I Have Many Names: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|'''Verence:''' Are you Death, fellow?

'''Verence:''' Which one are you using at present?

 

In some stories there are characters with so many names, aliases, [[The Magnificent|bynames]], [[Sobriquet|and/or titles]] that it's hard to keep track of them. An attempt to do so ends up with an [[Overly Long Name]]. As such, when asked who they are, it is not uncommon for them to reply "I Have Many Names."

 

{{examples}}

* Yugi's alter-ego recites this line in the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' dub (which shouldn't technically count); but he's been referred to as Pharaoh (sometimes Nameless Pharaoh), Yami (for a few dub episodes, this is more often a [[Fanon]] name), Spirit (also for a few episodes), Mou Hitori no Boku (what Yugi calls him in the Japanese version, "the other me"), and his true name, {{spoiler|Atem}}.

** On [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|the abridged series]], he gets the classic line: "I have had many names. Once, I was known as Pharaoh. Then, I was the [[The Trope Formerly Known as X|Artist Formerly Known as Pharaoh.]]"

* ''[[Baccano!]]'''s Claire Stanfield, a.k.a Vino, {{spoiler|Rail Tracer}}, and a number of aliases that he changes about every week or so before finally sticking with {{spoiler|Felix Walken}} for legal reasons like {{spoiler|getting married}}. His stepbrothers are more than a little annoyed with this practice.

* Hei (a name which in itself is an alias) from ''[[Darker than Black]]'' has a number of them, including Li Shenshun, BK201, the Black Reaper, and (thanks to one of his slashfic-writing [[Loony Fan]]s) "the masked man with delicious collarbones"...Hey, he had no control over that last one, okay?

* Guts of ''[[Berserk]]'' is known as "The Black Swordsman" and "The Branded Swordsman" after the Eclipse, but back in the days when he was with the Band of the Hawk, in addition to his official title of Commander of the Hawk's Raiders, he also earned the title of "The Hundred Man Slayer" because of what he did to the Blue Whale Knights around the middle of the Golden Age arc.

* [[Trigun|Vash The Stampede]] is only really named 'Vash,' although he seems to have accepted 'The Stampede' as a legitimate surname since it became his most common epithet. He's also known as 'The Humanoid Typhoon,' 'The Walking Disaster Area,' 'The Demon of July,' and 'The First Human Act of God,' though the latter is only for insurance purposes.

** A better example would be [[Captain America (comics)]]/Steve Rogers. At various times in his career, Cap has also gone by "The Captain" and "Nomad" (among others), while his civilian aliases have included "Grant Rogers", "Buck Jones", "Roger Stevens", and "Brett Hendrick".

* Another Marvel example is James Howlett, better known as [[Wolverine]], but also known as Logan (sometimes with a "Jim" appended to it whenever the situation demanded), Patch, Weapon X, Death (when he was one of Apocalypse's Horseman, though that's not something one can leave behind as Archangel and Gambit can attest), The Ol' Canucklehead and so on and on.

* Outside of the original [[Captain Mar-Vell]], various [[Marvel Universe]] characters that take on the title of 'Marvel' in their superhero title at some point wind up changing their alias multiple times.

*** [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Monica]] [[Nextwave|Rambeau]]: Captain Marvel, Photon, Pulsar, Daystar, Sceptre, Lady of Light, Monica Marvel

*** [[X-Men (Comic Book)|Jean Grey]]: Marvel Girl, Phoenix, no code-name, Phoenix again, no code-name again

*** Rachel Summers: no code-name, Phoenix, Marvel Girl (also changed her real name to Rachel Grey)

* Helmut Zemo: Phoenix, Baron Zemo, and Citizen V.

* Karla Sofen: Moonstone, Meteorite and Ms. Marvel.

* The soul of the pre-Crisis [[Supergirl]] appears in [[Peter David]]'s ''Supergirl'' comics issue 48 and 49, and said this to the then-current Supergirl Linda Danvers: "I have gone by many names, but the one I am most fond of is: Kara!"

* Since [[Daredevil|Bullseye]] keeps his real name a secret, has used several aliases over the years. Benjamin Pointdexter, Shelton Pendergrass, Matt Hobson, etc.

 

== Fan Works ==

* Luffy in [[The Will of the D]] when {{spoiler|thanks to the water logia type fruit provided by a time traveling Gold Roger he is able to claim sovereignty over the sea}}

{{quote|"I have many names and I have no name, for they drift away with the currents."}}

 

== Films -- Live Action ==

* Crossing over into [[Badass Boast]] territory, from ''[[The Road Warrior]]'':

{{quote|"The Humungus! The Lord Humungus! The Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!"}}

{{quote|'''Abe:''' Red, you need to hear the rest of the information.

'''Hellboy:''' Nah, he's taken care of.

'''Hellboy:''' ''[Now fighting the revived Sammael]'' Cut to the end, will ya? How do I kill it?

'''Abe:''' Hmm, doesn't say. }}

 

== Literature ==

** ''The Dark Tower'' reveals Walter Paddick is his real name.

** The trope is actually stated near-verbatim by Tom Cullen in [[The Stand]], when he's in his trance. "He has many names..."

** There are even Elven terms for the various types of names according to originator and function. The general extra epithet was called the ''epessë'', the after-name. It was usually an honorary title or nickname, sometimes chosen by the Elf personally.)

** Gandalf from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'': "Many are my names in many countries: Mithrandir among the Elves, Tharkun to the Dwarves; Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incanus, in the North Gandalf, [[Mordor|to the east I go not.]]" Additionally don't forget Gandalf Greyhame, Gandalf the Grey, The Grey Pilgrim (a translation of Mithrandir), The White Rider and Gandalf the White. Also Greybeard, Stormcrow and Lathspell (Ill-news) as insults (although "Stormcrow" is [[Appropriated Appellation|later used by Gandalf himself]]).

*** In the [[Affectionate Parody]] ''[[Bored of the Rings]]''', Arrowroot son of Arrowshirt, True Son of Araplane—the Aragorn-analogue—drops the Trope name while parodying the above scene. His allies heave a long-suffering sigh as they confirm it to be true while at the same time keeping him from actually reciting the names.

** Tom Bombadil is called "Forn" by the dwarves, also known by the Men as Orald. And by the Elves as Iarwain Ben-Adar ("the eldest and fatherless").

** Sauron has many, many names (and titles), the most amusing of which is probably The Nameless One. Depending on how you count, he can easily beat even Aragorn and Gandalf.

** Also, Saruman/Curunir/Curumo, Saruman the White, Saruman of Many Colors, the White Wizard, nicknamed Sharkey.

** Even Frodo and Sam got elvish nicknames in the drafts (which translate as Endurance Beyond Hope and Hope Unquenchable).

** Reasons which might be related to the way he will look at you as if trying to figure out whether he owes you money, and if not, whether you might lend him some.

* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s Death, as mentioned in the quote. In the ''[[Discworld]]'' book ''Mort'', a list of his titles includes "The Stealer of Souls, Defeater of Empires, Swallower of Oceans, Thief of Years, The Ultimate Reality, Harvester of Mankind" before Death himself gets fed up and interrupts the herald announcing him.

** Or Moist von Lipwig, conman extraordinaire. He was hanged under the name Albert Spangler, but he used lots of others, including (apparently) "Ethel Snake".

** Granny Weatherwax is known to the dwarfs as "She Who Is To Be Avoided" and to the trolls as "Go Around the Other Side of the Mountain," titles about which she had mixed feelings. (The similarity of these to certain of [[Doctor Who|The Doctor's]] sobriquets is probably coincidental.)

* Parodied, like many other tropes, in David Eddings' ''[[Malloreon]]'', in the form of another [[Overly Long Gag]]:

{{quote|King Belgarion of Riva, Overlord of the West, Lord of the Western Sea, Godslayer, and general all-around hero, had an extended argument with his co-ruler, Queen Ce'Nedra of Riva, Imperial Princess of the Tolnedran Empire and Jewel of the House of Borune. The subject of their discussion hinged on the question of just who should have the privilege of carrying Crown Prince Geran, Heir to the Throne of Riva, hereditary Keeper of the Orb, and, until recently, the Child of Dark.}}

** Then there's Silk. As a spy, he naturally assumes aliases, the most common being Radek of Boktor and Ambar of Kotu. His birth name is Kheldar and he's generally known as Silk, his spy academy codename. Interestingly, he is also treated thus in the prophecies, unlike the other characters, who have one prophetic name each. In the first book he is called the Rat; in the second, the Guide; and in the third, the Nimble Thief. He reverts back to the Guide for the rest of the books.

* Lord Foul from ''The [[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]: "I have many names. To the Lords of Revelstone I am Lord Foul the Despiser; to the Giants of Seareach, Satansheart and Soulcrusher. The Ramen name me Fangthane. In the dreams of the Bloodguard, I am Corruption. But the people of the Land call me the Gray Slayer." He is also called the Master and the Maker. Later he picks up another—A'Jeroth, Lord of the Seven Hells.

** Covenant's response to asking Foul who he is and hearing him reel all of these [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]] off? "Forget it." It's probably the [[Jerkass|only moment for the next three books]] that the reader actually likes him.

** ''[[War of the Dreaming]]'' features [[A Midsummer Night's Dream|Oberon]]—who is also [[Norse Mythology|Odin]], [[Greek Mythology|Zeus]], and the proto-Indo-European god who inspired all of them.

* The eponymous character of ''[[The Bartimaeus Trilogy]]'' does this a lot. However, only the main one seems to have power over him. Additionally none of them are his true name, but Bartimaeus is forced onto his nameless essence to summon him.

** Also from Zelazny, the narrator of ''My Name is Legion'', who's got a back door into the global data bank that allows him to document just about any identity he cares to invent. Proving that history classes in his time ''suck'', no one ever seems to think anything of him using names like Albert Schweitzer, [[James Madison]], or [[John Donne]]. His original name is never revealed, even in the two conversations with mind-readers.

* The [[Satan|Lone Power]] of ''[[Young Wizards]]'' seems to have at least one name from every type of being It's ever involved Itself with. And since Its role in the universe is to run around trying to corrupt ''everyone''...

* [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s short story "The Nine Billion Names of God".

* Sovereigns in Fiona Patton's ''Tales of the Branion Realm'', patterned after medieval Britain, are styled: "Aristok of Branion, Heathland, Kormandeux, Aquilliard and Roland, Gracious Sovereign of the Triarchy, Most High Patron of the Knights of the Sword, Hereditary Earl of the Columbas Islands, and Vessel of the Living Flame." Not only do these titles increase (since the series spans several centuries), the Aristok is required to repeat them all during her coronation ceremony.

* ''[[Harry Potter]]:''

** Harry Potter; The Boy-Who-Lived, [[The Chosen One]], Undesirable No. 1.. [http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Harry_Potter etc]..

* In P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'', heroine Jame picks up many names. Her real name is Jamethiel, but that's an ill-fated name to give anyone because of the infamy of its last bearer, so she's Jame—but many people try and back-form the nickname to Jameth, since it's the only name in her culture except for the bad one that would have that abbreviation. She is called Talisman in the thieves' guild, the B'Tyrr (which also means Talisman) as a tavern dancer, and Jamie by her old tutor. Her epithets include Priest's Bane and Lordan of Ivory.

* Jack Shaftoe of [[Neal Stephenson]]'s ''[[The Baroque Cycle]]'' is known as Half-Cocked Jack (for [[Crazy Awesome|two]] [[Nightmare Fuel|reasons]]), ''L'Emmerdeur'', the King of the Vagabonds, Ali Zaybak, Quicksilver, Sword of Divine Fire, and Jack the Coiner.

** a.k.a. Adam.

* [[The Shadow]] had numerous alternate identities such as John Haverson, Henry Arnaud, Lamont Cranston, George Clarendon, Fritz, Clifford Gage, etc. Of course, anonymity was ''much'' more his MO than it usually is with masked heroes. The Gray Seal had the alternate identity of Larry the Bat. The Spider had the alternate identity of Blinky McQuade.

* In ''[[Incarnations of Immortality]]'', Piers Anthony's character Satan is also known as the Lord of Lies, Master of Evil, Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub, Lucifer, and Parry.

** Although this isn't straight, as Satan, Beelzebub, and Lucifer are completely different people; upon assuming the role of the Incarnation of Evil, they each picked an (already existing) name for the Devil to use as an alias. The fact that there actually ''has'' been more than one officeholder is one of those "deep dark secrets that somehow the entire world knows by the end of the series" that pervade the author's settings.

* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter|Prospero Lost]]'', a character comments that with his generosity, Father Christmas can be known by many names.

* A rare ''author'' example: [[Science Fiction]] writer Lester del Rey sometimes claimed that his full name was Ramon Felipe San Juan Mario Silvio Enrico Smith Heartcourt-Brace Sierra y Alvarez del Rey y de los Uerdes. (But according to his sister his real name was Leonard Knapp.)

* In ''[[Everworld]],'' gods tend to have this, as they do in [[Real Life]]. In [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|Everworld-Egypt]] take this [[Up to Eleven]]; Sobek won't even ''talk'' to you if you don't address him by his full title ("Lord Sobek, god of the crocodiles of the Nile, called Rager, son of Seth and his consort Neith, called the nurse of crocodiles"), and the Pharaoh's herald spends at least five minutes reciting incarnations of Ra [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink|before the Amazons]] lead the protagonists away.

* Voltaire's Candide contains one - which is to be expected, as it's a parody of just about everything on the face of the planet. One minor character is consistently addressed as Don Fernando d'Ibaraa y Figueora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza. Played for comic effect with the man's poor servant in the musical.

* In the House On the Rock scene from [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[American Gods]]'', when {{spoiler|Wednesday tells Shadow the many names he has been called over the centuries, leaving the most well known for Shadow to say, "Odin."}} He later claims to have as many names as there are ways for a human to die.

* In ''[[Garrett P.I.|Cold Copper Tears]]'', Garrett has to track down a woman who'd introduced herself to him as Jill Craight. This task proves especially difficult when it turns out that she has a different name for ''every person who knows her''. (Her real name is revealed to be {{spoiler|Hester Podegill}}, which is Lampshaded as the only one dumb enough to be real.)

* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: In ''Razor Sharp'', there is a madam of a high-end brothel who goes by the names Lily Flowers, Crystal Clark, Ann Marie Anders, Caroline Summers and she will never tell you what her real birth name is. ''Vanishing Act'' has a pair of identity thieves going by names like Sara Brickman and Dennis Carson, Angela and Derek Bookman, Bonnie and Clyde, Tammy Jessup, James Ferris, Timothy Black, Bethany Nolan, and their real names are {{spoiler|Margaret Pearson and William "Bill" Bell}}.

* [[Repairman Jack]] uses so many different surnames for his various false identities, he keeps them organized by working his way through the alphabet over and over (Adams, then Byers, etc).

** Tormund Giantsbane, Tall-Talker, Horn-Blower, and Breaker of Ice, Tormund Thunderfist, Husband to Bears, Mead-King of Ruddy Hall, Speaker to Gods and Father of Hosts.

* Mr. Church aka The Deacon, aka St. Germain. These are just the ones we know {{context}}<!-- What is this from? -->

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Dalek name for him: "Ka Fariq Gatri"—The Destroyer of Worlds.

*** There's also the slightly more often-quoted nickname courtesy of the Daleks -- "The Oncoming Storm".

** A more standard use of the trope comes from "The Impossible Planet", where the Ood declare of the Beast:

{{quote|"Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Krop Tor. Some may call him Satan. Or Lucifer. Or the King of Despair. The Deathless Prince. The Bringer of Night. And these are the words that shall set him free."}}

But everyone knew her as "Nancy".'' }}

** Referenced by The [[Firesign Theatre]]:

'''Nick Danger''': Melanie Haber?

'''Rocky Rococco''': You may remember her as Audrey Farber...

* Before founding [[Shiny Toy Guns]], Jeremy Dawson and Chad Petree produced trance music under the names Cloud2Ground, Slyder, RRDS, etc. Two of their Slyder songs, "Score" and "Neo(The One)" were featured on ''[[Grand Theft Auto]] III'''s Rise FM station; the latter song was also the basis for Shiny Toy Guns' "You Are The One".

* Pitchfork writer Dominique Leone attempted to but together a list of all Boredoms and OOIOO related acts, as follows: "Akabushi, AOA, Audio Sports, Children Coup d'Etat, Concrete Octopus, Dendoba, Destroy 2, DMV, Dowser, the Dramatics, Elvis Dust, Flare, Free Kitten, the Geisha Girls, Gong Derby, Goonies, Grind Orchestra, Guillotine Kyodai, Guitoo, Dekoboko Hajime/Yamantaka Eye, Hanadensha, the Hanatarash, the Hattifatteners, Hijokaiden, Live Under the Sky, MC Hellshit & DJ Carhouse, Minga & Eye, Mystic Fugu Orchestra, Naked City, Nankai Hawkwind, Nimrod, Noise Ramones, Novo Tono, Oh!Moro Video Series, Shinro Ohtake + Eye, Omoide Hatoba, solo Yoshimi P-We, Rashinban, Rise from the Dead, Roughage, Rovo, Ruins-Hatoba, Alice Sailor, S.O.B.-Kaidan, Sound Hero, Standing Earth & Touching Air, Sun Kich, Tent, Three Day Stubble, Torture Garden, Tribal Circus, U.F.O. or Die, Universal Errors, the Vickly & the Ohdorockanize, Woods, XOX, solo Yamamoto Seiichi, solo Yamatsuka Eye, Yellowhouse, Z-Rock Hawaii and Karera Musication."

* Wilhelm Anton "Bill" Leeb, aka Wilhelm Schroeder, who contributed to [[Skinny Puppy]]'s first album and is also the frontman of [[Front Line Assembly]] and its side project Delerium, among others. }}

* Dutchman Michiel van der Kuy produced italo-disco and spacesynth in the 80's under the names Laserdance (with Erik van Vliet), Koto, Proxyon, Rygar, etc., techno-rave in the early 90's as L.A. Style (with Wessel van Diepen), Eurobeat with various vocalists (in the early days of the genre), and later even co-produced a couple songs with Alice Deejay.

 

== Mythology and Religion ==

** Also, He has a name "that no-one knows but Himself."

** Other names and titles include: Immanuel, (which means "God be with us") the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Man of Sorrows, King of the Jews, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

*** In modern times, Jews have taken to substituting YHWH with [[Ha Shem]] (The Name), when they read the text aloud.

** The Latin Vulgate bible rendered YHWH as "Iehovah" (remembering that in Classical Latin, "v" is pronounced like either a "u" or a "w".) Eventually, this spelling came down into modern English as "Jehovah."

== Professional Wrestling ==

* Many wrestlers have acquired a great number of nicknames, some let them go in favour of new ones, others keep all of them, no matter how inappropriate they become. [[Shawn Michaels]] is a notable example, as he's The Heartbreak Kid (Used well into his forties), Mr.Wrestlemania, The Showstopper, The Headliner, The Main Event, and The Icon. He often made a habit of introducing himself with all of his nicknames.

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* In ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'', we Settra, who mostly goes by [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|The Imperishable]], but according to the 8th edition Tomb Kings rulebook, he requires a highly literate body guard because he has so many titles that it takes "2 hours to say them all."

* To keep from drawing their attention, [[Changeling: The Lost|the Lost]] refer to their Keepers as the True Fae, the Gentry, and the Others.

 

== Video Games ==

* The first terminal on "Kill Your Television" in the game ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]] 2: Durandal'' displays what appears to be a critical piece of text, although who it identifies is still [http://marathon.bungie.org/story/kytterm.html subject to debate:]

{{quote|"I have been [[The Song of Roland|Roland]], [[Beowulf]], [[The Iliad|Achilles]], [[The Epic of Gilgamesh|Gilgamesh]]. I have been called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the world goes dim and cold. I am hero."}}

* Some [[Video Games]]—particularly those released in multiple regions—tend to hold several names. For example, the European arcade & home computers release of ''[[Contra]]'' is known as ''Gryzor'', and the European NES release is known as ''Probotector''.

** The obscure top-down shooter ''[[Ray Series|RayForce]]'' is one of the bigger offenders. The Japanese and American arcade versions are called ''RayForce'', the European arcade version is called ''Gunlock'', the Japanese console version is called ''Layer Section'', and the American console version is called ''Galactic Attack''. Whew!

* Wilhelm, the [[Big Bad]] of the ''[[Xenosaga]]'' trilogy, flat out tells the party when they confront him that he's been known by many names throughout history. He says they're all names that other people have ascribed to him and while he answers to them, none of them define him. The only one who could name (and thereby define him) is his counterpart chaos. chaos then proceeds to ''[[The Un-Reveal|not]]'' reveal Wilhelm's true name and just lets the party thrash Wilhelm's [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|Giant Space Flea Machine]] Zarathustra and technically kill him.

* Deathwing from the ''[[Warcraft]]'' universe. Apart from his original name (Neltharion) and his new name, he is also sometimes referred as Xaxas, Blood's shadow, Lord Daval Prestor, and has many titles.

* In some ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' games, this can be played with, because in your available pantheon of demons, you may have a couple who are technically the same being, but with a different name depending on their culture of origin. This can lead to some awkward moments if the two should meet in conversation. Shiva and Mahakala meeting in [[Raidou Kuzunoha VS King Abaddon|Raidou vs. Abaddon]], for instance.

** However, it's also sometimes subverted; Satan and Lucifer, for example, are unambiguously different beings, and are in fact directly opposed to each other.

* Valvatorez of ''[[Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten]]'' had a number of [[Sobriquet]]s under his belt, including Tyrant Valvatorez, the Bloodthirsty King of Fear, the Blood-soaked Valvatorez of Absolute Evil, and The King of Carnage and Atrocity.

{{quote|'''Valvatorez:''' I had almost forgotten all of those old aliases... Those were cute.}}

** [[Elegant Gothic Lolita|Rachel]] [[Vampire|Alucard]], [[All Powerful Bystander|The Observer]], External Factor.

** [[Ax Crazy|Terumi]] [[Troll|Yuuki]], [[Faux Affably Evil|Hazama]], [[Our Ghosts Are Different|Kazuma]] [[Artificial Human|Kuvaru]], [[Dark Is Evil|Black]] [[Japanese Mythology|Susano'o]], [[Complete Monster|The True Evil]].

 

== Web Comics ==

* Dan of ''[[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures]]'', has earned [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_127.php his own list as an adventurer]:

{{quote|"My name is Daniel Ti'Fiona: Warrior for Hire, Slayer of the DoomKnights, Bringer of Peace, Friend to Beer Wenches!"}}

* Gabrielle of ''[[Sister Claire]]'' quotes the trope name word for word before telling Claire to call her Gabrielle.

* In ''[[The Wotch]]'', Anne's brother is normally named Evan, though he has [[Punny Name]]s for both of his [[Gender Bender]] forms -- "Lil' E/Lilly" for his four-year-old girl form, and "Miss E/Missy" for his more conventional female form. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] when he, as Missy, attempts to introduce himself to Rick, but keeps screwing up which name he's supposed to use, causing Rick to interpret it as "Lilerevermiss" (the first syllable of each name with "er"s in between).

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', all the exiles (save for {{spoiler|troll's session Jack and Black Queen}}) are known only by their job or title, which change depending on their role with only their initials remaining constant. WV has had the most so far, being known as the Wayward Vagabond, Warweary Villein, {{spoiler|Wastelandic Vindicator}}, and most recently {{spoiler|Wizardly Vassal}}.

** All the players have at least three names, as well: their actual name, their instant messaging handle, and their mythological title. For instance, Terezi Pyrope is gallowsCalibrator is the Seer of Mind, and Dave Strider is turntechGodhead is the Knight of Time. Some have even more; for instance, John is both ectoBiologist and ghostyTrickster because he changed his handle.

* ''[[Evil Diva (webcomic)|Evil Diva]]'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20140406203555/http://www.evildivacomics.com/?p=797 Well, he does, but it's someone else who tries reeling them off]

* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Mr. Sin]] from ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]'' mysteriously disappears and is replaced by a "cousin" with a different first initial and hairstyle whenever one of his plans goes catastrophically pear-shaped. How often has he done this? It's hinted that he uses initials because he ''ran out of first names.''

* ''[[Roza]]'' [http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/?date=2009-11-23 The Mountain Lord]

* In ''[[Endstone]]'', [http://endstone.net/2009/08/20/issue-2-page-10/ Jon reflects on them when he faces death].

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' has [https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2016-12-22 Chinook], the new AI of Eina-Afa.

 

== Web Original ==

* [[The Slender Man Mythos|The Slender Man]], "[[Fan Nickname|Slendy]]", "[[Marble Hornets|The Operator]]" (though that's never used in-series), and "[[Oh Crap|OH GOD, WHAT IS THAT?!]]"

** Not to mention the names some of the snarkier and better-informed bloggers give him; [[A Really Bad Joke|Maduin]] usually calls Slendy "TPF" ("Tall, Pale, and Faceless") and [[Seeking Truth|Zeke Strahm]] uses a new one basically every time he mentions him.

{{quote|'''Harley:''' And we got these custom sauces, 'cause I'm the Doctor of Dressing, aka the Pharaoh of Flavour, aka the Minister of Mixture, aka the Connoisseur of Condiments, aka the Don of the Drippin', aka the [[Jeff Goldblum]] of the Internet, aka... <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|dramatic zoom on the sauces]]] ...the ''Sauce Boss''.}}

* The owners of one automobile site go by [[House Pseudonym|pen-names]], not for anonymity according to [[Word of God]], but their own idiosyncratic reasons.

 

== Western Animation ==

* "[[Big Bad|I've]] had many names during my life, but my favorite... is [[The Spectacular Spider-Man|Tombstone]]."

* Parodied on ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', "The Chronicles of Meap": "I am known by many names through out the universe... well, two really: Mitch, and some of the guys call me Big Mitch!"

** In the movie ''[[Turtles Forever]]'', the Shredder lists all his names as part of his [[Badass Boast]].

{{quote|'''[[The Devil|Satan:]]''' Little fools! I am Beelzebub, Lucifer, the reaper of souls, [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|the really angry one!]] I AM SATAN! [[Evil Laugh|MWAHAHAHAHAA!]]}}

 

== Real Life ==

*** In areas where other types of wild cats are rarer, driven to extinction, or unkown to exist, they may be referred to as "wild cats".

* Terrestrial crustaceans of the order Isopoda are variously referred to as pill bugs, roly-polies, woodlice, sow bugs, armadillo bugs, cheeselogs, doodlebugs, potato bugs, chuggypigs, butcher boys, cheesy bugs, slaters, roll up bugs, chunky pigs, gramersows, butchy boys, or wood bugs. Oh, or isopods, for their official name.

* How about Suleiman? Although this is more of [[Badass Boast]].

** "Slave of God, powerful with the power of God, deputy of God on earth, obeying the commands of the Qur'an and enforcing them throughout the world, master of all lands, the shadow of God over all nations, Sultan of Sultans in all the lands of Persians and Arabs, the propagator of Sultanic laws (Nashiru kawanin al-Sultaniyye ), the tenth Sultan of the Ottoman Khans, Sultan, son of Sultan, Suleyman Khan. Slave of God, master of the world, I am Suleyman and my name is read in all the prayers in all the cities of Islam. I am the Shah of Baghdad and Iraq, Caesar of all the lands of Rome, and the Sultan of Egypt. I seized the Hungarian crown and gave it to the least of my slaves."

* The Ottoman Sultan's title was "Sultan (given name) Khan, Sovereign of the 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, Andrinopole 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 Diyarbakır, of Cicilia, of the Vilayets of Erzurum, of Sivas, of Adana, of Karaman, 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, the Black Sea and also its coasts, of Anatolia, of Rumelia, Baghdad, Kurdistan, 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 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".

* Rudy Ray Moore. The King of the Party Records. The Human Tornado. The Avenging Disco Godfather. Petey Wheatstraw. The Devil's Son-In-Law. Dolemite, ''muthafucka!''

* The city of Jerusalem has seventy names.

::It should be noted that since he claimed to be a Minamoto (and Tokugawa is merely a cadet branch of Minamoto), and Minamoto is of the [[wikipedia:Kabane|Kabane]] of ''ason'', in some situations he'd call himself ''Tokugawa [Jirōsaburō or whatever he had at the time] Minamoto no Ason Ieyasu''.

* Similarly, Chinese men used to (and perhaps still do) give themselves self-apportioned "[[wikipedia:Chinese style name|style names]]".

* [http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o112/manga-anime_pictures/Other%20pics/theyhavemanynames.png Some users] on share programs use multiple "tags" to be more recognized and have priority in some downloads.

* Some practitioners of real-life magical traditions will use several names in order to get energy and power from all the name archetypes they tap into.

* In the land of the Internet, people can have numerous nicknames, handles, email addresses, and aliases they might be known by, for whatever reason (changing whims, specific circumstances for being known by a certain name on a certain forum, or just to obfuscate their online identity).

* Egyptian pharaohs had many names: a Horus name, a Nebty (two ladies) name, a Golden Horus name, a Throne name and a personal name. So Thutmose III was fully known as:

** Horus name ''Kanakht Khaemwaset'' meaning "Horus Mighty Bull, Arising in Thebes"

** Personal name ''Thutmose Neferkheperu'' -- "Son of Re, born of Thoth, beautiful of forms"

* The humble tomato (''Solanum lycopersicum''). The Convention on Biological Diversity organized a project to list every plant on the planet in a giant catalogue (they're still at it, as of 2010). Most of the plants were erroneously given 2 or 3 names around the world, which is no big deal if you are looking for information on a particular plant. On the other hand, the tomato was accidentally given 790 fricking names, making it the plant with most names in the world.

* Ramses II had a couple of different names, the most well known being Ramses the Great, then there was [[Watchmen (comics)|Ozymandias]], and User-Maat-Re-Setep-En-Re.

* Germany has [[wikipedia:Names of Germany|many different categories of names in different languages]], such as Germany in English, ''Deutschland'' in German itself, ''Allemagne'' in French, ''Niemcy'' in Polish, and a few others.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Naming Conventions]]

[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]