Basic Trope: A character changes what they call someone else to reflect a change in their personality or relationship.
- Straight:
- Alice calls a man she befriends Bob, then calls him Robert when he becomes her Parental Substitute, and finally calls him Dad after she discovers he's become her adopted father.
- Charles calls his friend Dennis Jones to show he's more mature and sophisticated. After some Character Development, Charles begins calling him by his more informal nickname Denny.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob also calls Alice by different names as their relationship changes, going from Alice to pet names like "sweetie pie" or "angel".
- Charles calls everyone by their full names, but becomes The Nicknamer after his Character Development.
- Downplayed:
- Alice goes from calling her Parental Substitute Bob to Dad.
- Charles goes from calling his friend Dennis to Denny.
- Justified:
- Alice has only known Bob for a few days, so she naturally calls him by his most well-known name. She later calls him Robert because she believes it's more polite, and decides to call him Dad now that he's her legal caregiver.
- Charles was raised to believe calling people by their full names established credibility and charisma. When he discovers he was raised to become The Dragon, he cuts ties with his family and stops calling people by their full names out of spite.
- Hiroshi comes from a culture that puts a lot of importance in the proper use of honorifics.
- Subverted:
- Bob believes Alice has started seeing him as her father when he overhears her talking about "Dad", but later discovers she was talking about her late father.
- When Charles warms up to Dennis, the latter tells the former he can call him Denny. Charles says he'd rather not.
- Double Subverted:
- Later that night, Alice calls Bob "Dad".
- Charles instead calls Dennis "The Den".
- Inverted:
- Alice lets Bob call her pet names to show she's warmed up to him being a Parental Substitute.
- Charles wants Dennis to call him Charlie instead of Charles to reflect his Character Development.
- Averted:
- Alice always calls Bob by his name.
- Charles keeps calling his friend Dennis Jones after his Character Development.
- Zig-Zagged:
- What name Alice calls Bob depends on how she's feeling and the setting. When going to events with Bob she calls him Dad, in their house she calls him Bob, and during arguments she calls him Boob.
- Charles goes from calling his friend Dennis Jones to Denny, but still calls his sister Edith Smith.
- Invoked:
- Bob tells Alice she can call him Dad now.
- Dennis constantly tells Charles he'd rather be called Denny.
- Defied:
- Bob forbids Alice from calling him anything else but Bob.
- Charles says he will never call Dennis Denny.
- Discussed: "So are you going to call him Dad now or is he still Bob?"
- Implied: Even though Alice has called Bob by his name throughout the story, the last scene involves some people talking about Alice going fishing with her dad.
Back to Significant Name Shift.