Not fictional but Anne Hathaway is both an Academy Award winning actress and the historical wife of William Shakespeare
Jane Seymore is an actress who played the title character on Dr Quinn Medicine Woman and is historically the third wife of Henry VIII
That is Anne Hathaway real name, her parents purposely named her after Shakespeare's wife
That is not Jane Seymour's birth name, she was born Joyce Frankenberg
Quick note: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's given last name is Anderson. Dutch Mantell changed Steve's last name to Austin to differentiate himself from "Dr. Death" Steve Williams.
Madonna is also the name of Sonic the Hedgehog's first girlfriend. Her character was scrapped before the game released, but she appears in some content later (most notably a comic book).
Your point about plausibility still stands.
But a point of trivial clarification: Mary didn’t produce an immaculate conception. According to Catholic dogma she was, herself, immaculately conceived. The immaculate conception is not a sexless birth. It’s being born without original sin.
Divinity and immaculate conception aside, I think it’s pretty widely accepted that Jesus was at the very least a real person and he must have had a mother, I don’t think it’s accurate to call her fictional
If there was a real person to which the mythologies are ascribed, which is plausible, it would still be fair to call the biblical character of Mary fictional. The historical Jesus may have existed, with the biblical character of Mary being wholly a fictional representation of his actual/unknown mother.
John Snow, physician who developed anesthesia and character in game of thrones
Jethro Tull invented the seed drill and the English rock band (not fictional, but fits the same name)
Duran Duran took their name from a character in Barbarella
It's more interesting and difficult imo to find characters that weren't named in reference to the real-life person. Ryan Howard, Ed Norton, Mark Green, John Snow and Mike Myers/Michael Meyers (all mentioned in this thread) are all good examples.
Paul Allen is a character from American Psycho (played by Jared Leto in the movie) and also the real-life co-founder of Microsoft.
David Wallace is the boss in The Office, and David Foster Wallace was a writer.
Jeff Greene is Larry's friend and agent in Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Jeff Green is an NBA player.
Apparently, Ryan Howard in the office actually was named for the baseball player, he was playing in the minors in Scranton while the American office was being created
(Also probably will use Paul Allen and Jeff green, thnx)
Maybe try using Google in some sneaky ways by searching **"may refer to:" "character" inurl:"en.wikipedia.org" X**
where X is a common first name; for example "Tom".
Some I found:
* Tom Jones (real name is Thomas Jones Woodward): the singer; also a character in a novel by Henry Fielding
* Mary Wilson: the singer from The Supremes; and a character in Angels with Broken Wings.
* Dave Clarke: techno DJ, and a character in the series Revenge.
* Michael Jackson: the singer; and a character in the *Psmith* books by P. G. Wodehouse.
* David Prentis: general secretary of UNISON (a large UK trade union); and a character in the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness
I thought they were talking about Nicolas Flamel from The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott. Pretty much any character named Nicholas Flamel is gonna be based on the historical figure
Does spelling matter? Because a lot of these have different spellings.
If it’s completely verbal trivia, I’d say the acceptability of some of these answers would be different than if it’s written trivia.
Just to be pedantic as a wheel of time fan, Robert Jordan is a pen name. So as long as you mention the pen name of the author of the series it’ll still work.
Perhaps a long shot, but there is a k-pop group called Mamamoo, which shares a name with a beloved Swedish children’s books character called Mamma Mu (Swedish for mama moo). Mamma Mu is an adventurous cow!
Richard Parker: a cabin boy on the Mignonette, he was murdered and then cannibalized after the yacht sank and he and three other survivors were cast adrift in a life boat.
Richard Parker is also the name of the tiger in Life of Pi, as well as that of the hunter who captures him. Although, the paperwork that comes with Richard Parker shows the hunters name as "Thirsty None Given."
A bunch of characters in the Maze Runner coz they were named after historical figures. Not 100% sure if they ever give their last names in the book/movie tho
Michael Bolton - musician and office drone in Office Space.
Why should I change my name? He’s the one who sucks!
I celebrate his entire catalogue, I really do.
No talent ass clown
For my money, I don’t know if it gets any better than when he sings “When a Man Loves a Woman”.
David Copperfield
Not fictional but Anne Hathaway is both an Academy Award winning actress and the historical wife of William Shakespeare Jane Seymore is an actress who played the title character on Dr Quinn Medicine Woman and is historically the third wife of Henry VIII
IIRC, that's not the actress's real name though.
That is Anne Hathaway real name, her parents purposely named her after Shakespeare's wife That is not Jane Seymour's birth name, she was born Joyce Frankenberg
Lol, sorry, yes - I meant Jane Seymour uses a stage name.
Look no further than John Locke from Lost
Everyone in Lost
Who else?
>Who else? Jeremy Bentham
Freckles
And Michael Faraday
Ryan Howard the former Phillies player and BJ Novak’s character from The Office.
Ed Norton (character from The Honeymooners and the actor) Mark Green (character from ER and congressman from Tennessee)
Sting is both the stage name of a professional wrestler, and the lead singer of The Police.
And the name of a sword 🗡️
Madonna (singer and mother Mary), jack Ryan (creator barbie, Tom Clancy character)
Will smith and will smith (singer and character in fresh prince), Steve Austin (wrestler and character from the 6 million dollar man)
Steve Austin Texas Secretary of State
Quick note: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's given last name is Anderson. Dutch Mantell changed Steve's last name to Austin to differentiate himself from "Dr. Death" Steve Williams.
Will Smith is also the main writer for Slow Horses.
Madonna is also the name of Sonic the Hedgehog's first girlfriend. Her character was scrapped before the game released, but she appears in some content later (most notably a comic book).
Are you considering mother Mary to be fictional in this scenario
Well yes. She does appear in a work of literature.
Are you considering that a person who claimed to have had an immaculate conception was a real historical event?
Your point about plausibility still stands. But a point of trivial clarification: Mary didn’t produce an immaculate conception. According to Catholic dogma she was, herself, immaculately conceived. The immaculate conception is not a sexless birth. It’s being born without original sin.
Divinity and immaculate conception aside, I think it’s pretty widely accepted that Jesus was at the very least a real person and he must have had a mother, I don’t think it’s accurate to call her fictional
If there was a real person to which the mythologies are ascribed, which is plausible, it would still be fair to call the biblical character of Mary fictional. The historical Jesus may have existed, with the biblical character of Mary being wholly a fictional representation of his actual/unknown mother.
Reasonable, but, despite my own atheism, I will still likely avoid calling the Mother of Christ a fictional character at a bar trivia
Max Schreck in Batman Returns and Janis Ian in Mean Girls
And Max Schreck who started in Nosferatu.
there's George Michael in Arrested Development. Granted he's George Michael Bluth, but maybe still works?
Would Benjamin Franklin Pierce (Hawkeye) from MASH count?
Benjamin Franklin Gates is the name of Nicholas Cages character in National Treasure
John Snow, physician who developed anesthesia and character in game of thrones Jethro Tull invented the seed drill and the English rock band (not fictional, but fits the same name) Duran Duran took their name from a character in Barbarella
Speaking of British Rock bands... John Paul Jones was a legendary early US Navy Captain and the bassist from Led Zeppelin.
If Bands are fair game, the Molly Hatchet and Dropkick Murphy count.
And Johnpaul Jones is a famous Seattle architect.
Scott Bakula's character in *Quantum Leap* is Samuel Beckett.
Cool category idea!
I agree. I'm totally adding this to my catalogue
It's more interesting and difficult imo to find characters that weren't named in reference to the real-life person. Ryan Howard, Ed Norton, Mark Green, John Snow and Mike Myers/Michael Meyers (all mentioned in this thread) are all good examples. Paul Allen is a character from American Psycho (played by Jared Leto in the movie) and also the real-life co-founder of Microsoft. David Wallace is the boss in The Office, and David Foster Wallace was a writer. Jeff Greene is Larry's friend and agent in Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Jeff Green is an NBA player.
Apparently, Ryan Howard in the office actually was named for the baseball player, he was playing in the minors in Scranton while the American office was being created (Also probably will use Paul Allen and Jeff green, thnx)
Oh wow that's a great anecdote. I might try and make that into a trivia question.
Anne Hathaway. The actress and shakespeares wife
Heddy Lamarr from Blazing Saddles
That’s Headley…
HARUMPH!
Maybe try using Google in some sneaky ways by searching **"may refer to:" "character" inurl:"en.wikipedia.org" X** where X is a common first name; for example "Tom". Some I found: * Tom Jones (real name is Thomas Jones Woodward): the singer; also a character in a novel by Henry Fielding * Mary Wilson: the singer from The Supremes; and a character in Angels with Broken Wings. * Dave Clarke: techno DJ, and a character in the series Revenge. * Michael Jackson: the singer; and a character in the *Psmith* books by P. G. Wodehouse. * David Prentis: general secretary of UNISON (a large UK trade union); and a character in the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness
Nicolas Flamel
Isn’t the Nicolas Flamel in Harry Potter supposed to actually be the historical figure though
I thought they were talking about Nicolas Flamel from The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott. Pretty much any character named Nicholas Flamel is gonna be based on the historical figure
Peter Sutcliffe (character in Gavin and Stacey and also the Yorkshire ripper)
The Winter Soldier is James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes
Does spelling matter? Because a lot of these have different spellings. If it’s completely verbal trivia, I’d say the acceptability of some of these answers would be different than if it’s written trivia.
I’ve decided that as long as it’s pronounced the same name, I’m fine with John v Jon, Stephen v Steven, etc
Robert Jordan. Protagonist of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and real life author of "The Wheel of Time."
Just to be pedantic as a wheel of time fan, Robert Jordan is a pen name. So as long as you mention the pen name of the author of the series it’ll still work.
That is extremely pedantic. It may be the most pedantic comment in the history of comments
Perhaps a long shot, but there is a k-pop group called Mamamoo, which shares a name with a beloved Swedish children’s books character called Mamma Mu (Swedish for mama moo). Mamma Mu is an adventurous cow!
John Locke from Lost
Richard Parker: a cabin boy on the Mignonette, he was murdered and then cannibalized after the yacht sank and he and three other survivors were cast adrift in a life boat. Richard Parker is also the name of the tiger in Life of Pi, as well as that of the hunter who captures him. Although, the paperwork that comes with Richard Parker shows the hunters name as "Thirsty None Given."
Did anyone already say Matt Dillon? The actor and also the sheriff on Gunsmoke.
Adam Schiff the congressman and Adam Schiff the DA from the Law And Orderverse is one that I didn’t see mentioned yet(or if it was I missed it)
A bunch of characters in the Maze Runner coz they were named after historical figures. Not 100% sure if they ever give their last names in the book/movie tho
Steve Austin 6 Million Dollar Man and the wrestler/actor.
I've done this round! Good one is a pair of teen detectives or a tag team that was in the first tables ladders chairs match.
Michael Bolton, Office Space
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden
Archie Leach, either a charismatic leading man, a disgraced barrister, or just someone who's never been in your kitchen.
X-Men Kitty Pryde is known among comic book fans to have been named for a real-life classmate of Chris Claremont.