->'''Dr. Lutz:''' Tell me, why do you insist on referring to yourself in the third person? It's ''intensely'' irritating!\\
'''Hercule Poirot:''' It helps Poirot to keep a distance from his genius.
-->-- ''Series/{{Poirot}}'', "The Labours of Hercules"

A Third-Person Person is a character who always refers to himself or herself in the third person.

In Japanese media, this is a standard tic of very young children. As a result, girls who are childish or [[TheCutie cutesy]] may be seen referring to themselves in this manner. In older characters, however, it may be a sign of [[HollywoodPsych psychological issues]], such as a very traumatic event in their past. It also may be a sign of humility, so {{samurai}} and noblewomen usually refer to themselves in the third person when talking to their lords. If a character ''transitions'' into a Third-Person Person over the course of the series, watch out for signs of {{Yandere}}, and keep tabs on all [[KnifeNut pointy]] [[AxCrazy objects]]. [[labelnote:(hidden linguistic note)]] Note also that in the Japanese language there is no ''grammatical'' distinction between first-, second-, and third-person (verb endings do not depend on person or singular/plural as in Indo-European languages like English), and the subject often gets omitted. Therefore, the difference between first and third-person is not as ''sharply'' obvious in original Japanese texts as it is in English texts where the subject ''always'' has to be mentioned (except in the rare cases where it's inferred from context). This can be a headache for the translators, and so translations are, consequently, often inconsistent.[[/labelnote]]

On the other hand, a Western character who refers to himself in the third person will usually either be vain, egotistical, or self-absorbed -- the implication being that he is so in awe of himself that even ''he'' views himself objectively. Or the character is a {{Hulk Speak}}ing primitive. Or the character could be just a CloudCuckoolander with a [[VerbalTic weird speech mannerism]]. An [[ItsAllAboutMe egotistical villain]] will especially refer to himself in this fashion if he has a [[TheMagnificent cool or impressive-sounding name or title]]. Sometimes a character with AcquiredSituationalNarcissism will temporarily become a ThirdPersonPerson as a sign of his suddenly expanded ego. There are examples of this trope used in the Japanese way, though, such as Elmo from SesameStreet.

The technical term for this is "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illeism illeism]]", from the Latin word for "that" (sometimes also used like "he") with "-ism" attached. If the speaker does this for only for a story in which they are revealed as the central character, it's AndThatLittleGirlWasMe or NarratorAllAlong.

See also HulkSpeak and VerbalTic. Almost as bad as [[SpellMyNameWithAThe people who insist their name has a "The" in there somewhere.]] PokemonSpeak is when a character says their name over and over because it's ''literally'' the only thing they can say.
!!Example subpages:
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Anime and Manga}}
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Comic Books}}
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Animated Film}}s
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Live-Action Film}}s
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Literature}}
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Live-Action TV}}
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Music}}
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Theater}}
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Video Games}}
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Visual Novels}}
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Webcomics}}
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Western Animation}}
* ThirdPersonPerson/{{Real Life}}



* A commercial for Progressive auto insurance has a guy who comes into "the Progressive store" to talk with Flo about auto insurance refers to himself in this manner, confusing her at first. Then another associate shows up and he gets confused as well, leading Flo to be all "Here we go again."

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' has a short arc where Calvin demands that he be called "Calvin the Bold", going on to say that "Calvin the Bold will begin referring to himself in the third person." Then his dad knighted him with the name Mud, and the whole charade disappeared very quickly.
* Lucy van Pelt did this when she was very young, in early ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' strips.
* ''ComicStrip/TerryAndThePirates'' has several of these: Dragon Lady, Sanjak, Rouge, Klang...

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* Johnny Steps, the egotistical pseudo-DDR player in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries''. He does this to a lesser extent in the original ''Anime/YuGiOh'' as well.
* Rando the copy-demon from ''YuYuHakushoAbridged''. Likely tied into his entirely fabricated egotistical rapper character within said series.
* Likewise Recoome in ''WebVideo/DragonBallAbridged'', as part of his ProfessionalWrestling theme.
* Some fanfics, like ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3042174/Dead_Men_Tell_No_Tales Dead Men Tell No Tales]]'', describe [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Tia Dalma]] as one of these. It may be the result of her [[YouNoTakeCandle broken English]].
* Stalkkus in the FanFilm ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}} vs. the Kaiju Killer''.
* ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm'': The '''GREAT''' and '''POWERFUL''' [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Trixie]], of course. To the point when she doesn't do this [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Twilight knows something is up]].
** The idea that Trixie falls back on first-person speech when she loses her cool is common in fanfiction.
* In the Supernatural fan-comics by "[[http://lordwhat.tumblr.com/post/54876672823/the-sequel-the-second-sequel-the-third-part-the Lordwhat]]", Sam Winchester often refers to himself as 'Sam', actually complaining about someone else describing themself in the third person at one point.
* ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse'': After the CrisisCrossover, Trixie Lulamoon is so amused by her grandstanding oddball counterpart that she's taken to using some of her mannerisms as a goof.
* Tsukey from ''Fanfic/{{Hivefled}}. She's not childish or arrogant, just a little odd.
* Though [[PuppetKing Oblivion]] doesn't speak like this anymore in ''FanFic/ResonanceDays'', she apparently used to, as a further signifier of her childish status. This foreshadows her true identity as one of the Third Person People to appear in the [[PuellaMagiMadokaMagica original material]].[[spoiler:.. though [[PuellaMagiOrikoMagica which one is anyone's guess.]]]]
** Also Ticky Nikki who is just plain nuts.

[[folder:New Media]]
* It is almost instinctive in GenderBender stories to refer to one's opposite-gender self in the third person, usually as her name.
* ''ILoveBees'' has Monster Ann, a minor antagonist who speaks this way.
* Inverted by me, an ordinary toaster named [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP-426]], who makes everyone around me refer to me in the first person. And that's only the ''least'' of my effects.
** Played straight with SCP-811, a swamp woman who combines this with HulkSpeak due to her poor vocabulary.
* "[[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall SNOWFLAME]] HAS NO CONCEPT OF TIME!"
* Waluigi within the LetsPlay/MarioPartyTV series, [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation as voiced]] by The Reverend Inferno.
* {{WebOriginal/Fandomstuck}} has CuteMonsterGirl Tsukeysprite and Calamity Kid, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of {{VideoGame/Bastion}}. In the latter's case, he technically refers to himself by a ''title'' rather than his name, unless, of course, [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep his name really is Kid]].

[[folder:Pro Wrestling ]]
* [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] says... he is going to lay the smackdown on the [[{{Jobber}} jabronis]] who neglected to mention him here!
* Not as common, but Mr. Kennedy (...KENNEDY!) still makes it a big deal in his pre-match promo.
* It's not uncommon for wrestlers to use their title nicknames to refer to themselves. Wrestling/TripleH has been quite guilty of this lately (King of Kings going back on his throne, you know the deal)... and that's the bottom line, 'cause [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin Stone Cold]] said so!

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* This is a permanent feature of the puppet for Alain Delon (see Real Life below) in ''Series/LesGuignolsDeLInfo''.
* Elmo of ''Series/SesameStreet'' does this; it's part of the reason he's so adorable. Not so much ego as [[JustifiedTrope he hasn't learned pronouns yet]].
** The Mexican version, ''Plaza Sesamo'', has Lola doing it as well, since she's the show's Elmo equivalent.

* MitchBenn spends part of one episode of ''Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music'' in the third-person for tax purposes.
* Most of the cast of ''Radio/TheNavyLark'' would slip in and out of [[RuleOfFunny whenever it was funny]], but C.P.O. Pertwee and Fatso Johnson would do it more than most.
* Denis King of ''Radio/HelloCheeky'' would do this whenever he had just told a [[IncrediblyLamePun terrible]], ''[[StylisticSuck terrible]]'' joke. Usually the statement would go along the lines of "How does he think of them?" or "He's working well tonight!"

[[folder:Web Video]]
* Caveman of ''WebVideo/TheTimeGuys'' fame talk like this, but Caveman's prodigious cave-telligence imply this done more for style.

* PokemonSpeak takes this to its logical extreme.