History Main / ViewerNameConfusion

* ''Theatre/{{Grease}}'': Many people think Sandy's full name name is "Sandra Dee" because Rizzo calls her that while making fun of her. Clearly those people aren't familiar with the actress Creator/SandraDee; Rizzo is just comparing Sandy's innocence and prudishness to the actress's screen persona as TheIngenue. Her actual name is either "Sandy Dumbrowski" (in the stage version), "Sandy Olsson" (in [[Film/{{Grease}} the film version]]), or "Sandy Young" (in the 2016 live TV version).

* Names in ''Franchise/StarWars'' films tend to be rather evocative, whether of real names or concepts, so casual viewers or non-viewers are often heard speaking of "Hans Solo" or "Dark Vader", to name a few. There's also a few people misspelling [=C-3PO=]'s name as [=C-3P0=]; it's supposed to have a capital O, not a zero.

** Two erroneous names actually became official. The two Toa Kaita, Akamai and Wairuha accidentally had their names switched during the series' development, and have stuck that way since. Only some very obscure, early promo materials got their original names right, confusing people who have read those first.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Some fans think that Harry is short for Hadrian, Percy is short for Percival, Lily is short for Lillian, and Ginny is short for Virginia. Actually, Harry, Percy, and Lily aren't nicknames, while Ginny is short for Ginevra.

* ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'': Elizabeth Bennet's nickname is spelled "Lizzy," not "Lizzie," and her surname is "Bennet," not "Bennett." Mr. Darcy's name is also sometimes misremembered as "D'Arcy," though thankfully not as often.

** As for the author of ''Twilight'', her first name is Steph'''e'''nie, not Steph'''a'''nie.

** For the first few seasons, it was common for people to misinterpret Daenerys's name as Khaleesi, the Dothraki word for the wife of a khal roughly equivalent to queen (meaning that suggesting that her name is Khaleesi would be like suggesting Queen Elizabeth's name is "Your Majesty"), as that is how she is most often addressed by others. It was such a pronounced effect that [[TheRedStapler there was a wave of babies named]] Khaleesi, not Daenerys. She was also frequently referred to as "Daenerys Stormborn", which viewers may interpret as her middle name, but is actually just a nickname as she was born during a storm.

* The Denali clan from ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' are so named because they live in Denali, Alaska. Many fans missed this and believe Denali to be their surname, a misconception that actually made its way into the film adaptations. Most vampires in the series, apart from the Cullens, have OnlyOneName and covens are named for their place of residence, but fans sometimes use the coven names as placeholders for surnames. This sometimes works--for instance, the Volturi are so named because they live in Volterra, but they do seem to treat Volturi as a family name of sorts--but other times, such as referring to Stefan of the Romanian coven as Stefan Romanian, not so much.

** For the first few seasons, it was common for people to misinterpret Daenerys's name as Khaleesi, the Dothraki word for the wife of a khal roughly equivalent to queen, as that is how she is most often addressed by others. It was such a pronounced effect that [[TheRedStapler there was a wave of babies named]] Khaleesi, not Daenerys. She was also frequently referred to as "Daenerys Stormborn", which viewers may interpret as her middle name, but is actually just a nickname as she was born during a storm.

** The black-and-orange rival robot introduced in ''VideoGame/MegaMan7'' is named Bass. In this context, the character's name is pronounced "base", which refers to the lowest ranges in music and aligns with the series' music-based ThemeNaming convention for the main robot characters. ''Mega Man 7'' did not have voice acting to clarify this, so people not familiar with this naming convention would default to the literal pronunciation "bass", as in the fish. The [[VideoGame/MegaMan8 next numbered entry in the series]], which DID have voice acting, leads with a cutscene of Mega Man loudly addressing Bass by the latter pronunciation, which only confused people more and further fanned the flames of fan frustration.

** Durkon's name is sometimes confused with Dorukan's.

* Thanks to WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's review of ''Film/ThePurge'', some people believe the purger Rhys Wakefield plays is named Henry. [[NoNameGiven This character's name is never given]], as he's simply credited as "Polite Purge Leader"; Henry is actually the name of Zoey's boyfriend.

** The queen who grows roses, plays croquet, has a court of cards, and shouts "Off with their heads!" isn't the Red Queen. She's the Queen of Hearts. The Red Queen is an entirely different character in the sequel, ''Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There''.

* In ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', Jessica's full name isn't "Jessica Atreides"--it's just "Lady Jessica". She and Duke Leto Atreides aren't married: she's just his concubine.

* ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'': Anyone who refers to the original series' version of Uncle Fester as "Fester Addams" is mistaken. He's Morticia's uncle, and therefore not an Addams. However, most later installments of the franchise [[RelatedDifferentlyInTheAdaptation retcon him into Gomez's brother]], making him Fester Addams after all.

** Paige is sometimes assumed to be a Halliwell sister, even though as a half-sister her last name is actually Matthews. In-universe, other characters do say the Halliwells when referring to all the sisters.

* Many people call Dave Coulier's character from ''Series/FullHouse'' "Uncle Joey." In fact, he is just called "Joey" by everyone and he is not anyone's uncle. The confusion likely comes from the fact that, as Danny's best friend, he's an HonoraryUncle; meanwhile, one of the other main characters, Jesse, actually ''is'' an uncle and called "Uncle Jesse" by his nieces. Some people misremembered who was addressed as such.

** In the early seasons, there was confusion about what Cersei's name was–[[https://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/season-01/7-you-win-or-you-die/synopsis HBO]] referred to her as Cersei Baratheon (as the consort of Robert Baratheon), while later seasons cemented that she was Cersei Lannister (her birth name). The implication in the novels is that while women in the Seven Kingdoms usually take their husband's last name, the royal dynasty only passes on its name by birth, not marriage.
** Varys is [[https://mashable.com/article/house-of-the-dragon-otto-hightower-littlefinger often]] [[https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/a-game-of-thrones-glossary-to-get-you-ready-for-house-of-the-dragon/ referred to]] as "Lord Varys", which also happens in-universe. As he explains in one episode, he's not actually a lord, which is a hereditary title that signifies one owns lands and/or a castle. He's often referred to as such as a courtesy for his position on the small council.
** Several fans call Gendry "Gendry Waters" given that "Waters" is the surname for high born bastards in the Crownlands. However, the surnames are for ''acknowledged'' bastards. Gendry's father Robert Baratheon never acknowledged him and, by all accounts, didn't even know that Gendry existed. Gendry certainly didn't know of his parentage until well after Robert's death. So therefore, Gendry didn't have a last name until [[spoiler:he gained Baratheon in the eighth season after being legitimized by Daenerys. (And just to add to the confusion, he states that before he was legitimized his name was Gendry Rivers, the bastard surname of the Riverlands, an area with which he has no association.) ]]

** Similarly, we have Grogu, officially "the Child" before his name was revealed, who was often colloquially referred to as "Baby Yoda" in the media, which is a bit weird because ''Yoda'' was the name of another individual of the same species, not the species itself. This would be like referring to any human infant as a "Baby Luke". Admittedly calling him "Baby Yoda" is partially because Yoda's species name has never been revealed in any ''Star Wars'' media. Nevertheless, even ''since'' the reveal, many people (usually not actual fans) [[InsistentTerminology still call him]] "Baby Yoda" and this nickname tends to confuse new viewers of the show, who think that Grogu really is Yoda when he was a baby, even though the show takes place several years after Yoda's death in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''.

* Literature/TheBible: Some people assume that [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Jesus Christ]] is the Messiah's full name. Christ is actually Jesus's title, not his surname. It originates from the Hebrew word ''Māšīyaḥ'', meaning "messiah", which in turn was translated to the Greek ''Christos'' that "Christ" is derived from.

** Some viewers think that the Loud sisters all have the middle name of "Marie". Actually, [[HeyYou that's just the middle name the parents use on them when they're in trouble]]. Lori, Leni, Luan, LJ (and, by extension, Lynn Sr.), Lucy, Lana, and Lily have their middle names start with "L", while Luna and Lola don't have middle names.

** Some viewers think that the Loud sisters all have the middle name of "Marie". Actually, [[HeyYou that's just the middle name the parents use on them when they're in trouble]]; only two are confirmed to ''actually'' have the middle name "Marie", while five others are confirmed to ''not'', as they have the middle initial L.

** Bulma is misunderstood to have the full name "Bulma Brief(s)", due to her father Dr. Brief. Brief is actually her father's first name.

** Fantine's daughter and Jean Valjean's adopted daughter is called "Cosette," not "Cossette" or "Colette" (although Thénardier [[AccidentalMisnaming accidentally]] calls her the latter in most productions of [[Theatre/LesMiserables the musical]].

** Marius's name is usually mispronounced by English speakers either as "MAH-ree-us" or as the British-sounding "MERRY-us." Most productions of [[Theatre/LesMiserables the musical]] pronounce it the latter way, due to the OriginalCastPrecedent of the 1985 London cast. Its authentic French pronunciation (which admittedly sounds strange in English, especially without a French "r") is "Mahr-YOOS."

* ''Literature/WutheringHeights'': Many people wrongly assume that "Heathcliff" is spelled "Heathcliffe," presumably because "-cliffe" is sometimes a real-world surname suffix (e.g. in "Radcliffe"). Even Creator/EmilyBronte's own sister Creator/CharlotteBronte once made this mistake in a letter. Some people also misremember his beloved Catherine Earnshaw's nickname as "Kathy" or "Cathie" instead of "Cathy."

* Some people think the title character of ''Literature/TheTrumpetOfTheSwan'' is named "Louie," particularly because the animated film version's credits spell his name that way. His name is actually "Louis," pronounced in the French way that leaves the "s" silent," as a ShoutOut to Creator/LouisArmstrong." (Although Armstrong actually pronounced his first name in the American style, as a homophone of "Lewis".)

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Some fans think that Harry is short for Hadrian, Percy is short for Percival, and Ginny is short for Virginia. Actually, Harry and Percy aren't nicknames, while Ginny is short for Ginevra.

* ''Film/Ghostbusters1984'': Some viewers think Egon's last name is "Spangler", despite it being written on his nametag and his locker. It's "Spengler".

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': Some people think that the magic carpet's name is Carpet. While Aladdin does address it as "carpet" a couple of times, that's more the equivalent of saying, "Hello, cat" to your cat; the carpet itself isn't ''offically'' named Carpet.

* [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Susie Derkins]]' name is commonly misspelled as "Suzie" with a Z.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Susie Derkins' name is commonly misspelled as "Suzie" with a Z.