Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Shady Names

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


A form of Names to Run Away From Really Fast: When a character has a name referencing crime or criminality, you can't really be sure what you're dealing with.

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


Literature

  • Would you take anything a guy nicknamed Wormtongue says at face value?
    • His true name was Grima, and was given the name Wormtongue because of his Treacherous Advisor ways.
      • Doesn't make it much better. "Grima, son of Galmod", directly translated from Anglo-Saxon means "Mask, son of Licentious". Nice. Even in modern English, it just sounds "Grimy".
  • Would you expect anything other than monkey business from an ape named Shift?
    • Subverted with his friend Puzzle the Donkey, who's actually a good guy.
  • Lyra Silvertongue is a heroic example.
  • Would you trust a rat named Twirltongue?
  • Would you trust a man named Janos Slynt?
  • Would you vote for a Congressman named Hornswoggle?
  • Vermin in the Redwall series. When characters with names like Scumnose, Mangefur and Cheesethief knock on the door of your abbey, do you follow the dictates of peace and let them in, or do you put up all the barricades and start hunting down Martin the Warrior's sword?

Live-Action TV

Music

Radio

  • From Adventures in Odyssey, the evil Dr. Regis Blackgaard. Arguably subverted in that he has a twin brother, Edwin, who shares the name but is only guilty of being a Large Ham.

Video Games

Web Animation

  • Or buy something from a street vendor named Shifty?

Western Animation

  • On that note, would you buy anything from a guy named Swindle?
    • For that matter, would you trust anything a Decepticon said to you? By now it's even been commented on in-show.

Jazz: Deceived by a Decepticon. Who knew?

Other/Multiple Media

  • People named Simon, especially children (as in, "Simon Says"), may be capable of mind control or more.

Real Life

  • Would you buy a house from Crook & Blight?
  • There's actually a financial service company named Standard & Poor's. Meaningful Name much?
  • There was a famous embezzler during the recession from about 2008 in named Bernie Madoff (pronounced "made-off") Robin Williams lampshaded the irony about an embezzler having such a name, "What's next? A law firm called Dewey Fuckyou and How?"
  • There was an Austrialian association footballer (soccer player) in the early 20th century whose surname was Conquest, but that's not the end of it. His first name? Norman. Norman Conquest... he was named after a bloody period of history.

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