A Household Name is the term for a common work known in even the smallest of Small Reference Pools.
It may seem that a list of these would be the sort of thing that TV Tropes should have, but the truth is that it's not. What one person may perceive as the most common subject of conversation in the world may be seen as rampant Fan Myopia to anybody who hasn't heard of it (and yes, there's somebody who hasn't heard of it for everything). This list already exists for each individual that visits this site: it's your household. Ask for names, and type them into that Google form above this post. Use your browser's bookmark capability and mark down the ones you come back to the most.
Additionally, for some more narrow tropes we do already feature lists and indexes of this sort:
- The Oldest Ones in the Book, an index of the most universal and recurrent tropes.
- So Cool, It's Awesome, a catch-all page for just listing shows you like, which would be the inevitable fate of any such page to aspire to listing "the most well-known" anything.
Incidentally, the term "Household Names" comes from William Shakespearenote , making this trope Older Than Steam.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Dragon Ball is a good contender for most famous anime of all time. If you asked someone with zero familiarity with the medium to name you one anime, chances are it'd be this.
Arts
- The Last Supper: TV Tropes may be able to find more story in Pinball than in Art, but even we know what The Last Supper is. Besides The Mona Lisa (also painted by Leonardo da Vinci) and the Sistine Chapel's ceiling fresco (by Leonardo's rival Michelangelo Buonarroti), it may just be the most famous painting of all time.
Comics
- DC Comics' Batman and Superman. Even if you've never picked up a comic book or watched a movie in your entire life, you still know these characters and what they look like.
Live-Action Film
- Star Wars. Everyone knows the famous opening theme, and at least the most superficial details about characters like Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Yoda.
- Even people who don't know what a video game is have likely heard of Mario at least once before. There's even a legitimate debate to be had over whether Mario or Mickey Mouse is more iconic.
- Pokémon is one of the most well-known works of fiction (let alone video games) globally. It helps that it is the highest grossing franchise in the world, and due to its sheer amount of merchandise, you're almost certain to see at least some product or another bearing the Pokémon brand at supermarkets, toy stores and gift shops.
- Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies are easily the most well-known cartoon series.
