List of fictitious people
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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This article lists the fictitious people, i.e., nonexistent people, which, unlike fictional people, are those somebody has claimed to actually exist. Usually this is done as a practical joke or hoax, but sometimes fictitious people are 'created' as part of a fraud. Sometimes the line between the two categories is blurred, e.g., as in the case of Abdul Alhazred. A pseudonym may also be considered by some to be a "fictitious person", although this is not the correct definition.
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Hoaxes
- Abdul Alhazred, author of the equally fictitious Necronomicon created by H. P. Lovecraft. His pseudobiography was published in A History of the Necronomicon.
- William Ashbless, a 19th-century fictitious poet and adventurer
- Bilitis, nonexistent Ancient Greek poet. Supposed author of The Songs of Bilitis, a collection of erotic poetry "discovered" by Pierre Louÿs.
- Harry Q. Bovik, eternal Carnegie Mellon computer science researcher
- George P. Burdell, eternal Georgia Tech student
- Eddie Burrup, fake Australian aboriginal painter
- Allegra Coleman, nonexistent supermodel
- Helen Demidenko, nonexistent Ukrainian author, created by Australian writer Helen Darville
- Anthony Godby Johnson, (probably) fictitious author of Rock and a Hard Place : One Boy's Triumphant Story
- Kilroy, a nonexistent legendary World War II US army major who inspired millions during the war and became part of American popular culture.
- Ern Malley, nonexistent Australian poet, created by Australian poets James McAuley and Harold Stewart
- Piotr Zak, nonexistent Polish composer, created for a BBC programme by Hans Keller and others
- Georg Paul Thomann, nonexistent Austrian conceptual artist, created by art group monochrom to represent Austria at the 2002 Sao Paulo Art Biennial. Georg Paul Thomann is featured in RE/Search's "Pranks 2" book.
Pseudonyms
This list includes pseudonyms supplied with a biography suggesting the existence of a person distinct from the actual person with the pseudonym in question, often with the purpose of a hoax.
See also Collective pseudonyms (many of them were not claimed as "real" people).
- Nicolas Bourbaki, a 20th century French mathematician with credited publications
- Kozma Prutkov, nonexistent Russian writer
- Lemony Snicket, pseudonym of Daniel Handler and character in Handler's (or "Snicket's") Series of Unfortunate Events
- Gerald Wiley, pseudonym used by comedy performer and writer Ronnie Barker so that his sketches would be judged on merit.
Arts & entertainment
- David J. Broadfoot, the Member of Parliament from Kicking Horse Pass, representing the New Apathetic Party, a character played by Canadian comedian Dave Broadfoot.
- Dame Edna Everage, a character played by Australian comedian Barry Humphries
- Borat Sagdiyev, a fictitious Kazakhstani journalist created by Sacha Baron Cohen, see also Ali G and Bruno
- Rusty Shackelford, pseudonym of Dale Gribble from the animated program King of the Hill.
- Sven - occasional stand in for Samantha, above, on BBC radio comedy I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
- Gerald Bostock, writer of the lyrics for the Jethro Tull album Thick as a Brick.
- Ponsonby Britt executive producer of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. In the credits of George of the Jungle, a later offering from the same production company, "Britt" had been promoted to "Ponsonby Britt OBE" (recipient of the Order of the British Empire).
- Margaret B. Jones, fictitious half white, half Native American foster child and Bloods gang member in South Central Los Angeles
- Andreas Karavis, nonexistent Greek poet
- Donald Kaufman, fictional brother of Adaptation writer Charlie Kaufman, gained "writing credits" and co-won an Oscar
- Kobuk, nonexistent Inuit author and playwright (invented by the Austrian comedian Helmut Qualtinger)
- Wanda Koolmatrie, nonexistent Australian aboriginal author
- JT LeRoy, fictional American author and literary celebrity.
- David Manning, a nonexistent film critic created by Sony Corporation.
- S. Morgenstern, fictional author from the equally fictional country of Florin
- Ossian, Irish bard created by James Macpherson in the 18th century
- Nat Tate, fake 1950's American artist
- B. Traven, adventure novelist
- Mrs. Trellis of North Wales - regular correspondent to BBC radio comedy I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
- Kilgore Trout Fake author of "Venus on the Halfshell". Created by Kurt Vonnegut. Book written by Philip Jose Farmer
- Hajime Yadate, credited as the creator of most of the anime works of Japanese animation studio Sunrise.
- Van den Budenmayer, nonexistent Dutch composer believed to be real by some filmgoers even after they were told the truth
Academia
- Jára da Cimrman, fictional Czech genius and polymath
- Honorable J. Fortescue, fake US physician
- Dr. Irving Joshua Matrix, numerologist, invented by Martin Gardner
- Josiah Carberry, professor of psychoceramics at Brown University
Politics
- Jakob Maria Mierscheid, a member of the German Bundestag. Despite not existing, Mierscheid has an official Parliamentary biography (complete with portrait) and has given his name to a bridge spanning the River Spree and to the Mierscheid Law, which has been used to predict voting patterns in the former West Germany.
Sports
- Sidd Finch, nonexistent baseball prodigy created by George Plimpton for an April Fool's Day prank.
- Chimezie Kudu, nonexistent 7-foot-11 basketball player (ESPN.com readers' responses)
- Taro Tsujimoto, nonexistent Japanese hockey player selected by Buffalo Sabres general manager Punch Imlach in the 1974 NHL Draft
Religion
- Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Aftah, non-existent leader and Mahdi of the extinct Fathite/Aftahiyya/Fathiyya Shia Muslim sect.
Unclassified
- Please help in putting them into appropriate sections.
- Carl Brandon, a fictional fan of color, for whom the Carl Brandon Society was named
- Betty Crocker, fake spokesperson for The Washburn Crosby Company of Minneapolis and its successor company, General Mills
- Kodee Kennings, nonexistent 8-year-old girl whose letters were published in the Daily Egyptian, a student newspaper for Southern Illinois University Carbondale
- Claude Émile Jean-Baptiste Litre, volumetric namesake.
- Andrew MacDonald, a pseudonym for William Luther Pierce, white supremacist and author of The Turner Diaries
- Kaycee Nicole, fictional leukemia sufferer and Internet personality
- Henry Root, fictitious correspondent, and Henry Raddick (possibly the same person)
- H. Rochester Sneath, nonexistent headmaster of the nonexistent Selhurst School
- Udo of Aachen, fictional monk
- Edna Welthorpe, nonexistent morality campaigner
- Araki Yasusada, fake Hiroshima survivor and author
References