View source for Squat's in a Name

{{trope}}
{{quote|'''A NAME IS A CLOAK OF LETTERS THROWN UPON A MAN. IT MEANS ''NOTHING.'''''|'''The Transcendent One''', [[Planescape Torment]] }}

Someone or something is given a fancy name taken from mythology, religious lore or history, laden with implications for the educated audience - but never turns out to actually have a [[Meaningful Name]]. Maybe the writer just needed an [[Awesome McCoolname]] for their plucky protagonist or a [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|name to run away from really fast]] for their [[Big Bad]] and didn't bother about any specific connotations, or they hoped their [[MacGuffin]] would seem more important with a sufficiently cabbalistic name - in any case, it turns out that [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory|no one's Jesus in Purgatory]].

A subtrope of [[Faux Symbolism]] (applied to names). Can overlap with [[Religious and Mythological Theme Naming]]. Contrast [[Non-Indicative Name]].

'''Be warned that the below examples may contain spoilers in the form of [[The Un-Reveal]]!'''

{{examples}}

== Anime And Manga ==
* ''[[Earth Maiden Arjuna]]'' has an archer heroine named after the Hindu hero of the ''Baghavad Gita'', but the series is a [[Useful Notes/Taoism|taoist]] tract and the heroine's journey is completely different to that of her mythical namesake.

== [[Comic Books]] ==
* The ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Franchise)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'': Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo.
* The ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' went through a phase in the [[Dark Age]] when a lot of new characters had Biblical or religious names, sometimes appropriately (Apocalypse, Nimrod), vaguely appropriately (Babel spires), or for no particular reason at all (Bishop, Gideon). Ahab would count, except that he's an obvious reference to ''[[Moby Dick (Literature)|Moby Dick]].''
* The trope is parodied in ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'' when someone pointed out that Jesse Custer's name has "J.C." for initials and Jesse says it's a ridiculous idea.

== [[Film]] - Live Action ==
* In ''[[Moon (Film)|Moon]]'', the four harvesters are named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--the names of [[The Bible|the four gospels]]. Screenwriter Nathan Parker insists that these were simply the first set of four names that came to mind, and that he could have just as easily named them [[The Beatles|John, Paul, George, and Ringo]].

== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* "Scylla" from ''[[Prison Break]]'' has neither a "Charybdis" counterpart nor does it share any other characteristics with the sea monster of the same name.

== [[Video Games]] ==
* Many of the characters in ''[[Sacrifice]]'' have names from mythology, but none of them seem to have any meaningful connection with the relevant myth.
* ''[[Metal Gear Acid]] 2'' names the Test Subjects (Golab, Harab Serap, Chagadiel) after the Kabbalist Qliphoth for no good reason.
* ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' has a lot of mythological names for things, particularly places given names from Norse mythology, most of which have little or no connection to the things they're named for. There are a couple of exceptions, though.
** This is because ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' is a distant prequel to ''[[Tales of Phantasia (Video Game)|Tales of Phantasia]]'', which was far more directly inspired by Norse mythology.
** ''[[Tales of the Abyss (Video Game)|Tales of the Abyss]]'' carries it to a whole new extreme. Nearly all the towns' names, the "Qlipoth" underworld, and even the ''title'' -- all drawn directly from the Qabalah in ways that make it clear there was absolutely no understanding of the original material.
* ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]'' has minor [[NPC|NPCs]] named Cthulhu and Santa. The latter is an ordinary Mimiga who looks almost entirely unlike [[Santa Claus]].
* A lot of the monsters in the [[Final Fantasy]] series are given names of creatures and heroes from various different myths, but many seem like an excuse to give mooks an awesome name.
* The [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|four enemy Mega Men]] in ''[[Mega Man ZX (Video Game)|Mega Man ZX]] Advent''. They all have names taken from mythology; none of them are at all related to their elemental powers, and at least half of them are even the wrong gender. For example, the male Siarnaq is named after a Inuit goddess of ice. There is a bit more to the [[Theme Naming]], however, in that three out of four— along with another pair of characters, Prometheus and Pandora— share their names with moons orbiting Saturn (Aeolus is the only exception).

== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'' has Immortals (who regularly wipe most of their memory anyway) randomly taking grand names from some or other mythology. As one of them said, there's nothing as funny as a hissy fit happening whenever two "Zeus"-es meet. Which is one of reasons why he prefers "Jerry".

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Naming Conventions]]
[[Category:Rule of Cool]]
[[Category:Squats In A Name]]
[[Category:Trope]]