# Your fictional namesakes
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 27, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090 "2016-09-27T23:19:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/1 "2016-09-27T23:19:38Z")
I just downloaded a book and discovered that the main character has my wife’s maiden name (it’s also my great-great-grandmother’s name). The name is not a very common one, though the author used it as a pun and pronounced it differently to make it work.
And I remembered that the title character of the movie “Max” has the same last name as mine.
Now I’m sure if your name is Jones or Smith or Johnson, it’s pretty easy to find examples. But how about less common names? Do you have any fictional namesakes?
Bonus if both first and last name match, but first name matches are probably too easy.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/2 "2016-09-27T23:21:47Z")
An exact match for the last name is highly unlikely, but a variant spelling has shown up in a number of novels and stories about Nazi Germany. Mom always said “I wish the SOB had been named Smith.”
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/3 "2016-09-27T23:40:16Z")
There have been a few characters with my last name, but they always pronounced it differently.
No one with first and last as far as I know. First name is common enough that it’s not notable for any characters to have the same one.
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### Author:  [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)
#### Post date: [September 27, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/4 "2016-09-27T23:57:10Z")
There was a very popular doll that came out when I was 2 or 3 years old. The doll had my first and middle names, no last name. My family joked that we had invented the doll and named her after me.
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/5 "2016-09-28T00:00:36Z")
I’d be shocked if a fictional character had my maiden name. It’s very German and hard for many people to pronounce. My married name is easy.
> [@stillownedbysetters](#):
>
> There was a very popular doll that came out when I was 2 or 3 years old. The doll had my first and middle names, no last name. My family joked that we had invented the doll and named her after me.
Hi, Raggedy! 😃
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/6 "2016-09-28T00:57:39Z")
The name on my birth certificate is the same as that of a once-popular male comic strip character, but it still sounds like a girl’s name. When I was growing up, telephone operators always thought I was a girl because of it.
My surname is that of a once-popular rock-n-roll singer. It sounds cool only when you pronounce it with a European accent, like in _ **The Blue Max** _.
I try to avoid using both.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/7 "2016-09-28T01:03:15Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#):
>
> There was a very popular doll that came out when I was 2 or 3 years old. The doll had my first and middle names, no last name. My family joked that we had invented the doll and named her after me.
Patty Play Pal? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/8 "2016-09-28T01:15:40Z")
My surname is quite rare, and I’ve never actually seen it used in fiction… but there’s one science fiction story that has a name that’s close enough that in some places a typo makes it the same. IIRC, my almost-namesake is a dragon-breeder.
There’s also a slightly different Americanized version of my surname that’s a little more common, and borne by exactly one well-known person, but I’ve never seen that form in fiction.
My full name would certainly never show up in fiction, and to the best of my knowledge, I’m the only one in the US (though there _might_ be one or two others in Germany).
I identify a lot more with my mom’s side of the family, though, and her maiden name is much more common (still not a Smith or Jones, but common enough that you’ll sometimes see it in the news). The only specific occurrence I can think of, though, is a minor character in _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/9 "2016-09-28T01:17:19Z")
I have the same first and last name as a character on _Lost_, which I have never seen.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/10 "2016-09-28T01:18:52Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> An exact match for the last name is highly unlikely, but a variant spelling has shown up in a number of novels and stories about Nazi Germany. Mom always said “I wish the SOB had been named Smith.”
Mr Hilter?
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/11 "2016-09-28T01:58:12Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> Mr Hilter?
More likely Bimmler or MacGoering.
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### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/12 "2016-09-28T02:32:26Z")
My last name showed up in the classic _The Far Side_ cartoon in which a student is raising his hand and asking his teacher, “Mr. Osborne, may I be excused? My brain is full.”
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/13 "2016-09-28T03:12:15Z")
Oh, hell. I was a crime fiction editor from the early '80s into the early aughts. My authors were constantly using my surname in their novels.
James Ellroy, for one, had a Police Commissioner Malloy in THE BLACK DAHLIA (1987), and a prominent Central Avenue jazz club called “Malloy’s Nest” in THE BIG NOWHERE and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/14 "2016-09-28T03:38:32Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#):
>
> Oh, hell. I was a crime fiction editor from the early '80s into the early aughts. My authors were constantly using my surname in their novels.
>
> James Ellroy, for one, had a Police Commissioner Malloy in THE BLACK DAHLIA (1987), and a prominent Central Avenue jazz club called “Malloy’s Nest” in THE BIG NOWHERE and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL.
Ever work with Joan Hess?
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/15 "2016-09-28T03:42:38Z")
I know (or knew) her well. (Smooched with her once in our younger days)
Oddly enough, I am married to a woman named “Claire.”
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/16 "2016-09-28T03:44:10Z")
Oh, god, did I just kiss and tell?
Anyway, we were both cute back then.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/17 "2016-09-28T03:47:02Z")
My last name showed up as the main suspect and then defendant on Law & Order one time. Woohoo!
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### Author:  [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/18 "2016-09-28T04:12:25Z")
A certain big-headed counselor on South Park.
I’m a teacher, and I use him as my profile picture on Facebook and other places.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/19 "2016-09-28T04:25:58Z")
You’d think I’d encounter fictional characters with my name all the time; I have a common first and last name. But there’s only been one time when I’ve seen my name used in a work of fiction; as a character in _How the West Was Won_.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [September 28, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fictional-namesakes/767090/20 "2016-09-28T05:20:04Z")
There have been a number of fictional characters with my first name, which has two common spellings.
As for my last name, a well-known shock jock had a sidekick with that surname (which wasn’t his real name) and there was a series of adventure stories for boys in the early 20th century featuring a family with that name. Think “Hardy Boys” only with our name. There is also a committee-with-a-pseudonym that writes contemporary books for teenage girls and that pseudonym has my surname.
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