[billebllunt]

From comics, TV or movies? A character that was pretty cool, but just ruined by his silly or misappropriate name?

My vote: Billy from Predator. A native american, tracker, naturalist. It would be like naming DC's Apache Chief or Xmens Thunderbird "Billy." How many Indian guys u know named Billy?

[tlasjr]

None. I do know a Bobby though. The native American who voiced him was named Gregg. How many Native Americans do you know named Apache Chief?
....I'm actually going to go with Apache Chief for good character bad name.

[trebleshot]

I knew a couple Bills once. No one called either of them Billy, though. I've heard of some Native Americans changing their names to more English-sounding names in an effort to fit in better (like many immigrants have done over the years. The level of irony in that is almost painful).

Honestly, I'd be hard-pressed to think of a great character with a bad name. Most of the ones I can think of that had bad names were also really crappy characters.

[CMIII]

Joker from the 1989 Batman his Real name was Jack played by a Jack

[trebleshot]

I will say that the idea of giving the Joker a "real" name and making him the murderer of Wayne's parents was rather stupid. But that doesn't really mean the name itself is misappropriate or silly. Also, actors playing characters with the same first name as them is nothing new - not even back in 1989. Especially if the actor in question is Jack Nicholson.

Now if you want to talk about Bob the Henchman from the same film....

[CMIII]

you do have a point what was Jacks characters name in "The Shining" . . . Jack

[Jlogano20]

Windbreaker from g1 transformers........

[trebleshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jlogano20

Windbreaker from g1 transformers........

Windbreaker was from G2. Windcharger was G1, but he is not the same character as Windbreaker a la Trailbreaker/Trailcutter.

On that note, I'd say G1 Trailbreaker. Silly name when you parse it out (how many trails have you broken?), but a great character - especially in his MTMTE incarnation.

[jmurray90720]

Jubilation Lee. Not like Jubilee is an awesome character her name is just really stupid.

Her name could have been anything. Mei Lee? Something Chinese. Jubilee is a pretty direct nickname based on her powers, like Storm. They didn't have to go with the MOTU method of naming her.

[trebleshot]

Lol, if she was in MOTU her name probably would have been Light-Or or Spar-Kee (PoP name).

On a side note, that's be an interesting thread idea...MOTU/POP names for Marvel/DC characters.

[CMIII]

we call know that Comic Book characters get the worst names at times. Heck Stan Lee admitted he couldn't name them for anything why do you get so many names that are same letters First and Last. Jubilee is probably the funniest although Kitty Pryde isn't much better you expect her to have the Mutation that she can turn into a Cat.. Kitty - Another name for Cat, Pryde or Pride - is a Large Group of Lions

[trebleshot]

Stan Lee stated in several interviews that the reason a lot of the early Marvel characters had alliterative names was so he could easily remember them. He and Ditko were churning out tens of hundreds of characters a month at the time and there was no reference guide for him, short of his own.

But I will say that's an interesting take on Kitty, since I've never had any issues with her name. Her full name is Katherine Anne Pryde. While Pryde is a bit of a come-on, Kitty is a standard nickname for Katherine. Her code name is Shadowcat, which pretty much describes her powers and is a take on her real name.

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't use a character's real name to guess his or her powers.

[CMIII]

I typically don't but you do come across characters that's names describe at least one power... Victor Freise (Pronounced Freez) Guess what Ice powers, Harlene Quinzel dresses like a Harlequin Clown,

[trebleshot]

I wouldn't necessarily consider a costume to be one's power, especially in Harley's case. As for Mr. Freeze, I guess you could say there are exceptions to every rule.

But I still wouldn't presume he would have ice powers just by that. He could have had time-stopping powers, for example. Again, that's just my thought process.

[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMIII

I typically don't but you do come across characters that's names describe at least one power... Victor Freise (Pronounced Freez) Guess what Ice powers, Harlene Quinzel dresses like a Harlequin Clown,

It's Victor Fries, "Freise" would be pronounced "Fry-suh"
Edward Nigma's name is a giveaway to the riddler identity, he even uses enigma sometimes as a pseudonym. Julian Day being calender man, most of the inhumans have stupid real names (Blackagar Boltagon), but I wouldn't say these are the worst rather than they're dead giveaways.

[ChuckSass]

Spider-Woman, for a character who's very cool, she got dealt a crappy card.

[GuzBuddy]

Any Darth who isn't Darth vader. It just means Dark [word].

[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChuckSass

Spider-Woman, for a character who's very cool, she got dealt a crappy card.

I'm assuming you're meaning the "Spider-Woman" aspect and not the "Jessica Drew" name. I like her, so her less-than-original hero name doesn't bother me that much because at least she doesn't have a totally stupid name. She may not have gotten Arachne, but at least she didn't get something like crazy quilt, calender man, or asbestos lady.

[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuzBuddy

Any Darth who isn't Darth vader. It just means Dark [word].

No, there are plenty of cool sounding Sith lords. Darth Revan, Malak, Nihilus, Bane, and Tyrannus are some of my favorite sounding Star Wars dudes, regardless of their canonical standing. Darth is just a title, I base name judgement for any Darth on what comes after the word itself. Your statement might imply that you think only the first character to have a specific rank/title gets to be cool with it.

[gopalkrishnan]

Most characters with lame names have usually have the lame powers to match. I also second that Jubilee is probably the worst named character.

[tlasjr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trebleshot

Now if you want to talk about Bob the Henchman from the same film....

How can you hate on "Bob the goon" ?

[3233rafael]

This Yahoo article was out today on this topic...

What's The Absolute Worst Name Of Any Comic Book Character Ever?

[3233rafael]

Paste-Pot Pete... LMAO