SdrawkcabAlias

TITLE: SdrawkcabAlias
LACONIC: A character's alias is its real name spelled backwards.

''This is a proposal to split a {{subtrope}} from SdrawkcabName. See [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1345478296082538000 this thread in the Trope Repair Shop]]. The split would be:''

* ''SdrawkcabName: For any [[MeaningfulName meaningfully]] backwards name.''
* ''SdrawkcabAlias: For a character whose alias is its own name backwards.''

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->''"Hello, my name is Mr. Snrub, and I come from, er... someplace far away!"''
-->-- '''[[spoiler:[[CaptainObvious Mr. Burns]]]]''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

When someone has to think of a pseudonym for themselves, an oddly popular choice is their own name, but written backwards. You'd expect them to be more imaginative, and smart enough to realize that such a pseudonym can easily give away your true identity. Sure enough, most of the time someone notices, often by exclaiming "(Saila Sdrawckab) spelled backwards is (Backwards Alias)!"

A name is only a Sdrawkcab Alias if the alias and the original name belong to the same person InUniverse. The {{super trope}} is SdrawkcabName, which covers backwards names in general.

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!!Examples

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[[folder:Agman & Emina]]
* In the KC Grand Prix ''Anime/YuGiOh'' arc, Yugi's grandpa disguises himself as a duelist named Apnarg to enter a tournament. If [[FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]] were a bit more clever, they could've gone with Nomolos.
* This is what clues Goku in to Uub being the reincarnation of the evil Buu in the final episodes of ''Manga/DragonBall Z''. Considering Uub had no idea he was Buu's reincarnation, this makes it an awfully convenient name.
* Toriyama loves this one. He recently revealed in an interview that Mr. Satan's (whose FamilyThemeNaming involves devil puns) moniker is just a wrestling stage name. His real name? Mark. A bit of a LostInTranslation pun to American audiences: pronounced with a Japanese accent, it sounds like "Maaku." Reverse the order of the syllables and you get "Akuma," [[BilingualBonus a Japanese word meaning "devil" or "demon."]]
* In ''PrincessNine'', Nene disguises Kanako by reversing the syllables in her name -- Konaka Tami.
* ''Manga/SailorMoon''
** Should probably be in "Theater", but it was from the first ''SeraMyu'' summer special. The young man known as Saito Kun reveals himself to actually be Kunzite.
** In the manga short story ''Ami-chan's First Love'' (and in the anime special based on it) Ami's mysterious rival known as "Mercurius" turns out to be a local geek named Kurume Suuri, and he even explains how he came up with this pseudonym.[[note]]His name in Japanese is read ''Suuri Kurume''; reversing the syllable order produces ''Merukuriusu'', which is the Japanese rendition of "Mercurius".[[/note]]
* ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi''
** The sixth arc provides Kanon's [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname real name]], [[spoiler:Yoshiya]]. This is, in fact, a modified Japanese reversal of [[spoiler:Shannon's real name, Sayo]]. [[spoiler:Shi and ya need to be slurred together into one sound, as the Japanese kana does to write the letter "Sha," and you wind up with "Shayo," which is only slightly different from "Sayo."]] This was one of the many big hints given in that arc that [[spoiler:Shannon and Kanon are probably the same character with some sort of SplitPersonality disorder]].
* The GrandFinale of the original Manga/LupinIII manga series featured the MusicalAssassin Ataginez. [[spoiler: Turns out it's Inspector Zenigata in disguise.]]
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[[folder:Skoob Cimoc]]
* ''SonicTheHedgehog''
** In the Fleetway continuity, Dr. Robotnik used to be a friend of Sonic's, a kindly scientist called Dr. [[MeaningfulName Ovi]] Kintobor. In one of the novels, Sonic goes back in time before the transformation occurs, nearly blurting out Robotnik's name at one point before realising that, while Kintobor is a little ditzy at times, he's not stupid.
** He was also called Kintobor in the [[Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehog Archie Comic series]]. ''Julian'' Kintobor, at that. "Julian Kintobor of the House of Ivo", fully. (In [=SatAM=], he was called "Julian", but no last name was given.)
* One story of the ''Turma da Mônica'' (''MonicasGang'') comics had Monica, Cebolinha/Jimmy Five and Cascão/Smudge meeting a knight named Rengaw (actually an [=RPG=]-obsessed man living in his very own fantasy world) and getting captured by a dragon. At one point, Cebolinha [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this by saying that Rengaw's name is just "Wagner" backwards, implying that this might be Rengaw's real name.
* An early ''{{Batman}}'' comic had a criminal masquerading as record shop owner "Old man [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker Rekoj]]". He has also gone by Dr. J. Reko, [[DepravedDentist DDS]].
* It once took the JusticeSocietyOfAmerica an entire issue to realise that evil Professor Elba and kindly Professor Able were one and the same. Not exactly their finest moment.
* A CarlBarks story featured female creatures called "larkies". When disguised as males, the called themselves "eikrals". Each larkie's eikral counterpart has a name that's the larkie's name spelled backwards. For example, the larkie named Agnes became an eikral named Senga.
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[[folder:Repapswen -- Scimoc]]
* In ''TerryAndThePirates'', the Dragon Lady sometimes used the alias Miss Nogard.
* In ''FoxTrot'', Eileen uses the on-line handle 'Sgt. Neelie'.
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[[folder:Noitca-Evil -- Smilf]]
* ''YoungSherlockHolmes''. Villain Eh Tar uses the alias of Professor Rathe for his cover job at Brompton Academy. Watson even spells this out towards the end of the film as a "very important clue."
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[[folder:Erutaretil]]
* In Piers Anthony's ''[[IncarnationsOfImmortality Being a Green Mother]]'', the heroine Orb shares a romantic attachment with a man named Natasha, whose true identity is revealed when he proposes marriage to her: "Ah, {{Satan}}".
* The syllabic version of this trope is OlderThanPrint: Tristram disguises himself as "Tramtris" in the [[KingArthur Arthurian]] legends.
* The Arthurian legend's use of a backwards name is {{Lampshaded}} in Gerald Morris' novel ''The Ballad of Sir Dinadan'': "Tramtris. That was the best he could come up with. Didn't you realize it was Tristram?" Spoofed further when Dinadan talks to a holy hermit who wants to write an allegorical adventure story, the villain of which is "Stultus," being Latin for fool. Then the two dismiss that as too obvious and call him "Sutluts" instead. So much better. When "Tramtris" comes in and begs Dinadan not to reveal his name, Dinadan says "Don't worry. If anyone asks, I'll say you're Sir Sutluts."
* In ''{{Deryni}} Checkmate'', Duke Alaric Morgan's bard Gwydion ap Plenneth informs him about public opinion in his ducal capital Coroth, including popular songs against Morgan. One of these is about an evil oppressor and entitled "The Ballad of Duke Cirala". In his report, Gwydion lampshades the trope: "...I might also mention that the name Cirala is quite familiar if one only spells it backward: C-I-R-A-L-A-A-L-A-R-I-C."
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
** Early in ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', a very punctual milkman by the name of Ronnie Soak is introduced as a minor character. However, once the plot truly gets underway, his true nature is revealed: he is Kaos, the fifth Horseman of the Apocralypse (not a typo), who [[Music/TheBeatles left before the other four became famous]]. Pratchett himself had not planned it that way, at least consciously. The story goes he'd planned for him to be the fifth horseman, but hadn't figured out what he would be, until he looked at the name in the mirror.
** ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'':
-->''It's a sad and terrible thing that high-born folk really have thought that the servants would be totally fooled if spirits were put into decanters that were cunningly labelled ''backwards''. And also throughout history the more politically conscious butler has taken it on trust, and with rather more justification, that his employers will not notice if the yksihw is topped up with eniru.''
** ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'': The narration describes vampires' apparent inability to compensate for their well-known weaknesses, and at one point says "Do they really think spelling their name backwards is going to fool anyone?"
** In ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'', the Ankh-Morpork City Watch's new vampire recruit Salacia sends a "clacks" (a sort of [[PunkPunk clock-punk]] version of a telegram) using the alias "Aicalas". The normally practical and intelligent vampire Salacia von Humpeding suffers from the curse of her kind : the deep and abiding conviction that ''[[{{Alucard}} no one will recognise your name if you spell it backwards]]''. Of course, Vimes instantly sees through that, mentionning it as one of the vampires' lesser-known failings.
** In ''TheLastHero'', Da Vinci expy Leonard of Quirm builds the Disc's second spaceship. The lever marked Troba is cited by Vetinari to be one not to pull, while the lever marked Sekarb stops the ship while it is crashing.
* A series of German children's novels by James Krüss include the Baron Lefuet, from the reverse of the German word for Devil.
* ''TheSilmarillion'': Beren and Finrod Felagund, while masquerading as Orcs in some of the earliest versions of Tolkien's ''[[Literature/TheHistoryOfMiddleEarth The Lay of Leithian]]''. Felagund gives his own name as Dungalef and Beren's as Nereb [[spoiler:when they're captured by Sauron. ''That'' seems to work, but they still get found out.]]
* ''Racso and the Rats of NIMH'' by Jane Leslie Conly. Racso admits to Timothy Frisby at one stage in the book that his real name is "Oscar", but he much prefers the Sdrawkcab nom de plume he came up with.
* In ''Literature/{{Sabriel}}'', it's mentioned that the BigBad Kerrigor was born Prince Rogirek, generally known as Rogir. Kerrigor was the nickname Touchstone gave him.
* ''XWingSeries''
** Child actor-turned-pilot Garik "Face" Loran, left on their stolen ship while [[TheInfiltration infiltrating]] the bad guys, is forced to come up with a disguise and a name to keep a planetary governor from getting suspicious. He comes up with Lieutenant Narol. In later instances of the same basic mission he uses a better disguise with the same name, and we never see him called on it. This might have something to do with the fact that in the Galaxy Far Far Away, Narol is a perfectly normal-seeming name. It also helps that he had previously faked his death.
* In Brian Jacques' less well-known work, ''CastawaysOfTheFlyingDutchman'', the two main characters get called Denmark and Nebuchadnezzar. This in turn gets shortened to Den and Neb. These then get reversed upon the two's escape to Ben and Ned, the crafty little devils.
* Taken to extremes and lampshaded in ''YoungWizards'', where a [[spoiler:dog]] turns out to be [[spoiler:guess]].
* One Dutch children's book titled ''Lyc-Drop'' features a character called Seuz. He turns out to be a Greek deity, and if you can't guess which one, you just might be an idiot.
** He's not the god of canals, is he?
* There is a famous Sociology/Anthropology study of the "Nacirema" which is meant as a caution of treating other cultures as savage.
* ''TheCulture''
** In ''TheCulture/ConsiderPhlebas'', Bora Horza Gobuchul at one point identifies himself as Orab.
* In ''Dead Beat'', a novel of ''TheDresdenFiles'', Harry gives himself a minor self-deprecation for not figuring out that [[spoiler:Sheila (shee-la)]] was [[spoiler:Lasciel (la-sheel)]].
* In Talbot Mundy's ''Jimgrim'', FemmeFatale secret agent "Princess Baltis" signs into a hotel as "Ranee Sitlab". Somewhat justified in that she wasn't actually trying to avoid notice.
* Creator/PatriciaAMcKillip:
** [[spoiler: The Rommalb]] in ''Literature/TheForgottenBeastsOfEld''. Not exactly a deception: speaking its name forward invokes it for destruction, so people only say it backward (until the heroine is tricked into saying it forward).
** A characteristic of the twisted magic contained in ''The Book of Atrix Wolfe''.
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Tunnel In The Sky'' includes a warning to the main character's class to watch out for stobor, the most dangerous creature they willl encounter on their field exam. The students don't realize that "stobor" is "robots" spelled backwards; [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope Stobor are]] [[HumansKillWantonly hu]][[HumanityIsInsane mans]]; [[WhatYouAreInTheDark their competing classmates]]]].
* This is how Wizards dealing with the Darke hide themselves in ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'': By spelling their name backwards. PlayedWith in Septimus's case, as he takes only the last letters S-u-m on Marcellus Pye's advice.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:VT Noicta-Evil]]
* An episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' had the Janitor use the name "Rotinaj".
-->'''J.D.:''' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_ES0lYnYPY Rotinaj]] is just "Janitor" spelled backwards, ''Rotinaj''.\\
'''Janitor:''' ''(to Indian doctor)'' Mornin', Dr. Rotinaj.\\
'''Doctor:''' Good morning, Mr. cleanup man!
* The [[spoiler:"H. Maddas" files]] in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' turn out to be this (and a ChekhovsGun).
* In ''DarkOracle'', Cally's [[spoiler:[[BalefulPolymorph pet frog]], Nemo]], turns out to be the Season 1 BigBad, [[spoiler:Omen]]. Justified in that he was named by someone else, as a joke ([[spoiler:Nemo translated to "nothing"]]).
* When a character named Nilrem appeared in Brazilian show "Caça Talentos", the fairies were worried because that name was {{Merlin}} spelled backwards.
* A variation on ''{{CSI NY}}'': Stella's psycho ex-boyfriend named a sculpture he made for her the Aresanob, which was her last name, Bonasera, spelled backward. He then uploaded a sex tape to Aresanob.com shortly after.
* The ShoutOutThemeNaming of the main characters in ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'', has Tomoko Nozoma, who was named after ''KamenRiderAmazon''.
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