# Well-known characters without actual names **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 24, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286 "2008-11-24T18:02:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/81 "2008-11-25T02:33:18Z")
The blonde in the T-bird (Suzanne Sommers) in “American Grafitti”. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/82 "2008-11-25T02:37:00Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > James Bond’s Q And M too. How did I forget M. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/83 "2008-11-25T02:53:53Z")
A couple from Family Guy Greased Up Deaf Guy Giant Chicken ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/84 "2008-11-25T03:16:22Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > His name was Joe. In _The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly_ Tuco calls him Blondie. In For A Few Dollars More, IMDB says his name was Monco. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/85 "2008-11-25T03:30:35Z")
_Red Dwarf_’s Cat. ---
**Author:** ![vintageloveletter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@vintageloveletter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vintageloveletter)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/86 "2008-11-25T05:00:54Z")
The Waitress from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/87 "2008-11-25T13:08:52Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > How about Charlie Brown’s crush on “the little red haired girl”? Drat, beaten to one of the ones I recalled from Peanuts. The other one would be Pig-Pen. And to forestall a cite to the contrary, the name Heather for the Little Red-Haired Girl (as well as her very visage) is non-canon, existing only in the animated specials, not in the comic itself. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/88 "2008-11-25T13:23:45Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > If The Rock is a character, does that mean Dwayne Johnson was acting as The Rock during the filming of _The Scorpion King_? Nope, that would be Dwayne Johnson acting as _The Rock_, acting as his character in _The Scorpion King_. Makes perfect sense to me. As for M - we do know that either her given, maiden or surname starts with an M 😉 ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/89 "2008-11-25T13:31:49Z")
In the 1939 film THE WIZARD OF OZ, the wizard is not named but in the L. Frank Baum books he is Oscar Zoroaster Pardrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmanuel Ambrose Diggs. The Tin Woodsman had the name Nick Chopper The Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion never got their own names. Baum did not name the Wicked Witch of the West but the later book and Musical WICKED names her Elphaba. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/90 "2008-11-25T14:54:20Z")
**Comic Book Guy** _does_ have a name: > [@](#): > > A long-running gag on the show was never to reveal the character’s name, with other characters referring to him as “Comic Book Guy”. Finally, in the February 6, 2005 episode, “Homer and Ned’s Hail Mary Pass,” Comic Book Guy nonchalantly told Ned Flanders: “My name is Jeff Albertson, but everyone calls me ‘Comic Book Guy’”.[1] Show runner Al Jean remarked: "That was specifically done to make people really mad. We just tried to pick a generic name. > **[Comic Book Guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_book_guy)** > > Jeff Albertson, commonly known as the Comic Book Guy (CBG), is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and Eisner-nominated spin-off comic book series Comic Book Guy. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the second-season episode "Three Men and a Comic Book", which originally aired on May 9, 1991. Comic Book Guy is the proprietor of a comic book store, The Android's Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop. He is based on "every comic book store guy in A... In addition, Tolkien indexer Foster has suggested a possible name for one of the Nazgul (although Tolkien says it’s not recorded). The Wiki entry goes on to claim: > [@](#): > > Only a few of the Nazgûl are named or identified individually in Tolkien’s works. Their leader was the Witch-king of Angmar, and his second in command was named Khamûl, the “black Easterling” or the “shadow of the East”. Tolkien stated that three of them were great Númenórean lords. Khamûl was a lord of the Easterlings, and is the only Nazgûl whose name is revealed to the reader. > **[Nazgûl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazg%C3%BBl)** > > The Nazgûl (from Black Speech nazg 'ring', and gûl 'wraith, spirit') – introduced as Black Riders and also called Ringwraiths, Dark Riders, the Nine Riders, or simply the Nine – are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. They were nine Men who had succumbed to Sauron's power through wearing Rings of Power, which gave them immortality but reduced them to invisible wraiths, servants bound to the power of the One Ring and completely under Sauron's control. > The Lord of the Ri... ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/91 "2008-11-25T14:57:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Peter Morris > James Bond’s Q > > And M too. How did I forget M. ?? Q and M _are_ named, both in the books and the movies. Q is Major Boothroyd, and M is Sir Miles Messervy. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/92 "2008-11-25T15:15:57Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > Do Macbeth and his wife have first names? Macbeth’s first name is probably Macbeth – he might not have any other name. Presumably Lady Macbeth had a name before marriage, but we don’t know what it was. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/93 "2008-11-25T15:24:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > ?? > > Q and M _are_ named, both in the books and the movies. Q is Major Boothroyd, and M is Sir Miles Messervy. I haven’t read all the books, but in which movies are they named? (And I somehow doubt that’s M’s name in the latest movies 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/94 "2008-11-25T15:25:58Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > ?? > > Q and M _are_ named, both in the books and the movies. Q is Major Boothroyd, and M is Sir Miles Messervy. Yes, as I [noted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10491325&postcount=54). But I think you haven’t read the OP. These names may be available if you search for them. But they are not well known to the general public. Everyone knows who Q is. Not many people know who Major Boothroyd is. Chef from South Park. (Yes, he’s got a name too. Anyone remember it without looking it up? I certainly don’t. He’s almost always just called Chef. ) ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/95 "2008-11-25T15:27:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Comic Book Guy** _does_ have a name: Which is why the OP noted that: “Yes, I know that the writers eventually gave this character a real name. But if you asked the random person on the street who ‘Jeff Albertson’ is, they’d stare blankly; whereas if you asked who ‘Comic Book Guy’ is, a large percentage of folks would know he’s a Simpsons character.” ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/96 "2008-11-25T15:37:07Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Macbeth’s first name is probably Macbeth – he might not have any other name. Presumably Lady Macbeth had a name before marriage, but we don’t know what it was. Yup. Macbeth _was_ his first name. His last name, historically, was mac Findlaích. If one is also going by history, Lady Macbeth’s first name was Gruoch. But everyone knows Shakespeare played fast and loose with history. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/97 "2008-11-25T15:40:38Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Macbeth’s first name is probably Macbeth – he might not have any other name. Presumably Lady Macbeth had a name before marriage, but we don’t know what it was. Macbeth being a historical character we know their full names, even if not given in the play. He was [Mac Bethad mac Findlaích](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth_of_Scotland), she was [Gruoch ingen Boite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruoch_of_Scotland) Edit: beaten to the punch. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/98 "2008-11-25T15:40:41Z")
I saw a Spanish movie El Aura (The Aura) about a shy taxidermist who fantasizes about committing a perfect crime (like a bank robbery or heist) who, quite by accident end up involved in a heist. When we saw the movie, we noticed that no one ever called him by name. Everyone was so disdainful that no one bothered to show him even that courtesy. In the credits he was listed as The Taxidermist. On IMDB, they say his name is Esteban Espinosa, but neither of us remember him giving any name and if he did it was likely an alias (otherwise, why wouldn’t if have been in the credits at the end of the movie?) ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/99 "2008-11-25T15:51:11Z")
Several characters from _Catch-22_ spring to mind for me, namely Major ----- De Coverley, The Soldier In White, and Hungry Joe. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286/100 "2008-11-25T15:58:39Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > The narrator of Ralph Ellison’s _The Invisible Man_ never reveals his name. > > There’s “The Man with No Eyes” from _Cool Hand Luke_, but most of the characters in that move are know by nicknames of some sort, so maybe that’s not exactly what you had in mind. > > ETA: And “Preacher” from High Plains Drifter. I saw _Luke_ a few weeks back, and it seems to me that one of the guards addressed him by name. I may be wrong. Did the title character of that odd TV series _The Prisoner_ have a name, or was he always Number Six (Number Two or One in the last scene)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-characters-without-actual-names/474286.md?page=6)