No Name Given/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character's name is not given.

  • Straight: A character spends the entire duration of the work without being named.
  • Exaggerated: The character becomes a high-profile politician, while still not revealing their name.
    • "My name is Not Given." "Nice to meet you, Mr. Given."
  • Justified: The story features nefarious spells that can be cast on people by just knowing their names. By concealing his / her name, the character is immune to this kind of magic.
    • The story is a government report or something similar, and the name is redacted to protect the hero's identity.
    • Alternatively, Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep".
    • The character is the narrator and told in first-person. The folks around them just don't bring their name often. Sometimes, not at all.
  • Inverted: I Have Many Names.
  • Subverted: Another character remarks how mysterious it is that the character has No Name Given... "My name? Oh, sorry! It's Bob."
  • Double Subverted: He quickly admits he was lying.
  • Parodied: His name is (implied to be) said or shown, but is always bleeped out, censored, or cut off by liberal use of Sound Effect Bleep, Hard Cuts and Killed Mid-Sentence.
  • Deconstructed: The character has to live completely off the grid to maintain their anonymity, and the authorities are extremely suspicious of their lack of any identification. They're generally mistrusted by other people as well, and can't form any close relationships unless it's with a single loyal Secret Keeper.
  • Reconstructed: Their anonymous existence allows them to stay off the radar of a totalitarian government, and the few people they trust enough to reveal their name to know they're part of a highly exclusive circle of friends.
  • Averted: The character introduces themselves with their name.
  • Enforced: The character's name is bleeped out every time it's spoken.
    • Alternatively: The writers couldn't be bothered to come up with a name for the character.
  • Lampshaded: "Some mysterious, shady, no-name guy."
  • Invoked: A character refuses to tell anyone his name, not in a serious effort to protect his identity, but simply because being The Man With No Name is so very enigmatic and badass.
  • Defied: The main character wears a shirt with their name on it.
  • Discussed: "What's the big idea not telling anybody your name? It's not like people don't recognise you anyway"
  • Conversed: "It would be cool to be one of those movie characters who don't tell anyone their name. But I bet it's hard to get a bank account."

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