Follow TV Tropes


Only Known By Their Nickname / Anime & Manga

Go To

People who are Only Known by Their Nickname in anime and manga.

  • Since most of ½ Prince takes place in a game world a lot of the characters only know one another's screen names. This is most blatant with Prince, who goes well out of his way to keep anyone from learning he's really a female player, the student of his biggest fan, close friend of his kohai, and cousin of his first kiss.
  • 3-gatsu no Lion
    • Hinata is primarily referred to by her shortened name, Hina or Hina-chan.
    • Advertisement:
    • "Smith" is revealed to be a nickname long after his introduction, when the manga unceremoniously reveals that his real name is Tatsuyuki Misumi.
  • Accel World gives us Kuroyukihime ("Snow Black"), leader of Nega Nebulus and the main character's love interest. Even her digital ID, supposed to reveal a person's real information and is impossible to hack in-universe, displays her name as Kuroyukihime. One of her friends refers to her as Sa-chan, which is the closest hint it gives us to her real name.
  • Tokidoki from Amatsuki is almost always known as Toki both inside and outside the story, mainly because his full name is described as "too weird". (It's Japanese for 'sometimes,' and while the Japanese do sometimes use words for names, just like any other language, that isn't one of them.)
  • Assassination Classroom:
    • Koro-sensei gets his nickname from his students, specifically from Kayano. He doesn't have a real name, and he used to be called "Shinigami" when he was an assassin.
    • Advertisement:
    • After her classmates are tired of calling her "Jiritsu Shikou Kotei Houdai-san" all the time, they shortened her name to "Ritsu".
    • Kimura's first name is not "Masayoshi", but "Justice". Since he's embarrassed by this name, he prefers the Alternate Character Reading over his real name, but everyone calls him by his last name anyway. He does later embrace his real name, though.
    • Kayano's real name is "Akari Yukimura". It turns out that "Kaede Kayano" is actually the name of a one-shot character she once played and that she decided to use as an alias to infiltrate the class. Since she has come to like it, she wants everyone to keep calling her by her alias.
  • Azumanga Daioh:
    • Ayumu 'Osaka' Kasuga — her teachers, friends, fans... she's the only person who uses her real name. On the class listings for the second year, she initially thinks she is not in Yukari's class, but then sees that her name is listed as "Osaka".
    • Advertisement:
    • To a lesser extent is Koyomi "Yomi" Mizuhara.
    • Minamo "Nyamo" Kurosawa is a small example too. Early on in the series, everyone of the main cast switches from referring to her by her last name to referring to her by "Nyamo".
  • The title character of Beelzebub is simply called Beel, or Baby Beel, by everyone. Justified, as his real name, Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV would be a mouthful... and Oga doesn't remember his full name anyway.
  • Several members of Black Lagoon's cast are commonly referred to only by nicknames. The only one of the cast who has a name we actually know is real (and not just a nickname or an alias) is Rokuro Okajima, the main character, whom everyone just calls "Rock". Amongst other examples, "Revy" is a nickname (first name "Rebecca", nothing else known), "Dutch" is a nickname, "Balalaika" is a nickname, and "Hänsel and Gretel" are nicknames (but they have no real names anyway).
    • Balalaika is later given a full name: Sofiya Irininskaya Pavlovena.
  • Bungou Stray Dogs has Yumeno "Q" Kyuusaku (whose real name is never spoken aloud) and Oda "Odasaku" Sakunosuke. Also possibly the case with Mori, as Elise calls him Rintarou, which was the real name of the real-life Mori Ougai, which might imply that it's his real name as well.
  • A Certain Magical Index:
    • Accelerator notes that he used to have a real name. A normal name. He even tells how many characters were in it (3?) but doesn't reveal what it was. He's only called Accelerator now.
    • Index too. Presumably she wasn't named Index when she was born, but probably after she was forced to memorize an entire library of knowledge and had the rest of her memory wiped. Whatever the case, "Index Librorum Prohibitorum" is apparently her actual legal name now, as it appears on any form of ID she carries.
    • Aogami Piercenote  presumably has a real name as well. To us, though, he's just the blue-haired guy with piercings.
  • City Hunter: Umibozu's real name of Hayato Ijuin is only said once by Ryo and another by the daughter of his old commander, everyone else call him either Falcon (his codename as a mercenary) or Umibozu (a mocking nickname that Ryo gave him and stuck). Even Umibozu himself prefers being called with his nicknames.
  • Code:Breaker: The head of Re:Code is only ever called "The One Being Sought", which is fine for Ogami who is also his brother, but sounds a bit odd coming from other members of Re:Code ("'The One Being Sought', what are our plans?").
  • C.C. (pronounced "C-Two") in Code Geass is only known by these initials. The only time her real name was spoken out loud the viewer is only treated with the speaker's vague lip-movements. Supposedly, it had originally been planned that her true identity would have some relevance in the second season. But since Executive Meddling significantly altered season 2, that plan got dropped.
  • V. T. from Cowboy Bebop runs a pool for people guessing her name. Her real name is Victoria Terpsichore. Vicious, the show's main antagonist, never reveals his true name either.
  • The famed criminal Mister in Coyote Ragtime Show is so called because he has as many aliases and false identities as there are stars in the sky and nobody knows what his real name actually is.
  • The protagonist of Daily Life with Monster Girl is rarely referred to by his real name, Kimihito Kurusu. The girls around him tend to use various nicknames for him, generally some variation of "Darling", "Master" or "Husband".
  • Daily Lives of High School Boys:
    • Sanada East's Student Council President is only known as "Ringo-chan."
    • The Literature Girl or "Yassan". Her real name was never released.
  • The hero of Darker Than Black is only known by his Code Name, Hei ("black" in Chinese) The Black Reaper, BK-201 (his Messier number), and "Li Shengshun" (or some variation) as his Nice Guy civilian alias. Whatever his real name was we'll probably never know, as he gave it up a long time ago.
  • Death Note:
    • We never find out L's real name until the 13th, non-story book that explains everything in detail, which only came out well after the main story was over.
    • Ditto for Matt, although both Mello's (Mihael Kheel) and Near's (Nate River) are revealed late in the story. In fact, many people go by nicknames in the series, since Kira knowing your real name is... problematic, to say the least. L even goes by multiple layers of nicknames.
  • In Delicious in Dungeon, Izutsumi is known only as Asebi to Shuro's group. Team Touden finds out her real name later on.
  • Nearly everyone on the main cast of Denki-gai no Honya-san is known only by their nickname, e.g. Fu Girl, Director, Sensei, Sommelier, and Kameko.
  • The dub of Digimon Adventure does this to justify the changes in names despite not trying to hide that most of the characters normally live in Japan; the first episode introduces the main cast listing both their full names and the nicknames derived from them (to varying degrees of plausibility) which the characters are referred to thereafter. It becomes strange when their parents use these nicknames for them, especially "Izzy", which is a of shortening the characters last name. The other series don't bother with such a thing.
  • Takeshi Goda in Doraemon is commonly known as Gian. Some of the characters such as Shizuka and Gian's mother still call him Takeshi.
  • Dragon Ball
    • In Japanese, Goku is often referred to as "Son" or sometime "Son-Kun" by Buluma instead of his full name of "Son Goku" which doubles for the name for his family name which goes by "Son Family". However with western translations and dubs just "Goku" is used to refer to The Hero.
      • Actually when you think about it Goku is his Earth nickname while his birth name is "Kakarot" (Carrot) so Vegeta, Nappa, Raddiz and Broly are the only ones who referring to Goku correctly.
    • Piccolo/Kami are in a similar situation to Goku but unlike him they don't even know their birth name, were once one being who called to earth before spiting into two beings one good called Kami (God) the other bad named Piccolo (flute). When they fused back together Piccolo whose in control of the body says he's just the "Nameless Namekian" despite Goku trying to cal him "Kamiccolo".
    • Muten Rōshi/Master Roshi is usually referred as "Tutle Hermit" or sometimes "Master" by Goku and Krillin, there also his alter ego Jackie Chun. Ditto for Roshi's rival Master Shen is called by "Crane Hermit" or "Master Crane", only Roshi calls him by his real name.
    • Dragon Ball Super: Even though Goku Black claims to be Son Goku, everyone else except his partner Zamasu calls him "Goku Black" or just "Black" instead to differentiate him from the real Son Goku. Even after his true identity is revealed, he's still called "Black" for most of the time and is rarely called "Zamasu", mostly to differentiate him from the other Zamasu.
  • Everyone (both in the show and in Real Life) calls the main erm... "heroine"... of Elfen Lied "Lucy". The tail end of the manga reveals her actual name is Kaede.
  • In ERASED, the kids all call Jun Shiratori "Yuuki," meaning "courage," since he's always telling them to face their fears and speak their minds.
  • Eyeshield 21:
    • Shien Mushanokoji, the quarterback of the Seibu Wild Gunmen , is only called "The Kid" for several volumes before his name is revealed.
    • Monta's real name is Raimon Taro, but due to a misunderstanding when he first introduced himself to Sena he's been called "Monta" by everyone but his mother ever since. Even his locker says "Monta" on it.
    • Additionally, when Sena and Monta set out on the trail of the mysterious third founding Devil Bat, literally all they know about him is his nickname, Musashi, causing them to think he's Jerkass soccer player Muro Satoshi. Musashi turns out to be a guy named Gen Takekura; the nickname is never directly explained, although "Takekura" and "Musashi" are two different ways to read the same kanji (武蔵).
    • "Buffalo" Ujishima of the Seibu Wild Gunmen. Not that it can be helped, since his actual given name, "Baharou", is pronounced identically to "Buffalo" in Japanese.
    • Patrick "Panther" Spencer is never called Patrick (or any permutation thereof) by anyone; his name is only mentioned as an answer to a "Devil Bat Spy" question.
  • The Oracion Seis of Fairy Tail all have codenames. Hoteye mentions that his real name is Richard, though.
    • Cobra later tells Kinana that his name is Erik but unlike Hoteye, he continues to use his codename afterward.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist:
    • Scar gets known as... well... "Scar" due the one he has on the face. He said he abandoned his name, which is never revealed.
    • The main antagonist is usually known as "Father" or "the Philosopher from the East", though his "true name" is Homunculus. More or less. His own 'father' calls him "Dwarf in the Flask".
  • Nobody in GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class calls Miyabi Oomichi "Miyabi". She's mainly referred by the main cast as "Professor," while Namiko calls her by the Alternate Character Reading "Masa," and the Faceless Masses calls her "Oomichi-san".
  • In-Universe in Gaiking: Legend of Daiku Maryu. After Daiya nicknamed the Crab Bunker "Kani Tank", it is only referred to as its real name during the most serious of moments... and by Puria all the time.
  • Ghost Hunt:
    • Kazuya Shibuya. If you have seen the show but can't recall who that is, it may be because everyone calls him "Naru" for the entire show. "Kazuya Shibuya" is not his real name either. It's Oliver Davies.
    • There's also Takigawa, who everyone just calls "Bou-san." (Mr. Monk)
  • Everybody in the Section 9 in Ghost in the Shell save for Chief Aramaki and Togusa, who has a family, only uses a code name or alias; in the Stand Alone Complex episode where their names are shown as suspects to an attempted armed coup their real names have been obscured or corrupted, showing only the familiar aliases.
  • From the Gundam franchise, Char Aznable (at one time, Quattro Bajeena), Zechs Marquise, and even The Hero Setsuna F. Seiei. (Real names: Casval rem Deikun, Milliardo Peacecraft, Soran Ibrahim)
    • G Gundam has a twofer with "Touhou Fuhai" (Undefeated of the East), AKA Master Asia (which is arguably just a pragmatic short-hand for the former). Quite often, Domon will refer to him by both titles in quick succession ("Touhou Fuhai Master Asia!") The manga G Gundam: Fight 7th gives his original name as Shuji Kurosu.
  • The villain in Gun X Sword is known only as the Claw, sometimes called "Comrade" by his allies. He rejected his real name long ago and it is never revealed.
    • Super Robot Wars K has confirmed The Claw Man's real name to be Koo Krying Kroo and he's William Woo's father.
  • All the Zoanoids, some Zoalords, and even Lost Numbers are never given names in Guyver. Some just have their model number type as a nickname. Some Zoalords seem to rename themselves after famous figures or fictional literary characters.
  • The title character of Haiyore! Nyarko-san introduces herself as Nyarlahotep the Crawling Chaos, adding "People call me Nyarko, but I have a real name". Later novels reveal that her true name is The Unpronounceable, and even being able to comprehend it is quite a feat.
  • Kyon and his sister in Haruhi Suzumiya - their real names will likely never be revealed. "Kyon" is just an irritating nickname his aunt once gave him and that his sister spread, that ended up sticking despite all his efforts to discourage it. His sister doesn't even get that much; everyone just calls her "little sister".
    • In "The Disappearence of Haruhi Suzumiya", an alternate dimension Haruhi asks Kyon for his name. After wondering whether to give his nickname (which this Haruhi wouldn't know) or his real name (which not even the Haruhi from his dimension would know), he ends up giving the obviously fake name this Haruhi might remember him by: John Smith. She then goes on to call him John.
      Kyon: When you say John, are you referring to me?
      Haruhi: Why go with Kyon when John's a much cooler name?
  • Hajime's younger brother in I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying is almost exclusively referred to by his pen name, Mayotama. Only his mother calls him Youta.
  • Gyro Zeppeli from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Steel Ball Run. His real name is Julius Caeser Zeppeli.
  • The top eight members of Ragnarok in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple have codenames based in Norse Mythology. Only three of them have their full names revealed during the story in which they appear. The three others who join the Shinpaku Alliance don't have their names revealed for another hundred or so chapters.
  • Kinnikuman has Curry Cook the Brutal Chojin. His backstory in Curry Cook: The Man of Holy Love and Fury reveals his real name in a conversation when he was a humble traveler. note .
  • Mitsune "Kitsune" Konno from Love Hina.
  • Devices in the Lyrical Nanoha franchise are occasionally given Mascot Names by their users, nicknames that they're programmed to treat as if they were their real names. Terra Forming Unit IR-S07 from the Reflection/Detonation duology is exclusively referred to by their Mascot Name "Iris", since addressing someone that is essentially human by the series' standards by a serial number would be rather insulting.
  • Madlax is only known by her Code Name (which has its own sinister backstory), even to her liaisons, the closest thing she has to family. In fact, she doesn't have any "real" name at all, since she isn't that real herself, in the first place.
  • The Gaba Thieves in Magical Circle Guru-Guru make a deliberate point of only ever using nicknames to protect their identities. When Nike and Kukuri briefly join them, the leader Sly immediately gives them codenames. This is taken a step further with Sly himself, who everyone calls "Ookashira", essentially meaning "Boss".
  • Mazinger Z:
  • Emperor Sōun from the shōjo manga Mikado no Shihō is only known as "Shiki" to almost everyone else except his mother.
  • Quetzalcoatl from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is almost always referred to by the shortened name "Lucoa", probably because her full name would be quite a mouthful for a Japanese speaker. Likewise, Saikawa's older sister Sanae is only ever called "Georgie".
  • In Monster, there is the mafia boss named The Baby. His real name is given The Un-Reveal treatment.
  • My Hero Academia is about superheroes, so there are a fair number of both heroes and villains whose real names are either unknown or rarely used:
    • Toshinori "All Might" Yagi is only ever regularly referred to by his real name by Gran Torino.
    • Endeavor is always referred to by his hero name, Endeavor. There are absolutely no mentions of him as Enji Todoroki by any characters, not even his own family. Likewise, the civilian/papa side to him is barely there. Endeavor is practically his only identity, which says a lot. The only person to call him otherwise is Gran Torino, as his senior (seniority privileges), but only by his surname of "Todoroki", as a warning not to engage Stain. Yet, quite some time later, Dabi would be the first to invoke his full name in the hope to get a rise out of him, finding commonalities between them both.
    • Speaking of Gran Torino, he himself is an example, with his real name being unknown, although he always calls All Might and Endeavour by their real names.
    • Most of the Pro Heroes who work at UA High are examples (Recovery Girl, Snipe, Midnight, Present Mic, Power Loader, Lunch Rush, Ectoplasm, etc.). Present Mic's real name is given briefly during the flashback to how Shota "Eraserhead" Aizawa (who is not an example of this trope) got his hero name.
    • Indeed, most Pro Heroes in general (Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, Gang Orca, Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady, etc.) haven't had their real names revealed.
    • Dabi of the League of Villains introduces himself by noting that's what he's going by at the moment, and refuses to give his real name when asked.
  • Naruto:
    • Yamato's real name is unknown and since his introduction he has just gone by the Code Name Tsunade gave him even after the mission he was given it for ended. Apparently he likes "Yamato" better than his real name, whatever it might be. Readers often confuse "Tenzo" to be his real name, but it's actually just the Code Name he used he worked with Kakashi. Given the more recently-revealed details of his background, it's entirely possible Yamato has no idea what his real name is and simply prefers to go by whatever his current code-name is for convenience's sake.
    • We eventually find out A and Killer Bee don't go by their real names, but rather nicknames that have been used by the Raikage and his partner through their village's history.
  • Nodame from Nodame Cantabile rarely gets called by her real name, Megumi Noda.
  • One Piece:
    • Franky's real name is Cutty Flam. "Franky" was a name given to him by Iceburg.
    • Hachi is rarely ever called by his real name "Hatchan", since it sounds very cute.
    • Edward Newgate and Marshall D. Teach are known almost exclusively as "Whitebeard" and "Blackbeard", respectively.
    • Most people refer to the Admirals of the Marines by their color-coded alias, and rarely know or use their real names.
    • During the Paramount War in Marineford, a flashback shows the Pirate King complaining to Whitebeard because everyone's started calling him "Gold Roger" when his real name is Gol D. Roger. By the present day hardly anyone refers to him using that name. The world knows him as the Pirate King Gold Roger.
    • Many members of the Donquixote family are only known by their given codenames. The four family executives are codenamed for the four card suits; thus, Donquixote Rocinante is almost exclusively referred to as "Corazon", and we never learn Trebol's, Diamante's, or Pica's real names. Some of the underlings are the same way; we are explicitly told that "Buffalo" and "Baby 5" are codenames, but we never learn their real ones.
  • Kasanoda from Ouran High School Host Club. We're given his first name (which is Ritsu), but he's almost always referred to as Kasanoda or some mispronunciation of his name.
  • In Pandora Hearts, legal contractors are often nicknamed after their Chain, such as Raven, who turns out to be Gilbert post-Time Skip, or Hatter, aka Xerxes Break. That name is also an alias: his birth name is Kevin Regnard. And then there is Charlotte Baskerville, whom everyone started calling "Lottie" after Jack came up with the nickname.
  • We don't know the full names of the cast of Please Tell Me! Galko-chan. The names used are merely based on their character archetypes: Galko, Otako, Ojou, and so on.
  • Ash Ketchum in Pokémon is a downplayed example of this. Team Rocket always refer to him as "the Twerp". They almost never refer to him by his real name and you can probably count the number of times they've ever done so to his face on one hand.
  • Due to a Dub Name Change X and Y are this in translations of Pokémon Adventures. Their names are short for "Xavier" and "Yvonne", though in the original version their names are literally "X" and "Y".
  • Kafuka Fura of Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei is using a false name derived from that of Franz Kafka. At one point there's a flashback to Nami's kindergarten class, and one of Nami's classmates, who looks like a younger Kafuka, is identified by the name An. It seems to be implied that Kafuka's real name is An Akagi, the Japanese title for Anne of Green Gables, in reference to Kafuka's ultra-optimistic personality. The name/book title literally means "Red Anne", but is also a pun on "red end" in Engrish, and in both cases, refers to what Kafuka is likely to ultimately do to her classmates.
  • School-Live!:
    • Sensei-chan Megumi Sakura is only ever referred to as "Megu-nee" by the characters, though she wishes they would refer to her as "Sakura-sensei".
    • Yuuri is referred to as "Rii" more often than her full name.
    • Rii's sister is exclusively known as "Ruu".
  • Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu has the protagonist Yotaro who doesn't even mention his own name, not even when first speaking to his rakugo idol Yakumo. Yotaro is a nickname given to him by Yakumo, and it means "fool" in rakugo slang. Less than halfway through the first episode of the anime, we get a guy from Yotaro's past and only then is this trope averted - his real name is Kyoji.
  • "Obi" from Snow White with the Red Hair goes by a number of nicknames and aliases depending on the situation and has been using Obi as if it were his name since starting to work for Zen. Zen did use what seemed like it was possibly Obi's real name when he gave him a nametag and the authority of working directly under the prince in an official position but Obi did not confirm the name.
  • Oshizu in To Love-Ru. Her real name is Shizu Murasame, but she likes to be called Oshizu better.
  • In Yo-Kai Watch we have Barnaby "Bear" Bernstein (Gorouta "Kuma" Kumashina in Japan) who is never referred to by his proper name. To a lesser extent other characters often have shortened versions of their names, like "Eddie" and "Katie". Even Nathan's parents only call him "Nate".
  • The Pharaoh in the English dub of Yu-Gi-Oh!. His real name is unknown and is a plot point in the last season, so the only thing his friends can call him is by his title, which they use in lieu of a name, rather than as a respectful gesture or as a title as Ishizu and Shadi would use it. In the Japanese version, he's called "Yugi" until his true name is revealed.
  • Ryo Marufuji, the Kaiser, of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. There is a time when people call him Hell Kaiser until they call him only Kaiser again.
  • Only a few characters call Shark from Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL by his name Ryoga Kamishiro.


How well does it match the trope?

Example of:


Media sources: