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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''Tim:''' I... am an Enchanter.
'''[[King Arthur|Arthur]]:''' By what name are you known?
'''Tim:''' There are [[Trope Namer|some who call me... Tim?]]|''[[Monty Python and
{{quote|'''Black Mage''': The God of Undeath has a name of twenty-seven syllables spoken simultaneously by six ever-screaming mouths.
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Some beings with overly long names realize that it would quickly become frustrating if every second person they told their full name to struggled in vain to pronounce it correctly, and thus offer a shortened version. For comedy value, this shorter version may be a mundane human name, such as Bob or Max. Can overlap at times with [[They Call Me Mister Tibbs]].
The [[Trope Namers]] is ''[[Monty Python and
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Ren and Miu in ''[[DearS]]'' are called Ren and Miu because those are fragments of their [[Overly Long Name|absurdly long full names]]. Interestingly, "Ren" means "nothing" in the DearS language, which confuses and angers Miu. Takeya gave Ren her name because it's the first number of her [[You Are Number Six|ID number]]; this ends up being a plot point. Whereas Ren uses the first part of her ID number as her name, Miu uses the last part.
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** According to [[Character Blog|Chistopher's blog]], the names are assigned.
*** Also some of the aliens ''love'' their human names.
** In the context of the movie's rather obvious allegory, this reflects some nasty
* From ''[[Over the Hedge (animation)|Over the Hedge]]'':
{{quote|'''Stella the Skunk:''' So, you got a name?
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{{quote|'''Bart:''' What's your name?
'''Jim:''' Well, my name is Jim, but most people call me... Jim. }}
* In ''[[The Cat from Outer Space]]'', the cat's name is Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7, but you can just call him "Jake".
== [[Literature]] ==
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{{quote|"Perhaps my core name would be easier for the average fleet officer. Call me Thrawn."}}
** Thrawn was, among his own people, somewhat infamous for being non-traditional. He, however, regarded it simply as being pragmatic. Not using his somewhat tongue-twisting full name among outsiders was the least of his defiance of not so logical traditions. {{spoiler|He eventually went too far for his people to accept, and was exiled for it. But [[The Chessmaster|Thrawn]] [[The Strategist|being]] [[Magnificent Bastard|Thrawn]], [[Xanatos Gambit|this was his prefered outcome]]. If they didn't, it would be a license to go further.}}
* In the [[Discworld]] book ''[[
** In another of Pratchett's works, ''Strata'', an alien character says "My name is sixty-three syllables long, but you may call me Silver".
* Fred the sentient [[wikipedia:White hole|white hole]] from [[Diane Duane]]'s ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series. His full name ''starts'' with "Khairelikoblepharehglukumeilichephreidosd'enagouni" and is probably a lot longer than that.
** Then there's Ed the shark (full name Ed'Rastekeresket t'k Gh'shestaesteh). And Filif (Filifermanhathrhumneits'elhhessaifnth) the tree-like alien. And, too, S'reee (S'reee a!hruuniAoul-mmeiihnhwiii!r) the humpback whale. The author really likes this trope, it seems.
** Roshaun almost completely inverts this trope; his full name consists of a laundry list of fancy alien titles and honorifics (The longest we see is Roshaun ke Nelaid am Seriv am Teliuyve am Meseph am Veliz am Teriaunst am det Wellakhit). He insists on reciting the full version whenever introduced, and attempts to get everyone else to call him by this too, mostly because of his royalty complex, rather than offering a shortened name. Naturally, Dairine ignores this.
** No
* The tinker gnomes of ''[[Dragonlance]]'' have names that fill several volumes in the great library of Mount Nevermind, which include their full family tree and any notable accomplishments from their lives. When talking amongst each other, they use a shortened version which "only" takes about a minute to say. The other races have a tendency to only use the first 2-3 syllables of a gnome's name, a practice they find demeaning.
** Even the name of the Tinker Gnomes' ''mountain'' falls under this
** Not to mention the names of some of the elves - although those are [[The Unpronounceable|easier on the tongue...]]
* In ''[[Wild Cards]]'', Doctor Tachyon's actual name is Prince Tisianne brant Ts'ara sek Halima sek Ragnar sek Omian of House Ilkazam (and that's just his first name; his full name would list his genealogy for the last thousand generations). The American scientists and military men he makes first contact with are endlessly corrected on how it's said, and mispronouncing it is quite the insult. So he is given the much-simpler nickname Dr. Tachyon.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Habitual among Tau in ''[[Warhammer
** This is, however, nothing in comparison to the accumulated names of senior Adeptus Custodes (the Emperor's personal guard), whose names are inscribed onto the insides of their armour starting at the collar and wind around the inside. Some are so long that they fill all the available space on the inside of the armour and wind round onto the outside - Constantin Valdor, Captain of the Custodes and personal acquaintance of the Emperor and several Primarchs, had a name over ''1900'' elements long.
* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' has some dark elven Houses with official and shorter common names. Try to say three times, for example, "[[The Dark Elf Trilogy|Drizzt]] Daermon N'a'shezbaernon", and you'll see why "Do'Urden" was used more often. For that matter, archaic High Drow as a whole is reserved mainly for ritual or official use and so different from the everyday dialect that few drow but priestesses can understand it.
* Gnomes in ''[[Eberron]]'' are said to collect names like friends, and usually choose the
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Nolaloth (short for Nolalothcaragasint) in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]''.
* Tka-Rik in ''Evil Islands''.
* ♥♪!? in ''[[Super Mario RPG]]'' went by Geno; a spiritual being, he created a body for himself out of a toy doll a child was using, and since the child called the doll Geno, he decided to go with that. His name wasn't long, but consisted of [[The Unpronounceable|unpronounceable]] symbols.
* Used twice in ''[[Mass Effect]]'', by the hanar Delan (Full name: Delanynder) and the turian Lilihierax, who prefers to be called Li since nobody bothers to get his name right.
** In the case of Delanynder, that isn't even his true name; hanar only use their "soul name" with people they are close to, adopting a "face name" for regular interaction. That is, EVERY hanar uses this trope.
** Then there's The Illusive Man. ''One guess'' what ''his'' [[Fan Nickname]] is.
** Salarians seem like this at first, with each one's full name including their home city, planet, cluster etc. But they are actually [[Subverted Trope|a subversion]], since the last two names on that list ''are'' their family name, and personal name. Think of it as an extended introduction, telling someone what province/state and city you live in.
* ''[[
* ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]'' does this with Omega-Xis (quote is shown below)
{{quote|'''Geo Stelar:''' "Wh-who are you?"
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** [[Word of God]] (via author commentary) is that he was purely pulling the interviewer's (the comic is presented as a documentary) leg. He does that kind of thing all the time. Also, Mike's species possesses only one tongue.
* The ''[[Metroid]]'' sprite webcomic ''[[Planet Zebeth]]'' has the hilarious Trabnagian tribe, the members of which all have ridiculously long names. The first one to appear introduces himself shortly as Syracuse, and his real name is Syracuse von Alfredo Jacobson Smith de Sanguine Jones the eighth of the Trabnagian tribe. And that's shorter than average.
* [[
* ''[[The Heroes of Middlecenter]]'':
{{quote|Old crone: Some call him a demon. Others call him a monster. I? I call him... Steve.}}
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{{quote|Meighen: God, did we sound this bad when we were into new age?
Kath: All two weeks? Probably. }}
* In ''[[The KAMics]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120607081830/http://www.drunkduck.com/KAMics_Kast/5155498/ Sten's name is the only part that most people can hear.]
* In ''[[Life and Death]]'' Sally's full name is [https://web.archive.org/web/20120830124824/http://www.drunkduck.com/Life_and_Death/4918897/ Salyana Elathna'fury].
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' has Zola, known as Zola La Sirène Dorée, whose given name is {{spoiler|Zola Anya Talinka Venia Zeblinkya Malfeazium}}.
* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' has an [[Supernatural Aid|Immortal]] who chose as the "full name" for herself Pandora Chaos Raven. The "Chaos" part was given by her last minion when she didn't give him any other and her appearance to him fit the name accordingly. According to one of the other Immortals (who goes by Jerry), they usually take random mythological names anyway ([[Hilarity Ensues]] when [[One Steve Limit|two "Zeus"es meet]]).
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** But call her Dotty [[Berserk Button|and you die]].
* Princess Kidagakash from ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]''. Unable to pronounce her name, Milo asks if she has a nickname. It's Kida. (The man is a linguist, and can't handle four syllables?)
**
* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' has Larry from "Fractured"'. His real name is [[Sdrawkcab Name|nosyarG kciD]]. But Beast Boy had trouble pronouncing it, so he suggested the alternate name, which Larry liked.
* ''[[Ivor The Engine]]'': Ivor's official title is The locomotive of The Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited.
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* Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Clito Ruiz y Picasso.
* Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim de Bragança e Bourbon, A.K.A. Pedro I, first Emperor of Brazil.
* Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Ducas Komnenos Gagliardi de Curtis of Byzantium, His Imperial Highness, Palatine Count, Knight of the Holy Roman Empire, Exarch of Ravenna, Duke of Macedonia and Illyria, Prince of Constantinople, Cilicia, Thessaly, Ponthus, Moldavia, Dardania, Peloponnesus, Count of Cyprus and Epirus, Count and Duke of Drivasto and Durazzo, actor, poet, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZnOmjj_Suw composer]... better known as [[wikipedia:
* More a matter of having an [[The Unpronounceable|unpronounceable]] first name than an overly long set of names (although the surname is pretty unwieldy by itself), but Alabama State basketballer Grlenntys Chief Kickingstallionsims Jr. uses his middle name. The last name is still there.
* Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette... better known to Americans simply as Lafayette.
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** There is also, of course, '''Nero''' Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, whose birth name was Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus.
** And finally, we have Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, who is known not by any of these names, but by his childhood nickname '''[[Emperor Caligula|Caligula]]'''.
*** A common problem with Roman names. Most Roman families chose among just a few names for
* Lake
** The lake is most often called Webster Lake, after the town it's located in.
* One famous child in China was almost named @. Yes, @.
** More precisely, it was to be [[wikipedia:Naming laws in the
** In a similar vein, there is a young girl in the San Francisco Bay Area called La-a, pronounced Ladasha although this lacks the extra level of punning wordplay. However, this is more than likely an [[Urban Legend]].
* A well-known child in Singapore (of Javanese ancestry) was named "Batman bin Suparman."
** To triple the bassery there, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140126221614/http://eesj.curtin.edu.au/local/documents/Malaysia.pdf Bin means 'Son of' in Malay]. Yes, he is "Batman, Son Of Suparman."
** Suparman is a common Javanese name, and there is a politician named [https://web.archive.org/web/20121208093411/http://dprd.bantulkab.go.id/profil_anggota_dprd.php?halaman=5#cutid1 "Betmen Sebayang"] in Central Java.
* A Swedish couple once tried to name their child Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116. It was pronounced Albin. When they were forbidden, they tried to call him "a". Also pronounced Albin. Both of these were in protest of the naming laws.
* There's the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales in the UK, which is rendered on road signs as "Llanfair P.G.".
* Greek was the lingua franca of the eastern Mediterranean in antiquity. Hebrew has some sounds and naming conventions that give Greek speakers fits (in particular, Greek doesn't have a "sh" sound). So many biblical Jewish figures are now known by Greekified versions of their names--"Moshe" became "Moses", "Shlomo" became "Solomon", and most notably, "Yeshua" became "Jesus". If a Jew did any traveling, he'd be pretty likely to also have a Greek name just to make it easier on other
* <s>German Minister of Defense</s> German Politician Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp [http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/10/2211220 Wilhelm] Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg.
* Many Catholics have many more names than their public persona admits to. German composers Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus ("Wolfgang") Theophilus ("Amadeus") Mozart and Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian ("Max") Reger, for example.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Naming Conventions]]
▲[[Category:Some Call Me... Tim]]
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