20 movie characters whose names have hidden meanings

Film producer Charles Mintz had beef with Walt Disney, and now their feud will live in perpetuity. The villain in Up, Charles Muntz, is supposedly named for Disney’s enemy. 

Harlan Thrombey is the patriarch in the film Knives Out. He winds up dead at the beginning of the film, and he was named after the eponymous character from the book series Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey? Writer and director Rian Johnson was a fan of the series as a kid. 

A variety of neglected toys in Toy Story 4 are cleverly named for their voice actors. Melephant Brooks was voiced by Mel Brooks, Chairol Burnett by Carol Burnett, Bitey White by Betty White, and Carl Reinoceros by Carl Reiner. 

Mr. Ditkovich, Peter’s landlord in the original Spider-Man movies, is named for Steve Ditko, one of the co-creators of Spider-Man. 

Castor and Pollux are brothers in the movie Face/Off. The two characters were named for a pair of brothers from Greek mythology, and the Face/Off death mirrored the mythological death as Pollux impales and shoots Castor in the two tales. 

Skinner is the villain in Ratatouille. He was suspicious of Luigi throughout the film and hated rats. He was named after B.F. Skinner, the behavioral psychologist who famously performed experiments on rats. 

Mayor Lionheart in Zootopia was named after King Richard the Lionheart. Just like King Richard, Mayor Lionheart was imprisoned and had to watch as his land was destroyed. 

Ted and Audrey were the teenagers in the screen adaptation of The Lorax. They weren’t characters in the original book, so they needed names. They ended up with Ted and Audrey after Dr. Seuss and his second wife, Theodor Seuss Geisel and Audrey Geisel, respectively. 

Truman from The Truman Show was named very cleverly. Since he was the only “true man” in the bizarre social experiment that makes up the movie, he was called Truman. 

In Full Metal Jacket, Private Joker’s given name is Davis J.T. The name refers to U.S. Army cryptologist James T. Davis, one of the first American soldiers to die during the Vietnam War. 

The news reporter in Enchanted was named Mary Ilene Caselotti. She had three very special people inspire her character name: The actresses Mary Costa, Ilene Woods, and Adriana Caselotti who voiced Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White, respectively, in the original films. 

Duncan and Wynnchel in Wreck-It Ralph are donut police officers. They got their names from some very famous donut shops: Dunkin’ Donuts and Winchell’s Donut House. 

The villainous monkey Koba, who is first introduced in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, was named after the famous real-life villain Joseph Stalin. The Soviet prime minister gave himself the nickname Koba. 

Cheaper By the Dozen has loads of characters, and the main ones all have the last name Baker. The surname was cleverly chosen as a reference to the term “baker’s dozen,” as the family had 12 kids. 

Another great movie last name is found in The Incredibles. The titular family has the last name Parr. While they are secretly a family of incredible superheroes, they want the world to think they are average people, hence Parr as their last name. 

Dopinder is the cab driver in Deadpool. The character was named for Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds’ friend from elementary school who was struck by lightning and died. 

Mark Bellison is the main character of The Invention of Lying. On his office door, his name is written as “M. Bellison,” which sounds like “embellishing," another word that can mean lying when said aloud. 

Seth and Evan from Superbad have some pretty cool namesakes. The characters were named after Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, the writers of the film who first put pen to paper on the script when they were teenagers, the age of the characters in the film. 

Halle Berry named a character called Sharon Stone in the live action screen adaptation of The Flintstones. While it worked well because The Flintstones takes place in the Stone Age, it was also a reference to the actress Sharon Stone who was originally tapped to play the role. 

The Fratelli Brothers were the villains in The Goonies. The word “fratelli” means “brothers,” making their name literally translate to the Brothers Brothers.