A closer look

In a deeply ironic twist, the world's most sophisticated and thrilling super spy was specifically named to sound like a total accountant. Ian Fleming actively wanted the blandest, most uninteresting moniker possible for his protagonist, so he simply stole the name from the author of a bird-watching manual. The goal was to make him sound like a completely anonymous nobody, which hilariously backfired when the name became synonymous with international espionage.