Names are personal—they tell us a lot about where a person comes from, their culture, or what their parents’ may have wanted for them. Most people don’t get to choose their names, which means that there are a lot of people walking around with names that may make others think, “Glad I don’t have that name.” DC Comics, it seems, are no different.
With its long and storied history, DC has created and named thousands of characters. There are some fairly normal choices—Johns and Carters litter its pages—and there are the strange ones. Alien names, dated or cheesy names, and punny names are all over DC’s comics, making it difficult—though not impossible—to choose the silliest.
DC Comics have long had alien characters grace their pages. Some of the characters have simple English names that have been zhuzhed up with hyphens, apostrophes, and unnecessary consonants, such as J’onn J’onzz and Kal-El. But no alien name quite measures up to the absolute gem of a keyboard smash that is Mr. Mxyzptlk. Described as being “fifth-dimensional”, Mxyzptlk has been appearing in comics since 1944, and has been a thorn in the side of Superman and company since then. The way to defeat him? Make him say his name backward—as if forwards wasn’t difficult enough. The ridiculous scramble of letters could possibly win for DC’s silliest name, but plucking from the dozens of aliens seems like a cheap shot.
So, if not aliens, who would be eligible for the Silliest Name Prize? Perhaps someone whose name is a bit on-the-nose. Mortimer Gloom was a villain who appeared in early Shazam comics in the 1940s when Shazam was Captain Marvel. The character, a circus clown turned criminal, had the distinct character trait of being sad. He used his sadness and sad stories to gain access to homes so he could case them for robberies. His villain nom de plume? The Weeper. Given his actual name, though, it seems a bit silly for him to have a villain persona at all. There’s certainly nothing more on-the-nose for this sad baddie than Gloom, and this is certainly the kind of name that probably got him bullied in school.
There are plenty of names that could elicit a chortle from a schoolboy on the playground. The first Robin's name, Dick Grayson, hasn’t aged well, and would likely elicit a reaction from a modern grade school classroom. And when looking for names that would get a childish chuckle, readers need look no further than the tragic Batman character, Harold Allnut. Born deaf and with severe kyphosis—a condition that causes the spine to bend, causing a hunchback appearance—Harold was abused by his family and taken advantage of by the Penguin for his brilliant technical mind, before eventually being saved by Batman who invited him to work for him as a tech developer. The man was described as gentle and desperate for affection, which eventually led to his death at the hands of Hush. It’s only on his gravestone that readers learned Harold’s surname, the cringe-worthy Allnut.
If you’re looking for names that sound like a joke, look no further than Manuel and Manuella Dexterity. Twin siblings who were transformed by the leader of a cult, both Manuel and Manuella have a giant hand where their legs are meant to be. The characters appeared in Milestone Comics' Xombi and, yes, that is their real names—at least according to the comic. The on-the-nose naming definitely puts the twins closer to the top of DC’s silliest names.
For a name that is silly, on-the-nose, downright terrible, and bound to get its owner picked on on the playground, comic readers need to look no further than Mister Miracle himself, Scott Free. The son of the new god, Highfather, Scott was raised in an orphanage controlled by Apokolips. Escaping to Earth, Scott eventually joined the Justice League and fought baddies, including the evil Magna Khan. While “Scott” and “Free” are both reasonable names, the combination of the two into a superhero name that harkens back to the colloquial phrase truly raises some eyebrows. It's truly wild that DC Comics has so many competitors for the silliest character name.