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The Character Title is one of the easiest ways to name a work of fiction. Just take the name of a character and use it for the name of the series. The eponymous character is usually, but not always, the protagonist. A possible downfall of this trope is that if the show is a live-action, should the actor playing the title character decides to quit, it could spell the end of the show.
See also Antagonist Title, Secondary Character Title, and Role Called, which takes it further, inserting the character's title too. Another variation is Character Name and the Noun Phrase. If two people are in there, see Name and Name. If the eponymous character doesn't appear until the end, this character is The Namesake. Biopics are especially prone to this for obvious reasons, often in the form of Mononymous Biopic Title.
Compare Job Title, which is where the work is named after a character's occupation; and The Place, in which it is named after a location. It may change over time due to Spotlight-Stealing Title. Contrast I Am Not Shazam, where people assume the series' name is the character's name. See the Protagonist Title Fallacy for the false assumption that only protagonists' names are used in Character Titles. In literary circles this is called an eponym, a term also used to refer to The Namesake. Also note that you won't see Cowboy BeBop at His Computer.
Examples (by original medium):
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Anime and Manga
Ballads
Comic Books
99% of all comic book superheroes fall into this trope. Notable exception, however, is Shazam, which of course leads to a different trope...
Nonetheless, Gotta Catch 'Em All, so...
Supervillains:
- Joker (Not a comic series so much as a Graphic Novel; not to be confused with The Joker, which was a short-lived series from the Seventies. Three guesses who it features...)
- Venom (Although his miniseries titles often had sub-titles such as "Lethal Protector" or "The Hunger".)
- Harley Quinn (Not many issues of this series; it's become Harley-based stories in the main series now as far as I'm aware...)
Non-superhero characters:
Fairy Tales
Fan Fiction
Film
Literature
- Agnes Grey
- Allan Quatermain
- Aimee: A Secondary Character Title, the main character isn't named until the last chapter.
- Artemis Fowl
- Arthur
- Baudolino
- Billy Bathgate
- Boris Godunov
- Carrie
- Cerberon
- Cinderella
- Clarissa
- Colas Breugnon
- Coraline
- Daisy Miller
- Dolores Claiborne
- Don Quixote
- Dracula
- Emma
- Eragon
- Erast Fandorin
- Ethan Frome
- Eugene Onegin
- "Ezekiel", the 2011 short story by Desmond Warzel.
- Firebird
- Frankenstein
- Franklin
- Gadsby
- The Hardy Boys
- Harry Potter
- Haruhi Suzumiya
- Heidi
- The Hereward Trilogy
- The much parodied I, Claudius
- Jane Eyre
- Jennifer Government
- King Of The Water Roads - Though the character is never seen and the general populace usually only knows him by that name.
- Lolita
- The Lord of the Rings - Antagonist title. The Lord of the Rings is Sauron.
- Mary Poppins
- The Monk
- Mort in the Discworld series.
- Nancy Drew
- Nicholas Nickleby
- Rebecca
- A number of Redwall books.
- Robin Hood
- Sabriel and Lirael, the first two books of the Old Kingdom trilogy. (The third book, Abhorsen, is a Job Title.)
- Septimus Heap
- Sherlock Holmes
- Actually a subversion, as none of the book titles ever begin with his name. Only the short story anthologies have his name in the titles at all: The Adventures of, The Memoirs of, The Return of, and Casebook of. His Last Bow is the exception to the rule.
- Silas Marner
- Stargirl
- Most of the Tales From Dimwood Forest books: Poppy, Poppy And Rye, Ragweed.
- Taltos
- Tehanu
- The Picture of Dorian Gray
- The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall
Live Action TV
- Angel
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Barney Miller
- Becker
- Benson
- Blake's 7
- This series actually fits into both this trope and Artifact Title, as the titular character (Blake) disappears at the end of the second season, is absent for the third, and only reappears in the very last episode of the fourth (and final) season—thus only appearing in just over half of the series.
- Bones Well, sort of.
- Cake
- Castle
- Columbo
- Conan
- Chuck
- Dexter
- Doctor Who (debatably)
- Dona Barbara
- Dong Yi
- Ed
- Eli Stone
- Felicity
- Fish
- Flipper
- Frasier
- Hancock (no, not that one - last TV season of Hancock's Half Hour)
- Hannah Montana
- House
- iCarly
- Isis (at least at first)
- Jerry Springer
- Jessie
- Joan of Arcadia
- John Adams
- John Doe
- Kings
- Kojak
- Kolchak: The Night Stalker
- Kyle XY
- Lassie
- Lou Grant
- Louie
- MacGyver
- Malcolm in the Middle
- Martin
- Matlock
- Maverick
- Maude
- Maury
- Merlin
- Moesha
- Monk
- Mr. Bean
- Mr Belvedere
- Mrs Columbo
- My Name Is Earl
- Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
- The New Adventures of Old Christine
- The New Adventures Of Robin Hood
- New Amsterdam
- Newhart
- Nikita
- Nurse Jackie
- The Osbornes
- The Parkers
- Phyllis
- Poirot
- Profit
- Quincy
- Punky Brewster
- Reba
- Rhoda
- Robin Hood
- Roseanne
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch
- Seinfeld
- Sharpe
- Sherlock
- ''Sherlock Holmes
- Skippy The Bush Kangaroo
- Sledge Hammer!!
- Some episode titles in Smallville: Ryan, Lucy, Cyborg, Zod, Bizarro, Kara, Lara, Plastique, Doomsday, Metallo, Supergirl, Isis, Luthor, Kent, Booster
- Sykes
- The Sopranos
- Spartacus: Blood and Sand
- Sort-of example: Stargate SG-1, where SG-1 refers to the team that's composed of the main characters.
- Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye
- Ugly Betty
- Valerie: a strange case, as the eponymous character left early in the show's run. It was later retitled to Valerie's Family and then The Hogan Family.
- Veronica Mars: Also prominently features the Mars family as opposed to putting the father in the background.
- Wishbone
- Near-miss: Rising Damp was originally going to be called Rigsby.
Music
When bands do this with their albums, it's a Self-Titled Album.
Songs titled after the person they are about:
Newspaper Comics
Theater
Video Games
Western Animation
Web Animation
Web Comics
Web Original
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