Tuckerization: Difference between revisions

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The standard fandom term for using a real person's name in a story as a form of in-joke or [[Shout Out]]. Derived from the science fiction writer Wilson Tucker, well known for doing this.

The standard fandom term for using a real person's name in a story as a form of in-joke or [[Shout-Out]]. Derived from the science fiction writer Wilson Tucker, well known for doing this.

It isn't always a famous person, either: sometimes a writer will use the names of friends (or enemies). Famous writers, including [[Stephen King]] and [[Terry Pratchett]], have been known to offer their readers a chance to be tuckerized, either as [[Contest Winner Cameo|the prize in a competition]] or as part of a charity auction. Characters created under these circumstances have a tendency to suffer a form of [[Death By Cameo]]. Sometimes falls into [[Theme Naming]].

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== Anime and Manga ==

* Ash from the ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime. His original Japanese name is Satoshi, after the creator of the ''[[Pokémon]]'' games, Satoshi Tajiri; some have hypothesised that "Ash" is in turn a contraction of "Satoshi". Gary was originally named Shigeru after [[Shigeru Miyamoto]], the game director and [[Creators]] of such [[Nintendo]] mascots as [[Super Mario Bros|Mario]], [[Donkey Kong]], and [[The Legend of Zelda|Link]]. Probably both a poke and a tribute, as their game series are rivals and Miyamoto mentored Tajiri early in ''Pokémon'''s production. Finally, [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Paul#Trivia Paul] was named after an employee at the company who dubs ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]''

* Reportedly, Sky Dragon of Osiris was renamed "Slifer the Sky Dragon" in the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' dub, as a nod to [[~~Four Kids~~ Entertainment|4Kids]] director Roger Slifer. Yes, it's stupid, and yes, it gets many an account of [[Gannon Banned]].

* Reportedly, Sky Dragon of Osiris was renamed "Slifer the Sky Dragon" in the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' dub, as a nod to [[4Kids! Entertainment|4Kids]] director Roger Slifer. Yes, it's stupid, and yes, it gets many an account of [[Gannon Banned]].

** Played with in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series (Web Video)|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]'', which calls the dragon "Slifer the Executive Producer."

* Shigeru Kanmuri in ''[[Yakitate!! Japan]]''. The author's editor's name? Shigeru Kanmuri.

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* Janis Ian in ''[[Mean Girls]]'' is straight but the real Janis Ian is not.

* Parody: One of the main characters in ''[[Office Space]]'' is named Michael Bolton... and his major character trait is constantly complaining about people bringing up the ''other'' Michael Bolton. When someone asks him why he doesn't go by "Mike", his reply is "No way! Why should I change? [[Take That|''He's'' the one who sucks!"]]

* Pretty much everyone in the entire cast of the first ''[[Final Destination]]'' is one big [[Shout Out]] to some influential horror director or another; for instance, the teacher is named after Val Lewton, who did ''Cat People''. In fact, this kind of thing seems to be fairly common in horror movies. So, if you don't want a tribute of you to feature the bloody death and dismemberment of your namesake, don't become a horror director.

* Pretty much everyone in the entire cast of the first ''[[Final Destination]]'' is one big [[Shout-Out]] to some influential horror director or another; for instance, the teacher is named after Val Lewton, who did ''Cat People''. In fact, this kind of thing seems to be fairly common in horror movies. So, if you don't want a tribute of you to feature the bloody death and dismemberment of your namesake, don't become a horror director.

** A sign in ''[[Slither]]'' promotes "Henenlotter Dairy Days". Frank Henenlotter was the director of ''Basket Case''.

** Raimi and Savini in ''[[The Dead Next Door]]'', after ''[[Evil Dead]]'' director Sam Raimi and ''[[Dawn of the Dead (Film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' effects artist and actor Tom Savini.

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* In ''[[Dog Soldiers (Film)|Dog Soldiers]]'' one of the squaddies is called Bruce Campbell, after the star of the [[Evil Dead]] films which influenced the film. Not to mention [[HG Wells|Sgt. Harry G. Wells]].

* In the movie adaptation of ''[[Fight Club]]'', the three detectives interviewing the Narrator as he spills the beans on Project Mayhem are Detective Andrew, Detective Kevin and Detective Walker. Andrew Kevin Walker wrote the script for the David Fincher movie [[Se7en]] as well as doing some uncredited rewrites on the [[Fight Club]] script.

* In the ''[[Doom (Film)|Doom]]'' movie, the chief scientist in such is named Todd Carmack, after [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/John_Carmack~~ the lead programmer] of id Software. They could've named the same character after the company's CEO Todd Hollenshead, though.

* In the ''[[Doom (Film)|Doom]]'' movie, the chief scientist in such is named Todd Carmack, after [[wikipedia:John Carmack|the lead programmer]] of id Software. They could've named the same character after the company's CEO Todd Hollenshead, though.

** The protagonist of the movie is named "John", a name shared with two of id's founders: the above John Carmack, as well as [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/John_Romero~~ John Romero].

** The protagonist of the movie is named "John", a name shared with two of id's founders: the above John Carmack, as well as [[wikipedia:John Romero|John Romero]].

* The main character of ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'', Nicholas Angel, was named after the film's music supervisor.

* The list of rejected housekeepers in ''[[Mrs. Doubtfire (Film)|Mrs. Doubtfire]]'' is composed of crew members whose names also appear in the end credits.

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*** And to repay the kindness, Smith wrote about Egyptian priest Luveh-Keraph. Or the other way round.

* In one of [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''Black Widower'' mysteries, the name of the guest was the name of a reader who had won a competition; the prize was to be included in the story.

* The ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Maskerade|Maskerade]]'' features a brief appearance by a young woman named Colette, who draws comment for her remarkable earrings; this is a [[Shout Out]] to a fan Terry Pratchett met at a book signing while he was working on the novel, whose name was Colette and who was wearing a pair of memorable earrings. Several subsequent Discworld novels have included characters whose names were determined by charity auctions.

* The ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Maskerade|Maskerade]]'' features a brief appearance by a young woman named Colette, who draws comment for her remarkable earrings; this is a [[Shout-Out]] to a fan Terry Pratchett met at a book signing while he was working on the novel, whose name was Colette and who was wearing a pair of memorable earrings. Several subsequent Discworld novels have included characters whose names were determined by charity auctions.

** And let's not forget Hodgesaargh, the Lancre castle falconer, based on Dave Hodges, who really does keep birds of prey. Lady Jane, the vicious gyrfalcon who keeps attacking him, is real too.

** Dr. Follett, the former head of the Assassin's Guild, was named after the author Ken Follett.

* [[Nero Wolfe|Rex Stout]] was a midshipman on President [[Theodore Roosevelt|Theodore Roosevelt's]] yacht from 1906 to 1908. His life was made miserable by a bullying, incompetent senior officer named Gilbert Rowcliff. Later, while writing the [[Nero Wolfe]] novels, he created a bullying, incompetent police lieutenant named George Rowcliff who showed up in a number of books. Stout later admitted that he'd followed the career of his early nemesis and had been surprised when Rear Admiral Rowcliff was named [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Gilbert_Jonathan_Rowcliff~~ Judge Advocate General] of the Navy.

* [[Nero Wolfe|Rex Stout]] was a midshipman on President [[Theodore Roosevelt|Theodore Roosevelt's]] yacht from 1906 to 1908. His life was made miserable by a bullying, incompetent senior officer named Gilbert Rowcliff. Later, while writing the [[Nero Wolfe]] novels, he created a bullying, incompetent police lieutenant named George Rowcliff who showed up in a number of books. Stout later admitted that he'd followed the career of his early nemesis and had been surprised when Rear Admiral Rowcliff was named [[wikipedia:Gilbert Jonathan Rowcliff|Judge Advocate General]] of the Navy.

* In [[Elizabeth Moon]]'s novel ''[[Vattas War|Victory Conditions]]'', the section in which the villains attack the Moray shipyards features heroic deaths for a group of the author's friends.

* As Piers Anthony's ''[[Xanth (Literature)|Xanth]]'' series now consists almost entirely of [[Running the Asylum|material suggested by fans]], the series now includes many references to actual readers. A major character, Jenny Elf, is named in honor of a real girl and Xanth reader who was paralyzed in a car accident.

* There are several of these in the [[Dragaera]] books, particularly in the introductions to the ''Khaavren'' books. One, written by "The Dean of Pamlar University" was written by author Pamela Dean; another, by a magician named Ilen was written by [[Neil Gaiman]]. Similarly, in the book ''Athyra'', there is a reference to a ''Book of the Seven Wizards'', with each wizard being a [[Shout Out]] to writer friends of Brust, except for one which describes himself.

* There are several of these in the [[Dragaera]] books, particularly in the introductions to the ''Khaavren'' books. One, written by "The Dean of Pamlar University" was written by author Pamela Dean; another, by a magician named Ilen was written by [[Neil Gaiman]]. Similarly, in the book ''Athyra'', there is a reference to a ''Book of the Seven Wizards'', with each wizard being a [[Shout-Out]] to writer friends of Brust, except for one which describes himself.

* In the ''[[Star Trek]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] novel ''How Much For Just The Planet?'' by [[John M Ford]], the ''Enterprise'' visits a planet colonized by a group of eccentric artists; nearly all the colonists with speaking parts are based on the author's friends and fellow-writers, including [[Pamela Dean]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Diane Duane]], [[Peter Morwood]], and [[Janet Kagan]].

** Interestingly, ''How Much For Just The Planet?'' was used in Duane's ''[[Young Wizards]]'' Series as the title of an alien TV show.

* [[Peter David]] has a book out called ''Mascot To the Rescue!'' which tells the story of a boy named Josh [[Frank Miller|Miller]] trying to save a comic book character from death (you see, everything that happens to Mascot, the character, also happens to Josh). Who writes the comic that Mascot is in? Why, a man named [[Stan Lee|Stan]] [[Jack Kirby|Kirby]].

** Which reminds me of an old [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] book (based on the cartoon) where the Turtles meet a guy named Kirby who uses a magic pencil to bring comics to life. It always made me tear up.

** He also wrote in [[Shout Out|Shout Outs]] to all the actors who played the main characters on his show ''[[Space Cases]]'' in the first four ''[[Star Trek New Frontier]]'' novels. And he re-shouted out Jewel Staite in another novel after ''[[Firefly]]''.

** He also wrote in [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to all the actors who played the main characters on his show ''[[Space Cases]]'' in the first four ''[[Star Trek New Frontier]]'' novels. And he re-shouted out Jewel Staite in another novel after ''[[Firefly]]''.

*** Also, Roger Tang, the Starfleet ground-pounder with the [[Catch Phrase]] "All part of the service" in ''Imzadi''? Named after an enthusiastic fan.

* A very unpleasant example by [[Michael Crichton]]: the journalist Michael Crowley, who criticised Crichton's position on global warming, was written into ''Next'' under the name "Mick Crowley". Several other details (Washington journalist, went to Yale) are given just to make sure nobody misses who it's supposed to be. The fictional Mick Crowley is a homosexual baby rapist with a very small penis.

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* [[Tamora Pierce]] does this more and more, usually with a variation in spelling. Kyrsty Street and Hollyskyt Street keep being mentioned as locations in Kugisko in ''Cold Fire''; sure enough, the acknowledgements include a Holly Skeet and a Kirsty Something-or-other. And most members of the author's [http://www.sheroescentral.com message board] noticed Joshain Street in ''Trickster's Choice'' and Ratey's Inn in ''The Will of the Empress'', both of which are variations on the usernames of [[Big Name Fan|Big Name Fans]].

* [[Matthew Reilly]] at one point went on the popular Australian radio show ''Hamish & Andy'', and held an impromptu competition: Call in if you have a good-sounding name, and the best one will be in his next novel, ''The Five Greatest Warriors''. The resulting character, General Jackson Dyer, lasted 29 pages, which is, as Reilly said himself, 'a huge number of pages for a Matthew Reilly book'.

* Gary Russell's ''[[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~Doctor Who]]'' [[Virgin New Adventures]] novel ''Legacy'' featured several notable names in fandom, including an alcoholic Pakhar (intelligent alien hamster) named Hyn't'n, whose death sets up the plot. By a strange coincidence, Craig Hinton's subsequent DW novel, ''The Crystal Bucephalus'', had a cameo by a doglike creature named Garruss.

* Gary Russell's ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Virgin New Adventures]] novel ''Legacy'' featured several notable names in fandom, including an alcoholic Pakhar (intelligent alien hamster) named Hyn't'n, whose death sets up the plot. By a strange coincidence, Craig Hinton's subsequent DW novel, ''The Crystal Bucephalus'', had a cameo by a doglike creature named Garruss.

** The Virgin Publishing ''[[~~Doctor Who (TV)|~~Doctor Who]]'' novels did this a ''lot''. Take a random book and compare the names of minor characters with the rec.arts.drwho folk namechecked in the aknowledgements.

** The Virgin Publishing ''[[Doctor Who]]'' novels did this a ''lot''. Take a random book and compare the names of minor characters with the rec.arts.drwho folk namechecked in the aknowledgements.

* [[Simon R Green]] likes having characters named after sf jounalist [[David Langford]] (starting with gossip columnist Dee Langford in ''Deathstalker Destiny''). He frequently writes to Langford's fanzine, ''Ansible'', to express his glee in how viciously he can kill them off.

* The ''[[Lord Darcy (Literature)|Lord Darcy]]'' stories by Randall Garrett include a brilliant magical theoretician named Sir Thomas Leseaux. Garrett was friends with the stage magician and author T.A. Waters. His sometime collaborator Michael Kurland appears in ''Too Many Magicians'' as Sergeant-At-Arms Michel Coure-Terre. Also in ''Too Many Magicians'', there is a senior wizard named James Zwinge; the real name of stage magician and arch-sceptic James Randi.

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== Live-Action TV ==

* In ''[[~~Babylon 5 (TV)|~~Babylon 5]]'', Psicorps agent Alfred Bester is named after the science fiction writer, whose work often dealt with [[Psychic Powers]]. In particular, his novel ''The Demolished Man'' is about a set of psychics that bear a marked resemblance to the Psicorps.

* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', Psicorps agent Alfred Bester is named after the science fiction writer, whose work often dealt with [[Psychic Powers]]. In particular, his novel ''The Demolished Man'' is about a set of psychics that bear a marked resemblance to the Psicorps.

** Dr Lillian Hobbes won a charity auction where the prize was to be the 'victim' of this trope.

** The [[Expanded Universe]] reveals that Bester was named after the author in-universe as well, since the man who took him to be raised by Psi-Corps after his parents' deaths was a big fan and entered him under the name.

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* The Dead Milkmen's "Stuart" mentions a kid named Jonny Wurster: Jon Wurster is the drummer for Superchunk and a friend of the band.

* Sloan are named after an old friend of the band, sort of: their friend Jason Larsen was frequently called "slow one" by his boss, but due to a heavy french accent it sounded more like "Sloan", which became his nickname. Larsen agreed to let them name their band after him on the condition that they put him on an album cover, and sure enough his face is on the cover of ''Peppermint'', their first EP.

* Miike Snow took their name from their friend Mike Snow, then added an extra "i" as a [[Shout Out]] to [[Takashi Miike]].

* Miike Snow took their name from their friend Mike Snow, then added an extra "i" as a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Takashi Miike]].

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== Tabletop Games ==

* Practically half the names of people and places in the World of Greyhawk setting for ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' are named after people E. Gary Gygax knew, and then there's Xagyg himself.

* Some examples from ''[[Magic the Gathering (Tabletop Game)|Magic the Gathering]]'': [http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=37 Nevinyrral's Disk] is named after writer [[Larry Niven]] <ref>Although this might be more of a straight [[Shout Out]], given that Niven wrote a story about just such a disk.</ref>, while [http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=3794 Jalum Tome] is named after former ''Magic'' game designer Joel L. Mick (initials: JLM).

* Some examples from ''[[Magic the Gathering (Tabletop Game)|Magic the Gathering]]'': [http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=37 Nevinyrral's Disk] is named after writer [[Larry Niven]] <ref>Although this might be more of a straight [[Shout-Out]], given that Niven wrote a story about just such a disk.</ref>, while [http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=3794 Jalum Tome] is named after former ''Magic'' game designer Joel L. Mick (initials: JLM).

** There's also Mons's Goblin Raiders for Mons Johnson and Jayemdae Tome for '''J'''. '''M'''ichael '''Davis'''. Also there are a number of Arabian Nights cards containing anagrams of Richard Garfield's friends' names when he ran out of [[Gratuitous Foreign Language|Gratuitous Arabic]]. Oh, and [[Significant Anagram|Pheldagrif/Garfield PhD]].

** [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Maro Maro] is named after lead designer '''Ma'''rk '''Ro'''sewater.

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* Let's not forget [[Isaac Asimov]] [[Arthur C. Clarke (Creator)|Clarke]] from ''[[Dead Space (Video Game)|Dead Space]]''.

* On [[The Bourne Series|that]] [[Ian Fleming|note,]] [[Shadow Complex|Jason Fleming.]]

* Ozzy, Slash and Flea in ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'' were [[Shout Out|Shout Outs]] to Ozzy Ozborne, Slash from Guns N Roses, and Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers. (Their Japanese names were references to food sauces.) This caused some problems in the sequel, where there was a new character named Slash, whose name had to be changed to Nikki, after Nikki Sixx of ''[[Motley Crue]]''.

* Ozzy, Slash and Flea in ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'' were [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to Ozzy Ozborne, Slash from Guns N Roses, and Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers. (Their Japanese names were references to food sauces.) This caused some problems in the sequel, where there was a new character named Slash, whose name had to be changed to Nikki, after Nikki Sixx of ''[[Motley Crue]]''.

* [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] originally intended to name Link from ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' "Chris" or "Christo" after his godfather. [[Executive Meddling]] stopped his plans.

* [[Super Mario Bros|Mario]] was named after Nintendo of America's landlord, Mario Segali.

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* Lightning McQueen, the hero of the ''[[Cars]]'' series films, is named after the late [[Pixar Regulars|Pixar regular Glenn McQueen.]]

* On ''[[Recess]]'', T.J. was going to be named P.J., to stand for the first initials of the show's creators (Paul (Germain) and Joe (Ansolabehere)), but was changed to T.J. shortly before animation was done to the pilot.

** Mikey Blumberg's last name is a [[Shout Out]] to Disney TV executive Barry Blumberg, who gave ''Recess'' the greenlight.

** Mikey Blumberg's last name is a [[Shout-Out]] to Disney TV executive Barry Blumberg, who gave ''Recess'' the greenlight.

* The title character of ''[[Doug]]'' was named after creator Jim Jinkins' godson.

** Patti Mayonnaise was named after two girls Jim Jinkins had crushes on as a middle school students: Patti and Mayo.

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[[Category:Naming Conventions]]

[[Category:Tuckerization]]

[[Category:Trope]]