Meaningful Name / The DCU

The DCU

• The Atom:
  • Ray Palmer has The Atom, had two notable enemies who shared this trait: The Bug-Eyed Bandit (Bertram Larvan), and the Floronic Man (Jason Woodrue). The Bug-Eyed Bandit had a son, Bertram Larvan, Jr., who would become his Legacy Character.
  • This applies to Ray Palmer himself - his last name refers to how Ray could fit in the palm of a person's hand due to his shrinking abilities.
• Batman:
  • Virtually every villain has a theme name, some (Temple Fugate/Clock King, Julian Day/Calendar Man) more subtle than others (Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn), Mary Dahl/Baby Doll), Jonathan Crane (Crane being a reference to Ichabod Crane). The ones that don't, like Harvey Dent/Two-Face and The Joker don't either because they were a non-villain character previously or because they've had several names and the Canon can't agree.
  • Some more examples: Edward Nigma (E. Nigma, AKA The Riddler... though his real name is Edward Nashton in some continuities), Dr Victor Fries (pronounced Frees, AKA Mr. Freeze), Dr Simon Ecks (Dr. Double X), Joe Rigger (AKA explosives expert Firebug), Hammond Carter (AKA the map loving Globe), Warren White (The Great WHITE Shark), Liam Hawkleigh (AKA Gunhawk), Humphrey Dumpler (AKA Humpty Dumpty), Johnny Witts (The Crime Boss who's always one step ahead of the Batman), Lyle Bolton (AKA Lockup), Margaret Pie (the Magpie), Joe Coyne (the Penny Plunderer), Anthony Lupis (the Werewolf) Deever and Dumphrey/Dumson Tweed (Tweedledee and Tweedledum), the silver-obsessed Sterling Silversmith...
  • Plant-obsessed villainess Poison Ivy had a short-lived Retcon where her real name was stated to be Lilian Rose. It was later changed back to Pamela Isley, which still counts.
    • In one episode of the animated series, Poison Ivy takes on the alias Daphne Demeter while carrying out a plot to turn people who were wrecking the environment into trees. Batman lampshades the Demeter part (Greek goddess of agriculture), but doesn't say anything about "Daphne," a nymph who turned into a tree to escape Apollo.
    • Gotham outright changes her civilian name to "Ivy Pepper."
  • Not only is Mister Freeze's wife's name, Nora, etymologically related to Lenore, but both "Nora" and "Lenore" are derived from "Eleanor," meaning "light." So, when she died, the light literally went out of his life.
  • The initial antagonists of Detective Comics (Rebirth) are an organization called the Colony, who emulate Batman on a military scale. In biology, "colony" is the collective term for a group of bats.
  • Violet Paige, the protagonist of Mother Panic, is bisexual, and the flower of the same name is a symbol of bisexual women and lesbians, particularly during the early to mid-20th century. "Violet" is also similar to "violent", which she is.
  • Robin/Nightwing, Richard Grayson's civilian nickname is Dick, and is (or was before Tim Drake's training) the world's second greatest detective. Dick is slang for detective.
  • Jason Todd's surname is phonetically identical to "tod", the German word for "death". Jason is known for both his death at the hands of the Joker, and his violent and often fatal methods of vigilantism post-resurrection as Red Hood.
  • Kitrina Falcone, Catwoman's short-lived sidekick, Catgirl.
  • Batgirl Cassandra Cain is named after Cassandra, a priestess of Classical Mythology. Cass' ability to predict her opponent's move by reading their body language is a reference to ability to see the future. Both characters also have drama regarding speech; Cass has trouble speaking because her abusive father refused to teach her to read, write or talk while Cassandra was cursed to never have any of her predictions believed until it was too late.
• The Firestorm (DC Comics) villain Killer Frost had the real name Crystal Frost. Her New 52 incarnation — the same one used in The Flash (2014) — is Caitlin Snow.
• The Flash:
  • The crook called Rainbow Raider used a pair of goggles emitting beams of solid rainbow-coloured light to rob art galleries, even though he himself was colorblind. His real name was Roy G. Bivolo, the first seven letters denoting the colors of the spectrum (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.) Bonus points for his initials being R.G.B.
  • Iris West, the long time love interest of Barry Allen, shares her name with the Greek messenger goddess, Iris who was known for being incredibly fast herself. It is not surprising that her nephew Wally West named one of his children after her.
  • Barry Allen was named for one of the Twelve Apostles; sure enough, he's practically a saint within the DC superhero community thanks to his Heroic Sacrifice in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. (The name "Bartholomew" normally wouldn't be special, since most of the Apostles' names are quite common, but it does stand out because it's a name not in common usage nowadays).
• Green Lantern:
  • The leader of the Red Lantern Corps is tellingly named Atrocitus. As you can imagine, he spends his time helping poor people and injured animals and generally contributing to society.
    • Ironically enough, it's hinted that he might actually have been a genuinely benevolent being before the Manhunters went on a mass-genocidal rampage throughout his sector (leaving only he and four other survivors), thereby igniting his rage.
    • Which gives new meaning to his name: it may not be referring to his nature, but rather the genocide that turned him into the man he is today. The slaughter of his people was just that-an atrocity.
    • Going back much further in Green Lantern history, we have Sinestro, which is Latin for left-handed. As for another recent villain, there's Larfleeze: a combination of lard and sleaze, which is quite appropriate.
  • Some of the emotional entities/other powerful beings are an example of this.
    • The avarice entity is called Ophidian. Ophidian's name derived from the name for the "13th" constellation of the Zodiac (Ophiuchus), meaning "serpent-bearer" in Greek. Snakes are also thought to be associated with, among other things, greed in Chinese culture; and Ophidian very much resembles a snake. Hmm...
    • The hope entity is called Adara. The star sharing that name is blue, much like Adara and hope on the emotional spectrum.
    • The compassion entity is called Proselyte. This is based off prostrate, which may tie into the subtle hints of it being connected to religion in Green Lantern #52 (namely, a cross-shaped light when its backstory is examined).
    • Prostate could also be seen as convert. The Indigo Tribe gets new members by "converting" sociopaths through brainwashing.
    • Nekron, Lord of the Unliving. His name is based of necrosis, representing his connection to death and the general coldness of darkness.
• In Grifter (2011), Cole Cash's codename is now a job description - he's a Con Man.
• Justice League of America:
  • Kimiyo Hoshi, the female Dr. Light, received her powers from a star. Again, "hoshi" is Japanese for "star".
    • The wordplay only works in English, but her name combined means 'I am a star'.
    • An animal-naming site gave the meaning of "Kimiyo" as "she who is without peer, or without equal", which is all-too appropriate for her often-bitchy, Insufferable Genius personality. Furthermore, we have both the male and female interpretations of her name from the Kabalarian Philosophy site, which describe her personality to a tee.
  • T. O. Morrow. Thomas Oscar Morrow is a Mad Scientist obsessed with time and creator of Tomorrow Woman. However, it's a subversion — he's Polish, and his birth name is Tomek Ovadya Morah (which, admittedly, is rather close to his new name).
• Legion of Super-Heroes: "Infectious Lass" Drura Sepht could be one...with sufficient Genius Bonus. "Sepht" alluding to "sepsis" and "Drura" to the poem "A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed" (Corinna, Pride of Drury Lane)^note the street was the worst hellhole of London at his time by Jonathan Swift. (Admittedly, much Genius Bonus.)
• Mr. Stubbs from The Multiversity, appears to take his name from a chimpanzee in Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus, a Victorian novel concerning the difference between the glamour of the circus as seen from outside, and the reality of it as seen from the inside.
• Phantom Lady is named "Sandra Knight" and she can create darkness. She is also a knight in the sense that she's a champion of the United States Goverment and in that her father Henry Knight is wealthy senator. (The concept of knight derives from the Roman Imperal Congress.) Her Legacy Character is 'Stormy' Knight.
• One iteration of the Ray was named Lucien Gates. The Ray famously has light-themed powers, while Lucien is from the Latin for "light".
• The main characters in Starman (DC Comics) are surnamed Knight (and a retcon made them Sandra's cousins): Ted, the first Starman; David, his elder son and eventual successor; and Jack, his younger son who succeeded his brother.
• Steel, the armored, hammer-wielding African American hero, whose real name is John Henry Irons — after the folk hero who was stronger and faster than a machine.
  • In this case, he's quite self-aware and modeled the hammer on the legendary figure.
• Superman:
  • "El", the kryptonian surname of Superman, means "God". Fittingly, it's frequently used as a suffix in the names of angels in the Hebraic tradition (e.g. "Michael", "Gabriel", "Raphael" and "Zadkiel"), hinting at Superman's role as an archetypal angelic figure. As an added bonus, The Krypton Chronicles reveals that Superman's Kryptonian name in its entirety literally translates to "star child".
  • Rather than calling it "New Krypton", the surviving Kryptonians instead name their new planet "Rokyn", meaning "Gift of Rao".
  • The none-too-pretty cop Dan Turpin (taken from the Latin for ugly/corrupt, as well as being the last name of the legendary crook Dick Turpin).
  • Supergirl's alternate self in Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade is named Supragirl for a reason:
    Landry Walker: Oh, and just a quick word on the process behind picking the name Supragirl... Supra can mean essentially the same thing as "Super", but can also indicate something that came previously. Seemed appropriate.
  • The Untold Story of Argo City: Kara was named after the ancient Kryptonian goddess of beauty.
  • The Leper from Krypton: The hottest star in the universe, said to be the equal to thousand normal suns, is named "Flambronn". "Flamber" is French for "blaze".
  • Supergirl (1984): When she was a fortune-teller, Selena went by the pseudonym "Madame Seera".
  • "The Super-Steed of Steel": Supergirl named Biron Comet because of the shooting star-shaped mark on his back.
  • If Superman (1939) #358 is anything to go by, Alec from the Tandy Computer Whiz Kids was written to be a "Smart Alec".
  • Minor DC villain Firefist is the man who re-discovered Greek Fire and used it for crime. His real name? Lyle Byrnes. In Adventures of Superman #608 -during the "Superman: Ending Battle" arc-, while making small talk with a victim, he even says it's funny how that turned out.
• The Sunderland corporation in early Swamp Thing. They're environmentally unfriendly — they sunder land.
• Victor Stone from Teen Titans was reconstructed like a Cyborg. His name is a Shout-Out to Victor Frankenstein (in German, "Frankenstein" means "Stone of the Franks").
• Wonder Woman:
  • Artemis, the best archer among the Amazons who is considered rather wild by most of her Amazon sisters, is named for the bow using goddess of the hunt.
  • The first Cheetah was a wealthy socialite named Priscilla Rich.
  • Di's good friend and sidekick Etta Candy loves candy, and was often seen with a lollipop or box of chocolate in the Golden Age.
  • Etta's once boyfriend, and in the Superman & Batman: Generations continuity her husband, is another candy lover—in more ways than one—with the last name Sweetgulper.
  • Nubia is named after the Egyptian-Sudanese African region of the same name which was inhabited by people of Black African descent.
  • The Master Plan of Paula Von Gunther: The Guard named Swiper swipes Diana's magic lasso, and the man named Captain Loyal remains loyal even under torture.
  • Wonder Woman (1942): Many Golden Age characters fit, like the tiger using Tigra Tropica, but the Holliday Girls especially take the cake starting with their aforementioned leader Etta Candy.
    • Bobby Strong is the brawler of the Holliday Girls, who has Amazon training that has enhanced her strength.
    • Glamora Treat cares about fashion and takes care to make sure her makeup and hair is done well.
    • Arda Prosperous is from a wealthy family.
    • Eve Brown fell to the temptation of trusting a pretty boy over the advice of her own sister, and then lied about it trying to cover up her misdeeds after she realized he was a Nazi.
    • Lana Kurree is a chemist, and is named after Marie Curie.
    • Meg Sourpuss has a sour disposition, and Gen. Darnell dreads getting calls from her when missions her Holliday Girls are on go south.
    • Susan Tardee is often in trouble for being late to class.
    • Tina Toy tinkers with small robotic projects.
    • Virginia True tells the truth, even if its likely to get her killed under her current circumstances.
    • During the Silver Age the shortest member of the Holliday Girls is named Lita Little, the tallest is named Thelma Tall.
    • Brutus Close is a violent brute.
    • Byrna Brilyant is a brilliant inventor and conman.
    • Eviless is the actual name (translated from Saturnian) of the Evil slaver who keeps trying to instigate a war between Earth and Saturn.
  • Wonder Woman (1987) introduced Mnemosyne, the Amazon's chief librarian and historian, who is named after the Titan mother of memory.
  • Wonder Woman and the Star Riders: The Star Rider with the power of the sun is actually named Solara.

Vertigo Comics, Other DC Imprints

• Josef Platapopoulos from Astro City goes by "The Platypus" to most, because of his extreme resemblance to the creature. Now look at that last name again.
  • Additionally, Atomicus' civilian identity of Adam Peterson. Atomicus was created during an experiment conducted by a Dr. Petrov; Adam Peterson = Atom, Son of Petrov. Interestingly, his love interest picks up on this almost immediately and continues to harp on proving his true identity for years.
  • And Braintrust's real name is Brian T. Rusk. Yeah, Rusk, not Rust. Apparently that would've been too easy.
  • The Samaritan's identity of Asa Martin might also be relevant.
• The twins in Crossing Midnight are named Toshi and Kai. Toshi, "mirror". And Kai is the reflection.
• Mitchell Hundred of Ex Machina is a Technopath who can communicate fluently with machines. Appropriately, his surname is a number composed of 1's and 0's—meaning that it can be understood as binary code, or "computer language". To drive the point home, the sentient machines in the other dimension call him "100" instead of "Hundred".
• In Star Raiders, the very tomboyish Tomorrow Hardtack calls herself "Tommy".
• From Swordquest, we have the Big Bad King Tyrannus, his Evil Sorcerer Konjuro, and the mysterious oracles Mentorr and Mentarra.