Unpronounceable Alias

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Aang: Name's Bonzu Pipinpadalopsicopolis ... the Third, and these are my grandkids. Katara: Hi, June Pipinpadalopsicopolis. Nice to meet you. —Avatar: The Last Airbender

One of our heroes is traveling or acting under false pretenses, and is asked for their name when they'd really rather not give it. Unprepared for this, they quickly stammer something that's barely a word at all, let alone a name. If it's supposed to be a full name, it often ends in "the Third".

Naturally, the questioner and everyone else around will pronounce the name perfectly, hang lampshades about it, and not yield an inch. Award bonus points if the alias turns out to actually be someone's name that the questioner knows.

Compare Sue Donym and The Unpronounceable.

Examples of Unpronounceable Alias include:

Anime and Manga

• Trigun: Vash introducing himself to Wolfwood: "I am known as Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gombigobella Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre André Charton-Haymoss Ivanovicci Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser the Third", adding, "Don't hesitate to call."
• Cowboy Bebop: Radical Edward, real name Francoise, introduces herself as "Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky The Fourth."
  • Possibly a reference to Pippi Longstockings, full name Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter Longstocking, another red-haired, self-groomed girl with eccentric behaviour and speech
  • Her father's not much better, being named Appledelhi Siniz Hesap Lutfen, which translates as "Excuse me check please" in Turkish.

Fan Works

• In Sailor Moon Z, Usagi's TORG counterpart is Princess Angelina Comtessa Louisa Francesca Banana-fana-fo-fesca Fireball the III.

Film

• In Mr. Deeds, Winona Ryder's character, an investigative reporter, makes up a false identity in order to investigate Longfellow Deeds. When Deeds asks where she's from, she hesitantly makes up the town of Winchestertonfieldville, Iowa. Unfortunately, the plan backfires when Deeds ends up taking her on a trip to her supposed childhood home in Winchestertonfieldville...
• In A Fish Called Wanda, the rather dense Otto is attempting to explain to Archie Leach's wife just what the heck he's doing in her house. Part of his flimsy cover includes the alias Mr. Manfrenjensen...jen. When she picks apart his story, she idly repeats this pseudonym perfectly.
  • If I remember correctly, she says it as "Mr Manfrenjen St. John", making it even funnier.
    • "St. John" as a name is pronounced "sen jen."

Live-Action TV

• Kenan and Kel: When Kenan and Kel (disguised as a woman) pose as a married couple to win a car on a game show for couples, Kenan impulsively stammers out the last name "Rockersteinbergerson."
  • The girl interviewing them for the show pronounces it without missing a beat, but after that no one else is able to—not even Kenan. When he is asked how to pronounce it by the show's host, he stammers a bit and then gives up and just says "I don't know."
• Will & Grace: Karen's "Anastasia Beverhausen. That's Anastasia like Russian royalty and Beverhausen like... where the beaver live."
• Stephen Colbert, on hearing of Mel Gibson's arrest and anti-Semitic remarks, recommended the legal firm of 'Leibowitz, Silverberg and Fishmansteinberg'. Funnier if you know that Jon Stewart's real birth name was Leibowitz.
  • A flashback tells us that the first alias Geralt of Rivia tried was somewhat along those lines. It's referenced in a Mythology Gag latter.
• Not a name example, but a Saturday Night Live sketch involves Chris Farley in a Japanese gameshow, except he wildly guesses on all three questions, but he still gets the first two right. On the last question, he has no idea what the answer is, but the penalty for getting it wrong is painful electric shocks. He guesses "Kwa...ki...sur...pi...ne...ku?" and the correct answer was apparently "Kwakisurpipiku"
• The memorable "Butterball hotline" scene from the episode "The Indians in the Lobby" of The West Wing. Bartlet stumbles through the myriad demands of hiding that you're the President while on the phone, and gives his name as "Joe... Betherson-ton. That's one T, and... with an H in there." In a variant, he's then gives an incredibly long street name for his fake home address to give Charlie time to look up the correct ZIP code.
  • He also makes up the name of a fictional car salesman -- "Phil Baharnd".
• Possibly an entire planet in Doctor Who, with the Slitheen home planet called Raxicoricofallapatorius. It takes Rose an entire episode to pronounce it right. It also has a twin planet called Clom, home to a lesser race called the Abzorbaloff.
• Prince Bappalappashamalamadingdong in The Suite of Zack and Cody.'

Literature

• In Wyrd Sisters, the witches summon a demon who tells them its name is unpronounceable in their tongue. Granny of course says she'll be the judge of that, so it tells them. Naturally, Granny barely hesitates.
• Subverted in one of the Volo novels (Forgotten Realms), in which Volo and his companions are passing themselves off as drow. One makes up an Unpronounceable Alias for himself by stringing a lot of X and Z sounds together, in accordance with cliches about drow names, yet their interrogator isn't fooled for an instant, because the resulting tongue-twister is a woman's name in drow culture.
• In a somewhat hilarious story with absolutely NO fourth wall whatsoever, the narrator introduces himself to the protagonist (yes, you read that right) as Sir Francis Daxiana Reginald Popniner Killamen Snap the 3rd. Call him Max.

Newspaper Comics

• A strip of the Dilbert comic actually inverts this trope when the company's Call Center is outsourced to Elbonia:

Elbonian: Hello, how may I help you? My name is Kruphnehdahpheweundikaniswalyniaphorganopop... I mean, Carl.

• • Also, of course, parodying the effect of having call centers outsourced to India where your call is answered by somebody with an extremely thick Indian accent who introduces himself as "James" or "Nathan".

Radio

• Arthur, in Cabin Pressure, mixed with Bad Liar.

DOUGLAS: All right, answer this question with a lie: what is your name? ARTHUR: Arth...nold Man, er, Cat...sir...man. DOUGLAS: Arthnold Manercatsirman? ARTHUR: Yeah. DOUGLAS: That’s an unusual name. Tell me, is it made up? ARTHUR: Yes, it is. Oh!

Video Games

• In the first Suikoden, the main is required to pick an alias for himself. One of them is an example, "Schtolteheim Reinbach the Third." Later in the series, in a prequel game set roughly 100 years before the first game, there's a major NPC who who is named Schtolteheim Reinbach the second, and his son, a recruitable PC: the foppish Schtolteheim Reinbach the Third.
  • The similarity in that ridiculous name is not a coincidence: there was a well known series of books was written about him.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender: Aang gives one of these when the party enters Omashu for the first time, and the king pronounces it perfectly.
  • Katara also manages to pronounce it perfectly and naturally having heard it for the first time only a second ago.
• South Park: Cartman gives two of these when trying to get in to the girls' big party in the episode "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset". Both turn out to match real people, and he is rejected twice.
• The Flintstones: Fred did this in a Fable Remake of Cinderella.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: In the episode, "One Krabs Trash". Mr.Krabs makes up "Smitty Werbenjegarmanjensen," who naturally, to his surprise, turns out to have been an actual person.
  • ...who just so happens to be buried in the Bikini Bottom Cemetery...with a large stone "#1" as his headstone.
• The Simpsons: In the episode "The Last Temptation of Homer", Homer feebly suggests the alias "Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo". Unimpressed, Moe says it's the stupidest name he's ever heard. As a patron gets up and exits the bar, weeping, Barney calls after him "Joey Joe Joe...!"
• On Animaniacs, Dot sometimes introduces herself as Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana-fana-fo-fesca the Third.
• Pinky and The Brain has done this; in one episode, Pinky messes up Brain's introduction, and for the rest of the episode Brain is referred to as "Lord Narfumwhatbrainlumpfordsomethingshire". Of course, no one has any trouble remembering or pronouncing it.
  • In at least two episodes, Pinky is Dr. Jiggle-it-a-little-it'll-open.
• In The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Dress", Gumball is forced to wear his mom's wedding dress because his father shrunk all his clothes in the wash. When he's inevitably spotted by the other kids, they don't recognize him (in fact, most are quite smitten with him), and he hastily tries to invent an alias from all the things around him, coincidentally landing on "Gumball" more than once, but no one seems to notice - and, of course, everyone remembers his ridiculous pseudonym perfectly.
• Panchito Pistoles occasionally introduces himself as either Panchito Romero Miguel Junipero Francisco Quintero Gonzales III or El Gayo Jose Francesco Sandro de Lima y Loma Pancho Allegre.
• "Ki- Kidamaschnaga- Do you have any nicknames?"