History Main / CharacterNameAlias

* The band Music/MarilynManson does this with the name of the band itself and the {{stage name}}s of its members, each of them created by taking the first name of a female celebrity or media figure and the last name of a SerialKiller or spree killer. The eponymous frontman (real name Brian Warner) is named for Creator/MarilynMonroe and UsefulNotes/CharlesManson, while other members have included [[Series/TheDukesOfHazzard Daisy]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berkowitz Berkowitz]] (Scott Putesky), [[Film/{{Grease}} Olivia Newton]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Bundy Bundy]] (Brian Tutunick), Music/{{Madonna}} [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy Wayne Gacy]] (Stephen Bier), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Lee_Corporation Sara Lee]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Lee_Lucas Lucas]] (Frederick Streithorst), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zsa_Zsa_Gabor Zsa Zsa]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Speck Speck]] (Perry Pandrea), Film/{{Gidget}} [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein Gein]] (Brad Stewart), Creator/{{Ginger|Rogers}} [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Fish Fish]] (Kenneth Wilson), and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twiggy Twiggy]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ramirez Ramirez]] (Jeordie White). These stage names are meant to represent the dichotomy of good and evil, and how both exist in every person.

* In the first ''Film/DieHard'': John [=McClane=] decides that the name he'll use with Powell will be "Roy" after Creator/RoyRogers (which [=McClane=] referred to in a previous scene -- the one with his CatchPhrase). It can also be considered a real person name example, although Rogers was not the actor's birth name.

* In ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy'', Izuku quickly comes up with the name "Tobey Reilly" for Peter when Inko asks for his tutor's name. It's a combination of [[Creator/TobeyMaguire Tobey Maguire's]] and Ben Reilly's, the Scarlet Spider's, names.

* In ''False Memory'' by Dean Koontz, the evil psychologist is named Mark [[LouisCypher Ahriman]]. Not only is his last name identical to the name of the chief figure of evil in Zoroastrianism, but when he travels, he uses aliases that have two things in common: very ordinary first names, and last names that are the name of the Devil. One example is "Jim Shaitan," Shaitan being one of the names for the Devil in Islam.

* Subverted in ''Series/{{Titans}}; Jason Todd tries to get into a nightclub using a fake ID with the name "Robert [[Film/EscapeFromNewYork Plissken]]", but the bouncer catches the reference immediately and tells him "Not tonight, Snake."

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/JLA1997 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/martian_manhunter_sailor_moon_joke_in_dc_comic_39.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Warning: Tactic may not work against [[Franchise/{{Batman}} World's Greatest Detective]]!]]

* ''Film/NineteenNinetyFourBakerStreetSherlockHolmesReturns'': When Holmes visits the police station, he decides that giving his name as Sherlock Holmes might be a good idea, so he introduces himself as "Holmes, Oliver W.", although it is not clear if he is referring to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Sr. American physician, poet, and polymath]] or his son, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Jr. jurist and legal scholar; both of whom would have been known to him. Of course, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was both a physician and a writer, so perhaps Holmes was thinking of his original [[TheWatson Watson]].

%%* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': After meeting Lando Calrissian in the first season, Ezra Bridger uses his name as an alias on several occasions, including to [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E04BrothersOfTheBrokenHorn Hondo Ohnaka]] and [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E05ImperialSupercommandos Gar Saxon]].%%Doesn't apply if it's just another character from the same show

* ''Film/NineteenNinetyFourBakerStreetSherlockHolmesReturns'': When Holmes visits the police station, he decides that giving his name as Sherlock Holmes might be a good idea, so he introduces himself as "Holmes, Oliver W".

* In ''Film/{{Copycat}}'', Peter Foley uses the names of serial killers as his aliases.

** In the second Fletch film, ''Fletch Lives'', Fletch uses the alias "Elmer [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Fudd]] [[Literature/ElmerGantry Gantry]]", combining the names of two fictional characters.

* In ''Film/ScareTactics'', Emma introduces herself as Jennifer Agutter while playing the part of a nurse during the psychiatric hospital prank. Creator/JennyAgutter is a British actress who played a nurse and the main love interest to David Naughton in ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon''.

* ''Film/JackReacher'': When Sandy first approaches Jack, he introduces himself as Jimmy Reese, taking the name of a 1930s baseball player. Since she already knew his name (and was told he was a sexual harasser they were trying to set up), this throws her for a loop.
* ''Film/{{Frenzy}}'': The protagonist, Blaney, and his girlfriend Babs check in at a hotel under the name of "Mr and Mrs Creator/OscarWilde".
* ''Film/TheOddAngryShot'': During the scene on the range, the range corporal asks the four protagonists for their names as he is reprimanding them. On the spur of the moment, he is given four false names; [[ThemedAliases Grey, Green, Brown]] & Oakover. As they're leaving, one of them asks if Oakover is a real person, and Harry replies that he is their detachment commander
* ''Film/NineteenNinetyFourBakerStreetSherlockHolmesReturns'': When Holmes visits the police station, he decides that giving his name as Sherlock Holmes might be a good idea, so he introduces himself as "Holmes, Oliver W".
* ''Film/TheRaid2Berandal'' combines this with ActorAllusion when Creator/IkoUwais' character, Rama, goes undercover with the mob under the name "Yuda", which was the name of the character Uwais played in ''Film/{{Merantau}}'' a few years earlier.
* Happens to Iko Uwais again in ''Film/{{Headshot}}'' when his character wakes up in hospital with no idea of who he is or what his name is. His doctor, who happens to be reading ''Literature/MobyDick'' at the time, starts calling him Ishmael, and he just rolls with it, even after he learns his real name.

* Creator/RogerZelazny wrote a series of novellas, collected in ''Literature/MyNameIsLegion'', about a secret agent whose real name even his employer didn't know, whose aliases were always the names of obscure-but-notable historical figures. (In a break from the usual procedure, the historical figure always had ''nothing whatever'' to do with the job at hand; for instance, on his first appearance he was undercover as an engineer, but using a name whose original owner was a doctor.)

* In ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'', Yossarian censors letters under the name Washington Irving. This is eventually copied by Major Major, who is delighted by the fact that "Washington Irving" can be flipped around and people will know the difference.
* In the Creator/ElleryQueen novel ''The Origin of Evil'', there is a character who calls himself Alfred Wallace. He was an orphan who had never had what he regarded as a name of his own, so he selected 'Alfred Wallace' when he reached adulthood. Recognising the connotations of the name (Wallace was a naturalist and contemporary of Darwin who independently proposed a theory of natural selection) is what [[EurekaMoment starts Ellery down the path to the solution of the mystery]].
* In ''Literature/EndersGame'', Ender's brother and sister make [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke "Locke"]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demosthenes "Demosthenes"]] their online identities.
* In Creator/DanielPinkwater's ''Young Adult Novel'', the Wild Dada Ducks of Himmler High School, who use their Dada names instead of their real names, include the Honorable Venustiano Carranza (President of Mexico), previously known as Pecos Bill.
* The main character of ''Literature/LittleBrother'' originally goes by "w1n5t0n", as in the protagonist of ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]''. When the plot starts heating up, he realized it might be a tad too obvious, and gets a new alias.
* Trix [=MacMillan=] is not the real name of the character from the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse who's known by that name, and it's very close to [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Tricia McMillan]].
* ''Literature/SweetValleyHigh'' had a spin-off series, ''Elizabeth'', in which Elizabeth runs away to London and becomes a servant in an aristocrat's mansion. She decides to use the alias [[Literature/PrideAndPrejudice Elizabeth Bennet]], and while people do call her out on it, she ultimately gets away with the ruse.

* In Literature/TheVampireChronicles book ''Tale of the Body Thief'' Lestat uses aliases that refer to figures from Gothic literature ("Sheridan Blackwood," "Sebastien Melmoth") and from ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'' ("Clarence Oddbody," "Lionel Potter").
* A character in "The Dancing Floor" by Creator/CherryWilder goes by the name "Ben Gunn", after the hermit in ''Literature/TreasureIsland''. The protagonist spends most of the story trying to figure out why the name seems familiar, at one point looking at metallurgy texts because she's remembered that it's connected to "flint" and "silver".
* In-universe example in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant,'' when Watch Commander Sir Samuel Vimes questions a dwarf who'd been involved in a recent street brawl who started it, the dwarf responds with the name "Agi Hammerthief" before Vimes releases him. Captain Carrot (who was raised by dwarfs) explains to Vimes that Agi Hammerthief is a figure out of dwarf folklore, a mischievous trickster spirit.
* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''[[Literature/LineOfDelirium Emperors of Illusions]]'', the protagonists Kay and Tommy introduce themselves as Literature/DavidCopperfield and Literature/OliverTwist, respectively, at the Grail spaceport. The official recognizes that something is strange and asks for their ID. Kay tells him that they are members of the Cult of Anonimists who are against being photographed (hence, no ID) and adds that even their names are taken from literary characters, after seeing that the trick didn't work.
* ''Literature/JoePickett''
** In ''In Plain Sight'', psycho J.W. Keeley uses the name Bill Monroe (a famous bluegrass musician) as his GoToAlias. He even comments to himself that he hopes he doesn't run across someone who is a bluegrass fan.
** In ''Endangered'', EvilMatriarch Brenda Cates uses the name of country singer Kitty Wells as an alias. Liv knows that she has heard that name before, but cannot place where.
* In ''Literature/DinnerAtDeviantsPalace'', the protagonist uses the pseudonym "[[{{ComicStrip/Pogo}} Pogo Possum]]" at one point, knowing that it won't ring any bells with anyone who doesn't share his rare hobby of reading books from before TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* In ''Literature/LastSonOfKrypton'', Lex Luthor uses the name 'Abraham Lincoln' when passing through an alien spaceport.
* ''Literature/DiogenesClub'':
** In "The Big Fish", the protagonist at one point uses "Lovecraft" as an alias, which is both an InspirationNod (the story draws heavily on Creator/HPLovecraft's "Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth") and an opportunity for the FemmeFatale to make a suggestive comment about 'love craft'.
** In ''Literature/SevenStars'', Catriona Kaye is fond of the movie ''Film/LesVampires'' and uses the name 'Irma Vep' as her GoToAlias.
** Also in ''Seven Stars'', the female invalid who lives in Edwin Winthrop's attic is referred to as "[[Literature/JaneEyre Mrs Rochester]]" when discussing her with others who don't know her real name.

* Solid Snake's alias in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', Iroquois Pliskin, is partially taken from Snake Plissken from ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork''. Fitting, since Solid Snake himself was an {{expy}} of Lt. Plissken.

* One character in the Japanese version of ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' gives himself the alias of "Niels" as both a pun on the number 2 and an allusion to real-life Danish physicist Niels Bohr.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive,'' Grace utterly fails at using this trope. Because of an earlier comparison [[ClarkKenting between her and]] Franchise/{{Superman}}, the name she chose was Clark. Immediately corrected by Greg to the less GenderBlenderName Claire.

* Members of ''ARG/SpectacularOrganic'''s upper hierarchy included people who, if they existed at all, were using fake names taken from characters in other media: [[Film/{{Splice}} Clive Nicoli]], [[Film/TheFlyII Martin Brundle]], and [[Film/FearDotCom Terry Huston]].
* An easter egg in the ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' cartoon "secret identity" shows the registry book for Bubs' Motor Lodge, where we see people have signed in under fake names including "Mr. [[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe Allan Poe]]", "Mr. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chef_Boyardee Boyardee]]", "Mr. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilt_Chamberlain Chamberlain]]", "Mr. [[Film/SupermanTheMovie Tesmacher]]", "Mrs. [[Creator/JacquesCousteau Cousteau]]", "Mr. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fab_Five_Freddy Five Freddy]]", and "Mr. [[Creator/BillyDeeWilliams Dee Williams]]". From clues, it's not hard to determine which character is behind which alias, and the latter is explicitly confirmed to be Homestar himself.

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', the master detective on the trail of a supernatural serial killer introduces himself to the suspect with the name of an internationally famous pop star. This is part of the detective's BatmanGambit as the killer needs only the name and face of a victim to kill; but, if the killer accidentally thinks of the pop star instead, the celebrity's widely reported death would confirm his guilt.
* In ''Manga/CaseClosed'', Shin'ichi Kudo is [[FountainOfYouth changed into a little boy by a powerful poison]]. When he returns to his house after the change, he is surprised by his not-yet-girlfriend Ran Mouri and hastily thinks up the name of Conan, from Creator/ArthurConanDoyle, the famous author of ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''. His fake last name of Edogawa comes from Edogawa Ranpo, a Japanese mystery author, whose pen name in turn is a pun on Creator/EdgarAllanPoe (Edogaa Aran Po).

* The trope picture is the ComicBook/MartianManhunter shapeshifing into an (apparently) Japanese woman named "[[Franchise/SailorMoon Hino Rei]]" in an issue of ''ComicBook/JLA1997'' guest written by Creator/MarkMillar. Seriously. What's more: Franchise/{{Batman}} picked up on the reference. Out-of-universe, this is supposedly due to someone pranking Millar when he asked for a Japanese name connected with Mars.
* ComicBook/{{Spyboy}}'s partner Bombshell attended his sleeper personality's high school under the name "Marta Hari."
** When ComicBook/YoungJustice infiltrated said high school, they used even more obvious aliases, including Rob Roy (ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}) and Helena Troy (ComicBook/WonderGirl). Mercifully the charade didn't last long.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' enemy the Film Freak uses the alias Edison after UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison, inventor of the motion picture[[note]]At least in popular understanding[[/note]].
* While on the run in ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfClarkKent'', Franchise/{{Superman}} combined the last names of Batman and Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan to use as an alias, "Wayne Jordan".

* In ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy'', Izuku quickly comes up with the name "Tobey Reilly" for Peter when Inko asks for his tutor's name. It's a combination of [[Creator/TobeyMaguire Tobey Maguire's]] and Ben Reilly's, the Scarlet Spider's, names.

* All of the aliases used on name tags by the main character in ''Film/FightClub'' are names from films such as ''Film/TaxiDriver'' (Travis) and ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968'' (Cornelius).
* In ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'', Frank Abagnale Jr. uses the alias Barry Allen, secret identity of Franchise/TheFlash. One of the guys on the case figures out that the person they're looking for is probably quite young based on this information.

* In ''Film/TheSaint1997'' with Val Kilmer, all of Simon's aliases are names of Catholic saints.

* In ''Film/TheBirdcage'', the flamboyantly gay housekeeper is pretending to be a stereotypical butler and introduces himself as [[IAmSpartacus Spartacus.]]
* The otherwise forgettable made-for-TV ''ComicBook/GenerationX'' movie had [[PsychicPowers Emma Frost]] pass off herself and Banshee off as Hootie and the Blowfish without the police officer batting an eyelash. Luckily, Emma has also messed with the guard's mindsight.
* In the first ''Film/DieHard'': John [=McClane=] decides that the name he'll use with Powell will be "Roy" after Creator/RoyRogers (which [=McClane=] referred to in a previous scene -- the one with his CatchPhrase). It can also be considered a real person name example, although Rogers was not the actor's birth name.
* In ''Film/ShockTreatment'', it turns out that Cosmo and Nation [=McKinley=] [[spoiler: are not real doctors, but character actors who use an assortment of last names -- all those of U.S. presidents]].

* The male {{serial killer}}s in ''Film/TheDevilsRejects'' use the names of [[Creator/MarxBrothers Groucho Marx]] characters.

* In ''Film/NottingHill'' Julia Roberts' character (a famous actress) uses fake aliases taken from cartoon characters to check into hotels.
* All the names ''Film/TheCableGuy'' goes by are sitcom characters, starting with [[Series/MyThreeSons Chip Douglas]]. He never reveals his true name.
* In ''Film/{{Copycat}}'', Peter Foley uses the names of serial killers as his aliases.

* ''Series/{{Harrow}'': In "Ut Biberent Quoniam Esse Nollent" ("Let Them Drink, Since They Won't Eat"), James is pulling a scam involving ordering mobile phones. The name he orders them under is [[Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey Christian Grey]]".

** The 'journalist' who goes to interview Thomas Townshend about the mysterious and seemingly vanished SuperVillain, Mephisto the Mentalist, calls himself 'Dustin Redford'. However, Townshend, who ''is'' Mephisto, and being a MasterOfDisguise and of ThePowerOfActing himself, immediately recognizes this as being from the names of Creator/DustinHoffman and Creator/RobertRedford, and that 'Redford's persona was based on that of Bob Woodward, whom Redford (alongside Hoffman) played in the film adaptation of ''Film/AllThePresidentsMen''. Figuring that 'Redford' was an agent of his arch-enemy, The Dark Avenger (an {{Expy}} of both Radio/TheShadow and ComicBook/{{Batman}} with a bit of ComicBook/ThePunisher thrown in), he [[UnreliableNarrator leads Redford down a twisty garden path]] while relating his 'biography'.

Compare with LineOfSightAlias, SdrawkcabAlias, SueDonym, ImMrFuturePopCultureReference (when the character has traveled back in time and is using a name from the future) and ThemedAliases (when a character makes a habit out of doing this). Subtrope of LazyAlias.

** In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Marty adopts the name "Creator/ClintEastwood" while stuck in the Old West.

* The trope picture is the ComicBook/MartianManhunter shapeshifing into an (apparently) Japanese woman named "[[Franchise/SailorMoon Hino Rei]]" in an issue of ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsJLA'' guest written by Creator/MarkMillar. Seriously. What's more: Franchise/{{Batman}} picked up on the reference. Out-of-universe, this is supposedly due to someone pranking Millar when he asked for a Japanese name connected with Mars.

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsJLA https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/martian_manhunter_sailor_moon_joke_in_dc_comic_39.jpg]]]]

* The ComicBook/MartianManhunter, shapeshifted into an (apparently) Japanese woman, as "[[Franchise/SailorMoon Hino Rei]]" in an issue of ''ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsJLA'' guest written by Creator/MarkMillar. Seriously. What's more: ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' picked up on the reference. Out-of-universe, this is supposedly due to someone pranking Millar when he asked for a Japanese name connected with Mars.