Only Known by Their Nickname: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not "Mr. Lebowski". ''You're'' Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing."''|'''The Dude''' (so that's what you call him), ''[[The Big Lebowski]]''}}

 

This is a character who is primarily, or even only, known by their [[In-Series Nickname]].

 

Usually, [[Dramatis Personae]] will give the full name of such a character first, though the actual script will use the nickname almost exclusively even in the unspoken directions.

 

* Gyro Zeppeli from ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure|Steel Ball Run]]''. His real name is {{spoiler|Julius Caeser}} Zeppeli.

* Kyon and his sister in ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' - their real names will likely never be revealed. "Kyon" is just an irritating nickname his aunt once gave him and that his sister spread, that ended up sticking despite all his efforts to discourage it. His sister doesn't even get ''that'' much; everyone just calls ''her'' "little sister".

* The villain in ''[[Gun X Sword]]'' is known only as the Claw, sometimes called "Comrade" by his allies. He rejected his real name long ago and it is never revealed.

* In ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'', there is the mafia boss named The Baby. {{spoiler|His real name is given [[The Un-Reveal]] treatment.}}

* C.C. (pronounced "C-Two") in ''[[Code Geass]]'' is only known by these initials. The only time her real name was spoken out loud the viewer is only treated with the speaker's vague lip-movements.

* The Gaba Thieves in ''[[Mahoujin Guru Guru|Doki Doki Densetsu Mahoujin Guru Guru]]'' make a deliberate point of only ever using nicknames to protect their identities. When Nike and Kukuri briefly join them, the leader Sly immediately gives them codenames. This is taken a step further with Sly himself, who [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|everyone calls "Ookashira"]], essentially meaning "Boss".

* The dub of ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' does this to justify the [[Dub Name Change|changes in names]] despite not trying to hide that most of the characters normally live in Japan; the first episode introduces the main cast listing both their full names and the nicknames derived from them (to varying degrees of plausibility) which the characters are referred to thereafter. Becomes sort of ridiculous when their parents use these nicknames for them, especially "Izzy", which is a of shortening the characters ''last'' name. The other series don't bother with such a thing.

* The famed criminal Mister in ''[[Coyote Ragtime Show]]'' is so called because he has as many aliases and false identities as there are stars in the sky and nobody knows what his real name actually is.

* Nobody in ''[[GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class]]'' calls Miyabi Oomichi "Miyabi". She's mainly referred by the main cast as "Professor," while Namiko calls her by the [[Alternate Character Reading]] "Masa," and the [[Faceless Masses]] calls her "Oomichi-san".

* Kasanoda from ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]''. We're given his first name (which is Ritsu), but he's almost always referred to as Kasanoda or some [[My Name Is Not Durwood|mispronunciation]] of his name.

** Mori and Honey as well, except to [[First-Name Basis|each other]].

** Aogami Pierce presumably has a real name as well. To us, though, he's just the blue-haired guy with piercings.

* The [[Anti-Hero|hero]] of ''[[Darker than Black]]'' is only known by his [[Code Name]], Hei ("black" in Chinese).

* [[One Piece]]: Franky's real name is Cutty Flam. "Franky" was a name given to him by Iceburg.

 

* Jughead Jones in ''[[Archie Comics]]''. His real name is Forsythe.

** Similarly, his sister Jellybean Jones. Real name is Forsythia.

* [[Green Lantern]] Hal Jordan, whose real name is "Harold" but is never addressed as such, ''ever''.

** His friend Tom Kalmaku once had the nickname "[[Unfortunate Names|Pieface]]", and he was referred to as such constantly. It was a more ignorant time.

* The [[Daredevil]] villain Bullseye, is only known by that name and when asked for his name, "Bullseye" is what he always responds with.

** Turns out his first name is ''Lester''. again with the nickname being an improvement.

* Many characters in ''[[Empowered]]''. We learn the real name of the heroine as late as in volume #3. The real name of her boyfriend Thugboy is still unknown.

* The real names of the main characters of ''[[Mingamanga]]'' are Korbinian, Mustafa, Vinh Ngoc and Daniel. They're almost always called Bini, Staffie, Vinnie and Bo.

* Sonic from [[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|his comic]] only went by his nickname, he was given the embarrassing middle name of Maurice, and [[Word of God]] claimed his first name to be Oglivie.

 

 

* ''[[The Blind Side]]'': Michael, at first anyway. After he reveals to Leigh Anne that he doesn't like to be called "Big Mike", she thereafter always calls him "Michael" instead.

* The title character of ''[[Indiana Jones]]''. Real name Henry Walton<ref>which is also [[George Lucas]]' middle name</ref> Jones, Jr.

* In ''[[Purple Rain]]'', Prince's character is referred to "The Kid" ''even in the credits''. He's never referred to by name, even by his parents. He's still just "The Kid" in the pseudo-sequel ''Graffiti Bridge''.

** What's especially weird about this is that almost every other character is [[Shaped Like Itself|known by their portrayer's real-life name (or real-life stage name, at least)]].

* All characters in the thriller ''[[Exam]]'' are referred to by hair colour, ethnicity, or job title, with the exception of the mystical CEO.

* Although the main character of ''[[Falling Down]]'' is named William Foster, he is rarely referred to as such, and credited as the name on his vanity license plate, "D-FENS".

* "Captain" in ''[[The King and the Clown]].'' Might be considered an example of [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]], except he gets the nickname of Captain ''before'' he gets leadership of the performing troupe.

* In ''[[The Gamers]] 2: Dorkness Rising'', the GM's name is Kevin Lodge, but almost everyone calls him Lodge. The newbie player addresses him by his first name, and the rest of the gaming group expresses astonishment at Lodge having a first name.

* "The Tramp" from ''[[Lady and the Tramp]]''. Subverted, since that becomes his name, minus "The", once he's adopted.

** This is also an example of [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]], because one of his old flames wrote a song about him called "He's a Tramp," and the name stuck.

* The main characters of ''[[Zombieland]]'' use the place of their destination in place of their real names to avoid personal attachment. Needless to say [[True Companions|it doesn't work.]]

* ''U-571'' has Trigger, Rabbit, and Chief, among others. Chief is referred to as such because he's Chief of the Boat, but the others are nicknames.

* In Ocean's Eleven there is "The Amazing Yen" and Basher Tarr.

* Goose in ''[[Top Gun]]''. Everyone, even his own wife, just calls him that. His real name, which was seen on a box, was {{spoiler|Nick Bradshaw}}.

** This seems to be based on some kind of fact. In the credits about a dozen technical advisors are listed as "<First Name> <Nickname> <Last Name>"

* In [[Apocalypse Now]], with the exception of Lance and Willard, all the main characters are primarily referred to by a nickname fitting their characters: Chief, Chef, and Clean. {{spoiler|Interestingly enough, it's the only two men not referred to by a nickname who make it out of the film alive.}}

* In ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean|Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides]]'' Blackbeard's real name is mentioned only once near the beginning of the film, and from that point on he's referred to as either Blackbeard or Captain. Probably a case of [[Truth in Television]] -A lot more people know the real-life pirate as Blackbeard than Edward Teach.

* In ''[[Camp Nowhere]]'', 12-year-old Morris Himmel goes by the nickname "Mud." The only people who call him by his actual first name are his father and his love interest.

* In the Japanese horror film ''House'', the seven girls are referred only by their nicknames, even by family; namely, they're Gorgeous, Fantasy, Prof, Kung Fu, Melody, Sweet, and Mac (that's short for "stomach"). This is the first real clue that these girls are meant to be thought of as more archetypes than actual characters.

 

* Andrew "Ender" Wiggin from ''[[Ender's Game]]'', to the point where he can go around inconspicuously as Andrew Wiggin in ''Speaker for the Dead''. (Granted, that is 3,000 years in the future due to relativistic time travel, but still...)

** Well, and the fact that Andrew and Wiggin aren't exactly uncommon names. Ender [[Meaningful Name|is]].

** Urgan Nagru says that he took his official name from the wolf Urgan, whom he claims to have killed and whose pelt he wears. His original name is never revealed. Played with in the [[Official Fanfiction University]], when his wife Silvamord threatens to tell the students what his real name is.

* From the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]:

** Mitth'raw'nuruodo, aka Thrawn. He went with the short version to make it [[Some Call Me... Tim|easier]], and it stuck. In his culture, core names are only suposed to be used by friends and family, but he doesn't seem to mind; presumably the over-familiarity is preferable to people continually mangling the pronunciation.

* Despite being [[Heterosexual Life Partners]] with him for decades, Fred Colon of [[Discworld]] fame apparently had no idea Nobby Nobbs's real name is 'Cecil Wormsborough St John Nobbs', or even just his real first name. Others may know his name (it presumably appears in the Watch pay accounts) but no one ever calls him it, even city nobles knew him as Nobby.

* In Daniel Pinkwater's ''Young Adult Novel'', the protagonist goes by his ''nom de guerre'', Charles the Cat, and the other Wild Dada Ducks do likewise.

* Until the 7th book, JP in ''[[The Princess Diaries]]'' series was known only as The Guy Who Hates It When They Put Corn In The Chili.

** This is common with the Weasleys, although most of the time it's pretty easy to guess their full names, as the rest all have traditional English names.

** Similarly Voldemort is almost always called "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" by those who fear him, or "The Dark Lord" by those who follow him. Those who neither fear him or follow him actually call him Voldemort... which isn't his real name anyway. It was exactly the desired effect, as Voldemort wanted is real name to be forgotten, and the name he chosen to be feared. Dumbledore and Harry refer to him as Voldemort, but use his real name in front of him to upset him. Dumbledore is pretty much the only person to actually call him Tom. Harry calls him Riddle {{spoiler|during their final showdown}}.

** Ditto Two-Bit Matthews in Hinton's [[The Outsiders]], whose real name is known, but only mentioned once by the narrator when introducing him into the story and never again.

** Taken to the extreme with Croaker. He once is asked for his real name so that he can be promoted, and he has to spend a little bit just trying to remember what his original name is.

{{quote|"Most people call me Mad."

"Just 'Mad'? That's an ... unusual name."

* Beezus from the ''[[Ramona Quimby]]'' series isn't actually named Beezus, she's named Beatrice. Many of the books don't even tell you that!

** One of the books mentions that she got this nickname from Ramona's toddler mispronunciation of Beatrice. She seems to be fine with being called so, although there was one episode in another book where some boys at the park took advantage of the fact that it rhymes with "[[Jesus]]".

** It's revealed that Lestibournes is a nickname itself, meaning something like unwanted child in his slang.

** Elves are first given a "father-name" by their father, a "mother-name" later in life by their mother, and an "after-name" (basically a nickname) later in life by other elves. We usually only know the third.

** Also Ents; Entish being what it is, an Ent's full name is essentially the story of their life- and since Ents are just shy of immortal, that makes for ''long'' names. Most Ents use fragments of their name rendered into other languages for dealing with other races, such as "Treebeard".

* Ranger in the ''[[Stephanie Plum]]'' books. His full name is Ricardo Carlos Manoso.

* Y.T. in ''[[Snow Crash]]''. At first you might assume that they're her initials, but they're actually short for Yours Truly.

* In the Russian ''[[Death Zone]]'' series, most characters and anyone else living in the Five Zones goes by a nickname. Occasionally, their real first name may be revealed, but the full name will usually stay hidden. For example, the leader of the Order is known by all as Commander Hunter, which is a nickname (in English, in fact) given to him by a neo-Nazi gang shortly before the Catastrophe. Only his closest advisors know that his real first name is Savva. On the other hand, all members of the rival organization known as the Ark are required to adopt a German name by their leader Heinrich Hister, the former head of the above-mentioned gang. Another interesting case is Titanium Vine, whose name is Darling. She was found in a [[Human Popsicle]] tank with no memory of her identity but a tattoo with "DRG" on her shoulder, hence the name.

* There are a few of these in the [[Chalet School]] books, the earliest example being (the) Robin (aka Cecilia Marya Humphries). Later on there's [[Bifauxnen]] Tom Gay (real name Lucinda Muriel, and given that she's an extreme [[Tomboy]], it's understandable why she hates her real name) and Polly Heriot (real name Hildegard).

* In the [[Sci Fi]] novel ''[[Malevil]]'', La Menou's actual name is never stated and she goes by her nickname which means "tiny".

* ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'': Most professional soldiers in the series are known only by their nicknames, typically assigned during basic training. Examples include Whiskeyjack, Fiddler, Hedge, Bottle, Stormy, Halfpeck, Iron Bars and many more.

* Candlewick (a.k.a. Lampwick in other versions) the troublesome boy Pinocchio befriends from ''[[The Adventures of Pinocchio]]'', in his introduction it is revealed his real name is Romeo and he got the aforementioned nickname because he was so tall and thin.

* Almost everyone in ''[[The Gift (fanfic)|The Gift]]'', is known by a nickname, usually based on their regular name: Johanna Josephine "JoJo", Louisa Lively "L.L.", and William "B-4" Bates the Fourth, Guinevere Elizabeth "Lizzi" Bates, William "Bill" Bates the Third, Catherine "Cathy" and Amelia "Amy" Rockford, Lilian "Lily" Huysmann, et al. Only Paul and Dawn Ryan don't, likely because they already have one-syllable names.

* Kantorka (means: daughter of the cantor) in ''[[Krabat]]''. Fortunately, because [[I Know Your True Name]] also applies (the villain is an evil wizard).

* In the ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' series, two Tribe of Endless Hunting ancestors named Fall and Slant are mentioned in ''Sign of the Moon''. We never hear their full Tribe names, just their nicknames.

* Princess Candacis in ''[[White as Snow]]'' is almost always called Coira, a name her nurse gave her, to the point that her maids instruct a doctor to call her Coira because she won't know who he's talking to if he calls her Candacis.

* In ''[[The Thirteenth Tale]]'', John-the-dig's legal name is John Digence, but Vida insists that if you really knew him, you knew that John-the-dig was his real name.

* Many characters in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' have nicknames, some of which are self-styled and others less so. Peasants generally don't care about the real names of other peasants, which leads to some people being known exclusively by their nicknames, such as Lommy Greenhands, a mook named Shitmouth, and most famously Hot Pie, among quite a few others. Arya becomes this once when traveling to Braavos. She would have invented a new identity at this point, but everyone just called her "Salty", so she went with it.

 

* [[Lincoln Heights]]: ALL of the main characters are referred to by abbreviated nicknames of their actual names. Edward-Eddie, Jennifer-Jenn, Cassandra-Cassie, Elizabeth-Lizzie, Taylor-Tay. It's a wonder they didn't just give them those names in the first place.

* On ''[[The A-Team]]'', we have Templeton "Faceman" Peck, and John "Hannibal" Smith (interesting in that he almost always introduces himself as "Hannibal Smith", as if it's his actual name).

** [[Joss Whedon]] seems to be fond of this trope (see also Mal, Echo, Captain Hammer, and so on, and so forth).

* Besides the above-mentioned Angel and Spike, ''[[Angel]]'' also had Fred, Gunn and Lorne.

* Subverted in ''[[Roseanne]]''; Jackie is a nickname, but even she herself wasn't aware of that fact until Bev casually brought it up in conversation. Her real name is either Marjorie or Mary-Jane; Bev can't remember which. Roseanne, as a child, was unable to say the original name and it came out as "My Jackie", which led to her just being called Jackie.

** Also used for DJ.

{{quote|"We've been working so much, I feel like we hardly know our kids. I'm starting to forget what 'DJ' stands for."}}

* Turtle on ''[[Entourage]]''. His first name (Sal) was not revealed until season five.

** Maybe. Hawkeye refuses to accept that explanation and demands to know what it really stands for. Instead of standing by his answer, BJ enigmatically replies, "Anything you like."

** In Robert Ludlum's original novel his nickname is "the owl." (Or it is implied when a subordinate tells [[Big Bad|Carlos]] "the owl is dead."

* Coach in ''[[Cheers]]''.

** Somewhat parodied when Coach answers the phone, and when the person on the other end asks for Ernie Pantusso, he asks where that person is. Sam Malone says "That's you, Coach," at which point Coach gets back on the phone and says "Speaking!"

* Seymour of [[Burn Notice]] has a henchman whom he only ever refers to as "[[Meaningful Name|Jackass]]."

* Ned in ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'', although as [[No Name Given|that's the only name we're given for him]] besides "the pie maker", it's possible that it's actually his birth name rather than an abbreviation.

** According to [[That Other Wiki]], Jamie Hyneman is "James" on his birth certificate.

* ''[[Hancock's Half Hour]]'' featured a story called ''The Reunion'' of Hancock's old army buddies, "Ginger" Johnson, "Chalky" White, "Smudger" Smith and "Kippers" Hancock. Smith arrives first.

* ''[[Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide]]'' has Coconut Head, Backpack Boy, and Crony, who never have real names given. Billy Loomer and Lisa Zemo are usually referred to by their last names (though that changes for Lisa in the 3rd season). Tracey and Stacey are referred to simply as the Oboe Twins (they both play the oboe), until they get their [[A Day in the Limelight]] episode. And of course, there's Moze (Jennifer Mosely) and Cookie (Simon Nelson Cook).

* On [[Leverage]] Sophie is this, Sophie Devereaux isn't her real name it is merely her favorite of her many assumed identities. Parker also uses the name [[Alice Allusions|Alice White]] fairly often and is known by this name to Peggy, her only friend outside the team.

** In Survivor: Nicaragua, one of the contestants (Judd) was promptly renamed Fabio, eventually getting Judd replaced with Fabio in the captions and opening credits. If you missed the first episode, you might never know it wasn't his real name.

* ''[[iCarly]]'': Sam never gets called by her real name Samantha, Freddie never gets called by his real name Fredward except by his mother, and Sam when she wants to insult him, and Carly is possibly a nickname/short version of Carlotta, Caroline or some other similar, longer name.

** To be fair, Leo and Toby appear to be their actual names, if the names that they give on in the subpoenas in season 3 are correct. [[The Nicknamer|CJ just calls them that.]]

* In one episode of ''[[Seven Days]]'', Frank runs into a former associate who's referred to only by nickname (can't remember what it is, Bear or something to that effect). At one point when Olga refers to him by his first name, Frank responds by saying that even the character's mother calls him by his nickname.

* It's not entirely certain whether the Wraith from [[Stargate Atlantis]] even had names. They certainly didn't use them around humans, who wound up calling recurring Wraiths things like "Michael", "Todd", and "Kenny".

* [[Leave It to Beaver|Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver]]

* One ''[[Fresh Prince of Bel Air]]'' episode involved Will and his grandmother sneaking out of the house and meeting up with an unseen character known only as The Captain who would then drive them to a Heavy D concert.

* In ''[[Tin Man (TV series)|Tin Man]]'', the Dorothy expy is known only by her initials "DG." It's implied in the third act that the "D" really ''does'' stand for "Dorothy" as {{spoiler|she was named for her great-grandmother, Dorothy Gale}}.

* Staff Sergeant Phillip "Hippy" Roper in ''[[Red Cap]]''. Everyone calls him Hippy, including his superiors, thanks to his unruly hair.

** Even people who'd known him since before the Civil War only used that name!

* [[Those Two Guys|Bulk and Skull]] from early ''[[Power Rangers]]'' seasons. With full names like Farkus Bulkmeier and Eugene Skullovich, you can't blame them much. ''[[Power Rangers Samurai]]'' introduces Skull's son, "Spike", whose real name hasn't been revealed yet.

* From ''[[Glee]]'' there's Noah "Puck" Puckerman, who has only been addressed by his first name by his mother, and Rachel while they were dating.

** Santana Lopez is from [[Wrong Side of the Tracks|Lima Heights]] and [[Badass Boast|didn't know her name wasn't "Garbage Face" until she was five]].

* "Charlie" Duncan from ''[[Good Luck Charlie]]''. her real given name is Charlotte.

 

* The main character of [[Savatage]]'s ''[[Streets: A Rock Opera]]'' is known only by his drug dealer nickname "DT Jesus". The "DT" stands for both "de-tox" and "downtown". The [[All There in the Manual]] story provides another nickname unused in the lyrics, "the Savior on Avenue D".

* [[Evelyn Evelyn]] is a performance art duo supposedly made up of [[Conjoined Twins]], both named Evelyn. Their official names are Eva and Lyn Neville, but during their [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood]] nobody ever bothered to remember which one was which, so the twins themselves can't remember either.

* Canadian [[Synth Rock]] band [[The Birthday Massacre]] have stage nicknames; while some members just use their real names (Owen, formerly O-en Falcore and Nate) some band members' real names are not public knowledge (Rainbow and Chibi, as well as former members Aslan and Dank).

 

* Pig-Pen from ''[[Peanuts]]''. Nobody knows his real name; at his first appearance, he actually says: "I haven't got a name... People just call me things... Real insulting things."

** In one strip, Pig-Pen says that everyone calls his dad "Pig-Pen Sr."

** Also from ''[[Peanuts]]'', Rerun Van Pelt. When he is introducing himself to his kindergarten class he reveals that he doesn't even know what his real name is.

** As well: Patricia "Peppermint Patty" Reichardt.

** Popeye, upon finding his long-lost father, asks him what their real names are. Pappy doesn't remember.

* Doc Boy from ''[[Garfield]]'' hates being called by his nickname, especially by his older brother Jon, but ironically has no known name.

** Actually, his first few appearances said his name is Doc.

 

* The title characters of several series:

** ''[[Fibber McGee and Molly]]''

* "[[Catch Phrase|I am your host,]] [[True Capitalist|the man they call Ghost.]]"

 

* Sky Masterson in ''[[Guys and Dolls]]'', called that because nobody bets higher. In the few moments between "My Time Of Day" and "I've Never Been In Love Before," Sky reveals to Sarah his real name, Obediah Masterson, and says she's the first person he ever told it to.

* Little Buttercup in [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''HMS Pinafore''. Her real name, Mrs. Cripps, appears only in the [[Dramatis Personae]].

* "Yank", the protagonist of ''The Hairy Ape'' by Eugene O'Neill. In one of the later scenes, he gives his name as Bob Smith, "but I been just Yank for so long."

 

* Tails in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]''. His real name, Miles Prower, usually [[All There in the Manual|isn't mentioned in the games at all]].

** Sonic 2 did, and was the only game to call him "Tails", the quotes representing the fact that it's not his real name.

** This was a plot point in [[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog|one of the cartoons]]. Some two-tailed Foxes show up claiming to be Tails' parents, and Sonic realizes later they must be fake because they called him "Tails" right off the bat instead of "Miles", when that was a nickname that Sonic gave him.

* The ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series does this a lot, though in all cases, the character's real name is eventually revealed, or in some cases, revealed first. For example: Apollo Justice in the fourth game is continually referred to as "Forehead" by the prosecution, much to his dismay.

** They have fun with this in the first game, where a screechy old lady is known only as "old bag" the first few times you speak with her. When she's finally called in to court, she introduces herself as Wendy Oldbag.

* There's also Lightning in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'', her real name is revealed late game to be {{spoiler|Claire Farron}}.

* Due to [[Hello, Insert Name Here]], the commentators in ''[[Backyard Sports]]'' only refer to custom players by their nicknames.

* [[Embarrassing First Name|Jethro]] "Jet" Bradley in ''[[Tron 2.0]]''. In the spin-off comic, he even insists the psychiatrist call him "Jet."

* Hub "[[Mega Man Battle Network|Megaman]]" Hikari. ''[[Mega Man NT Warrior]]'' excised this part of his character.

* Both Brooklyn Luckfield and Ricarla Borgnine of ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' are only ever addressed as "Bullet" and "Carla", respectively. In the case of the former, Bullet prefers people address him as such; for Carla, it's perhaps a case of "it's easier to say your name that way".

* An unnamed tavern/sauna owner in ''[[Little Big Adventure]] 2'' is known in the fan community as "Masher". This is because when the player attempts to enter the women's sauna, one woman yells out "Masher!", which is a little known slang word a sexual pervert.

* Virtually every character in the ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' series uses a pseudonym, often a code name chosen by the character or a superior. This phenomenon is referenced explicitly in the first game when Meryl asks Solid Snake his name, and he answers that, after a week on the battlefield, "no one has a name". Several characters' real names have been revealed, but they may also be pseudonyms, such as Big Boss's supposed real name {{spoiler|John Doe}}.

* Lord Roth from ''[[Infinite Space]]'', whose title is bestowed upon him for his accomplishments. His aide Nele calls him "Hartwig" on multiple occasions, but it is never known whether it is part of his real name or just another nickname.

* ''[[The Force Unleashed]]'' has it's protagonist referred to only as "Starkiller", his code-name. This is a plot point in the novelization, as not even Starkiller himself knows his real name until late in the story, where it is revealed as {{spoiler|Galen Marek}}.

* [[Tex Murphy]], given his nickname as a kid due to the shape of a hole he left in the ceiling after being ejected off a malfunctioning hobby horse. We never do find out his real first name.

* [[Mass Effect 2]] has the head of Cerberus, an elusive and secretive figure only known as "The Illusive Man".

** The tie-in comic series ''Mass Effect: Evolution'' reveals that his name is {{spoiler|Jack Harper}}.

* In ''[[Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath]]'', the main character is only ever known as 'Stranger', with his real name never being revealed. This is probably intentional on Stranger's part as {{spoiler|he's a Steef (a centaur-like creature), and does everything he can to keep it a secret. This includes running around with two legs bound together, and being prepared to undergo (most-likely complicated and ''unanesthetized'') surgery.}}

 

* Ciel in ''[[Tsukihime]]''. Her real name is Elesia, which is referenced roughly equally relating to her as to her Nightmare in Kagetsu Tohya: One scene.

* All the Servants in ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' continue using only their class names long after their true identities are revealed. It can be a bit awkward to refer to an apparently teenaged girl by the term 'Saber.' The only one who is commonly referred to by name is Gilgamesh, who is often called Archer by Saber.

* The servants in ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' are all referred to by names ending in "-on". Shannon's actual name is Sayo, and Kanon's is {{spoiler|Yoshiya}}. {{spoiler|And then there's the servant who is only known as Yasu.}}

 

* "Fox" Maharassa of ''[[Friendly Hostility]]'' [[Berserk Button|reacts with violence]] to being called by his real name -- "Kailen". [[Word of God]] is that this is due to years of having to listen to people mispronounce it (it's supposed to be something like "Ka-ee-len", not "Kay-len".)

* Riff from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' is actually named "Riffington." No one except his mother has ever actually called him that, except to tease him.

* [[Crowbar Benson|'Crowbar' Benson]]. His real first name is unknown to readers, due to the fact that he is only ever referred to by his nickname.

* K from ''[[Blip]]''. Her full name is unknown to the readers, and even to her boyfriend.

** [[Overly Long Name|Shazam Wil-Wheaton Dowden-Patel]]'s name is usually shortened either some variant of his first name (usually by his father) or middle name (by his mother).

* Vauxhall from ''[[A Tale of Fiction]]'' is known only as 'Room' to his roommate Harper for a very long time.

* Shroomy is the only ''[[Electric Wonderland]]'' character whose real name doesn't show up in the official [http://www.platypuscomix.net/newbiestuff/electricwonderland.html bios].

 

* In ''[[Echo Chamber]]'', [[Everybody Remembers the Stripper|Porn Girl]] is always "Porn Girl". For that matter, [[Mysterious Employer|Mr. Administrator]] [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|seems to be the only one of the main cast]] who isn't [[The Danza]].

* [[Red vs. Blue|"Hey Sarge!"]] (Although this later turns out to be a case of [[His Name Really Is "Barkeep"]].) Also Doc, Sister, and all of the Freelancers.

* [[Red Panda Adventures|The Red Panda]] is never referred to by his real name, even in his secret identity.

* In ''[[The Guild]]'', most of the characters prefer to be addressed by the names they use in the game they all play. We, the audience, still don't know the real name of Tinkerballa, a.k.a. Tink.

** Spoiler! As of season 5, we do. It's {{spoiler|April Lou, which is why she hid it.}}

* Calling [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee]] "Ben" is good way to piss him off.

* In [[Philthon Jones]], it's always "Jones", never James.

** Conversely, the [[Freelance Astronauts]] all call each other by their respected handles (Maxwell Adams, Evek, Ferr, and pipes!!). Of course, every once in a while, they'll slip up (either in a moment of [[Is This Thing Still On?]]? for Evek or [[Angrish]] for pipes!!), and that's when their [[U Stream]] erupts in chatter.

* [[EPICMEALTIME]]'s Muscles Glasses.

* Abused in the [[MSF High Forum]], with NPCs of Mitchell. There's a good reason, though. He's terrible with names!

** Examples include Snuggles, the hug-happy Kappa; Apprentice, the apprentice demonslayer; and The Mysterious Deviling, a Deviling cowgirl.

* On the game music podcast [[Nitro Game Injection]], co-host Suraida never goes by her real name on the air.

 

* Krusty, Sideshow Mel and Sideshow Bob of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' might be borderline examples of this; while they do have full names (Krusty's is Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofski, Mel's is Melvin Van Horne and Bob's is Robert Underdunk Terwilliger), they're rarely used on the show (and as far as I know Krusty's FULL name is never used; the most we hear is Herschel Krustofski).

** We're forgetting the most important one: Bartholomew "Bart" Simpson

* Pickles in ''[[Metalocalypse]]''

* Shaggy (Norville Rogers) in ''[[Scooby-Doo]]''

** A lot of the people in Jet's gang ([[Spell My Name with a "The"|The Duke]], Pipsqueak, Longshot, Sneers). Possibly Smellerbee and Jet are the only ones who are known by their real names.

** Her real name is ''Smellerbee''?

* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', apparently ''everyone'' in the Autobot military goes by a nickname given to them by their drill sergeant. For example, one bot was shown to be good with stingers (small, electric weapons), he was named "Wasp", and when a certain yellow bot fails to show him up with the same weapon, he's considered a bumbler, and from that he gets the name "[[Kid Appeal Character|Bumblebee]]".

** Most of the Transformers in ''[[Beast Wars]]'' are assumed to be going by nicknames they made up based on their alt-modes (Rattrap, Cheetor, Scorponok, etc). This got somewhat confusing when comics were made about them before they gained their alt-modes.

** Although one could probably speculate that because Larry, the Robin fanboy from another dimension, has a real name of Nosyarg Kcid ([[Sdrawkcab Name|Dick Grayson backwards]]), and he and Robin share DNA...

** It's actually a little creepy that they never use their real names. Starfire's a translation, fine, and B.B. appears to be fleeing the onus of [[Embarassing First Name|Garfield]], so presumably Dick doesn't trust the rest of the team, and Cyborg has emotionally distanced himself from 'Victor Stone?'

* Similarly, Batman in ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' is only seen and referred to by his superhero identity. However, this only applies to him; all of the other superheroes are often seen as their secret identities and called by their real names. This is even reflect in the credits, as everyone else is credited as "Superhero name/SecretIdentity" (e.g. Jaime Reyes/The [[Blue Beetle]]) but he's just credited as "Batman".

** That is until "Chill of the Night!" when Bats {{spoiler|confronts Joe Chill, and declares, "I...am Bruce Wayne!"}}

{{quote|'''Dad''' Her name is D.W.

'''White House Guard''' That's it? Initials? You didn't give the kid a full name? }}

* Ferb from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]].'' It's short for--[[The Un-Reveal|oh, there's that thing I was looking for]].

** Given a [[Continuity Nod]] later when his ''sister'' admits she doesn't know.

* Megan, Christopher and Stewart in ''[[Family Guy]]''.

* ''[[South Park]]'' has Leopold "Butters" Stotch.

* ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' has Jamie "Peep" Two-Squirrels.

** This caused Heloise to get her hopes up when she started recieving love notes from a secret admirer with the initials "J.2.S."...

* Diane "Didi" Pickles from ''[[Rugrats]]''. The babies also all fit. Dylan "Dill" Pickles, Phillip "Phil" Deville, Lillian "Lill" Deville, Charles "Chuckie" Finster, Kimberly "Kimi" Finster, Susanna "Susie" Carmichael, and Thomas "Tommy" Pickles.

* A character from [[Combo Niños|Combo Ninos]] is known as "Old Head". It's revealed in one episode that his real name is Bernie.

* On [[Disney Channel|Disney Junior]]'s ''[[Doc McStuffins]]'', everyone refers to the titular character as "Doc," even her parents. Her real name, Dottie, was only mentioned during the series' first episode.

* Butthead from ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]''

 

* [[Ozzy Osbourne]], Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler of [[Black Sabbath]]; their real first names are John, Frank and Terence, respectively.

* George Orson Welles. Even ''he'' didn't know his first name was "George" until he was in elementary school.

* Thomas "Fats" Waller. Not to mention Antoine "Fats" Domino.

* Salvatore "Sonny" Bono.

* Paul "Bono" Hewson and Dave "The Edge" Evans of [[U2]].

* William "Smokey" Robinson.

* [[Spike Milligan]] (real first name Terrence).

* Rappers too numerous to mention.

** Also happens with certain subcultures, including online ones, where someone can be known for years just by one's "handle" or "con name."

* Stefani Joanne Angelina "[[Lady Gaga]]" Germanotta

* [[Barack Obama]]'s daughter Sasha's real name is Natasha.

* Genghis Khans given name was Temujin Borjigin.

* Mistress Matisse. "[http://pervocracy.blogspot.com/2010/01/search-term-saf-sightseeing-journey.html Her real name--as in the name that she really uses with all her kink, prodom, and kink-writing activities--is really Mistress Matisse. The only reason to want her legal name is because you're a creep.]"

* Tre Cool (Frank Edwin Wright III) and Mike Dirnt (Michael Pritchard) of [[Green Day]]. Averted by Billie Joe Armstrong, whose name really ''is'' Billie Joe.

* [[Fatty Arbuckle|Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle]], who hated his nickname.

* Eugene Klein famously had ''three'' nicknames: Chaim Witz (his Hebrew name), Lizard Demon, and Gene Simmons. Only the third nickname has become a household utterance for those only passingly familiar with the rock band KISS. Similarly, Stanley Eisen is both "Paul Stanley" and "Star Child."

* And Henry Ross Perot had this happen to him three times. He usually goes by "H. Ross Perot," but this was soon shortened to "Ross Perot." By the time of the 1992 presidential election, he was so famous that most people confidently referred to him simply as "Perot."

* Marvin "Meat Loaf" Aday.

* Matthew "[[The Monk|Monk]]" Lewis.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Naming Conventions]]