Sue Donym: Difference between revisions

 

[[I Thought It Meant|Not a type]] of [[Mary Sue]].

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

* In one Taco Bell commercial, a man named Phillip Ontakos is working at cubicle 399. It was advertising their $3.99 Taco special.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Ranma ½]]'', Ranma ([[Gender Bender|as a girl]]) is about to introduce himself to his mother for the first time. While saying the first syllable of his name, he sees her grip her sword and changes his name to "Ranko".

* In the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' episode "Showdown in Dark City," Ash Ketchum starts to give his real name as "Ash...Ketchup..." before changing it to "Tom Ato". Following his example, Misty and Brock introduce themselves as "Ann Chovie" and "Caesar Salad", respectively. The reason they had the pseudonyms at all was to avoid being recognized as Pokemon trainers.

* In ''[[Kuragehime]]'', [[Wholesome Crossdresser]] Kuranosuke has been hanging out with a group of female otaku, only one of which knows he's a guy. After one of them calls him by the nickname "Meat" once too often, he starts to retort, "I have a name, and it's Kurano-" before realizing he's standing right in front of the sign at their boarding house that states "No boys allowed." He quickly changes his sentence and tells them his name is "Kurako," and is shocked that the others actually bought it.

* Usui in ''[[Kaichou wa Maid-sama]]'' likes to trick <s>[[Those Two Guys]]</s> Yukimura with a foreign accent and the name "Usui Janai" - literally "Not Usui." [[Hilarity Ensues|It works.]]

 

== Comic Books ==

* In ''[[Batman]]'', a favorite alias of the Joker is "Joe Kerr". Ingenious! As one might expect, this habit was largely confined to the [[Silver Age]], but it still comes up every once in a while as a [[Mythology Gag]].

** Amusingly, one of the main writers on ''[[Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]'' is ''Joseph Kuhr''.

* In ''[[Cable and Deadpool]]'', Steve Rogers, the Star-Spangled Man with the Plan, being the ingenious [[Clark Kenting|"Master of Disguise"]] that he is, infiltrated Cable's island Providence as an immigrant with the name ''Roger Stevens''. Not only that, but his idea of hiding his signature blond hair is to wear a ''Brooklyn Dodgers'' baseball cap.

 

 

* In ''[[Ace Ventura]]: Pet Detective,'' when he goes to a suspect's dinner party, he starts to give his real name (not out of desperation but more ignorance). His date stops him and gives the name "Tom Ace".

* A variation occurs in the ''[[The Nutty Professor]]'' (both the 1963 and 1996 versions), wherein another character refers to the titular character as "buddy" while he is under the influence of his transformation drug, prompting him to adopt "Buddy Love" as the name of his alternate personality.

 

== Literature ==

* In ''[[The Hobbit]]'', Bilbo Baggins introduces himself to the trolls as "a bur- a hobbit." ("Bur" = "burglar", the profession designated to him by Gandalf.) To them, he's a "burrahobbit."

* In one of Donald Westlake's stories about John Dortmunder, John stammers out "John D-- Diddums." From then on, despite realizing that it doesn't sound like a real name ("It's Welsh," he'll frequently explain), whenever he needs an alias on short notice he panics and can't think of anything but "John Diddums." Then, in one later story, he encountered a Britisher who said, "I know a [[Accidental Truth|Diddums family near Caernarvon]]. Might you be a relative?"

* In the ''[[James Bond (novel)|James Bond]]'' short story ''For Your Eyes Only'', Bond meets up with a Canadian contact to obtain information for an off-the-books mission. When Bond introduces himself as 'Mr. James', his contact eyes him suspiciously and then says that James can call him 'Colonel Johns'.

 

* In ''[[Nebulous]]'', the eponymous professor is infiltrating a brainwashing camp. When asked his name, he quickly replies "Professor Neb-Neb".

* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', when Buffy is investigating her mother's new boyfriend, one of his co-workers ask who she is. She says "Bu...Linda. Belinda."

* [[Family Matters]] had an example when for some reason Urkel and his buddies had to infiltrate a convent while dressed as women. Pressed for a name, Urkel blurts out "Steee---fanie." Not Stephanie, Steefanie. He claims it's Lithuanian.

* Sophia does this once on ''[[The Golden Girls]]". "Sophia Pe...Hawkins. Sophia Pe-Hawkins."

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[SaGa Frontier]]'' during Red's quest he attempts to investigate a fighting tournament dressed in his superhero outfit. When asked his name at the sign-up counter he stammers part of his real name a few times, and winds up entered in as "Rerere".

* In ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'', Marle does this in the Japanese version. Her real name there is "Marledia", and she gives her name as "Marl". The English version changed her real name to "Nadia", thus making her cover name [[Woolseyism|a bit more clever]].

 

== Web Original ==

* Used in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series]]'' when Marik Ishtar is trying to avoid suspicion:

{{quote|'''Joey''': You seem like a swell dude. What's your name, pal?

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Futurama]]'', when Leela subscribes for the army, she is pushed for a name. Quickly she replies "Lee... la... man. La... man. Lemon! Lee Lemon!".

* In the first broadcast episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', "Simpsons Roasting On an Open Fire", Homer, working as a [[Mall Santa]], almost gives himself away when his son is the next kid in line: "What's your name, Bart...ner? Partner?

* ''[[Duckman]]'' N. Disguise.

 

* One ''[[Les Luthiers]]'' routine has the composer Johann Sebastian Mastropiero composing under the name Johann Severo Mastropiano, to save his family the shame of people knowing they raised a musician.

* One of the people who routinely set the ''New Scientist's'' weekly puzzles is called, apparently for real, "Sue Denham".

* Similarly, 1970s & 80s SF author P.S. Nim.

* The main male cast of ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' do this in the [[Audio Adaptation|drama CD]] ''Maid in Altamira,'' [[It Makes Sense in Context|where they dressed up as]] [[French Maid|maids]] in a [[Maid Cafe]]. Lloyd becomes Lloydie, Zelos Zelda, Genis Ginny, Regal Regala, {{spoiler|and ''Kratos'' Kratty.}} Of course, the names don't keep them from running off the customers.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Naming Conventions]]

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Just for Pun]]