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Parody Names (view source)

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Who knows how the idea got started that, when making [[The Parody]], it is innately funny to replace each character's original name with a silly one that rhymes or sounds similar. But get started it did.
 
This does make sense from a certain vantage point. After all, if -- forif—for copyright and/or trademark reasons -- areasons—a publisher can't use the characters' real names, they might as well replace them with something funny. However, some writers make the mistake of thinking that doing this makes their parody automatically funny. It doesn't. It may also be done to make it absolutely clear just ''what'' is being parodied since [[Viewers are Morons]]. At its very worst, this is done when the writers [[Shallow Parody|don't know what they're parodying]] and thus making fun of the characters' names is the only joke they can think of.
 
Can be combined with [[Parallel Porn Titles]].
{{examples}}▼
 
▲{{examples}}
== Anime &and Manga ==
* ''[[Doctor Slump]]'' has some [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]] characters with names like this, including Suppaman (a portmanteau of "Superman" and ''suppa'', which is Japanese for "sour") and Parzan ("Tarzan" and ''paa'', which literally means "flat" but can also mean "stupid").
 
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Very much abused in ''[[Turma Da Monica]]'' (Monica's Gang), with Pokecão instead of Pokemon, Darti Vesgo instead of Darth Vader, Superhomão instead of Superman, Ton Cruzes instead of Tom Cruise... Of course, the jokes involved make more sense in Portuguese.
* In [[DC Comics]] ''Inferior Five'', the Five's parents are a parody [[Justice League of America]], While we don't get their full names, the surnames of some of their kids suggest they're suitably parodic. Mr Might ([[Superman]]) has the Earth surname Brent, and the original name Barb-Ell, son of Dumb-Ell of the planet Neon. Power Princess ([[Wonder Woman]]) married a man named Tremor (for Steve Trevor), and Bowman ([[Green Arrow]]) has the surname King (instead of Queen). The exceptions are [[The Flash]] parody Captain Swift, who is called Cramer, not a play on Allen or Garrick, and the Uncle Sam parody Patriot, who has the surname Victor.
 
== [[Film]] ==
* In Mel Brooks' ''[[Spaceballs (Film)|Spaceballs]]'' (which parodies, among other sci-fi franchises, ''[[Star Wars]]''), Yoda becomes "Yoghurt" and the Force becomes "The Schwartz". Stop, you're killing me. (Okay, it is a funny movie, but that's certainly the lamest part of it.)
** Not to mention Pizza the Hutt (really stupid). Or "Dark Helmet" (Darth Vader), for that matter.
*** Pizza the Hutt is really more of an incredibly bad pun, given {{spoiler|that he is a living pizza topping}}.
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* One of the few high marks of 2000's ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'' was when our heroes are held in a hospital's J Ward.
* The 1978 ''[[Star Wars]]'' parody ''Hardware Wars'' has names such as Fluke Starbucker, Augie 'Ben' Doggie, Ham Salad, Darph Nader and Artie Deco.
* Done throughout the ''[[Scary Movie]]'' series. The main character's name, Cindy Campbell, is relatively subtle, playing on ''[[Scream (Filmfilm)|Scream]]'''s Sidney Prescott (played by [[Neve Campbell]]).
 
== [[Literature]] ==
* Michael Gerber's ''Barry Trotter'' (a parody of ''[[Harry Potter]]'') features such winners as "Muddle" for Muggle, "Philosopher's Scone" for Philosopher's Stone, "Hogwash" for Hogwarts, "Lord Valumart" for Lord Voldemort, "Earth Eaters" for Death Eaters and "Measlys" for Weasleys.
* In ''[[Bored of the Rings]]'', The Harvard Lampoon's parody of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Wizards Gandalf and Saruman become "Goodgulf" and "Serutan." The parody tale starts in "The Stye" (The Shire), home to the "boggies" (hobbits), four of which are named "Frito," "Spam," "Moxie" and "Pepsi." Minas Tirith becomes "Minas Troney," and the equivalent of [[Mordor]] is the [[Polluted Wasteland|post-industrial wasteland]] of "Fordor," ruled by "Sorhed." Bilbo Baggins becomes "Dildo Bugger", not a case of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] so much as [[Refuge in Audacity|hoping it won't be switched on at all.]]
* ''Doctor Whom'', by Adam Roberts, was a parody of both ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' and the punctuation manual ''Eats, Shoots and Leaves''. Parody names included "Prose Tailor" (Rose Tyler), "The TARDY" (The TARDIS), "Garleks" (Daleks), "Cydermen" (Cybermen), "Stavros" (Davros), "Master Debater" (The Master) and "Time Gentlemen" (Time Lords).
** Adam Roberts has done several other parody books under variations of his name.''The Soddit'' and ''The Sellamillion'' as A.R.R.R. Roberts, ''The Va Dinci Cod'' as Don Brine, ''Star Bores'' as A3R Roberts, and ''The McAtrix Derided'' as the Robertski Brothers. Naturally, all of these are filled with [[Parody Names]].
* Every single ''[[Mad Magazine]]'' movie parody. '''Ever'''. ''[[The Simpsons]]'' had a field day with this one when ''MAD'' parodies Bart's boy band:
{{quote| '''Nelson''': "They called me "Smellson!"<br />
'''Homer''': "It's funny, 'cause you smell." }}
** However to MAD's credit, their names (at least in the classic black and white years) generally are more meaningful and clever than names in TV and movie parodies from their rivals "Cracked" and "Crazy" among others. For example Mad's "Cloddumbo" vs. Cracked's "Columoron".
** Also in that episode, we see the MAD Magazine executives having a hard time coming up with a parody name for ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]''.
*** Lampshaded in some of ''MAD'''s [[Self-Deprecation]] when they note that [[Blatant Lies|they fiddle with character names so much that sometimes you can't even tell who the original character was.]]
** The use of [[Parody Names]] in ''MAD'' apparently dates back to a story in issue #3 featuring the Lone Stranger, his sidekick Pronto, and his horse Golden. After "Superduperman" in the next issue provoked a lawsuit from [[DC Comics]], their parody of ''[[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]]'' reiterated that it was ''not'' to be mistaken for the genuine article: "Bat Boy mit a '''Boy'''! Rubin mit a '''U'''!"
** This was strangely averted in Mad's ''[[Seinfeld]]'' parody.
* ''[httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20021204212021/http://www.geocities.com/bob_darktalon/legendaryram.html The Legendary Ram in Buggery]'', a parody of [[The Legend of Rah and Thethe Muggles (Literature)|you know what]], made extensive use of these. As can probably be inferred from the title.
* ''Star Wreck'' (the 1990s book series, not the Finnish film series) had James T. Smirk and Mr Smock on board the ''USS Endocrine'' plus Commander Zulu, Ensign Checkout, etc, etc. Also their [[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation|new replacements]] on the ''Endocrine-D'': Jean-[[I Love Lucy|Lucy Ricardo]], Commander Piker, Counselor [[Motor City|Dee Troit]], etc, etc, etc...
** And in the later books they were all joined by the crew of Station [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Geek Space Nine]]: Bungeeman Crisco, Constable Dodo, Major Vera, etc, etc, etc, etc...
* ''[[Discworld]]'' novels don't have much of this stuff, but Gimlet, the dwarf with famously piercing eyes who runs a deli on Cable Street, may be intended as a reference to [[The Lord of the Rings|Gimli, son of Gloin]].
** It's not as rare as you think; this is the same guy who gave us ''Cohen'' the Barbarian.
*** ''Ghengiz'' Cohen, in fact.
** Most Discworld parody names are [[Genius Bonus|Genius Bonuses]]es; Salzella, the music director in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Maskerade|Maskerade]]'' is a play on Antonio Salieri, whose surname means "seller of salt". Less esoteric is that "gimlet" is also the name of a cocktail.
*** The original pun deserves explanation. A brief [[Running Gag]] was for a character to describe some supernatural or otherwise creepy person as having "Eyes... Like [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimlet_:Gimlet (tool) |Gimlets]]!". To which another character would respond "...You mean the Dwarf what runs the-" "I mean he has bloody creepy eyes that's what!". Eventually Gimlet and his delicatessen appeared in a later book.
* The Samurai Cat series of novels does this as a cover for all the copyrighted characters it parodies, although it's rarely so much funny as it is a simple aversion. During the Star Trek section of "Samurai Cat Goes to the Movies" (a mashup-parody anthology, in which the crew is attacked by Xenomorphs, a parody Predator, and a "Terminationer" that's been dogging the main characters for a few chapters), for example, Sulu becomes Sununu, and Chekov becomes Tolstoy. Not quite as clever as how the Terminationer was sent back from an alternate future in which the main character had never existed, "It's a Wonderful Life" style.
* ''[[The Hunger Pains]]'' is another book by the Harvard Lampoon, which parodies ''[[The Hunger Games]]'' by Suzanne Collins. You have Kantkiss Neverclean, skilled archer, Effu Poorpeople (Effie Trinket), Pita Malarkey, and so on and so forth. Some names are obviously made up for the book, while others (namely, Carol Handsomestein) aren't as obvious to figure out, to most.<ref> It seems that the Lampoon wanted to make fun of the fact that Gale's name sounds like a girl, so they named him Carol</ref>
 
== [[Live -Action TV]] ==
* Some of the more obscure Muppets on ''[[Sesame Street (TV)|Sesame Street]]'' had such names, including [[Sherlock Holmes|Sherlock Hemlock]], Plácido Flamingo and [[Meryl Streep|Meryl Sheep]] (probably meant as [[Parental Bonus]]).
** Plus Monsterpiece Theater, with Alistair Cookie!
** Along with Pat Playjacks, Velma Blank, Ross Parrot, and [[Vincent Price|Vincent Twice]].
*** Vincent Twice.
**** Damn, you beat me to that joke.
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** Really 80% of the jokes of the German "Funny Movie" series.
** Since the program only had the rights to Spider-Man himself, in an episode of ''Spidey Super Stories'', Spidey watches himself fight the Green ''Globlin'' in a movie.
* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' parodies ''[[MacGyver]]'' as ''MacGruber''. (The sketch is having less and less to do with ''MacGyver'' as it goes along, however. OringallyOriginally, it made fun of [[MacGyvering]], but later the joke turned to the title character being a slovenly [[Jerkass]] with a host of personal problems.)
** In the Pepsi ads, [[MacGyver]] shows up, at it is later discovered that [[MacGyver]] is [[MacGruber]]'s father.
* ''[[Most Extreme Elimination Challenge]]'' usually uses these for the names of the contestants when they're based on real people/characters ("Country Music Superstars vs. The World of James Bond" had "Girth Brooks", "Codger Moore", and "Timothy B. Dalton" among others). Since the show is an example of [[Rapid-Fire Comedy]], this isn't too painful.
* ''[[Muppets Tonight]]'' had Spamela Hamderson and David Hoggselhoff, the stars of ''Bay Of Pigs Watch''.
* An episode of ''[[Life Withwith Derek]]'' focused on the controversy surrounding the game ''[[Tomb Raider|Babe Raider]]''.
* ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' did a [[Self-Parody]] in one episode in the form of a [[Show Within a Show]] called ''Kid Gets Acquainted With the Universe'', in which Cory became Rory, Shawn became Shane and Eric became Derek. Ben Savage, the actor who played Cory in real life, became "Ben Sandwich", and Rider (Strong), who played Shawn, became "Schnieder". However, the most punny name came when they mentioned that Ben Sandwich has a brother named "Bread Sandwich", a reference to Ben Savage's brother Fred Savage.
 
== [[Music]] ==
* Any opera by [[PDQ Bach|P.D.Q. Bach]] is likely to have several [[Parody Names]] based on characters from Mozart's operas. Donald Giovanni and Schleporello from ''The Abduction of Figaro'' and Don Octave and Il Commendatoreador from ''The Stoned Guest'' are all named after characters in ''Don Giovanni''.
* Bobby Pickett (of "[[Monster Mash]]" fame) also recorded ''Star Dreck'', a parody of [[Star Trek|a certain well-known TV show]]. Characters included Captain Jerk, Mr. Schlock, Chief Engineer Snotty, Helmsman Mr. Lulu, Lt. Manure-a, and a [[Negative Space Wedgie]].
{{quote| '''Jerk:''' Into the elevator, Mr. Schlock, let's beam down to the planet's surface so I can find an alien to fall in love with before the program's over."<br />
'''Schlock:''' (Wearily) You usually do.<br />
'''Jerk:''' (Chuckles) Ain't I somethin'? }}
* Anything by Allan Sherman ("The Twelve Gifts Of Christmas," "Pop Hates The Beatles," etc.) and his latter-day disciple, Weird Al Yankovic.
 
== [[Radio]] ==
* [[The BBC]] Radio 4 comedy series ''The Wordsmiths at Gorsemere'' applies this trope to [[Romanticism|Romantic poets]]. The main characters are [[William Wordsworth (Creator)|William Wordsmith]], his sister Dorothy Wordsmith, and their friend [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Samuel Taylor Choleric]]. Other characters included Percy Jelly, the rakish [[Lord Byron (Creator)|Lord Biro]], the spooky [[William Blake (Creator)|William Bloke]], [[Walter Scott|Walter Spott]], [[John Keats|John Sheets]], and so on. Gorsemere is a parody of Grassmere, the village the Lake Poets were based in.
 
== [[Theatre]] ==
* Clare Boothe's play ''Kiss the Boys Good-bye'' involves people trying to produce [[The Film of the Book]] of an [[American Civil War]] romance glorifying the South, whose heroine is a [[Southern Belle]] named "Velvet O'Toole," who might have a few things in common with [[Gone Withwith the Wind|Scarlett O'Hara]].
* ''College Wars'', a ''[[Star Wars]]'' parody set in an Oxford college, features names such as "Qui-Gon Gin and Tonic", "Don Juan Kenobi" and "Ali G Jar Binks". And the spaceship, the Millennium Bug.
* ''Dream Girl'' has several mentions of a trashy but [[Critic Proof]] historical romance novel called ''Always Opal'', which is selling out at bookstores -- abookstores—a transparent reference to the contemporary bestseller ''Forever Amber''.
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''M Scramble'', a [[H-Games|hentai]] [[Dating Sim]] knockoff of ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'', is the story of Asamiya Haruka and her UFO-dan; the rest of the cast follows suit.
** Not only that, but the characters themselves are [[Palette Swap|Palette Swaps]]s of the ''Haruhi'' cast.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150906211223/http://www.c-games.info/games,002,5499.html\ of the ''Haruhi'' cast.]
* The national leaders in ''Nuclear Wars'' ([[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]] which was both possible and popular in the late 80s) have names like Ronnie Raygun, Infidel Castro, Gorbachef, or [[Just for Pun|Mao The Pun]].
* Racing games released under the Magnetic Fields brand (''Lotus'' series, ''Super Cars'' series) parodied the names of real-life race drivers: Ayrton Sendup, Alain Phosphate, Crashhard Banger, T. Hairy Bootson, Nijel Mainsail, M. Carburettor, Nelson Pickets, Rissole Brooks, Mickey Louder, Stag Bloomvest, James Haunt, Sterling Mess...
* 1988 computer game ''Rockstar Ate My Hamster'' had a plethora of music stars (of which you are the manager) whose names were knock-offs of real musicians: [[Michael Jackson|Wacky Jacko]], [[Madonna|Maradona]], [[Elton John|Elvin Dwight]], [[Sex Pistols|Rotton Johnny]], [[Rolling Stones|Dick Knackered]], Tina Turnoff and so on. Some make sense in context, as you can see. But this is taken to extremes with [[Kylie Minogue]]'s ersatz, who was baptized as ''[[Unfortunate Implications|Bimbo]] [[The Lord of the Rings|Baggins]]''.
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Irregular Webcomic (Webcomic)|Irregular Webcomic]]'' had a parody of ''[[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcdxkcd]]'' titled [httphttps://www.irregularwebcomic.net/comic.php?comic=1458&vision=yes "xkcq"].
* ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'' has mentioned a popular comedy film called ''[[American Pie|American Cake]]''.
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance (Webcomic)|Sluggy Freelance]]'' featured a parody of ''[[Buffy]]'' called "Muffin the Vampire Baker". She was joined by characters such as Biles, Will-Os and Banter. Fair enough, as it seems that the character's names are [[Shallow Parody|all that the writer seemed to know about the show]].
** That story was practically a parody of parodies in general... ''hopefully'' intentionally.
** The same comic has also done parodies of "Torg Potter and the Sorcerer's Nuts", "Torg Potter and the Chamberpot of Secretions", "Torg Potter and the President from Arkansas", "Torg Potter and the Giblets with Fiber"...
** There are so many parody names used in general that inevitably some end up being good and some others bad. A third class in this case is those that you just don't get.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110922013608/http://www.livingwithinsanity.com/The_Author/ The Author] has a running storyline parody of The Batman, aptly named "The Fatman". So far the Fat Knight has run across parodies of Batman antagonists like The Kidder, The Fiddler and Carmine Sockoni.
* The loser super hero, Samarium Skier, from [[Stubble Trouble (Webcomic)|Stubble Trouble]].
* ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' provides another ''[[Harry Potter]]'' parody with Larry Gardner studying at Warthog's academy.
* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' fan comic ''Diary of a Crazed Mimbanite'', among other [[Parody Names]], replaces "Skywalker" with "Nerfherder."
* In the early 2000s, an Italian [[Star Trek]] parody web comic had characters such as Long-Luc Dickhard, Master Beta, Doyouwanna Try, Whoref, Geordi TheLarge and Chestly Crusher.
* In [[Sinfest]] the burger chain is [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20140209183641/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3228 McDebbil's, where they try to buy your soul, too.]
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In the ''[[Friendship Is Witchcraft]]'' episode "Read It and Sleep", this happens [[In -Universe]]: Twilight has written a [[Ship Fic]] starring thinly-disguised versions of her friends named "Applesack" and "Charity."
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The [[Filmation]] cartoon ''M-U-S-H'' from ''[[Uncle CrocsCroc's Block]]'' had pretty much no connection whatsoever to ''<nowiki>~[[M*A*S*H~]]</nowiki>'', the series it was supposed to be parodying, other than the names of its characters.
* ''[[Johnny Test]]'' had one episode that featured [[Pokémon|Tinymon]] creatures, featuring such winners as "Blast Ketchup" for Ash Ketchum. There's also a Tinymon that parallels the Magikarp/Gyarados power jump.
** The former is especially humorous if you are aware of Pikachu's [[Trademark Favorite Food|love for ketchup]].
* The otherwise unmemorable 1970's cartoon series ''The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty'' featured in one episode a villain named "Ping of Pongo."
** The series title itself is a parody of [[James Thurber]]'s ''The Secret Life of Walter Mitty''.
* The "Goodfeathers" segments of ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]'' take Robert DeNiro's and [[Hair-Trigger Temper|Joe Pesci's]] ''[[Goodfellas]]'' characters and parody them as "Bobby" and "Pesto."
** ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]'' did this a lot, and [[Spin-Off]] ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' did this just as often, if not more. For example, the biggest band in the world was [[The Beatles|The Feebles]]... until [[Yoko Ono|Yoyo Nono]] came along.
* ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" features Shary Bobbins, an obvious clone of Mary Poppins. She claims she is not Mary, but an original creation, like Ricky Rouse or Monald Muck.
** In one episode, this is lampshaded when the Simpsons visit "SPRAWL * MART", with the slogan "not a parody of Wal-Mart".
* [[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]: way too many to count, starting with [[Britney Spears|Britney Britney]].
** However, [[Titanic]] was mentioned by name in the first episode.
* On ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and& Mandy]]'', the gang meets [[Harry Potter|Nigel Planter]]. Kind of good.
* The Robert Clampette directed [[Looney Tunes]] short "A Tale of Two Kitties" featured the feline comedy duo of "Babitt" and "Catstello", a clear and unmistakable parody of the decidedly more human comedy duo [[Abbott and Costello]].
* The children's series ''Arthur'' parodies a lot of kids' TV and toy crazes, almost every time one pops up. Some examples are "Dukemon" (possibly "Pukemon" because Pikachu was renamed Stinkachu), "Polly Locket" (a doll with a storage compartment in her face), "Henry Screever," and "Vegimorphs;" not to mention, TV series like "The Dark Bunny" and "Spooky-Poo."
* [[Stroker and Hoop]]:
{{quote| '''C.A.R.R.:''' "On Dashiell, on Danzig, on Randolph, on Blitzkrieg, on other non-copyrighted names!"}}
** CARR itself is probably a parody of [[Knight Rider|KITT]], which twice featured an [[Evil Twin]] of the Trans-Am named K.A.R.R..
* [[Darkwing Duck]]: One minor villain's name, Taurus Bullba, was a [[Shout -Out]] to the novel and film [[Taras Bulba]].
* Jay Ward was sued by (now pretty much all-but-forgotten) comedian Durwood Kurby when ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'' started a story arc involving the mystical hat the Kurwood Derby.
{{quote| '''Ward (responding to the suit):''' Sue us. Please. We need the publicity!}}
* "Don't Touch That Dial," from [[Mighty Mouse]] The New Adventures, featured "The Jetstones," "Ringading, Where Are You," "The Adventures of Rocky and Hoodwinkle" and "The Real Gagbusters."
* [[Special Agent Oso]] from [[Disney Channel]] has [[Once an Episode|every episode's]] name be a parody to the [[James Bond|greatest spy ever.]]
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Parody Names{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Parody Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Parody Names]]
[[Category:Trope]]
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