Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Mix And Match

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Anyone whose name combines several of the distinct types of Names to Run Away From Really Fast is generally someone you really, really, do not want to get mad at you. Or they're a Mary Sue, which is arguably worse.

Examples of Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Mix And Match include:


Anime and Manga

  • A subversion, Tsurugi Inugami's name has the deadliness of a Tsurugi and the Mythological Animalness of Inugami. The only problem is that he is not one bit as Badass as his name implies.
  • Nrvnsqr Chaos in Tsukihime. Name looks unpronounceable, but it's actually 'Nero Chaos' so he doesn't get that one, technically. Hard K sound though. Plus, his most used name is generally 'Chaos,' a name he was given because he's just that evil as far as the Church is concerned. They really hate him. So that's both Infernal and Noun. Oh, and technically it's a title, as his real/original name is actually rather ordinary. As far as he's concerned, though, he doesn't really have a name anymore and merely responds to what people call him. It happens when you start tossing your identity away.
  • Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle's kurogane 1. foreign sounding 2. kuro= black 3. weapon name (it means black steel) 4.starts with a k.
  • Based on the behavior and naming convention among the Innovade from Gundam 00, some fans have come to believe that one named Killing Spree is somewhere out there.
    • Also, from the same show: Lockon Stratos. His name implies that he can snipe objects in the stratosphere while standing on the ground. It's not wrong either. On one occasion, he actually managed to snipe down a part of a space station TWICE.
  • In Gundam SEED Destiny, one of the Mobile Armors has a name that strangely enough DOESN'T make anyone consider running away: Destroy Gundam.
  • Z Gundam had both the Psyco Gundam and Psyco Gundam Mk.II (given that it sounds like Psycho Gundam, it should give most pilots second thoughts about going against it).
  • From a Zeon point-of-view, in Mobile Suit Gundam, there simply was "Gundam".
  • Gundam W has both the Gundam Deathscythe and Gundam Deathscythe Hell (an upgraded version). And Heavy-Arms, though it's not so much an example, as it always runs out of ammo before the battle is over.
  • G Gundam had the "Devil Gundam". The dub changed this to "Dark Gundam", which sounds less scary. Originally, though it was called "Ultimate Gundam" so it could only get more intimidating.
  • In Gundam 08th MS Team, Sandurs is nicknamed "The Grim Reaper", because his allies always get killed on their third mission, no matter what team he's assigned to. Shiro and co. manage to make it through, though.
  • The Big Bad in Supercar Gattiger is named Emperor Black Demon.
  • Gundam Unicorn has the NZ-666 Kshatriya.
  • The alias of Shinobu Sensui in Yu Yu Hakusho is Black Angel.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica has the Crimson Annihilator.

Card Games

  • Ramses Overdark, Madaran imperial assassin from Magic: The Gathering. Actually, legends is full of these types of names. Dakkon Blackblade, Rasputin Dreamweaver, Boris Devilboon, Tuknir Deathlock, Nebuchadnezzar, and that's just the humans. The Elder Dragons have names like Palladia-Mors and Vaevictis Asmadi, though the most powerful one is named... Nicol.
    • Phage the Untouchable. Aside from how her name is derived from the Greek word for 'devour', anyone who gets called 'the Untouchable' because touching them makes you literally rot and die on the spot (or maybe you get lucky and the contact is brief enough that only parts of you get rotted away) would qualify. Doesn't help that she's a sadistic (worse) pit fighter (even worse) who works for the Patriarch of the evil Cabal (can it get any worse?).
      • To stress how "Untouchable" Phage is, there are many creatures with the deathtouch[1] ability that allows them to kill any creature they hit, Phage is no exception; however if Phage does damage to a player, they lose. Instantly. Each player, in-game, is considered to be a Planeswalker, aka. a Physical God who, at the start of the game, can take hits from dragons and eldritch abominations while still standing.
  • The three Eldrazi Titans, Kozilek, the Butcher of Truth, Ulamog, The Infinite Gyre, and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. These guys are alien to the known color concepts, and their very presence reduces the land to a smoldering wasteland.

Comic Books

  • One Fantastic Four villain is Annihilus, who invokes both Noun names and Ancient Dead Languages.
    • The trope is lampshaded with his Ultimate Universe counterpart, Nihil. Reed's translation device first renders his name as things like "I annihilate" and "I am nihilist", which everyone agrees is a bad sign.

Thing: "Dude. We met our first alien and his name is like E-Vill or something."

      • "Nihil" is literally and unambiguously Latin for "nothing;" if Reed's translation device is interpreting it as a verb it must be broken. What are the chances their entire conflict was predicated on a translation error?
  • Deathstroke the Terminator, real name Slade Wilson.
  • Ogdru Jahad. Hellboy's names (Anung Un Rama, Son of the Fallen One), fit in several categories.
  • Daimon Hellstrom and his sister Satana from Marvel Universe. Why, yes, they are children of Satan, how did you guess?
  • The Joker's name follows a good amount of these rules. It combines: 1. A "The" name that contains 2. a Verb (joke), which is also 3. a Noun (as in a practical joker), which 4. Ends in R and 5. Has a harsh K sound in it. In addition, some of his nicknames or alternate titles exemplify other rules; one particularly obvious one is "The Thin White Duke of Death", which combines 1. a "The" name, which also has 2. the color white in it and also 3. has the title "Duke" in it and 4. has the noun/verb "death" in it. Those particularly sharp Tropers amongst us might know of several other titles that fit...
    • "Thin White Duke" was one of David Bowie's nicknames/personas. Does that count as "named after a famous villain?"
  • Spider-Man's foe Carnage. Let's see..his supervillain alias means "gore and bloodshed", and his real name is Cletus Kasady-double hard "k" sounds, the redneck sounding "Cletus", and a variant of "Cassidy" that incorporates a K.
  • Raven Darkholme, Mystique's real name. Animal in the first name, "Dark" in the last name. The aspirated K makes it even more badass.
  • Combining body part with weapon makes up The Mighty Thor enemy "Bloodaxe".
  • Of the Adjective and Title variant is Mister Terrible.
  • Gideon Gordon Graves of Scott Pilgrim. Biblical first name, scary-noun last name.
  • Since neither

Fanfic

Film

  • 'The Bride' aka 'Black Mamba' aka Beatrix Kiddo. The Man (as it seems to be used in the examples) for the first. Color in an Animal name for the second. Hard K and an Xtreme Cool Letter in the third.
  • Colt Hawker in Visiting Hours, whose name combines Weapons and Animal naming.

Literature

Harry: Seriously? Archleone? As in "seeking whom he may devour"? Could you get any more obvious?

    • This from The Bible, (1 Peter 5:8) "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." Archleone is latin for "Great Lion."
  • And from the same Author, we have Gaius Tavarus Magnus. Translation; Lord Super-Wolverine the Great
  • Carcer is a Crime-Related Scary Noun in an Ancient Dead Language with a hard "k" sound that ends in an "-er". That's a lot of evil, right there.
  • The War in Heaven. Full stop. Hell, Faction Paradox? The Celestis? The Enemy?
  • Welkin Weasels features the Grand Inquisitor Torca Marda. It's got the hard K sound in the middle, it's not quite an R-ending but it sounds close to one, and it's a Shout-Out to Tomas de Torquemarda, the infamous Real Life head of the Spanish Inquisition.
  • Bridge of Birds gives us The Hand That No One Sees. Don't ask.
  • Sauron's minions are only allowed to refer to him as "He" or more colloquially, "The Eye".
  • Anomander Rake. Son of Darkness, Lord of Moon's Spawn, Mane of Chaos, Bearer of Dragnipur, Knight of High House Dark, Blacksword, Slayer of the Elder God Draconus, Lord of the Tiste Andii
  • Jack Reacher, of the basically unnamed series by Lee Child. K-name, -er, Title/adjective/verb (He's always just Reacher, often for trivial things such as being like 6'5 and reaching for things for people.), Famous murderers/assassins. He's destroyed one town physically, and one he destroyed the economy of. He's dismantled at least one private military establishment, and another military contractor received his foot in a sunless place.
  • The Gunslinger Roland of Gilead Rednecky, Weapon, Title, Ends in R, Weapon, Adjective/The Adjective One/The Man, nouns. Definitely worth running from. Fast. Before you cross him. After, it's just too late.
  • Artemis Fowl. His first name is that of a Greek goddess, specifically the Hunter (which he lampshades in a Crowning Moment of Awesome), his second basically means chicken - but he's one of the most frightening teenagers you'll ever come across. Hell, the whole Fowl family have this status in-universe, and the Butlers probably do too.
  • Leo Alexander of Dark Heavens. As an added bonus, his first name plus being a Scary Black Man gives him the nickname "The Black Lion".
  • Combining a Noun with a "The Person" title, we have Jessica Sorrow the Unbeliever, from Simon R Green's Nightside novels.
  • Lamentation Kane in Tadd Williams's "And Ministers of Grace." Kane is a holy assassin Tyke Bomb. His name is lampshaded by two different characters. His atheist enemy wonders if he's named for the lamentations of his enemies. His ally quotes from the Book of Lamentations.
  • From A Song of Ice and Fire, Ser Gregor Clegane, aka The Mountain That Rides.
  • From Old Kingdom if his name is Kerrigor or Orannis The Destroyer, Ninth Bright Shiner, etc... RUN!!!

Live-Action TV

  • The Live Action/CGI combined series Ace Lightning contains many characters with the names of Lord Fear, Anvil, Dirty Rat and Felicity Fury... Ironically the least auspiciously named character is Kilobyte, who also happens to be the most dangerous of the bad guys.
  • Two in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Kakistos invokes K-name, Ancient Dead Languages, and Adjectives (his name is Greek for "worst of the worst"). Spike of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a double-inversion, though. We meet him with the relatively-easygoing name "Spike". Later, we find that he was once known as "William the Bloody". Still later, we find that he was called "William the Bloody" before he was a vampire (because his poetry was "so bloody awful"), and it's strongly implied that he's named "spike" after a preferred way of killing people.
  • Sylar a.k.a. Gabriel Gray a.k.a. Patient Zero of Heroes again. Sylar is an R-name, a German word meaning "rope maker" ("Seiler"), and getting the name off a watch is an allusion to the Zodiac killer. Gabriel (the angel of death), and last name is a color name.
  • Lucien LaCroix, of Forever Knight. It means "Light {of} the Cross, and is actually the self-given name of a "very dark anti-hero", nearly 2000 year old vampire with a literal disgust of all things holy, save for the irony of it all. He was originally Lucius, a play on "Lucifer", and calls himself "Nightcrawler" on his radio talk show, which seems to exist only for the purpose of lecturing and tormenting the main character remotely.

Tabletop Games

  • Mecha war RPG/Minis-game/novel series BattleTech features Grayson "Death" Carlyle, who builds one of the most feared mercenary units in the 'verse out of pretty much nothing (And sensibly names the unit after himself: The Gray Death Legion). He gets his first 'mech for the unit by intimidating its pilot into surrender with nothing more than a single-shot shoulder-fired missile launcher that ordinarily wouldn't be enough to scratch the thing's paint. (And later marries her. The pilot, not the 'Mech.) This 'verse also features similarly Badass mercs Morgan Kell, Jaime Wolf, et cetera.
    • An obvious example in the Battletech universe: The Clans in general. If your planet was being invaded out of the blue by people calling themselves "Jade Falcons" or "Ghost Bears", you'd either be shitting bricks, running away, or a mixture of the two.
  • And then there is Warhammer 40,000, Kharn the Betrayer, Lucius the Eternal, Typhus the Traveler, Abaddon the Despoiler and Ahriman of the Thousand Sons.
  • First and Forsaken Lion. Adjective+ Adjective+ Animal=a serious candidate for the Big Bad of the setting.
    • Actually, all of the Deathlords count. The Bishop of the Chalcedony Thurible, The Bodhisattva Anointed by Dark Waters, The Princess Magnificent With Lips of Coral and Robes of Black Feathers... yeah, they have really long names.

Video Games

  • One boss from MadWorld appears to be named Herr Frederick Von Twirlenkiller. He appears to have weapons that could be charitably described as hybrids between a flail and a boeing jet engine strapped to each arm.
  • Subverted by Capcom's Princess Devilotte de Deathsatan IX (from the Mecha game Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness). Despite taking from Demonic Names, Noun Names, and Four Is Death (Nine is a less-used alternative), she's less an intimidating foe, and more a one-girl Quirky Miniboss Squad.
  • In a contrast to the other Star Wars examples, the names of the two prominent Jedi-turned-Sith in the first Knights of the Old Republic are rather multilayered and subtle. Consider Malak - that's an adjective (mal), a body part(the jawbone, which in his case is missing), an angel's name (Malachi), and it ends in K! And Revan - that's an animal (raven), and three nouns (revenge, revenant, and revanchist, the last of which is basically "a vengeful person". Revenant, by the way means One who has returned from death or a long absence.) Well played, Bioware! The only other new, named Sith with a "Darth" attached is Bandon, who doesn't play nearly so big a role.
    • ...this is subtle?
      • By comparison? Yes.
  • The nuttier villains in Geneforge are prone to renaming themselves as the adjective one, adjective, or verb, but may combine them, as with Unending Purging. Also note Monarch, who doesn't strictly belong under any of these categories but chose his name because he wants to Take Over the World.
  • Sly Cooper - Krusher. It's bascially a junior Kracken with a scarier name. It's got crush( a violent nown), a hard k sound, ends with r, and is somes times called The Krusher. I wonder if crush being spelled with a "K" helps. Yes it is feared and has a hundred tenticals.
  • Dwarf Fortress with its Luke Nounverber style random name generator has (and very often uses) the capability to create surnames and titles such as Deathsucker, Chaosknight, The Wastes of Oxen, Otterthorny, and The God-forsaken Eater of Twilight, to name a few.
  • One of the villains in BloodRayne is named Dr. Bathory Mengele. First, she gets the title of "Doctor"; second, her first name is the surname of the Hungarian serial killer Countess Erszebet Bathory (also known as "the Blood Countess"), reputed to have bathed in blood in a bid to remain young and beautiful); third, she shares a surname with Dr. Josef Mengele, the Nazi "Angel of Death" known for human experimentation on Auschwitz prisoners. Needless to say, she's not very nice.
  • Ragna The Bloodedge: [Pagan Mythology] the [Blood][Weapon]. To put it bluntly, he isn't really a nice guy, but with that said, he isn't bad either... However, in his Arcade mode ending v-13 hijacks his body to become The Black Beast, which was just as bad as it sounds.
  • Okay, let's do some math, folks. Demonic + Kool Letturz + Ends with R + Complete Monster + Hate Plague + Pokémon = CIPHER Yes, they are utterly evil, why do you ask?
  • Not sure what category this comes under, but the name of I.M.Meen from the video game of the same name. Come on, anyone who didn't see he was a villain?
  • Korax. It means "raven", it has a hard K, it ends with an X -- what more needs to be said?
  • In DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu BLACK Label, Taisabachi, the penultimate True Final Boss, had it's name changed to "Supreme Weapon of Extreme Hellish Annihilation - Golden Disaster."
    • Then the actual True Final Boss, who is much harder, has the title: "Supreme Killing Weapon: Hibachi". (Then again, just "Hibachi" on its own is more than enough to make even seasoned shmuppers Run Away Really Fast.)
  • Krauser. It starts with a K, it ends with an R, and it sounds so very German.
  • Odio, which is Spanish for hate/hatred:
  • Also in Psychonauts, Oleander. A poisonous plant. I don't trust this guy.
  • Gulcasa, Emperor of Carnage. That he goes around riding a dragon and twirling a Sinister Scythe is bad enough, but he's an Emperor in a Japanese RPG (which is almost always bad), and Carnage, well, speaks for itself. Add to this that he's also referred to as Blazing Emperor, that his personal skill is named Genocide, and that he is a direct descendant of the evil dragon Brongaa... yeah. People actually run away as soon as they hear his name in-universe.

    Ironically enough, Gulcasa is actually so sweet and good-natured it's downright pitiful. He doesn't get Sympathetic POV until very late into Yggdra Union, though, so unless you've played Yggdra Unison and Blaze Union, you wouldn't be able to tell. You still don't want to make him angry, though.
  • Bad-to-the-Bone Pirates from Infinite Space, said to be the most ruthless pirate gang in the universe. "Merciless Night Queen" Celina and "the Bloody Prince" Teodoro are odd cases; they're not villains (Celina even helps you several times throughout the game, and Teodoro can be recruited under Defeat Means Friendship), but they certainly won't hold back when anyone gets in their way.
  • RuneScape gives another Luke Nounverber example in Nounverber-style titles for all Dungeoneering bosses. There are bosses with names like Plane-freezer Lakhrahnaz, Shadow-forger Ihlakhizan, Night-gazer Khighorahk, Flesh-spoiler Haasghenahk, To'Kash the Bloodchiller, Har'Lakk the Riftsplitter, Bal'Lak the Pummeller, and the behemoths don't really lack in the threatening name department either. After all, facing a giant hulking beast called the Hope devourer can cause a bit of a fright. And then, of course Jagex took these titles Up to Eleven and gave us World-gorger Shukarhazh. Due to the Stalkers being The Unpronounceable, and attempts at pronouncing these often resulting in lots of guttural sounds certainly doesn't detract from the value.
  • The name of the final boss of the classic arcade game The Combatribes is named Martha Splatterhead.
  • The Final Boss of Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is named Master Core: ABIS
  • No sword dragging epitome of fear and despair from Silent Hill called Pyramid Head? When you hear that name, run. No really. Run. Like. Hell.
  • Tyrannosatan from Death Smiles.
  • The antagonist of Kingdom Hearts is named Xehanort, which is an anagram of "no heart" with an X thrown in. Subtle.

Web Comics

  • In Starslip Crisis, a character questions whether a certain CEO is really all that bad. I mean, how much can you tell from a name like Archcount Obdrath von Lucifuge? "His name's, like, Lord Murdertron or something."
  • Dr. Raven Darktalon Blood
  • Archagent Jack Noir of Homestuck is an exceptionally varied example. Hard K, title, notorious killer, and foreign. But it doesn't stop there, as later on he becomes the SOVEREIGN SLAYER. Holy shit.
    • And now he has another nickname: Bec Noir, from Becquerel, a Reality Warper dog who is named after the SI unit of radiation... whose powers Jack now wields.
      • Doc Scratch, aka the First Guardian of the Troll's session. Name X + Verb. And is also themed like a rapper's name since he's based off Lil' Cal, who is a creepy sentient doll.
  • Gilgamesh Wulfenbach. Animal plus conqueror. He really does try to be polite, though. It's not his fault that people don't listen to him until he makes the shit hit the fan. But when he says "Leave now, or you will die!", you might want to run like hell.
    • His father, Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (title, K-name, animal), is not a man to be screwed with lightly either. Especially not considering he gone from minor noble to benevolent dictator of the better part of Europe, and has clawed himself to the top of a pile of trigger-happy power-crazed Mad Scientists in the process.
    • Meet Lucifer Mongfish and his three beautiful daughters. Lucrezia, Demonica, and Serpentina.
  • The main villain from the webcomic Improbable Hero Squad, the evil Doctor Professor Otto Hugo Mortimer Vladimir P. Q. Von Happyhat.
  • Sluggy Freelance had the demon K'Z'K the Vowelless, a.k.a. The Soul Collector -- Xtreme Kool Letturz (including two K's!), unpronounceable, and two different titles (although the first one is kind of lame). It really, really annoys him when people pronounce his name "Kizke," and even more so when Torg dubs him "Captain Consonant."
  • Dr. Lupin Madblood.
  • Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire has Der Rock the Destroyer, a famous professional criminal who burglarized the most powerful being in the known space. Though didn't get away with this for very long. Also, he greeted a guy sent to catch him with «Do not be lulled by my present condition, PSmith. There are only 35 of you.»

Web Original

  • Dr. Diabolik of the Whateley Universe. You've got the K-word, the evil adjective, the evil title... For extra credit, his daughter is named Jadis (like the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia) and his son is named Malachai, Mal for short. Their codenames are She-Beast and Techno-Devil. You do the math.
    • This one's a subversion: "Diabolik" wasn't his original surname, he had it legally changed when he went into the supervillain business. "She-Beast" makes perfect sense given Jadis's powers; she manifests a "beast-skin" that makes her much tougher and stronger. And her given name being "Jadis" has other implications.

Western Animation

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles practically wrote the book on cool names, but perhaps the most blatant is Hunter "Hun" Mason, the leader of the Purple Dragons. Let's see, we've got the self-explanatory word "Hunter" in there, "Mace," which refers to two weapons, "Mason" which is a dude who slices stone for a living, and even when shortened it becomes the name of some of the most notorious conquerors of all time.
  • He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - Skeletor. Even without his official title "Evil Lord of Destruction" that's pretty good. Although pretty much everything in the show has a terrifying name.
    • Adding to the snake motif of his name with a conqueror, Kobra Khan.
  • "Nemesis Enforcer" from G.I. Joe: The Movie. A couple of nouns saying "stay away!"
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:

Real Life

Back to, not away from, Names to Run Away From Really Fast

  1. ↑ it's one word no matter what spellcheckers say
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