Some Call Me... Tim: Difference between revisions

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]].

 

{{examples}}

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In ''[[Psychic Academy]]'', psychics are called by the names of their [[Battle Aura|psychic eminences]]. The average eminence name is four words long. Thus they're generally referred to by the first word in the name. The main character's brother has a ''six-word'' name - which gets shortened to [[My Hero Zero|Zero]] ("Zerodyme" is the first word).

* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'': Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV. Just call her Ed.

* In the anime version of ''[[Trigun]]'', Vash The Stampede's full name may or may not be "Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gumigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andre Charton-Haymoss Ivanovicci Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser III".

 

*** Also some of the aliens ''love'' their human names.

** In the context of the movie's rather obvious allegory, this reflects some nasty history -- the practice of white European forcing "Christian" names on the natives wherever they went, as a form of cultural imperialism.

{{quote| '''Stella the Skunk:''' So, you got a name?<br />

'''Tiger the Persian Cat:''' Yes. It is a Persian name for, "I am Persian." I was born Prince Tigeriess Mahmood Shabaz.<br />

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* The Ents in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Treebeard's full name might take days or weeks to tell - even if he were willing to share something so personal. Of course, this is also because they talk ''really'' slowly. (Entish is an untranslatably slow language, and names are very descriptive ''in'' said untranslatably slow language.)

** According to Treebeard, Entish runs on the principle that the longer something has been around, the more words it takes to describe it (considering it rather offensive to call a hill 'a hill' for instance). In an early draft of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Treebeard mentions that Tom Bombadil, the oldest living being in the world, has the longest of names. (In other words, beings in Entish don't have names so much as they have stories.)

** Ford Prefect's birth name was apparently so complicated that Ford ''himself'' never learned to pronounce it - his father was the [[Last of His Kind]] and Ford never picked up the language (Dad died of shame). His childhood friends nicknamed him Ix.

** Andalite names aren't entirely analogous to Western humans' first, middle, and last names: Ax's brother is Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, and when Ax mentions his parents' names, it's the middle sections that are the same - one parent has "-Sirinial-" and the other "-Esgarrouth-".

*** Some clarification may be in order here-The Ellimist's species comes from a planet with an apparently inhospitable ground level, and they live on chunks of crystal held aloft by the combined efforts of perhaps ninety percent of the community's population at any given time. Free-flight time is strictly scheduled so that their crystal doesn't crash and kill everyone. So his given name is, in fact, a job designation and an address.

* In the later ''[[Isaac Asimov|Foundation]]'' novels, the inhabitants of Gaia have long names but are referred to by a single syllable from that name. For example, Blissenobiarella is called "Bliss", and this is not even a very long name by Gaian standards (nor would a "Bliss Nobiarella" be long by Western standards). Since the use of a single syllable is a cultural thing, she feels uncomfortable using the full names of other people even if they have short names, so she often calls Trevize "Trev" and Pelorat "Pel".

{{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 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.

* One of the main characters in ''Empire Of The Ants'' trilogy by Bernard Werber is an ant called 103 683. In the third book, the other ants decide to just refer to her as 103 since they find it is a bit too long.

* Juliet {{spoiler|(Ajulutsikael)}} in ''The Devil You Know'' and ''Vicious Circle'' by Mike Carey.

* In [[The Chronicles of Narnia|The Horse and His Boy]], the talking horse Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah is more commonly referred to as Bree, though he himself finds his companion's name, Shasta, quite a mouthful.

** "Ayla" is actually her name, but instead of pronouncing it with the emphasis on the first syllable like we would, the closest any of the Clan can come is "[[Ay LA]]", with emphasis on the last syllable. It's explained that the Clan have very limited vocal range, so even Ayla's simple name is too hard for most of them to pronounce. It's possible the introduced herself the same way Jondolar does in later novels - with her mother's name and cave number after her name, then decided her first name would be enough.

** Or, for Americans, Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraim's Daughter Longstocking, or some variation thereof depending on the adaptation.

* The [[Liaden Universe]] series features the Clutch Turtles, a very long-lived race whose names double as lists of their accomplishments. A newly-hatched turtle will have a name only a few words long, but a mature turtle's name might take several ''hours'' to say. One of the main characters in the series is... (deep breath), "Eleventh Shell Fifth Hatched Knife Clan of Middle River's Spring Spawn of Farmer Greentrees of the Spearmakers Den: The Edger." And that's the ''short'' form of his name, "used by the Clans of Men on those things called visas." His human and Liaden friends just call him "Edger".

* In [[Forgotten Realms|Azure Bonds]], the [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|evil red dragon]] Mistinarperadnacles Hai Draco harasses our heroes. She goes by Mist.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** In "The Long Game", the Editor introduces "Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. I call him Max." Although he's referred to as Jagrafess afterwards. There was only one successful take of that line: the actor simply could not get it right.

*** Russell Davies, they say, loved polysyllabic names.

** ''[[Virgin New Adventures|Lungbarrow]]'' had Quencessetianobayolocaturgrathadeyyilungbarrowmas, the 422nd Kithriarch of the House of Lungbarrow. The other Time Lords call him Quences. Also, Leela's given Time Lord name is Lady Leelandredloomsagwinaechegesmia.

** Subverted in "Voyage Of The Damned" where we have Bannakaffalatta, whom the Doctor asks if he can call Banna. Bannakaffalatta refuses.

** However, when Crichton meets the soon-to-be [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] for Jool, Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu, she doesn't object to being called only ''Sikozu''.

*** Or "Sputnik"

* A Swedish Chef sketch on [[The Muppet Show]] has the Chef's uncle (played by [[Danny Kaye]]) reveal the Chef's actual name, which is a long string of gibberish. The uncle then adds, "We call him Tom."

* [[The Vicar of Dibley|(Boudicea) Geraldine Julie Andrews Dick Van Dyke Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Chim Chiminey Chim Chiminey Chim Chim Cher-ee Granger.]] Mostly just known as 'Vicar'.

** Though ''someone'' in the naming department had a dry sense of humor, considering that George was originally named [[San Francisco|Sam Francisco]], and the mentally addled janitor was dubbed [[Albert Einstein]].

** In one of the TV movies, a recently-arrived Newcomer was named [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Norman Conquest]]. Cathy comments that the immigration people must be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

* In That 70's Show, we have Fez, whose entire name took the entirity of a school bell to pronounce, and of which we only know the group said they would never remember. This leads to Foreign Exchange Student being his name as an anagram, changed to a z for sound. Fun fact, when he was stating his name that we never hear during the bell, and you only see his mouth moving, his only reciting the casts name.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Nolaloth (short for Nolalothcaragasint) in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]''.

* Tka-Rik in ''Evil Islands''.

* 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.

* Nrvnqsr Chaos in ''[[Tsukihime]]''. It is supposed to be read as "Nero Kaos".

** Played with in ''[[Carnival Phantasm]]'' EX Season where Nero is asked by a shop assistant what his name is for a receipt and then asked how to spell it. After thinking about it for a while he gives up and writes Nero, saying "This will do."

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

{{quote| Meighen: God, did we sound this bad when we were into new age?<br />

Kath: All two weeks? Probably. }}

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* ''[[Futurama]]'': "In the time it would take to pronounce one letter of my true name, a trillion cosmoses would burst into existence, and wane into eternal night." {{spoiler|...and that's why they call him Nibbler.}}

* In the old MTV cartoon ''[[The Head]]'', a young man wakes up one day to find that his head is grossly enlarged. Turns out a mostly-benevolent alien purple goblin is hiding inside and can pop out at will. The goblin introduces himself like this: "My name is [string of odd noises], but you can call me Roy.".

** But call her Dotty [[Berserk Button|and you die]].

** Hey--give him some credit, after all, they do fit a [[Freudian Slip|specific]] [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife|couple of]] [[Adorkable|tropes]]... Why are we surprised that he's getting flustered talking to a pretty girl?

* ''[[Ivor The Engine]]'': Ivor's official title is The locomotive of The Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* The final presidential election debate in 2008 introduced the entire United States to S. Joseph Wurzelbacher, more easily remembered as Joe the Plumber.

* Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig El Abderahman El Mohammed Ahmed El Abdel Karim El Mahdi, who first shortened his name to Siddig El Fadil when he became an actor, and later simplified it further to Alexander Siddig.

*** And that [[Syriana|other bearded guy that]] [[No Kill Like Overkill|got blown up by a precision missile strike]].

* 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.