The Von Trope Family

Dr. Frank-N-Furter: Go on, Dr. Scott... or should I say, Dr. von Scott?!^note SIEG HEIL!
Brad: Just what exactly are you implying?^note THAT HE'S A NAZI, ASSHOLE!

— The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Want to give an ambiguous character that extra bit of onomastic intrigue? Tack a "Von" on to their last name.

Technically, von is merely a German preposition which approximately means of or from which appears mostly in names of families that belong (or once belonged) to the nobility. To set themselves off from commoners with "von" in their names, German-speaking noble persons sometimes prefer the abbreviation "v.". The nobility was abolished as a privileged estate in 1918, since then "von" and titles of nobility like "Graf" (count) or "Ritter" (knight) are treated as mere parts of the name. Note that in German, von is not capitalized unless it's the first word of a sentence; a permanently capitalized "Von" is mostly English usage. Before the 20th century, it was quite common to translate "von" as "de" in French texts and German-speaking diplomats would sign that way under treaties (which explains why even today it's not uncommon to see Germanic names preceded by that particular Latin preposition).

Some German-speaking noble families have more elaborate particles before their name such as "von dem" (shortened form: "vom") or "von der" (both mean "of the"), others have "zu" or "zum" (roughly "at", which usually indicates the actual or former place of residence), some have "vom und zum". There are also both noble families which have "SURNAME von OTHER NAME" or "SURNAME zu PLACE NAME" (as usual, there are exceptions, such as names of the pattern "Meyer zu PLACE NAME" and e. g. the poet August Hoffmann von Fallersleben, who added "von Fallersleben" after his birthplace to distinguish himself from other writers called Hoffmann). And there are ones that combine "von" with "nobility indicators" from other languages such as with many surnames containing the slavic suffix "-ski" or "-sky" or Franco-German combinations as the noble Huguenot family von Arnauld de la Perière.

At its most basic level, "von" merely exists as a marker of Germanic origin, high origin or both. However, character namers have seen fit to use the syllable to make two main branches of the Von Trope Family tree.

1. Darker Von Trope: Often the Von implies sternness, skill at intrigue, power, autocracy, villainy, sadism or any of the other tropes that Those Wacky Nazi Noblemen tend to inspire — ironically, as the old nobility largely despised the Nazis as parvenus. Less dark variations may include the particularly Gothic or the militaristic badass, especially those that are a riff on Otto von Bismarck (a classic Magnificent Bastard) or Baron Manfred von Richthofen, The Red Baron. Sometimes the characters with the name do not have a Germanic origin at all.
2. Lighter Von Trope: It is also used as more of a Stock Foreign Name for a Germanic Funny Foreigner (especially Herr Doktor), or for goofy characters for whom the aristocratic bearing of the name seems incongruous.

Naturally, there may be crossover between these two subsets.

When the character just happens to have that as part of their family name, with no particular cultural significance meant to be attached (though in countries with a long history of democracy, the elitist overtones of the prefix often cause it to be dropped), it's not this trope or any other one.

The Dutch equivalent, "van", may be used to imply the same categories, though "van" is a lot more, well, common (in both senses: "frequent" and "having ancestors who were commoners rather than nobility"). In America, a Dutch Preppy Name is often a better shorthand to signify old money and "WASPiness" than an actual Anglo-Saxon one would be.

A common misconception is that "von" should be pronounced with a voiced labiodental fricative, the usual sound of V in English. But the V is in most cases pronounced as a voiceless labiodental fricative in German, which is usually spelt F in English, so it is actually pronounced "fon".

The trope name is a pun on the von Trapp family, of The Sound of Music fame.

Can overlap with "Darkness von Gothick" Name.

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Darker Von Trope Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Rudol Von Stroheim in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, a proud Nazi soldier who's very convinced that anything German is THE BEST IN THE WORLD. But nonetheless, he's also a heroic patriot who'll give his life for his country and recognizes the Pillar Men as a threat to the world, thus has no problems with teaming up with people from the Allied nations for that.
• About half of the cast from the Galactic Empire side of Legend of the Galactic Heroes feature this in their names. (for example: Reinhard von Lohengramm, Annerose von Grunewald, Hildegard von Mariendorf, etc.)
• Tanya Degurechaff from The Saga of Tanya the Evil earns the privilege of adding a "von" to her family name after rising to become one of the Twelve Knights of the Military College, signifying her ascension to minor nobility.
• Bermuda Von Vichtenstein from Reborn! (2004). Not exactly evil, but he's still a Vendice afterall.
• Kanae Von Rosewald from Tokyo Ghoul:re. The Sole Survivor of a prominent German clan of Ghouls, he's a servant of the illustrious Tsukiyama family and a Yandere towards his beloved master, Shuu Tsukiyama. For all his Camp mannerisms, he proves to be a dangerous opponent when provoked.
• Isaak Fernand von Kämpfer from Trinity Blood invented the Rosenkreuz Order.
• Henrietta "Annette" von Penrose from 86 EIGHTY-SIX, a brilliant scientist for the Republic of San Magnolia and its Alba supremacist government. Her father, Josef von Penrose, takes the darker Germanic parallel even further, as he was the one responsible for developing the Para-RAID communication device through immense amounts of unethical human experimentation that eventually led him to kill himself. The name is also a clue in-universe that the von Penrose family were originally citizens of the aggressively expansionist Germanic-style Empire of Giad and were actually immigrants to the Republic, not native-born citizens of San Magnolia.

Asian Animation

• In Boonie Bears, Vick's full name in English is Victor von Finkelstein. Considering "von" is used for German noble families, yet Vick, being a Butt-Monkey whose is absolutely pathetic as his simple job of cutting trees, doesn't resemble an aristocrat or anyone else you would expect to have the name at all, it's Played for Laughs or at least used to show he has Germanic origins.

Comic Books

• Hans von Hammer, protagonist of the DC Comics feature Enemy Ace. He's portrayed more as a Worthy Opponent Red Baron kind of person, though.
• The World War I serial "Golden Eyes" and Her Hero "Bill" has the antagonistic officer Hugo Von Schwatzenburg as the only named German in the entire comic.
• Von Bach of DC's Kingdom Come. He's some kind of dictator and only speaks German.
• Mad Scientist Simon von Simon (and his unseen rival Sigmund von Sigmund) in Little Gloomy.
• Marvel Universe
  • Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, the leader of Hydra in the Marvel Universe.
  • Doctor Victor Von Doom. Reed Richards' archenemy. Though he's actually Romani rather than German, and had little chance of being on the Almanac von Gotha.
  • Baron von Blitzschlag, a Nazi scientist who's a kind of villainous New Old Flame - had offscreen run ins with Captain America and other heroes. Currently acting as a scientific adviser to The Initiative, working on such catastrophes as Cyborg Thor and repeatedly cloning a deceased member.
• Baroness Paula Von Gunther, antagonist of Wonder Woman. One of the few comic villains to make the leap to the TV show, in fact.

Film - Animated

• The Incredibles mentions an old villain named Baron Von Ruthless.
• Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo originally had Von Dinkelstein as her lineage name (from the made-for-video movie Scooby Doo: Frankencreepy). It was shortened to Dinkley when the family migrated to America.
• Dr. Amelia von Butch from Scooby-Doo in Where’s My Mummy? is an evil Adventurer Archaeologist who attempts to rob the tomb of Cleopatra.

Film - Live Action

• One of the Corrupt Corporate Executive types seen in an early scene in Aliens is named Van Leuwen.
• Arch of Triumph: Von Haake the Nazi is a big believer in it. He draws the incorrect conclusion that Ravic is a German aristocrat. When Ravic introduces himself with the alias "Horn", von Haake says "von Horn?", and Ravic nods.
• General von Pinck, the German assassin in The Assassination Bureau.
• The von Krolock family, of The Fearless Vampire Killers and Tanz Der Vampire.
• Colonel von Luger in The Great Escape.
• Captain Friedrich von Hecht - and his superior General von Kleber - in Hornets' Nest.
• Hunter Van Pelt, the Evil Poacher of Jumanji. While a real name in Dutch, it's an obvious pun on "Pelt".
• Captain von Schoenvorts in The Land That Time Forgot is militaristic, though honorable.
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show: "Go ahead, Dr. Scott...Or should I say Dr. VON Scott?" The line is indeed used in the stage version to reveal an unaccented Scott's Germanic, likely Nazi history. However, it makes much less sense in the movie where, from the start, he has a Those Wacky Nazis accent.
• The name of Frankenstein is Retconned into von Frankenstein in Universal's third Frankenstein film, Son of Frankenstein.
  • And since Young Frankenstein is an Affectionate Parody of that film in particular, as well as a pastiche of Frankenstein films in general, it adopts the same naming convention. The coffin seen in the page image belongs to Baron Beaufort von Frankenstein, the last legitimate holder of the title as he disowned his son Victor over the whole "perversion of science/irresponsibly playing God" incident, until his will passed it on to grandson Friedrick Frankenstein in the hopes that he could repair the family name.
  • The last of the Frankenstein line in Frankenstein 1970 is Baron Victor von Frankenstein.
  • Averted in the original novel as the Frankensteins are Swiss, and in fact express pride in their country being a republic without nobles.
• Velvet von Ragnar, the Creepy Crossdresser played by Gene Simmons in Never Too Young to Die.
• General von Kobler and Colonel von Gutz from Up the Front are high-ranking German army officials who will stop at nothing to retrieve their master plan from the British.
• The title character played by Frank Sinatra in Von Ryan's Express. He is not a German at all, but an American POW who is apparently too cooperative with the Germans, which earns him the nickname. It turns out to be a subversion, as he was feigning cooperation to prepare for a mass escape.
• Captain von Brauchitsch in Where Eagles Dare. The name is that of an actual family (one of Hitler's field marshals and a prominent race-car driver of the 1930s belonged to it), originally Slavic (Silesian, to be precise).

Literature

• There are many vons among the generals commanding the two Russian armies invading Germany in August, 1914 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, causing the protagonist to wonder whose armies they really are. Ironically, the German army opposing them is led by a Huguenot, with a French name (but also a von): Herman von Francois.
• The von Shrakenbergs from S.M. Stirling's The Draka series.
• Sepp von Theofels from an Erast Fandorin spinoff series.
• In the James Bond books, we have the Nazi war criminals Graf Hugo von der Drache (aka Hugo Drax) from Moonraker, von Richter from Colonel Sun, von Hammerstein from the short story "For Your Eyes Only", Count von Glöda from Icebreaker and the Hitler-wannabe Max von Tarn from SeaFire.
• Baron Friedrich von Schoenvorts in The Land That Time Forgot is a sadistic autocrat.
• Eugen von Frenzel in A Pearl for My Mistress. Given, that the book is set in 1934, it doubles as a Name To Run Away From Really Fast.
• Rachel Griffin: Vladimir Von Dread in The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin, Prince of Bavaria, President of the Knights of Walpurgis dueling club.
• Von Bork, the German spy whom Sherlock Holmes captures in His Last Bow.
• Houses Von Jeggett, Von Kruger, and Von Hastur from The Tale Of The Exile.
• Victoria has the neo-Nazi chieftain Leader von Braun, who might (by the sound of it) be related to the German rocket scientist—though protagonist John Rumford has some doubts about how legitimate his name really is. On the good side, there is Prince Michael of Prussia, referred to by his family name as Prince Michael von Hohenzollern.

Live Action TV

• Major-General Erich von Klinkerhoffen of 'Allo 'Allo! certainly falls on the sterner side of Those Wacky Nazis, while Colonel Kurt von Strohm is more jovial. (Which says something when you can say that about someone who threatens to have people shot.)
• Blackadder Goes Forth: George's idea for finding the German spy at the field hospital is to look for the guy whose name begins with "Von". It hasn't occurred to him that the spy might be using a pseudonym.
• House refers to the man who ratted him out at college for cheating as "Dr. Von Lieberman" although the man's real surname is "Webber", because it "sounds much eviller". (Ironically, translated back into English the name comes out as "Goodman"...)
• Schmigadoon! has an antagonistic German aristocrat named Countess Gabriele Von Blerkom.

Professional Wrestling

• Professional wrestlers Baron Von Raschke and Fritz Von Erich, serve as classic examples of the Foreign Wrestling Heel type. The Von Erich Family eventually lost the Teutonic/Nazi gimmick. Fritz's sons were the top Faces of World Class Championship Wrestling (and Kerry would continue the pure face act in the WWF). Kerry's daughter, Lacey, played a Heel in TNA, though without the Nazi overtones; she's blonde, but otherwise not "Germanic." Instead, she was a member of The Beautiful People, a team of Alpha Bitches who thought they were better looking than everyone else.
• Hans von Doering, an evil German who worked in New Star Wrestling and WWC in his efforts to prove the inferiority of the Caribbean people. He's also shown up in All Japan Pro Wrestling.
• Jim Crockett Promotions Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling brought us Nazi Diane von Hoffman. She would even go on tour in Germany, though like the Von Erichs the Nazi part was phased out later in her career.

Tabletop Games

• Ravenloft is home to Strahd von Zarovich, D&D's most infamous vampire, as well as other examples such as Dr. Rudolph van Richten and Urik von Kharkov.
• Erich and Karl Von Shrakenberg from Tech Infantry, named as a Shout-Out to Stirling's characters.
• Warhammer:
  • Used quite often for characters - especially nobles - from The Empire, which is unsurprising given that The Empire is based heavily on the Holy Roman Empire. Examples include Valmir von Raukov, Elector Count of Ostland, Isabella von Liebewitz, Elector Countess of Wissenland, and the mad engineer Hermann von Meinkopt, who invented the repeater handgun (getting in a bit of the "crazy German inventor" there too).
  • A prominent bloodline of Vampires in Warhammer are the Von Carsteins, modelled on the Dracula archetype and living in an analogue for the Black Forest.
  • Van examples would include the Chaos Sorcerer Egrimm van Horstmann and the infamous Witch Hunter Johann Van Hal (and his equally infamous ancestors). Van is also used in some Marienburger names to give them a more Dutch feel than the rest of the Empire's German, given that Marienburg is a mercantile free city on the Empire's Northwestern coast very reminiscent of the medieval Netherlands.

Theater

• Von Rothbart who is the Big Bad of Swan Lake, is an Evil Sorcerer who is responsible for turning Odette into a swan.
• The inhabitants of the vampire infested castle from Tanz Der Vampire, Count Von Krolock and his son Herbert.

Video Games

• Otto and Elke van Dalsen, TAC names "Rage" and "Scream" of Ace Combat 7's Mimic Squadron are neither Osean nor Erusean. They are bats (according to Húxiān) who are out for your blood, and their planes contain a dark livery.
• Belladonna takes place entirely in the home of Doctor Wolfram von Trauerschloss.
• Professor Ludwig von Tökkentäkker, the Repulsive Ringmaster of CarnEvil.
• Hans von Groebel and his brother Kurt/Walther of Codename Panzers apply as darker Von Tropes, if only because they're in German uniforms and the setting is WWII.
• Professor Von Kriplespac from Conker's Bad Fur Day.
• The Big Bad of Crayon Chronicles is called Stratolustrious Von Danderbreak the 37th.
• Cuphead has the candy-themed boss Baroness Von Bon Bon.
• Victor von Gerdenheim from Darkstalkers.
• The Van Graff family of Fallout: New Vegas are a New Reno-based crime family that are known to frequently butt heads with the New California Republic and make deals with more-than-questionable groups such as Caesar's Legion (although they do later betray them since that nets them a bigger profit).
• Wolfgang Krauser von Stroheim from Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters. He's a heel wrestler who happens to love dark classical music, especially those composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. When mourning his father, he played Mozart on his pipe organ. And when you fight him in the games, Mozart's Requiem will play.
• Chancellor Cole from The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is known as Minister Von Glaiss in German localisations of the game. Should be easy why he belongs here, he kills Princess Zelda and revives the demon king Malladus using her body.
• Baron von Doomkill from MARDEK combines Doomy Dooms of Doom with Large Ham in the best way possible. Though, at one time in the past he was a serious threat to the world.
• Baron Rudolf von Sturmgeist in Medal of Honor: Frontline is a German aristocrat and a very influential member of the SS. He's also the Big Bad of the game, and is helping to create a brand-new prototype fighter aircraft for the Luftwaffe.
• Nintendo Wars: Von Bolt from Advance Wars. The series has a habit of the Big Bad having a German name (his predecessor being 'Sturm').
• Von Kaiser of Punch-Out!!, a stereotypical World War I-era German aristocrat and apparently a military academy boxing instructor. This still doesn't change the fact that after years of fighting, he has only made it to or has just dropped down to the number two place in the WVBA Minor Circuit. With a record of 23-13. One suspects he's 23-1 against Glass Joe and 0-12 against anyone else.
• Dutch van der Linde's name in Red Dead Redemption mostly signifies him being, well, Dutch. However, this applies more directly to the Van der Linde Gang in Red Dead Redemption 2.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Ludwig von Koopa from Super Mario Bros. 3 and later games. He even has Beethoven Hair.
  • And Magnus Von Grapple from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
• Werner Von Croy of the Tomb Raider series (the old-school games, at least).
• Elzam von Branstein, and probably his father Maier von Branstein, from Super Robot Wars. (Both are written as V. Branstein, but Elzam at least is confirmed to be "von".) They're merely Anti Villains, so they don't possess all the dark traits of this trope, but it allows Elzam to be an Expy of both the Red Baron and the Red Comet. Raidiese F. Branstein ditched the "von" to distance himself from his family.
• Von Frog II from the Something series. He's a Mad Scientist who is the guardian of the Chateau du Eau and attacks the Mountain Bear village in Something Else.
• Valiant Hearts includes Baron Von Dorf, a militaristic Glory Hound who recruits Karl after the German Army drafts him and directly threatens the rest of the main cast, which is on the Allied Powers' side.
• Helga von Schabbs, the Big Bad from Wolfenstein: The Old Blood.

Visual Novels

• The German-born Manfred von Karma of the Ace Attorney series, a ruthless Amoral Attorney (a prosecutor, in this case). His daughter, Franziska von Karma (whose name means "free of bad karma"), has less of the evil, but certainly the name seems to fit the stern Ice Queen with a Whip of Dominance, that she tends to use on anyone who displeases her.
• Eleonore von Wittenburg from Dies Irae is a descendant from German nobility and is quite a nasty piece of work. Extremely fierce and a heavy fundamentalist and loyal to the Big Bad. She also acts as a counter to her opposite Beatrice.
• Kisses And Curses The Reylanders have "von" before their surname, as they are a powerful Blue Blood family of witches known for being power-hungry and immoral.

Webcomics

• Girl Genius:
  • Von Pinn. First encountered as a nanny to the children on Castle Wulfenbach, then later revealed to be an ancient construct created specifically to protect the Heterodyne heirs and "keep them safe". She's The Baroness to anyone who threatens her charges.
  • Martellus von Blitzengaard ("Tweedle") and his sister Xerxsephnia von Blitzengaard ("Seffie"). No matter how much they try to present themselves as more "Lighter von Trope", in truth the Blitzengaards are one branch of an extended family full of Machiavellian schemers.
  • The Wulfenbach family never uses "von" in canon, but a lot of fans seem to use it for them outside the comic, largely due to the existence of this trope. The fact that they don't use it is likely related to the contempt the Baron has for the nobility's "rules". ^note  The Wulfenbachs were a low-ranking family, and The Baron was, technically, ineligible to inherit the title according to those rules.
• String Theory (2009): Orville von Schtein was smuggled out of East Germany to work as a geneticist for the American government, including a secret genetic engineering project that gave Super-Intelligence and Psychic Powers to his grandson. When things went south, he released a fungal bioweapon on Chicago and now squats in its zombie-infested ruin as a somewhat-undead Mad Doctor. His descendants kept the surname but dropped the "von".
• When creating a villain for Starslip Crisis Kris Straub stated he was trying to come up with the most evil-sounding name imaginable. A reader pointed out that "Archcount Obdrath Lucifuge" could benefit from this trope, Straub publicly announced "why didn't I think of that?", and the name was immediately changed (retroactively to Obdrath von Lucifuge's first appearance).

Web Original

• Gaia Online's Von Helson family, an aristocratic family that happens to consist entirely of vampires. Vladmir (and later Zhivago) are both major antagonists throughout the storyline. The Von Helson were also villainous for a while, but have undergone some Villain Decay in recent years (lampshaded in a recent mini comic). Ian and Louie are subversions. Ian is a lovable goofball who runs a costume shop with his talking cat, and Louie is a nice guy who just happens to be King of the Vampires, hates his dad, and works at the local Formalwear shop.
• Critical Role has Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, a nobleman who's family was murdered by the Briarwoods. He's an intelligent, snarky gunslinger and tinkerer. He also, at least until episode 35, has a bad case of demonic possession, leading him to be increasingly brutal and merciless in his hunt for revenge.

Web Video

• Overlord DVD: starring Victor van Doomcock, future ruler of Earth

Western Animation

• Looney Tunes cartoons:
  • On two separate occasions, Bugs Bunny is pitted against Yosemite Sam, who is an ally in an enemy cause, in which the latter is a German with the word "von" in his name, both of which sound fairly close to each other.
    • In Bunker Hill Bunny, set during The American Revolution, Sam plays a Hessian (a German allied with the British) named Sam von Schmamm.
    • In Dumb Patrol, set during World War I, Sam plays a German pilot named Baron Sam von Schpamm. It should be noted that Sam doesn't speak with a German accent, but just in his regular "cowboy" tone. The closest he comes are words like "dummkopf" and "schweinhund", and even then he mispronounces them. He also rants in gibberish that merely sounds like German when his initial attempt to stop Bugs in his plane results in him crashing into a mountain.
  • Much earlier, there is also Von Vultur, the main antagonist in Daffy the Commando.

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Lighter Von Trope Examples:

Anime and Manga

• The Ten Noble Families in the anime Kyo Kara Maoh! all have 'von' in their names even if the rest of the name isn't Germanic at all. Von Bielefeld, Von Wincott, etc. etc. This is probably because Shin Makoku was heavily European based.
• Oktavia von Seckendorff, Sayaka's witch form, in Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
• Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach in From Eroica with Love.
• In the "Junk Car" episode of Speed Racer dub, the race is held by a Baron Von Vondevon... who has a long-lost daughter Yvonne Von Vondevon.
• Estonia's human name in Hetalia: Axis Powers is Eduard von Bock. This was most likely done solely for the 'funny foreigner/eccentric scientist' angle, as in actuality it's not even Estonian.
• Drossel von Flügel, in Fireball.

Comic Books

• Herr Doktor Bombastus Johannes Theophrastus Almagestus Wernher von Ulm from De Cape et de Crocs.
• A French translation of a Disney Ducks Comic Universe comic has Donald try to call a jeweler by the Punny Name of van der Grosspierr (The French pronunciation of "van" sounds like "sells", making his name "sells big gems").
• Peanuts featured the Van Pelt siblings, Lucy, Linus and Rerun. (There's no evident relationship to Van Pelt from Jumanji, or Scott Van Pelt of ESPN.) Peanuts creator Charles Schulz was from Minnesota, a U.S. state that has always had large German-American and Dutch-American populations. So Linus and Lucy's last name is probably just meant to mark them as "typical Midwesterners."
• Ungrounded: The family name of Mister Solenoid's girlfriend and her brother is Von Valiant.

Fan Works

• Anya, Sinbad, and Jim are named "Von Barth" in To Belong. This is especially odd because they're very poor. It's a sign that they come from a wealthy background. They were forced onto the streets after they were orphaned.

Films — Animation

• Victor Van Dort from Corpse Bride. He may possibly be Dutch.
• Vanellope Von Schweetz, a Sugar Rush would-be racer, from Wreck-It Ralph. Doubles as Foreshadowing, as she's secretly the princess of that game's world.

Films — Live-Action

• In Young Frankenstein, Frederick's great-grandfather (whose son Victor originally created the Creature) was named Baron Beaufort Von Frankenstein.
• Lily Von Shtupp, in Blazing Saddles.
• In A Knight's Tale, William competes under the name of Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein, which contrasts not a bit with his bearing.
• In Back to the Future Part III, Doc Brown mentions that his ancestors before World War I were the von Brauns. When the USA entered WWI, anti-German sentiment led many families to change their names. Cities with a prominent German heritage like Cincinnati even renamed some of their streets and changed local landmarks.
• Eric Von Zipper, the comical Badass Biker character from the '60s Beach Party movies.

Jokes

• Long ago, a man approaches a Hollywood agent wanting to break into show business. He can sing. He can dance. He tells jokes. He's fabulous! "Fantastic!" says the agent. "What's your name, kid?" "Penis Van Lesbian," replies the young talent. "That's a terrible name!" exclaims the agent. We'll have to change it. How about we call you, 'Dick Van Dyke'?"

Literature

• Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld in The Asterisk War is European royalty: her homeland of Lieseltania is located in the real-life location of the western half of the Czech Republic, so it makes sense that she'd be an ethnic German and use the noble "von". Her surname literally means "rice field".
• As a Running Gag, many residents of Uberwald in Discworld have the Von as part of their names, including Moist von Lipwig, the werewolves Angua and Wolfgang von Uberwald, and vampire photographer Otto von Chriek. Justified in that these names are all denominators of origin, and at least one of these families is headed by a nobleman, the Baron Von Uberwald.
  • Lampshaded in Discworld Noir, where the name "Count von Uberwald" isn't enough to identify someone, except as "probably a vampire".
• Ralph von Wau Wau, a talking German Shepherd from Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon stories. The character is originally from the works of Philip José Farmer including "A Scarlet in Study" and "The Doge Whose Barque Was Worse Than His Bight".
• Evra Von from Cirque Du Freak. He often corrects people that it's just Von.
• Erast Fandorin's family name is a Russified version of "Von Dorn". Most of Boris Akunin's other novels feature characters who are somehow connected to the same Von Dorn family and have names that are similarly descended from their name (Van Doren, De Dorn, Darnowski, etc.)
• The von Ulrichs, an aristocratic German family in Ken Follett's novel Fall of Giants. Although the story takes place during World War I, Walter von Ulrich, being one of the main protagonists, is portrayed in a quite personable way. Walter (working at that point in time as diplomat in London) points out that the Brits always erroneously capitalize the von, when sending him letters.
• Since the Flying Dutchman is supposed to be, well, a Dutch Ghost Ship, various versions of the legend use this trope when naming its captain. The first version of the story in English to give the Dutchman’s captain a name called him van der Decken.
  • The Marvel Comics version is called Joost van Straaten.
  • In Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, the captain’s name (at least the one he’s using in the 1930s) is Hendrik van der Zee.
• Wagons West:
  • Baron Ernest "Ernie" von Thalman is an Austrian nobleman who was encouraged to join the original wagon train for the adventure of it by his friend, former president Andrew Jackson.
  • Baroness Gisela von Kirchberg married into her name, and after her widowhood proceeded to accomplish the goal of becoming the richest woman in Europe.

Live-Action TV

• Baron Von Butcher was the head of the evil organization C.H.U.M.P. on Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp.
• Nina Van Horn on Just Shoot Me!. It's not her real name (that would be Claire Noodleman); her agent got the last name from a porn star in his building.
• Doctor Who: When The Doctor goes to Germany, he usually presents identification that says he is 'Doctor von Wer', literally, 'Doctor of Who'. And no, it makes no more sense in German than it would in English. Pretty much any native speaker would immediately notice and wonder if this was supposed to be some kind of joke. (Germany does feature two or three places called Wehr he could hypothetically claim to be from, but the word isn't particularly related to "wer" and so the pun wouldn't work quite so easily anymore except perhaps as a Genius Bonus.)
• Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl, whose family runs a Dutch shipping company dating back to the 18th century.
• The Two Ronnies gave us Otto van Dancer. Pronounce the v with a German f and you get the joke.
• The protagonist of Van der Valk is quite difficult to place in this list, as while the series spent a lot of time dealing with the less salubrious side of Freestate Amsterdam, Van der Valk himself was unambiguously Lawful Good.
• Grace Van Pelt on The Mentalist.

Pro Wrestling

• Rob Van Dam got his name from wrestler Ron Slinker, because of his resemblance to actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.
• Christina Von Eerie's name isn't meant to invoke a "foreign" theme (though it does to many viewers), as she is billed from "Spook City, USA."
• Incongruous would go some way to describing Leah Von Dutch, who does have aspirations, or possibly delusions of nobility, but has a long way to go to get there. And she's Canadian, so wrong nationality.

Puppet Shows

• Count Von Count, Sesame Street's numerically-obsessed vampire.

Radio

• In The Jack Benny Program, Jack Benny's valet is Rochester Van Jones.

Theater

• Velma Von Tussle from Hairspray is a tv producer who opposes desegregation.

Video Games

• Dietmar von Heinrichzimmerschneit from Borderlands 2 is a Nature Documentary director who hires the Vault Hunters to carry out his tasks while he sits back and provides director's commentary as it happens. Most of his tasks are for his own personal gain or amusement. Also, that inverted Sesquipedalian Smith name, isn't even his real name. His real name is so long that you'd starve to death before you finished saying it.
• Ebenezer von Clutch of Crash Tag Team Racing.
• Almaz Von Almadine Adamant from Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice.
• In the Interactive Fiction game Enlisted, the player character's last name is Van Dussen.
• The VanSalad family from The Curse of Monkey Island, who are described as even homelier than the Goodsoups. Also, Reginald Van Winslow from Tales of Monkey Island.
• Hero-U: One of the teachers at the school is named "Master Von Urwald".
• The Skylanders franchise has Baron Von Shellshock, a talking crab with an inexplicable German accent.
• Germanic princess Hildegard von Krone from the Soul Series.
• Edward Chris von Muir from Final Fantasy IV, crown prince of Damcyan.
• Luke fon Fabre and his family from Tales of the Abyss. His mother is Susanne, whose brother is the king of Kimlasca, while his father is Duke Fabre (his first name is unknown). This is one of the rare times this was used correctly.
• Pink Panther's Passport to Peril has Von Schmarty, a Gadgeteer Genius responsible for most of the inventions at camp Chilly Wa-Wa. He is however a friend of Pink and thus firmly on the side of the good guys.
• In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, the nobility of the Holy Roman Empire-esque Adrestian Empire all have a "von" between their given and family names - Edelgard von Hresvelg (daughter of Emperor Ionius IX), Ferdinand von Aegir (son of Duke Aegir), Bernadetta von Varley (daughter of Count Varley), etc. Some noble houses from the Leicester Alliance also follow this trope, including its most prominent one, House Riegan (whose heir is Claude von Riegan).
• Wizard101: Combined with Alliterative Name, the Arcanum Scholar for Shadow Magic is named Velma von Venkman. Despite Shadow Magic being universally considered dark and corrupting, Velma is very much a Nice Girl who embodies Bad Powers, Good People and deserves to be in the Lighter Von Trope section.
• Retro City Rampage's Big Bad is Dr. Von Buttnick, who is also a parody of Dr. Robotnik.

Visual Novels

• Ilyasviel von Einzbern in Fate/stay night starts off as a villain but turns out to be slightly nicer than she looks. The rest of her family, however, may qualify...
• Beatrice Waltrud von Kirscheisen from Dies Irae who, despite being born and raised during the time of Nazi Germany and being decedent from German nobility, is an unfailingly good and idealistic woman. Even after her experiences with the Gestapo and Longinus Dreizehn Orden causes her to become somewhat more ruthless she remains strictly on the heroes side. She also serves as a foil on this trope to her superior, the much more fundamentalist Eleonore.

Webcomics

• The title character of the webcomic Van Von Hunter.
• Joey Von Krause from Mortifer. Except it turns out not to be his real name...
• Despite his scary name, Moloch Von Zinzer from Girl Genius is a pretty normal guy.
  • His first name is Biblical, referring to a deity with links to child sacrifice. Apparently his mother wasn't very literary and just picked it out the Bible. There hasn't been an explanation for his apparent noble roots, though.
  • There's also been a brief appearance before Martellus shot him in the face, anyway, from a Jaeger named Rerich, with the original last name of Von Billeguether. Perhaps a noble house that ended up under the rule of the Heterodynes?

Western Animation

• Professor Dinglehopper Von Schlemer, from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
• In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, the character Kooky von Koopa is based off the game character Ludwig von Koopa, and both use this trope. Interestingly, the characters were named independently of one another.
• Dr. Otto von Scratchansniff from Animaniacs
• The German villain Heinrich (formerly Henrietta) von Marzipan from Codename: Kids Next Door starts out as the Dark type of this trope, but becomes Light after her Heel–Face Turn.
• In the 2015 Danger Mouse reboot, Baron Silas Greenback has the "Von" added to his surname.
• Ludwig Von Drake, Donald Duck's uncle, and a goofy Mad Scientist. In German he becomes Primus von Quack.
  • Scrooge McDuck is known in Danish as Joakim von And and in Swedish as Joakim von Anka, both meaning Joakim von Duck. We guess the translators weren't fluent in German, because it means that he is a duck from Duck. Hm... but then, "McDuck" would mean "son of Duck", so his original name isn't that much better.
• Jorgen Von Strangle, in The Fairly OddParents!.
• Velvet von Black from The Haunted Worldof El Superbeasto, though it's unclear whether or not this is a stagename being that she's a stripper and all.
• Dr. Ludwig von Scientist from Jimmy Two-Shoes.
• Several characters from Monster High: Spectra Vondergeist (German), Serena von Boo (German) and van Hellscream (a parody of the Dutch vampire slayer van Helsing), as well as his niece, who appears in Ghouls Rule.
• The friendly-bully on Phineas and Ferb is named Buford Van Stomm.
• The Simpsons has Melvin Van Horne, or Sideshow Mel, and Milhouse Van Houten.
• In Tiny Toon Adventures, when Babs and Buster Bunny are posing as Old Money types, they use the surname "Vanderbunny".
• Two characters in Trollz: Amethyst van der Troll (clearly a play on the Dutch name van der Meer, which makes her Dutch) and Onyx von Trollenberg, who is most likely from Germany or Austria.

Real Life

• Erich von Stroheim, the "Man You Love to Hate" is the Trope Maker and Trope Codifier. He made a name for himself in the early 20th Century playing Prussian villains with a talent for sadism and the riding crop, and posed as a real-life aristocratic in exile in Hollywood. In actual fact, as Orson Welles pointed out, Stroheim was born to a poor Jewish family, his father was a haberdasher and the Stroheims are not listed in the Almanac von Gotha (which is the list of aristocratic families). Stroheim willingly added "von" to his surname to make himself into a fake aristocrat. Indeed, Jean Renoir, the French director who directed him in The Grand Illusion noted that Stroheim spoke very bad German but somehow to American years passed himself off as the real thing.
• Josef von Sternberg was originally Josef Sternberg and like Stroheim born to a Jewish family and needless to say had little hope in actually being the aristocrat he wanted to pass himself off as. But likewise, found it expedient to put on the Prussian-shtick in America.
• Lars von Trier. The "von" part was a nickname he got in film school. He ultimately decided to keep the nickname to pay homage to Erich von Stroheim and Josef von Sternberg, who also added their "von" later in life.
• Ludwig van Beethoven's name came from his Dutch ancestry, with a "van" as above which denoted his ancestors were farmers.^note The name "Beethoven" itself literally translates to "beet fields." But living in Vienna he intentionally used the confusion with "von" to his advantage, letting people assume he was related to nobility. Eventually the truth came out in court during a custody dispute over his nephew. Beethoven was unable to demonstrate that he had any noble connections, meaning that his case could not be tried in the aristocratic Landrechte court, and got bumped down to the Vienna Magistrate, the court for commoners.
• Martin Van Buren, the 8th president of the United States.

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