Writers like to use wordplay when naming characters. A couple of obvious examples that come to mind are the Librarian, Mr. Atoz, in the Star Trek episode ‘All Our Yesterdays’, and the titular character in ‘Zardoz’ (you’ll know if you’ve seen it).
Excluding such things as the Harry Potter series, where it seems every character has a punny/cute/significant name, and the James Bond series, where the puns are blatant, what other characters have wordplay names?
I’m glad to get here early and lay claim to the obvious characters from Dr. Strangelove.
There’s the good doctor himself but also the villain, Col. Jack D. Ripper, not to mention the officer, Batguano. I’m sure there were more in that movie.
True. Like the Harry Potter series, the names were meant to be meaningful. I’m looking for names that are ‘cute jokes’ (like Mr. Atoz), but not so ‘cute’ as the James Bond names.
The Star Wars universe full of these. A few which come to mind:
The bounty hunter droid 4-LOM (from The Empire Strikes Back) is an acronym pun; the name allegedly stands for “For Love of Money.”
The planet Wobani briefly appears near the beginning of Rogue One; it’s the Imperial prison planet from which a Rebel team frees Jyn Erso. “Wobani” is an anagram of “Obi-Wan.”
The pun is really obscure, but in One Piece there’s a character named Mr. Three. If you translate his name into Japanese it would be San-San.
Most people know that Lupin the Third was named after the fictional thief Arsine Lupin, but what most people don’t know is that Zenigata was also named after a popular Japanese detective.
Well, you could go old school with The Pilgrim’s Progress, but those names might be too direct to be considered puns. Same with Hiro Protagonist in Snow Crash.
I think Hiro Protagonist from Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash deserves a mention.
Chester Gould in Dick Tracy was particularly heavyhanded in this regard, especially back in the 30s and 40s. It’s not just the criminal names like “BB Eyes” and “Flattop” that echoed their physical characteristics. He also gave characters names that were just words reversed, like “Mr. Toirtap”
To nitpick, it’s Col. “Bat” Guano. There’s also President Merkin Muffley, Gen. Buck Turgidson, and Maj. “King” Kong (played by Louis Burton Lindley Jr., better known as Slim Pickens).
*American Gods * by Neil Gaiman has, for instance, Low-Key Lyesmith (who turns out to be the Norse god Loki) and Mr. Nancy (who is revealed to be the African trickster god Anansi).