History Main / SueDonym

* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'': When Katsura, a wanted criminal, [[PaperThinDisguise goes undercover]], he often takes aliases suspiciously close to his real name, case in point "Space Captain Katsuura", "Katsuo" or "Joey Katsura" ("Joey" sounds close to Joui, his organization). If that isn't bad enough, he has a pesky habit of insisting that his name be spoken correctly. Luckily enough, the authorities are never smart enough to see through them.

* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'': When Katsura, a wanted criminal, [[PaperThinDisguise goes undercover]], he often takes aliases suspiciously close to his real name, case in point "Space Captain Katsuura", "Katsuo" or "Joey Katsura" ("Joey" sounds close to Joui, his organization). Luckily enough, the authorities are never smart enough to see through them.

* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'': Given Katsura doesn't outright reveal his real identity by mistake, when [[PaperThinDisguise going undercover]], he often takes aliases suspiciously close to his real name, case in point "Space Captain Katsuura", "Katsuo" or "Joey Katsura" ("Joey" sounds close to Joui, his organization). Luckily enough, the authorities are never smart enough to see through them.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in [[http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/comic103.html this]] strip of ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily''.
* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'': The first time the main characters disguise themselves as women, they hurriedly identify themselves as Thiefica, Fighterina, Black Magica, and... Deborah. Yes, Red Mage had a female identity prepared beforehand. Interpret as you will.
* ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'' has an example bordering on LouisCypher[[note]](It's not because he isn't a devil/demon, ''just'' one of TheFairFolk)[[/note]] with a dash of MrSmith. [[Literature/{{TheErlKing}} Der Erlkönig]] uses the name "Lord Errol King" or [[MrSmith "Mr. King"]] for short in his human disguise (which is a pretty convincing {{glamour}} in itself).

* ''WebVideo/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfAbridgerty'' lampshades Snake's near-mistake in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' with him deciding on the inconspicuous cover Sudonimm [=McPhayckneighm=] ([[DontExplainTheJoke Pseodonym McFakename for those who don't get it]])

%%Do not resubmit the Family Guy "Pea Tear Griffin" example - that is a LineOfSightName.
* ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo'''s Carl does this many times.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode ''The Boy Who Would Be Queen'', Timmy [[GenderBender (as a girl)]] says his name is "Tim... mantha?".
* When she inexplicably needed to hide her non-human status, Babs on ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' came up with "Babs Bun..awalksi..oversmith"

* In ''WesternAnimation/FishHooks'', Milo and Oscar do this while sneaking into a girls' slumber party.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Joker's Millions", the impoverished Joker is living in a cheap apartment due to money issues. When heading in, he's addressed at the front desk as a "Mr. Ker" implying he signed his name as "Joe Ker" when renting the place.
** The name "Harleen Quinzel" was originally conceived as one for ComicBook/HarleyQuinn in "The Man Who Killed Batman", but was later retconned into being Harley's real name.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}'' N. Disguise.
* A variant: Spot in ''WesternAnimation/TeachersPet'' actually blurts out his real name when he first arrives at the school disguised as a human, but it is misheard as "Scott", so he decides to roll with it.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pelswick}}'': Sandra Scottle works for two competing radio stations, the latter of which she calls herself "Mandra Mottle" on which fools everyone. When her friend Julie Smockford finds out, she uses the pseudonym "Mulie Mockford."
* Done in two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' that involve crossdressing:
** In "Beauty Contest," when Stu and Grandpa disguise Tommy as a girl to enter him in the Little Miss Lovely contest, Stu starts to give his name as "Tom-" but then quickly changes it to "Tonya."
** In "The Clan of the Duck," when Chuckie and Phil decide to wear dresses for the day and meet other babies who mistake them for girls, Phil tells them his name is "Phillian" and calls Chuckie "Chuckina."
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'', this is parodied. Dil's name has been changed in an article to "Bill Nickels" in order to protect him. Dil sarcastically mentions that no one will make the connection.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "Hit The Diamond", the Crystal Gems have to disguise themselves as humans [[ItMakesSenseInContext in order to play baseball with a team of Rubies from Homeworld.]] Pearl is "Earl", Amethyst is "Amy", Sapphire is "Sophie", and Lapis Lazuli is "[[OddNameOut Bob]]".
* In ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', Numbuh 86 appears to recruit people for a girls-only mission. Numbuh 3 agrees to go. [[BoisterousBruiser Numbuh 4]], not wanting to miss the action, disguises himself as a girl and tags along, claiming his codename is "Numbuh Four... Thirty... Teen... Seven". Though considering the Kids Next Door database has accepted names such as "Numbuh 65.3", "Numbuh 30c", "Numbuh 19th Century" and "Numbuh T", it's not ''that much'' of a stretch to accept there's a "Numbuh Four Thirty-Teen Seven".
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'':
** The eponymous character whose real name is Danny Fenton. This is lampshaded in "The Ultimate Enemy".
--> '''Dark Danny''': Hello? "Danny Fenton"? "Danny Phantom"? Ever noticed the similarities?
** In the episode "Doctor's Disorders", secondary villain Bertrand disguises himself as "Dr. Bert Rand". When Danny realizes who he really is, he calls himself out for not picking up on it sooner.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'', when Mac, Bloo and a pizza delivery teen try to pass off as Frankie's ex-boyfriend to spy on her date, using a terrible TotemPoleTrench with Bloo as the "head". Frankie immediately recognizes him and calls out "Bloo?". In response, Bloo tells her she can stop calling him by his last name and just call him Orlando.
--> '''Frankie''': *Deadpan* [[Creator/OrlandoBloom Orlando Bloo?]]
* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'': In "The Clock Strikes Back," the time-traveling grandfather clock from "The Hickory Dickory Dock Dilemma" returns, piloted by a figure claiming to be King Arthur's original wizard. He identifies as Hooter La Bec Longsnout, "but you may call me Nozzle." When DM introduces himself and Penfold, this line:
-->'''Penfold:''' But you may call me Penfold.
* In episode "Irish Cheapstakes" of ''[[WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle Tom Slick]]'', Tom's eternal rival Baron Otto Matic wants to enter the race, where only Irish people can participate. He achieves that by registering as Ott O'Matic.

%% Attention: before adding examples, check to see if they don't also appear on Line of Sight Name. Thank you, come again.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'', Jotaro Kujo signs a guestbook using the name "Qtaro Kujo" in order to pull a bluff using INeverToldYouMyName.
* ''Manga/StoryOfADumbPrefectAndHighSchoolGirlWithInappropriateSkirtLength'': When Kogori asks "[[PaperThinDisguise gal version]]" Yamato her name, she fumbles and comes up with "Yamada Hanako".[[note]]This also happens to be the Japanese version of [[MrSmith Jane Doe]].[[/note]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* A variation occurs in the ''Film/{{The Nutty Professor|1963}}'' (both the 1963 and [[Film/TheNuttyProfessor1996 1996 versions]]), wherein another character refers to the titular character as "buddy" while he is under the influence of his transformation drug, prompting him to adopt "Buddy Love" as the name of his alternate personality.

* In ''Film/AViewToAKill'', Film/JamesBond at one point poses as a Financial Times reporter named "James Stock."
* In ''Film/{{Leap Year|2010}}'', when Anna and Declan have to pretend to be married and are asked about their surname, they both blurt out their own surnames (Brady and O'Callaghan, respectively), before finally settling on O'Bradycallaghan.

* In ''Film/TheFactsInTheCaseOfMisterHollow,'' the eponymous Johnny Hollow provides a {{Spooky Photograph|s}} to an OccultDetective investigating a MysteryCult. Careful examination of the investigator's other documents reveals that "Hollow" is a PenName adopted by Johnathon H. Ollow, a writer for the in-universe newspaper, ''The Greater Toronto Gazette.''
* Bollywood film "Krrish" has it even in the title. (Dude is named Krishna.)

* A weird behind-the-scenes example happens in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''. Obi-Wan learns that the Republic's new CloneArmy was supposedly commissioned ten years ago by a Jedi named Sifo-Dyas, who died nearly ten years previouly. The connection to [[BigBad Darth Sidious]] isn't exactly obvious, but it's still not hard to parse out either. However, if it wasn't for a typo, the alias would have been even worse. Creator/GeorgeLucas originally intended for the supposed Jedi's name to be "Sido-Dyas," but hit the "f" key [[ThrowItIn by mistake]], turning a laughably overt alias into a slightly more believable one. In addition, this typo also inspired Lucas to retcon Sifo-Dyas from an alias of Sidious to [[https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sifo-Dyas an actual Jedi Master]] who was manipulated by the Sith to build a clone army.
* The title character of ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'' went by Shaun while hiding from his dad. Katy mocks this, pointing out easily his father must have found him.
--> '''Katy''' What is- what is your name change logic? You're going into hiding, and your name is Michael, you -come on- change it to "My-chell"... It's like, "Hi, my name is Gina, I'm gonna go into hiding, my new name's Gyna."

* In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', Bilbo Baggins introduces himself to the trolls as "a bur- a hobbit." ("Bur" = "burglar", the profession designated to him by Gandalf.) To them, he's a "burrahobbit."
* In one of Donald Westlake's stories about [[Literature/{{Dortmunder}} John Dortmunder]], John stammers out "John D-- Diddums". From then on, despite realizing that it doesn't sound like a real name ("It's Welsh," he'll frequently explain), whenever he needs an alias on short notice he panics and can't think of anything but "John Diddums". This later becomes his GoToAlias, despite him hating it, as it always the only alias he can think of when under stress.
* Partially a LineOfSightName, but in the ''Literature/WarlockOfGramarye'' book ''A Wizard in Absentia'', a very hungover Magnus tries to come up with a pseudonym. He starts out with "Mmma", but quickly realizes it and turns it into a groan. Before he subconsciously sees the E.D.G.A.R. patch on the guard's arm and gives his name as Ed Gar.

* The prologue to ''Literature/TheMapToEverywhere'' shows that First Name Unknown Last Name Unknown (Fin) was dropped off at the orphanage by Miss Notah Reelnaym, from the port of Nowereneerheer.
* In ''Literature/MaximumRide'', when Fang is taken to the hospital Max begins to say his name but quickly ends with "Nick". Iggy later calls Fang "Fnick".
* In ''Literature/AmericanGods'': [[spoiler:[[TheOldConvict Low-Key Lyesmith]] = [[GodWasMyCoPilot Loki Lie-Smith]]]]. Which only works if you pronounce it in the English way, and not the Norse/Icelandic way. Since it's revealed that the American analogues have little connection to the originals, the only proper way to pronounce it is in American English.
** [[spoiler:Mr. Wednesday]] isn't much better. [[spoiler:Wednesday]] is the modern English form of the Old English [[spoiler:"Wōdnesdæg"]], meaning [[spoiler:Odin's Day]]. Guess who [[spoiler: Mr.Wednesday]] really is.

* In ''Rowan Hood'', Rosemary, while disguised as a boy, is asked for her name and unthinkingly responds with her nickname, Ro. She quickly adds that it's short for Rowan.
* Franchise/StarWarsLegends:
** ''Literature/XWingSeries'': Face is disguised as an enemy bridge crewman and speaking to a planetary official when he turns to address his squadmate Jesmin, who happens to be the niece of the famous Admiral Ackbar. So he starts off with "Ensign Ack-", coughs, and finishes it as "Ackran".
** ''Literature/StarWarsHonorAmongThieves'': Needing a quick-and-dirty alias to call the Imperial data center for information, Han Solo goes with, "Lieutenant Hannu Sololo." When Scarlet fabricates a fake ID for their infiltration, they keep the name for some reason.
* In the ''Literature/JamesBond'' short story "Literature/ForYourEyesOnly", Bond meets up with a Canadian contact to obtain information for an off-the-books mission. When Bond introduces himself as 'Mr. James', his contact eyes him suspiciously and then says that James can call him 'Colonel Johns'.

* In the ''Doctor Who'' novel ''Managra,'' there's an aristocratic, arrogant, and conceited swashbuckling hero, Miles Dashwood, who goes by the alias Miles Dashing of Dashwood. (Not improvised on the spur of the moment, so he doesn't have that excuse.)
* ''Literature/PrincessesOfThePizzaParlor'': Shelby's princess that she's roleplaying as, is called Selvi. Selvi is a distortion of Shelby, with the removal of the 'h' and the /biː/ sound turning into a /viː/.
* In the novel ''Literature/TheSchoolStory'', Zoe pretends to be a literary agent and uses her nickname "Zee Zee" together with a misspelling of her last name.

* ''Literature/WhenTheAngelsLeftTheOldCountry'': Little Ash chooses the alias Asher Klein. "Klein" means "small" in German and Yiddish.

* One of the undercover identities of ''Series/{{Automan}}'' was the FBI agent Otto Mann.

* In ''Radio/{{Nebulous}}'', the eponymous professor is infiltrating a brainwashing camp. When asked his name, he quickly replies "Professor Neb-Neb".

* In ''Abie's Irish Rose'', when Abie's father asks about [[ShiksaGoddess Rose Mary]]'s family name, she blurts out "Murphy", but Abie quickly interrupts and changes it to "Murpheski".

* In ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'' during Red's quest he attempts to investigate a fighting tournament dressed in his superhero outfit. When asked his name at the sign-up counter he stammers part of his real name a few times and winds up entered in as "Rerere".

* The Legion secret agent Vulpes Inculta in ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'' simply translates his name from the Latin.
--> '''His contact's diary''': Just now I was approached by a rather intense young man calling himself "Mr. Fox." (Yeah, right.)
* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', a quest that ends in receiving the artifact of the Daedric Prince of debauchery, Sanguine, begins with a drinking contest with a man named Sam Guevenne. Learning about what you did ends up being rather amusing to say the least.
* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' has Larry Butz take the moniker Laurice Deauxnim after his mentor, Elise Deauxnim (Elise does ''not'' qualify, her birth name being [[spoiler:Misty Fey]]). The pronunciation of that nom de plume makes the latter's identity transparent as air once events start to unfold.
* During ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'' and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', {{Alucard}} spends his time disguised as "Genya Arikado" putting his own name through a JapaneseRanguage filter.
* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', Trevor tells a story to Wade about a boy named Trisha growing up who eventually meets a troll named Michele and partner up in crime, almost giving out his and Michael's name. Trevor, being pissed, ends up giving away their names near the end and confusing Wade.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'': [[spoiler:Guy's alias]] comes from his childhood nickname [[spoiler:of his real name (''Gai''lardia)]], and his last name of Cecil is an alternate spelling of his mother's maiden name Cecille.
* In ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'', Pearl and Marina (Hime and Iida in Japan) are credited as "MC Princess" and "DJ E-DA" for a concert at [[Website/NicoNicoDouga Nico Nico Chokaigi]]. This was carried over to their usernames in ''Octo Expansion'', though it was subverted in English due to the DubNameChange. Marina's username was equally subverted by changing it to "DJ_Hyperfresh".
* Used rather literally in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'', with a series of journal entries written by "Sudo Nim" - who turns out to be [[spoiler: the Luminary's adoptive grandfather]].
* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Pandora Tomorrow'', one of Sam Fisher's friends asks him what agency he works for. He guesses CIA, and Sam responds with "No, staying anonymous", the initials of the NSA, which he works for.
* ''VideoGame/MyLittlePonyGameloft'': On one occasion, Lyra Heartstrings needs to disguise her identity and calls herself "Lara Heartthrob".

* In ''ComicBook/CableAndDeadpool'', Steve Rogers, the Star-Spangled Man with the Plan, being the ingenious [[ClarkKenting "Master of Disguise"]] that he is, infiltrated Cable's island Providence as an immigrant with the name ''Roger Stevens''. Not only that but his idea of hiding his signature blond hair is to wear a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap.
* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica:'' Steve's go-to alias when doing infiltrating is usually "Rogers Stevens". If he's feeling ''very'' sneaky, he might be "Grant Stevens" or "Rogers Grant" (his middle name).
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
** A favorite alias of the Joker is "Joe Kerr". This habit first appeared in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|Of Comic Books}}, but it still comes up every once in a while as a MythologyGag. [[note]]Amusingly, one of the main writers on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' is named Joseph Kuhr. That's not a pen name.[[/note]]

* This is how ComicBook/BoosterGold became famous. After saving the President's life, he is asked what his superhero name is by reporters. Instead of using Gold Star as he planned, he started to introduce himself as "Booster" Carter, his nickname from his football days. He tried to correct himself midsentence and that gave the reporters his identity as Booster Gold.
* And in Creator/JackKirby's ''ComicBook/TheEternals'', the Eternal Ikaris sometimes used "Ike Harris". Creator/NeilGaiman made sure to revive this when he did his run on Eternals.
* During UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, the ComicBook/MartianManhunter's secret identity was John Jones. This was to hide his true Martian name of J'onn J'onzz.

* Contrary to what one might think, ''ComicBook/TheUnbelievableGwenpool'' showed that its star character never read an issue of ''Deadpool'' in her life. (It was too meme-y for her tastes.) It's actually a corruption of her real name, Gwen Poole.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* On an adventure in Tokyo, ComicBook/MilesMorales introduced himself to his hostess as "Music/MilesDavis", which isn't a complete lie, as it could have been his name had his family used his father's name instead of [[NomDeMom his mother's]]. Tomoe [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome immediately recognizes it as some old American musician]], and Miles awkwardly backtracks to try and explain himself.
* ''Franchise/{{XMen}}'': Jubilee's codename is a contraction of her real name: [[EmbarrassingFirstName Jubilation]] Lee.

RealNameAsAnAlias takes the same concept to an even greater degree, where there is no distortion of a name, just plainly using part of their real name, possibly all of it. Compare UnpronounceableAlias. For slightly better pseudonyms, try CharacterNameAlias, LineOfSightName, and SdrawkcabAlias. See also LouisCypher, HughMann, StevenUlyssesPerhero and MrSmith. See also LastSecondWordSwap.

* In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' episode "Showdown in Dark City," Ash Ketchum starts to give his real name as "Ash...Ketchup..." before changing it to "Tom Ato". Following his example, Misty and Brock introduce themselves as "Ann Chovie" and "Caesar Salad", respectively. The reason they had the pseudonyms at all was to avoid being recognized as Pokemon trainers.

** A favorite alias of the Joker is "Joe Kerr". This habit first appeared in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, but it still comes up every once in a while as a MythologyGag. [[note]]Amusingly, one of the main writers on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' is named Joseph Kuhr. That's not a pen name.[[/note]]
** Other examples of alias used by the Joker include Mr. White and Jack Napier, the latter of which may be his real name if the first Batman movie is to believed.

* After WWII, Josef Mengele ("The Angel of Death") went into hiding in South America, but when officials were closing in on his location, he secured a fake passport and escaped to Paraguay. The named he used for the passport? "José Mengele".

* Creator/StanLee was worried that making a name for himself in comics would hurt his chances of becoming a serious writer, so he split his first name in two; his birth name is Stanley Martin Lieber. Eventually, he would end up adopting his comic writer pen name as his legal name.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'', the nephews introduce the Genie to Uncle Scrooge as "Uh ... Gene! Yeah, Gene!"

* A number of characters in ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' do this for their player names:

* ''Fanfic/ThisBites'': During the Straw Hats' visit to Skelter Bite, Cross basically shanghais Tashigi into coming along. To help her blend in, he has her dressed up as a pirate and starts calling her "Cabin Girl T. A. Shigi". She's understandably not amused by any of this.

* ''Manga/StoryOfADumbPrefectAndHighSchoolGirlWithInappropriateSkirtLength'': When Kogori asks "[[PaperThinDisguise gal version]]" Yamato her name, she fumbles and comes up with "Yamada Hanako".[[/note]]This also happens to be the Japanese version of [[MrSmith Jane Doe]].[[/note]]