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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]]
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"
* Naming anyone after Japanese stars (''[[X 1999]]'', ''[[
* Also in ''[[X 1999]]'', Satsuki's supercomputer, Beast, emblazoned with the number 666.
** It probably doesn't help matters that when written in hiragana, "satsuki" looks like "sakki", which means "bloodlust".
* Chloe from ''[[Noir]]'', when pronounced using Japanese phonemes, sounds very similar to ''"kuroi"''
* The organization "Nergal" from ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' is named after the Babylonian god of war and pestilence, for whom the Babylonians named the planet Mars.
* Likewise, the "Marduk Institute" in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' chose child candidates to pilot the Evangelions. The fact that Marduk was also a Sumerian god to whom children were (supposedly) sacrificed is appropriate.
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*** Technically, Rei isn't necessarily a prophetic name. The word "Rei" can mean "Zero", thus possibly hinting to her being made to pilot the EVA-00.
**** It ''does'' count as prophetic because Gendo came up with the name long before the need for {{spoiler|her creation and many of the plans relating to it}} even arose - it was the name he would have given to Shinji if he'd been a girl.
* "Hypnos" in ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' was named after a god created by [[
** Also, Hikari Yagami of the ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' continuity. "Hikari" means "light". Guess who gets the [[Light Is Good|Crest of Light]] and gets partnered with an [[Our Angels Are Different|angel Digimon]].
* One episode of ''[[
* Rezo, [[The Man Behind the Man]] and [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] of the first season of ''[[The Slayers]]'', is known alternately as the Red Priest or the Blind Priest. This is a very early reference to his unique connection with the Ruby-Eyed Shabranigdo.
* Lucia of ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' is a [[The Messiah|Messiah]]-type character easily spotted because of her name; in contrast, the last [[Big Bad]] is an angel named Michel, both an allusion to the biblical Michael and a hint that he, like his name, is "off" somehow from the source. Then there's Michal, an [[Ill Girl]] with ''some'' connection to Michel; what it is isn't revealed until the end, but thanks to the name, you catch on quickly that it's there.
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** Further, the kanji for Sailor Venus's first name, "Minako," can also be read as "Binasu", which is very close to the way "Venus" is pronounced in Japanese.
** In the ''[[Sailor Moon]] R'' movie, the main villain is named Fiore, which is Italian for "flower". As it turns out, Fiore {{spoiler|is being controlled by [[Plant Aliens|an evil flower]]}}.
* Nearly all of the cast of ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou
* Light Yagami from [[
** His first name is also a bilingual prophecy about how {{spoiler|he eventually replaces L}} as well as being a reference to Lucifer whom he eventually parallels.
** More directly, as it's written using the [[Four Is Death|four-stroke kanji for "moon"]], it represents death in Japanese numerology.
* A tragic example in ''[[Angel Sanctuary]]'' is Yue Katou. His father called him "Yue," {{spoiler|which is a name usually given to still-born children and miscarriages in Japan, because Yue is his wife's son by her lover and he basically wants him to die young}}. Guess what? {{spoiler|He dies young. ''Twice''.}}
* Himeno Awayuki of ''[[Prétear]]'' just happened to have kanji "princess" ("hime") and "snow" ("yuki") in her
* [[Trigun|Million Knives]].
* The Planet Kallamity in ''Five Star Stories''. [[Earthshattering Kaboom|Guess how this one turns out]].
* Suzaku Kururugi of ''[[Code Geass]]'' has a name that means 'phoenix'. {{spoiler|This comes to make sense in the series finale, where he technically 'dies' as Suzaku Kururugi, and comes back to 'save the world' as Zero. To make it even more blatant, the way he "dies" is in an explosion of flames.}}
** Also Nina Einstein who ultimately invents [[Nuclear Weapons Taboo|something which isn't technically a nuclear weapon]] but might as well be.
* Joshua Christopher from ''[[Chrono Crusade]]''. "Joshua" comes from the same name as "Jesus", and "Christopher" means "Christ-bearer"
* In [[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]], {{spoiler|the main character's (code)name means "A Moment From The Holy Eternity". If one translates it to Japanese except the ''From'', which you will remove the other three letters after ''F'' then it would read as Setsuna F<s>rom</s> Seiei. [[Word of God|The director said]] that it represents the moments of revolutions in the long history of mankind, hinting at Setsuna being the true Innovator, the one who is going to bring revolution to mankind. Appropriately, Setsuna [[Evolutionary Levels|evolves into an Innovator]] during the last few episodes of the series.}}
* In ''[[
* 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 ''[[
* ''[[Pokémon: The Movie 2000]]'' has the line
* ''[[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.
** ''[[The Authority]]'' has Jenny Sparks/Jenny Quantum, who can control electricity and quantum mechanics respectively, and Jack Hawksmoor, who has a psychic relationship with cities (he is named after architect Nicholas Hawksmoor).
*** Jenny Quantum's name was deliberately chosen by analogy with her predecessor.
** ''[[Planetary]]'' has Elijah Snow, who can freeze things, and Jakita Wagner, who is something of a valkyrie (composer [[Richard Wagner]] wrote "[[
** ''Scars'' has John Cain, an outcast police detective.
** ''Fell'' is about Richard Fell, a detective who falls from grace and is reassigned to the worst city in America.
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*** The CIA was involved in the death of Moses?
* In the comic ''[[Rogue Trooper]]'' from ''2000AD'', and the games based on it, Rogue's comrades were named Gunnar, Bagman, and Helm. They end up dying and accompanying him on his journey in the form of datachips mounted onto his gun, backpack, and helmet. No points for guessing which goes where.
* [[Stan Lee]] villains tended towards this too, such as ''[[
** Even more egregious, early ''X-Men'' villain the Vanisher, who is a teleporter. His real name? Telford Porter.
** And of course Victor [[The Von Trope Family|Von Doom]], better known as Doctor Doom. The surprising thing thing is not that he became a supervillain, but that his father Werner had not already been one. (Doctor Doom however quite frequently fails to live up to the "victor" part, though).
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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
** Also, overweight rebel pilot Jek "Piggy" Porkins.
** From the prequel films, we get <s> drug</s> deathstick dealer Elan ''Sleazebaganno'', later retcon'd into being "Sel'Sabagno". He is, nonetheless, still a sleazebag.
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* Parodied with ''Hot Shots!'': One of the characters has Deadmeat as his nickname. Gee, I wonder...?
* In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' parody ''Thumb Wars:''
{{quote|
'''Loke Groundrunner:''' Soondead and Gonnabiteit...''oh my God!'' }}
* ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]'' (2004). Totenkopf, literally "dead man's head" (e.g. skull) in German.
* ''[[Sunshine (
** The director [[Danny Boyle]] admitted this was unrealistic, saying that Americans would likely call it ''Ship of Destiny'' or ''Hope''.
* Lampshaded in ''[[Spider
{{quote|
** Eight to one against?
* In ''[[That Thing You Do]]'', the band originaly names themselves the "One-ders". Guess what [[One
* The servants from ''[[Beauty and
* 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 [[
▲* In [[JRR Tolkien (Creator)|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|
** 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|
* 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
** 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]]''.
* Near the beginning of the novel ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy'' by Lawrence Sterne, the title character describes his father's theory that a person's given name has a profound influence on their life, their character, and their destiny.
* Jennings invokes this trope in Anthony Buckeridge's classic ''Jennings Goes To School'', in which he and Darbishire are trying to co-write a pulp detective story and are arguing about what name their protagonist should have:
{{quote|
* Chance the Gardener in ''[[Being There]]'' was named "Chance" because "he was born by chance" (i.e., possibly illegitimate and/or unplanned). The [[Meaningful Name]] becomes prophetic when he heads out into the world and becomes incredibly powerful by way of a ''chance'' encounter with a financial titan's wife and a subsequent series of misunderstandings. As for the name of the wife, the first person Chance interacts with at length outside of his old home and beloved garden? It's ''Eve''.
* Melony in ''The Cider House Rules''. Her name was apparently supposed to be "Melody," but there was never anything melodious about her.
* In ''[[The Hundred and One Dalmatians]]'' the Dearlys' nannies, Nanny Cook and Nanny Butler, train as a real cook and butler after the Dearlys get married and no longer require nannying.
* In ''[[Sunshine (
** Well, her ''original'' real name, her birth name, is actually "Raven." Her mother changed it when they left her father the sorcerer.
* In ''[[Peter Pan]]'', Captain James Hook.
** Actually, "Hook" was not his real name. Barrie makes it clear that he adopted it later, and that if it ever got out what his real name was, it would cause a scandal.
** And he signs his name Jaz. Hook, but yeah. He came from some prominent family that sent him to public school and got in fights in his own head about [[Even Evil Has Standards|showing 'good form']] like they taught him at school.
{{quote|
'''Snooty Voice In Hook's Head:''' Blackbeard? What House? }}
* Grigori Eisenstein in ''Fiends of the Eastern Front'' shares his first name with [[Rasputinian Death|Rasputin]]. He is accordingly difficult to kill, {{spoiler|going so far as a [[Not Quite Dead]] moment. Being a partially transformed vampire helps.}}
* Stephen Donaldson had some fun subverting this trope in his duology Mordant's Need; many of his character's names are opposites of their personalities, such as a weakling bearing the family name Armigite and a determined lord named Fayle. Terisa Morgan, the protagonist, is played straight as she's a bit of a dark horse.
* [[Inheritance Cycle
* Very common in the Bible. Usually given by God, whether at birth or as a rename (and in some cases, at conception).
* ''[[
== Live
* Dr. Lazarus in the ''[[
▲* Dr Lazarus in the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|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|
* ''[[
** 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
* 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 ''[[
** 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|
'''Justin''': No, her ''name's'' Evilini.
'''Alex''': And how much cleaner could it be?
'''[[Wrong Genre Savvy|Justin]]''': Okay, if she was really evil, don't you think she would have changed her name to "Really Friendly Ini" or "Nice Ini" or "Totally Not Evilini"? }}
** And again, in the episode "My Tutor, Tutor":
{{quote|
'''Alex''': Well, no, not in the wizard world at least. A lot of people name their kids what they want them to grow up to be, but sometimes it doesn't really work out. My dad goes to a doctor named "Butcher". }}
* The titular ship on ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' found herself 70,000 light years from home with quite the, erm, ''voyage'' ahead of her.
* In ''[[Castle]]'', a character nicknamed Jimmy the Rat is a mob informant. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Castle, naturally.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Just about every single named character in [[Warhammer 40
** 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
== Theatre ==
* Combining this with [[Punny Name]], Nick ''Bottom'' of ''[[A Midsummer
* Deianira. Means "husband slayer". This is pretty much what happens in ''[[The
== Video Games ==
▲* Combining this with [[Punny Name]], Nick ''Bottom'' of ''[[A Midsummer Nights 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 Trachiniae (Theatre)|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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* Furiae in ''[[Drakengard]]'', a [[Meaningful Name]] which is also another name for the Greek Furies, female personifications of vengeance. The Furies in Greek mythology were winged, monstrous women. {{spoiler|Furiae, when placed inside a Seed of Resurrection, becomes exactly this. [[Nightmare Fuel|A thousand times over, in fact.]]}} It works even better if you think of the word "Furiae" as a sort of Latinate plural replacement for "Furies."
** Caim could also count, as his name is a Gaelic pronunciation of Cain, and in any of the story lines you {{spoiler|have to fight/kill Inuart}} sure he's not Caim's brother in a blood relation sense, but they were one of the few people Caim didn't [[Axe Crazy|want to make into a bloody mess, which is saying something.]]
* In ''[[Loom (
* Lenny the lyrebird of ''[[Ty the Tasmanian Tiger]]''. [[Exactly What It Says
* In ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 3'', the protagonist has the code name of Naked Snake. He meets up with a woman named EVA. According to a specific dialogue in the game, {{spoiler|the first spy in history was the Snake that tempted Eve in the Bible. However, the exact opposite happens in the ending, with Snake being used by EVA}}.
* Subverted in ''Hidden Agenda''. Colonel Horatio Ehrlich is ''anything except'' honest.
* "Valiant Servant" (Shirou) and "Guardian Shrine" (Emiya.) to directly steal the quote from the ''[[Fate/stay
* Done retroactively for the message-scrawling "Rat Man" of ''[[Portal (
* In ''[[
* Staggering numbers of [[NPC
* ''[[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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** Played with in the case of Saves-A-Fox, who decided to [[Screw Destiny]] and kill the fox she was prophesied to save. {{spoiler|She then [[You Can't Fight Fate|saves the fox's tail]], [[Completely Missing the Point|as a symbol of how she defied her destiny]].}}
*** {{spoiler|Dies-Horribly later reveals that from her description of the fox, it was probably suffering from an illness that would soon have resulted in a drawn-out, agonizing death, so that in a sense she saved it by killing it quickly.}}
* 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]]
* ''[[
{{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|
* Also played straight throughout. Makes-Things was the Korean technological genius who invented a number of useful items allowing the Agents to go about their duties. He was given this name by the Flowers, who were unable to pronounce his correct name. His assistant and later replacement Techno-Dann may also fit this trope.
* In ''[[Reynaldo the Assassin]]'', there is a man named Captain Pirate.
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== Western Animation ==
* Invoked for a gag in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' where Cletus the Yokel comments;
{{quote|
** "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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* ''[[Transformers Cybertron]]'': Overhaul. Gets a [[Mid-Season Upgrade]] into Leobreaker.
** In ''[[Transformers]]'' in general, this applies in-universe to Megatron, who is named after the Transformer equivalent of Judas, and usually had that name ''before'' he became a villain.
* Used throughout the ''[[My Little Pony]]'' franchise to a degree. A pony's name tends to correspond to his or her personality/special talent, even though they are named before their later personality would be apparent (and finding their talent becomes a major focus of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** In a more "What were they thinking" example, in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
* ''[[Speed Racer]]''. Yes, that's actually his given name. He's a florist (No, of course not really.). Also his brother Rex, aka Racer X.
== Real Life ==
* [[Real Life]] example: race car driver [
▲* [[Real Life]] example: race car driver [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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'':
{{quote|
** When it comes to names and skin colors, those happen in French too: Michel Blanc (white), Eric Blanc (black), Michel Noir (blanc), a black racing cyclist named Blanco...
** How about Jack Black and Michael Jai White?
** Or as Jimmy Pop Ali says "I'm not black like Barry White, nor I am white like Frank Black is."
* A real-life "subversion"
* '''D'''avid '''Ten'''nant, playing the '''Ten'''th '''D'''octor in ''[[
* There's a Finnish meteorologist named Pekka Pouta. "Pouta" is Finnish for fair weather.
** Meteorologist Dr. Frank Field named his son "Storm." Storm Field later became ... a meteorologist.
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* Poker player and World Series of Poker champion Chris Moneymaker.
* Professional ad-man [[Vince Offer]].
* [
* Ernest Fehr, an economist known for doing experimental work on notions of fairness.
* Try this one: Sir Francis Hole, who was a pedologist.. meaning a soil scientist who specialized in soil layers as defined by pedons.. which are holes dug in the ground. I'm not even going to talk about ecologist Gene Likens (pronounced like 'lichens').
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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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* Why was anyone surprised when Madoff made off with all the money?
* A bit of a stretch, but Derek Poundstone, one of the World's Strongest Men and only other person to lift the fabled Cyr Stone, could qualify.
* [
* [
* This year's Vancouver Sun Run was won by an African-born runner named Kip Kangogo.
* [
* Jimmy '''Riddle''' Hoffa.
* You can't spell [[Mark Hamill]] without "[[Batman:
* 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:Trope]]
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