# Alter-Ego Alliteration Alert!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 20, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567 "2005-09-20T17:47:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/1 "2005-09-20T17:47:37Z")
Peter Parker. Clark Kent. Bruce Banner. Reed Richards. Sue Storm. Scott Summers. Otto Octavius. I could go on, but you get the idea. Why do a lot of superheroes have alliterative real names? Was this intentional? How many can you name? Marvel seem to be worse offenders than D.C.
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### Author:  [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/2 "2005-09-20T17:52:51Z")
I suppose it provides a certain aural attractiveness to the name. Makes it stand out more in the mind.
But DC’s just as bad. Lois Lane, Lucy Lane. Lana Lang. Lex Luthor. Lori Lemaris. And that’s just part of Superman’s pantheon.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/3 "2005-09-20T17:55:42Z")
Wally West, Matt Murdock, Stephen Strange, Victor Von Doom, Warren Worthington, Vicki Vale, Richard Ryder…
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/4 "2005-09-20T18:01:36Z")
Marvel does it because Stan Lee has a horrible memory, so when he was naming characters, he’d give them aliterative names, so if he remembered half, he’d at least have the other initial.
(Or at least, that’s what he says.)
The Superman ‘LL’ connection pretty quickly became a running gag, so they kept adding them.
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### Author:  [@marque\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marque_elf)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/5 "2005-09-20T18:02:37Z")
Someone once asked Stan Lee about this. He said that he thought that the alliteration made it easier to remember the characters names, both for fans and for himself too.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/6 "2005-09-20T18:06:37Z")
Otto Octavius ain’t a hero, incidentally.
The major counter-examples are Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Diana Prince, Alan Scott (originally they wanted to call him Alan Ladd, i.e. Aladin, but decided this was dumb, and then an actor by that name became famous), Jay Garrick, Steve Rogers, Namor McKenzie (ha!), Arthur Curry, Carter Hall, Charles McNider, Al Pratt etc. I’d argue that “Clark Kent” is only alliterative if you stretch the definition a bit, and the alliterative/gimmicky names didn’t become the norm (McNider i.e. Doctor Mid-Nite, is a rare wartime exception), until Marvel got restarted and DC entered its silver age, both in the nineteen-sixties, when comics completely shed their pulp-fiction roots, adopted the Comics Code Authority and became fodder for young children only.
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/7 "2005-09-20T18:11:09Z")
> [@marque elf](#):
>
> Someone once asked Stan Lee about this. He said that he thought that the alliteration made it easier to remember the characters names, both for fans and for himself too.
Yeah, it sure helped with “Bob” Banner!
(For the uninitiated – Bruce Banner’s full name is Robert Bruce Banner to account for the fact that Stan referred to him as Bob Banner in a few early appearances.)
–Cliffy
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/8 "2005-09-20T18:35:00Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#):
>
> But DC’s just as bad. Lois Lane, Lucy Lane. Lana Lang. Lex Luthor. Lori Lemaris. And that’s just part of Superman’s pantheon.
You beat me to it, damn you. I came in here to say exactly this.
I thought turtles were supposed to be _slow_. :mad:
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/9 "2005-09-20T18:46:18Z")
Let us not forget Peter Porkchops, who pre-dates many of those already mentioned (and who went on to become the heroic Pig-Iron, of Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew).
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/10 "2005-09-20T18:48:37Z")
Oh, and other non-hero alliterations include J. Jonah Jameson, his editor Robbie Robertson, JJJ’s son John and JJJ’s secretaries, Betty Brant and Glory Grant. And that’s just from Spider-Man.
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### Author:  [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/11 "2005-09-20T18:49:08Z")
> [@Anaamika](#):
>
> I thought turtles were supposed to be _slow_. :mad:
But I’m a rocket-powered turtle.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/12 "2005-09-20T18:55:48Z")
> [@Otto](#):
>
> Let us not forget Peter Porkchops, who pre-dates many of those already mentioned (and who went on to become the heroic Pig-Iron, of Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew).
Huh? They first appeared in 1982, after almost everybody named here. Actually, _everybody_ I think.
Don’t forget that comics were mostly aimed at kids, pre-teen kids. Simpler was better. An easily remembered name was an asset. And of course, names had to be as WASPy as possible. No ethnics allowed, except possibly for some villains. So names were mostly one or two syllables, as is the case with many Anglo-Saxon names anyway.
Although the LL motif was Superman’s schtick, the alliterative names were really a Stan Lee specialty after Marvel got going in the 1960s. A few existed, but he cornered the market on them. So much so that they started making fun of the names, as in Peter Porkchops and other Spider-man parodies.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/13 "2005-09-20T18:59:09Z")
Also Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, from Star Comics in the '80s.
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### Author:  [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/14 "2005-09-20T19:08:04Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#):
>
> Huh? They first appeared in 1982, after almost everybody named here. Actually, _everybody_ I think.
Peter Porkchops is a funny-animal character first, and Pig Iron second. His appearance in comics vastly predates the origin of the Zoo Crew.
[http://www.toonopedia.com/porkchop.htm](http://www.toonopedia.com/porkchop.htm)
1.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/15 "2005-09-20T19:35:49Z")
I can’t believe I’m the first to mention Billy Batson (aka Captain Carvel…erm, Marvel).
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/16 "2005-09-20T19:42:39Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#):
>
> I can’t believe I’m the first to mention Billy Batson (aka Captain Carvel…erm, Marvel).
Then I’ll see your Billy Batson and raise you Freddy Freeman (Captain Marvel Jr.).
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/17 "2005-09-20T19:43:06Z")
**Exapno** , Peter Porkchops was a character in DC’s funny animal comics of the '40’s (I think he appeared in Leading Screen Comics, but don’t quote me on that). When Roy Thomas created Captain Carrot, he included Peter in the team, transforming him into Pig-Iron.
–Cliffy
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/18 "2005-09-20T19:48:51Z")
Ooh, ooh, Mary Marvel! (Whose real name is Mary Batson, but whatever.)
Actually, the Golden Age was rife with alliterative and rhyming names (Wonder Woman, Big Brother, Her Highness, Woozy Winks, Doiby Dickles, Trigger Twins, Bob & Swab, Percy Popp the Super-Cop, etc.)
–Cliffy
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/19 "2005-09-20T21:00:09Z")
> [@Cliffy](#):
>
> **Exapno** , Peter Porkchops was a character in DC’s funny animal comics of the '40’s (I think he appeared in Leading Screen Comics, but don’t quote me on that). When Roy Thomas created Captain Carrot, he included Peter in the team, transforming him into Pig-Iron.
>
> –Cliffy
And I thought I knew older comics thoroughly. Thanks for the Dope. You too, \*_CandidGamera_.
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alter-ego-alliteration-alert/322567/20 "2005-09-20T21:21:47Z")
Sure. When I first read those early Captain Carrots (I borrowed several from a friend in the early '90’s), someone wrote in the lettercol that it was nice to see Peter Porkchops again. I wracked my brain to try and remember where he’d been seen previously. It wasn’t until a decade or so later that I learned he was around decades before I was born!
–Cliffy
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