Follow TV Tropes

Following

Sdrawkcab Alias

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/backwards.png
"I told them your name was Ass-ass."
"Hello, my name is Mr. Snrub, and I come from, er... someplace far away!"
Mr. Burns, The Simpsons

When someone has to think of a pseudonym for themselves, an oddly popular choice is their own name but written backwards. You'd expect them to be more imaginative, and smart enough to realize that such a pseudonym can easily give away your true identity. Sure enough, most of the time someone notices, often by exclaiming "[Saila Sdrawckab] spelled backwards is [Backwards Alias]!"

A name is only a Sdrawkcab Alias if the alias and the original name belong to the same person In-Universe. The Super-Trope is Sdrawkcab Name, which covers backwards names in general.

When Dracula does this, see Alucard. For other ways to make a quick alias, try Character Name Alias, Line-of-Sight Alias, or Sue Donym.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • 8 Man (1963)'s secret identity is named Tobor.
  • In Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense., Risa Shiramine reverses the order of her given to come up with her name of her New World Online character, Sally.
  • This is what clues Goku in to Uub being the reincarnation of the evil Buu in the final episodes of Dragon Ball Z. Considering Uub had no idea he was Buu's reincarnation, this makes it an awfully convenient name.
  • The Grand Finale of the original Lupin III manga series featured the Musical Assassin Ataginez. Of course, it's Inspector Zenigata in disguise.
  • In Naruto Obito disguises himself as "Tobi", which is just his name with the Kanji reversed.
  • In Princess Nine, Nene disguises Kanako by reversing the syllables in her name — Konaka Tami.
  • Sailor Moon
    • It was from the first Sera Myu summer special. The young man known as Saito Kun reveals himself to actually be Kunzite.
    • In the manga short story Ami-chan's First Love (and in the anime special based on it) Ami's mysterious rival known as "Mercurius" turns out to be a local geek named Kurume Suuri, and he even explains how he came up with this pseudonym.note 
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!: In the English dub of the KC Grand Prix arc, Yugi's grandpa disguises himself as a duelist named Apdnarg Otum to enter a tournament (and it's a Paper-Thin Disguise to boot). (The original version averts this - his alias there is "Mask the Rock".) In the German dub, his alias was Retavßorg Otum for the same reason.

    Comic Books 
  • It once took the Justice Society of America an entire issue of All-Star Comics to realize that evil Professor Elba and kindly Professor Able were one and the same. Not exactly their finest moment.
  • An early Batman comic had a criminal masquerading as record shop owner "Old man Rekoj". He has also gone by Dr. J. Reko, DDS.
  • Disney Ducks Comic Universe: A Carl Barks story featured female creatures called "larkies". When disguised as males, they called themselves "eikrals". Each larkie's eikral counterpart has a name that's the larkie's name spelled backwards. For example, the larkie named Agnes became an eikral named Senga.
  • Mickey Mouse Comic Universe: In one Mickey Mouse story, Mickey and Goofy must find a hillbilly nicknamed "Turkey Neck". In their search, they find a "Ken Yekrut". Mickey sees through the deception immediately but pretends to be fooled so he can get more information.
  • One story of the Turma da Mônica (Monica's Gang) comics had Monica, Cebolinha/Jimmy Five, and Cascão/Smudge meeting a knight named Rengaw (actually a RPG-obsessed man living in his very own fantasy world) and getting captured by a dragon. At one point, Cebolinha lampshades this by saying that Rengaw's name is just "Wagner" backwards, implying that this might be Rengaw's real name.
  • In the Fleetway Sonic the Comic continuity, Dr. Robotnik used to be a friend of Sonic's, a kindly scientist called Dr. Ovi Kintobor. In one of the novels, Sonic goes back in time before the transformation occurs, nearly blurting out Robotnik's name at one point before realising that, while Kintobor is a little ditzy at times, he's not stupid.
  • He was also called Kintobor in Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics). Julian Kintobor, at that. "Julian Kintobor of the House of Ivo", fully. (In SatAM, he was called "Julian", but no last name was given.) However, it gets confusing considering that there are separate Kintobor and Robotnik families! The Official Encyclopedia clears the matter: When Julian came to power, he took his father's name (Ivo) and mother's surname (Robotnik).
  • In Tex Willer, Tex's sworn enemy Mefisto disguises himself as a doctor, calling himself Dr. Anatas, Anatas being Satana (Italian for Satan) backwards.
  • In Urbanus, the character Ed Luived is actually Satan in disguise. ("De Duivel" is Dutch for "The Devil".)

    Comic Strips 
  • Dick Tracy.:
    • Chester Gould made this a constant. The first was when Pat Patton brought a clue in a kidnapping and had to spell it out.
      Patton: Gee whiz, don't you see? The name Yobgib spelled backward is BIG BOY!
    • Afterward, the backwards name was used, usually for crooks like Yenom, Rennis and more.
  • In FoxTrot, Eileen uses the on-line handle 'Sgt. Neelie'.
  • In Terry and the Pirates, the Dragon Lady sometimes used the alias Miss Nogard.

    Fan Works 

    Film — Live-Action 
  • In Beaumarchais, the protagonist is sent to England as a secret agent. There, he uses the fake name Norac, which is his birth name (Caron) written backwards.
  • Dick Van Dyke is credited as "Navckid Keyd" in Mary Poppins (as Mr. Dawes Sr.; he's credited normally as Bert) and Mary Poppins Returns (as Mr. Dawes Jr.). It's not exactly a perfect backwards alias, though. Both times, the letters rearrange themselves into his real name.
  • In S1m0ne, Viktor checks Simone into the hotel under the pseudonym "Ms Enomis".
  • In Tootsie, Dustin Hoffman's character, Michael Dorsey, uses the name "Dorothy Michaels" when he becomes an actress.
  • Young Sherlock Holmes. Villain Eh Tar uses the alias of Professor Rathe for his cover job at Brompton Academy. Watson even spells this out towards the end of the film as a "very important clue."

    Legends 

    Literature 

By Author:

By Work:

  • In Brian Jacques' less well-known work, Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, the two main characters get called Denmark and Nebuchadnezzar. This in turn gets shortened to Den and Neb. These then get reversed upon the two's escape to Ben and Ned, the crafty little devils.
  • The Cat Who... Series: In book #1 (The Cat Who Could Read Backwards), Scrano is O. Narx.
  • The Culture: In Consider Phlebas, Bora Horza Gobuchul at one point identifies himself as Orab.
    • The Hydrogen Sonata: Same universe, different alias: note  Neressi/Isseren. Cue collective lampshading sigh when it's found out.
  • In Deryni Checkmate, Duke Alaric Morgan's bard Gwydion ap Plenneth informs him about public opinion in his ducal capital Coroth, including popular songs against Morgan. One of these is about an evil oppressor and entitled "The Ballad of Duke Cirala". In his report, Gwydion lampshades the trope: "...I might also mention that the name Cirala is quite familiar if one only spells it backward: C-I-R-A-L-A-A-L-A-R-I-C."
  • Discworld
    • Early in Thief of Time, a very punctual milkman by the name of Ronnie Soak is introduced as a minor character. However, once the plot truly gets underway, his true nature is revealed: he is Kaos, the fifth Horseman of the Apocralypse (not a typo), who left before the other four became famous. Pratchett himself had not planned it that way, at least consciously. The story goes he'd planned for him to be the fifth horseman, but hadn't figured out what he would be until he looked at the name in the mirror.
    • Hogfather:
      It's a sad and terrible thing that high-born folk really have thought that the servants would be totally fooled if spirits were put into decanters that were cunningly labelled backwards. And also throughout history, the more politically conscious butler has taken it on trust, and with rather more justification, that his employers will not notice if the yksihw is topped up with eniru.
    • Carpe Jugulum: The narration describes vampires' apparent inability to compensate for their well-known weaknesses, and at one point says "Do they really think spelling their name backwards is going to fool anyone?"
    • In Thud!, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch's new vampire recruit Salacia sends a "clacks" (a sort of clock-punk version of a telegram) using the alias "Aicalas". The normally practical and intelligent vampire Salacia von Humpeding suffers from the curse of her kind: the deep and abiding conviction that no one will recognise your name if you spell it backwards. Of course, Vimes instantly sees through that, mentioning it as one of the vampires' lesser-known failings.
  • The Dresden Files: In Dead Beat, Harry gives himself minor self-deprecation for not figuring out that Sheila (shee-la) was Lasciel (la-sheel).
  • In Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Ezylryb (ryb being a title) turns out to be Lyze of Kiel. And Nyroc rejects his name, and the new name he eventually comes out up with is Coryn.
  • A person of interest in one Hardy Boys case went by the name Zemog. The Hardys spent most of the book trying to track him with little success before realizing that it was Gomez backwards, and they found the guy under that name.
  • A variant in Holes: Stanley Yelnats (who has an actual Sdrawkcab Name himself) is sent to a juvenile detention camp where everyone uses a nickname. He assumes the lead boy, X-Ray, was named because of his glasses; it turns out it's actually his real name, Rex, in Pig Latin.
  • In the Estonian children's book Timbu-Limbu õukond ja lumemöldrid, the heroes are joined by a mechanical toy man named "Trebla" who does everything backwards. At the end of the book, he is successfully fixed and reveals that he's actually named Albert.
  • Incarnations of Immortality: In Being a Green Mother, the heroine Orb shares a romantic attachment with a man named Natasha, whose true identity is revealed when he proposes marriage to her: "Ah, Satan".
  • In The Hammer (2022), Tiny believes "Baron Narsa von Rendsley" is suspicious because his face is disguised with magic. He then slaps Narsa for what he thinks is perverted leering. Later on, Narsa pronounces his name backwards to Tiny before dropping his disguise, revealing that "Narsa" is in fact Crown Prince Aslannote . Tiny is soon sweating bullets over the fact that he assaulted Chloe's fiance AND someone who's well in his rights to kill him.
  • In Talbot Mundy's Jimgrim, Femme Fatale secret agent "Princess Baltis" signs into a hotel as "Ranee Sitlab". Somewhat justified in that she wasn't actually trying to avoid notice.
  • One Dutch children's book titled Lyc-Drop features a character called Seuz. He turns out to be the Greek deity Zeus.
  • Old Kingdom: In Sabriel, it's mentioned that the Big Bad Kerrigor was born Prince Rogirek, generally known as Rogir. Kerrigor was the nickname Touchstone gave him.
  • In Racso and the Rats of NIMH, a sequel of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Jane Leslie Conly, Racso admits to Timothy Frisby at one stage in the book that his real name is "Oscar", but he much prefers the Sdrawkcab nom de plume he came up with.
  • Redwall: In Martin the Warrior, Ballaw the hare uses the alias "Tibbar" ("Rabbit" backward) when speaking to the corsairs.
  • Septimus Heap: Wizards dealing with the Darke hide themselves by spelling their name backwards. Played With in Septimus's case, as he takes only the last letters S-u-m on Marcellus Pye's advice.
  • The Silmarillion: Beren and Finrod Felagund, while masquerading as Orcs in some of the earliest versions of J. R. R. Tolkien's Beren and Lúthien. Felagund gives his own name as Dungalef and Beren's as Nereb when they're captured by Sauron. That seems to work until Sauron reveals he is not buying their act in the slightest.
  • In A Song of Ice and Fire, a lot of evidence points to Alleras, a novice at the Citadel, being Sarella Sand in disguise as a man.
  • The Squire's Tales: The Arthurian legend's use of a backwards name is Lampshaded in The Ballad of Sir Dinadan: "Tramtris. That was the best he could come up with. Didn't you realize it was Tristram?" Spoofed further when Dinadan talks to a holy hermit who wants to write an allegorical adventure story, the villain of which is "Stultus", being Latin for fool. Then the two dismiss that as too obvious and call him "Sutluts" instead. So much better. When "Tramtris" comes in and begs Dinadan not to reveal his name, Dinadan says "Don't worry. If anyone asks, I'll say you're Sir Sutluts."
  • Star Wars Legends: In the X-Wing Series, child actor-turned-pilot Garik "Face" Loran, left on their stolen ship while infiltrating the bad guys, is forced to come up with a disguise and a name to keep a planetary governor from getting suspicious. He comes up with Lieutenant Narol. In later instances of the same basic mission he uses a better disguise with the same name, and we never see him called on it. This might have something to do with the fact that in the Galaxy Far Far Away, Narol is a perfectly normal-seeming name. It also helps that he had previously faked his death.
  • Robert A. Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky includes a warning to the main character's class to watch out for stobor, the most dangerous creature they will encounter on their field exam. The students don't realize that "stobor" is "robots" spelled backwards; Stobor are humans; their competing classmates.
  • Taken to extremes and lampshaded in Young Wizards, where a dog turns out to be a god.

    Live-Action TV 
  • The "H. Maddas" files in Arrested Development turn out to be this (and a Chekhov's Gun).
  • In Babylon Berlin, Svetlana Sorokina performs as a Drag King as the singer Nikoros. Late in the series, Gereon realizes after seeing her poster in the mirror.
  • In The Big Bang Theory, when the group is working on making a new app, Sheldon suggests the codename of the project to be "Project Nodlehs".
    Leonard: That's just "Sheldon" backwards.
    Sheldon: Another happy coincidence!
  • When a character named Nilrem appeared in Brazilian show Caça Talentos, the fairies were worried because that name was Merlin spelled backwards.
  • CSI: Miami: In "Dispo Day", the mastermind behind the drug heist uses the alias 'Nedir Kire', which is his original name 'Erik Riden' spelled backwards (although he is now going by the name of 'Enirique Rameriz').
  • A variation on CSI: NY: Stella's psycho ex-boyfriend named a sculpture he made for her "Aresanob," which was her last name, Bonasera, spelled backward. He uploaded a sex tape he'd secretly made of the two of them to Aresanob.com shortly thereafter.
  • In Dark Oracle, Cally's pet frog, Nemo, turns out to be the Season 1 Big Bad, Omen. Justified in that he was named by someone else, as a joke. Nemo translated to "nothing".
  • In the Danish Julekalender Jesus og Josefine the villain introduces himself as Natas at one point.
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: In one episode, bodies of murder victims are being dumped on Det. Olivia Benson's doorstep. Further investigation leads to a phony company called "Aivilo". Only when they look through a frosted glass door at the company name do they realize it's backwards for Olivia and that it's personal.
  • An episode of Scrubs had the Janitor use the name "Rotinaj".
    J.D.: Rotinaj is just "Janitor" spelled backwards, Rotinaj.
    Janitor: (to Indian doctor) Mornin', Dr. Rotinaj.
    Doctor: Good morning, Mr. cleanup man!
  • In the Supernatural episode "What Is And What Should Never Be" (S02, Ep20), the Winchester home in the Wishverse has the number 1841 beside the door. This is reversed from the house number 1481 seen in "Home" (S01, Ep09), indicating something is amiss.
  • In the first episode of Who Wants to Be a Superhero? Stan Lee plants a spy amongst the contestants to learn if their motives for being on the show is pure. The traitor's name? ROTIART.

    Music 
  • British Punk Rock group The Boys also released material under the name The Yobs, mainly Christmas novelties. "Yob" is a British term for a hooligan, and its etymology is in fact "boy" spelled backwards.
  • The Bloodhound Gang's One Fierce Beer Coaster ends with a short sketch consisting of someone doing a Homer Simpson impression and explaining the joke of the album title - to avoid potential copyright issues, it was titled "Reflections Of Remoh".
  • Dream Theater's first album featured a song called The Ytse Jam, which was their original band name, Majesty, spelled backwards.
  • Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun wrote several songs credited to A. Nugetre.
  • After The Gits' vocalist Mia Zapata's murder, Joan Jett joined the remaining members of the band for a benefit concert and an album under the name Evil Stig. Evil Stig is of course "Gits Live" backwards.
  • The Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak. Her real first name is Karolina.
  • For contractual reasons, the Melvins album Prick was credited to Snivlem - like the NWA example, the band name appeared in mirrored writing on the cover.
  • N.W.A's Niggaz4Life was written mirrored on the album, and sometimes referred to as Efil4zaggin. This is more due to censorship though.
  • Pioneering electronic composer Dick Raaijmakers worked for the Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium (NatLab for short) early in his career, earning himself the nickname "NatLab Dik". When he published his first recordings, he decided to use a stage name rather than releasing them under his real name. So the Ur-Example of Synth-Pop, "Song of the Second Moon", was attributed to "Kid Baltan".
  • The Red Hot Chili Peppers' song titled "Emit Remmus" has a stealth Title Drop in chorus: "London in the summertime".
  • After vocalist Lynn Strait's death, Snot eventually reformed as Tons.
  • Stevie Wonder released an instrumental album credited to Eivets Rednow.

    Professional Wrestling 
  • Kevin Sullivan's big heel turn in Florida in the 1980s was in part centered around a check that had been signed by a "Nivek Navillus," making it quite possibly the most serious Don't Explain the Joke moment in wrestling history.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Discworld Roleplaying Game: As noted above, it's an established joke in the Discworld novels that this is a common foible among Discworld vampires (a joke about the Alucard trope), but the licensed game formalizes the idea in the form of the quirk-level "Delusion (Spelling My Name Backwards Disguises It Perfectly)".

    Theatre 
  • In Mary Mary, when Mary first meets the well-known actor Dirk Winsten, she remembers the fact that his real name is Winsten Krid, Dirk spelled backwards.

    Video Games 
  • Tantris of Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland does this half-heartedly to hide the fact that he's the son of the game's main antagonist, Meredith Alcock. His real name is Tristan, and his alias only swaps the syllables of his name.
  • Sarevok/Koveras in Baldur's Gate. The part of the trope description where one would expect him to be more imaginative is lampshaded when one of his underlings mistakenly thinks that you're working for him too and tells you all the details of the Evil Plan. Regarding the pseudonym, he says something like "Not very original, I'll admit, but then it's not like any of us are gonna be stupid enough to tell him that!"
    • The in-game explanation is that, as a warrior-type, Sarevok is highly intelligent but basically straightforward at heart. He's perfectly capable of behind-the-scenes manipulation but prefers to hack his problems to pieces, so when he has to be sneaky, he uses shortcuts like this one.
    • During Jaheira's personal quest in the second game, a guy named Terminsel shows up to give her a magical item. Jaheira comments that he must be fond of anagrams. note 
  • Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden has a plot arc centered around Yelmirb, who is actually Wilford Brimley, who can cure diabetes by absorbing it into himself.
  • Hector from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is aided by a priest by the name of Zead. It was easier to tell in the original Japanese, but his name is a phonetic reversal of Death.
  • During the "License to Drill" Event in Diner Dash Adventures, Flo needs to infiltrate into BigCorp. When Mr. Big asks who she is, Flo introduces herself as "Olf".
  • The final boss in the NES version of Double Dragon III is an evil sorceress named Queen Noiram, who is revealed to be Marion (whose name is usually spelled "Marian" in other games) possessed by an evil spirit. In the original arcade and Famicom versions, she was actually Cleopatra.
  • Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn features Danved as a playable character, who has a striking resemblance to Devdan in Path of Radiance. Instead of a full reversal, they swapped the syllables and reversed one of them. Furthermore, in the Japanese release, Danved was known as Nadved — a full reversal. Said Japanese name was also used in Path of Radiance's Danved/Largo supports.
  • In Freedom Planet 2, Milla Basset decides to enter the Battlesphere tournament under the alter-ego of "Allim", which is her own first name backwards.
  • Kingdom Hearts: Organization XIII operates under names that are Significant Anagrams with a letter X added in. In Axel's case, it turned out to be a reversal of his original name (Lea) with an X added.
  • One puzzle in King's Quest I: Quest For The Crown, Rumpelstiltskin gives you a riddle on how his name is spelled. The clue received is to think backwards. You think it's spelled "Nikstlitselpmur", but you have to reverse the alphabet (A becomes Z and so on) which spells the quite unpronounceable "Ifnkovhgroghprm". This was resolved in the remake by making both solutions acceptable.
  • Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga used this trope to hide the word "fatso".
    Skeleton: Old Bloat is even more of an "ostaf" than before!... Whuzzat? You dunno what an "ostaf" is??? Sheesh! It's simple! Try spellin' it backwards!
  • Colonel Redips/Spider, the Big Bad, in Mega Man X: Command Mission. The instruction booklet of the game intentionally misspells the former name (Rideps) so that keen players wouldn't see the connection, at first. Played with, as there was a real Reploid named Spider, whom Redips killed and impersonated.
  • Rastan Saga II was released outside Japan under the Market Based Titles Nastar and Nastar Warrior ("st" is a diagraph).
  • Starcraft II introduces a certain scientist involved with Protoss/Zerg hybrid experimentations Professor Emil Narud. For those familiar with the Brood War campaign from the first game, remember Samir Duran? Unsurprisingly, he's the same shapeshifting mole who's been working for Amon. And weirdly enough, his name in his true form is listed as Narud, which would imply that was his real name all along.
  • In Tales of Vesperia the character Yeager maintains the double identity of Regeay. The "two" characters are near total opposites in personality and demeanor.
  • World of Warcraft:
    • In one questline in post-Cataclysm Felwood, you help a demon hunter get rid of demons hiding among the druids of the Emerald Circle. When the time comes to slay their leader, Arch Druid Navarax, he's revealed to be a satyr named Xaravan.
    • In Warlords of Draenor, you first meet the arakkoa Iskar in Talador where he's disguised as a draenei woman named Raksi.
  • In Vampire Ltd. Nero decides to sneak into Hadrian's corporate headquarters on the pretext of a job interview. While talking to the receptionist on the phone he claims his name is "Oren".

    Visual Novels 
  • Umineko: When They Cry: The sixth arc provides Kanon's real name, Yoshiya. This is, in fact, a modified Japanese reversal of Shannon's real name, Sayo. Shi and ya need to be slurred together into one sound, as the Japanese kana does to write the letter "Sha," and you wind up with "Shayo," which is only slightly different from "Sayo." This was one of the many big hints given in that arc that Shannon and Kanon are alter egos of Sayo Yasuda.

    Web Animation 
  • My Story Animated has an episode called "No one has seen my real face" featuring a supermodel named Iris. One day, she puts disguise to live a normal life. She chooses to call herself Siri, unintentionally giving herself the same name as iPhone's virtual assistant.

    Webcomics 
  • Sluggy Freelance: In "Displacement", when Torg is pretending to be an Evil Minion, he panics when someone asks his name and gives it as "Grot". And Sasha's name as "Ass-ass".

    Web Video 

    Western Animation 
  • The Almighty Janitor Mr. Suez in Class of the Titans is the god Zeus.
  • In The Emperor's New School, Yzma's alias while masquerading as the principal of Kuzco Academy is Amzy. Of course, no-one falls for her Paper-Thin Disguise except for Kronk, the only one who's supposed to know. Though this is subverted in the finale when Kronk admits he figured out "about three episodes back" and proceeds to point out everything that made it obvious while admitting he'd been pretending to remain ignorant since the realization.
  • Greek god Ares goes by the alias "Mr. Sera" in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Hawk and Dove".
  • In the Kim Possible TV movie/multi-part episode "A Sitch in Time", Shego uses the pseudonym "Mrs. Ogehs" in her scheme to break up Team Possible.
  • The New Adventures of Superman: In "Luthor Strikes Again", Luthor sets up his base in the Rohtul Paint factory. Probably justified as this is part of a deliberate trap for Superman.
  • Ninjago: Dragons Rising: When in need of an alias to sneak into Imperium, Lloyd Garmadon decides on the almost backwards, Doyll Donmagar.
  • Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: In "The Secret of the Ghost Rig", Rung Ladderton uses the alias 'G. Nur Notreddal' to hide some of the purchases he made to create his identity as the Ghost Trucker.
  • In Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue!, the Big Bad's Mad Scientist assistant, Dr. Trebla, turns out to be Shaggy's missing Uncle Albert in disguise.
  • The Simpsons:
    • In "Marge vs. the Monorail", Mr. Burns attempts to get his money back by disguising himself with a fake mustache at the town meeting and calling himself "Mr. Snrub" (accompanied by an undisguised Smithers, by the way). The average citizen of Springfield is consistently depicted as not too bright, so it says something about how bad the disguise is that no one at the town meeting is fooled. Naturally, the fans like to theorize on this enigmatic Mr. Snrub and what relation he could be to the completely different Mr. Burns.
    • In one of the Treehouse of Horror stories, a company named Remoh Industries turns out to be headed by Homer Simpson, who doesn't notice 'Remoh' is 'Homer' spelled backwards until someone points it out.
  • In an episode of the Super Friends, Superman deduces that a man is a robot in disguise by noticing that his name is "Tobor." He could have just used his X-ray vision, but where's the fun in that?
  • During his initial appearance in Totally Spies!, Tim Scam masquerades as Mac Smit. Alex figures it out when she sees his name tag in the mirror, although the letters are not mirror-image reversed.

    Real Life 
  • The transport company "Elddis" is a reverse of its original name, "Siddle".
  • Oprah's production company is called Harpo, Inc. Fun fact: In The Color Purple (1985), Oprah Winfrey played Sofia, whose husband was named Harpo.
  • People do fall for this in real life. Walt Disney bought up land in Florida with a dummy company called Retlaw Enterprises. "Retlaw" = "Walter".
  • Magician P. T. Selbit was actually named P. T. Tibbles.
  • The classic book on card manipulation The Expert at the Card Table was written by an unknown person under the pseudonym "S. W. Erdnase". One of the suspected authors was a con artist named "E. S. Andrews". Several other possible authors have that same surname.
  • Theodor Geisel, best known as Dr. Seuss, also wrote under the name "Theo LeSieg".
  • One of the major franchises in Michigan for fast-food chain Arby's is called Sybra, Inc.
  • The company created in order to oversee the licencing of Beatles merchandise in the USA was called Seltaeb.
  • Whether a matter of Urban Legend or actual fact, pyramid schemes and other scammers in Russia will supposedly often use some variant of "we're going to fuck you over" spelled backwards as the company name: "Табеан", "Лабеан", "Акволабеан".
  • Horace Miner's famous Sociology/Anthropology study "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" which is meant as a caution of treating other cultures as savage.

Alternative Title(s): Backwards Alias

Top