History Main / TheVonTropeFamily

* ''Von'' Rothbart who is the BigBad of Theater/SwanLake, is an EvilSorcerer who is responsible for [[ForcedTransformation turning Odette into a swan]].

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Technically, ''von'' is merely a German preposition which approximately means ''of'' or ''from'' which appears mostly in names of [[BlueBlood families that belong (or once belonged) to the nobility]]. To set themselves off from commoners with "von" in their names, German-speaking noble persons sometimes prefer the abbreviation "v.". The nobility was abolished as a privileged estate in 1918, since then "von" and titles of nobility like "Graf" (count) or "Ritter" (knight) are treated as mere parts of the name. Note that in German, ''Von'' is not capitalized unless the first name is missing (compare "Helga von Trope" and "Frau Von Trope"). A permanently capitalized "Von" is mostly English usage.[[note]]In the previous example, neither "von" would be capitalized in German, regardless of whether it was preceded by a given name or a form of address.[[/note]] Before the 20th century, it was quite common to translate "von" as "de" in French texts and German-speaking diplomats would sign that way under treaties (which explains why even today it's not uncommon to see Germanic names preceded by that particular Latin preposition).

* Velvet von Ragnar, the CreepyCrossdresser played by Gene Simmons in ''Never Too Young to Die''.* The title character played by Music/FrankSinatra in ''Film/VonRyansExpress''. He is not a German at all, but an American POW who is apparently too cooperative with the Germans, which earns him the nickname. It turns out to be a subversion, as he was feigning cooperation to prepare for a mass escape.

When [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the character just happens to have that as part of their family name]], with no particular cultural significance meant to be attached (though in countries with a long history of democracy, the elitist overtones of the prefix often cause it to be dropped), [[Administrivia/PeopleSitOnChairs it's not this trope or any other one]].

A common misconception is that "von" should be pronounced with a voiced labiodental fricative, the usual sound of V in English. But the V is in most cases pronounced as a voiceless labiodental fricative in German, which is usually spelt F in English, so it is actually pronounced "fon".

When [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the character just happens to have that as part of their family name]], with no particular cultural significance meant to be attached (though in countries with a long history of democracy, the elitist overtones of the prefix often cause it to be dropped), [[Administrivia/PeopleSitInChairs it's not this trope or any other one.]]

** Baron von Blitzschlag, a Nazi scientist who's a kind of villainous NewOldFlame - had offscreen run ins with ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' and other heroes. Currently acting as a scientific adviser to ''The Initiative'', working on such catastrophes as Cyborg Thor and [[CloningBlues repeatedly cloning a deceased member]].

When [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the character just happens to have that as part of their family name]], with no particular cultural significance meant to be attached (though in countries with a long history of democracy, the elitist overtones of the prefix often cause it to be dropped), it's not this trope or any other one.

* Velma Von Tussle from ''Film/{{Hairspray}}''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' mentions an old villain named [[AristocratsAreEvil Baron]] Von [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Ruthless]].

* ''Literature/WagonsWest'':
** Baron Ernest "Ernie" von Thalman is an Austrian nobleman who was encouraged to join the original wagon train for the adventure of it by his friend, former president Andrew Jackson.
** Baroness Gisela von Kirchberg married into her name, and after her widowhood proceeded to accomplish the goal of becoming the richest woman in Europe.

# Lighter Von Trope: It is also used as more of a StockForeignName for a Germanic FunnyForeigner (especially {{Mad Scientist}}s), or for goofy characters for whom the aristocratic bearing of the name seems incongruous.

* Tanya Degurechaff from ''LightNovel/SagaOfTanyaTheEvil'' earns the privilege of adding a "von" to her family name after rising to become one of the Twelve Knights of the Military College, signifying her ascension to minor nobility.

* Isaak Fernand von Kämpfer from ''LightNovel/TrinityBlood'' invented the [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Rosenkreuz Order]].

* The Ten Noble Families in the anime ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'' all have 'von' in their names even if the rest of the name isn't Germanic at all. ''Von'' Bielefeld, ''Von'' Wincott, etc. etc. This is probably because Shin Makoku was heavily European based.

* Baron Rudolf von Sturmgeist in ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorFrontline'' is a German aristocrat, and a very influential member of the SS. He's also the BigBad of the game, and is helping to create [[StupidJetpackHitler a brand-new prototype fighter aircraft for the Luftwaffe]].

* The German-born Manfred von Karma of the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, a ruthless AmoralAttorney (a prosecutor, in this case). His daughter, Franziska von Karma (whose name means "free of bad karma"), has less of the evil, but certainly the name seems to fit the stern lady with a whip.
* Eleonore von Wittenburg from ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae'' is descendant from German nobility and is quite a nasty piece of work. Extremely fierce and a heavy [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] and loyal to the BigBad. She also acts as a counter to her opposite Beatrice.

** Von Pinn. First encountered as nanny to the children on Castle Wulfenbach, then later revealed to be an ancient construct created specifically to protect the Heterodyne heirs and "keep them safe". She's TheBaroness to anyone who threatens her charges.

Some German-speaking noble families have more elaborate particles before their name such as "von dem" (shortened form: "vom") or "von der" (both mean "of the"), others have "zu" or "zum" (roughly "at", which usually indicates the actual or former place of residence), some have "vom und zum". There are also both noble families which have "SURNAME von OTHER NAME" or "SURNAME zu PLACE NAME" (as usual, there are exceptions, such as names of the pattern "Meyer zu PLACE NAME" and e. g. the poet August Hoffmann von Fallersleben, who added "von Fallersleben" after his birthplace to distinguish himself from other writers called Hoffmann). And there are ones that combine "von" with "nobility indicators" from other languages such as with many surnames containing the slavic suffix "-ski" or "-sky" or Franco-German combinations as the noble Huguenot family ''von Arnauld de la Perière''.

* Rudolf Von Stroheim in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'', a proud Nazi soldier who's very convinced that anything German is '''THE BEST IN THE WORLD'''. But nonetheless, he's also a heroic patriot who'll give his life for his country and recognizes the Pillar Men as a threat to the world, thus has no problems with teaming up with people from the Allied nations for that.

* The German-born Manfred von Karma of the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, a ruthless AmoralAttorney (a prosecutor, in this case). His daughter, Franziska von Karma (whose name means "free of bad karma"), has less of the evil, but certainly the name seems to fit the stern lady with a [[WhipItGood whip]].

* When [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] goes to Germany, he usually presents identification that says he is 'Doctor von Wer', literally, 'Doctor of Who'. And no, it makes no more sense in German than it would in English. Pretty much ''any'' native speaker would immediately notice and wonder if this was supposed to be some kind of joke. (Germany does feature two or three places called ''Wehr'' he could hypothetically claim to be from, but the word isn't particularly related to "wer" and so the pun wouldn't work quite so easily anymore except perhaps as a GeniusBonus.)

* Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld in ''LightNovel/TheAsteriskWar'' is European royalty: her homeland of Lieseltania is located in the real-life location of the western half of the Czech Republic, so it makes sense that she'd be an ethnic German and use the noble "von".

* As a RunningGag, many residents of Uberwald in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' have the Von as part of their names, including Moist von Lipwig, the werewolves Angua and Wolfgang von Uberwald, and vampire photographer Otto von Chriek. Justified in that these names are all denominators of origin.

* Henrietta "Annette" von Penrose from ''LightNovel/EightySixEightySix'', a brilliant scientist for the Republic of San Magnolia and its Alba supremacist government. Her father, Josef von Penrose, takes the darker Germanic parallel even further, as he was the one responsible for developing the Para-RAID communication device through immense amounts of unethical human experimentation that eventually [[DrivenToSuicide led him to kill himself.]] The name is also a clue in-universe that [[spoiler: the von Penrose family were originally citizens of the aggressively expansionist Empire of Giad and were immigrants to the Republic.]]