It is always amusing when a writer tries to get away with an obvious pun in a character’s name. It’s one of the joys of Stephen’s annual Asterix review (maker of elixirs and potions Getafix is a favorite of mine) and the fact that Invincible features Rex Splode, Dupli-Kate and Shrinking Ray (whose name is Raymond) is part of the reason I’ll miss that book. Still, the grand champion punny name of them all has to be Jack Kirby’s superhuman escape artist, Mister Miracle, real name: Scott Free. I don’t want to use all the best ones, especially since Will Eisner probably used them in The Spirit, but I will mention that Dean Motter’s ‘Electropolis’ features one Tess LaCoyle, leading to today’s Sir Prize query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) loves that The Vanisher’s real name is Telford Porter, but he prefers to be called Telly for short, asking: What’s the best punny name in all pop culture?
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From a not-as-obvious list, the entire Ozu family from Magiranger. All of their names revolve around an aspect of their character, sometimes with more than one meaning (for example, Kai can mean “leader”, and his name is written with the kanji for “fire”, which is funny since he’s both the red ranger and has a phoenix motif and fire-based magical abilities).
From the more obvious end of the spectrum, I’m very partial to the name of the persona of William Moody, who was well known for the last 30 years or so to fans of pro wrestling as Paul Bearer.
“Moko Tono” from the powerpuff girls episode “meet the Beat-alls” even the title is a pun name but the best is the monkey who Mojo falls in love with “Moko Tono”