History Main / IronicName

* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'', despite a name that would imply an aggressive and uncompromising attitude out to punish criminals, have actually been one of the most welcoming and forgiving {{Super Team}}s for most of their history, with many of their members (Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Black Widow, just to name the more famous ones) being [[HeelFaceTurn reformed villains]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Kite Man is named Charles "Chuck" Brown after the {{ComicStrip/Peanuts}} character of the same name who is infamously bad at flying kites.

* ''ComicBook/TheFantasticFour'': Ben ''Grimm'' has his moments, but for the most part he's a pretty jovial guy who [[FriendToAllChildren loves kids.]]
* Zig-zagged with ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' villain Murmur, who [[TheSpeechless can't speak at all]] because he cut out his own tongue and [[MouthStitchedShut sewed his mouth shut]], but did so because his habit of muttering about the murders he committed (itself the source of his alias) was what got him convicted in the first place.

* Kraven the Hunter, a longtime enemy of ComicBook/SpiderMan, is many things -- but despite "craven" being another word for "cowardly", Sergei Kravinov is anything ''but''.
* Comicbook/LexLuthor is the archenemy of ComicBook/{{Superman}}, '''the''' Superhero, and a major criminal mastermind. "Lex" is usually short for some variation of his current name, Alexander (his real name was also been given as Alexei or Alexis in the Gold and Silver/Bronze Ages, respectively), which is derived from the Greek word "Aléxandros" meaning "protector of men". "Lex" itself is Latin for "law".
* Ofelia from ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon''. While ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'''s Ophelia is portrayed as a fair, fragile, delicate maiden, the TIA secretary is her exact opposite: overweight, strong, aggressive and ill-tempered.

* ''ComicBook/PlanetTerry'' has Princess Ugly, who turns out to be beautiful when Terry and his friends go to search for her.

* ''ComicBook/TransformersShatteredGlass'' takes place in a MirrorUniverse where the Autobots are evil and the Decepticons are good, making the latter faction's name ironic. Various characters that had {{Meaningful Name}}s for their original personality likewise become this: for instance, Deathcobra and Black Shadow are now good guys.
* In ''ComicBook/TheUmbrellaAcademy'', Vanya ("gift of God") is TheTeamNormal [[spoiler:who later goes on to destroy the world]]. [[https://friedlieb-ferdinand-runge.tumblr.com/post/182965331172/whats-in-a-name-tua-edition Perhaps]] her mother wanted to make her feel appreciated?

* ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'''s real name, Logan, is ironic as he is generally drawn as short, but Mount Logan is the highest mountain in Canada.
* Gay Frollik, a woman whom Franchise/WonderWoman rescued from a suicide attempt before befriending, was a straight-laced dour person from childhood, who became suicidal after spending years in prison for a murder she did not commit--though as she had hit the man to escape him and fled she wasn't certain if she was responsible--and having the only person she cared about die while she was locked up.

* The practice of popes taking a new name began in 533, when a man named Mercurius (the Latin version of Mercury) was elected. He felt it inapproropriate for the pope to be named after a pagan god, so he became Pope John II, in honor ofhis martyred predecessor.
* In Greek mythology, Hercules's name translates as "Glory of Hera" as a means of appeasing the Queen of Olympus. Needless to say, it did NOT go well.

** Baraggan Louisenbairn, the Segunda Espada, has a name inspired by a Mexican architect, Luis Barragán. Despite the fact that Las Noches (Barragan's base of operations) didn't even have walls or a roof when [[BigBad Sousuke Aizen]] showed up to take control. This fits with the Espadas' ThemeNaming, as they're usually named after arhitects.

* In ''Manga/LaidBackCamp'', despite Nadeshiko's given name literally being one half of YamatoNadeshiko, she's too {{ditz}}y to actually fit the trope, as commented by many characters in-universe.

* ''[[WebVideo/LifeSMP Secret Life SMP]]'': On Day 7, Gem's assigned task involves unleashing a ZombieApocalypse across the server. At the end, one of the only uninfected players ends up being the person literally named [=ZombieCleo=], which [[LampshadeHanging multiple people comment on]]. She puts on her "Human Cleo" skin the following day to showcase that.

** The main character's love interest is named Adrien Agreste. "Agreste" means "rustic," which doesn't describe Adrien's wealthy upbringing in a GildedCage at all. His father Gabriel, by extension, also qualifies. [[spoiler:However, Gabriel is actually a subversion; "agreste" is also the French name for the grayling butterfly, and Gabriel is secretly the butterfly-themed BigBad, Hawk Moth.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'': The outright suicidally depressed shut-in [[spoiler:that created Omori in the first place as a way to escape remembering his guilt]] is named Sunny.

* In 2020, the city of UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} appointed a new police commissioner, the first black woman to hold the post: '''Danielle Outlaw''' (née Bowman). Previously, she had been the first black female police chief of UsefulNotes/{{Portland}} as well. As hilariously ironic as that may sound, the name actually [[https://billypenn.com/2020/01/09/whats-in-a-name-from-criminal-to-elite-the-history-of-outlaw/ dates to medieval England]]. Several families with the Outlaw surname settled in the southern US and the more prominent ones owned plantations; Danielle's husband likely descended from one of those families and/or their slaves.

** Another is Peewee the big black cranky gorilla.

** There are plenty of Christian saints who bear the names of Pagan gods or goddesses. A biblical example is [[Literature/TheFourGospels Mark the Evangelist]], bearing the name of [[Characters/ClassicalMythologyOlympians the Roman god Mars]].

* Aku Aku from ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'''s name translates in Japanese to "Evil Evil". He's the BigGood. The series also has "Tiny Tiger". who towers above the protagonists and even his colleagues.

*** The ''Royal'' expansion adds [[spoiler:Sumire Yoshizawa]], whose given name [[spoiler:means "violet flowers" in Japanese, in turn representing "honesty" in flower language.]] Instead, [[spoiler:after her sister Kasumi died of a car crash trying to prevent her from becoming roadkill by a jealousy-induced fit, she asked Takuto to turn her into Kasumi to cope with her SurvivorGuilt and to artificially inflate her non-existent confidence.]] This basically goes ''right against'' [[spoiler:what she told Akechi about when asked about the Phantom Thieves in the protagonist's chat with the two, in which she states that people should solve their own problems instead of relying on others, effectively making her ''anything'' but honest.]]
** ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' has Hikari, whose name literally means "light" in Japanese...aside that [[spoiler:she's a severely depressed and withdrawn empty husk of a person who had all of her childhood innocence torn away from her by a TraumaCongaLine.]]

* The ''VideoGame/ProjectArrhythmia'' custom level series ''VideoGame/BlackHeart'' plays with this. The boss Colossus is a microscopic virus, but he actually does appear giant since you fight him from the perspective of a white blood cell.