History Main / TomboyishName

* In Laurie King's mystery novels about police officer Katarina Cecilia Martinelli, she determinedly uses the nickname "Casey" on the job. Personal friends can call her Kate, though. [[spoiler:And she's a lesbian, whose significant other is a female psychiatrist named Lee. It is not revealed until late in the first book, ''A Grave Talent'', that Lee is female.]]

* One of the oldest examples is Ryuunosuke Fujinami from ''Manga/UruseiYatsura''. Also one of the original {{Bifauxnen}} and a WholesomeCrossdresser to boot. As a rule, ''-suke'' is masculine, it's almost like ''-son'' (Jacobson, etc.) in English. This is due to the fact her father is one of the most extreme examples of "wanted a boy" in fiction -- he forces her to act, talk, dress and pretend to be a boy when she wants to be feminine but can't manage it because of her upbringing.

* ''WesternAnimation/AudreyAndFriends'': Constance's nickname is Stan.

* ''Film/{{SWAT}}'''s Officer Chris Sanchez is OnlyKnownByHerNickname in the film, leading to a SamusIsAGirl moment when the first thing we learn about her is that she beat the crap out of a GangBanger. Hondo, recruiting for his SWATTeam, is very surprised to learn that Sanchez (played by Creator/MichelleRodriguez) is a SpicyLatina a good foot-and-a-half shorter than him.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' stars Izzy, which may or may not be short for Isabella. ''Revenge of the Island'' has Jo, who is a straight-up tomboy, disliking anything even ''remotely'' girly and is often [[BrawnHilda confused for a guy]] by DumbJock Lightning.

** ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'' had DA Alex Cahill.

* [[KingIncognito Seth]] of ''Manga/TrinityBlood''. "Did your parents want a boy?" "I have two older brothers, you'd think they'd had enough."

* Wiki/{{Killerbunnies}}'':

* Haruka [[spoiler:(Hokuto)]] in ''[[LightNovel/DotHackAIBuster .hack//AI Buster]]''. [[spoiler:Besides having a masculine real name, she also turns out to be the user named after Creator/WilliamButlerYeats.]]

* Haman Karn from ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'' is named for a male figure from [[Literature/TheBible the Book of Esther]], the Persian king's EvilChancellor. It's pretty appropriate since she's an iron-fisted dictator ruling on behalf of a child.

* Sidney of the ''Film/{{Scream}}'' films. She's also nicknamed 'Sid' by her friends. The [[Film/Scream4 fourth film]] also has a LadEtte called Kirby.

* Brett Anderson. No, [[NamesTheSame not the guy who sings for Suede]], or the pitcher for the Oakland Athletics, but the girl who fronts The Donnas.

* In ''The Show That Never Ends'', a Franchise/HarryPotter fanfic, one of Harry's coworkers [[spoiler:and Remus's eventual love interest]] is a woman who goes by Diz. It is later revealed that her full name is Disraeli Taylor; her mother was a historian. In fact, her sisters' names are Churchill and Dickens, and her brothers are Tennyson and Darwin.

* In the ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' [[GameMod romhack]] [[VideoGame/EquestriaBound EquestriaBound]], one of the default names you can give to the main character Dinky (a female unicorn) is the name of the character she replaces, Ness (a male teenaged human).

* Creator/EnidBlyton, who UsedToBeATomboy, frequently features {{Tomboy}} characters who has an appropriately masculine nickname.

* ''Series/{{MAD TV}}'': TheDitz Dr. Kylie Johnson was the victim of a typo at least once, or rather at least one of her patients was a victim of such.

* The first ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank'' game has three mechanics who can upgrade Clank. Their names are Al, Bob, and Ed. Guess which one's the girl? [[spoiler: It's Ed, short for Edwina, as she is called in the credits]]

* Harold Berselius of ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny 2'', who is in fact often mistaken as a man by people who have yet to meet her.
** And then there's Corrine, the summon spirit in [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Symphonia]]. Corrine is typically a female name, and the spirit itself has a high-pitched, feminine voice. However, there are some instances Corrine is referred to as male, [[spoiler: as well as taking into account that Corrine would eventually become Verius, who is definitely male in name and voice]]. [[ViewerGenderConfusion This is even more confusing]] as what Corrine's relation to [[spoiler: Verius]] is never agreed upon in Symphonia's many iterations [[spoiler: as sometimes Corrine is a different persona from Verius and could potentially be female when Verius is male, or Corrine ''is'' Verius where Corrine could have been too young (in voice) to pass as a young male rather than outright female]].

* ''Yuugi'' Hoshiguma from ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}''. The name means "a game", as in chess or go ([[Anime/YuGiOh or cards]]), and it has a masculine tone to it. [[TheLadette She looks and acts masculine too]], and in fan works is usually [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl contrasted]] against the girly GreenEyedMonster Parsee for effect.

* Chromie from ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' is a bronze dragon who preferred lesser form is a female gnome. While most female bronze dragons have names ending in "ormi" her full name is Chronormu, and "ormu" is the ending associated with male bronze dragons. This led many to speculate that she was in fact a male dragon who preferred to take femmale shape (which, [[{{GIRL}} given the game]], would be wholly appropriate) but WordOfGod eventually clarified that she just had a tomboyish name.

* Actresses with Tomboyish names include Creator/BilliePiper, Creator/HaydenPanettiere, Creator/GlennClose, James "Jaime" King, Creator/JamieLeeCurtis, Creator/BlakeLively, Christopher Norris and Creator/SeanYoung. Though Billie and Jamie/Jaime are technically also feminine names.

* Michael Learned, from ''Series/TheWaltons.'' Her parents were pointedly elusive about why she was given a masculine first name.

** Aubrey, from the Germanic ''Albric'', meaning 'elf king', or 'supernatural being', was originally a Germanic surname, then an English first name for boys, and then, during the 20th century, gradually became more associated with girls. Today, it ranks as the 65th most popular girl name in the US, and hasn't made top 1000 for boy's names since 2002.

** "Ariel" is very much a masculine name in the Bible, as with other names ending in "-el". Among Jews, it still is (e.g. ex-Israeli PM Ariel Sharon). Thanks to ''Theatre/TheTempest'' and, much later, ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'', the name is commonly associated with girls in the West (though Shakespeare's Ariel was originally written to be a male).
* There's a well known human rights lawyer in Britain called Gareth Peirce, although she changed her name legally. "Gareth" was originally her middle name.

* An even more dramatic inversion is an American athlete named Danielle Hunter. ''HE'S'' a defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings. (He pronounces his first name duh-NEEL.)

* In many countries, it's hard to refer to Alan Dawa Dolma, a Chinese-Tibetan singer who sang the opening theme of the first [[VideoGame/GodEater God Eater]] game, using her professional name "[[AllLowercaseLetters alan]]" without making people think you're referring to some guy named "Allan."

* The Hues Corporation, a disco band from the 1970s best known for "Rock the Boat," had a female singer named H. Ann Kelly, where the "H" stands for "Hubert."

* Tex from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue''. It's short for her codename, Agent Texas; her real name Allison is a lot more feminine. [[spoiler:Technically, Allison Church died a long time ago. Agent Texas is an AI programmed to think like her]].