Basic Trope: A character was called by a nickname as a kid but drops it when they grow older.
- Straight: As a kid, Alice would call her friend Robert "Bob", but when they grow up, he tells her to call him Robert now.
- Exaggerated: Robert used to be known solely as "Bob", but now it's an Embarrassing Nickname.
- Downplayed: When Robert grows up, he lets his family and romantic partners call him "Bob", but insists on everyone else calling him Robert.
- Justified:
- Robert feels like "Bob" is too childish of a name, and it doesn't suit him anymore.
- They are at work and either Robert or protocol insists on separating professional life from private life.
- Inverted:
- Robert was an Easily Embarrassed Youngster as a boy and insisted on being called by his given name, but now that he's an adult, he's more confident and wants to be called Bob.
- Robert is a Manchild who begs everyone to call him "Bob" because he still hasn't matured enough.
- Subverted: It turns out that Robert in the present only doesn't like Alice calling him Bob, because they're no longer friends.
- Double Subverted: But when they make up and become friends again, he still doesn't want to be called Bob.
- Parodied: Robert decides to stop being called Bob the minute he turns eighteen.
- Zigzagged: When Robert was a kid, everyone would call him Bob, but now pretty much everyone calls him Robert, save his best friend Alice who calls him "Bob", his girlfriend Carol who calls him "Bobby", and his coworkers call him "Mr. Smith".
- Averted:
- Bob keeps his nickname even as an adult.
- Robert was never referred to as Bob, even as a kid.
- Enforced: The executives felt that audiences would not take an adult character named "Bob" seriously, especially in a series aimed towards adults and/or addressing serious subject matter.
- Lampshaded: "He's calling himself 'Robert' now. Times have changed."
- Invoked: Dave convinces Robert to stop calling himself Bob so he can be taken more seriously.
- Exploited:
- Defied: Robert decides to keep being called Bob, even as an adult.
- Discussed: "I remember when we were kids, you called yourself Bob. Do you still call yourself that?"
- Conversed: "He's grown up in the sequel. I wonder if he'll still call himself Bob?"
- Implied: In A Minor Kidroduction, Robert is seen being called "Bob", but why he renamed himself is left unclear.
- Deconstructed: Alice thinks "Robert" isn't as kindhearted as "Bob" that she used to know anymore, and it tears their relationship apart.
- Reconstructed: Robert tells Alice that he doesn't hate her just because the name "Robert" fits him better.
- Played for Laughs: A Running Gag is Robert's Amazingly Embarrassing Parents calling him "Bob" even though he feels he's outgrown the nickname.
- Played for Drama: Robert hates his past self and feels like "Bob is dead. I'm Robert now."
- Played for Horror: Robert becomes a supervillain who insists on either being called by his title "Dark Tiger", or by Robert. Anyone that still calls him Bob ends up getting murdered.
Back to Outgrowing the Childish Name.
