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{{trope|wppage=Aptronym}}
{{quote|''You may ask yourself why he became a specialist in haemotology; well, he originally wanted to be a dancer, but when your name is Vitus Hemos, some choices are just made for ya. It's why I changed my name, my parents kind of wanted me to be a proctologist, that's why they named me Jimmy O'Buttocks.''
|'''Noah ''[[The Spoony Experiment|'The Spoony One']]'' Antwiler''', on ''[http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/2009/10/20/terror-t-r-a-x-track-of-the-vampire-pc-part-1/ Terror T.R.A.X -- Track of the Vampire]''}}
A variety of [[Meaningful Name]], sometimes an offshoot of [[Theme Naming]], but not always.
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This describes the situation where what one names someone or something results in that something or someone taking on the aspects of what they are named after. Sometimes this is merely intentionally descriptive after the fact, but if not, then circumstances will change to fit them. Sometimes you wonder what the parents were thinking.
(Hint: Naming [[
[[Genre Blindness]] prevents anyone from recognizing this and predicting future plot developments.
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[[Steven Ulysses Perhero]] is a subset of this, focused specifically on the tendency for names to relate to super-powers and/or [[Secret Identity|secret identities]].
This happens in real life [[Truth in Television|more often than you would expect]]—for example, by the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120519062544/http://scienceblogs.com/mixingmemory/2007/04/the_nameletter_effect_or_why_c.php name-letter effect]. ''New Scientist'' coined and popularised the term "Nominative Determinism" for this. The [[Older Than Feudalism|Romans had their own term]]: the "nomen omen" (name omen).
As some of the examples show, Icarus seems to be an unusually favored name in this regard (no fewer than ''five'' examples). [[Rule of Cool|Might have something to do with the name having a nice ring to it]]. Oh, yeah, and the melting wings of doom probably help.
See also [[What Did You Expect When You Named It?]]?
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Ataru Moroboshi from ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' pretty much has his future laid out in his name: ''moroboshi-de atari'' means "struck by a falling star"—and in a metaphorical sense that's exactly what happens. (The joke was extended in the show's commercial bumpers, which usually featured something falling on him.)
* Naming anyone after Japanese stars (''[[X 1999]]'', ''[[.hack//Sign]]'', ''[[GEAR Fighter Dendoh]]''), or the constellations from the astrology/geomancy system of [[The Four Gods]] (''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]''), is pretty much setting their status as Very Important in stone.
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* In ''[[Ergo Proxy]]'', the name Daedalus is originally just prophetic of him being a brilliant scientist and inventor. Towards the end of the show, [[What an Idiot!|he gives one of his loved ones wings and they fly towards the sun]].
* It definitely overlaps with [[Meaningful Name]], but several members of Mustang's [[The Squad|squad]] in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' all have pretty badass names (Armstrong, Havoc, Fury, and Hawkeye). Particularly predictive are Armstrong (a [[Genius Bruiser]]) and Hawkeye ([[The Gunslinger]] and an expert sniper).
* Bibliophile Yomiko Readman of ''[[Read or Die]]'' fits this quite well
* ''[[Pokémon: The Movie 2000
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' had a one-shot villain named X who used a Mill Deck (designed to thin the opponent's Deck). His name in the dub version? Howard X. Miller.
* Gol D. Roger (sometimes called "Gold Roger") in ''[[One Piece]]''; no way a man with ''that'' name would ''ever'' grow up to be anything but a pirate.
== Comic Books ==
* [[Warren Ellis]] uses this almost to the point of parody:
** ''Lazarus Churchyard'' is an indestructible man fixated on dying.
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== Film ==
* In the [[James Bond]] movie ''Die Another Day'', the name of the orbital mirror system Icarus rather obviously foreshadows the device's final fate.
* [[Star Wars]]: "Vader" sounds like [[Fun with Foreign Languages|Dutch]] for [[Luke, I Am Your Father|"father"]]. Truly prophetic, considering that George Lucas didn't originally intend Vader to be Luke's father.
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* In ''[[That Thing You Do]]'', the band originaly names themselves the "One-ders". Guess what [[One-Hit Wonder|becomes of the band]]. Lampshaded at the end by Tom Hank's character.
* The servants from ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'' were all given names that will allude to which objects they will be turned into under a magic spell. For example, Lumiere (French for "light") becomes a candle, ''Cog''sworth becomes a mechanical clock, Mrs. ''Potts'' becomes a teapot, and her son Chip (who has a loose tooth) becomes a teacup with a damaged rim.
* And speaking of Disney, Cruella DeVille from ''[[101 Dalmatians]]''. No way a woman with ''that'' name is going to grow up to be anything except a villain.
== Literature ==
* In [[J. R. R.
▲* In [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s Middle-earth (''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', etc), it is custom for (at least some tribes of) Elves to be given a name by each parent, and the name given by the mother tends to be descriptive of the person and may even be prophetic as to their fate. See for instance one of Fëanor and Nerdanel's twin sons, called by his mother 'Umbarto', meaning 'the Fated' (though she wouldn't tell which one it was.) Fëanor attempted to change his doom by having Nerdanel call him 'Ambarto' but {{spoiler|still ended up accidentally killing him.}} See also the human [[Butt Monkey|Turin]], who attempted to dispel the [[Curse]] laid upon him by calling himself 'Turambar' ('Master of Fate'.) {{spoiler|It didn't work.}}
** On the other hand, Tolkien has some interesting things to say about prophetic names which may not have been prophetic at all. About Mablung Heavyhand (the name is connected to an incident from the lay of Leithian), he wrote:
{{quote|"It was said that Mablung's name ("with weighted hand") was prophetic; but it may have been a title derived from the episode that afterwards became the one that the hero was chiefly remembered by in legend." ''The Shaping of Middle-earth'', J.R.R Tolkien.}}
** In the appendix to ''The Lord of the Rings'' there is a character called Arvedui, which is Elvish for 'last king', instructed to be named so by Malbeth the Seer. He is indeed destined to be the last King of Arnor, according to prophecy (either because he'll manage to unify Gondor and Arnor and thus be king of the unified Kingdom or because he'll fail and there'll be no more Arnor).
* The ''[[Harry Potter]]'' books by J.K. Rowling feature ''many'' names with deliberate meanings on one level or another, to the point of unsubtlety. A number of websites have sprung up to analyze her naming patterns, like [http://www.theninemuses.net/hp/list.html this one].
** Remus Lupin
*** Lampshaded in the ''[[Worm]]/[[Harry Potter]]'' crossover ''[[A Wand for Skitter]]'', where Taylor Hebert initially assumes that Lupin's name is an alias. She points out how unlikely a coincidence it is when informed otherwise, and mockingly calls him "Wolfie McWolf-face" before she actually meets him.
*** Very, very much lampshaded in [[Cleolinda Jones]]'s ''Movies in Fifteen Minutes'' version of ''Prisoner of Azkaban'':
{{quote|'''Snape:''' I want two rolls of parchment on WEREWOLVES by tomorrow, including what WEREWOLVES look like, how to detect WEREWOLVES in the faculty of a British boarding school for wizards, and the definition of the Latin word "lupus." CLASS DISMISSED!}}
* In the second book of [[Jasper Fforde]]'s ''[[Thursday Next]]'' series, Thursday is repeatedly tailed and "protected" by pairs of government agents. Pairs plural because none of them last longer than one appearance before getting killed. And appropriately, they have paired Prophetic Names like "Deadman and Walken", "Kannon and Phodder", etc. In a subversion, the last pair (still with similar names) manages to avoid being killed by staying well away from her.
** Of course, it helped that the person killing them was doing so by ''manipulating coincidences''.
* The central figure of much of the action in Neal Stephenson's novel ''[[Snow Crash]]'' is a young half-Japanese man named "Hiro Protagonist". In fact, he changed his name to it as deliberate statement of what he feels his karmic lot is.
* In a play on this, in one of the ''[[Discworld]]'' novels, a footnote devotes a section to prophetic names, and describes some of the effects on the Carter family of Lancre: Charity becomes a miser, Chastity a prostitute, Prudence had over a dozen kids. Meanwhile, Bestiality Carter turned out to be kind to animals.
** The [[Discworld]] novel ''[[
* The ''[[Obernewtyn Chronicles]]'' by Isobelle Carmody feature a futureteller named Dell. This isn't a prophetic name, but in the fifth book, {{spoiler|she develops a strong affinity for computers, and it suddenly seems stranger that she shares her name with a well-known computer company.}}
* Johnny Truant in ''[[House of Leaves]]''.
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* ''[[American Gods]]'': Shadow. The way the titular American Gods work is as {{spoiler|a lesser copy, or "shadow," if you will, of gods from the Old World. Shadow is American Balder, and Balder is the god of Light.}}
== Live
* Dr. Lazarus in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Lazarus Experiment" seemingly invents a way to rejuvenate humans. [[Lampshade Hanging]] at one point with the line, "Lazarus, back from the dead. Should've known really."▼
▲* Dr Lazarus in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Lazarus Experiment" seemingly invents a way to rejuvenate humans. [[Lampshade Hanging]] at one point with the line, "Lazarus, back from the dead. Should've known really."
** And in "The Fires of Pompeii", Lucius Petrus Dextrus ends up with a stone right arm.
** Then there's the interstellar cruise liner named after that "most famous Earth vessel", the ''[[Tempting Fate|Titanic]]''. {{spoiler|Then again, given what the owner plans to do, it was probably his version of a very bad joke.}}
{{quote|'''The Doctor''': Did anyone tell you ''why'' it was famous?}}
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' mentions a science ship named the Icarus. The ship gets a bit too daring in its explorations and meets an unfortunate end, [[What Did You Expect When You Named It?|to the surprise of absolutely no-one]].
** Not the only ship in the series with a prophetic name. Sheridan is introduced as the captain of the ''Agamemnon'', {{spoiler|and meets a fate similar to [[The Oresteia|the Agamemnon of legend]] at the hands of a traitorous wife--although unlike Agamemnon, he came [[Back
* A minor character on ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' talks about this trope: "Names are destiny. If you think Dwayne Cloggin ain't gonna grow up to be a plumber, then you just think again." Considering that this show also had a dog-breeder named Hundin and a Buddy Amicus running a rent-a-friend agency, she might be on to something.
* Invoked by ''[[Seinfeld]]'', when Kramer notes the appropriateness of a library detective called Bookman, and an ice cream man called Cohn (pronounced 'cone').
* Almost every project or endeavor in the ''[[Stargate]]'' TV shows is named prophetically. For example, ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''{{'}}s Prometheus brought the power of the Asgard to the humans, and was later destroyed by the more powerful Ori, and ''[[Stargate Universe]]''{{'}}s [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Project]] [[What Did You Expect When You Named It?|Icarus]] had hoped to use the Stargate to go where no one had gone before, but ended up dying in a gigantic fireball. [[Genre Blindness|You'd think they'd catch on by now.]]
** That said, they didn't name it the ''Prometheus'' until ''after'' they got some Asgard technology to play with, so it was a little less than prophetic, more "appropriate name our classicist scientist came up with"
* ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' [[
{{quote|'''Alex''': We need to focus on Evilini. I don't know if you know, but she's evil.
'''Justin''': No, her ''name's'' Evilini.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Just about every single named character in [[Warhammer
** Sanguinius, Primarch of the Blood Angels (who suffer from a debilitating bloodthirst), Konrad Kurze (had the gift/curse of foresight, eventually turned traitor), Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters, (who are, to a man, [[Ax Crazy]] [[Berserker]] [[Blood Knights]] with [[Unstoppable Rage]]), Mortarion the Primarch of the Death Guard (and its current leader Typhus) devoted to the disease god Nurgle.
** The Space Wolves in particular stand out: a [[Guile Hero]] named Lokas ([[Trickster Archetype|Loki]]), Canis Wolfborn ([[Raised by Wolves]])...
== Theatre ==
* Combining this with [[Punny Name]], Nick ''Bottom'' of ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' get his head turned into that of a donkey, or alternatively, an ''ass''. Of course, considering Shakespeare's language, [[Reverse Funny Aneurysm|this may have not been intentional.]]
* Deianira. Means "husband slayer". This is pretty much what happens in ''[[The Women of Trachis|The Trachiniae]]''.
==
* Sephiroth, of ''[[Final Fantasy]] VII'' fame. Made out of the ten sephirot (the plural of the Hebrew "sephira"), the Sephiroticum in Kabbalah is the Path of God, and that is precisely what Sephiroth is seeking in the game.
** The prequel game ''[[Crisis Core]]: Final Fantasy VII'' introduces Angeal. He starts the game as a somewhat benevolent figure, and as the story progresses, he manages to become even more angelic.
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* "Valiant Servant" (Shirou) and "Guardian Shrine" (Emiya.) to directly steal the quote from the ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' page. Clearly it's his name and not the fire or being saved by Kiritsugu that made him who he is.
* Done retroactively for the message-scrawling "Rat Man" of ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]''; the cryptic promotional teasers for ''[[Portal 2]]'' reveal that his real name was "Doug Rattmann".
* In ''[[
* Staggering numbers of [[NPC]]s in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' have names which just happen to relate to their profession, role, or demeanor.
* ''[[Beyond the Beyond]]'' has a playable character named Samson, who possesses superhuman strength just like his [[The Bible|biblical]] namesake. No donkey jaws, though; this Samson prefers to kick ass with [[An Axe to Grind]].
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[Goblins]]'', the goblins are all named by their tribe's fortune teller. While this isn't so bad for Chief, Big Ears, or even [[Lampshade Hanging|Complains-of-Names]], you have to feel sorry for poor Dies-Horribly. And of course, Young and Beautiful got to name herself, even though she... well, isn't.
** Although so far it's worked out for Dies-Horribly. He's downright ''terrible'' at it...
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* Poor Officer Getskilled in ''[[Girly]]'' spends his first story arc with a narrative bullseye painted on his back. To everyone's surprise, he survives that arc, and most of the comic, until he [[Taking the Bullet|Takes The Bullet]] in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]—only to be rescued out of the blue by an immortal man who whisks him off to [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|a higher plane of existence]].
* ''[[Flintlocke's Guide to Azeroth]]'':
{{quote|
** Luckily they have Fort Pwned to fall back on.
== Web Original ==
* Subverted in the ''[[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]]'' mission ''Ow, Ow, and Ow Again'':
{{quote|'''Suicide''': I once knew an agent named [[Killer Rabbit|FluffyKitten]], and by the Gods she could use a machete!}}
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== Western Animation ==
* Invoked for a gag in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' where Cletus the Yokel comments;
{{quote|-"We named her Mary because we knew she'd git married, we name all our kids whut we thinks' gonna happen to 'em. Ain't that right, Knifed-In-Jail?"}}
** "We'll see who does the knifing."
* On ''[[The Fairly
* ''Inch High Private Eye''. Inch wasn't a nickname.
* In ''[[Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries]]'' it was revealed that Granny was always called Granny.
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== Real Life ==
* [[Real Life]] example: race car driver [[wikipedia:Scott Speed|Scott Speed]].
** On the other hand, some other real-life athletes don't follow the example. Baseball, in particular, has had dozens of players with ironic names during its long history. From Bill James's ''1983 Baseball Abstract'':
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* Derek and Dale Kickett, Australian Rules football players.
* And of course, the poet William Wordsworth.
* In the special features of the [[The Lord of the Rings]] films, Sean Astin discusses his fascination that the man assigned to work on his hobbit foot prosthetics was named Sean Foot.
* During the Interwar period, there was a left-wing Marxist group in Germany who tried to make revolution, called the Spartacist League after the famous leader of a slave rebellion in the Roman Republic. Take a guess why that name was not a very lucky one. HINT: both rebellions were defeated.
* Charles de Gaulle was elected french president: France covers most of ancient Gaul
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* Jimmy '''Riddle''' Hoffa.
* You can't spell [[Mark Hamill]] without "[[Batman: The Animated Series|Arkham]]".
* Reversed: Thilo Sarrazin is a
* Dr. Helen Patience Dodgson (maiden name Uprichard). A female doctor during [[World War II]] who preferred to be called by her middle name must have found it annoying to hear people talking about their patients.
* A super-executive named [[Donald Trump]]? [[Reality Is Unrealistic|What kind of lame writers does reality have?]]
* Averted by Royal Navy by naming a battlecruiser as ''HMS Invincible'' and then having her blown into smithereens by a single lucky hit on the ship's ammunition dump in the Battle of Jutland 1916.
** She did live up to her name to some extent. Before her exploding she managed to score enough hits on SMS Lützow to cause her sinking.
* A US Representative named Anthony Weiner, who resigned in disgrace over sending pictures of his...
* The inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham ''Bell'', anyone?
* [[Audie Murphy]] was a highly decorated WWII veteran whose personal courage and leadership skills got him promoted from private to corporal to sergeant to lieutenant with impressive speed. He eventually earned the Congressional Medal of Honor, for an incident where he was out of ammo, and the only thing available [[Determinator|for him to shoot Germans with was a .50 caliber gun on top of a burning tank destroyer, liable to blow up the moment the fire reached the ammo.]] His [[Embarrassing First Name|first]] and [[Oireland|last]] names were not this trope, but his middle name was. When he was born, his sister had picked out the middle name "Leon" for him. She later claimed that she had no idea that it meant [[King of Beasts|"lion."]]
* Mangus ver Mangnusson, which translates to "Big Guy, son of Big Guy
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fate and Prophecy Tropes]]
[[Category:Naming Conventions]]
▲[[Category:Prophetic Names]]
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