Only One Name: Difference between revisions

[[File:OneName 3982.jpg|link=The Avengers (Comic Book)|frame| Like all three of the above examples, these are often [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]]]

 

 

The character or characters go by a single name, with no family/clan/whatever identifier. Unlike [[No Name Given]], it's not that their full name is never made known to the viewer. The full name simply does not exist. Cher is an oft-cited example.

 

{{examples}}

 

* The entire cast of ''[[Simoun]]'' is from a culture that gives Only One Name.

* Caren, Coco, Noel, Sara and, actually, ''most'' characters of ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' have only one name; the exceptions are the [[Power Trio|main trio]] and the men in their lives (although, in the manga, Hamasaki has only one name too).

* A good number of [[Artificial Human]]s in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', such as Arf, Signum, and Vita. Vivio used to be an example, until Nanoha officially adopted her and she received the Takamachi name. An exception to the rule comes with Aria Lieze and Lotte Lieze, Admiral Graham's twin familiars.

** After ''StrikerS'', four of the Numbers [[Hollywood Cyborg|Cyborgs]] were adopted by {{spoiler|Genya Nakajima}} and took his family name, with the rest remaining with only one name.

* Absolutely no one had a last name in the beginning of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''. Apparently surnames were a practice abandoned [[After the End]]. They do get them after the [[Time Skip]], though, taking them from their villages' names (Kittan Bachika, Rossiu Adai, Yoko Littner, Nia Teppelin).

** Simon, however, remains as just Simon, possibly because either he didn't like his village, or because even without a surname, everyone knows what Simon they're talking about. Like-wise Kamina.

* All of the demons in ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' have only one name—Chrono, Aion, Shader, etc. However, it seems most of them have at least one title tacked on, like "The Sinner" or "The Slayer of a Hundred".

* In the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog The Movie|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' OVA, Sara's last name is never given. Her dad is only referred to as [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|Mr. President]].

* Many characters in ''[[One Piece]]'' have only one name, including Usopp, Nami, Sanji, Kaya, Nojiko, Bellemere, Chaka, Pell, Dr. Hiruluk, Burgess, Professor Clover, Pagaya, Conis, Enel, Hotori/Kotori/Satori/All of the priests/every Angel except Gan Fall...

** This becomes jarring when other characters get wanted posters. Money D. Luffy, Roranoa Zoro, Nico Robin, Tony-Tony Chopper, and... just Nami? It's as if the Marines pick and choose when to find out their full names.

** Most (if not all) [[Demonic Invaders|Crimson Denizens]] have only one name. Semi-justified by them being not human.

 

* Although his gangster pursuers refer to him as "[[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|The Stooge]]", the protagonist of Paul Pope's graphic novel, ''[[Heavy Liquid]]'', is generally known as "S". "[[One-Letter Name|Why have a name when a letter will do?]]"

* [[Tintin]]. BTW, in the German translation his name becomes Tim. Which is a first name in Germany too, but people still call him "Herr Tim". [[Two First Names]]?

* When the [[Metal Men]] got human [[Secret Identity|secret identities]] towards the end of their original run, Tin and Mercury's identities were known only as "Tinker" and "Mercurio".

* Comic book versions of characters from mythological pantheons usually go by one name, as do "new" gods or godlike beings created for the comics. Such as [[The New Gods]], [[The Eternals]], [[The Inhumans]], etc.

* The vast majority of ''[[Elf Quest]]'' characters have only one name, justified in that they live in small tribal groups. Last names really only crop up with humans later in the timeline.

 

* Another good (and famous) example is Palpatine, the main villain from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' films. If he has another name, it hasn't been given (canonically, at least).

** Same applies to Yoda, Chewbacca and prequel-villain Count Dooku.

* Nathaniel in ''[[Enchanted]]''. Even when he writes a book, the author's name is listed only as "Nathaniel".

* Although his full name, Irwin M. Fletcher, is mentioned, the titular character usually insists on being called [[Fletch]].

 

* Likewise, in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', most humans only have a given name and a patronymic. Aragorn, for example, is "Aragorn, son of Arathorn".

** ''[[Inheritance Cycle|Eragon]]'' does this too with the people of Carvahall. Roran is "Roran Garrowsson".

* [[Street Urchin]] Fred "No-Name" in Avi's ''[[Beyond the Western Sea]]''.

* Almost everyone in ''[[Uglies]]'', save for Tally Youngblood and Andrew Simpson Smith. Most of the ''Extras'' characters get last names, but we still never learn the last names of the characters from the original trilogy who show up. Dr. Cable is also only ever Dr. Cable, and David may not actually ''have'' a last name.

** For twice your pleasure, at least one of the bad guys refers to her as "bystander" rather than her given name.

* And who can forget Elizabeth from ''House Of Night'', who literally named herself 'Elizabeth No Last Names' because she couldn't be bothered to come up with a new last name? Hell, this trope might as well be named after her!

* Several characters in [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''[[Line of Delirium]]'' only appear to have one name. This is justified in the case of Sedimin, the ruler of the [[Silicon-Based Life|Silicoids]], as his name is synonymous with the title (the Foot of the Foundation), which he gained after becoming the ruler through [[Klingon Promotion]]. Not justified in the case of the human Emperor Grey. Nowhere in the trilogy is any other name mentioned. The [[The Cyborg|Meklar]] also appear to only have one name, which tends to be written with an apostrophe or a slash (it's translated from machine code anyway). A [[Everything Is Worse With Bears|Bulrathi]] named Ahhar is, at one point, calls himself Shivukim Ahhar, although Shivukim could be a Bulrathi title or honorific. The cyborg Andrey never reveals his last name; presumably, he feels he no longer needs one, as he is not human anymore. The famous weapons designer Martyzenski doesn't appear to have a first name. Then again, he only shows up in one scene.

 

* Klingons in ''[[Star Trek]]'' may also have a [[Patronymic]] ("Worf, son of Mogh") and a House name ("Worf of the House of Mogh", later the House of Martok), but do not have true last names. Vulcans might be the same, depending on which set of contradictory evidence you prefer.

** Then there's Chakotay.

'''Student''': Is that your only name, like Madonna?

'''Cromartie''': Madonna? Why? No. }}

* Lt. [[Columbo]] (No first name)

** Same for Mrs. Columbo.

** Recurring characters Peter and Rick don't appear to have last names either.

* Penny from [[The Big Bang Theory]]. She has no problem being called Penny Hofstadter after she marries Leonard Hofstadter. Even after most of Penny's family attends a "second" wedding (Penny and Leonard eloped), no last names are mentioned.

 

* [[Madonna]] and [[Prince]], though in both cases it's actually their real first name.

* Similarly, [[Rihanna]] is always known as just "Rihanna", but that's actually her real ''middle'' name (her full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty).

* And, to top it off, [[Morrissey]], who uses only his ''surname'' (in full, it's Steven Patrick Morrissey).

 

 

* Merlin, Sir Kay, Guenivere, Percival... in the [[King Arthur|Arthurian myths.]]

* In [[Classical Mythology]], [[Norse Mythology]], and [[Egyptian Mythology]], and nearly every other set of ancient stories, characters have only one name just as it was with most ancient cultures.

 

* Belize from ''[[Angels in America]]''; Most of the other main characters get specified middle names, for crying out loud, but not Belize.

** It's explained [[Expanded Universe|in the character page of the printed version of the script]] that his given name was Norman Arriaga; "Belize is a drag name that stuck".

* [[Shakespeare]]'s plays sometimes did this to fit the setting (ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, etc)...''except'' when dealing with comedic characters. This was because, [[Anachronism Stew|no matter what the setting or time period, the comedy characters would always be based on Elizabethan-era peasants]]—and in the Elizabethan era, people had last names. That's why, for instance, the main characters in ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' are named simply "Demetrius", "Theseus" or "Hermia"—but the peasant caricatures putting on the [[Show Within a Show|play-within-a-play]] are named "Nick Bottom", "Tom Snout", "Peter Quince", and so on.

 

* ''[[2027]]'': Daniel's last name is never revealed.

* In ''[[Halo]]'', the Master Chief is only known as John-117. The closest thing we have to a family name for him is this MIT prank claiming that he's actually [http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2007/halo3_john_harvard/ John Harvard].

** Nearly every character in the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' franchise, with a few exceptions : Alpine Alm Rudolf from ''Gaiden'', Celice Baldos Chalphy and Leaf Faris Claus from ''Seisen no Keifu'', the Reed family (Brendan, Lloyd and Linus) of ''Rekka no Ken'', and Princess Elincia Ridell Crimea, Jill Fizzart, and her father Shiharam Fizzart of ''Path of Radiance''.

** Mario's enemy King Bowser Koopa and his family, on the other hand, do have a surname ([[Captain Obvious|Koopa]]) and first names. In Japan he's just "Daimaou Koopa," more of a title than a name.

** Everyone in ''[[Animal Crossing]]'' who isn't a tanuki. [http://www.aibohack.com/nds/ac_source.htm ROMSAVE.txt] reveals that the DS game stores a number from 0-65535 along with each human character's name that presumably represents an index into a list of surnames, but these aren't displayed in-game.

** Many of the main party members from the ''[[EarthBound]]''/''Mother'' series have Only One Name.

** They will also refer the characters by their courtesy names (a unique name given later in life according to Chinese tradition). For example, Zhuge Liang is usually referred to as 'Konmin', a Japanese rendition of Kongming, Zhuge Liang's courtesy name.

 

* Almost none of the characters from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' have last names (they probably do, but they have never been stated). Torg is known as The Lastnameless One during the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' parody arcs. He does actually have a last name, although it's not revealed; the "Lastnameless" thing is there to help hide the fact that [[Emergency Impersonation|he's not who everyone thinks he is]].

* The angels in ''[[Misfile]]'' are on an Only One Name basis at the moment. [[Fanon]] has tentatively suggested Gabrielson for Rumisiel and Vashiel's surname, but so far [[Satan]]sniece has not caught on for Cassiel.

* ''[http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com Jayden and Crusader]'' has a fair few of these, Third, Smic and Crusader. Crusader is the more interesting one, because he was called Crusader and had been called Mr. Crusader by some, until we eventually found he was called Crusader Crusader. Effectively having only one name, as first and last name is the same.

* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' didn't reveal Sarah's last name (Brown) until 2007. When they ''did'' give Sarah's name, it was a casual toss-out (the principal was yelling at her).

* The main character of ''[[Too Much Information]]'', Ace, literally and legally has no last name.

* Sabrina and her family in ''[[Sabrina Online]]'' never had their surname revealed, though some fan fiction has tried to do the job for the strip ("Mustelidae").

* ''[[Queen of Wands]]'' never mentions the last names of its characters, though ''[[Something*Positive]]'' does. Kestrel from ''QoW'' wound up becoming a recurring character in ''S*P'', but still has no last name, which is [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] on the cast page.

* Everyone in ''[[The Whiteboard]]'' has only one name or a single nickname. One nicknamed character, Rainman, was called 'Daniel' once by his mother, but there's been no followup.

* ''[[Fall City Blues]]'': Everyone.

* [[Pibgorn]]: [http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2007/03/09/ Thorax never asked whether Thorax was his personal or family name; he doesn't like to pry.]

* Members of the ''[[Voodoo Walrus]]'' cast all started off sporting simply one name, but as time and the story have progressed, full names have been revealed. Bowler, Shmeerm, Mirth, and Marron seem to be the only major characters left without last names.

* Mori of ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'' has only one name because her family's name was literally destroyed with magic. She doesn't remember it and it's vanished from all documents.

* ''[[The Other Grey Meat]]'': Almost every character in the story only has one name. People with last names are typically only those who are referenced before the ''[[Zombie Apocalypse]]''.

* ''[[No Songs for The Dead]]'': The main character Hector, Romeo, the ''[[Big Bad]]'' Lilith.

 

* Corbin and Desmond from ''[[Splinter Cell Extinction]]''. Desmond's surname is always left out of the frame, and "Corbin" is either the protagonist's given name or code name (judging from the fact he's apparently on [[First-Name Basis]] with his [[Mission Control]]).

 

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Toph Bei Fong, her father Lao, and her mother Poppy are the only characters to possess a surname. This itself isn't too far off with the traditional Asian theme of the series, in that traditionally, in East Asian cultures, family names were reserved exclusively for members of high nobility, much like the wealthy Bei Fong family, before common people started adopting family names for themselves. Alternatively, this may be due to the Anglicisation all of the names have undergone, which can be seen when comparing the names given to the Chinese characters occasionally used to spell them. An Ang as written, for example, is rendered as Aang when spoken, and Ai Luo becomes Iroh. In case you're wondering, yes that's probably how they made their names.

** In [[Sequel Series]] ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'', surnames are likewise rare. Lin Beifong, daughter of Toph, has one. Hiroshi Sato and his daughter Asami also have last names. They're rich, but not from nobility, as Hiroshi was stated to be a [[Self-Made Man]]. [[Fictional Sport|Pro-Bending]] [[Combat Commentator]] Shiro Shinobi also has one.

* The titular character of ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' was never given a last name. He even won a contest once and when the announcer said he couldn't read the last name Stinky turned to Arnold and said it could only be him "on account of you being the only kid named Arnold in the whole school."

** [[Word of God]] says that his last name was Shortman, which is why his grandfather was always calling him short man.

* While a number of ''[[Recess]]'' characters have their full names revealed, some characters lack a last name, such as King Bob, Butch, Francis (Hustler Kid), Jordan, Jerome, Cindy, Hector, Spencer, Emma, Sam, and Dave.

 

*** It's quite similar in Mongolia, where family names are replaced by patronymic names.

* In Serbian history, last names were usually patronymic. For example, if a man's first name was Ivan, his children's last name would be Ivanovic. If a man was named Nemanja, his children's last name would be Nemanjic.

* Similar to the Icelandic example, surnames basically didn't exist in Gaelic cultures for a long time. O' and Mc/Mac translate to "grandson of" and "son of", with female variations as needed.

* Indonesia (or more specifically, Java) is another culture where surnames are not universal. For example, two of the country's presidents (Sukarno and Suharto) only had one name.

** Sukarno and Suharto both adopted Islamic first names (Ahmed and Rahman, respectively) after making hajj.

* In Burma, there also can be people with just one name. The Burmese Secretary General of the United Nations became known as U Thant, but U is just a honorific, like Mr.

** Of course, Burmese names are not just limited to one ''word''; modern names can usually have up to 3 or 4 syllable-words, and if the name is a bit long, some might cut down on a couple of syllables to make a shortened version or a nickname.<ref>Shortening a name or nicknaming isn't generally considered rude in Burma if you've acquainted decently with the person.</ref>

* Many famous Brazilian soccer players (Pelé, Ronaldo, Ronaldino, Romário, Robinho, Rivaldo, Garrincha) are known by their one-word nicknames, though those are not their real names.

** Ronaldo, Romário and Rivaldo are given names. Ronaldinho and Robinho are diminutive forms of their given names. Really, only Pelé and Garrincha are known by nicknames.

* An old joke revolves around this: Schwarzenegger has a long one, Richard Gere has a short one, Cher doesn't have one, and the Pope has one but never uses it. What is it? Given this article, it is obviously: {{spoiler|a last name}}.

* Raymond Joseph Teller from [[Penn & Teller]] legally changed his name to Teller.

* Radio talk show host "Lionel". "Mononymous, like God," he says. It isn't either of his real names, though.

* Renaissance artists often fall into this. Have you ever heard of the painters Senzio, Buonarotti or van Rijn? Yes, you have. {{spoiler|Their first names are Raphael, Michelangelo and Rembrandt, respectively.}}

** And the most famous example: when referring to Leonardo, using 'da Vinci' only is incorrect because it's not his surname (it means 'from the town of Vinci'). 'Leonardo' and 'Leonardo da Vinci' are the only 'right' ways to refer to him, because he didn't have a surname.

* Two Disney actresses, Lalaine Vergara-Paras and [[Zendaya Coleman]], are credited as just Lalaine and Zendaya respectively.

* In French-speaking countries it is a quite common phenomenon for people working in the arts and literature to use made-up names of this type, e. g. playwright [[Moliere]] (born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), writer and philosopher [[Voltaire (philosopher)|Voltaire]] (Francois-Marie Arouet), novelist [[Stendhal]] (Henri Beyle), the architect Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris), actors Fernandel (Fernand-Joseph-Désiré Contadin), Arletty (Léonie Bathiat), Bourvil (André-Zacharie Raimbourg), and Capucine (Germaine Lefebvre), and comics artists Moebius (Jean Henri Gaston Giraud), Morris (Maurice De Bevere) and Tibet (Gilbert Gascard). Among Francophone comics creators there is a particular fashion to use noms-de-plume that are phonetic representations of their initials, a fashion probably started by Hergé (Georges Rémi) that includes Achdé, Peyo, Jijé, Jidéem, etc. Marvano (Marc van Oppen) is a borderline case.

* And now the Welsh, due to a shortage of distinct surnames, are repeating the process, to distinguish, e.g., Tom Jones the baker from Tom Jones the singer.

* Chukchi (Russian Eskimos) traditionally have only one name, but can add Russian names for census purposes, so their Chukchi name could be considered their truest name. For example the true name of Yuri Sergeyevich Rytkheu is simply Rytkheu ("unknown" in Chukchi). He added "Yuri Sergeyevich" when Soviet officials asked him to have a Russian-style name. Other one-name Chukchi include Tenevil (herdman who developed a crude writing system) and Kytymval (officially Antonina Alexandrovna Kytymval, a poetess).

 

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