Fanon Personal Name

Synonyms:
See also:	Blank Slate, Facecanon, Fanon, Headcanon, Moniker
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

A fanon personal name may be given to a character whose name is often partially or fully unknown in canon.

Explanation

Some characters have unknown birth names, true names, or legal names. Some characters are only introduced by pseudonyms (or names that fans commonly speculate to be pseudonyms). In some settings, it may be customary for people to only have one name. Some minor characters may never be addressed by name.

For a variety of reasons, fan writers may wish to dub a character with a fanon personal name, often comprised of a given name (AKA first name, forename, or Christian name) and a surname (AKA family name or last name); having a conventional "full name" may be more appropriate for characters within a modern AU, for example.

Some of these particular names may become popular enough to be widely accepted fanon.

Examples

• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers - The 1996 fanfic Rhyme & Reason gave Chip and Dale the full names Chip Maplewood and Dale Oakmont. These were accepted into fanon and have since appeared in numerous otherwise unrelated fanfics.
• Devil May Cry - With the exception of a few characters such as Nico Goldstein, most characters are only known by one name. Dante, Vergil, Nero, and their spouses and children may be referred to as the Spardas in fan works.
• Final Fantasy VII - Many characters, including Sephiroth, Zack, several Shinra personnel, and the Turks are only known by one name. Zack and Reno have been commonly referred to as Zack Donovan and Reno Sinclair in fan works. Further, it is commonly speculated that the Turks have only been introduced by their code names, and thus fan writers may give them entirely different first and last names. The canon surnames of Zack and Reeve were respectively revealed to be Fair and Tuesti in later installments of the franchise.
• Final Fantasy VIII - Raine's maiden name has never been given in canon; thus, some fans have speculated that her son, Squall Leonhart, took his surname from her.
• Hetalia - In a deleted blog post, the creator assigned semi-official human names to some of the personified nations. Germany was only assigned the given name Ludwig, so many fans give him the surname Beilschmidt from his brother, Prussia. Matthias Køhler became such a popular fanon name for Denmark that some fans have mistaken it for official.
• Invader Zim - Fans have often referred to Dib as Dib Membrane, after his father, Doctor Membrane. The creator apparently clarified that Membrane is the father's first name,^{[citation needed]} but Dib Membrane became canon in the comics and Enter the Florpus.
• Kingdom Hearts - The original names of Organization XIII members IX through XII—Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia, and Larxene—were not given in Kingdom Hearts II, nor in any of the several installments released in subsequent years. Because all Organization members' names are anagrams of their original selves' names with an added X, there are limited possibilities of what those original names could be. Some of these possibilities are more popular than others among fans; Myde and Arlene are popular fanon names for the original selves of Demyx and Larxene respectively.
• The Legend of Zelda - Ganondorf may be given the surname Dragmire after he was referred to as such in the English manual of A Link to the Past, while Princess Zelda may be given the surname Hyrule after the kings who bore the name in Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild.
• The Lord of the Rings - Some fans have mistakenly assumed Greenleaf to be Legolas' surname; "Greenleaf" is the literal translation of Legolas, and "Legolas Greenleaf" is only used as a sort of poetic epithet in canon.
• Merlin - Merlin may be known as Merlin Emrys.
• My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Probably the most extreme example. Hundreds upon hundreds of previously unnamed background and incidental characters got names and sometimes also personalities from the fans. Some names were Jossed later, some partially or entirely became official, but many still only have their fan names.
• Naruto - Gaara's siblings, Temari and Kankuro, may be referred to with the prefix "Sabaku no" or English-translated suffix "of the Sand"; this title has only been applied to Gaara in canon. Tsunade may be given her grandfather's surname, Senju.
• Newsies - Most newsies characters go by nicknames and many do not have last names. Fanon first names include Anthony for Racetrack Higgins, Sean for Spot Conlon, Charlie for Crutchie, and Michael for Mush Meyers. Unnamed newsies who have fanon names include Blanket, Tumbler, and Graves.
• Red vs. Blue - Most of the Freelancers are only known by their code names. Fan works often give Agent Carolina's birth name as Carolina Church, though it is unknown whether Carolina is canonically a code name. Within AUs in which he is Agent Carolina's brother, Agent Washington often has the birth name of David Church.
• The Secret of NIMH - Unlike her children and her late husband, Mrs. Brisby is canonically only known by her family name. Fans gave her the forename Elizabeth after Elizabeth Hartman, her voice actress in the first movie.
• Star Trek: The Original Series - Fans have often dubbed Uhura with the given name Penda. Her alternate self in the 2009 film continuity is known as Nyota Uhura, which is the name she has previously been given in tie-in novels.
• Star Wars - Count Dooku is often given the fanon personal name Yan, this is so common that some fans express surprise upon discovering it isn't canon.
• Team Fortress 2 - Only Demoman (Tavish Finnegan DeGroot), Engineer (Dell Conagher), and possibly Soldier's (Jane Doe) full names are confirmed canon. The six remaining mercenaries have either only a surname, only a given name, or no name at all to work with. Scout (Jeremy) is sometimes given the surname Elbertson after his given-namesake Jerma985, Sniper (Mr. Mundy, birth name Mun-Dee) is often given the first name Mick (after the name given to him on the box of a figurine of questionable canonicity), and Medic (Mr. Ludwig) has been given names ranging from Josef to Fritz to Humboldt. The surname given to Heavy (Mikhail), and the names given to Pyro and Spy (canonically nameless), vary considerably.