Try to Fit That on A Business Card: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

If there's one way to impress upon the viewer the general awesomeness of a character, it's to give him the titles to show for it. Often, the first mention of a character with [[I Have Many Names|loads and loads of]] [[Red Baron|titles]] is, or will be closely followed by, a formal introduction or a signature of a formal letter.

 

A subtrope of [[Long List]] and [[The Magnificent]]. May be combined with [[Overly Long Name]]. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]] is likely to be involved, as the most impressive titles will generally be listed first. Compare [[Some Call Me... Tim]], [[They Call Me Mister Tibbs]], [[I Have Many Names]], and [[Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom]]. Contrast [[Just the First Citizen]], [[The Master (trope)|The Master]] and similarly styled [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]], where brevity is the soul of intimidation. If they also happen to announce it (or someone else does it for them) a lot then it's also a [[Large Ham Title]].

{{examples}}

* President Führer King Bradley of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', although "King" is just his very appropriate first name. He is both president of the country and head (Führer) of the military.

 

* ''[[Cable]]'': Nathan Christopher Charles Dayspring Askani'son Summers. Or as [[Deadpool]] calls him, [[Lampshade Hanging|Priscilla]].

* The Proximen in ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'' acquire extra words in their names as a sign of increased status.

* In ''[[The Sandman]]'', Dream "[[I Have Many Names|collects names like others collect friends]]". His official titles: Lord of the Dreamworld, Prince of Stories, Monarch of the Sleeping Marches, His Darkness Dream of the Endless.

 

== Fan Works ==

'''William:''' Ulrich von Lichtenstein, of Gelderland.

'''Adhemar:''' Well, I'd forget as well. What a mouthful. }}

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'': "Golbasto Momarem Evlame Gurdilo Shefin Mully Ully Gue, most mighty Emperor of Lilliput, delight and terror of the universe, whose dominions extend five thousand blustrugs [about twelve miles in circumference] to the extremities of the globe; monarch of all monarchs, taller than the sons of men; whose feet press down to the centre, and whose head strikes against the sun; at whose nod the princes of the earth shake their knees; pleasant as the spring, comfortable as the summer, fruitful as autumn, dreadful as winter"

* ''[[Discworld]]'':

** And in the same book "Queen Kelirehenna I, Lord of Sto Lat, Protector of the Eight Protectorates and Empress of the Long Thin Debated Piece Hubwards of Sto Kerrig." A reference to Queen Elizabeth, whose titles were even longer. (See Real Life below)

** Vampires tend to collect names and titles as a hobby, though we've never been privy to a full one, mostly because they take up pages.

** Rincewind simultaneously holds at least eighteen different posts at Unseen University, most of which are meaningless titles that nobody wanted; he is most commonly known as the Assistant Librarian and Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography. Ponder Stibbons holds another twelve posts, but in his case the positions are ones which involve actual work and have some importance—Ponder's many jobs mean that he reports to himself and has more votes on the university council than everyone else combined.

** Averted by founder of the Agatean Empire, One Sun Mirror. He was considered so awesome, he crossed the [[Bishonen Line]] of [[Long List]] titles and was known simply as One Sun Mirror.

* ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]'': Abraham Van Helsing, M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc., etc

** And Chocolate Frog Card... guy. [[Eccentric Mentor|Fittingly]], he seems fonder of that last one than any of the others.

* ''[[The Hobbit]]'': At one point, Bilbo makes a [[Badass Boast]] that consists of titles he claims, including Clue Finder, Webcutter, Ringwinner, Luckwearer, He Who Walks Unseen, and Barrel Rider. Long after his death, Bilbo was turned into a fairytale character known as "Mad Baggins".

** Also, W.E.B. Du Havel has an unspecified amount of Ph.D.s, most of which aren't honorary, Nobel-Shakra Prize for Human Aspiration and the Solarian Medallion

** Honor's boss is Elizabeth Adrienne Samantha Annette Winton, Grand Commander of the Order of King Roger, Grand Commander of the Order of Queen Elizabeth I, Grand Commander of the Order of the Golden Lion, Baroness of Crystal Pine, Baroness of White Sand, Countess of Tannerman, Countess of High Garnet, Grand Duchess of Basilisk, Princess Protector of the Realm, and, by God's grace and the will of Parliament, Queen Elizabeth III of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, and Empress Elizabeth I of the Star Empire of Manticore.<ref>or Beth to her friends</ref>

** Dany is a close contender with: Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Khaleesi of Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Shackles and Mother of Dragons.

** Balon Greyjoy the Ninth of his Name since the Grey King, King of the Iron Islands and the North, King of Salt and Rock, Son of the Sea Wind, Lord reaper of Pyke.

* Most rulers in ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' tends to have this kinds of titles, for instance, the Amyrlin seat is: "Watcher of the Seals, Keeper of the Flame of Tar Valon" and a bunch of others.

** While Rand is named a truly astonishing number of things, though some are carry overs from his last incarnation, Lews Therin Telamon (though not all of Lews Therin's carried over), so he is: The Dragon Reborn, Car'a'carn, the Coramoor, Lord of the Morning, Prince of the Dawn, True Defender of Light, King of Illian, and is effectively the overlord of Andor, Cairhien, Tear, Mayene... He actually sometimes intentionally introduces himself with none of them whatsoever, using simply his name or perhaps just his primary title, in a display which seems to simply intensify the effect and make people even more conscious of just how much of the Westland is under his control (answer, around halfish).

{{quote|"Peter, by the Gift of Aslan, by election, by prescription, and by conquest, High King over all Kings in Narnia, Emperor of the Lone Islands and Lord of Cair Paravel, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion, to Miraz, Son of Caspian the Eighth, sometime Lord Protector of Narnia and now styling himself King of Narnia, [[Hello|Greeting]]."}}

* ''[[Tortall Universe|Emperor Mage]]'' opens with one of these about Prince Kaddar leading into a prosaic wish for his Tortallan visitors to show up so he can stop baking in the heat.

* ''[[Good Omens]]'': The Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness. Or Adam.

* ''[[Belisarius Series]]'': While Eon's full name, Eon Bisi Dakuen, is brief, that of his father, the king of the Ethiopians, is not. The formal name: "Kaleb Ella Atsbeha, son of Tazena, Bisi Lazen, King of Axum, Himryar, Dhu Raydan, Saba, Salhen, the High Country and Yamanat, the Coastal Plain, Hadramawt, and all their Arabs, the Beja, Noba, Kasu, and Siyamo, servant of Christ".

** Notably, the Ethiopians are scrupulous about '''removing''' from that list the name of any land they no longer rule.

* John Brunner's Traveler in Black put down any comment by saying he had many names but one nature.

* The ''[[Knight and Rogue Series]]'' has "The man who's name is not Jack Bannister" who, admittedly, in neither the one who came up with that title nor using the name Jack Bannister anymore. It's mostly how Fisk refers to him.

** John Carter himself is Dotar Sojat Chieftain of the Tharks, Prince of Helium, Jeddak of Jeddaks, Warlord of Mars.

* The main character of [[Andre Norton]]'s first published book, ''The Prince Commands'', a [[Spare to the Throne]] newly notified that he was royalty — and now the Crown Prince — had not only an [[Overly Long Name]] but lots and lots of titles. A '''complete''' list was never given, but he was:

{{Quote|"Your Royal Highness is the Colonel of the Prince's Own, of the Red Hussars, of the Mounted Rifles, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force,<ref>A single barely-flyable plane.</ref> Military Governor of Rein, Commander of the Fortress of St. Sebastian, Grand Master of the Order of St. Sebastian, Companion of the Order of the Crown, Hereditary Knight of the Palace, Champion of the King, Wearer of the Sword of St. Michael, Duke of Casnov, Baron of Urnt, Count of Kelive, Knight of Klam—"<ref>There are discrepancies in the spellings of some of those place names.</ref>}}

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* [[Lampshaded]] in the first episode of ''[[Psych]]'': Gus learns that Shawn named his [[Phony Psychic]] detective agency "Psych" and sarcastically suggests that he call it "Hey, we're fooling you ''and'' the police department; hope we don't make a mistake and someone dies because of it." Shawn, in an extremely hilarious example of [[Comically Missing the Point]], responds "Gus, that name is entirely too long, it would never fit on the window."

 

* The Qu'ran opens "In the name of Allah, the All Beneficent, The Most Merciful in Essence, The Compassionate, The Most Gracious..." and according to Islam, although there's no definitive list, there's another 95 attributes of God.

* Many religions give their god (or gods) many names; although Islam (at 99) takes the cake (the Baha'i have 100, but it's the Muslim list plus one), many other religions send God's names into double digits; this includes Judaism, where one of the most common names of God is...The Name (Ha Shem in Hebrew). Even those religions which feature more than one deity often give each deity many names and titles; for instance, [[Classical Mythology]] gives us Zeus Meilichios, Zeus Chthonios, Zeus Plousios, and so on, each referring to a different aspect of Zeus; the same is true of Athena Parthenos, Tritogeneia, Ageleia, Itonia, Athena Ergane, Athena Polias...

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* The [[Celestial Bureaucracy]] in ''[[Exalted]]'' is ''made of'' this trope. Just for reference, terms like the "Bureau of Destiny"? Those are the ''unofficial'' names; the ''real'' name is Most Excellent Designers of Destiny and Sidereal Conjunctions, and the rest of the Bureaucracy has similarly lengthy and grandiose titles.

* The Ordo Dracul in [[White Wolf]]'s ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' loves long and florid titles. For example: "Philosopher of the Burning Terror, Sworn of the Dying Light, Guardian of the Mountain, Kogaion of the City."

 

* Famously [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s Pooh-Bah from ''The Mikado'' who is: Master of the Rolls, Master of the Buckhounds, Groom of the Backstairs, First Lord of the Treasury, Solicitor, Lord Chamberlain, Attorney-General, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Privy Purse, Lord Chief Justice, Leader of the Opposition, Paymaster-General, Lord High Auditor, Archbishop of Titipu, First Commissioner of Police, Private Secretary, Groom of the Second Floor Front, Lord Mayor and Judge Ordinary. Indeed the ''only'' position in city government he does not hold is that of Lord High Executioner. Modern productions like to add some titles, to introduce more contemporary humour. Examples would be "Director of Homeland Security" or "Husband of [[Elizabeth Taylor]]"

 

== Video Games ==

** Long names are actually a Salarian trait and they usually shorten them when dealing with other races.

* Quoting from the [[Dude, Where's My Respect?]] page, [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|"Hello, I'm]] {{spoiler|Sheogorath, god of madness}}, Archmage of the mages guilds, Master of the fighters guild, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, Gray Fox of the thieves guild, Grand Champion of the Arena, The Hero of Kvatch, Savior of Bruma, Champion of Cyrodiil, and Divine Crusader. I wear the [[Infinity+1 Sword|infinity plus one armor]] of [[Nigh Invulnerability]], my spells can bring [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|doom]] to anything in my path, my sword will eat your soul, and I will summon a greater daedra to beat the shit out of you."

{{quote|'''Henryk Piast,'''

King of Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, Germany, Burgundy, Italy, Sweden, France and Denmark,

Duke of Auvergne, Benevento, Bosnia, Barcelona, Champagne, Pecs, Pomerania, León, Modena, Upper Burgundy, Nyitra, Pomeralia, Spoleto, Upper Lorraine, Hereford, Greater Poland and Yatviags,

Count of Venezia, Slupsk, Danzig, Marienburg, Kuchawy, Gnieznienskie, Poznanskie, Kaliskie, Opole, Upper Silesia, Praha, Hradec Kralove, Plzen, Cieszyn, Krakowskie, Sieradzko-Leczyckie, Plock, Sandomierskie and Sacz. }}

{{quote|His/Her Royal-Highness Lord/Lady Cousland, Prince/ss-Consort of Ferelden, Teyrn/a of Gwaren, Arl/essa of Denerim, Arl/essa of Amaranthine, 2nd-in-line to the Teyrnir of Highever, Warden-Commander of the Order of Ferelden Grey Wardens, '''[[Authority Equals Asskicking|Hero/ine of Ferelden.]]'''}}

* The Pretenders of [[Dominions]] are assigned titles after their name dependent on a variety of factors known and unknown, including magic skills, form, and scales. So a god's full name can stretch to something like, to give an actual example, "Manvale, Lord of Fear and Trembling, King of Suicides, the One Always at the Shoulder, Guardian of the Dead, Lord of Plagues."

* In the ''[[Overlord]]'' series, the player's [[Evil Overlord]] will gain an increasing number of titles that reference specific accomplishments in the games, often varying depending on the choices they made. You only ever hear them from [[The Jester|Quaver]], though.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Miko of ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' introduces herself to the Monster in the Darkness as "Miko Miyazaki, samurai of the Sapphire Guard, loyal vassal of Lord Shojo, [[I Am X, Son of Y|daughter of Eyko]], and paladin of the Twelve Gods of the South". The MITD comments about how it's hard to put all that on her business cards.

** Earlier, she attempted to introduce herself to Roy the same way when asked for her name, but Roy stopped paying attention.

** Keep in mind that "Longshoreman of the Apocalypse" is ''not'' a title—it's [[Awesome McCoolname|his given name]].

** And later another AI "raised" by Para started a collection of fancy-sounding titles. Once is a fluke, twice is a trend? "{{spoiler|Chinook, of Eina-Afa}}... Goddess of Earth, Wind and Plumbing... Our Sentinel of Perpetual Overwatch... Cryptkeeper, Vaultminder, Stormtender, [[Brick Joke|Spider Queen]]... Wealservant, Avenging Deputy... Warm Breath Upon the Holy Wind..."

 

== Western Animation ==

*** Thank goodness!

* Back when Libya was the "terrorist bogeyman du jour," as the Transformers Wiki puts it, ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' had a [[Qurac]] named Carbombya (no, ''seriously.'') Or rather, the [[People's Republic of Tyranny|Socialist Democratic Federated Republic of Carbombya]]. Its leader, a thinly-veiled [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]] of leader of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi, was Supreme Military Commander, President-for-Life, and King of Kings Abdul Fakkadi.

 

== Real Life ==

* [[Stephen Hawking|Stephen William Hawking]], CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA, D.Phil., Lucasian Professor of Mathematics

* [[Dave Barry]] spoofed this at one point with a list of titles for the British prince (Prince of Wales, Knight of the Trouser, Top of the Morning, Vice President of Marketing, and much, much more...). Another was a proposed reform of the government where any person with more than three titles on his door would be given five minutes to clear his desk.

** The above were her styles and titles upon becoming Queen. With the further development of [[The Commonwealth]], 'Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas' has been replaced by 'the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Saint Christopher and Nevis'. She is also Paramount Chief of Fiji, though no longer the head of state there.

** Her complete list of titles is so long that, according to rumor, if she's ever late for an engagement the herald will just keep on reading them until she arrives.

* The [[The Roman Empire|Roman Emperors]] had long lists of titles, but for the distinctly practical reason that Augustus needed to keep the Senate for PR reasons, so he merely took every important office there was short of Consul.

** None of those titles was inherited.

** [[Crowning Moment of Funny|In 1850 the then Prime Minister of the UK wanted Wellington's advice, but felt that he had not sufficient standing to approach the man directly. He asked Queen Victoria to speak to the Duke for him]].

* The Song dynasty period in [[Imperial China]] had a civil service system that made every bureaucrat like this. It shares some similarities with the "rank and commissions" system in modern military—but they have separate ''administrative'' and ''pay'' ranks, and these ranks and commissions is ''on top of'' an nominal assignment titles. Which complicate matters was that all these assignment, rank and commission titles look like titles of office, and so needs to be listed together in official documents. God forbid when the person bore honours—historian [[wikipedia:Sima Guang|Sima Guang]] signed his ''[[wikipedia:Zizhi Tongjian|Zizhi Tongjian]]'' with a title of 47 characters of length, including 2 assignments, rank titles, a commission, and two honours—including a "Founding Duke of Henai County (Fief 2,600 houses with 1,000 bestowed)" for the latter. At the time, he was just ''a sinecure'' with a stipend.

* His Imperial Majesty The Sultan Süleyman I, the Sovereign of the Imperial House of Osman, Sultan of Sultans, Khan of Khans, Commander of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe, Protector of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem,Emperor of The Three Cities of Constantinople, Adrianople and Bursa, and of the Cities of Damascus and Cairo, of all Azerbaijan, of the Magris, of Barka, of Kairuan, of Aleppo, of Arabic Iraq and of Ajim, of Basra, of El Hasa, of Dilen, of Raka, of Mosul, of Parthia, of Diyar-i bekr, of Kurdistan, of Cilicia, of the Vilayets of Erzurum, of Sivas, of Adana, of Karaman, of Van, of Barbary, of Abyssinia, of Tunisia, of Tripoli, of Damascus, of Cyprus, of Rhodes, of Candia, of the Vilayet of the Morea, of the Marmara Sea, of the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and also its coasts, of Anatolia, of Rumelia, Baghdad, Greece, Turkistan, Tartary, Circassia, of the two regions of Kabarda, of Georgia, of the plain of Kypshak, of the whole country of the Tartars, of Kefa and of all the neighbouring countries, of Bosnia and its dependencies, of the City and Fort of Belgrade, of the Vilayet (District) of Serbia, with all the castles, forts and cities, of all Albania, of all Iflak and Bogdania, as well as all the dependencies and borders, and many other countries and cities would like all to know that he will soon shorten his title. He didn't like Kefa anyway.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Naming Conventions]]

[[Category:These Tropes Love to Brag]]