History Main / NoFullNameGiven

* Michael and Martin from ''WebOriginal/Needlem0use'' do not have their last names revealed due to plot irrelevance. Seeing as how the series ended in late 2022, they may never be revealed at all.

* ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'': Alex Kralie is the only character with a known last name. The one time Jay (the narrator) mentions his last name to someone, he mutes it on the Youtube video. When he finds some medical records of Tim's, someone has scribbled over ''his'' last name except for the first letter (W).

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Any character who isn't Susie Derkins has no known full name. The only other characters with full names are the [[TheGhost unseen]] Tommy Chestnutt and Russy White.

* Very few characters in ''Manga/Acca13TerritoryInspectionDept'' have both personal names and family names. Aside from Jean Otus, his sister, and their parents, everyone has only either a first name (Nino, [[spoiler: the other]] Dowa royalty), or a family name (the rest of the characters). This is especially obvious when all three Lilium brothers show up, and the only way to differentiate them is by their (very similar) job titles -- District Chief Lilium, Chief Officer Lilium, and Branch Chief Lilium -- or by birth order (Chief Officer Lilium, the most major character, is the middle brother).

* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'': Of the many characters who do not have last names (with most of said characters being orphans), Yuto is probably the oddest case. There's never any mention to his family, but he was living a perfectly normal life going to school and all, and all his friends have surnames, so it's weird that we never hear his - especially since other characters introduce themselves with their full names. It turns out to overlap with {{Foreshadowing}} because [[spoiler:it's a hint that he's one of Zarc's reincarnations and never had biological relatives]], but not having a last name in a modern city trying to live a normal life is... pretty weird.

* ''Film/SleepingDogs'': The main character is referred to with his last name Smith, or "Smithy" for a nickname, while major characters Bullen and Jesperson are never referred to by first names either. [[spoiler: Though in a FreezeFrameBonus when Smith's police file appears, it shows that his first name is Martin]].

* In "Paycheck" by Creator/PhilipKDick, we're never told the protagonist's first name - he's consistently referred to only as "Jennings".

** Palpatine was an example until 2014 -- nearly four decades after the character was conceived -- when the EU novel ''Literature/StarWarsTarkin'' officially established his birth name as "Sheev Palpatine". Similarly, Ackbar was belatedly given a first name to become "Gial Ackbar". The prequel story ''Literature/DarthPlagueis'' (written before ''Tarkin'') tried to justify Palpatine's lack of a first name by revealing that he hates his immediate family enough to want to distance himself from the name that they gave him, but still takes pride in his older aristocratic lineage. It's implied that his full name is Cosinga Palpatine II, referencing Creator/GeorgeLucas's very first draft of ''Franchise/StarWars'', in which the Galactic Emperor's name was "Cos Dashit", which in turn inspired the erroneous but very common fanon name "Cos Palpatine".

** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': Rex is an orphan, so there's no reason to assume he has a surname, and quite a few of the other characters are Blades, who ''definitely'' don't have surnames. The only explicit exceptions are royalty: Zeke von Genbu is the prince of Tantal, and Mòrag Ladair is the cousin to Niall Ardanach, emperor of Mor Ardain. There's also a very easy to miss bit of dialogue that Nia is actually Nia Echell, [[spoiler:the adopted daughter of Lord Echell, as she is the Flesh Eater Blade used to try to heal his daughter]].

** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': None of the soldiers have surnames, since they're [[BornAsAnAdult born at age ten]] [[UterineReplicators from growth acceleration pods]] [[TeenageWasteland and then die ten years later]]. None of them know what families ''are'', much less why you'd have an extra name. Surnames still seem rare among the City people, who do know what families are; it seems that only the descendants of the six Founders have surnames. In ''[[XenobladeChronicles3FutureRedeemed Future Redeemed]]'', we meet those Founders, and even they don't use their surnames. It's unclear if they invented those surnames at a later date, if they inherited them from their parents (who didn't have surnames in previous games), or if they got them from their spouses. Matthew does confirm that his name is Matthew Vandham at the end, which presumably came from his beloved grandfather. But since his grandfather was the child of two soldiers without surnames, it's still unclear where the name came from in the first place.

* Very few characters from the ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'' series have surnames, with some of notable exceptions being [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Zeke Von Gembu]] and the [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3 Vandham family]]. In the [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3 third game]], this is [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], since, [[spoiler: with the exception of the City-folk]], [[PeopleJars none of the human characters even]] ''[[PeopleJars have]]'' [[PeopleJars biological families]] ([[spoiler:[[AmbiguouslyRelated That we know of]]]]). ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3FutureRedeemed'' actually subverts this, since most of the main characters have last names, and [[spoiler:since they’re related to previous protagonists, this implies what their last names could be. Apparently, [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 Shulk’s]] last name is “Ortiz,” [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronciles2 Rex’s]] last name is “Rhodes,” and [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3 Noah’s]] last name is “Vandham.”]]

* In the ''Franchise/JamesBond'' films, Miss Moneypenny's given name was never revealed prior to the Craig reboot. Played with when the reboot version of the character was introduced; her given name is one of the first things the audience learns about her, but it's only later that her surname is revealed.

* ''Film/TheRoom'': Everybody except for Claudette's unseen friend Shirley Hamilton. The closest thing anyone actually has to a last name is "Chris-R".

* ''Literature/TheTrial'' by Creator/FranzKafka: The protagonist is referred to only as Josef K.

* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'' has Senshi, Marcille, Chilchuck, Namari, Kabru... really there are more characters known by only one name than there are those with full names.

* Very few characters from the ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'' series have surnames, with some of notable exceptions being [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Zeke Von Gembu]] and the [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3 Vandham family]]. In the [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3 third game]], this is {{Justified}}, since, [[spoiler: with the exception of the City-folk]], [[PeopleJars none of the human characters even]] ''[[PeopleJars have]]'' [[PeopleJars biological families]] ([[spoiler:That we know of]]).

* ''Film/EdwardScissorhands'': Jim, Kim's [[RomanticFalseLead boyfriend,]] is only called by his first name and his last name is never revealed. It's notable that his last name is never given because not only is he the BigBad, but a burglary at his family's home is a plot point.

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'': Tom Nook is the only character in the whole franchise to have a given full name; everyone else has unknown surnames.

* ''LightNovel/OthersidePicnic'' has Kozakura, who is known only as Kozakura.

* None of the sisters in ''LightNovel/SisterPrincess'' have family names and until the anime Wataru was only ever referred to by a form of 'brother'. This makes knowing whether they're half sisters or full sisters to each other impossible to tell.
* [[BlindSeer Rezo the Red Priest]] of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', only known by his title. His great-grandson Zelgadis was this initially; however, his surname (Graywords) got mentioned in an interview with the creator, and it eventually gets mentioned several times.

* In ''LightNovel/SuperCub'', Koguma is only known by her surname while Reiko is only known by her first name.

* Try naming five characters in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' universe that have known full names. We’ll wait (although it’s worth noting that Mario and Luigi’s last name is hinted to be, in fact, [[RepetitiveName Mario]]. They ''are'' called the Mario Bros. after all.)

* Comicbook/DoctorStrange's faithful servant is known only as Wong. Lampshaded in a comic ''Defenders'' series when Nightmare asked if 'Wong' were his first or last name -- and followed up Strange's exasperated silence with "You don't know, do you?"

When a character is not given a full name, only their first or last. Often happens because of the LawOfConservationOfDetail, as in many cases it's easier for the writers to not bother including a full name, and the audience doesn't need it. It can also be that a singular name is more familiar to the audience, as usually people don't refer to others they know by their full names. One could compare this to FirstNameBasis or LastNameBasis. UnnamedParent can also fall under this.

In older (pre-1900 in North America; pre-1970 in the UK) fiction, a narrator may refer to a character (especially an older or more socially prominent character) by their [[LastNameBasis surname]]. This is because at that time given names were much less commonly used socially than they are now; a young character may not even know the given name of an older character they are not related to. It was also common in that time to [[SpellMyNameWithABlank blank out]] the names of real people to avoid lawsuits and the like. This is often true in Japanese media set in the modern day as well, as given names are seen as being incredibly personal and sometimes not even used by close friends who still opt to use the surname. Interestingly, the reverse is true if the work is set in some periods of Japanese history where the size of many of the clans that dominated society meant that it was hard to figure out whom one talking about if one just used the surname, so given names were used more instead. In other Asian media, however, one will often hear people referred to by their given names, but almost never by their surnames -- partly because of the low diversity of surnames in many Asian languages.

** Characters from the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII second game]] only have given names. The [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII third]] entry only has them for their main characters, oddly enough.
** Half of the playable characters in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', specifically; Rydia, Tellah, and twins Pallom and Porom. [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears the sequel]] has Leonora and Harley.

*** The Turks (Tseng, Reno, Rude, Elena, Cissnei), though it's implied they're just codenames.
*** The Shinra executives themselves; Hojo, Scarlett, Heidegger, Palmer, and President Shinra himself. Notable as the President is suceceded by his son Rufus, who was subsequently addressed as President Shinra.

** Everyone in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' excpet for Khimari and Seymour, who use their race as ''de facto'' surname per their world's customs.

** ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'': Several characters in this game and the sequel ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse Apocalypse]]'' do not give their surnames. Some characters simply don't have them due to coming from a pseudo-medieval society or being orphans, but there's no reason why Asahi, who has known living relatives in a modern city shouldn't have one. Just to bring up one example.