James Bond was his actual name.
007 was his code name, and they would replace it when an agent with that designation were to die or retire.
this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
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That doesn't seem very clever, going around sharing your own name despite being a spy.
Yet Ian Flemming was supposed to use his past experience in British Intelligence to come up with Bond's novels, so what do I know.
It's actually standard practice for secret agents to use their real names, as accidentally failing to respond to a pseudonym is one if the easiest ways to blow their cover.
Furthermore, Bond is a secret agent. The fact that he's a spy who has tons if amazing adventures is not public knowledge, let alone well-known. We the audience know James Bond as a super-popular action hero from a long series of movies, but in his own universe there is nothing particularly special or noteworthy about the name James Bond.
- Mata Hari was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle.
- Fritz Duqesne had at least 30 known aliases.
- Lise de Baissac was primarily known as Irene Brisse but also Odile, Margerite and Adele.
- Even Dušan Popov, who's allegedly the source for James Bond used in more than one occasion aliases like Duchan, Dusan or Hans: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/record?catid=8204882&catln=6
- Eli Cohen also used a fake Syrian identity because c'mon, you won't go around with an Israeli name trying to get into the Syrian government.
I know that double agents like Richard Sorge or Aldrich Ames would use their actual identities, but fake identities or even using the names of deceased people is very common.
Also, in the Bond universe a LOT of people seem to know who he is, it's not public knowledge per se, but like it seems that all major intelligence services have heard of him and also anybody with power and connections and ill-intent.
He kinda operates like a really weird form of special forces than a spy half the time.
They originally sent him in as a spy but he's a narcissist so he makes sure everyone knows who he is but they keep sending him because it turns out despite being a terrible spy he's still really good at completing the missions anyway.
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He wasn't really a good spy. 🤷♂️
But you have heard of him! Which eh… ya actually maybe you’ve a point there.
Archer moment
He goes undercover in one of the books. His pseudonym is Mark Hazard.
Sounds like something out of MST3K
The books are very much of their time but still a fun read.
It's like a fan theory, which explains why James Bond has always been James Bond despite having many different actors portray him.
Correct. This did in fact happen in No Time to Die.
Well in NTTD, the number 007 was assigned to the Lashana Lynch character named Nomi so "James Bond" is probably not a code name. Otherwise 008 would be "Alex Trevelyan", etc.
Easier to reassign the designation number.
Just want to say that I think they handled the Nomi thing very well in the movie. They were VERY aware of what the audience reaction would be and played into it. They could have pandered a couple different ways and chose not to
Her name could be Jaymes Bond. And there is no reason a girl cannot be called James. Nikita is female in most of the world, except Russia. Carrol is a man's name, and Carol is a woman's name. Tony can be a man or a woman. Names only have genders because we assign them that trait. If all the guys you ever knew in your life were called "Sophia", it would be weird for a girl to take that name. A name is just a name, no matter how weird, unique or cool it is, it's just a name.
Michael Burnham
Jayne Cobb
Willow Ulfgood
Elton John, then still not fully out of the closet, made good use of that, writing a love song titled Nikita, though having the love interest in the video be a blonde woman in a fur hat (presumably to appease the record company).
Lots of my mayo buddies got a surprise when they choose to interview the doll named "Angel" in cyberpunk 2077.
Not sure what a mayo buddy is, but I take it Angel is male and your buddies aren't close to any Hispanic communities, didn't watch Dexter, and don't know St Michael's title. And while not named as "Angel" but playing angels, didn't see Dogma or Good Fortune
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But James Bond is supposed to be a bland forgettable name since Jaymes is an uncommon name for a woman it would be much more rememberable
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Jane S'Bond
In Casino Royale (the real one from 1967) they actually do that. They call every agent, male and female, James Bond to confuse the enemy.
In one story I read, all holders of the 007 designation were automatically called Bond, but idr if their first name became James. It definitely included women either way.
Added: I checked and she used Jean Bond while working as 007. I'm guessing that all the female 007's did that but I'm not sure. That story is pretty nuts tbh.
Once there was a Mrs. Bond...
Anyone who's seen Casino Royale (2006) knows the codename theory is horseshit. Bond was Bond before he was a 00. Later, when he resigns from MI6, he's still Bond. It's his name.
Same with anyone who's seen GoldenEye. If Bond was a codename, Trevelyan would be too, and he'd have mentioned that he no longer went by that MI6-given moniker.
You're thinking of Jane Fonda
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