The most memorable nameless characters

You may know him as Baby Yoda, but in truth, the character in “The Mandalorian” is known in the universe of the show simply as “The Child.” He just happens to look a lot like Yoda and is presumably the same species, but his name remains a mystery. In fact, he might not even have one, given that The Child is an abandoned baby (even though he’s, like, 50).

“The X-Files” is full of strange, mysterious characters. Among those is “Cıgarette Smoking Man,” a man who operates in the shadows and is known for, well, smoking a cıgarette. He ends up becoming one of the recurring antagonists on the show, often butting heads with Mulder. Technically, Cıgarette Smoking Man’s name is revealed in the reboot of the show, but since he made it the entire original run sans a name we’re still counting him.

We don’t merely not know Ugly Naked Guy’s name on “Friends.” We don’t see him ever either. That makes sense, given that “Friends” was a network sitcom, you could exactly show a character known primarily for his nudity. The nickname the six friends give their neighbor is also a reminder of the fact that the characters on “Friends” are just as awful as the characters on “Seinfeld.”  Their show just treats them differently.

Leave it to Charlie Kelly to have a massive, unhealthy fixation on a woman whose name he doesn’t even know. Granted, nobody in The Gang on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” knows The Waitress’ name, even though she has been in their lives for years. In real life, Charlie certainly knows her name. The actor Charlie Day and the woman who plays The Waitress, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, are married.

Number Six surely had a name at some point. However, when you end up on the island in “The Prisoner,” you lose some of your identity. Number Six, the main character played by Patrick McGoohan, isn’t the only one known by a number as opposed to a name. Even the main antagonist, Number Two, is nameless for the show’s run.

In Akira Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo,” the main character is a ronin with no name. Fittingly, given that “A Fistful of Dollars” is heavily indebted to “Yojimbo,” Clint Eastwood’s character is known as “The Man With No Name.” Technically, he’s called “Joe” in the first film in Sergio Leone’s trilogy, but officially he is known as The Man With No Name. In the most-famous film in the series, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” he is simply called “Blondie” due to his hair.

It’s quite impressive that Charlie Chaplin was able to star in multiple, disparate movies as the same character without ever giving him a name. That’s the power of The Little Tramp, one of the most indelible characters ever. You know the look. The hat, the cane, the mustache. Chaplin became a legend of silent films primarily as a down-on-his-luck tramp with no name.

Call us pedantic if you want, but the monster is technically not named Frankenstein. That’s the doctor’s name. The monster doesn’t have a name. He’s just the monster. This is true across many different iterations of the story, going back to Mary Shelley’s original novel.

James Bond is known as 007, but we also know his name (hint: It’s Bond, James Bond). That’s not true of another character adept with a gun. Agent 47 is the main character in the “Hitman” video game series, and also the terrible movie adaptation starring Timothy Olyphant as the unnamed agent. It turns out that he’s a clone, the 47th clone in fact, hence the name.

Most Batman villains go by pseudonyms, such as the Joker and the Riddler. However, we have heard their real names in different instances. Bane is a different story. He’s not Jack Napier or Edward Nygma. He’s just Bane. You could call that his name, but we’re pretty such nobody actually gave him that moniker and put it on a birth certificate. That’s definitely not the case in “The Dark Knight Rises.”

There are a few “Simpsons” characters without names. Some of them, such as Comic Book Guy, have eventually gotten names (Comic Book Guy’s real name is apparently Jeff Albertson, a one-off joke mostly to rile up fans). However, “Bumblebee Man” is still nameless. He’s just a man in a bumblebee suit. We’re having him stand in for all the nameless “Simpsons” characters, like Squeaky Voiced Teen and Wiseguy.

Their name isn’t Doctor Who. It’s simply “The Doctor.” The alien is sans name, which is fittingly given how often they regenerate. It’s just how Time Lords roll. There have been 13 different actors to play The Doctor, the latest of which is Jodie Whittaker, the first female Doctor.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s “Fleabag” won a ton of awards, and her performance got a lot of love. What Fleabag doesn’t have is a name. She’s only known as “Fleabag.” Since Waller-Bridge says the show is done after two seasons, it’s pretty definitive we’ll never find out her actual name.

We know Agent 86 is Maxwell Smart. Otherwise, they couldn’t have called the show “Get Smart.” We even know the Chief’s first name is Thaddeus. However, 99’s name remains a mystery. Occasionally on the show they would tease you with a possible reveal, but it would always be played for a laugh. Agent 99 is just better at keeping her identity a secret, we guess.

In the process of making “Gilligan’s Island,” all the characters were given names. Gilligan even had a first name, which was Willy. The real names of the Skipper (Jonas Grumby) and the Professor (Roy Hinkley Jr.) were briefly mentioned early on in the series and rarely after, so we felt they both belong here. 

There were many unsolved mysteries when “Lost” ended. One of them includes the actual name of “The Man in Black.” Although, given his supernatural nature, maybe he doesn’t have a name. Maybe he really is simply The Man in Black. Johnny Cash might disagree, though.

You might think Fez’s name on “That ‘70’s Show” is actually Fez. That’s not true, though. We don’t know Fez’s name, or country of origin. He’s called Fez because it’s short for “Foreign Exchange Student.” Shouldn’t that be “Fes” then? Maybe it was all the time the gang spent down in the basement.

There are many iconic characters in the Coen Brothers’ “The Big Lebowski.” One of them is The Dude, who doesn’t go by his real name, but we know it. You know who is entirely nameless, though? Sam Elliott’s character The Stranger. He may have a great voice, and an even better mustache, but he doesn’t have a name.

“A Christmas Story” is a divisive movie, though it still gets shown every year around Christmastime. The film is told through the perspective of young Ralphie, so his dad is viewed through kid’s eyes. This includes the fact that Darrin McGavin’s character is only called “The Old Man” by his son.

The plan was for everybody on the crew in “Reservoir Dogs” to not use their real names. That was the point of the color-based nicknames (a homage to “The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three). We find out a few of the names, including Mr. White and Mr. Green. On the other hand, Steve Buscemi’s Mr. Pink is dedicated enough to the cause to refuse to give up his real name. He also refuses to tip, but that’s another story.

The bass player in a band usually doesn’t get  a ton of love, unless they are also the frontperson (or Flea). That’s the crux of the joke in “That Thing You Do!” In that movie, The Wonders write one hit song, and they become famous. It wasn’t apparently enough to get the bass player a name, or at least get it said in the movie. He’s even credited in the end as “T.B. Player.”

This one is a bit of a spoiler, so you can take off now if you haven’t seen “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” but plan to do so. Jessie Buckley’s character appears to be the main protagonist, but she doesn’t have a name. Eventually, we realize she doesn’t even have a personality. She’s not even necessarily real, but an amalgamation of different women all being manifested in Buckley’s “Young Woman.” Hey, it’s a Charlie Kaufman movie. It’s weird.