Naming characters in movies and TV shows can be a tough job. Sometimes, fictional characters are named after real people. This is mostly when creators wanted to pay homage to someone dear to them. Here are 15 fictional characters who were named after real people:
Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger was named after director Wes Craven’s bully. As a kid, a boy named Fred Krueger used to constantly bully him.
Jim Halpert in The Office
Jim Halpert was given his name after a DC lawyer. The real-life Jim Halpert is a lifelong friend of showrunner Greg Daniels, who borrowed his name for Dunder Mifflin’s resident prankster.
Steve Urkel in Family Matters
Steve Urkel was named after a friend of the show’s creator. As a joke, Michael Warren named one of his characters after his pal Steve Erkel. Urkel’s unexpected popularity haunted the poor Erkel for many years.
Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek
Khan Noonien Singh was named after Gene Roddenberry’s war buddy. Roddenberry was serving in World War II when he met a pilot named Kim Noonien Singh. Apparently, he named Khan after him in an attempt to get back in touch with him but it didn’t work.
Michael Myers in Halloween
Michael Myer is apparently a tribute to a British distributor. The actual Myers did a brilliant job at promoting John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13, so he thanked him by naming one of his film’s murderers after him.
Max Schreck in Batman Returns
Max Schreck was named after a veteran horror actor. Scriptwriter Daniel Waters said, “Max Shreck is … something of a vampire, sucking up energy, power, and money”. Hence he wrote him the part of vampire in Nosferatu.
Hugo Stiglitz in Inglourious Basterds
The real Hugo Stiglitz happens to be a Mexican and not a German. The name of the Nazi-killing ex-Nazi is a homage to a prolific Mexican actor and director named Hugo Stiglitz.
Alberto in Luca
Director Enrico Casarosa had a friend named Alberto. Well, it’s not clear if his friend Alberto Surace was a sea monster or not but he was definitely a troublemaker like his animated counterpart.
Camilo in Encanto
The name ‘Camilo’ is a shoutout to the filmmaker’s local guide. He was named Camilo Madrigal because the name sounds a lot like “chameleon”. The name was also a tribute to Camilo García Escobar, who was hired as the movie creators’ tour guide in Colombia.
Dopinder in Deadpool
The cab driver who ferries Deadpool from place to place was named ‘Dopinder’ after Ryan Reynold’s late friend. It was a tribute to Ryan’s school friend who died when he was struck by lightning.
Hugo Gernsback in Tomorrowland
Hugo Gernsback has been a prominent name in Sci-Fi. Tomorrowland Keegan-Michael Key’s character is named after a pioneer of American science fiction in the 1920s.
Janis Ian in Mean Girls
Janis Ian from Mean Girls was named after 1970s singer Janis Ianmue. The song “At Seventeen” by the real Janis lan (which plays during the movie) is about the struggles of a social outcast in high school, like the fictional Janis lan.
Zan Owlson in DuckTales
The name ‘Zan Onlson’ was derived from the show’s producer’s name. The long-suffering CEO of Glomgold Industries was named after DuckTales producer Suzanna Olson.
Max Arciniega in Breaking Bad
Gus Fring’s partner Maximino “Max” Arciniega who was killed by the Cartel shares his name with the actor who plays drug dealer Krazy-8 (killed by Walter White)
Follow us for more updates on entertainment and celebrities on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Letterboxd
