Questions tagged [names]
For questions about names: of characters, including titles, nicknames, and honorifics; of in-universe locations, e.g. countries or planets; or of objects, e.g. vessels, weapons, etc. Questions can be in-universe or out-of-universe, about topics such as origins, meanings, usage and pronunciation. For questions about the title of a work of sci-fi or fantasy, use the [title-explanation] tag instead.
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Why is Immortan Joe called that?
In Mad Max: Fury Road, the evil boss is named "Immortan Joe". I understand that the "Joe" part comes from his original name, Joe Moore, but what's "Immortan"? Is it just a verbal gag by creator Miller,...
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Origin of the name 'James T. Kirk'
How did the name 'James T. Kirk' originate? I heard it might have come from the fact that Gene Roddenberry once lived in New Jersey and the name of a mayor from Elizabeth, NJ was James T. Kirk.
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Is there any connection between Mace from Caravan of Courage and Mace Windu?
While watching the first Star Wars Ewok movie; Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure I noticed that one of the main characters was called Mace. This of course made me think of Mace Windu from Episodes ...
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How is the name "Took" pronounced?
After hearing someone pronounce "Took" (as in "Fool Of A...") the same as the English word "took", I wondered to myself: Have I been pronouncing it wrong this whole time? ...
CommunityBot
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How Long Was It "Stately Wayne Manor?"
I grew up watching the US TV version of Batman from the 1960s (as I know many here did.) It didn't take me long, later, to realize that series had nothing to do with the real Batman.
In that series, ...
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How should I pronounce Jalabhar Xho’s last name?
In George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, there is a somewhat exotic character called Jalabhar Xho:
JALABHAR XHO, an exile prince from the Summer Isles
I’m not sure how to pronounce ...
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Did L. Ron Hubbard write about a planet called Trantor?
In an article about the '80s video game Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper, the author, Nick Bruty, says he got the name "Trantor" from "a planet in an L. Ron Hubbard book."
Trantor is ...
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Are there starships in Star Trek that we know are named after women?
A brief browse through this list yields some likely candidates:
USS Curie -- most likely named after Marie Curie, but could be Pierre Curie or both, or involve Irène Joliot-Curie or Frédéric Joliot-...
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What was Darth Maul's birth name?
When a person becomes a Sith, he changes his name. For example:
Palpatine took (or was given) the name Sidious
Count Dooku took (or was given) the name Tyranus
Anakin Skywalker was given the name ...
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X-Men: Why is Remy LeBeau nicknamed Gambit?
Why is Remy LeBeau's nickname Gambit?
In chess, gambit is an opening tactic in which the player sacrifices a pawn to get a better position. I am not familiar with Gambit being a good chess player (or ...
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Is it culturally insensitive to give a cat a Khajiit name?
This may sound random, but I was watching a video where a guy was playing Elder Kings 2. In the game, he got a pet cat and he was thinking about giving it a Khajiit name because Khajiit look like cats,...
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Where does the "Starname Prime" naming scheme for planets originate?
I mean the name of a star followed by the word Prime, used to denote the system's most important/primary inhabited world. For example, Earth would be called Sol Prime using this naming scheme. I've ...
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Is there behind-the-scenes information on which came first, Bender's name, function or alcoholism?
Bender's name is a nice bit of wordplay because he is a bending unit, and also alcoholic (goes on benders).
But this reference[1] in Wikipedia says he was named after the character John Bender from ...
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In the title of 'Mia and Me', who is 'me'?
The children fantasy franchise Mia and Me (2012) revolves around the eponymous girl Mia who can travel to the parallel world of Centopia by means of a magical bracelet and an (ever-changing) ...
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What were Elayne's babies named?
Has Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson ever said anything (or anything else in canon; I don't remember anything from the books) regarding the names of Elayne's babies? Can I name one if not?
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What Does the Title "Ama" Mean in Wicked?
The novel Wicked has a handful of adult characters given the title "Ama" (e.g. Ama Clutch). It never explains what significance this title is meant to confer. Is there an official source or ...
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Does "FN" stand for or mean anything?
There are several Stormtroopers with designations in the form "FN-####" in The Force Awakens, including
There are also other First Order Stormtroopers whose designations start with "FN" appearing in ...
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In Pursuit of the Pankera, who is J. Worthington Jones?
In Heinlein's posthumous The Pursuit of the Pankera the main characters are reading a history of the alternate universe they are in (an alternate universe with Lensmen and Boskone) and encounter an ...
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Which Abednedo are named after Beastie Boys titles?
Some Abednedo have been named after albums or songs by the Beastie Boys, most famously Ello Asty after Hello Nasty. The Abednedo themselves having been named after part of the refrain to "...
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Why was Luke "Red Five"?
In Star Wars: A New Hope, at beginning of the attack on the Death Star, we see the pilots of Red Squadron check in.
Luke reports in as "Red Five", however we also ...
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Did C. S. Lewis indicate how he chose the name "Tash" for the Calormene's demon-god?
I recently learned that there is an archeological site near Aleppo along the Syrian-Turkish border, called "Arslan Tash." The name means "lion stone," apparently in reference to ...
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Why is Sauron's name similar to the Greek/Latin word for "lizard"?
The name Sauron is spelled like, and sounds very similar to the Greek word σαῦρος, or the corresponding Latin word saurus, which means lizard.
Is this just a coincidence, or is there a (known or ...
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Are there meaningful anagrams in Lord of the Rings character names?
Motivation
I just observed that "Denethor", the human steward who thought himself king has all the same letters as the word "dethrone" which is what he intended to do to Aragorn, ...
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Does Ron ever introduce himself as "Ronald Weasley" in Harry Potter?
Per Wizarding World (formerly Pottermore), Ron's full name is Ronald Bilius Weasley and he uses his family name Ron Weasley. I recognize that even the first time he met Harry, he called himself "...
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What are the origins of the names "Just Read The Instructions" and "Of Course I Still Love You"?
SpaceX / Elon Musk dubbed their East Coast floating landing pad (or "Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship", (ASDS) if you really prefer), Just Read The Instructions, apparently after a ship from ...
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What was Sarah Bartowski's (née Walker) birth name?
Did Sarah Walker Bartowski reveal her birth name?
And in which episode did they get married?
And in which episode did they realise they were in love?
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What is the earliest instance of Spock being called "Dr. Spock"?
As noted in the answer to the question Does Spock have a PhD?, Spock is never referred to on-screen as "Dr. Spock" in Star Trek. However, the "doctor" title has persisted amongst the general ...
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Why is "Droxine" a name appropriate for someone beautiful and pleasant?
In Star Trek, season 3, episode 21, "The Cloud Minders", Spock is considering his surroundings at the time, and one of its residents:
Here on Stratos, everything is incomparably beautiful ...
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Why are the worlds of Might & Magic referred to as "nacelles"?
Some worlds in the original Might&Magic universe are named "nacelle":
(VARN) Vehicular Astropod Research Nacelle
(CRON) Central Research Observation Nacelle
(XEEN) Xylonite Experimental ...
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Why was Frodo "wise" and Samwise a "half-wit"?
According to the sources I’ve found (for example this one), “Frodo” comes from the Old English “fród”, meaning wise. (Apparently in “Hobbit Language” Frodo’s name is “Maura”, but I don’t know if this ...
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Why does everyone call Hagrid by his last name?
Throughout the Harry Potter novels, Rubeus Hagrid is the only character consistently addressed by his last name in a friendly manner. While the trio do frequently address their enemies by their last ...
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Is there only a single Skywalker family?
Given the size of the Empire, it seems highly probable that names would be reused. Although I'm not aware of any in canon, there must be other Skywalkers in the galaxy, leading me to my question.
Are ...
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What, if anything, is the name FRIDAY an acronym for?
At the end of Age of Ultron,
JARVIS is an acronym for for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. What is FRIDAY an acronym for?
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Why is Starfire named after an herb?
The DC Comics superhero Starfire is a Tamaranian princess who joins the Teen Titans after escaping her home planet of Tamaran. The most baffling part of her origin story is her real name: Koriand'r. ...
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Does the name Ten Forward have any precedent in the real world or in fiction?
Ten Forward is, of course the inconic lounge/bar/gathering area on the Enterprise-D. It is named after the fact that it is located at the forward extreme of the tenth deck, making it the most ...
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Mortal Kombat: Why is Scorpion called that name?
One of the most iconic characters of the Mortal Kombat franchise is Scorpion, an undead ninja whose real name is Hanzo Hasashi. He first appeared in the original video game as the arch-enemy of Sub-...
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Why are there two characters named Aegon?
Spoilers for the Season 7 finale of Game of Thrones, "The Dragon and the Wolf".
At the end of the episode through one of Bran's visions we learn that:
While we knew that Jon was the son of ...
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Why is Jon Vander's nickname "Dutch"?
In the Star Wars universe, there's a pilot named Jon Vander whose nickname is "Dutch".
I'm assuming that the Netherlands doesn't exist in Star Wars - or is at least sufficiently far away ...
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In Welcome to Night Vale, what name(s) were given to Khoshek's kittens?
In Welcome to Night Vale, Khoshekh, the cat hovering in the men's bathroom at the radio station, has a litter of kittens. They were all adopted (but continue hovering in the bathroom and are just ...
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Does the name of Shub Niggurath contain or reference a racial slur?
I've always thought that the name of the Lovecraft deity Shub Niggurath was intended to sound vaguely Semitic, but I recently noticed that it seems to encode a certain well-known English-language ...
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What is Snow's granddaughter's name in "The Hunger Games"?
Does anybody know what President Snow's granddaughter's name is?
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Why didn't Snape recognize the Marauder's Map?
When Harry was in the corridors trying to find Peter Pettigrew at night, Snape came. Snape took that map, and had a few attempts at revealing it. When he told the map to reveal itself in the name of ...
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Was the Star Wars capital planet named "Coruscant" after this passage from Pebble in the Sky?
Rereading Pebble in the Sky (1950), Isaac Asimov's first complete novel, I noticed a particular word near the beginning chapter 6:
Ennius looked at the stars. They were the real beauty to him, since ...
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What is the most frequently mentioned proper noun/adjective in Star Trek that remains undepicted?
Part of world-building involves making references to invented objects, people, and races. And since Star Trek had been going on for seven decades, there's been a lot of it. Sometimes some of those ...
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Why do the trolls have civilized names?
In The Hobbit, the trolls' names (Tom, William, and Bert) don't seem to fit their "uncivilized" characters. Why did Tolkien give them those names?
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Why are all the DS9 runabouts named after Earth rivers?
It seems whenever we hear mention of a runabout assigned to DS9 it's named after a river on Earth—the Rio Grande, the Ganges, the Yangtzee Kiang—is there a particular reason for this naming convention?...
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Why does Sabriel remark that "Touchstone" is a fool's name?
In Garth Nix's book Sabriel, the titular character discovers a statue of a man. She is able to reanimate the man, she asks his name, and he replies "Touchstone." She replies something along ...
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Why is the name Strider considered offensive?
To be clear, I am not asking why Aragorn and the Dunedain are treated as suspicious, but why the nickname 'Strider' (and Longshanks) is implied to have an insulting undertone, by Bill Ferny and ...
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Why are the names Sauron and Saruman so similar?
The names Sauron and Saruman are very similar in writing and pronunciation.
Is it an accident? or having an a forethought reason?
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How is Anakin’s nickname spelt?
This question was inspired by Valorum’s answer to the question on what the Tuskens did with Shmi Skywalker.
In it, he quotes the following from the official Attack of the Clones novelisation:
...
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