meenah and Aranea were known as "Punk Condesce" and "Nerd Mindfang," respectively, after their A2 counterparts.
    • During Act 5, Doc Scratch pulls a Hostile Show Takeover combined with Interface Screw, changing the look of the website. Fans called this the Othermission or [o]ntermission, after the "[o]" that preceded each command during the section. (The symbol refers to Scratch's cueball head.)
    • After a fan misspelled 'God Tier' on Hussie's Formspring, 'Got Tiger' has become a popular euphemism, as in one who reaches God tier has 'Got [the] tiger'
  • Irregular Webcomic
    • DMM: David Morgan-Mar, the comic's creator.
    • IFPODWTF (Infinite Featureless Plane of Death With Two Features): where the Deaths are based. Due to the fact that there are actually two features now: the Head Death's desk and Adam's Hole.
  • Lackadaisy
    • Mo'Cai for Mordecai on the site's forum
    • Two in-universe examples that have naturally caught on with fans are Glare Beam (Viktor's ferocious, one-eyed glare) and The Crazy Dance (Freckle's unfortunate tendency to go a little Ax Crazy whenever he's packing iron)
  • Looking for Group
    • The rabbit Richard keeps with him is dubbed "Felbunny" by the forumgoers.
      • Some now call him "Archbunny."
    • The enemy general is called "Commander Kickass" by some.
    • A small number of people refer to Richard's village as "Alvuc" (A Little Village Up the Coast) or "Pretty, Pretty Unicorn."
  • Life of Maid
    • Moecow: Yuyuko's Crazy Awesome pet cow, named so due to defeating Chibi Yuyuko herself in a battle of Moe.
  • Megatokyo
    • Niho: Miho's bishi male Endgames avatar, used to an extent that some people have mistaken it for canon, and remained in wide use even after the real name was revealed.
    • Yuki's Red Hot Mom: Meimi Sonoda, for being one of the most attractive women in the comic despite her kid's ages making her at least forty.
    • Kimizilla: Kimiko, the sweet, meek and slightly emotionally unstable heroine. Actually used as an insult in the strip itself, after she snapped particularly badly at her boyfriend.
    • Angry Schoolgirl: Often used to describe Largo's angry student Junko Ibara before fans actually learned her name.
    • The Darkly Cute One: Miho. Coined by a sketch that was posted some time before she appeared in the comic proper, and even longer before she got a canonical name.
    • Shy Guy: Yutaka Kobayashi, once again because the comic took a while before producing his name.
  • Misfile
    • Before his name showed up in the comic, Logan earned the nickname 'Cloud' due to his haircut.
      • And once he and a girl named Eponine started getting interested in each other, the pairing was called 'Cloud Nine'.
  • Order of the Stick
    • MitD -- The Monster in the Darkness.
    • Not fan-based but in-comic-used and widespread throughout fandom are Belkar Bitterleaf's nicknames "Sexy shoeless god of war", "teh Belkster" or "Death's lil helper".
    • ... better not mention not the nicknames Lawful Stupid Knight Templar Miko get from the fans who dislike her.
      • Before readers ever saw Miko's face, she was known as "the Blue Guy". Once she was shown to be a female, but before she named herself, "the Blue Girl" was briefly used -- or rather, avoided, thanks to its unfortunate resemblance to the title of a certain adult anime.
    • Darth V -- Vaarsuvius after the Deal with the Devil.
    • A Red Shirt was promoted by fans to Ensemble Darkhorse after the forum decided to name him "That Guy with a Halbred".
    • Sangikins for Sangwaan.
  • Penny and Aggie
    • Pennies - Penny, Sara, Michelle, Brandi, Katy-Ann, and briefly The Mole Cyndi.
    • Scooby Gang/Scoobies - Aggie, Lisa, Fred and Daphne, based on those last two names and Daphne's (author-shared) love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Alternately, the AAA, "Aggie Artists Alliance."
    • iPod girl - Lisa, especially before her real name was revealed.
    • Wine coolers - Lesbian sex, especially between the titular leads. From Lisa's comments in this strip.
    • Injustice Gang/IG - Karen, Meg, Cyndi, Charlotte and Samantha; the author acknowledged the influence of the Justice League one, and the name stuck.
    • PAvengers - The team-up of the Pennies with the AAA to take down the IG. Cyndi, in her private journal, later gave them the In-Series Nickname "Peacies," after the peace-sign belt buckles they adopted post-"Popsicle War." Although she meant it derisively, this in turn replaced PAvengers as the standard Fan Nickname.
    • Saphne or Saraphne - Sara and Daphne after their Relationship Upgrade
  • Penny Arcade
    • The Dreaded Continuity: Anything that has lasting effects on the cast and/or setting, usually a story arc.
  • Questionable Content
    • Hannelore: Hanners, Dustbuster
    • Marigold: Mar-Mar, Marigirl, Maribear
      • At least two of these have been used in-comic.
    • Angus: Angus McArgumentpants
    • John Ellicott-Chatham: Hannerdad
    • The comic itself: QUESTIONING CONTENTS by JEFF JACKS (yes, all-caps)
      • Some of these "Fan Nicknames" are either used in, or originally come from, the comic itself, such as "Hanners" and "Maribear".
  • Schlock Mercenary
    • DaMEs - Dark Matter Entities.
    • Really Old Dude, Very Old Guy - the decrepit immortals Rod and Vog.
    • The Red Bar of EVIL - The bar that signifies longer amounts of time passing between comic panels. Preferably accompanied by expressions of panic.
  • Skin Horse
    • The combo of Unity (a fast zombie powered by nanotech goo) and Dr. Virginia Lee, with Unity injected into Dr. Lee: UniLee (although Virginity has also been suggested).
  • Slightly Damned
    • Chuck - Denevol
    • Mr. Christmas - Moonshade
  • Terinu
    • Mavra Chan is fondly known as "Psycho Pirate Bitch"
    • Princess Titalia is inevitably reduced to "Princess Titty"
    • Admiral Blake's personality is best described by his name "Admiral Dipshit."
  • The Walkyverse
    • Dexter - The resurrected Head Alien of It's Walky!. Resurrectees in the comic are mirrored left-to-right. This moved Head Alien's claw to the other side, so he became right-handed (Dexter, in Latin).
      • Was given a Shout-Out in Dumbing Of Age, which has a cartoon called Dexter, The Head Alien.
    • Britjas, short for "British ninjas" - the London-based secret agency run by Dargon Chesterfield (later Penny Worthington) which pulled the strings behind SEMME in It's Walky!
      • Also called 'JFO' (Jason's Father's Organization).
      • The suggestion to call them UKKE (as a pun on SEMME) was not well received.
      • Nor was the suggestion to call them PMS (Penny's Marauding Stormtroopers).
  • Black Hat Guy of Xkcd fame. Randall himself has even referred to him as such though it's never actually appeared in the comic.
  • The Zombie Narrator of Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name has no official name given, and is addressed by a different name every time Hanna talks to him. Some fans pick their favourite name, some follow Hanna's lead, some call him Zombie, and many refer to him as {...}. Or '...'. Or Dottie, or Dots, or Ellipsis. A very few have picked up the Victorian stand-in of ______.
    • Once his pre-zombified self became a popular subject of fanfiction after the release of supplemental art depicting him, he acquired the nickname Not!Zombie.
    • Also Conbat, Conrad's bat form. Followed by Casbat and Finbat, Casmiro and Finas as bats, and of course Sassybat, Conrad's Vampire Mom.
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