History Main / EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep

* Averted in ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'', as in the series, with certain exceptions, [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep every Smurf's real name is based on either a profession or a personality]].

* Duncan [=McSmurf=] is one of the few exceptions to this trope in ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf''.

* In ''{{The X-Files}}'', the Cigarette Smoking Man's first name was never revealed, and he didn't even get a last name or initials until midway through the sixth season. Many other significant characters are only given descriptive names like "the First Elder" and "the Well-Manicured Man."

* Mike Chang from ''{{Glee}}'', despite actually having a name, is known both in-universe and out almost exclusively as "Other Asian."

* ''LaFemmeNikita'': Apparently by official policy, the head of Section 1 is referred to as Operations and addressed as "Sir", except sometimes by Madeleine and George.

* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides'', the two zombies are referred to only as "Quartermaster" and "Gunner".

* From ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', Sten isn't TheBigGuy's real name, but a rank, as his real name cannot be pronounced by a non-qunari.
** If the player character is from the human noble or dwarf noble origins, they are occasionally addressed as Lord/Lady Cousland or Aeducan, respectively, but the rest of the time they are simply called The Grey Warden. If the player character is a mage, dwarf commoner, or elf of any sort, they are The Grey Warden, period. Which is a bit strange considering your character has a set, unchangeable last name regardless of which origin you pick. Chances are you forget what it was before getting through the prologue, seeing how it is hardly mentioned anywhere again after the character creation screen (unless you made a noble, as pointed out).
*** It's more strange in that Alistair is always an available party member for at least three-quarters of the game, and is a (slightly) more senior Grey Warden than the player character, but it's the PC who is always addressed as "Warden".
*** In ''Awakening'' expansion pack the Warden is instead called Commander. This trope gets a bit a of a lampshade as result:

::: In Awakening, it's likely most of your party will be Warden recruits if you put them through the joining. "Warden-Commander" distinguishes the player character from everyone else.
** This is probably why the PlayerCharacter in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' has a static last name, allowing everyone to simply call you Hawke. Conveniently, your siblings, mother, and uncle will use every pronoun and substitute word imaginable to avoid saying your first name (which you can pick), as it wouldn't make sense for them to call you Hawke. However, the [[TheChurch Chantry]] lady in the FrameStory does constistently call you the "Champion of Kirkwall". With most ''Origins'' import options, the Warden from the first game will be referred to as "The Hero of Ferelden" by most [=NPCs=] in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''.
** The qunari in general use ranks as names, at least to other races. Some of these are obvious, like "the" before Arishok, implying it's a leadership title. Saarebas ("dangerous thing") is a word/rank/name for a mage, which are treated a thousand times worse than human mages (their [[AndIMustScream mouths are sewn shut]], and the must wear chains and collars).

* The narrator of ''The Drowsy Chaperone'' is billed as "Man in Chair"

* Cafe owners in anime are regularly addressed exclusively as "Master" (the english word), most notably in ''WitchHunterRobin'' where the Master of Robin's local cafe is a fairly important supporting character. It's apparently the standard in Japanese culture.

** In a skit of Zodd and Phil of ''WebVideo/BerserkAbridged'', when Zodd is asking the barkeep to change the T.V. to G4, he takes offense to the fact that everyone calls him Barkeep.

* The most mysterious of the Five Dragons in ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds}}'' is usually referred to by fans as the "Fifth Dragon", because it hasn't surfaced as a card yet, and its true name still being a mystery. In series, it hasn't been mentioned at all, but did make an appearance in a flashback and in the credits. Because of this, fans often poke fun at it by giving it wacky and unusual nicknames. [[spoiler:It was later revealed to be "Life Stream Dragon", the true form of Rua's "Power Tool Dragon".]]

* In ''MaidenRose'', Klaus and Taki spent a fair chunk of the Luckenwalde doujinshis at a bar in the town. Despite usually being his only customers the owner is never referred to as anything but "barkeep".

** It is later revealed he'd tried everything, including ''Captain ☠☠☠☠'' ('☠☠☠☠' being an unspecified but extremely rude word), but been sued and/or beaten up by Captain America until he settled on ''The Captain''. And he still had to pay "some Marine-looking [[UnusualEuphemism melon-farmer]]" royalties.

* ThePiratesInAnAdventureWithScientists takes this trope to its extremes by applying it to the entire main cast. The Pirate Captain leads a crew consisting of The Albino Pirate, The Pirate With Gout, The Surprisingly Curvacious Pirate, and various others. Assuming they have actual names, we never learn what they are. The only crew member with a revealed name is Polly, their pet Dodo.

*** Well, he is named in the Star Wars Christmas Special, which predates Empire.
*** What Christmas Special?

* During Freddy's rampage at the pool party in ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' one of the partiers tries to reason with him, and we're treated to a sequence of the guy treating Freddy like some kind of animal while trying talk him down ("It's okay, nobody's gonna hurt you"); Freddy hurls the guy at a barbeque, which blows up when the kid hits it. The credits just list the character as "Do-Gooder".

** And we also have Mac, the proprietor of Mcanally's Pub (Which is Accorded Neutral Territory), who, according to Harry, brews the best damn beer this side of the Nevernever (Though there is something to be said about not drinking anything from the Nevernever), and Harry has wondered, on occasion, whether or not his name actually is Mac.

** JustifiedTrope. Naming a Power, any Power, in the YoungWizards books seems (probably a deliberate move on Duane's part) to be like naming a god in certain real cultures: even if you can obtain and pronounce Its true name the sheer extra-dimensionality and, well, power that comes with invoking such a name will probably kill or injure you in the process. However, the two main characters manage to speak the true name of the Lone Power once, while at the peak of their power as wizards. Mainly because being able to speak someone's truename allows them to alter it; [[spoiler:this allows the main character to open a path for the Lone Power's eventual redemption.]]

* In the original novel ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' by Gaston Leroux, there is a rather plot-central character known only as the Persian. He was unfortunately cut from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical based on said book, with Madame Giry somewhat taking over his role.

* The alien subject named "Subject" from ''Literature/BlindLake''. Done deliberately by the scientists who named it, to avoid the temptation to anthropomorphize it.

* The old Provincara from Literature/{{Chalion}} is never given a name, even by her daughter or brother.

* In the first ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' pilot, "The Cage", Captain Pike's second-in-command is only addressed as "Number One" (i.e. first officer).

** Similarly most of the pilots are rarely if ever called by anything except their call signs; even Helo's lover (... also Sharon Valerii, but a different one) calls him Helo. Hence the subtle power of the scene where she is given the call sign Athena. It shows that the pilots now understand she is a different person to Boomer (the origonal Sharon Valerii) and have accepted her as one of them despite the fact that they know full well she is a Cylon.

* In the TV adaptation of James Clavell's ''The Children's Story'', the new teacher explicitly tells the children to call her "Teacher" when they ask her name. (In the original book, the narrator refers to her throughout as "the new teacher", but she does tell the children her name when asked -- the narrator just doesn't say what that name is. Clavell wanted her to represent an idea without being specifically tied to a particular nationality or ethnicity.)

* OlderThanFeudalism: The Pharaoh in the book of Exodus in ''Literature/TheBible'' is referred to only as Pharaoh. (Which has led to no end of confusion for modern scholars trying to figure out exactly ''which'' Pharaoh it was... so far none of them have owned up to it.) Of course, given that there is no actual record of such an exodus in the rather extensive and carefully kept Egyptian records of the time...

* Although actually named Vincentio, in Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/MeasureForMeasure'' The Duke is refered to exclusively by his title.
* Claudius of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' is just credited as King
* Escalus of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' is just called Prince.

* TheFool from ''Theatre/KingLear''.

* The Duke from ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice''.
* In a somewhat meta example, Puck from ''AMidsummerNightsDream''. His name is technically Robin Goodfellow (taken from folklore), but he's referred to as "Puck" several times by Oberon and in many of the speech prefixes. Scripts of the time commonly used descriptive terms instead of names in the speech prefixes, so Puck is not necessarily his name, any more than, say, [[Theatre/TwelfthNight Feste's]] name is "Clown", or [[Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice Shylock's]] name is "Jew". "Puck" was a word more in line with "pooka", or "sprite". So ''Puck'' is what he is, and ''Robin'' is his name. The one time he refers to himself as Puck is when he says, "As I am ''an'' honest Puck..."

* Many minor [=NPCs=] in many [=RPGs=]. Few companies go the extra mile to name every guard, shopkeeper or random civilan. Although even fewer are addressed directly anyway.

** Straighter examples of this trope are all over ''{{Disgaea 2}}''. Immediately obvious are Mom and Dad, but only slightly less noticable are the Director and Cameraman who follow Axel around. And don't even get us started on [[spoiler:"Fake Zenon"]]. According to the [[AllThereInTheManual Disgaea 2]] art book, ''[[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep their names really are Mom and Dad]]''

* The Illusive Man from the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series is a one man [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness Omniscient Council Of Vagueness]]. Nobody knows who he is, where he came from, where he is currently located, and what he actually wants. The only thing that can be said about him for sure is that he looks like a human male about 60 years of age and apparently has almost unlimted resources at his disposal. He does get an origin story in the comic mini-series ''Mass Effect: Evolution'', which reveals, among other things, that his name is [[spoiler:Jack Harper]].

* ''EmbricOfWulfhammersCastle'' has both the Duchess of Elstwhere and the Good Dwarf. While the former does have a name it is only mentioned in a handful of the MultipleEndings, otherwise refered to only as Duchess, and the latter also has a name ([[spoiler:or ''names'', rather]]) but no-one could understand him, so they compromised.

* The Mayor of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', though in one episode his wife refers to him as Barney.

* Subverted with the Sun and the Moon. Every other moon in our solar system is given a name, but the Earth's moon is just called the Moon, and our solar system's sun is simply called the Sun.

* SlamacowCreations' Bartenderman is a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Bartending enderman]].

** The ExpandedUniverse reveals that many high-ranking Forerunners were referred to only their titles; the two main examples would be the Librarian and the Didact, who called each other as such even though they were ''married''.

** The ExpandedUniverse reveals that many high-ranking Forerunners were only known by their titles; the two main examples would be the Librarian and the Didact, who called each other as such even though they were ''married''.

* In ''Literature/Hexwood'' by Creator/DianaWynneJones, four of the five Reigners are only referred to as Reigner Two, Reigner Three, etc. The only one whose name we find out is Reigner One.

* Pilot from ''Series/{{Farscape}}''.
** IIRC, Pilot (and other members of his race) have names the translator microbes couldn't cope with.

* In ''Franchise/{{Robocop}}'', the head of OCP is simply referred to as the "Old Man." No, not ''[[Film/AChristmasStory that]]'' Old Man.

* The G-Man from ''VideoGame/HalfLife1''. In fact, "gman" was just the name of his character model. Nobody in the game calls him anything, except for Eli Vance, who refers to him as "our mutual friend".
** In the manual for the ''Opposing Force'' expansion, however, Shepard writes about a G-Man watching him during his training and, indeed he can be seen during the tutorial mission. And he is listed as "[=GMan=]" (no hyphen) in the credits for ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' and its Episodes.

* The G-Man from ''{{Half-Life}}''. In fact, "gman" was just the name of his character model. Nobody in the game calls him anything, except for Eli Vance, who refers to him as "our mutual friend".
** In the manual for the ''Opposing Force'' expansion, however, Shepard writes about a G-Man watching him during his training and, indeed he can be seen during the tutorial mission. And he is listed as "[=GMan=]" (no hyphen) in the credits for ''Half-Life 2'' and its Episodes.

* In ''Film/{{Robocop}}'', the head of OCP is simply referred to as the "Old Man." No, not ''[[AChristmasStory that]]'' Old Man.

* In ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'' the Erlkönig (who ''is'' a powerful fae king) is not called anything else even by his own son, who by the way ''insists'' on FirstNameBasis (of not outright [[TheNicknamer giving them nicknames]]) in the case of everybody else.

* In ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'' the Erlkönig (who ''is'' a powerful fae king) is not called anything else even by his own son, who by the way ''insists'' on FirstNameBasis in the case of everybody else.

* The Kzinti in Creator/LarryNiven's ''KnownSpace'' universe do not have names until they earn them through acts of heroism or importance. Until then, they're known by their rank or role, or familial relations until they've gained a role of some sort: Short-Son of Chiirr-Nig, Flyer, Engineer, Telepath, Speaker To Animals (diplomat to aliens). Speaker earns his name (Chmeee) after returning from the {{Ringworld}}.
** There's an intermediate step as well; the Kzin captain in ''The Soft Weapon'' has a "partial name," Chuft-Captain. (This is explicitly referenced in the story as being a step above a pure rank/role name, but a step below an actual personal name).
* Also from LarryNiven, [[Literature/TheMagicGoesAway the Warlock]] was so powerful that his nickname became a name for all wizards.
** Much like Harry Dresden above, names in the ''Magic Gone Away'' world had power, so he took steps to prevent it. He was so powerful and so old that he had induced mutations in humanity such that no-one was even ''able'' to pronounce his real name anymore.

** De Mille did the same thing in ''FallRiverLegend'' (the Accused, the Pastor, the Speaker for the Jury, etc.).