In-Series Nickname

An In Series Nickname is not a Fan Nickname; although it can frequently be used as such. Instead, it is a nickname specifically given in-series, not even by the producers alone. It is always regarded as canon. Often given out by The Nicknamer. If done enough this may overlap with My Name Is Not Durwood or Only Known by Their Nickname. See also Sobriquet

Examples of In-Series Nickname include:

Anime and Manga

  • Chibi Maruko-chan: The main character Momoko Sakura's nickname is Maruko. She is almost always called by this name or a variant of it in place of her actual first name (i.e. in a situation in Japanese culture where the use of the first name would be called for).
  • Red Line has "Sweet JP," our main character, a racecar driver who looks kinda like Travis Touchdown with even crazier hair. "Sweet JP" is obviously not his real name, it's just been heaped on him because he's the only racer who doesn't mount weapons on his Cool Car.
  • In Code Geass, Jeremiah is called Orange-kun/Orange Boy.
    • By R2, the "-kun" has been dropped. And the nickname that ruined him has become a mark of Badass, because he is the Ensemble Darkhorse.
    • Also Lelouch is dubbed 'Lulu' by Shirley and Milly. What's more, among the closer members of her family (and Love Interest Suzaku) Euphemia goes by 'Euphy'.
  • Hachiroto 'Hachimaki' Hoshino in Planetes. Later, it was revealed that his mentor gave everybody (except Hakim) nicknames; Edel was Hourglass and Tanabe was Little Lady at first, then Angel.
  • Naruto calls Jiraiya "Ero Sennin" (Pervy Sage)
    • Also,Rock Lee and Might Guy are nicknamed "Bushy Brows" and "Super Bushy Brows-sensei" respectively.
  • Yachiru in Bleach is also fond of giving everyone nicknames. Zaraki is Kenny (Ken-chan in Japanese), Ichigo is Icchy (Icchi), Orihime is Jiggles (Bururun), Uryu is Pencil, Aramaki is either Maki-Maki or Whiskers, and Yamamoto is Gramps.
    • Hinamori has given Hitsugaya the nickname "Shiro-chan," ("Little Shiro" in the dub) which he absolutely hates.
    • Mashiro of the Vizard also called Ichigo 'Berry-tan'
    • Kyoraku refers to General Yamamoto as 'Yama-jii' (old man Yama)
  • Tohma is called "Tonma" by Masaru in the original Japanese Digimon Savers.
  • In Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo, Beauty calls Heppokomaru/Gasser "He-kun/Gas Can".
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh, Pegasus gives several characters the nickname of "____-boy" based on their name (Yugi-boy, Kaiba-boy, Dukie-boy).
    • And in the Japanese version of The Movie, he shows that the nickname has a female variant when he calls Anzu (Téa) "Anzu-girl".
  • In Night Wizard, Hiiragi Renji is nicknamed "fallen man" because of all the time's he's had to repeat grades, (due to his duties as a Night Wizard).
  • Luna, aka Prez, in Mega Man Star Force.
  • In Fruits Basket, the unfortunate Yuki Sohma gets the nickname of Yun Yun (which he points out is longer than his actual name. This does nothing to dissuade the nickname-giver, Manabe, however). Another student council member is branded with the Chibi (or Chibisuke).
    • Ayame gave Kyo the nickname "Kyonkitchi" (or "Lucky Kyo", in the English dub).
  • One Piece has many, most famously Straw Hat Luffy, since most enemies casually call him Straw Hat. This may be more Nom De Guerre, though, especially the ones in the form of The Magnificent.
  • In Witchblade, Masane has the nickname Masamune (big chest) in the original and Melenie ("Melony"?) in the dub. You get three guesses why.
  • Ayumu Kasuga of Azumanga Daioh gets tagged with the nickname "Osaka" after about five minutes. This proceeds to supplant her actual name.
    • Also, Yukari-sensei's beat-up vehicle is dubbed the "Yukari-guruma", which means the "Yukari-car."
    • Speaking of Yukari-sensei, she calls her old friend Kurosawa-sensei "Nyamo" rather than her actual personal name Minamo. Tomo being essentially an adolescent Yukari does the same.
  • In Ghost Hunt, Mai immediately starts calling Tall, Dark and Snarky paranormal investigator Kazuya Shibuya "Naru", because it reminds her of how narcissistic she thinks he is.
  • In Mahou Sensei Negima, Nodoka is known as "Honya[1]-chan" by most of the class. Chamo also has his own nicknames for most of the girls, but listing them all would take too long.
    • Albireo Imma Ku:nel Sanders loves referring to Evangeline as "Kitty", simply because it pisses her off.
    • And since Zazie's recently revealed Evil Twin sister won't reveal her name, Negi has taken to referring to her as "Poyo" after her Verbal Tic.
  • Tamahome from Fushigi Yuugi has been known as "Obake-chan" since childhood because of his markings. Don't call him that, though.
  • In Saki, several characters start calling Saki "Rinshan-san" after she demonstrates her uncanny ability to win with Rinshan Kaihou.[2]
  • In Last Exile, Dio calls Claus "Immelman" after his trademark piloting maneuver.
  • Lucky Star plays with this one. Tsukasa calls Konata and Miyuki Kona-chan and Yuki-chan respectively. (Fairly normal.) Also, Konata tries to come up with a nickname for Kagami. Tsukasa mentions that an alternate reading for Kagami's name kanji is "Kyou", so Konata calls Kagami "Kyou-chan". That embarrasses/pisses of Kagami, and when Konata asks what she can call Kagami, Kagami's suggestion is to call her Kagami-sama (roughly translates as "The Great Kagami"). Naturally, this backfires when Konata actually does it. Kagami is so embarrassed that she asks Konata to stop, please, for the love of God.
  • In Dragon Ball, Goku comes up with the nickname "Eighter" ("Hatchan" in Japan), because apparently "Android Number Eight" (Or "Jinzouningen Hachi-gou" in Japanese) is too hard for him to say.
  • In K-On!, Yui refers to her friends as, Azusa; Azunyan (Moe cat ears), Ritsu; Ricchan, and Tsumugi; Mugi. She probably would have given Mio a nickname if her name wasn't already short enough.
  • Fay in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle uses a lot of nicknames for Kurogane (Kuro-sama, Kuro-rin, Kuro-tan, Kuro-wanwan, Kuro-daddy and many more), much to the latter's annoyance.
  • Macross Frontier has a few, the most notable one is Alto-hime, or just "Hime" (Japanese for "Princess"). He doesn't like it.
    • Sheryl Nome's is "The Galactic Fairy"
    • Ranka Lee's is "Super Dimension Cinderella"
  • Durarara!! fans are fond of making use of Izaya's infantilizing nicknames for his "friends"—therefore, Shizuo and Kadota find themselves called Shizu-chan (or its loose translation Shizzy) and Dotachin quite a bit outside of the series proper.
  • In Chrome Shelled Regios, Layfon is nicknamed "Layton" by a trio of girls he meets, because it's apparently easier to pronounce. Felli gets jealous when she hears this and decides to call him "Fon-fon". When Layfon objects, she runs through several variations of nicknames ("Lay-kun, Lay-chan, Lay-cchi, Senko no Lay...") before he finally just accepts Fon-fon.
  • In Future GPX Cyber Formula, Ryouhei Sumi is called "Pei". Likewise, Miki has been called "Chief" by Ryouhei due to her being the chief mechanic for the first 3 series.
  • Rurouni Kenshin - Perhaps as a nod to the author's own liking for The Shinsengumi, Yahiko posits "Kenshin-gumi" for Kenshin's True Companions very early in the series.
  • Prussia in Axis Powers Hetalia calls his brother Germany "West". Also, Poland calls his Heterosexual Life Partner Lithuania "Liet" (which is a shortening of "Lietuva", the Lithuanian name for, well, Lithuania).
  • Half the main cast of Paradise Kiss. Daisuke chooses the name "Isabella", partly to express her gender identity, and also because she apparently has a thing for European names. She imposes the name "Sebastian" on her servant Ueda, she probably inspired Jọuji to spell his name "George" (if not the other way around) and she calls Yukari "Carrie", but that's a nickname for her other nickname "Caroline", given by Miwako for no discernible reason.
  • In Detective Conan Kogoro Mouri is widely known as "Sleeping Kogoro," due to the sleeping posture when he solves cases. This is, in fact, the effect of Conan's using Instant Sedation needles on him and using a voice changer to imitate Kogoro's voice.
  • Sasamoto-sensei in GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class was known by her students as "Tono-sensei," due to an In-Universe application of Memetic Badass.
  • Zafira of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha often is called "Zaffy" by Vivio.
  • In Bakuman｡, Nanamine gets the nickname "Usomine" (typically translated as "Liarmine") from his contributors after they suspect, correctly, that he's lying to them about how badly his series is doing in the rankings.
    • Also Mashiro's middle school colleagues often call him "Saikou", which is an alternate reading of his name "Moritaka". When Takagi starts to use this nickname regularly, Mashiro starts calling Takagi "Shuujin", which is an alternate reading of Takagi's name "Akito".
  • In Tiger and Bunny, Kotetsu immediately takes to calling Barnaby "Bunny" after their first outing as a superhero duo. Because you hop about and have long ears (referring to the antennae on Barnaby's Powered Armor) like a cute little rabbit! At first he just does it to annoy Barnaby, but it becomes an affectionate nickname once he starts to acknowledge him as his partner.
  • Merry Nightmare from Yumekui Merry is also known as, well... Yumekui/Dream Eater Merry.
  • In A Certain Magical Index, Touma gives Misaka Mikoto the nickname "Biri Biri", which is the Japanese onomatopoeia for an electrical discharge. The dub has him call her "Zapper".
  • The World God Only Knows' Keima, very well-known among gamers he's known as "The Capturing God," was also predictably nicknamed "otaMegane" by his Real Life classmates. Crunchyroll's subs translated it to "dweeb," which is culturally accurate, if a bit lacking in creativity.
  • Ami and Mami have one for almost everyone on the main cast in the anime version of THE iDOLM@STER.
  • In Black Butler, Grell gives Sebastian the punny and flirtatious nickname of "Sebas-chan" in the Japanese version. In the dub, she goes with "Bassy".
  • Harlem Beat: Mizuki calls Naruse “Narucho”, Sawamura calls Kiriko “Witch” and Kobayashi “Umbrella Guy” (based on the image of aloof umbrella maker during Jidai Geki), Takao nicknamed Kobayashi as “Musashi” for his samurai-esque attitude, Zukeran Tetsuya from Kyan was often called “Kemp” for his resemblance to Shawn Kemp, Those Three Guys from Threemen’s Hoop only known by their nicknames.
  • In Girls und Panzer, Gamer Chick Nekota seems to have given herself the modified name "Nekonyaa." To play it up, she wears a Cat Eared Headband.

Comic Books

  • The Joker likes to call Batman by nicknames such as Batsy.
    • Harley Quinn, in turn, calls Joker "Puddin'" and "Mr. J".
    • Ra's Al Ghul calls Batman "Detective", while his daughter Talia (until recently) called him "Beloved".
  • Lois Lane calls Clark Kent "Smallville", probably meaning he's a hick by referencing his small hometown.
  • Wendy Watson of The Middleman has the nicknames "Dub-Dub" and "Dubbie" (plus the various insults Ida slings in her general direction). And Lacey has her fair share of nicknames for the Middleman himself.
  • Spider-Man has about a dozen of these, such as "web-head", "web-slinger", and "wall-crawler".
    • His girlfriends frequently called him "Petey", although MJ is well-known for calling him "Tiger". In the 1970s she sometimes also called him "Browneyes".
      • Other Spider-Man nicknames include "JJJ" for J. Jonah Jameson, "MJ" for Mary Jane, "Robbie" for Joe Robertson, "Doc Ock" for Doctor Octopus, "Flash" for Eugene Thompson, and "Mayday" for Spidey's alternate-reality daughter May.
  • Some nicknames from The Avengers: Iron Man is "Shellhead", The Mighty Thor is "Goldilocks", the Incredible Hulk sometimes is "Jade-Jaws", Captain America (comics) is "Cap" or "Winghead".
  • Daredevil is "Hornhead".
  • From the X-Men:
    • Professor X: "Chuck" (by Wolverine)
    • Cyclops: "Cyke", "Fearless Leader" or plain "Slim"
    • Jean Grey: "Jeannie" (by Wolverine) or "Red"
    • The Beast (Henry P. McCoy): "Hank"
    • Magneto: "Bucket-head" (by Wolverine)
    • Storm: "Stormy", "Roro", "Wind-Rider", or (aggressively) "Wind-Witch", sometimes "princess" or "boss"
    • Colossus: "Pete", "Petey", "little brother" (by Storm in earlier days)
    • Nightcrawler: "Elf", "Nightelf", "Fuzzy-Elf", or "Fuzzy"
    • Wolverine: "Wolvie"
    • Banshee: "Irish" (by Wolverine)
    • Shadowcat is "Kitty", "Kate" (in stories set in the future), "Kitten" (by Storm), "Katya" (by Colossus), "Kätzchen" (by Nightcrawler), "Punkin"(by Wolverine), and sometimes "Cat"
    • Rogue: The fact that "Rogue" was originally her childhood nickname may explain why there aren't that many other frequently used nicknames, although she has been referred to as "Red" and "River-Rat" occasionally.
    • Phoenix II (Rachel): "Red", "Ray"
    • Dazzler: "Lightengale" (mostly by Rogue), but usually "Ali" (short for Alison) or "Dazz"
    • Psylocke: "Betsy" or "Betts"
    • Gambit: "Cajun"
    • White Queen: "Frosty"
  • From the Fantastic Four:
    • Human Torch: Matchhead
    • Mr. Fantastic: Stretcho
  • Doctor Sivana dubbed Captain Marvel "the Big Red Cheese".
  • Green Arrow has been known to call Black Canary "Pretty Bird" whenever they were dating.
  • Judge Dredd is often referred to by other characters as "Old Stonyface".
  • Bookhunter: "Kettle Stitch" is the Library Police's nickname for the book thief they're hunting; so called because their high-quality forgery (left behind to hide the fact that the theft occurred at all) used a kettle stitch to bind the leaflets, rather than the common catch stitch.

Film

  • The Blind Side: "Big Mike" for the main character, Michael.
  • Monty Python's Life of Brian has a subversion. Everyone thinks "Mr. Big Nose" is the man's nickname... but it's actually his real name.
  • In Cars, Sally nicknames Lightning "Stickers," because like Real Life racing cars, he has no headlights, just stickers. It starts out derisive, but eventually becomes an Insult of Endearment.
  • In Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, "Ponyo" is just a nickname Sousuke gives to the titular fish. Her real name is Brunhilde. Her dad is none too happy about the way she prefers "Ponyo" over "Brunhilde..."
  • All Dogs Go to Heaven: Charlie calls Anne-Marie "Squeaker" after she keeps him awake with the squeaking of her bed.
  • In The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dr. Frank N Furter is called by his nickname "Frankie" by various characters throughout the film.
  • In the Star Wars movies and the expanded universe, droids often get called by a nickname based on their number and initials said as one word. Por Ejemplo: R2-D2 and C3P0 are called "Artoo" and "Threepio" respectively.
    • Han Solo in particular has a habit of assigning nicknames (though admittedly not particularly clever ones). He frequently refers to his companions in the first movie as "Kid" (Luke), "Princess" (Leia), and "Goldenrod" (C3-P0).
    • And it turns out Anakin 'Darth Vader' Skywalker was called 'Ani' by his girlfriend, which kinda detracts from his scariness...
  • In The Shining, Dick Hallorann calls Danny Torrance "Doc", briefly confusing Danny's mother:

Wendy Torrance: We call him Doc sometimes, you know, like in the Bugs Bunny cartoons. But how did you know that?
Dick Hallorann: ...Well, I guess I probably heard you call him that.
Wendy Torrance: ...Well, it's possible, but I honestly don't remember calling him that since we've been with you.

  • In Iron Man 2, the term 'Hammeroids' is used by Tony Stark to refer to Justin Hammer's drones, and it's become so popular that it's become often confused as a Fan Nickname.
  • Dumbo: "Dumbo" is a mean nickname given to a large eared baby elephant whose true name is Jumbo Jr. (Most people do not realize this and the movie title itself uses the Nickname)
  • The Little Rascals series: Just about every boy had a nickname.
    • Some became so identified with their characters that their nicknames followed them in life; i.e., Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, George "Spanky" McFarlane, etc.

Literature

  • "Elephant" in Flatlander by Larry Niven.
  • Harry Dresden nicknames everything. While most of them don't stick, a few catch on even with other characters. Notably, the Archive is Ivy, the skinwalker is Shagnasty, and the Denarians are the Nickelheads. It says something about Harry that these are, respectively, the repository of all human knowledge, an Eldritch Abomination, and an order of psychos and fallen angels. It even gets to be a plot point at times; naming Ivy gave her her own identity separate from the Archive, which helped her avoid snapping when the Nickelheads caught her.
    • Not to mention his nickname for the fallen angel Lasciel, Lash, helping the shadow version of Lash that resided inside Harry's head separate from her former self and helped her gain a sense of identity.
    • In the series, it's explicitly stated that giving something a name gives it an identity. Another example is Bob, the air spirit Harry keeps in a skull: in Dead Beat, we find out just how much of Bob's genial and helpful personality is a result of being in Harry's service as opposed to that of someone more serious and less ethical.
      • Because of this fact, the angel Uriel objected strenuously to being nicknamed Uri, and actually succeeds in getting Harry to stop using it.
      • Considering Uriel translates as "Light of God", and Harry was removing the God bit, you can kind of understand his objections.
  • Citizen Admiral Esther McQueen, aka Citizen Admiral Cluster Bomb.
    • The main character of the series, Admiral Honor "The Salamandar" Harrington. Given to her by some of her detractors who noted that she always seemed to find herself "Where the fire is hottest."
  • Wicked Lovely has a few, most notably Aislinn being referred to as Ash more often than not. Niall is also most often called Gancanagh, although that's more because he is a gancanagh.
  • As noted above in films, in Stephen King's The Shining, Danny is frequently referred to as "Doc".
  • In The Stand, Glen Bateman calls Stu Redman "East Texas" who in turn calls him "baldy".
    • Also, Harold "Hawk" Lauder, Donald Merwin Elbert who goes by Trashcan man or simply Trash, and "Mother" Abigail Freemantle.
  • In Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, Ranger calls Stephanie "Babe", though it's always with affection (and occasional amusement). Morelli calls her "Cupcake", probably more frequently than he uses her actual name.
  • In L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series has a few. Gilbert and Anne have nicknames to each other; after their marriage, he calls her "Anne-girl", while she calls him "Gil". Their oldest son James is called Jem; their twins Anne and Diana are nicknamed Di and Nan, and their youngest daughter Bertha Marilla is nicknamed Rilla. Her brother, Walter, calls her "Rilla-my-Rilla", a play on her middle name. This nickname is eventually adopted and used by her crush later, fiance, Kenneth Ford.
  • P8 Blue of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers is known by the nickname "Pattie". In fact, most members of her race have a nickname - B6 Blue, for instance, is "Bishop" and Z4 Blue is "Ziff".
  • In Crysis: Legion, Alcatraz calls the CELL troops "CELLulites".
  • Karl May lived by this trope, for instance in the stories set in the American West, most of the Westmänner (Westmen) go by their colourful nicknames, not their real ones, for instance Old Shatterhand, Old Surehand, Old Firehand, Old Death, Old Wabble, Gunstick-Uncle, and Tante Droll ("Aunt Droll").
  • Kim in Rudyard Kipling's novel is known in Lahore as the Little Friend of All the World.
  • Jenna and Septimus in Septimus Heap call each other Jen and Sep, respectively.

Live-Action TV

  • Lost has lots and lots of these, thanks to Sawyer.
    • There's also The Others for the people who live on the island. What they call themselves is never revealed.
  • Doctor Cox in Scrubs has nicknames for almost everybody: Elliot is Barbie, Turk is Gandi, Kelso is Bobbo, Doug is Nervous Guy or Pee Pants, and JD is either "Newbie" or whatever girl's name he can think of. Carla, who was his only friend at the beginning of the series, is the only one he doesn't nickname.
    • Everyone at Sacred Heart seems to have a nickname for at least one other person. Carla calls JD "Bambi", Turk and JD call each other "Chocolate Bear" (or Brown Bear) and "Vanilla Bear", The Janitor calls Elliot "Blonde Doctor", Cox "Mean Doctor", Carla "Scary Nurse Lady" and Turk "Bald Black Doctor", Kelso calls Turk "Dr. Turkleton" (which is really more of a misunderstanding than a nickname, but...), and then there's Snoop Dog Intern/Resident/Attending (depending on the season), Colonel Doctor ...
    • No "Laverneagain"?
  • On Dead Like Me, Rube often refers to George as "Peanut", as do some other characters. Rube also used to give this nickname to his daughter.
    • He also calls Daisy "Princess."
  • Captain Slow, Jezza, and the Hamster on Top Gear.
  • Ellie calls Laurie "Jellybean" all the time on Cougar Town. It is not a term of endearment.
  • Thirteen, on House.
    • Can't forget Amber "Cutthroat Bitch" Volakis.
  • In The X-Files, Mulder, by others in the FBI, is known as "Spooky" Mulder, though not originally for his work in the paranormal. Originally, the nickname referred to Mulder's incredible profiling skills when he was in the Academy, and when he worked in the VCU.
    • And let's not forget the nickname the FBI gave Scully after she started working with Mulder: "Mrs. Spooky."
  • Bones... both Dr. Temperance Brennan and Dr. Leonard McCoy.
  • Gene Hunt calls Alex Drake "Bolly", "Bols", or "Lady B", short for "Bollinger Knickers".
    • He rarely, if ever, used Sam Tyler's name, referring to him as "Gladys", "Dorothy", "Marjorie", "Doris", and "Boy Wonder", among many others.
  • Eli Wallace seems to have picked up "Math Boy".
  • The hosts and mad scientists had new nicknames for each other nearly every episode on MST3k.

Mike Nelson: What's up, Mother-of-Pearl?
Pearl Forrester: I give the nicknames around here Nel... son.

    • Pearl called Crow "Art", which was actually an In-Joke based on a fan letter to the show.
    • TV's Frank called Dr. Clayton Forrester "Steve" for no particular reason at all. There was massive debate among MSTies over whether it was some obscure pop culture reference until Word of God from Frank Conniff confirmed that it was just a random gag.
  • On Homicide: Life on the Street Stanley Bolander was universally known as "Big Man" and everyone called Lt Giardello "Gee." The latter might seem like a simple contraction of his surname, but it actually came from what he said on his first murder scene.
  • The Doctor from Doctor Who was known as "Theta Sigma" or "Good Old Thete" by his schoolfriends, apparently after his exam results. Also, Donna called him Spaceman, because he is a man from Space...
  • Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine calls Jadzia Dax "Old Man" as the previous Dax host (Curzon) was an old friend and mentor.
    • Also, everyone calls Odo 'Constable.'
  • Q often calls the French Picard 'mon capitaine' and the female Janeway 'Madame Captain.'
  • Justin from Queer as Folk is called Sunshine by Debbie, and sometimes Brian.
  • The characters of Saved by the Bell have a few nicknames for each other. Slater calls Zack "preppie" and Jesse "mama". Jesse occasionally refers to him as "papa".
  • The characters in Friends generally shorten the others' names into nicknames such as Phoebe = Pheebs, Rachel = Rach, Joey = Joe and Monica = Mon. Ross and Chandler don't get this though.
  • Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer refers to Buffy as just B sometimes. Spike calls Dawn "Little Bit" and "Niblet". Other characters frequently shorten Willow to just Will.
    • Spike, (whose real name is William), has nicknames for almost everyone. He calls Angel "Peaches", Willow "Red", Xander "The Whelp", Anya "Demon-Girl", and so forth. He calls Buffy "Slayer", "pet", and "love", but these probably don't count, as she simply is the Slayer, and "pet" and "love" are used as pretty standard slang.
  • Most of the cast of Mash have nicknames. Ben "Hawkeye" Pierce came with his when he arrived in the unit; his father gave it to him, after The Last of the Mohicans. Walter O'Reilly became "Radar" because of his extraordinary ability to detect arriving helicopters and anticipate the needs/whims of his supervisor.
    • See also: Frank "Ferretface" Burns, "Trapper" John McIntyre, Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, Oliver "Spearchucker" Jones, and "Ugly John" Black
  • Berta of Two and A Half Men calls Alan "Zippy", possibly referring to the fact that he's always running under stress.
  • The main characters on Gossip Girl call each other by their first initial (Blair is B, Serena is S and so on), and Gossip Girl herself tends to refer to them that way. Jenny is Little J and Blair is also called Queen B. Dan does not get this treatment however, but Gossip Girl likes to refer to him as Lonely Boy.
  • Human-form Cylons in Battlestar Galactica are invariably called "skinjobs" by everyone.
    • Similarly, Centurions are on one occasion called "chromejobs" but their usual designation is "toasters". In fact, "toaster" is a general name for all Cylons, flesh or metal.
  • In Fringe, Walter refers to his Alternate Universe counterpart as "Walternate".
    • See also: "Fauxlivia."
  • On Seinfeld, Jerry and Elaine sometimes called each other Lainie and Jerome, usually when they were teasing the other person.
  • In Married... with Children Al often calls Kelly "Pumpkin".
  • In All in The Family, Archie calls Gloria "little girl" and (less affectionately) calls Mike "Meathead". Mike often calls him "Arch".
  • On NCIS, DiNozzo has an endless string of names for McGee based on his last name, such as McGoogle, as well as "Probie." Other members of the cast sometimes call McGee "Elf Lord," because of his online gaming hobby.
    • Abby occasionally addresses Jenny Shepard as "Madam Director."
    • And of course, there's Gibbs' common nickname for Abby - "Abbs."
  • On Heroes, Hiro Nakamura doesn't seem capable of seeing Nathan Petrelli without punching his fists in the air and shouting "FLYING-MAN!!!".
  • On Criminal Minds, Garcia has nicknames for everyone, not to mention Morgan's nicknames for Garcia. Morgan also has the tendency to call Reid 'kid' or occasionally 'Pretty Boy'. Additionally, JJ is 'the only person who ever calls [Reid] "Spence"'.
    • Just a note: although this is sometimes contested, Morgan actually does call Reid 'Pretty Boy' on the show. (The Fisher King)
  • In Kamen Rider Fourze, school principal Hayami refers to teacher Sonoda as "puppy"; she was the Canis Minor Zodiarts and his protege before she evolved into Scorpio and joined him as a Co Dragon.
  • On Supernatural Dean throws around nicknames a lot, but the most important one was 'Cas,' which came to denote the whole separate identity the angel Castiel developed as he bonded with humans, rebelled against Heaven, and sought to stop the Apocalypse. The name caught on in fandom on Castiel's first appearance.
    • Sam's hallucination of Lucifer, while providing Sam's side of the conversation, recently referred to himself as 'Lucy.' He was always a very..laid-back being, but the longer he's Sam's hallucination the more goofy and petulant he gets.
  • On The Amazing Race, some team nicknames become so prominent that they're used in place of the team's actual names by the other racers. This includes The Guidos (Bill & Joe, Seasons 1 & 11), The Clowns (Jon & Al, Season 4), Mirna & Schmirna (Charla & Mirna, Seasons 5 & 11), The Hippies (BJ & Tyler, Season 9), The Beauty Queens (Dustin & Kandice, Seasons 10 & 11), The Goths (Kynt & Vyxsin, Seasons 12 & 18), Dandrew (Dan & Andrew, Season 13), and The Cowboys (Jet & Cord, Seasons 16 & 18).
  • On NYC 22 four of the main cast have these starting from day one. Best one, though, is the rookies' Field Training Officer, Sgt. Daniel Dean, who really hates being called "Yoda".
  • On Stargate SG-1, Jack O'Neill often calls Goa'uld symbiotes "snakes". Except for Teal'c's, which got the nickname "Junior".

Newspaper Comics

  • Peanuts has "Sweet Baboo", Sally's puppy love nickname for Linus. Linus is not amused.
    • Sally also refers to her big brother Charlie Brown as... 'Big Brother.'
    • 'Peppermint' Patty calls Charlie Brown "Chuck" and Lucy "Lucille." There is also 'Pigpen'.
    • Charlie Brown is 'that round-headed kid' to Snoopy and 'Charles' to Marcie.
  • In his younger days, Michael Patterson of For Better or For Worse referred to his sister Elizabeth as "Lizardbreath."
  • Bucky Katt gives out malicious and hostile nicknames to virtually every other character in Get Fuzzy.

Radio

  • Fibber McGee and Molly: In addition to Molly always calling her husband "Fibber" (for good reason), Fibber had nicknames for many of the other characters:
    • "Gildy"—Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve
    • "Doc" Gamble
    • "The Old Timer" for an otherwise unnamed old man
    • "Waxy" for series announcer Harlow Wilcox (the series was sponsored by Johnson Wax)
    • "Sis"—a little girl who lived next door who enjoyed harassing Fibber
    • "Myrt" (short for Myrtle) -- a nosy telephone operator
  • The Jack Benny Program—Actor Eddie Anderson became so identified with his character, Rochester, that he became known as Eddie "Rochester" Anderson.
  • Amos 'n' Andy: What's a race comedy without some racially insensitive nicknames?
    • George Stevens, aka "The Kingfish"
    • "Lightnin'"
  • The title character of the detective series Boston Blackie
  • The Whistler—self-named title character as per the series' intro:

"I am The Whistler, and I know many things for I walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. Yes! I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak."

  • The Jimmy Durante Show: During the 1940s, a sexually provocative character was named "Hotbreath" Houlihan.
    • "Hotbreath" was played by Florence Halop, who replaced Selma Diamond on Night Court about forty years later. (You wouldn't think it to look at her on Night Court, but she could really sell the sexy voice on radio when she was in her twenties.)
    • "Hotbreath's" nickname may have been the inspiration for the similarly nicknamed character Margaret "Hotlips" Houlihan in Mash.
  • The Aldrich Family: In the radio and film series, some of the schoolmates of adolescent (and adenoidal) lead character Henry Aldrich had nicknames:
    • Basil "Dizzy" Stevens, Henry's best friend during the first few seasons;
    • "Stringbean" Kittinger, a girl who hadn't yet developed.
    • "Tubby" Gibbons
    • "Pinkie" Peters
    • "Butch" Williams

Theatre

  • PDQ Bach's Oedipus Tex: "...but my friends just call me Ed."

Video Games

  • Dr. Ivo Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog series is usually known by his nickname (and, in Japan, original name) Dr. Eggman nowadays.
  • Neku in The World Ends With You gets called "'phones" because of his headphones (and what they imply). Neku refers to Minamimoto as "the Grim Heaper". Beat calls Kariya and Uzuki "lollipop" and "pinky", respectively. Many castmembers (and players) call Hanekoma "Mr. H", and Kitaniji gets called "shades".
    • Beat is itself a (self-granted) nickname, as is Rhyme (his partner and sister).
    • The World Ends With You is brimming with these. Nearly every hero has at least three, and the villains average about four each.
      • Joshua wins for sheer number of nicknames: Joshua (in place of his given name, Yoshiya), Josh, Josh Josh, Petit Prince, Pretty Boy, Prissy Kid, Pink, Rainbow, and Giggles.
      • For Neku, we have the aforementioned Phones, along with Blue, Black & Blue, Bruise, Nekky, and Orangeylocks.
      • Shiki gets Stalker and Green-Eyed Monster.
      • Beat's family name is Bito, making "Beat" a nickname in and of itself. He's also referred to as Skulls, Freshmeat, Rottenmeat, Yellow, Skater-Brain, and Deliquent Reaper.
      • Rhyme's given name is Raimu, so ditto. She's also Skulls Jr. and Black.
      • Minamimoto gets Tabooty, The Grim Heaper, Pi-Face, Dr. Pin, and Junior.
      • Yodai has Ram-crotch, Steroids, Higgy, and Big Guy.
      • Konishi's are Iron Maiden, Ironface, Her Iron Frostiness, and Mrs. K.
    • The color-coded nicknames are based on the This Is Your Premise on Drugs bonus chapter, Another Day. Shiki is Green (for obvious reasons), Beat is Yellow, Joshua is Pink (for even more obvious reasons), etc.
    • The equipment that is based off what each character wears tends to bear their nicknames, such as "Big Guy's Belt".
  • In the English dub of Final Fantasy X, Rikku was fond of calling Yuna "Yunie."
  • Norma from Tales of Legendia assigns a nickname to every other member of the party—usually a silly diminution of their given names.
  • Every character in the Backyard Sports series has their own nickname.
  • In the Harvest Moon games, you get a nickname from your spouse once you get married. Some games will offer up their own suggestions ("Honey," "Sweetie," "Darling"), but you can also come up with your own in a Hello, Insert Name Here fashion.
  • In Animal Crossing, your neighbors will sometimes come up with nicknames for you. Some of them are independent and pre-programmed (such as "buddy" or "sparky"), but some of them are based on your name. (So if your name was "Andy," they might give you nicknames like "A-Dawg" and "A-Boss.")
  • In The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Link is given all sorts of nicknames to get around the whole custom name business and simplify programming: Fairy Boy, Hero Boy, Mr. Hero, and so on.
    • In Majora's Mask, Romani takes to calling Link "Grasshopper", since he apparently patters about when he walks and wears green.

Link? That's a nice name, but... How about... Grasshopper? That's the name Romani gives you.

  • In Devil Survivor, Yuzu and Atsuro do this to each other. He calls her "Yoohoo" to needle her and when she gets mad at him she calls him "Okatsuro" to make fun of his Otaku tendencies. Furthermore, you can chose a nickname for your protagonist, which will be used by Yuzu and Atsuro (other characters will use his real name, which you also chose).
  • Yangus constantly refers to the main character of Dragon Quest VIII as "Guv". Even Jessica called him by that name once when they were imprisoned.
  • In-game trades in the Pokémon games will always have said traded Pokemon already have a nickname. For example, in Pokémon Yellow, you can trade your Cubone for a Machoke Machamp named "Ricky".
    • In Poke Park Wii, the main character is a technically nameless Pikachu, but the Pokemon of the Lava Zone nickname him Lightning Strike.
  • "Boobie Lady" for Litchi Faye Ling thanks to Taokaka.
    • Taokaka is quite The Nicknamer. Her repertoire also contains "Lacking Lady",[3] "Green Guy",[4] "Ice Man",[5] "Creepy Guy" [6] and so on. Ragna also gets called "Raggy" and "Rags" by Hazama.
  • In the North American version of Chrono Cross, certain children from your village will add a "Y" to whatever you choose to name yourself. This worked fine for most names, but created a rather odd looking/sounding name if what you put in ends with an O or a Y, resulting in names like "Marcoy" or "Tonyy."
  • A boatload amongst the Original Generation of Super Robot Wars:
  • In Halo, all of the Spartans earn the nickname "Demon" from the Elites after opening countless daring, death defying cans of whoopass all over the Covenant.
  • Vyers from Disgaea is almost exclusively referred to by his Laharl-provided moniker, Mid-Boss, by characters and fans alike.
    • Characters, fans, and the game itself - as soon as Laharl declares "Your new name is Mid-Boss", that's what appears as the header for his text boxes whenever he speaks.
  • While being called senpai is easily an honorific for the Persona 4 main character, he is called 'Sensei' by Teddie simply for his coolness factor. His Lancer Yosuke calls him "Partner".
  • In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario earns the name "The Great Gonzales" as his fighting name in the Glitz Pit. Even after he stops being a Glitz Pit fighter, his Yoshi partner continues to call him "Gonzales." Then again, he was quite literally hatched in the pit, as he points out when saying goodbye to Mario in the ending.
  • Each of the three main characters in Beyond Good and Evil has a canon nickname. Jade's is "Shauni," after her IRIS callsign. Double H's is "Hub," which the people of IRIS call him and may or may not be his real name. Pey'j's, which he gets only late-game, is "Chief," because he is.
  • Dr. Herbert Higginbotham from LittleBigPlanet 2 is also known as "Halitosis Herbert".
  • Subverted by Otacon and Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid games. Most everyone uses those names for them, as they are their official code names. The depth of their friendship is shown in the fact that they sometimes refer to each other by their real names—Hal and Dave, respectively.
  • Professor Layton has minor nicknames for the two kids in his life. His apprentice, Luke, is often "my boy," while his adopted daughter Flora is the only person he ever addresses as "dear."
  • Lord Alden from Vanguard Bandits has earned the nickname Ice Wolf for his powerful ice-based ATAC, ruling over the coldest land on the continent and cool demeanor in combat.
  • In Mortal Kombat 9, Nightwolf (one of the few spiritually aware Earthrealm dwellers; he's apparently communed with thunder god Raiden a few times in the past) occasionally refers to Raiden as Haokah, the spirit of thunder and lightning in Lakota mythology.
  • Vert/Green Heart from Hyperdimension Neptunia earns the nickname "Thunder Tits" from Blanc/White Heart in the game's intro sequence.
    • The main heroine, Neptune/Purple Heart, is called "Nep-Nep".
    • IF is called "Iffy".
    • Nepgear from the sequel is called "Ge-Ge".
  • Uriel Chuluun and Kira Thanos are the primary source of this (among other things) in Rift. First, Uriel calls Kira "Kay Tee" (much to her dismay). Kira snarkily calls Uriel "Princess" (which is technically true) in response (much to her delight). And the tie-in story "Drowning in Snow" has Kira referring to the Mighty Leap ability (a racial trait attributable to being part air elemental) as "Bahmi Bounce."

Visual Novels

  • Infinity series:
    • In Ever 17, Sara calls her friend Tanaka You "Nakkyu", and You calls Sara "Mayo". Additionally, Coco uses "Takepyon", "Tsugumin", and "Shou-chan" for Takeshi, Tsugumi, and the Kid.[7]
    • In Remember 11, Yuni refers to Kokoro as "Kokoron", and Lin as "Tobilin".
  • Nick and Edgey are Larry Butz's nicknames for Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth, respectively. Mia catches onto "Nick", and when she dies, she passes it on to Maya, whose use of it inspires Pearl to call him "Mr. Nick". Edgeworth, on the other extreme, is rarely called by his nickname, and rarer still by his first name.
    • And there's Damon Gant, who calls them "Wright-O" and "Worthy", and the Judge "Udgey". And Godot, who calls Nick "Mr. Trite."
    • Phoenix is also called Feenie by his college girlfriend Dahlia. And her twin sister Iris, the one he actually dated.
    • Pearl gets called "Pearls" by Phoenix and "Pearly" by Maya. In the former case, it was because he couldn't bring himself to call her by her real name (she was too cute).
    • As for Apollo Justice, he is sometimes called "Polly", but his most famous nickname is Klavier's "Herr Forehead".
  • Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!: Kazuko is called Wanko by just about everyone, and the producers often refer to her by the latter name instead. "Wan" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound a dog makes, but the obvious Embarrassing Nickname conceals a Stealth Pun - the "Kazu" in "Kazuko" is written as the Japanese kanji for "one", hence "one-ko".

Web Original

  • In Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series, Marik calls Yugi Binky-Boy.
  • In the webcomic The Dreamer, Nathan calls Alexander "Captain Fancy Pants" behind his back.
  • In Survival of the Fittest, Nathaniel Harris is referred to as Blood Boy on the sole basis that hardly anyone knew his real name. Also to an extent are most of the terrorists, and Yelizaveta 'Bounce' Volkova.
  • In Darwins Soldiers, whenever Aimee is out of earshot Shelton calls her "psycho fox lady".
  • Red vs. Blue characters usually address Freelancers with a shortened version of their callsign. Thus, Freelancer Texas is called "Tex" (despite being female), Washington is called "Wash", and New York is just "York".
    • When Caboose has to deal with Private Donut, he can only seem to remember the other's name as [Military Rank] + [Pastry], leading to a series of nicknames like "Private McMuffin" and "Major Cinnamon Bun".
      • Need we forget "Commander Pop-'n-Fresh"?
  • In Our Little Adventure, Rocky tends to nickname people. He nicknamed Angelika "Bitch Girl" and dubbed Pauline "Beast Bitch."
  • The Downfall meme has a bunch of both this an Fan nicknames, but the one most popular in-series nickname belongs to Joseph Goebbels, who is often addressed as "Skeletor" because he is (or at least he is shown in the movie Downfall to be) extremely pale and thin, which many characters believe makes him look half-dead.
  • In LIS DEAD, Dramatic Detective and Mysterious Mr. M will call each other DD and M respectively most of the time.

Western Animation

  • Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender likes to give nicknames to her friends. Most of them are one-offs but her nickname for Aang, "Twinkletoes", sticks.
    • And let's not forget Azula's much-despised nickname for her brother, "Zuzu."
  • On Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy, Edd is usually called "Double-D" to avoid confusion with Ed. Eddy gives Edd the more derisive "Sockhead", while Ed is "Lumpy".
    • Rolph rarely calls any characters by their real names. The Eds are often called "____ Ed Boy" by him. Nazz is also either referred to as "Spindleshanks Nazz-Girl" or "Go Go Nazz Girl". Kevin also calls Jimmy "Fluffy".
    • The protagonists are rarely called by their full names; Eddward, Edward, and Edward.
  • In All Grown Up!, Tommy, Chuckie, and Dil all call each other by the initial of their first name (T, C, D). Phil does this as well though nobody calls him P.
  • Skipper from The Penguins of Madagascar calls King Julien "Ringtail" and Mort "Sad-eyes".
  • Colleen from Road Rovers calls Hunter "Hunty-wunty" and gives Blitz various silly nicknames like "Chester Chubbycheeks" and "Stuffington Fluffypants" ("Fluffy" for short).
  • "Danger-Prone Daphne" of Scooby Doo.
  • On Daria, practically everyone calls Michael Mackenzie "Mack." One exception is his best friend Kevin, who calls him "Mack-Daddy." Mack finds that one rather annoying.
    • Another example is Charles "Upchuck" Ruttheimer III.
    • There is also the Lane siblings' Affectionate Nickname for their youngest sister "Janie."
  • In Recess, the gang sometimes refer to Gretchen as "Gretch" and Spinelli as "Spin".
    • T.J. always goes by his nickname (his full name is Theodore Jasper Detweiler), but even his nickname has a nickname: he's often referred to as "Teej".
  • X-Men: Evolution had Kurt refer to himself as "Fuzzy Blue Elf"; others adapted to this and also developed deviations such as "Blue Boy" and "The Fuzzy One."
    • Also from X-Men Evolution are Chuck (Professor-X), Cyke (Cyclops), Red (Jean Grey), Elf (Nightcrawler), Half-pint (Shadowcat), and Porcupine (Spyke).
  • Many characters of Adventure Time have these. For example, there's Princess Bubblegum, who is on occasion called "PB" and "Peebles".
  • Spike from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is sometimes called "Spikey-Wikey".
    • it doesn't end with just Spike. Applejack is sometimes called "AJ", Rainbow Dash is occasionally called "Dash" but more usually, "Rainbow" and once called "RD", Apple Bloom was once called "AB", Sweetie Belle's name has been shorted to just "Sweetie" sometimes, Pinkie Pie is usually just, "Pinkie", Twilight Sparkle is almost always just called "Twilight" (or "Twily" by her brother), Big Macintosh is sometimes called, "Big Mac", Sweetie Belle once called Scootaloo, "Scoot" and new colt, Pipsqueak was sometimes called "Pip" in his debut episode. Also, Rainbow Dash calls Scootaloo, "Squirt". Cadence's full name is "Mi Amore Cadenza".
  1. ↑ Japanese for Bookstore
  2. ↑ Rinshan Kaihou is when you acquire all 4 copies of any one tile, then draw the winning tile immediately after you complete the set - a purely Luck-Based Mission
  3. ↑ Noel Vermillion
  4. ↑ Hazama, who has green hair
  5. ↑ Jin Kisaragi
  6. ↑ Jin again
  7. ↑ aka. Shounen in the original Japanese version, whereas the english version has her use "Kiddo" as a nickname instead.
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