Repetitive Name: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Judge:''' State your first name, your last name, and your occupation.

 

Sometimes, a character either a) is so very funny, [[Badass]], awesome, or all three, they don't deserve [[Only One Name]], or b) has a [[Meaningful Name]] to the Nth degree that no other name works. What do you do?

 

There are four common variations on this:

* Classic Classic: Their first, last, optional middle, and in some cases, [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|job title]], are all the exact same word. Never is there a literal [[Odd Name Out]], or even a [[My Nayme Is|intentional misspelling]], unless it spans all the names.

* Classic Classical: The name consists of a short first name and a last name that is like the first but longer (like "John Johnson").

* Classic ''Kurashikku'': Also often used for characters named after something, it's when the two names mean the same thing, in different languages.

 

 

When not applied to names, this is covered by [[Shaped Like Itself]]. Not to be confused with the [[Department of Redundancy Department]], which concerns repetitive dialogue.

 

{{examples}}

* Excel in ''[[Excel Saga (manga)|Excel Saga]]'' claims her full name in the anime is Excel Excel; it's hard to tell if she is being serious or engaging in hyperbole. The manga clearly defines this and those of other ACROSS members as codenames, and we never find out what her real name is.

* Carson D. Carson, crook and erstwhile ally of the ''[[Dirty Pair]]'' from [[The Movie]].

* Yomiko means "Reading Child" in Japanese, and "Readman" speaks for itself. Thus is named the heroine of ''[[Read or Die]]''.

* Konoka Konoe of ''[[Negima]]'' (and her grandfather, Konoemon Konoe). Also the old teacher, Takamichi Takahata. At first it can seem like Negi had mispronounced his last name.

* ''[[Ef a Tale of Memories]]'' give us Hirono Hiro and Miyako Miyamura.

* 90% of the cast in [[Kagihime Monogatari]] have this going on.

* Naru Narusegawa of ''[[Love Hina]]''. When calling her "Naru", you never know if it's actually her first name or her last name shortened.

* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', the some of the Innovators names, like Regene Regette and Revive Revival.

* Ming Ming from the final season of ''[[Beyblade]]''.

* Referenced in ''[[Kanon]]'' when a sobbing Ayu accidentally says that her last name is Ayu. Yuuichi then starts calling her Ayu Ayu. Including ''right after'' she later says her full name is Ayu Tsukimiya.

* Khamen Khamen from ''[[Braiger]]''.

** Granted, a more literally translation of ''Hagane no Renkinjutsushi'' is "Alchemist of Steel" and "Fullmetal Alchemist" is a sort of [[Gratuitous English]] subtitle in the Japanese version.

** From ''Brotherhood'' you also get "Lust the Lascivious", "Gluttony the Voracious", "Envy the Jealous", "Greed the Avaricious", "Wrath the Furious", "Sloth the Indolent" and "Pride the Arrogant".

* ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' has the C'tarl-C'tarl, represented in the cast by Aisha ClanClan.

 

* [[Mad Scientist]] Simon von Simon (and his rival in mad science, Sigmund von Sigmund), from ''[[Little Gloomy]]''

* Thomas N. Thomas, the secret identity of the imaginatively named superhero TNT in [[The DCU]].

** In actual Marvel continuity, the "J" actually stands for "John".

*** And his employee, Robbie Robertson.

* Hawk, son of Tomahawk in [[The DCU]]. This doesn't actually get addressed in-story, but since Tomahawk's real name is Tom Hawk, logically Hawk would be...

* ''[[Richie Rich (comics)|Richie Rich]]''

* The La Brea tar pits example is lampshaded by a couple of guards in ''[[Runaways]]''.

* The [[Martian Manhunter]]'s name sounds like "John Jones". It's actually written J'onn J'onzz.

* [[Zatanna]] Zatara.

* The main character of German [[Animesque]] comic ''Losing Neverland'' is called Lawrence V Lawrence (Laurie [[In-Series Nickname|for short]]).

 

* ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' fanfic ''[[The Nowakverse|Under the Bridge]]'' introduces us to Captain Jürgen Jürgen Jürgen of the ''Albacore''. You see, his father stuttered, and didn't want to correct his mistake. He's called "Jürgen" throughout, so we don't find out until near the end that it's repetitive.

* ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'' has taken this approach for Sasaki; the author had [[Did Not Do the Research|a moment of confusion]] as to whether "Sasaki" was meant to be the character's given name or surname, [[Take a Third Option|so it ended up as both.]]<ref>It's almost certainly meant to be a surname in the source material, as the kanji used to write it spell an extremely common surname.</ref> [[Fridge Logic|One is led to wonder]] just how someone called Sasaki Sasaki can be certain that Kyon is still calling her by her first name.

 

* [[The Men in Black|Rick Dicker]] in ''[[The Incredibles]]''.

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'':

** Chorh Gom Prison.

*** Tai Lung's name means Ultimate Dragon, and wanted to become the Dragon Warrior.

* Aaron A. Aaronson in ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'', whose name mysteriousy refers to a joke one of the Andys made earlier in the movie.

* Officer Dick Dicks in ''2001: A Space Travesty''.

* Mary Merriman from ''Deadly Little Christmas''.

 

* ''[[Catch-22]]'' has a character called Major Major Major, who was instantly promoted to Major due to a computer error. Ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen ensures that Major Major Major Major can never be promoted or demoted because [[Rule of Funny|he thinks it's funny]].

* ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' had Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, AKA Uncle Monty. (He studies [[Monty Python|pythons]].)

* Antoine San-Antonio of the eponymous ''San-Antonio'' series of French police novels by Frédéric Dard. Also, his love interest is named Marie-Marie.

* Jay-Jay, the protagonist of the novel ''The Prince of Central Park''. The exposition explains that his deceased mother's two heroes were the Pope and President Kennedy (the book is set in the 1970s), so she named her son John John after the pair of them.

** This could be explained by them being named for their father, with the problem that they also use Norse naming conventions, i.e. [father's name]son for last names.

*** The dwarfs do mix it up a bit for variety, as with Snorri Snorriscousin.

** Also two counterparts of CMOT Dibbler, Dib Diblossonson and Swallow-Me-Own-Blowdart Dhlang-Dhlang.

** One book features a brief mention of a barbarian named something like Sven Svensonsonson.

** Glod is a common name for dwarves on the Discworld (there used to be just one of them, but then someone with a habit of bad spelling and/or [[Spoonerism]]s made a King Midas-like wish that everything he touched would be turned to "glod", so that poor dwarf got magically copied several thousand times...). Therefore, Glod Glodsson is also a common name.

*** It was an illiterate god trying to curse someone in the Ramtops. As a result, the people there tend to be rather short and...er...short-tempered.

* Major Channing Channing (of the Chesterfield Channings) of ''[[The Parasol Protectorate]]''.

 

* Thing T. Thing of ''[[The Addams Family]]'' (the T stands for Thing).

* The famous wise neighbor from ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'', Wilson. Last name? Wilson. Oh, so then what's his first name? It's Wilson. Oh yes, Wilson W. Wilson. Guess what the "W" stands for...

* Clark Clark from an episode of ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'', and recurring character Ray Ray.

 

* [[Bruce Dickinson]] went by Bruce Bruce (inspired by [[Monty Python]]'s [[wikipedia:Bruces sketch|sketch]]) before joining [[Iron Maiden]].

 

* Count von Count from ''[[Sesame Street]]''. His name appears one... two! Two times! Ah ah ah ah ah! ''([[Dramatic Thunder]])''

 

* ''[[Adventures in Odyssey]]'' has a character named Digger Digwell. On top of it, he often introduces himself to characters in the Imagination Station as "Digger, Digger Digwell", prompting many of the characters to address him as "Digger Digger Digwell".

 

 

* The hero of Martin McDonagh's play ''[[The Pillowman]]'''s name is Katurian K Katurian. Guess what the middle initial stands for. His parents "were funny people." (Although if you read/see the play, [[Nightmare Fuel|you will find they are]] not very funny at all.)

* Nicely Nicely Johnson of ''[[Guys and Dolls]]''

* In [[Anton Chekhov]]'s ''[[Uncle Vanya]]'', Waffles' real name is Ilya Ilych Telegin. Someone accidentally calls him Ivan Ivanich, and he corrects them.

 

* ''[[Escape from Monkey Island]]'' introduced us to the politician Charles L. Charles. {{spoiler|1=Actually LeChuck in disguise.}}

** ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]'' reveals that Stan's full name is Stan S. Stanman.

* Suzu Suzuki and Sae Saionji of [[Katawa Shoujo]].

 

* Leo Leonardo (the 3rd) from ''[[VG Cats]]''.

* A case of a Repetitive Code Name: the word "Sciuridae", the family name for squirrels, means "shade-tail". Grace Sciuridae, of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', once carried the code name Shade Tail. [[Meaningful Name|Good reason, too.]]

* The ''original'' Sporkman had Steve "The Steve" Stevenson.

 

* The title character from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20090308003335/http://www.alexandraerin.com/stories/2007/the-redundant-man-who-was-redundant/3#more-3 The Redundant Man Who Was Redundant]'' is called Steven Stevenson II. He works in the Department Of Redundant Acronyms with his secretary, Dora.

* Title character from ''[[The Remarkable Journey of Higgins Von Higgings]]''.

* Brett Bretterson is So-and-So's imaginary boyfriend in ''[[Teen Girl Squad]].''

 

* On ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', Lenny and Carl's full names are Lenford Leonard and Carlton Carlson.

** Also to a lesser extent: Joey Jo-Jo Junior Shabadoo.

* Professor Willard W. Willard from the classic ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]''.

* Dr. Quentin Q. Quinn from ''[[Sealab 2021]]''.

* ''[[South Park]]'''s own Tweek Tweak.

** Not to mention the Woodland Critters, including Beary the Bear, Rabbity the Rabbit, Squirrely the Squirrel, Chickadeey that Chickadee, etc.

* Luke St. Luke from ''[[The Haunted World of El Superbeasto]]''.

* Although it's never stated within the show, ''[[Gargoyles]]'' creator [[Greg Weisman]] has established that the recurring policeman character Morgan's canonical full name is actually Morgan Morgan.

* Jeong Jeong from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', though it's not a first-name-last-name thing. He just has two identical names.

* Cosmo Cosma from ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]''.

* Germain St. Germain, the effective male lead of ''[[Heavy Metal 2000]]''

 

 

* The famous 17th century astronomer [[wikipedia:Galileo|Galileo Galilei]]. This was, in fact, fairly popular in Italy in the past, especially during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Any Italian history book is a trove of repetitive names, though none quite as famous as Galileo.

* Sporty siblings Gary, Phil (football) and Tracy (netball) Neville's father was a rugby player named Neville Neville. (Sing it to the tune of [[David Bowie]]'s "Rebel Rebel".)

* RFK assassin Sirhan B. Sirhan.

* Professional road cyclist Robbie McEwen named his son Ewan.

* Mime Marcel Marceau.

* [[American Civil War]] soldier [[wikipedia:John St. John|John St. John]]. Not to be confused with ''[[Duke Nukem|Jon]]'' [[Duke Nukem|St John]], who also counts.

* 20th-century [[The Philosopher|philosopher]] John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart, author of ''The Nature of Existence''.

* There's also sci-fi writer Thomas T. Thomas.

* Space Shuttle astronaut Richard Richards.

** The mind boggles at the unfortunate nicknames that could spawn...

* Afghan Presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah.

* One of the founding members of The Kinks is named Dave Davies.

* Griffith Park and Griffith Observatory in [[Los Angeles]] are named for one Griffith J. Griffith.

* [http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/player/profile?playerId=242075 San San Te]. Different parts of the same page suggest that the second "San" may be part of his last name, or it may be a middle name/part of his first name.

* Simone Simons, lead singer of [[Epica]].

** And Simone Simon, the French actress best known in the United States for ''[[Cat People (film)|Cat People]]''.

* Sir Isaac Isaacs, who was both the first Australian-born and first Jewish Governor-General of Australia.

* Ramiro "Pedro" Gonzales-Gonzales, a popular contestant on Groucho Marx's ''You Bet Your Life'' who went on to become a character actor.

{{quote|'''Groucho:''' If we got together as an act, what would it be called?

'''Groucho:''' Do you believe that? Two men in the act, and I get third billing! }}

* Garet Garrett. Born Edward Peter Garrett, officially changed his name to qualify for this trope. It was [[Only Known by Their Nickname|originally]] [http://mises.org/daily/2751 his pen name.]

* In many German dynasties and noble families it was customary to designate the different branches of one house by their residence. If the family name already was taken from a place-name, this could lead to cases as the counts of Salm-Salm (as opposed to their relatives, the counts of Salm-Kyrburg) and the margraves of Baden-Baden (as opposed to those of Baden-Durlach) in the 18th century.

* The now largely forgotten German writer Ida Marie Luise Sophie Friederike Gustava Countess Hahn (1805-1880) called herself Countess Hahn-Hahn since her wedding to a distant relative, Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf Count Hahn-Basedow.

* The Austrian satirist Alexander Friedrich Roda (1872-1945), who later emigrated to the US, changed his name to Alexander Roda Roda in 1908.

* Also from Austria, Field Marshal Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky von Radetz (1766-1858).

* The large Sheftall family of Georgia were influential in founding the city of Savannah and started one of the oldest Jewish communities there. One of them was Sheftall Sheftall. At some point they must have just run out of names.

* Character actor Edward Edwards.

* Arthur MacArthur (I to III), a succession of military officers during the American imperialist era.

* Lauren Bush (niece of one president of the US and granddaughter of another) married David Lauren to become Lauren Bush Lauren.

* Short-lived actor/murderer Milos Milos (real name Miloš Milošević)

* Evans Evans was a '60s character actress who appeared in several TV shows and the film ''[[Bonnie and Clyde]]''.

* [[American Idol]] contestant Phillip Phillips.

* Actress Sasha Alexander. In Russian, "Sasha" is a diminutive of Alexander (or Alexandra).

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]