Only One Name / Live-Action TV

Mononyms in live-action TV.

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• On The 100, Grounders do not appear to have last names, though they might follow someone's name with "of the [Blank] People".
• On Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., "Skye" is the full name that Skye chose for herself after abandoning the one given to her by an orphanage, which she found embarrassing (Mary Sue Poots). Her birth name, revealed in "What They Become", is Daisy Johnson, A.K.A Quake.
• Angel:
  • The eponymous character usually goes simply by Angel. When he's evil he tends to go with the variant Angelus. Either way, it's only one name. His original human name was Liam, surname never mentioned.
    Kate Lockley: Well, see, the thing about detectives is they have resumes and business licenses and last names. Pop stars and Popes, those are the one-name guys.
    Angel: You got me. I'm a pope.
  • In Season 3, the Angel Investigations staff at one points needs to write down a full name for him on a government document, so they improvise "Geraldo Angel".
  • Spoofed when Angel starts making out with Eve, despite Angel's protests that he doesn't even know her full name.
    Angel: I mean, do you even have a last name?
    Eve: Do you?
• Babylon 5:
  • Some aliens, notably Minbari and Narns, go by only one name, whereas others, notably Centauri, go by two.
  • Although the Narns have only one name, it actually consists of two halves divided by an apostrophe. For instance, main character Na'Toth is the daughter of Shak'Toth.
    • And it is stated in one episode that Narns have a single name at birth, and the apostrophed appendage (actually prefix) is added when they have chosen which religious figure they will be devoted to spiritually: "G'" denotes a devotee to G'Quan (which G'Kar was), for instance.
  • The three techno-mages that are officially named in the series and its spin-off series Crusade are Elric, Galen, and Alwyn respectively. Although all three have Human origins, none of them have a last name.
• Battlestar Galactica (1978): No one in the original show had a last name. (This has changed in the reimagined version; many of the original pilots' names are now the callsigns of their revised counterparts, and "Adama" has become a family name.)
• Blackadder: Baldrick is only known by this name, regardless of which incarnation he is. However, Baldrick speculates in the third series that his first name may be 'Sodoff' and in the fourth season was known as Private S. Baldrick.
• Blake's 7: Cally is never known by anything else — as far as we know, no Aurons have more than one name. Also, Soolin is the only human member of the Seven who goes by only one name.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Kendra tells Giles that she "has no last name" in the second episode she appears in. However, this has become a Subverted Trope as Joss Whedon has subsequently revealed, outside of the series, that her surname is actually Young - which she didn't know as she was raised by her Watcher.
  • Buffyverse Vampires, some of whom take or are given new names, are fond of this trope, including the Angel and Spike, as well as Drusilla, Penn, Luke, and Dracula.
• Burn Notice:
  • All of the Myth Arc villains tend to go by singular names that are most likely pseudonyms (for example, Carla, Victor, and Simon).
  • Invoked by Barry, which leads to this back-and-forth with Sam:
    Barry: Name's Cristo. Like Madonna, the whole one name thing.
    Sam: Like Charo.
    Barry: Sting.
    Sam: Fergie.
    Barry: Pélé.
    Sam: Spider-Man.
    Barry: Liberace.
    Sam: (Beat) Crap, I can't think of any more.
• Dark Angel: The main character was named Max, with no last name (she did use the last name Guevara on occasion, but she made this up). Her fellow X5s (Zack, Alec, Ben, etc) also had only one name, as did the dogboy Joshua. Alec's fake surname was supposedly McDowell, but it was never spoken aloud.
• Dead Like Me: Mason has no known other name, and the name that he does have could really be either his first or last name. Kiffany doesn't have a last name, but since she has a lot less screen time than Mason, it's slightly less odd.
• Doctor Who:
  • Most Time Lords go by a singular name, or use Spell My Name with a "The".
  • The Doctor's daughter Jenny has no surname, because her sole parent had no last name to pass on.
  • The Doctor Who Magazine comic gives us Destriianatos (Destrii for short).
  • The Big Finish Doctor Who audios give us C'rizz and Erimemushinteperem (Erimem for short).
• Game of Thrones:
  • When Jon Snow asks for Locke's name, he just says "Locke". All the weirder because in the books, Locke is a surname.
  • Shae is just Shae and Varys is just Varys. Varys once contrasts himself and Shae with the highborn who have last names.
    Varys: You have one name. As do I. Here, only the family name matters.
• "Gilligan's Island" The voice-over in the opening episode gives every other character's first and last name. The young first mate is identified only as "Gilligan" and never called anything else throughout the series.
• The Here Come the Brides episode "The Stand Off" has the former slave and hired goon Ox.
  Jason: I didn't catch your name.
  Ox: Ox.
  Jason: Ox. Is that like Joe Ox, or Ox Jones, or-
  Ox: It's like Ox. Just Ox.
• Home Improvement: Wilson W. Wilson Jr. He's called by Only One Name, because that is his only name - first, middle and last.
• The tile character in Inspector Morse is known simply as "Morse". His hated first name (Endeavour) was eventually revealed towards the end of the show's run ... and went on to become the name of the prequel series, although the number of times the young Morse is addressed or referred to by his first name can be counted on one hand.
• Leverage: Parker has only the one name, even in her official character bio.

  Ticket guy: "Name, please?"
  Parker: "Parker."
  Ticket guy: "First name or last name?"
  Parker: "No. Just one name."

  • May be a shout-out to the title character in Richard Stark's Parker crime novels, who also is a thief and also has just the one name.
  • Also has a plausible explanation in-universe. Given Parker's negative experiences with parental figures, it makes sense that she wouldn't be interested in using any of their surnames. And given that she's a thief with no real "civilian" identity, it's not like she ever needs it to fill out forms...
  • In Leverage: Redemption, Parker mentions that she doesn't have a real birth certificate and so she doesn't actually know her real name. Unsurprisingly this doesn't actually bother her.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: When Queen Miriel asks for Galadriel and Halbrand's names, Galadriel goes on naming all of her titles, to which Halbrand is left stunned and with a Fascinating Eyebrow. He then introduces himself as simply Halbrand of the Southlands.
• Merlin: The only people with last names are the Pendragons, being royalty.
• Mission: Impossible: Paris. (Unless you want to argue that his full name is "The Great Paris", which is his oft-seen billing as a magician.) Amusingly, Paris was played by Leonard Nimoy, famous for playing Spock of Star Trek, and Paris had occasion to say, "He's dead, Jim."
• The New Avengers: Purdey.
• NewsRadio: Beth claims not to have a last name.
• On Orphan Black, most of the LEDA clones have first and last names — except Helena. Three of the CASTOR clones — Rudy, Seth, and Parsons — also count.
• Power Rangers:
  • Most alien-but-still-human-ish Power Rangers, such as Andros and Karone, or Maya. Time Force's resident alien, Trip, has a very popular Fanon last name purported to come from scripts or casting sheets, but unlike other such surnames (e.g., Billy Cranston, Katie Walker), it wasn't included on Disney's official website.
  • Ernie, in his appearances in the franchise from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers through the Power Rangers Turbo film, is only given a first name, though there was at least one instance in Power Rangers Zeo, where we should have given a surname. Power Rangers Megaforce also has a character named Ernie who, like the first Ernie we meet, is only given one name.
  • Power Rangers Mystic Force has several: Udonna, Leonbow, Daggeron, Phineas, and Clare.
  • Power Rangers Operation Overdrive has Spencer, the Hartford butler, who acts in a similar position to Alphas 5 and 6 for the Overdrive team.
  • Power Rangers RPM has Dillon, although the lack of a surname might be more due to his Mysterious Past considering he is as human as his teammates (to a certain extent). There's also Gem and Gemma, which fit by way of them being genetically engineered by Alphabet Soup, who are also the reason why Doctor K only has a One-Letter Name in lieu of a full given name.
  • Monty in Power Rangers Ninja Steel
  • Blaze and Moxy in Power Rangers Beast Morphers
• The Random Years: Wiseman is ever only called by that one name during the series' four-episode broadcast run.
• Stargate SG-1:
  • Teal'c. For that matter, most of SG-1's aliens do not have family names.
  • However, this is averted in Stargate Atlantis, where most aliens, including regulars Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex, do have first and last names. This raises an interesting question: how is it that Earth alone uses a naming system unheard of in the Milky Way galaxy but commonplace in the Pegasus Galaxy?
  • The Jaffa sometimes tack place of origin (or current affiliation, in the case of "Teal'c of the Tau'ri") onto another Jaffa's name (and sometimes that of a human) as if this constituted a type of full name in their culture.
• The Star Lost: All of the Amish population goes by only one name. Harlan Ellison explained this by stating that due to the small population density of such a culture, there need be only one Devon or Garth. And they are typically named after the father. The son, for example, is "Young Devon" until the passing of "Old Devon". Women are identified, for instance as Rachel, daughter of (father's name) prior to marriage or Rachel, wife of (husband's name) when married. A grandfather, for as long as he is around would be the "Old" while the middle generation male is "Elder".
  • It is worth noting that the Elders continued to refer to Devon as "Young" Devon despite the fact that his parents were both gone. He was considered a ward of the community, albeit he was noticeably past childhood and probably at least twenty years of age. This is possibly due to the fact that Devon, at his age, was neither married, nor even betrothed; unthinkable in their culture. The much stricter variation of Amish culture depicted here probably does not have Rumspringa, if we go by Rachel and Garth as normal examples.
• Star Trek
  • Klingons have a patronymic ("Worf, son of Mogh") and a House name ("Worf of the House of Mogh", later the House of Martok), but do not have true last names. Worf's circumstances are interesting because he was raised by human parents but apparently never took their name, Rozhenko. (Though in Star Trek: Picard, he adds "Son of Sergey, House of Rozhenko" to his list of personal epithets.)
  • Chakotay.
  • Data.
  • Laas.
  • Neelix and Kes.
  • Vulcans never seem to get last names. One episode of Star Trek: The Original Series claims Spock's last name cannot be pronounced by humans, but others seem to indicate he has no last name at all.
  • The Vorta, none of whom have family names. Understandable, as they don't have families, but they do each get a number tacked on to their name, so that's something.
  • None of the named Romulans (e.g. Sela, Donatra, Tel'Aura, Tomalak) appears to have a last name. Given that they're an offshoot of Vulcans, this may be a Justified Trope. However, at least one non-canon novel has a character refer to a Romulan by name. Specifically, Captain John Harriman (the inept captain of the Enterprise-B, whom the book turned into a badass) purposefully calls Admiral Vokar by his first name Aventeer, knowing the latter would perceive it as an insult. There is one exception to this, Admiral Alidar Jarok. Though you'd be forgiven if, after watching the episode in which he appeared, you made the mistake of thinking that 'Alidar' was an alias rather than his first name.
  • Vash, from the TNG episodes "Captain's Holiday" and "Qpid" and the DS9 episode "Q-Less", doesn't appear to have any other name.
  • Star Trek: Picard: Hugh, the former Borg drone, doesn't have a surname. He calls Soji "Dr. Asha," yet she refers to her boss as "Hugh."
• In Super Sentai, this is generally used for Rangers not from modern Japan, like the Zyurangers (prehistoric times), Kakurangers (ancient Japan), Gingaman (Ginga Forest), Goseigers (Gosei World) and Ryusoulger (RyuSoul Tribe), as well as some of the Timerangers (the future), Zyuohgers (Zyuland), Kyurangers (other planets), and Zenkaigers (Kikaitopia). Exceptions to this rule include the Maskmen, Dairangers, and Toqgers (the last of whose case can be chalked up to their Laser-Guided Amnesia).
• Supernatural:
  • The angels all only have a first name.
  • Reapers as well.
  • Lilith and Cain are the only demons to go by their human names, and neither of them apparently have surnames. The rest of the demons don't remember their previous names (except for Crowley, and he doesn't use it), and apparently just pick a random human name when they're on Earth. There's at least one instance of a demon using the name of its vessel (Meg Masters), even after switching to a new vessel.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Cromartie is one of these. They even lampshade it in his very first scene.
  Cromartie: Mister Ferguson is ill today. My name is Cromartie.
  Student: Is that your only name, like Madonna?
  Cromartie: Madonna? Why? No.
• Ultraseven: Soga and Amagi are the only two Ultra Garrison members without full names.
• V (1983): The Visitors in both the original and new series go only by a first name.
• Vengeance Unlimited: Mr. Chapel's first name is never revealed. Though the likelihood of Chapel itself being a pseudonym is rather high in this regard.
• Vintergatan: The protagonists usually only had one name...then it becomes an Averted Trope with the second season, when they got last names too.
• What Not to Wear: Carmindy, the makeup expert.
• Whose Line Is It Anyway?: In one game of "Whose Line", Ryan (as Obi-Wan Kenobi) says "From now on I want to be known as Helen."
  Ryan: What kind of a name is Obi-Wan Kenobi? Call me Helen!
  Colin (as Luke Skywalker): Kenobi? Helen Kenobi?
  Ryan: No, just Helen.

Becomes a Brick Joke when Colin obliges a few minute later.

• Brazil's famous Excited Kids' Show Host Xuxa, although once she started doing shows for older audiences the surname Meneghel would appear in the credits. Her Alternate Company Equivalents Angélica and Eliana too, who continue to be referred to in a First-Name Basis reminiscent of this trope if only because their surnames are complicated (Ksyvickis and Michaelichen).
• Young Blades: Siroc. It's unclear whether this is a first or last name.

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