How about Charlie Brown’s crush on “the little red haired girl”?
The “Man With No Neck”, in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The credits simply list him as “A Narrator”.
His name was Joe.
“John Doe” from Se7en.
Two mentions of Cancer Man from The X-Files but none for X and Deep Throat? For shame.
Nitpick: the title of Ralph Ellison’s novel is simply Invisible Man. The Invisible Man is by H. G. Wells.
Blonde, Orange, and White all had names. Blue, Brown, and Pink were nameless.
Blonde’s name (Vic Vega) is of particular note as it has the same surname as Travolta’s character in Pulp Fiction (Vincent Vega). Tarantino has said that the two characters are brothers.
I’m gonna delve into the world of video games:
Master Chief
Aaand … that’s another one that I knew but boobed up in my post anyway. Perhaps I’ll just lurk in this thread from here on out lest I embarass myself further.
Paul McGann’s character in *Withnail And I. *
Good one! I loved that movie and didn’t notice that they were never referred to by name.
If you like detective novels, Bill Pronzini has a series of novels whose protagonist is never referred to by name.
Mrs. Ari on Entourage.
…and here I was thinking, “Well, maybe I won’t be the first to mention the Janitor, but at least I’ll probably be able to make a Dr. Jan Itor joke.” Damn SDMB.
Oh, Mr. Big from Sex and the City almost fits the bill. He wasn’t given a real name until the last minute of the series finale.
Just remembered another. In Of Mice and Men, Curley’s flirtatious wife was never named.
Captain Scarlet
James Bond’s Q
(Yes, I know they both have names, but not well known to the public. Try saying Gyles Boothroyd to someone, see if they know who it is)
And in a later era of detective fiction, there’s Bill Pronzini’s “Nameless Detective”.
I personally think that in a confrontation, the Op* could kick Nameless’ butt; however that is another matter.
*“'Fore God, fat Shorty, you done hurt me!”
And that was just his first name, I believe.
You don’t get his full name until the movie.
And everyone still just calls him Mr. Big, I don’t actually remember his full name, it’s not used much.
Daniel Craig’s character in Layer Cake.
Amusingly, he soon thereafter appeared in a film that used the song “You Know My Name” over its opening credits (Casino Royale).
Outside of Neo (aka, Thomas Anderson), pretty much everyone in The Matrix and its sequels were known only by their in-Matrix hacker names (e.g., Morpheus, Trinity, Tank, Apoc, Switch, Mouse, etc.).
The narrator of Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman has forgotten his name. He does, however, have a voice inside his head named Joe.
The name of the main character in the musical Kismet is never revealed. He is mistaken for Hajj the Beggar, which is an important plot point, but is simply known in the script as “The Poet”.