Full Name Ultimatum

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Fran: Earl Sneed Sinclair!
Earl: Oh God, my whole name.

—Dinosaurs

Emma: They hardly ever hear all three of their names, so it kind of puts them off balance
Brent: Mentally?
Emma: Exactly.

—Corner Gas

In sitcoms, you can tell a parent, usually the mother, is really mad at their kid when they call for them by their full name. Often serves as a good way of telling the audience the character's full name right away. If they just use first and last name it's not as big an issue, but if the middle name is included, look out—in fact, the more nicknames you have, you can gauge the amount of trouble you're in by the number of middle names used. And while it may seem intimidating to have one's full name yelled by a parent, the time you REALLY know you're in trouble is when they don't shout it, but instead say it in a soft, (barely) restrained voice.

This frequently happens when said parent finds out about the Zany Scheme the kids have been cooking up behind his or her back, either before or after the scheme has been attempted. In this case, it's usually followed by something like, "What are you up to this time?"

Can also be used on any guy by his annoyed or angry significant other, be it wife, fiancée, or girlfriend. For added punch, it can also be said With! Emphasis! On! Each! Word! OF THE NAME!

Frequently employed by Real Life parents.

A milder version involves a character's full first name being used when they're more commonly known by a diminutive form or a nickname. Or, another version is the Loud Last Name, where a friend or family member shouts the LAST name of the character when they are clearly on first-name terms.

This only works if the person it is being used on isn't used to being called by their whole name, thus those on a Full-Name Basis won't feel as much of an effect, since they're always called that anyways.

Compare First Name Ultimatum and Loud Last Name. Occasionally used to expose an Embarrassing Middle Name.

Examples of Full Name Ultimatum include:

Advertising

  • A cell phone company had an ad for a particular plan on the air a few years ago (a plan, presumably, that made it easier for talkative teenagers not to go over their limits) that involved various parents finding enormous phone bills and yelling out their children's full names. These started out as more mainstream American names, then hopped through a series of names from other cultural backgrounds, finishing up with a hippie mom yelling something like, "Sunshine Moonbeam Buttercup Smith!"
  • There’s a recent AllState advert featuring a man seeing his car damaged. The man shouts out towards his son ‘Michel James’, while the narrator replies... “... middle name, not good”.

Anime and Manga

  • In One Piece, Robin calls Luffy by his full name when reminding him of his forcing her to live when she was willing to die. Usopp also does this when he challenges Luffy to a duel over the Going Merry after leaving the crew.
  • The Big O: "R. Dorothy Wainwright!"
  • The Major uses the full name when he talks about his Worthy Opponent: Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing.
  • In Nabari no Ou, Raikou normally just calls Yukimi "sempai", but when he points his gun at Gau...

Raikou: Kairoushuu executive branch group leader Yukimi Kazuhiko--! I swear on my sword that I will destroy you!

Lacus Clyne:' You should kill me now, Athrun Zala, soldier of ZAFT.

Comic Books

  • Virgil Ovid Hawkins gets this from his sister sometimes.
  • The Punisher has been known to do this to his intended victims.
  • Batwoman: Kate has shut herself up in her base after The Reveal, and her father is pleading her to let him so they can talk. As he delivers the Full Name Ultimatum, it shifts into the past mid-sentence, with Kate's mother finishing the line to a sulking Kate and her late twin sister.

"Katherine Rebecca Kane, you open this door right now, or so help me this really will turn into your worst birthdays ever!"

  • The Human Torch's full name is Jonathan Spencer Storm. It is generally only heard from Sue when Johnny makes a very big mistake.

Fan Works

  • Lampshaded in Foundations, when Harry is angry because one of Draco's peacocks bit him.

Harry: Draco Malfoy!
Draco: What did I do?
Harry: Why do you assume you've done something?
Draco: Because you full-named me. My mother only full-names me when I've done something wrong.

  • In general the Full Name Ultimatum in the Death Note fanfic I Won't Say carries deadly consequences particularly for the likes of Mihael Keehl, Nate River, and L Lawliet.
  • In Reconciliation, Lilly gives this to Hanako when she suggests that she only kept the chess set around as a reminder of "how awful (she) was" for exploding at Hisao and isolating herself from him and Lilly

Lilly:"Don’t you ever… EVER… say that. You are NOT, nor have you EVER BEEN an awful person, Hanako Ikezawa. We kept it as a reminder because we MISSED YOU.”

  • In Weekend at Hisao's, Misha gives this to Hisao when she's calling him to find out more about his argument with Shizune. It's one of the few times she addresses him by his proper name, instead of "Hicchan".

Misha: "AND IF YOU HANG UP ON ME, I SWEAR I WILL FIND YOU AND KILL YOU, HISAO NAKAI!"

Here comes the middle name, it's not going to be good!
"Look, I didn't want to see it in front of you, but you really have a problem, MELANIE JAYNE CHISHOLM! We can see your ribs, even without x-ray version." Mel said.

  • In Chapter 11 of Just Taken, Mel is given this when Emma thought was interrupting her. Note in this exchange, resulting in the classic Right Behind Me.

Mel takes a puff before looking behind Emma, to see Carol.
“She was harming internally.” Carol said.
“Melanie Janine Brown... we would’ve noticed that by now. We’re meeting up with Mrs O’Neil as she and Mr O’Neil took pictures, with her permission. She knew they would help her case. They opted for her to have some kind of control of her life, which helped her a lot.” Emma said.
“I wasn’t the one who made that claim.” Mel said.
“And, both Victoria and Geri are over there, still talking to the bloke who outed Melanie in front of the church. Geri was ripping that bloke a new one.” PJ said.
Mel and PJ look at Emma, but they noticed Carol.

Films

  • Similar situation, with shorter names but titles, in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones:

Dooku: Master Yoda.
Yoda: Count Dooku.

    • (Not recognizing him as a former Jedi?)
    • Wanted to prick him rather.
  • Jenna from Balto yells at Kodi using his full name after he doesn't go with Balto to help save Duke because Kodi doesn't care about Duke's life. Since Kodi's a dog, he doesn't have a middle or last name, so she uses his full real name in the same fashion, Kodiak. Added embarrassment because its directly in front of his friends.
  • "Harry Osborn!" (Uttered by Aunt May in the first movie, after Harry blows up at Mary-Jane.)
  • In Treasure Planet, by Jim's mother, though for mild exasperation as well as admonishment.
  • In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, though awkwardly, to tell the audience what Harry's son's name is.

Literature

  • Literary example: In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor, the only time anyone refers to Little Man by his real name, Clayton Chester, is when he is in deep doodoo.
  • Mark Twain wrote: "Then she called me by my entire name, Samuel Langhorne Clemens -- probably the first time I had ever heard it all strung together in one procession -- and said she was ashamed of me. I was to learn later that when a teacher calls a boy by his entire name it means trouble." (Quoted in Mark Twain's Book for Bad Boys and Girls by R. Kent Rasmussen.)
    • And in Mark Twain's famous book Tom Sawyer, the title character knows he's in trouble whenever the schoolmaster refers to him as "Thomas".
  • In the Mercy Thompson novel Bone Crossed, Mercy is confronted by her mother.

"Mercedes Athena Thompson," snapped my mother. "Explain to me why I had to learn about what happened to you from a newspaper."
I'd avoided meeting her gaze, but once she three-named me, I had no choice.

  • In Tithe by Holly Black, knowing and using a faerie's full name forces them to obey you. As such, full names are a closely guarded secret among faeries. A major plot point involves the full name of the male love interest, the faerie knight Roiben. Apparently, either this does not apply to the pixie female protagonist Kate Fierch, or we're never told the character's real full name (it's not clear which).
  • Who could forget Hermione's: "You-complete-arse-Ronald-Weasley!"
    • Then the aforementioned remark was followed by Hermione screeching: "Don't you tell me what to do, Harry Potter!" when Harry tries to calm her down.
    • Then there's McGonagall shouting Harry's name at him after his broomstick stunt in his first month at Hogwarts. Harry thought he was going to be caned or expelled. McGonagall made him a Quidditch Seeker.
    • Middle names in Harry Potter only seem to come up on legal documents. Legal documents only seem to come up when characters are in trouble with the Ministry, which is pretty serious.
      • Or during the reading of a will, which is serious, but not in the same way.
  • Lord Peter Wimsey's nephew, St George, once gets into trouble and ends up in hospital. While there, he receives a letter from Wimsey. He nervously asks how it starts: with the usual nickname or with his real name. The letter not only opens with his full name, but ends with Lord Peter's full name including middle names. St George winces and and says that his uncle must really be angry this time.
  • In The Dresden Files, a partial version of this is employed when Harry meets Ferrovax in Grave Peril. Ferrovax, using only part of Harry's True Name, brings him to his knees. This was meant to show just how powerful Ferrovax was.
    • A complete version is used by Uriel in Ghost Story, to discourage Harry from exercising his usual status as The Nicknamer. Or at least to get him to use a different nickname.
  • In The Baby Sitters Club Series, Stacey McGill knew she was in trouble with her parents when they called her "Anastasia"; when they called her by her full name (Anastasia Elizabeth McGill), it was time to do some serious apologizing.
  • Toward the end of Storm Breaking, Solaris tells off "Tremane Gyfarr Pendleson of Lynnai".
  • In Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Grandma calls Peter by his full name, Peter Warren Hatcher, when he asks if his turtle survived being swallowed alive by his little brother.
  • In Animorphs, the first time Jake decides to put his foot down and INSIST Ax follow his "Prince's" orders, despite Ax's protests, he uses Ax's full Andalite name; usually, the human characters don't refer to him as anything other than just "Ax".
  • The introduction to the first A to Z Mysteries book says Dink's mom calls him "Donald David Duncan" when she's upset.

Live Action TV

Clarissa: Uh-oh: she used the three-name call.

  • Star Trek: The Original Series: "I, Mudd". Harry Mudd's fate is to be stranded with five hundred replicas of his estranged wife who close in on him shouting, "Harcourt Fenton Mudd, you miserable sot!"
    • Really cruel and unusual punishment, you would think that the Federation has rules against that...
    • Star Trek: The Next Generation has an episode where four characters are regressed to about twelve years old. When Chief O'Brien gets very awkward around his now adolescent wife, she yanks him down by the collar to her eye level with the statement "Miles Edward O'Brien, I am STILL your wife!"
      • In one episode of Deep Space Nine, he subverts Rousing Speech after a Jem'hadar First has given his troops the standard "We are dead," "Victory is life," etc. speech with "I am chief Miles Edward O'Brien, I am very much alive, and I intend to stay that way."
  • Lampshaded in Friends, "The One with the Cheesecake":

Phoebe: Joseph Francis Tribbiani!
Joey: Woah, woah, what are you middle-naming me for?

    • In "The One Where Ross Can Flirt," Rachel borrows some earrings from Phoebe and tries (badly) to hide the fact that she's lost one. Phoebe says, "Rachel Karen Green, where's the other earring!?"
  • On Corner Gas, two characters are failing to control a coworker's small child, and finally call in one of the characters' mothers, who promptly puts the kid in line with a Full Name Ultimatum. The Aesop being? It can scare anyone.
    • Combined with the fact that Emma can scare anyone.
  • Scrubs parodies this when Dr. Cox uses it on his ex-wife: "Jordan Godzilla Sullivan!"
    • Not to mention Carla saying Turk's full name:

Carla: Christopher Duncan Turk!
Turk: Christopher? You only call me Christopher when you're mad or... when we're having sex. Baby, are you mad when we're having sex?
Carla: Sometimes.

  • Parodied in How I Met Your Mother: Barney uses the fake Full Name Ultimatum "Ted Vivian Mosby!" Ted immediately says it's not his real name. Later in the episode, we find out his real middle name is Evelyn.
  • Humourously treated on This is Wonderland, when defense attorney James Ryder is trying to get his client's attention: "Alan Gold, sexual assault!"
  • Ellen calling Jo 'Joanna Beth Harvelle' on Supernatural.
  • In her first appearance as a regular on Mystery Science Theater 3000, Pearl Forrester chides Dr. Forrester this way: "CLAYTON. DEBORAH. SUSAN. FORRESTER."
  • Spike realizes that Buffy's umpteenth break-up with him is the real deal when she ends it with "I'm sorry... William."
  • Inverted by Stephen Colbert, who said on Letterman that his mother had trouble remembering their names (he had ten siblings):

"You'd be doing something you weren't supposed to do and she would go, 'Jimmyenniebibbynommy [unintelligible]... Number eleven!'"

  • In The X-Files, not an ultimatum, but an unguarded moment:

Dana Scully: Fox...
Fox Mulder: ... Even my parents call me Mulder.

Piper: WYATT MATTHEW HALLIWELL!!!
Leo: I've never heard you use his middle name before.
Piper: I've never been this mad at him before.

  • In a very rare moment of drama in Jeeves and Wooster, the first scene delivers our protagonist's name thusly:

Sir Watkyn Bassett: I find you guilty as charged, Bertram... Wilberforce... Wooster!

  • Home Improvement has Jill do this to Randy ("Randall William Taylor"), followed by Tim saying to Mark, "Uh-oh. The middle name. He's in trouble now." He's not the only one, though. Brad and Mark aren't immune from this, either.
  • Played with in Never Mind the Buzzcocks:

Ed: I love that you called him "Snoop Doggy Dogg"... It's Snoop Dogg. The only person who'd call him Snoop Doggy Dogg is his mother and then only when he's in trouble... "Snoop Doggy Dogg! Clean these hoes out of your bedroom!"

  • A rare subversion occurs in Gossip Girl. Lily, Chuck's adoptive mother, is the only person who calls him Charles on a regular basis. She only calls him Chuck when voicing disapproval or adressing his more deviant qualities.
  • Full House: D.J. Tanner is only called "Donna Jo" in this kind of occasion. But once, this exchange happened:

D.J.: Give it back, Stephanie Judy Tanner.
Steph: Don't even dream of it, Donna Jo Margaret Tanner.
Uncle Jesse, to Joey:: Margaret?

  • From Reba: "Kyra Eleanor Hart, out!"
  • Lampshaded a bit on Murphy Brown: Murphy chooses a name for her baby (Avery, after her mother), and Eldin asks what the child's middle name will be, because "How will you know what to call him when you're mad at him?"
  • Because of this trope, we know when Rory Joseph Hennessy from 8 Simple Rules is in trouble for misbehaving (or about to be if he doesn't restrain himself).
  • On Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, Mark gets fully called out by Geneva, who he compares to his aunties back when he was a kid.

Newspaper Comics

  • Dennis Mitchell would often be called by his full name by Margaret whenever she was angry at him.
  • Blondie took it up a notch one of the times when Dagwood wouldn't get out of bed for his given name in the first panel or his full name in the second: the third was "Dagwood Bumstead Dot Com!!" and he leaped out of bed with a look of terror.

Puppet Shows

  • Used in more than one episode of Dinosaurs, as quoted above.

Radio

  • Played for Laughs on The Stephanie Miller Show. When Stephanie or one of the other mooks says something inappropriate (well, more inappropriate than usual), Chris Lavoie will often shout out their full name, along with the middle name "Louise," regardless of their actual middle name. "Stephanie Louise Miller!" and "Jim Louise Ward!" are by far the most commonly heard ones, though "Hal Louise Sparks!" shows up much more frequently than one would think.

Video Games

  • At one point in Escape from Monkey Island, an exasperated Elaine refers to Guybrush as "Guybrush Ulysses Threepwood". Given his tendency to be shipwrecked, that also counts as a prophetic name.
  • In the seventh case of the Ben Jordan - Paranormal Investigator series, Ben's mother calls him "Benjamin Horatio Jordan" after a family argument.
  • The Sam and Max Freelance Police episode Ice Station Santa is the only time we hear the full name of the rat Jimmy Two-teeth ("James Tiberius Two-teeth!") -- when his wife has enough of him and leaves.
  • Guaranteed to occur at least once (with the reality being closer to "every time you fight a significant villain") in any given Super Robot Wars title.
  • Parodied in Strong Bads Cool Game for Attractive People: Homestar Ruiner:

Strong Bad: Strong Sad Raymond Jenkins, you open this door right now or I'll— I'll— I'll..!

Web Animation

  • In the Homestar Runner cartoon "Halloween Potion-Ma-Jig", Homestar's on-again-off-again girlfriend Marzipan calls him "Homestar Michael Runner" upon discovering Homestar has drawn ducks and bugs all over her Halloween potion recipe.

Web Comics

  • The warship of the protagonists of Schlock Mercenary mentions this when they take the IT calls itself into an abbreviation, and that into the name "petey", as seen here.
  • Charlie gets one from her mother in Khaos Komix. "CHARLIE MOONBEAM TRUEMAN!"
    • Tom's mother also gives him one, using his female name Maria.
  • "Abel Dimitri Rewanz!" in DMFA.

"Oh crap... Middle name used! This only means bad!"

Web Original

  • Zero Punctuation: "Shame on you, Benjamin Yahtzee Sebastian Godzilla Croshaw," spake he!

Western Animation

  • On Jimmy Neutron, Jimmy's mom would call him "James Isaac Neutron" after discovering that another of his experiments had gone awry.
  • In an episode of the animated series Doug, Roger has just published a mean-spirited article using Doug's full name (copied from his press pass), and Doug hasn't found out what is going on yet. First Doug's mother gives him the Full Name Ultimatum - and then he runs into the mayor, who does the same thing. This surprises Doug, since he didn't think the mayor even knew his middle name.
  • Slight variation in Static Shock; it's Virgil's sister who uses his full name, Virgil Ovid Hawkins (much to his embarassment, of course).
  • Ron Stoppable always calls Kim Possible K.P or Kim. But Evil!Ron called her Kim Possible. And later he overkilled it:

Evil!Ron: Welcome, Kimberly Anne Possible.
Kim: The middle name is so overkill.

Mrs. Read: Arthur Timothy Read, come here!
Arthur: Uh oh... middle name.

    • D.W. got this twice, once after a temper tantrum in a restaurant, and again in "Go to Your Room, D.W."

Mrs. Read: Dora Winifred Read, go to your room.
D.W.: But what did I do?

  • In Pepper Ann it happens to both Pepper Ann AND her sister Moose.

Pepper Ann's Mom: Margaret Rose Pearson! Pepper Ann Pearson!

      • Of course, Pepper Ann always uses her middle name anyway...
  • In Sonic SatAM, an angry Sally often calls the title character "Sonic Hedgehog". This raises the question of why he insists on having "The" before his last name...
  • A particularly over-the-top example is in El Tigre: Manny's full name is Manuel Pablo Gutierrez O'Brian Equihua Rivera.
    • It should be noted that "Guitierrez" and "Equihua" are the last names of series creators Jorge Guitierrez and Sandra Equihua.
  • At least two episodes of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3 had King Koopa being given an ultimatum addressing him as Bowser Koopa; this was notably the only way the character was referred to by his actual name in the cartoons.
    • Though, depending on what country you live in, Koopa IS his actual name.
  • Their is a whole episode about this in Recess where most of the characters are trying to figure out TJ's full name.
  • Family Guy: Christopher Cross Griffin! That's right, they named him after the guy who sang the Arthur theme and "Sailing."
    • Also let's not forget "Stewart Gilligan Griffin" but he was calling himself that as a rallying call so 50-50
  • In The Flintstones, Wilma does this to Fred when she especially loses patience with him. However, it's a bit of a subversion since she just uses "Fred Flintstone".
  • This is the go to saying of Rath from Ben 10 Alien Force and Ultimate Alien. It goes "Lemme tell you something (insert full name or full title of person here, followed by threat of violence)
    • Benjamin Kirby Tennyson!
  • Bartholomew J Simpson!
  • On Archer, Malory Archer seems to love yelling Sterling's full name at him. Just a sample of how screwed up their mother-son relationship is, his full name is Sterling Malory Archer.
  • My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Used by Princess Celestia in the episode "Lesson Zero". Though she commonly calls Twilight Sparkle by her full name, the tone she says it in, definitely constitutes as a full name ultimatum.
    • According to Pinkie Pie's flashback in "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", Pinkie's full name is 'Pinkamina Diane Pie'.
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