Basic Trope: A character's name describes something about him or her, such as personality or occupation.
- Straight: Woodrow "Woody" Carpenter builds houses for a living.
- Exaggerated: Woody Carpenter is bitten by a radioactive carpenter ant and becomes The Woodsman, a minor superhero with powers over wood.
- Downplayed: Woody Carpenter enjoyed climbing trees in his childhood, but no longer does that.
- Justified:
- A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Woody decided he wanted to be a carpenter when he grew up because of his last name
. - Woody's family have been carpenters since the Middle Ages, and their surname derives from the occupation. He got his given name because his parents didn't have much imagination.
- Woody's mother had a vision of the future of what her child would grow up to be, and she decided to name him accordingly.
- A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Woody decided he wanted to be a carpenter when he grew up because of his last name
- Inverted: Woody Carpenter is allergic to wood.
- Subverted: Woody Carpenter is a baker.
- Double Subverted: ...but his favorite hobby is building birdhouses.
- Parodied: Woody's brothers are Ash and Rowan, his sister is Willow. Their parents were both killed in a freak lathing accident and they were raised by old Ma Hogany. When Woody is bitten by a radioactive carpenter ant and given elemental powers over wood, his first thought is to call himself... Mister Amazing Woodman!
- Zig Zagged: The Woodsman's backstory changes Depending on the Writer. Sometimes he was born Woody Carpenter, sometimes Jack Lumber. Sometimes he's Steve Bunyan, revealed to be a descendant of Paul Bunyan. Sometimes he has an entirely mundane name with nothing to do with wood. These identities are regularly Ret Conned.
- Averted: The carpenter's name is Steve Smith, or something equally normal.
- Enforced: It's The Audience-Alienating Era, and one-shot characters always have Punny Names.
- Lampshaded: "Mortimer Coughin is an undertaker? Color me shocked."
- Invoked: The carpenter legally changed his name to Woody Carpenter as a gimmick.
- Exploited:
- A cunning villain starts his search for themed superheroes' secret identities by looking for real names that fit that theme.
- Alice and Bob Onner realize that everyone they know has their lives dictated by their Punny Names, and so they decide to give their son the first name "Milli".
- Defied:
- "The last thing I'm going to be is a carpenter, with my name I'd look stupid."
- Woody Carpenter legally changes his name.
- Discussed: "A wood-themed superhero, eh? Let me guess — you're named after a tree. No? Something Carpenter?"
- Conversed: ???
- Plotted A Good Waste: The high number of Punny Names and Contrived Coincidences involved in the Mass Superempowering Event are the first hint that it wasn't a random chance, but the work of a Great Gazoo with nigh-omnipotence and a puerile sense of humour (and who may or may not actually be the author).
- Implied: The minor character is usually seen carrying the wood, his real name is unknown but everyone calls him woody.
- Played For Laughs: Punny Name is the main running gag of the entire series.
- Played For Drama: Woody actually doesn't want to be a carpenter, but he feels like it's his destiny because of his name.
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