Alliterative Name

"I'm Penny Parker. You can remember that 'cause it's got the same letter at the front of each name. That's important theatrically, you know."

—Penny Parker, MacGyver, "Every Time She Smiles"

An alliterative name is a name in which the first and last names begin with the same sound. In more extreme cases, this can also include the middle name.

Giving a character an alliterative name is one of many ways a writer can make a name more interesting and catchy, which in turn makes the character more memorable to the audience. This is especially important in works with Loads and Loads of Characters, where extra help is needed to differentiate between them.

In comic books, this is especially true of the names of superheroes or their close hangers-on. It was a favorite tool of Stan Lee's, since, swarmed with projects, he often had trouble remembering the characters' names, and the alliteration worked as a mnemonic device. (Though it didn't always work perfectly—Lee occasionally referred to "Peter Palmer" and "Bob Banner".)

Of note to writers: Overusing this trope dilutes its effect, particularly if multiple characters have the same starting sounds in their names.

In comic books, the Alliterative Name is often also Two First Names. In cartoons, it goes hand-in-hand with Species Surname.

See Alliteration, for trope titles that do this. See Alliterative Family, for when this is done across an entire family. See Alliterative Title, for work titles that do this.

No real life examples, please; we'd be here all day.

Examples of Alliterative Name include:

Anime and Manga


Comic Books

  • Peter Parker / Spider-Man. Among others, he had to deal with J. Jonah Jameson and Otto "Dr. Octopus" Octavius. Jonah himself has a son named John Jameson by his first wife, Joan, he later married Marla Madison, his editor-in-chief is Joe "Robbie" Robertson (who has a son named Randy), and secretaries have included Betty Brant (whose brother was called Bennett) and Glory Grant. The Bugle staff absolutely adores alliteration. In fact, it was recently revealed that JJJ is actually J. Jonah Jameson, Junior. We have also Curt Connors, the Lizard, and Cletus Kasady, a.k.a. Carnage.
    • This reached the height of absurdity with a splash page showing the characters attending a Bugle funeral. Of the ten characters named, nine had alliterative names, with only Aunt May not fitting in.
    • Based off this, there was a Funny Animal version, named Peter Porker, The Amazing Spider-Ham, who worked for J. Jonah Jackal.
    • One storyline featured a character who was a Superman Affectionate Parody (with a twist.) His civilian name was Ethan Edwards. This is interesting in part because the Sentry, another Superman Captain Ersatz, would often encounter people with those initials much like Superman would with "LL"s.
    • The novelization of the Spider-Man movie hung a lampshade on this, by having Jameson name the Green Goblin in a headline. This resulted in a brief discussion on alliteration between J. Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker, the Bugle's editor Robbie Robertson, and Jameson's secretary Betty Brant... none of whom seemed to notice they were examples.
    • The same point is made out in the Spider-man 3 movie.
    • As if to make his Expy-ness of Spider-Man more obvious, Hazmat of the Imperfects has the alter ego of Keith Kilham.
  • In the popular Ultimate Marvel line, Peter Parker's successor as Spider-Man is tiny thirteen-year old Miles Morales.
  • Wally West/The Flash (originally Kid Flash).
  • Scott Summers/Cyclops and Warren Worthington III/Angel of the X-Men.
  • Fantastic Four
    • Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman (although she changed her name when she married)
    • Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic
  • Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk. (The alliteration didn't save Stan from calling him "Bob Banner" in an early story, thus enshrining in canon the full name of "Robert Bruce Banner".)
    • In the TV series, it was changed to David Banner (with Bruce as a middle name) because of directorial distaste for this trope. At least that's what Kenneth Johnson (the producer and writer of the bulk of the series) says. Stan Lee says that the producers thought the name "Bruce" sounded gay. See, back in the funky '70s the name Bruce was thought of as a "gay" name the United States.
  • Clark Kent/Superman. For that matter, Superman's entourage of people with the initials "LL"; Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Lucy Lane, Lana Lang, Lara Lor-Van, Lori Lemaris, Linda "Supergirl" Lee, Lyla Lerrol, Letitia Lerner, etc. The first two were coincidence; after that, the writers picked up the theme and ran with it. Also note that Kal-El read backwards also has two L's.
    • The Post-Crisis Superman continuity included a sort-of Superman lookalike named Bibbo Bibbowski, who was a longshoreman and former boxer. Even though "Bibbo" is a nickname formed from his last name, Bibbo still counts -- his real first name is "Bo".
    • Smallville continues the double-L theme: Lana Lang's parents are Lewis and Laura Lang, and Lex's dad is Lionel Luthor. Lionel's parents? Lachlan and Eliza. (Several of these were already obscure comics canon.)
      • Lex's mother name was Lillian and in a dream universe his daughter with Lana Lang was named Lily, and his hallucination on a desert island that was obviously himself was called Louis Leery.
      • Marvel's Age of the Sentry showed the Sentry's Silver Age adventures in more detail, and revealed that like Superman he seemed to encounter a lot of people with the same initials, but in his case they were "EE".
        • The Sentry's real name is Robert Reynolds, part of the subversion they were going for with the character when they said that he was actually invented by Stan Lee and then forgotten about amoung a stack of old story notes. He goes by Bob though.
  • Similarly, Batman once had a series of alliterative romantic interests, including Vicki Vale (played by Kim Basinger in the first Batman movie) and Silver St. Cloud.
  • Wade Winston Wilson/Deadpool. Deadpool was originally copied from DC lookalike Deathstroke, aka Slade Wilson.
        • Slade had a brother in actual DC continuity who was also named Wade Wilson, AKA the second Ravager.
  • Robbie Reed/Dial H for Hero
  • Richard Rider/Nova
  • Brian Braddock/Captain Britain and Betsy Braddock/Psylocke, siblings.
  • Matt Murdock/Daredevil
  • Billy Batson/Captain Marvel, along with Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr.
    • Likewise Mike Moran, Marvelman/Miracleman and Dickie Dauntless, Young Marvel/Miracleman.
  • Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange
    • The various principalities and powers, and the effects they conjure, tend to be alliterative as well (e.g. the Blinding Brazier of Balthakk, the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth). Justified, since magic involves chants and spoken spells, and alliteration is a memory aid.
  • J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter
    • And M'gann M'orzz/Miss Martian, his Distaff Counterpart from Teen Titans.
      • M'gann M'orzz is named after Megan Morse, a friend of Geoff Johns...but he probably chose it for its alliteration anyway.
  • Alan Moore references this trope in Watchmen by naming one of his heroes Daniel Dreiberg.
  • Doiby Dickles, sidekick to Alan Scott, the first, Golden Age, Green Lantern. Opposing Scott were Steven Sharpe (The Gambler), Molly Mayne (Harlequin), and Crusher Crook (Sportsmaster).
  • Guy Gardner, a later Green Lantern.
  • Calvin "Cave" Carson, a Silver Age spelunker-adventurer from DC.
  • Max Mercury, a time-traveling DC speedster with ties to the Flash, who also used the name "Whip Whirlwind" in the 1890s.
  • Sargent "Sarge" Steel, one of the Charlton Comics heroes purchased by DC. ("Sargent" is his name, not a rank.) Originally a hard-boiled detective/spy-smasher type, he became a government official in charge of many of the DCU's superhero-related agencies.
  • Tex Thompson, aka "Mr. America" and "Americommando", a spy-smashing superhero introduced in Action #1 along with Superman. He's been revised and Ret Conned several times since then.
  • Dinah Drake/the Golden Age Black Canary, who later married and took the name Dinah Drake Lance.
  • Zatanna Zatara; her father was simply John Zatara.
    • Her cousin's name is Zachary Zatara.
  • Rodney Rabbit/Captain Carrot straddles both of the major alliterative traditions.
  • Jessica Jones, RetConned into the Marvel Comics Silver Age by Alias (the comic, not the TV show), who also operated under the codename Jewel. Jessica Jones was originally Jessica Campbell, until her family died in a car accident and she was adopted by the Joneses.
  • Sebastian Shaw, X-Men villain (and his son, Shinobi Shaw)
  • Slight variation in the British comic strip George And Lynne (featured in The Sun) -- the title characters seem to know a lot of couples who have first names beginning with the same letter (such as Dave and Donna, or Jack and Jenny).
  • Buddy Baker, a.k.a. Animal Man.
  • Pepper Potts, Tony Stark's assistant and/or love interest from Iron Man. (Although her first name is actually Virginia, she is best known by her nickname.) Doubles as a Punny Name.
  • Lots of examples in Archie Comics: Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, Dilton Doiley, Moose Mason, Chuck Clayton, Waldo Weatherbee, Geraldine Grundy, the list goes on.
  • In X-Men Noir, Thomas Halloway learned lockpicking from a criminal by the name of Horrace Hobbs, the Harlem Houdini.
  • Cassandra Cain, the third Batgirl.
  • Katherine "Kate" Kane, the Pre- and Post-Crisis Batwoman.
  • Stephen Stills of Scott Pilgrim, as well as four of Ramona's "Evil Exes": Gideon Graves, Roxy Richter and the Katayanagi twins (Kyle and Ken).
  • Many characters in German comic strip Nick Knatterton. (Barbara Beerbottle, Felix Finster...)
  • Millie the Model, as well as other "career girl" features that Marvel Comics debuted around the same time: Nellie the Nurse, Sherry the Showgirl and Tessie the Typist.
  • The Order, in addition to team coordinator Pepper Potts, had a distinct majority of this among its ranks. Henry Hellrung, Rebecca Ryan, Magdalena Marie (born Magdalena Marie Neuntauben, though), Avery Allen, Pamela Pierce, and Carlos Carvaho were all members of the team at some point or another—just under two thirds of its all-time roster.
  • Domenic Destine of ClanDestine. Also his older sister Gracie Gamble, although that's just her current alias.
  • In stories by Wilhelm Busch: Max Und Moritz, Hans Huckebein, Kuno Klecksel, Balduin Bählamm, and others.
  • Golden Age Ace Comics Superhero Magno the Magnetic Man.
  • Minor Invincible character Damien Darkblood, Demon Detective. In his latest appearance he remarked that he hates it when people say the "demon detective" part—evidently it just sounds silly to him.


Fan Works


Films -- Animation

  • Roger Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.
  • The title character of Megamind, as well as his nemesis Metro Man and Love Interest Roxanne/Roxie Ritchie. The latter may be a nod to Lois Lane, given their similarities.
  • An American Tail: Tony Toponi, which doubles as a Bilingual Bonus name, meaning "Tony mouse" in Italian.
  • Cats Don't Dance: Darla Dimple.
  • Treasure Planet: Dr. Delbert Doppler.
  • Barry B. Benson from Bee Movie.
  • The Cars series films has Axle Accelerator, Aiken Axler, Bernie Banks, Bruce Boxmann, Benny Brakedrum, Bruiser Bukowski, Bertha Butterswagen, Chuck Choke Cables, Charlie Cargo, Charlie Checker, Chief Chick, Cora Copper, Kathy Copter, Dirkson D'Agostino, Derek "Decals" Dobbs, Galloping Goose, Green Gremlin, Hank Hallsum, Hudson Hornet, Kimura Kaizo, Miles "Meattruck" Malone, Mach Matsuo, Matthew McCrew, Marlon McKay, Misti Motorkrass, Piccolo Perry, Polly Puddlejumper, Petrol Pulaski, Rod Redline, Rusty RustEze, Sarah Safestreet, Shirley Spinout, Timothy "Timezone" Truecoat, Tony Trihull, Timothy Twostroke, and Valerie Veate.


Films -- Live-Action


Literature

  • The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
  • Catch-22. Major Major Major Major was promoted directly from Private to Major while still in recruit training. He can be neither promoted nor demoted, because the army has only one Major Major Major Major and Ex-PFC Wintergreen will not ever allow this to change.
  • A number of wartime pulps are like this. There is the series about RAF pilots Dave Dawson and Freddy Farmer, and one about Army Air Force pilots Red Randall and Jimmy Joyce.
  • Discworld:
    • Carrot Ironfoundersson of Terry Pratchett's "City Watch" series of novels is more commonly referred to as "Captain Carrot". He was notably promoted straight past the rank of Sergeant, having previously been "Constable Carrot" and "Corporal Carrot", and at least one book directly compares him to a superhero.
    • In the German translation by Andreas Brandhorst, who was nicknamed "Alliteration Andy" for this, many more characters get them. Fester Johnson becomes Fester Fanggut, Evil Harry Dread becomes Finsterer Fred Fürchterlich, and so on.
  • In the Bigtime book series, featuring a city full of superheroes and supervillains, nearly everyone has an alliterative name.
  • Vladimir Nabokov was fond of giving his characters alliterative names: Humbert Humbert and John Ray Jr (J.R.JR) from Lolita, Cincinnatus C. and his tormentors Rodrig, Rodion, and Roman in Invitation To A Beheading, Professor Timofey Pavlovich Pnin and Vladimir Vladimirovich in Pnin.
  • A lot of characters from Harry Potter have these:
    • All four Hogwarts founders: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin, whose names are also obscure puns on their mascot animals.
    • Some of the ghosts, "the Bloody Baron" and "the Fat Friar" ("Nearly-Headless Nick" is also kind of alliterative), "Moaning Myrtle"
    • Arkie Alderton
    • Bathilda Bagshot
    • Bathsheda Babbling (Ancient Runes)
    • Bellatrix Black (before marrying Rodolphus Lestrange)
    • Bertie Bott
    • Broderick Bode
    • Cho Chang
    • Colin Creevey
    • Dedalus Diggle
    • Dudley Dursley
    • Filius Flitwick
    • Florean Fortescue
    • Gellert Grindelwald
    • Gregory Goyle
    • Luna Lovegood
    • "Mad-Eye" Moody (his real name is Alastor, but almost everyone refers to him as "Mad-Eye")
    • Minerva McGonagall
    • Pansy Parkinson
    • Parvati and Padma Patil
    • Peter Pettigrew
    • Piers Polkiss
    • Poppy Pomfrey
    • Quirinus Quirrell
    • Severus Snape
    • Stan Shunpike
    • Ted Tonks (Nymphadora Tonks' father)
    • William "Bill" Weasley
  • The Hunger Games has Hazelle Hawthorne.
  • Ciaphas Cain. Really, Commissar Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!
  • At the beginning of The Neverending Story, the book shop owner tells the protagonist that his name Bastian Balthasar Bux is rather strange. Bastian than points out that the shop owner is called Karl Konrad Koreander. The TV series played along by calling the store Coreander's Curiosities".
  • In the last James Bond novel, M's full name is revealed to be Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, although his initials had been revealed back in Moonraker. The book also introduces an American agent, Nick Nicholson. (The apparent lack of imagination on this note might be attributed to Fleming dying before he could properly edit it.)
  • In A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Odd Name Out in both sets of triplets are these: Quigley Quagmire, Dewey Denouement.
  • The protagonist of the Matthew Reilly novels, Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield. Try saying that five times.
  • Leigh's parents in Dear Mr. Henshaw were Bill and Bonnie Botts; which his mother thought sounded like a comic strip.
  • Bilbo Baggins of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
  • The novelisation of Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow (2004) had the full name of Gadgeteer Genius Dex be "Dexter Dearborn".
  • Vin Venture in the later part of the Mistborn trilogy.
  • Koushun Takami's Battle Royale has several among the students: Noriko Nakagawa, Kayoko Kotohiki, Fumiyo Fujiyoshi, Yoshimi Yahagi, and of course, Kazuo Kiriyama.
  • Honor Harrington (Horatio Hornblower In Space)
    • Which only actually qualifies as alliterative in print, not when spoken aloud.
      • in some parts of England it qualifies in both.
    • From the same series Sir Horace Harkness
  • In Glen Cook's Garrett P.I. novels, both Garrett's longest-running girlfriend Tinnie Tate and his home city's top crime boss, Chodo Contague, have alliterative names.
  • How to Train Your Dragon: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock The Third. This trope also extends to things like the tribe names ("Bog Burglars", "Hairy Hooligans") and dragons ("Venemous Vorpent" "Driller Dragon").
  • Crime and Punishment: Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov.
  • Peter Pan
  • The Chronicles of Narnia: Peter Pevensie.
    • And Polly Plummer.
  • The Pink Carnation series has Percy Ponsonby, the Duke and Dowager Duchess of Dovedale, and Serena Selwick.
  • In the Agatha Christie novel The ABC Murders, a murderer kills people who have such names in alphabetic order: first Alice Ascher, then Betty Barnard and Sir Carmichael Clarke. It turns out at the end that the real target was Clarke, and the other two were only killed to create an image of a Theme Serial Killer.
  • The Cider House Rules: Candy Kendall and Wally Worthington
  • Ned Nickerson, Nancy Drew's boyfriend.
  • The web-novel Domina gives us Adam Andrew Anders. For bonus points, all three names mean approximately "man."
  • Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  • In Death: Jamie Lingstrom in Ceremony In Death refers to Satanic cult leaders Selina Cross and Alban as "Spooky Selina and Asshole Alban". Well said.
  • The War Gods gives us the main character Bahzell Bahnakson. His travelling companion Brandark Brandarkson is probably cheating.
    • The Wild Wash and Broken Bone hradani tribes also count for groups while Bortalik Bay chips in for places.
  • Sisterhood series by Fern Michaels: The book Deadly Deals features a character named Baron Bell. The book Home Free features a character named Jody Jumper, also known as Owen Orzell.
  • Gail Carriger's The Parasol Protectorate series has a character who takes this to the extreme. His name? Channing Channing of the Chesterfield Channings.
  • Styrbjorn the Strong (Styrbjörn Sterki in the original) from the Old Norse "Tale of Styrbjorn".
  • A Song of Ice and Fire has surprisingly few of these, given the incredibly large cast: Sansa Stark, Hyle Hunt, Lancel Lannister, Podrick Payne, Yurkhaz zo Yunzak, Sarella Sand, Mandon Moore, etc. Nicknames are much more likely to be alliterative.


Live-Action TV

  • Heroes references this—one of the heroes is named Peter Petrelli, and the villain's real name is Gabriel Gray. So far, these two are the only powered characters in the series to have these alliterative names. They also seem to be set up as nemeses. They are also the only two characters who have multiple powers, although for different reasons.
    • And then there's Richard Drucker, who's a half-step from Dick.
    • As of season 4, there is also Samuel Sullivan.
  • iCarly: Spencer Shay, Gibby Gibson and Magic Malika, although it's doubtful that's her proper first name.
    • Is "Gibby" a nickname, or is it specified that this is his given name?
  • Jimmy James, the man so nice they named him twice from News Radio (Also counts as Two First Names, or rather, the same name twice)
    • One Story Arc gave him a similarly named antagonist, Johnny Johnson
  • Tons of secondary characters on 7th Heaven, including Cecilia Smith, Jordan Johanson, and Peter and Paris Petrowski.
  • The Middleman, in homage to it's Silver Age-comic roots, has a fair amount of this: Wendy Watson, Guy Goddard, and Tommy Tam come to mind in addition to the MiddleMan himself.
  • Pushing Daisies loves these: Deedee Duffield, Wilfred Woodruff, Harold Hundin, Billy Balsam, Erin Embry, Calista Cod, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles...
  • Sue Sylvester [1] and Artie Abrams from Glee, as well as Holly Holiday, Sebastian Smythe and Azimio Adams (and Quinn's mentioned sister Frannie Fabray). And Jesse St. James, if you omit the "St." in his name. .
    • There's also the actors: Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel), Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester) and Grant Gustin (Sebastian Smythe)
  • Renegade loves this: we have Reno Raines framed for the murder of Bernard "Buzzy" Burrell being pursued by Donald "Dutch" Dickson. The main cast also includes Lorenzo Lamas and Kathleen Kinmont so the series can at least claim some Truth in Television points for that (but not for much else).
  • The Swedish advent calendar Superhjaltejul had quite a few. Supersnällasilversara, Järn-Jerry (though slightly justified as these are both the names of superheroes, and superheroes tend to have these quite a lot), Frigolit Fragile, the Tinnitus Triplets, Flemming Flink...
  • Home Improvement: Tim Taylor. Also, Wilson W. Wilson, Jr.
  • Eureka has Beverly Barlowe. Bonus points for her running a Bed & Breakfast.
  • In an episode of The Big Bang Theory, Raj brings up the aforementioned alliterative naming techniques of Stan Lee.
  • Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle from CSI.
  • Aaron Hotchner's wife Haley from Criminal Minds. As well as Jennifer Jareau or JJ.
  • Cheers: Cliff Clavin.
  • Rita Repulsa and Rito Revolto from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
    • Power Rangers Turbo‍'‍s Red ranger, T.J. has his full name revealed in Forever Red to be Theodore Jay Jarvis Johnson.
  • Lucy's husband Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy.
  • Bobby Brady from The Brady Bunch.
  • Walter White from Breaking Bad.
  • Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe from Frasier.
  • Arrested Development had Byron Bluth. It also works with his nickname, "Buster".
  • Lincoln Lee from Fringe.
  • Sergeant Zelmo Zale from M*A*S*H.
  • Samantha Stevens of Bewitched.


Pro Wrestling

  • Adrian Adonis.
  • Arn Anderson
  • Austin Aries
  • Bam Bam Bigelow
  • The Big Bossman
  • The Blue Blazer (Owen Hart)
  • Brie Bella
  • British Bulldog
  • Brooklyn Brawler
  • Bruiser Brody
  • Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake
  • Buff Bagwell
  • Bull Buchanan
  • Carlito "Caribbean" Cool. Bonus points that his real name is Carlos "Carly" Colon.
  • Caylen Croft
  • Chainsaw Charlie
  • Chris Candido.
  • Christian Cage.
  • Claudio Castagnoli.
  • Colt Cabana.
  • Consequenses Creed
  • Damien Demento
  • D'angelo Dinero.
  • Diamond Dallas Page
  • Dragon Dragon.
  • Dudley Dudley
  • D-Von Dudley
  • Eddie Edwards.
  • Gorgeous George
  • Gory Guerrero
  • "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan
  • Husky Harris
  • Hunter Hearst Helmsley, before shortening it to Triple H.
  • Jerry Jarrett. And his son, Jeff Jarrett.
  • Jimmy Jacobs.
  • Kenta Kobashi.
  • Ken Kennedy
  • Kelly Kelly. She is also a Real Life example, as her real name, Barbara "Barbie" Blank, is alliterative also.
  • Kid Kash
  • Kofi Kingston
  • Lash La Roux
  • Lenny Lane
  • Lex Luger
  • Mark Madden
  • Michelle McCool
  • "Marvelous" Marc Mero
  • Michael Modest
  • Mike "The Miz" Mizanin. Also his real name.
  • Naomi Night
  • Razor Ramon
  • Ricky Reyes, and former tag team partner Rocky Romero.
  • "Ravishing" Rick Rude
  • Robert Roode
  • Scott Steiner
  • Shane Storm.
  • Sgt. Slaughter
  • Sheamus O'Shaunessy
  • Stan 'The Man' Stasiak, and his less sucessful son, Shawn Stasiak.
  • Val Venis


Puppet Shows


Theater


Toys

  • A set of 1960s astronaut action figures were led by "Major Matt Mason, Mattel's Man in Space," supported by Lieutenant Long, Sergeant Storm, and civilian astronaut Doug Davis. The lieutenant's given name was Jeff, though.


Video Games

  • The World Ends With You: Koki Kariya.
  • Paper Mario: Koopa Koot. Kammy Koopa. Tayce T.
  • Mega Man. Some of the Robot Masters have Alliterative Names just by virtue of their gimmick starting with M, e.g. Magnet Man, and the title character.
    • However, this doesn't apply to the title character in Japan, where he is called "Rockman".
    • X series: In Mega Man X: Armored Armadillo. In X2: Overdrive Ostrich and Morph Moth. In X3: Blizzard Buffalo and Crush Crawfish. In X5 (none in X4): Dark Dizzy. In X6: Shield Sheldon. In X7: Soldier Stonekong and Tornado Tonion. X8 has Vile V.
    • From Mega Man Star Force you have Sonia Strumm and Bud Bison. (Who are called "Misora Hibiki" and "Gonta Ushijima" in Japan.)
  • My Sims series: Roxie Road.
  • Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice co-stars the hapless Heroic Wannabe Almaz Almandine von Adamant.
  • Fallout 3 brings us Colonel Augustus Autumn and Constantine Chase. Also a case of Theme Naming, as both of their first names are after Roman leaders.
  • Don't forget Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy VII.
  • Also Laguna Loire from Final Fantasy VIII.
  • Metal Gear Solid has Big Boss and Solid and Solidus Snake.
  • All 6 tracks in Beetle Adventure Racing on the Nintendo 64 follow the rule: Conventry Cove, Mount Mayhem, Inferno Isle, Sunset Sands, Metro Madness and Wicked Woods.
  • NiGHTS Into Dreams... has Elliot Edwards.
  • Battlefield Heroes loves this: Buccaneer Bay, Coastal Clash, Seaside Skirmish, Victory Village... and that's just (ALL of) the levels! Burning Bullets, Troop Trap, and almost all of the weapon names: Greg's Greasy Gun, Wolfgang's Wonderful, Florenz's Flurry... I can keep going.
  • Backyard Sports has Luanne Lui, Billy Jean Blackwood, and Kenny Kawaguchi.
  • Velvet Velour from Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines
  • EVERY level in Donkey Kong 64: Frantic Factory, Angry Aztec, Fungi Forest? Even the majority of the minigames had alliterate titles. Let's not forget Cranky Kong and King K. Rool.
    • As well as every other level name in the series bar a small few. In Donkey Kong Country 1 to 3, the worlds nearly all have alliterative names, with names like Monkey Mines, Vine Valley and Gorilla Glacier, while the second had Gangplank Galleon, Crocodile Cauldron and Krazy Kremland. Donkey Kong Country Returns then continues the alliterative level names with stuff like Poppin' Planks, Rickety Rails, Muncher Marathon and Furious Fire to the point when only seven of the known levels (out of 22 so far) AREN'T alliterative.
  • The Sonic series has quite a few. Every level in Sonic 3D and Sonic CD has an alliterative name (e.g. Rusty Ruin in the former and Collision Chaos in the latter), and many other levels from games that don't have this for every level (Mystic Mansion, Sky Sanctuary, Eternal Engine, Coral Cave, Jungle Joyride).
  • Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes.
  • The titular Henry Hatsworth.
  • Karin Kanzuki of Street Fighter.
  • Klein Kiesling of Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana.
  • Carl Clover of BlazBlue.
  • Bon Bonne from the Mega Man Legends games.
  • The Warcraft universe has quite a few. These include Baine Bloodhoof, Belloc Brightblade, Bragor Bloodfist, Brann Bronzebeard, Dar'khan Drakhir, Genn Greymane, Svala Sorrograve and Vanessa Van Cleef.
  • Ragnus Raguel of Gungnir.
  • (Captain) Murasa Minamitsu, Koishi Komeiji, Yukari Yakumo, Medicine Melancholy, Star Sapphire, Kamishirasawa Keine, and Himekaidou Hatate of Touhou all qualify.
  • Serph Sheffield of Digital Devil Saga.
  • Victor Vance of Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories
  • The Horseless Headless Horsemann from Team Fortress 2
    • And his weapon, the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker.
  • Kyosuke Kagami, Nagare Namikawa and Kurow Kirishima of Rival Schools.
  • Michael Max and Kim Kaphwan from Fatal Fury.
  • Two of the bosses from Wario World, Dual Dragon and Winter Windster. The level Mirror Mansion is also an example, as well as the game itself.
    • Also, most Wario Land Shake It level names, such as Foulwater Falls, Gurgle Gulch, Wavy Waters, Mt Lava Lava, Launchpad Labyrinth, Riverbloat Rapids, Prism Prison, Slipshod Slopes and Freezing Fields.
  • Barry Burton from Resident Evil.
  • Every default character model in Serious Sam series has an alliterivate name. For an example, Serious Sam, Hilarious Harry, Kleer Kurt, Righteous Robert, Groovy Gregory and so on.
  • If you play as a girl in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, your rival next door will be named Brendan Birch.
    • Steven Stone from the same game.
  • Valkyria Chronicles started liking this trope starting with the second game. Given that, as of three games, the series has Loads and Loads of Characters, it's needed to differentiate them.
  • Katawa Shoujo has Hideaki Hakamichi, Suzu Suzuki and Sae Saionji.
  • Rico Rodriguez from Just Cause.
  • Leisure Suit Larry: Larry Laffer.
  • Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution gaves us Muay Thai kickboxer Brad Burns.


Web Animation

  • Homestar Runner: Strong Sad, Pom Pom, Perry Palaroncini & Peacey P. And Stop Sign, Stom Stom, Sickly Sam, Rumble Red, Pan Pan, Szechuan Steve, The Teach, The Thnikkaman, Moth Mouth, Brett Bretterson, Bill Bellamy, Sir Hotbod Handsomeface, Wireless Wizard, Ogg Oggerson, Flash Fight, and Fox Face. Thank you, HRWiki.


Web Comics

  • Supernormal Step has two alliterative names: Sixth Ranger Hall Henderson and Friend in the Black Market Vic Valentine.
  • Referenced in Comedity, with Garth Graham and Larom Lancaster, in issue Origins #0. The main characters decide that, since they have alliterative names, this is an invitation to become superheroes.
  • Occurs occasionally in The Cyantian Chronicles with "Alpha Akaelae", which an inherited title as well as the name of the original/first Alpha Akaelae. Considering that the Akaelaes are a family of anthropomorphic wolves who rule a society of anthro wolves, using "Alpha" as a title makes a lot of sense.
  • Quite a few in Everyday Heroes.
    • Mister Mighty's real name is Marion Mighty; his two younger brothers are Michael Mighty and Morrison Mighty (the latter two having no powers... "Mighty" is actually the family surname).
    • Matt O'Morph is Matthew Murphy
    • The local chapter of VilAnon has Prof. Odin Odious and Dr. Winslow Weirdlike.
    • One of the neighbors is Glen Goode, who has two daughters Gloria and Greta.
  • In El Goonish Shive, there's Arthur J. Arthur. The writer joked that he likes to think the "J" stands for "Just". "As in Arthur. Just Arthur."
  • Order of the Stick's Belkar Bitterleaf, Miko Miyazaki, Kazumi Kato, and Daigo Da-something.
  • Taken to the maximum with The Cartoon Chronicles of Conroy Cat.
  • Platypus Comix has Keiki Kikilaka and Marie Magnolia from Keiki, and Aerynn Arlia and Lululu Lopez from Electric Wonderland. Additionally, the cartoonist himself has an Alliterative Name: Peter Paltridge.
  • In Kevin and Kell, many examples have given names chosen to match their species-related surnames, such as Fenton Fuscus, Fiona Fennec and Tammy Tussock. Corrie was once known as "Dale Dewclaw" after reversing her given and family names while disguising herself as a wolf (an alias she was forced to keep up longer than she intended), and taking on Ralph's family name after she discovered that she was his daughter, but switched to "Corrie Dewclaw" after her friends found out she wasn't a wolf. Kevin was Kevin Kindle before he married Kell, which resulted in his family disowning him and him and his adopted daughter Lindesfarne taking on his wife's surname.
  • General Protection Fault has Dwayne Duncan, Trudy Trueheart, Trent Terrell and Detective Carl Club.
  • "No Black Plume" has one-shot character Lil' Lolita.
  • Everybody in Body World: Professor Paul Panther (though Peter Panther might suit him better), Pearl Peach, Lucy Lucido, Billy Borg, Gem Jewels, Johnny James (AKA Johnny Scarhead) and probably everyone else in Boney Borough.


Web Original

  • The Guild: Vork's real name is Herman Holden. There's also Wade Wei in season 2.
  • The League of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions has Rocket Ranger, Crimson Crossbow, Tammy Tembar...
  • Lonelygirl15: Whatever Lucy's last name is, it begins with the letter L. Jonas apparently knows her full name, as he is able to find her apartment by looking for someone with same-lettered initials.
  • Whateley Universe: William Wilson was the original name of Tennyo.
  • The Global Guardians PBEM Universe has two stand-out examples with Mark Milton (the Secret Identity of heroic crimefighter Ulti-Man) and Steve Stephens (the Secret Identity of Defender). Defender gets extra points for not only having an alliterative name, but for it being the same basic name. This is to be expected, as it is a Superhero setting.
  • Survival of the Fittest has this in SPADES: Aiden Ambrose, Cillian Crowe, Waldo Woodrow, Paris Persphone, Adam Amato, Andi Ayala, Brendan Bedard, Anthony Ainsworth, Christian Cohen, Debrah and Deliah Dollop, Wade Wilson (not THAT Wade Wilson (but not entirely NOT that Wade Wilson)), Nicholas Nutbrown, Mary McKay, Denise Dupuis, Branca "IT'S A STEAK" Braunstein, Jessica Jones, Bobby Barron, Chadd Crossen, Jonathan Jarocki, Christoper Carlson (a self-insert of Cody Cromarty, his handler), Mike Maszer, Mike Moretti, Gary Griffith, Joss "Jojo" Joiner, Carla Conners, Frankie Fiametta, and Miranda Merchant.
  • Grandmaster of Theft's Cassidy Cain
  • LIS DEAD seems to have lots of these: Dramatic Detective, Mysterious Mr. M, and Zodiac Zack.
  • Pete Vs. The Grumpy Gremlins by OchreJelly on Deviant ART.

Original title: Pete the Plucky Paladin Penguin versus the Gooey Grumbling Grumpy Gremlins. This is kinda what happens when I'm reflecting on things in life, and all coffee'd up.

  • I Love Bees has James James and his daughter Janissary.


Western Animation

  • Archibald Asparagus from Veggie Tales.
    • Intentionally averted for most of the other characters. Series creator Phil Vischer explained:

"If it were a typical Christian show, I figured, they'd be named Tommy Tomato and Kooky Cucumber. But the last thing in the world I wanted was to make a typical Christian show."

  • Looney Tunes:
    • Bugs Bunny
    • Daffy Duck
    • Porky Pig
    • Pepe le Pew, kind of.
  • Tiny Toon Adventures
    • Buster & Babs Bunny. No relation.
    • Montana Max
    • Dizzy Devil
  • Animaniacs. Wakko Warner.
  • Many Disney characters:
    • Mickey Mouse
    • Minnie Mouse
    • Pegleg Pete
    • Donald Duck
    • Gyro Gearloose
    • In the German translations, Scrooge McDuck is called Dagobert Duck.
    • Goofy was originally called Dippy Dawg, and got his regular name through a bit of nominal evolution. The 90's series Goof Troop gave him the surname Goof
      • Some modern comics (c. 2005) giving him the full name Goofus D. Dawg, both canonizing his original name and establishing "Goofy" as a nickname.
      • In the 1950s shorts that showed him in wedded "bliss" with his unnamed wife and Goofy, Junior, the mailbox read "Goofy D. Geef". He was "George Geef" for a little while. Probably "Goofy D. Geef" was some of that nominal evolution they mentioned.
  • The Flintstones: Fred Flintstone.
    • "Pedro Picapiedra" (Latin-American dub)
  • The Jetsons: George Jetson, Jane Jetson, Judy Jetson...
  • Dexter Douglas / Freakazoid! actually seems to come from the superhero comics' tradition. Also his brother Duncan Douglas.
  • Seymour Skinner, Carl Carlson and Lenny Leonard from The Simpsons. Also Marvin Monroe, Gil Gunderson, Jimbo Jones, Krusty the Klown, Declan Desmond, Nabendu Nahasapeemapetilon, and Birch Barlow. Also, Fat Tony's name is once given as William Williams. (Before he was renamed Anthony D'Amico)
  • Captain Caveman
  • Power Pig, the occasional secret identity of Orson from Garfield and Friends.
  • Arthur
    • Buster Baxter
    • The principal is Mr. Haney. In one episode, we find that his given name is Herb.
    • Arthur also has Francine Frensky.
  • The Fairly OddParents
    • Timmy Turner
    • Crimson Chin
    • Titanium Toenail
    • Trixie Tang
  • SpongeBob SquarePants
    • Also, Squidwards german name is Thaddäus Tentakel.
  • Word Girl's real name is Becky Botsford. Also, one of the villains she has to face in the show is Theodore "Tobey" McAllister...The Third. Since the show is an Affectionate Parody of superhero cartoons, it makes sense.
  • Norton Nimnul, Conrad Cockatoo, Cheddarhead Charlie and his wife Camembert Kate, Detective Donald Drake, Clyde Cosgrove, and Normie Nimnul from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers.
  • Darkwing Duck is prone to alliteration in his dialogue. His adopted daughter occasionally takes on the identity of Quiverwing Quack.
  • The Z-Stacks of TUGS all had names beginning with a "Z"—Zorran, Zebedee, Zak, Zug and Zip.
  • Transformers Animated: Sari Sumdac.
  • Thomas the Tank Engine: Devious Diesel, Troublesome Trucks/Foolish Freight Cars.
  • 6teen has Caitlin Cooke and Wyatt Williams.
  • Phineas and Ferb has quite a few. There's Ferb Fletcher, Doctor Doofenshmirtz, Major Monogram, Inspector Initials, Perry the Platypus, Herman the Hedgehog (apparently along with the rest of the agency, except Pinky the Chihuahua), Jeremy Johnson... plus Phineas Flynn and Carl Karl, sort of.
  • Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends: Francis "Frankie" Foster.
  • Screwy Squirrel
  • Woody Woodpecker
    • Also Wally Walrus, Miss Meany, Buzz Buzzard, Bessie Bear, Dapper Denver Dooley, Gabby Gator.
  • Deputy Dawg (sort of; from Terrytoons)
  • Mighty Mouse (also from Terrytoons)
  • Huckleberry Hound
  • The Pink Panther
  • Bob the Builder (sort of)
  • Wonder Pets: Turtle Tuck.
  • Betty Boop
  • Barney Bear
  • Alvin and The Chipmunks: Simon Seville.
  • Peppa Pig, and most of her friends (Danny Dog, Suzy Sheep, Zoe Zebra, Pedro Pony, Rebecca Rabbit, et cetera)
    • Played with in an episode of sister show Ben And Holly's Little Kingdom, which features Betty Caterpillar... who of course turns into Betty Butterfly by the end of the story.
  • In Generator Rex, this trope is lampshaded and subverted when its revealed that Dr. Rylander was NOT Rex's father.

"Oh. Rex Rylander is a stupid name anyway."


Other


  1. ↑ which, considering her parents are Nazi hunters, is a bit of Fridge Brilliance in itself considering her initials are "SS"
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