Names to Run Away From Really Fast/K Names

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Names with the letter K in them (especially as the first or last letter), for some reason, look tougher than names without it. Perhaps it's because this letter is rarely used by itself the English language, and thus it sounds sinisterly foreign. Or maybe it's because those few English words are mostly of a rather morbid variety (e.g., "kill", "keelhaul", "kick", "kidney", "kitten"), and the name sounds scary by association.

K Names don't necessarily denote evil characters (or entities). Sometimes they're given to tough and brutal warriors - though you'd better run away from those really fast, too.

Note: This trope is brought to you by the letter "K". Names with "c", "cc", "ck", "cch", "q", "cq" etc. are not this trope. "Kh" is okay, though.

A subtrope of Names to Run Away From Really Fast. See also R Names and Xtreme Kool Letterz.

Examples of Names to Run Away From Really Fast/K Names include:

Anime and Manga

• Death Note's Kira.
• Jack Rakan.

Comic Books

• Karl Ruprecht Kroenen
• Kang the Conqueror, a major Avengers villain. Note that 'Kang' is an alias; his birth name is the disappointingly normal Nathaniel Richards.
• Let's be frank; would you really want to have anything to do with Walter "Rorschach" Kovacs?
• Ramanious Kath Also, his minion Klachilles.
• Many Italian 1960s comic book Anti Heroes, starting with Diabolik. Notable examples include Kriminal and Satanik.
  • This trend, sometimes called "criminalizing K", was parodied by the famous Italian Donald Duck comic, Paperinik.
• A Pif Et Hercule comic had a villain called Krapulax.

Film

• Admitted by the creators of the Highlander franchise, and so common they even have a name - 'Kimmies': The Kurgan, General Katana (doubles up with a weapon name, for even greater badassery), Kane, Kronos, etc.
• REVOK! DARRYL REVOK!
• Er... King Kong, anyone? The original and best? Especially if he has his foot raised above your head??
• Kalgan take me away!
• Krank from The City of Lost Children.
• Dr. Mirakle from the 1932 Murders in the Rue Morgue.
• Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Folklore and Mythology

• Koschei the Deathless, from Russian folklore. "Deathless" because he's removed his soul from his body to attain immortality. It's hidden in the eye of a needle, inside a duck egg, inside a duck, inside a fox, inside an iron treasure chest wrapped in the roots of a tree on an island which simply isn't there most of the time. Possibly the original lich.
• Kali, from Indian mythology.
• Loki from Norse mythology. His name SOUNDS trickster-y. And if he's feeling helpful, that's great. If he's feeling disgruntled - or if he's crossed his moral even horizon - bad things will ensue. Ragnarok, for instance.
  • For that matter, how about Ragnarok? You know, the Viking version of the apocalypse?
• Sekhmet from Egyptian mythology. She was a goddess depicted with the head of a lion and was so literally bloodthirsty she drank a whole lake of wine just because she mistook the red liquid for blood. And didn't start feeling the effects until after she finished the entire lake. Even Ra was afraid to try to stop her rampaging.
• Kokopelli, a god from Southwestern Native American Mythology. You might recognize him as that weird flute-playing guy who appears on all those random products.

Literature

• Robert E. Howard was fond of K Names, as evidenced by King Kull and Solomon Kane.
  • Conan the Barbarian also counts, as he uses the hard-'c' which sounds like 'k' in his name.
• Kirschov Latanya of the Second Sons trilogy, though he is more dumb than evil (He was the last person in the entire universe to work out that Marquel was evil, to start...).
• The biggest Urgals from the Inheritance Cycle are called Kull.
• Crayak is pretty damn scary and the K doesn't help.

Live-Action TV

• Klingons from Star Trek: The Original Series. Especially Kang, Koloth, Kor, Korax and Kras.
  • Note also the non-Klingon Kodos the Executioner, a double whammy (although he gets some sympathy in the end of his episode).
  • Khan.
  • From the perspective of the bad guys, 'Kirk' is probably a name to run really, really fast from...
• Daleks, from Doctor Who. Unless you're the Doctor, with a pass possibly going to a few of his companions, your only hope when confronted by a Dalek is to run away very, very fast.
  • Or hide behind a sofa.
  • Or go up or downstairs. (That is, until the Daleks figured out that they had to start levitating.)
• A milder variety: Power Rangers RPM has Dr. K, who becomes furious whenever someone says that her Ranger suits are made of spandex. No one is safe, not even a schoolboy. Or, alternatively, if your name is Tenaya 7 and you find yourself on the wrong side of her violin.
• It became clear after a few episodes of Highlander that anyone with a K name was evil. Fans started calling them "K'immies".

Professional Wrestling

• For that matter, wrestlers Aja Kong and Amazing/Awesome Kong.
• Kane.
• King Kong Bundy, strong, huge fighter par exellence.

Tabletop Games

• Warhammer 40000: "Kharn" sounds scary enough, until you find that his title is "'the Betrayer". You really, really want to run away from this one.
  • Also, Khorne, Chaos God of War, whose followers are known by their battle cry "Blood for the Blood God!" The 40k universe is not a happy place.
  • Kaelis Ra, the god of death. Oh, and Kaela Mensha Khaine, the Eldar god of war.
  • Scryak.

. Their real names are actually Punch And Judy. That also counts for this trope.

• In Dungeons & Dragons Orcs and Drow tend to have k and g sounds in there names, so if one runs after hearing a name like Grak or Kagak (which are just random names btw) it's probably best for their health.

Toys

• Most of the Always Chaotic Evil species in Bionicle have Ks in their name: Bohrok, Rahkshi, Vahki, Visorak, Piraka, Skakdi, Barraki, Makuta, Skrall... And on an individual basis we have names like Krekka, Krahka, Krika, Kuurahk, Korohk, Krakua and Kopaka.
  • The Ignika, one of the most powerful Kanohi, and the only one that was intentionally made sentient.

Video Games

• King Koopa was probably the first widely-known use of this trope in gaming.
• Kane.
• Korax, the really eeeeevil end-of-game boss from Hexen.
• Kratos, God of War.
  • Kratos Aurion from Tales of Symphonia too.
• King K Rool from Donkey Kong Country 1-3 (and Land 1-3, and 64, etc). Speaking of which, pretty much every single Kremling and boss character comes under this: KAOS, Kerozene, King Kut Out, Kleever, Kroctopus, Krow and Kludgel.
• Sarah Kerrigan.
• Armok, God of Blood and almighty deity from the full title of Dwarf Fortress.
• Kraid from the Metroid series.
• Mantorok from Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.
• Kefka.
• Karnov.
• In World of Warcraft: Kargath Bladefist, Kil'Jaeden and Kael'thas.
  • Kel'Thuzad, Hakkar the Soulflayer...
• Mortal Kombat gives us Shao Kahn, Kano, Baraka and Sektor to name a few.
• The entire race of the krogans who are entirely battle-driven and want to kick the galaxy's ass in Mass Effect
  • And from Mass Effect 3 we get Kalros, the mother of all thresher maws.
• In Runescape, all generals of the Kal'Gerion Army: To'Kash, Har'Lakk, Bal'Lak, Yk'Lagor and Kal'Ger.
• Kumatora: It even means bear-tiger.
• Dr. Eggman's original name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik.
• Dragon Age Origins gives us the darkspawn...well, most of them: gemlocks, hurlock, and sharlocks (more commonly called Shrieks in the game, but they're still examples of this)
• The Dovahkiin from Skyrim who can evoke this with their real name if the player so desires, also notable are the twin brothers Vilkas and Farkas of the Companions, Kodlak Whitemane, and Ulfric Stormcloak.

Web Comics

• Kamikaze Kate from Misfile.
• Skadi.
• K'Z'K from Sluggy Freelance. (Even if it's not the name itself that inspires running.)
• You should only run away from K'Seliss if you are edible (so yes, you probably should).
• Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach from Girl Genius. As if the other parts of his name were not enough to run away from.
• While he's already mentioned on the Xtreme Kool Letterz page, Xykon from Order of the Stick undoubtedly fits here as well.

Web Original

• Dr. Diabolik of the Whateley Universe, referred to by one of the viewpoint characters as Dr. Dad.

Western Animation

• Kang and Kodos from The Simpsons.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender has Koh, Zuko, Roku, and pretty much everyone from the Water Tribe (Katara, Sokka, Hakoda, Pakku, etc.).
  • The Legend of Korra has the title character and Mako .
• Kaa the Snake from "The Jungle Book." His name alone strikes fear into the hearts of all animals, especially the Bandaar-Logs (monkeys).
• Korgoth of Barbaria.
• Hordak of She Ra fame.
• Kuki Sanban appears to be a sweet, lovable girl, and for the most part she is. Deface or injure a Rainbow Monkey in her presence at your own peril.
• Krang from the 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon looks scary, but is actually an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain.
  • Oroku Saki (best known by his nickname, Shredder), on the other hand, is much more dangerous.
  • Karai, aka Lady Shredder.
  • Tokka, an evil mutated Alligator snapping turtle.
• Tak the Hideous New Girl

Real Life

• The prevalence of the hard K in some Russian names may sometimes be used as an intentional Anglo attempt to bring up spectres of Dirty Communists.
• American liberal writer/editor Russ Kick.
• Genghis Khan.
• The Ku Klux Klan.
• Any Kardasian
• Kamikaze
• Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
• Hurricane Katrina