Because of the holiday, there is an inherent sort of romanticism associated with the name "Valentine."note
Writers will utilize this association to hint at the character's heroic roots. The Knight in Shining Armor named Valentine will do anything to win fair lady's hand, while an Anti-Hero or The Stoic may have the name in order to hint at his Hidden Heart of Gold. A girl with a Sugar-and-Ice Personality named Valentine will often become a Defrosting Ice Queen.
A Villain with the name "Valentine" is often a deliberate subversion on the audience's subconscious expectations, though they do often keep some level of tragic romanticism. They will often be a Well-Intentioned Extremist, or perhaps a Noble Demon or Worthy Opponent. Female villains may be The Vamp.
May or may not apply to slight variations (Valentino, Valentin, etc.) depending on their characterizaton.
A Naming Convention. Compare Cherry Blossom Girl and Alice Allusion.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop. She's a Femme Fatale and a Broken Bird who's just looking for love... and for that big gambling win (she's compared to the Queen of Hearts, for obvious reasons). In this case, it's justified In-Universe — it isn't her real name. She didn't even choose it. The doctor responsible for waking her out of inadvertent cyrosleep named her after his favorite song, "My Funny Valentine."
- Mai Valentine from Yu-Gi-Oh!, which is also a pretty obvious Punny Name. Her last name is Kujaku (peafowl) in the original, though.
- U.S. President (and Big Bad) Funny Valentine in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run. He is unquestionably a villain, but he turns out to be a (deluded) Well-Intentioned Extremist. Hey... Jesus's corpse blessed him for a reason.
- Saint Seiya and Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas present a Specter named Valentine, who, although definitely a villain and never redeemed, is extremely loyal and dedicated to his army and his commander.
- Valentine in Gankutsuou.
Comic Books
- The Femme Fatale thief from Bandette who uses her charms and sex appeal to steal is named Valentina.
- Shakara: Valentine D'Eath is a swaggering, boastful alien Professional Killer.
- Marvel's Voices: Identity: Carl Valentino, aka Somnus, was a former one-night stand of Daken's who had the power to induce all sorts of dreams. As Daken tells it, during their tryst Carl made him imagine an entire lifetime with him.
- The real name of The Wicked + The Divine's Baal Hadad is Valentine Campbell. Considering he gets very emotional over people he cares about, it's fitting.
- Who couldn't fall in love with Melody Valentine from Josie and the Pussycats? Not very bright but all heart.
Films — Animation
- The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue has Dr. Valentine, a NIMH Scientist who captures Jenny's parents and expirements on Martin.
Films — Live-Action
- The grandfather in Spy Kids (played by Ricardo Montalb醤) is named Valentin Avellan.
- Kevin Bacon played Valentine "Val" Mckee in Tremors.
- Valentine from MirrorMask isn't romanticized, but he does fit the "anti-hero with a heart of gold" type.
- Gangster Eddie Valentine from The Rocketeer. Technically a bad guy, but throws his hat in with the heroes once he learns his employer is a two-bit Nazi.
- Russian criminal boss Valentin Zukovsky is an ally of James Bond in GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough who isn't quite evil but not entirely good either.
- Billy Ray Valentine in Trading Places.
- George Valentin, the male lead in The Artist, as an homage to silent screen lover Valentino (see the Real Life section below).
- Val(entine) Kozlowski, the bombardier of the Memphis Belle. He even gets a "bet the women love that!" when the public affairs officer learns his full name.
- Ten Little Mistresses: Don Valentin, the murder victim, had a whopping ten mistresses, fitting for such a sensual name.
Literature
- Valentine Wolfe, who never met a drug he didn't like, from Deathstalker.
- Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land has Valentine Michael Smith.
- The heroine of the very first of P. G. Wodehouse's "Blandings Castle" novels, Something Fresh (1915), was named Joan Valentine.
- The real name of reformed safe-cracker Ralph Spencer in O. Henry's "A Retrieved Reformation" is Jimmy Valentine. (The story was filmed twice, in 1915 and in 1928, as Alias Jimmy Valentine.)
- In G. K. Chesterton's "Father Brown" stories "The Blue Cross" and "The Secret Garden," Aristide Valentin [sic] is the Head of the Parisian police. He is also the murderer in the latter.
- The main character of Robert Silverberg's Lord Valentines Castle, and some but not all of the following books in the Majipoor Series.
- Mortal Engines has Thaddeus and his daughter Katherine.
- Valentine de Villefort, the Proper Lady-like daughter of the Count's enemies in The Count of Monte Cristo, and one half of the book's main romantic subplot.
- Valentine, one of the Two Gentlemen of Verona from the play of the same name by Shakespeare.
- Valentinian in the Belisarius Series. He does not have a particularly romantic outlook on life.
- Last Mage has the protagonist assume various names — the latest is Elijah Valentine, after someone he loved particularly dearly.
- The female protagonist of a series of YA fantasy-horror novels by Flemish author Eddy C. Bertin was named Valentina Hellebel. She was a Fiery Redhead, although not until the second book.
- The children's book Prince Valentino by Burny Bos is about a frog named Valentino who (because his mother calls him her "little prince") deludes himself into thinking that there's a princess in the mountains waiting for him.
Live-Action TV
- Becca Valentine from Andromeda.
- Emily Valentine from Beverly Hills, 90210.
- Cat Valentine from Victorious.
- Emma Valentine from The Wild Wild West episode "The Night of the Vicious Valentine." She's a villain who pretends to be a matchmaker to steal the inheritances of wealthy men. And she wears heart-themed clothing.
- Valentine Wannop, Christopher Tietjens' love interest in Parade's End.
- DS Jimmy Valentine of Law & Order: UK. Of the villainous variety—he's a murderous Dirty Cop.
- On Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Sebastian Ballentine (actually hinted at in that the name is very similar but not identical) is a phony psychic who turns out to be the killer the cops are looking for.
- How I Met Your Father: Valentina is Sophie's fashionable best friend with a much more active sex life than she does.
- The Sopranos: Spicy Latina Valentina La Paz, whom Tony is immediately enamored by.
Music
- "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine", by Spoon. The song is quite cryptic, but Monsieur Valentine is mentioned to have a "black heart machine."
- "Manic Monday" by The Bangles mentions a dream about "kissing Valentino by a crystal-blue Italian stream."
Pro Wrestling
- Johnny Valentine and his son Greg subvert this as they were both heels for much of their careers.
Theater
- In Shirley Valentine, a world-weary housewife named Shirley Bradshaw rediscovers a version of herself who remembers how to live life, represented by her maiden name, Shirley Valentine.
Video Games
- Jill Valentine, one of the main protagonists of the Resident Evil series.
- Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy VII.
- Isabella (Ivy) Valentine, from the Soul series. Despite looking and acting like a dominatrix, she's actually one of the heroes, and only helped the villains in her Soulcalibur debut because she was misled into working with them.
- The family of vampires from Shadow Hearts: Keith in the first game, Joachim in Covenant and Hildegard in From the New World.
- Mr. Valentine, the Big Bad arch-criminal from Guilty Party. Fully in-line with the trope, "he" does indeed have a Hidden Heart of Gold.
- Queen Valentina from Super Mario RPG.
- Nurse Valentine from Skullgirls. She's The Dragon to the game's Big Bad, serving her for reasons unknown. Her Story Mode reveals Valentine was forced into serving her after the defeat of the Last Hope, and she was actually a Good All Along The Mole.
- All of the members of the anti-Skullgirls government group Valentine used to be a part of, the Last Hope, were named after different holidays. So of course, the sexiest one was named after the holiday associated with love. Ironically, her character bio reveals that she was born on December 25th.
- Valentine is the name of the Big Bad of Guilty Gear 2: Overture, a mysterious, Ambiguously Human girl hailing from a plane of existence known as the Backyard. She happens to be a clone of the main hero's Lost Lenore, and manages to remember him right as she dies.
- The following installment, Xrd -SIGN-, adds two characters (Ramlethal and Elphelt) whose last names are Valentine, suggesting it's a Species Surname. A fourth Valentine, Jack-O', joins in Xrd -REVELATOR-. Ramlethal and Elphelt are successors to the original Valentine created by their "Mother," the Universal Will; the first makes a Heel朏ace Turn after discovering her emotions and own self-value while the second is good-natured from the start, but briefly serves as a Manchurian Agent. Jack-O' was instead made by That Man (the series' presumed but not-quite-Big Bad) to counteract the Universal Will's plans. Ramlethal and Elphelt are suggested to also be clones of Aria—Elphelt even looks identical to her save for a few cosmetic differences like hair color, eye color, and a prominent forelock of hair. Jack-O' is another dead ringer, but she actually is, for all intents and purposes, the character in question.
- Nick Valentine, the Hardboiled Detective of Fallout 4. Seems an odd choice at first, given that Nick is a Synth with a side order of Body Horror. Becomes Fridge Brilliance however, when you realise that Nick is The Heart.
- Hilda Valentine Goneril, one of the students in the Golden Deer house in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, is a chronically lazy Cute Bruiser who enjoys using her womanly charms to get men to do her work for her. Whether she's genuinely sweet or just trying to pawn her work off to someone else depends on who she's talking to.
- Valentin Vaillante, the tank of the main party in Get in the Car, Loser!, is a flirt who likes to offer compliments and assistance to any ladies in the vicinity, particularly easily-flustered protagonist Sam. Their Establishing Character Moment is in the game's opening scene, where they stand up to a Machine Devil Cultist harassing Sam and deck him in the face. This even reflects in Valentin's fighting style— drawing attention from the enemies is another way to protect the cute girls in the party, after all.
Web Animation
- Valentino from Hazbin Hotel, is one of the Lords of Hell. He personally runs the sex industry in Hell, owning porn studios, strip clubs, and having every streetwalker under his employ.
Web Original
- Valentine Liosbri of the webcomic HERO.
- Renee Valenti from Survival of the Fittest.
- The Casanova Wannabe from Noob has "Valentin" as an Online Alias. The comic version has mentioned that this is also his player's real first name.
Western Animation
- An episode of Here Comes the Grump called "Sugar and Spite" has two opposing lands located next to each other. On one side is the dreary Land of Glum, populated by nasty, misshapen creatures called the Baddies. On the other side is Valentinia, whose inhabitants are cheerful little winged hearts called the Valentines.
- "Skeeter" Valentine from Doug is by far the biggest womanizer in the show, having four girlfriends over the course of both shows combined.
Real Life
- Once famous as the greatest lover in film, Rudolph Valentino.
- The original Saint Valentine.
- Valentine Dyall, best known as the Black Guardian.
- One early example is also an aversion; "Duke Valentino" was one of the titles of Cesare Borgia, who wouldn't even fit into the villainous use of this trope. since he was a straight-up Magnificent Bastard.
- Likely also averted with Valentina (the feminine form) Tereshkova, the Russian Cosmonaut.
