History Main / TomboyishName

* ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'': Charlie and Teddy are used as names for girls. It's even lampshaded in some episodes. This trope was {{enforced}} in this case, as not to place the series in the GirlShowGhetto.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', which shares a creator with ''Revolution'', also features a character who goes by the name Charlie (she uses several aliases, though her real name is never given). She is a PlayfulHacker[=/=]HollywoodNerd and her name is likely a ShoutOut to ''Literature/{{Firestarter}}'''s Charlie.

* ''GoodLuckCharlie'': Charlie and Teddy are used as names for girls. It's even lampshaded in some episodes.

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': Elliot Reid. But let's not also forget that J.D. usually ends up sleeping with girls with androgynous names, including Alex, Dani, Jamie, Jordan and Kim. Might have something to do with the "[[UnusualEuphemism lanyards]]" he made with his bunkmate at summer camp.

Sometimes a variation of the EmbarrassingFirstName. Can potentially lead to ActuallyIAmHim, and a good way to help disguise the fact that SamusIsAGirl until the right moment. The SpearCounterpart to this trope is called GirlyName in which a guy has a female name. The SuperTrope is GenderBlenderName.

* ''GoodLuckCharlie'': Charlie and Teddy are used as names for girls. It's even lampshaded in one episode.

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* ''TheYoungOnes'': Reversed with a male character named Vyvyan. When they go to the pub, where Vyvyan's mum is working behind the bar, Rick jumps at the chance to ask "Why did you give him a girl's name?" At which point Vyv smashes a bottle over Rick's head.

* ''Series/TheMentalist'': InvertedTrope: Patrick Jane, is generally referred to as Jane.

* ''DeadLikeMe'': George Lass.

* Elliot Chandler from ''{{Mai-Otome 0 Sifr}}''.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' companions in the ExpandedUniverse include Bernice "Benny" Summerfield (Virgin novels), Samantha "Sam" Jones (BBC Books novels), Isabelle "Izzy" Sinclair (DWM comic strip) and Charlotte "Charley" Pollard (BigFinish audios). This happens quite a bit in the {{Canon}} too, with Ace (real name Dorothy), Josephine "Jo" Grant and Melanie "Mel" Bush.

* The titular character in the movie and the series ''LaFemmeNikita''.

* ''{{Extras}}'': Somewhat parodied where Andy Millman goes to Ian Mackellen to audition for his new play. It ends up being a play about homosexual loves, something that is not apparent to him until "Fran" is revealed to be a man. Everyone in the audition room other than Mackellen and Andy appear to have tomboyish names if they are female or girl names if they are male. Things get ridiculous when one of the women in the room is referred to as "George".

* Mizuhara Makoto from ''ElHazard''. His problem is that ''he'' looks ''just like'' the rather tomboyish Fatora, who is missing and he has to pose as.

* ''GilmoreGirls'': Lorelai Leigh Gilmore goes by the nickname Rory (a name which is usually reserved for boys) to distinguish herself from her mother and grandmother, both of whom are also named Lorelai Gilmore.

* Frances "Frankie" Foster in ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends''. [[NamesTheSame Similarly]], Frankie Stein in ''MonsterHigh''.
* ''RocketPower'' has a girl named Reggie (short for Regina).
** You mean Reggie wasn't her legal name? Huh; that's weird; I knew a girl whose legal WAS Reggie.
* In Disney's ''Famous Five On The Case'', George's daugheter is named Jo (shortened from Jyoti).
* The SecretKeeper on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' was also named Max (short for 'Maxine').
* The leader of the Guardians in ''[[WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}} W.I.T.C.H.]]'', Will Vandom, is a girl like the others. Depending on the source, it's short for Wilma, or Wilhelmina.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' with Spinelli, a tomboy who goes by her last name because she's embarrassed about her "girly" first name, Ashley. It's especially "girly" on this show because there's a club consisting entirely of AlphaBitch girls with this name (who seem to equate the name with popularity), and one episode was about the consequences when the Ashleys found out her real name and forced her to join their club. Ironically, Ashley was once considered a boy's name (such as in ''Gone With the Wind''), and some well-known guys do have Ashley as a name (like Ashley Cole). [[Franchise/EvilDead Sometimes, they go by "Ash".]]
* Sam and Alex from ''TotallySpies''. However Alex is the only {{Tomboy}}.
* Izzy from ''TotalDramaIsland'', 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.
* Nikki from {{Sixteen}} embodies this trope. Short-cut, purple-dyed hair: check! Grungy wardrobe: check! Sarcastic sense of humor and badass personality: Double check! Name that can apply to Nickolas but instead applies to Nicole: check!

* In an episode of ''WhatsNewScoobyDoo'', the guys on the gang are excited about meeting a pair of male roller-coaster designers called Chris and Terry, while the girls are unimpressed...until they turn out to be ''sisters'' called Chris and Terri.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Poison Ivy appears to have gone straight and gotten married. Batman observes some heartwarming interactions between Pam and her stepsons, Chris and Kelly, but realizes something's up when Robin says he knows the "husband" and his ''daughters''.

* Applejack, from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. It sounds like she has a ''boy's'' name, which led to a considerable amount of gender confusion back in G1 where she had a low pitched voice.

* Inverted with Mandark from ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', whose real name is "Susan".
* Michelanne "Mike" Mazinsky of ''WesternAnimation/MikeLuAndOg''.
* Parker Kovak from ''{{Producing Parker}}''
* "[[AvatarTheLastAirbender 'Smellerbee']]? That's a rather odd name for a young man." "Maybe that's because ''I'm a girl.''"

* BryanFuller:

** There are girls named Sam on ''WhosTheBoss?'', ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'', ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', ''Series/WithoutATrace'', ''Series/StargateSG1'', ''{{Doonesbury}}'', ''{{Reunion}}'', ''TotallySpies'', ''MySisterSam'', ''VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney'' and ''RedFaction'' (yes, even in video games). Usually shortened from Samantha, in which case it can be taken as an indication that the character ''wants'' to have a TomboyishName.

* ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'': Takes this to absurd levels. Of the two primary female rangers on the show, one is "[[OneLetterName Z]]" (short for Elizabeth, well, it's AllThereInTheManual, if I recall correctly) and one is "Syd" (short for "Sydney"). They were a rather tough TomboyAndGirlyGirl duo (with Z as the Tomboy and Syd as the Girly Girl), in some cases tougher than the boys, and Z is [[{{Bokukko}} extremely tomboyish]], MamaBear regarding Sam [[spoiler: the future Omega Ranger]] issues aside. It gets worse: On the A-squad, the end credits reveal its [[spoiler:Red]] Ranger, female, to be named Charlie, and she's tougher still, and extremely tomboyish in mannerisms while still something of a [[spoiler:FemmeFatale]]. She's either the best thing to happen in feminism in the franchise, or a StrawFeminist, depending on who you ask.

* After acquiring all eight badges in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' or ''Emerald'', a player can find an older women named Jay on the second floor of Meteor Falls.

* ''AuntDimity'': The Pym sisters' great-grandniece is named Aubrey Aroha Pym (she's descended from their older brother Aubrey Jeremiah Pym). She is commonly called "Bree".

* The Howard Hawks/Leigh Brackett Western ''El Dorado'' (1966) has the very tomboyish Joey [=MacDonald=] (full name: Josephine), played by Michele Carey.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' had Chris make friends with a Sam who dressed in overalls and a hat, making him extremely confused when Sam kissed him. Of course it turned out to be a Samantha, but Chris was still kind of uncomfortable until she told him to think of her as a boy.

* Alex Forrest from ''Film/FatalAttraction''; feminist criticism points out that the film has her punished for infiltrating environments traditionally reserved for men, with her name itself being an example.
* ''AshesToAshes'' has DI Alex Drake. Gene Hunt had been expecting a male DI when he first saw her paperwork.
* Wen Spencer's fantasy novel ''Tinker'' centers around a girl named Alexander Graham Bell. She prefers to go by her (also tomboyish) nickname, Tinker.

* Actresses with Tomboyish names include BilliePiper, HaydenPanettiere, MichaelLearned, Creator/GlennClose, [[JamieKing James "Jamie" King]], JamieLeeCurtis, Glen Close, ChristopherNorris andSean Young.

** Chris Evert counts too

** There are girls named Sam on ''WhosTheBoss?'', ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'', ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', ''Series/WithoutATrace'', ''Series/StargateSG1'', ''{{Doonesbury}}'', ''{{Reunion}}'', ''TotallySpies'', ''MySisterSam'', ''{{Dreamfall}}'' and ''RedFaction'' (yes, even in video games). Usually shortened from Samantha, in which case it can be taken as an indication that the character ''wants'' to have a TomboyishName.

* ''FlashForward2009'': Charlie Benford. It's unknown whether that's short for something more traditionally feminine.

* ''HarrysLaw'': Harry Korn looks like she'll kill anyone who calls her Harriet.