History Main / MetaphorIsMyMiddleName

* [[{{Bug}} "My middle name is 'Cautionary Discretion'."]]

--->'''Narrator''': Hey, careful is his middle name! Then again, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast his last name is...]] [[OhCrap Well, let's get on with it.]]

* In both of ''BackToTheFuture'''s present-day BookEnds, there's an election van driving around telling everyone to re-elect the mayor, because progress is his middle name. It's a different mayor the second time around.

* ''HomestarRunner''

* ''Paradise Hotel''
* ''PowerRangersLightspeedRescue''
** Also done in ''PowerRangersDinoThunder'' by [[ThoseTwoGuys Cassidy and Devin]]

* There was an adaptation of an Agatha Christie story on ''Mystery!'' a few years ago, in which a man says "Dorian Grey's my middle name." (He probably meant that he looks younger than he is.)

* ''{{Battlefield}}: Bad Company''

* ''[[OneHundredAndOneDalmatians 101 Dalmatians]]: The Series''
* ''AmericanDragonJakeLong''
* ''{{Transformers}}: [[BeastWars Beast Machines]]''
* ''MuppetBabies''

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* ''Aloha, Scooby-Doo''

* ''Party Girl''
* ''SheSpies''

* ''TheLastBoyScout''
* ''LethalWeapon''

* ''BackToTheFuture''

* ''{{Mythbusters}}'', on more than one occasion.

* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', in the episode "Teacher's Pet":
-->'''Xander''': Forgiveness is my middle name. Well, [[EmbarrassingMiddleName actually it's Lavelle]], and I'd appreciate it if you guard that secret with your life.

--> '''Willow''': Danger is my middle name. Or at least it would have been if my parents hadn't settled on Danielle.
* ''CrossingJordan''
* ''{{Crusade}}''
* ''FamilyMatters''
* ''TheMagnificentSeven''

--> '''Micky:''' Don't worry, my middle name is Danger. [Werewolf howls outside.] Micky: Of course, my last name is chicken!
* ''{{NCIS}}: Naval Criminal Investigative Service''

-->'''Sam:''' Done! The draft is done, and done on time. Cathy, I'm having my middle legally changed to "On Time."

'''Whitey''': I thougth it was Lesley.

* ''FlushedAway''

* ''IrregularWebcomic'' uses this trope in [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/comic.php?current=897&theme=17&dir=last this]] ''{{Mythbusters}}''-themed comic.

* An early teaser for {{Chuck}} in the UK involved Chuck saying to the audience, "Hi, I'm Chuck Bartowski, and danger is my middle name. ''(awkward look)'' Actually, it's not..."

'''Imp:''' "That's a long middle name."

-->Micky: Don't worry, my middle name is Danger. [Werewolf howls outside.] Micky: Of course, my last name is chicken!

-->Sam: Done! The draft is done, and done on time. Cathy, I'm having my middle legally changed to "On Time."
-->Cathy: What was it before?
-->Sam: Norman.

* ''{{Garfield}}'', who declares that Halloween is his middle name, and then realizes it [[OnlyOneName doesn't work very well]]: "Gar-Halloween-field."
** In another storyline, John is boasting that Garfield can't hide forever. "You may be sneaky, but I'm sneakier. ''Sneaky'' is my middle name." While Garfield is walking around with the sofa, in which John is sitting, on his back.

Often played with these days, such as having another character then say [[LiteralMinded they thought]] their middle name was [[EmbarrassingMiddleName something else]], or pointing out how silly it would be if that was really part of their name. Or, conversely, having it being their real middle name.

Can also be followed by the character adding "Actually, it's Y", which may or may not be an EmbarrassingMiddleName.

* ''TheTick''

* In the "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrGRBso3_Lc Shoe Shop]]" sketch of ''ABitOfFryAndLaurie'', a very strange shopkeeper promises: "'Discretion' is my middle letter."

* Sheldon in TheBigBangTheory. "''Trouble'' is my middle name Leonard. Actually, it's ''Lee'', but I prefer ''Trouble''."

* Penn Jillette gave his firstborn daughter the middle name "Crimefighter" so she could invoke this trope later in her life.
** Unless she doesn't grow up to be a crimefighter. . .
* This troper once had the opportune chance of someone saying, "This will take a lot of patience. Is anyone up for it?" Said troper stepped up and applied this trope... and then had exactly zero people believe her when she revealed that her middle name is, unfortunately, ''actually Patience.''

* ''{{Antz}}''

* ''{{Garfield}}''
* Lampshaded by the second Kraven in a Marvel Comic.

Often played with these days, such as having another character then say they thought their middle name was [[EmbarrassingMiddleName something else]], or pointing out how silly it would be if that was really part of their name. Or, conversely, having it being their real middle name.

* ''Crusade''
* ''Family Matters''
* ''The Magnificent Seven''
* ''The Monkees''

* ''NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service''

* ''Battlefield: Bad Company''

* ''101 Dalmatians: The Series''

* ''Muppet Babies''
* ''Tiny Toon Adventures''

* {{Disney/Aladdin}}. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]].

* ''She Spies''

* ''The Last Boy Scout''

*''{{Garfield}}''

*''Antz''
*''Flushed Away''
*''Aloha, Scooby-Doo''
*''NakedGun 33 1/3''

*''AustinPowers'' -- his name really ''is'' Austin Danger Powers
*''Party Girl''
*''She Spies''
*''TheGoonies'' -- Mouth.

*''The Last Boy Scout''
*''LethalWeapon''
*''Film/RocketMan'' - "Fun" isn't actually his middle name, it's the middle name of his Chinese neighbor.
*''BackToTheFuture''
*''[[OceansEleven Ocean's 13]]''--in Spanish. YourMileageMayVary as to whether it was funny or {{Narm}}.

*As with many other tropes, it shows up for its turn(s) at being skewered in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series.

*''ArtemisFowl'' had one character who went a step further and had his ''first'' name legally changed to "Trouble".
*In her first appearance in the ''DoctorWho'' ExpandedUniverse, Benny tells the Doctor "Surprise is my middle name. Bernice Surprise Summerfield. My poor Mum wanted to hammer the point home." A subversion, since later books make it clear this is, in fact, the case.

[[AC:{{LiveActionTV}}]]
*''{{Mythbusters}}'', on more than one occasion.
*''{{Friends}}'', with Chandler.

*''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', in the episode "Teacher's Pet":

*''CrossingJordan''
*''Crusade''
*''Family Matters''
*''The Magnificent Seven''
*''The Monkees''

*''NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service''
*''Paradise Hotel''
*''PowerRangersLightspeedRescue''

*''HomeImprovement'', though they spoof it like the ''{{Discworld}}'' example:

*''TheWestWing''

[[AC:{{VideoGames}}]]
*''Battlefield: Bad Company''
*''{{Afterlife}}'' ("Helpful is my middle name" "I thought it was "Herbert")

[[AC:{{WebAnimation}}]]
*''HomestarRunner''
*''Bonus Stage''

[[AC:{{WesternAnimation}}]]
*''{{Futurama}}'', when Bender declares that "Bending" is his middle name. As it so happens, that actually ''is'' his middle name. His full name is Bender Bending Rodriguez.
*''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', of the "I thought your name was" variety.
*''TheTick''
*''101 Dalmatians: The Series''
*''AmericanDragonJakeLong''
*''{{Transformers}}: [[BeastWars Beast Machines]]''
*''Muppet Babies''
*''Tiny Toon Adventures''

*{{Disney/Aladdin}}. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]].

*In one ''EdEddNEddy'' episode, Ed randomly remarks "Service is my middle toe!" In another episode, he says "Pronto's my middle name! No, wait, it's Horace."
* 321Penguins!:

[[AC:{{RealLife}}]]
*American naval officer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Hazard_Perry Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry]], hero of the War of 1812.