List of famous pairs

The following is a list of famous pairs. See also list of twins and Twin cities.

Pairs are human beings unless otherwise noted. Pairs are actual persons (living or dead), places, or things, unless identified otherwise.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Aachen & Aix-la-Chapelle (geographical; juxtapositions) (German and French names for the same town)
Abbott & Costello (colleagues; entertainers)
Abelard & Heloise (couples)
Abercrombie & Fitch (commercial partners)
Adam & Eve (Biblical; couples)
Addison & Steele (colleagues; writers)
Adenine & thymine (scientific; complementary) (DNA base pair)
Albireo (astronomical; juxtapositions) (the double star Beta Cygnus)
Alcock & Brown (colleagues; aviators)
John Alden & Priscilla (couples) A real couple (but Priscilla's memorable line, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John?"" is the fictional creation of Longfellow)
Allemande left & Grand right and left (sequences) (frequently paired square dance maneuvers]]
American Falls & Horseshoe Falls (geographical; juxtapositions)
Amoeba & Paramecium (complementary) Prototypical protozoans studied in elementary biology classes
Amos & Andy (fictional; companions)
animus & anima (conceptual)
Antony & Cleopatra (couples)
Anna & the King of Siam (colleagues) (Anna Leonowens and King Mongkut )''
Apples and oranges (proverbial/idiomatic; conceptual; opposing; food)
Fred & Adele Astaire (colleagues; entertainers; siblings)
Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers (colleagues; entertainers)
Atlas & Gazetteer (equipment; complementary)

B

The Babbitt & the Bromide
Battledore & Shuttlecock (equipment; complementary)
Bacon & eggs (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary; food)
Bambi & Thumper (fictional; companions)
Barnes & Noble (commercial partnership)
Barnum & Bailey (commercial partnership)
Baskin & Robbins (commercial partners)
Bass & treble (conceptual; technical; antitheses)
Bathroom & W.C (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary) (British usage) The two essential hygienic plumbing facilities.
Batman and Robin (fictional; colleagues)
Beany & Cecil (fictional; companions; animated cartoons; television)
Beavis & Butthead (fictional; companions)
Bed and breakfast (proverbial/idiomatic)
Ben & Jerry (commercial partners)
Benjamin Britten & Peter Pears (colleagues; couples)
Bert & Ernie (fictional; companions; puppets; television) Creations of Jim Henson, possibly named after characters in It's a Wonderful Life
Big-endian & Little-endian (fictional; opposing factions) Creations of Jonathan Swift. Satirized homoousia & homoiousia, q.v. Also: (technical; conceptual; opposing) computer science terms
Bill and Ben, The Flowerpot Men (fictional; companions)
Bill & Ted (fictional; companions)
Black & Decker (commercial partners)
Black & white (proverbial/idiomatic; conceptual; opposing)
Block & tackle (equipment; complementary)
Boardwalk & Park Place (complementary; juxtapositions)
Bolsheviks & Mensheviks (opposing factions)
Bonnie & Clyde (colleagues; couples; criminals)
Bootsie and Snudge
Bosnia & Herzegovina (geographical; juxtapositions)
Brace & bit (equipment; complementary)
Brahms & Wagner (idols of opposing musical factions in Vienna during the 1870s)
Bread & butter (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary; food)
Bread & Roses (Proverbial of womens' labor issues, from slogan of the 1912 Lawrence, Massachusetts strikers)
Brighton & Hove - also Brighton & Hove Albion (geographical; juxtapositions)
Charlie Brown & Snoopy (fictional; companions; comic strip) Creations of Charles M. Schulz
"Daddy" Browning & "Peaches" Heenan (couples; scandalous)
Robert Browning & Elizabeth Barrett (couples)
Bow & Arrow (equipment; complementary)
Bubble & Squeak (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary; food) (dish made from leftover potatoes and cabbage)
Buck & Bubbles (colleagues; entertainers)
Burke & Hare (colleagues; criminals)
George Burns & Gracie Allen (colleagues; entertainers; couples)
Aaron Burr & Alexander Hamilton (rivals/opponents)
Buster Brown & Tige (fictional; companions; comic strip) Creations of Richard F. Outcault

C

Caesar & Cleopatra (couples)
Cain & Abel (mythological/legendary; Biblical; siblings; rivals/opponents)
Calvin and Hobbes (fictional; companions;comic strips) Creations of Bill Watterson
Carriage return & Line feed (technical; complementary) Standard line break in Digital OSes, CP/M, MS-DOS, and Windows
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (colleagues; companions; criminals) (Subject of motion picture Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid)
Castor & Pollux (astronomical; juxtapositions); also (mythological/legendary; twins) The twin stars in Gemini; see also Dioscuri; see also Leda and the Swan.
Cavaliers & Roundheads (opposing factions)
Cav & Pag (complementary) (Cavalleria Rusticana and I_Pagliacci, short operas frequently performed together)
Cease & desist (proverbial/idiomatic) (Legal idiom)
Chalk & Cheese (proverbial/idiomatic; rivals/opponents) British phrase, "as different as chalk and cheese"
Chang & Eng (twins) The eponymous "Siamese twins"
Chas 'n Dave
Cheech & Chong (colleagues; entertainers)
Cherubim & Seraphim (Biblical; complementary) Frequently paired; the two lowest orders of angels.
Christopher Columbus & Queen Isabel (colleagues)
Click & Clack (colleagues; entertainers) ("the Tappet brothers") (Tom and Ray Magliosi)
Coat & tie (proverbial/idiomatic; equipment; complementary) (The two required articles constituting formal dress)
Conservative & Labour (opposing factions)
Corned beef & Cabbage (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary; food) Proverbial lower-class Irish entree
Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon (colleagues) (crossword puzzle authors)
Crips & Bloods
Pierre & Marie Curie (colleagues; couples; scientists)
Currier & Ives (commercial partners) (lithographers)
Cut & Paste (technical; complementary)
Cyril & Methodius
cytosine & thymine (complementary) (DNA base pair)

D

Dallas & Fort Worth (geographical; juxtapositions; twin cities)
Dalziel & Pascoe (fictional; colleagues; detectives) Creations of Reginald Hill
Damon & Pythias (mythological/legendary; companions)
Danger Mouse & Penfold
David & Goliath (mythological/legendary; Biblical; rivals/opponents)
Death & Taxes (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary) (proverbial pairing of two inevitabilities)
Democrat & Republican (opposing factions)
Dick & Jane (fictional; siblings) (in the Scott, Foresman primary readers, very widely used in the U. S.)
Big Diomede Island & Little Diomede Island (geographical)
The Dioscuri (mythological/legendary; twins; rivals/opponents)
The Big Dipper & the Little Dipper (astronomical; complementary)
Dodge & Plymouth (corporate twin automobile marques; same company, same chassis, different model names and body styles)
Drum and bugle corps (equipment; complementary) Marching band musical complement.

E

Eckert & Mauchly (colleagues; also commercial partners)
Elsie and Elmer (fictional; couples; mascots) Cows, trademark of Borden dairy circa 1938 on.
England & Wales (geographical; juxtapositions)
ENQ & ACK (technical; complementary)
Evan & Jaron
Exchange & Mart
Edison & Swan (rivals/opponents and commercial partners)

F

Faber & Faber, Ltd (commercial partners) British publishing firm.

Douglas Fairbanks & Mary Pickford (colleagues; entertainers)
Basil Fawlty & Sybil (fictitious)
Ferrante & Teicher (colleagues; entertainers) (duo-pianists)
Fife & Drum (equipment; complementary) Traditional military instrumental pair
Fight or flight (proverbial/idiomatic; opposing)
Fish & chips (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary; food)
Flanders & Swann (colleagues; entertainers)
Flannigan & Allen
Flotsam & Jetsam (proverbial/idiomatic)
Fools & Horses
Fortnum & Mason (commercial partners)
French & Saunders
Friend or foe (proverbial/idiomatic; opposing)
Frodo Baggins & Sam Gamgee (fictional; companions)
Funk & Wagnalls (commercial partners)

G

Gallagher & Shean (colleagues; entertainers)

Bill Gates & Paul Allen (colleagues; business partners) Founders of Microsoft Corporation
George & Ira Gershwin (colleagues; siblings; songwriters)
Gilbert & George (colleagues; entertainers; couples) (performance artists)
Gilbert & Sullivan (colleagues; songwriters)
Gin & tonic (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary; beverages)
Gin & Vermouth (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary; beverages)
Goofus & Gallant (fictional; rivals/opponents)
Gog & Magog
Great Pyramid & Sphinx (juxtapositions) Ancient Egyptian monuments of Giza
Guanine and cytosine (scientific; complementary) (other DNA base pair)
Gumby & Pokey (fictional; companions; television; animated cartoons)
The Globe & Mail
Goodson & Todman (colleagues) (television game-show producers)

H

h and Chi Persei (astronomical; juxtapositions)
Hagar & Helga
Hero & Leander (mythological/legendary; couples)
Hale & Dorr (commercial partners) (Boston law firm)
Hale & Pace
ham and eggs (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary; food)
Hansel & Gretel (mythological/legendary; siblings)
Warren G. Harding & Nan Britton (couples; scandalous)
Hardy & Littlewood (colleagues) Mathematicians in the field of number theory.
Harlequin & Pierrot (fictional; archetypes; complementary)
Harry and David (commercial partners) Pioneering mail-order food merchant (pears, Fruit-of-the-Month club)
Harvard & Radcliffe (institutions; complementary)
Harvard & Yale (institutions; rivals)
Hatfields and McCoys [1] (rivals/opponents)
Heaven & Earth (proverbial/idiomatic; opposing)
Heaven & Hell (proverbial/idiomatic; opposing)
Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay (colleagues)
Hiroshima & Nagasaki (geographical) (First, and to date only, targets of nuclear attack)
Hobbs & Sutcliffe
Hollywood & Vine (geographical; intersections)
Homer & Jethro (colleagues; entertainers)
Homer & Marge (fictional; couples)
Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson (fictional; colleagues; companions)
Sherlock Holmes & Professor Moriarty (fictional; rivals/opponents)
homoousia & homoiousia (concepts; opposing)
Horn & Hardart (commercial partners)
Rock Hudson & Doris Day (colleagues; entertainers; movies) (fictional; couples) Played couples in battle-of-the-sexes comedies such as Pillow Talk
Huntley & Brinkley (colleagues)

I

The Iliad & the Odyssey (literary; complementary)
Incubus & Succubus
Iztaccihuatl &Popocatepetl (geographical; juxtapositions) (Mexican volcanos)

J

Jack & Jill (proverbial/idiomatic; fictional; companions)
Jarndyce & Jarndyce (fictional; commercial partners) (law firm in Charles Dickens' novel, Bleak House)
Agents Jay and Kay (fictional; colleagues)
Jeeves & Wooster (fictional; companions)
Thomas Jefferson & Sally Hemings (couples; scandalous)
Jekyll & Hyde (fictional)
Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak (colleagues; commercial partners) The proverbial "two Steves in a garage" who founded Apple Computer|Apple Computer, Inc (with assistance from Mike Markkula)
Johnson & Johnson (commercial partners)
Joseph & Mary (Biblical; couples)
The Jukes & the Kallikaks (conceptual; opposing)
Jules et Jim (fictional; companions)
Juno & the Peacock; see also Aesop, Alfred Hitchcock, Sean O'Casey (fictional; couples)

K

Kermit & Miss Piggy (fictional; companions)
Kernighan & Ritchie (colleagues) Computer scientists
Nancy Kerrigan & Tonya Harding (rivals; opponents; athletes) Figure-skaters. Famous because of Harding's 1994 participation in a conspiracy to disable Kerrigan.
Keuffel & Esser (commercial partners) (slide rule manufacturer)
Kruder & Dorfmeister

L

Lady & The Tramp (fictional; couples)
Lancelot & Guinevere (mythological/legendary; couples)
Laurel & Hardy (colleagues; entertainers; animated cartoon)
The Law & the Prophets
Lea & Perrins (commercial partners)
Leda & the Swan (mythological/legendary; couples)
Leicestershire & Rutland (geographical; juxtapositions)
Left & right (conceptual; opposing)
Leopold & Loeb (colleagues; criminals)
Lewis & Clark (fictional; colleagues)
Lennon & McCartney (colleagues; songwriters)
Lineweaver & Burk
Lindwall & Miller
Little & Large
Live or die (conceptual; antitheses)
Lone Ranger & Tonto (fictional; colleagues)
Lucy & Desi (colleagues; couples; rivals/opponents; commercial partners; entertainers)
Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontanne (colleagues; couples; entertainers; theatre)

M

Aimee Semple McPherson & Kenneth G. Ormiston (couples; scandalous)
Mad dogs & Englishmen (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary; title) Noel Coward song title, referring to creatures that "go out in the mid-day sun" in tropical climes; also motion picture title, name of singing group, name of advertising agency.
M & M's
Large Magellanic Cloud & Small Magellanic Cloud (astronomical; juxtapositions)
Mahler & Bruckner (complementary) Symphonic composers who are frequently paired and seem to appeal to similar musical tastes.
Mainyu & Mazda (mythological/legendary; conceptual; rivals/opponents)
Marks & Spencer (commercial partners)
Marx & Engels (colleagues)
Mary & her little lamb (fictional; companions) (Sarah Josepha Hale's nursery poem, "Mary had a Little Lamb")
Mason & Dixon (colleagues)
Masters & Johnson (colleagues; scientists)
Mexicali & Calexico (geographical; juxtapositions; twin cities)
Michaelis & Menten (colleagues; scientists)
Michelson & Morley (colleagues; scientists)
Mills & Boon (commercial partners) British publisher of romance novels.
Wilbur Mills & Fanne Foxe (couples; scandalous) (Senator caught with stripper, in the "tidal basin" incident)
Mississippi-Missouri (geographical; juxtapositions) Conjoined river systems
Mizar & Alcor (astronomical; juxtapositions) (the "horse and rider")
Modesty Blaise & Willie Garvin
The Monitor & the Merrimack (rivals/opponents)
Mom and pop (conceptual; complementary)
Morecambe & Wise (colleagues; entertainers; comedians)
Mork & Mindy (fictional; companions; television)
Morse & Lewis
Motherhood & apple pie (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary) The two primary undisputed American values
Mum and dad (conceptual; complementary)
Mutt & Jeff (fictional; companions; comic strip) Creations of Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher; it was the first well-known daily comic strip. Hence also (idiomatic/proverbial) for any tall-short pair of men.
Mutt & Jeff (colleagues; spies)
Fox Mulder and Dana Scully (fictional; colleagues; television)

N

Napoleon & Josephine (couples)
Nature or nuture (proverbial/idiomatic; opposing)
Neanderthals & Cro-Magnons
Evelyn Nesbit & Stanford White (couples; scandalous)
Newfoundland & Labrador (geographical; juxtapositions)
Nancy & Sluggo (fictional; companions; comic strip) (Creations of Ernie Bushmiller)

O

One Man & His Dog

Oranges and lemons (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary) (Nursery rhyme)

Orkney & Shetland (geographical; juxtapositions)
Orthanc & Minas Morgul (Tolkien's (fictional; geographical; juxtapositions; rivals/opponents) Two Towers)
Orthoclase & Plagioclase (complementary) (minerals found together in feldspar)
Othello & Desdemona (fictional; couples; theatre) (creations of William Shakespeare)
The Owl & the Pussycat (fictional; couples)

P

Pat and Patachon

Pelleas et Melisande (mythological/legendary; couples)
Marks & Spencer (commercial partners)
Penn & Teller (colleagues; entertainers; illusionists)
Penrod & Sam (fictional; companions) Creations of Booth Tarkington
Peter Pan & Wendy (fictional; companions) Creations of J. M. Barrie
Philemon & Baucis (mythological/legendary; couples)
Phobos & Deimos (astronomical; juxtapositions) Satellites of Mars
Piston & Cylinder (equipment; complementary)
Pinky & the Brain
Plankton & Nekton
Plug & Socket (equipment; complementary)
Pompeii & Herculaneum (geographical; juxtapositions) Adjacent cities destroyed in the A. D. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Porgy & Bess (fictional; couples) Title of and character in DuBose Heyward's novel, on which the Gershwin opera was based
Press & Journal
Posh & Becks
Procter & Gamble (commercial partners)
Proton & neutron (scientific; complementary)
Pyramus & Thisbe (fictional; couples)
Punch & Judy (fictional; archetypes; couples; rivals/opponents)
Pupienus & Balbinus

Q

Strange & Charm Quarks (complementary)
Quisp & Quake

R

Pierre-Esprit Radisson & M�dard des Groseilliers
Rand & McNally (commercial partners)
The Raw & the Cooked
Redgrave & Pinsent (colleagues; athletes)
Reeves & Mortimer
Regis & Kathie Lee (colleagues; entertainers; television)
Ren & Stimpy (fictional; colleagues; animated cartoon)
Rhode Island & Providence Plantations (geographical; juxtapositions) (Rhode Island's official name)
Rod & reel (equipment; complementary)
Rodgers & Hammerstein (colleagues; songwriters)
Roy Rogers & Dale Evans (colleagues; couples; entertainers; singers; motion pictures)
Rolls & Royce (commercial partners)
Romeo & Juliet (fictional; couples) Creations of William Shakespeare
Romulus & Remus (mythological/legendary; siblings)
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern (fictional; companions) Creations of William Shakespeare
Le Rouge & le Noir (conceptual; opposing; famous title) Stendhal's novel; red army uniforms vs. black church robes
Rowan & Martin (colleagues; entertainers; comedians; television)
Ruler & compass (technical; equipment; complementary) The two instruments whose use is permitted in formal geometrical constructions.
Russell & Whitehead (colleagues; mathematicians)
Ruth & Naomi (mythological/legendary; Biblical; companions)
Rwanda & Burundi (geographical; juxtapositions)

S

St. Kitts & Nevis (geographical; juxtapositions)
St. Pierre & Miquelon (geographical; juxtapositions)
St. Vincent & the Grenadines (geographical; juxtapositions)
Salt & pepper (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary; food)
Samson & Delilah (mythological/legendary; Biblical; couples)
San Diego & Tijuana (geographical; juxtapositions; twin cities)
Sao Tome & Principe (geographical; juxtapositions; twin cities)
Scylla & Charybdis (See also Scylla & Charybdis) (mythological/legendary)
Sears & Roebuck (commercial partners)
Sellar & Yeatman (colleagues; authors; humorists) Authors of 1066 and All That
Shave & a haircut (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary)
Skull & Bones (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary) Name of Yale secret society.
Skull & Crossbones (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary) Symbol of death, piracy, and poison.
Siegfried & Roy (colleagues; entertainers)
Silk & Satin (proverbial pairing of two lustrous, luxurious fabrics)
Simon & Garfunkel (colleagues; entertainers)
Simon & Schuster (commercial partners)
Sirius & Sirius B (astronomical; juxtapositions) (binary star system)
Siskel & Ebert (colleagues) (Print and television movies reviewers) (Siskel 1946-1999)(Ebert& Roeper aren't really a "famous pair" yet)
Slap & Tickle
John Smith & Pocahontas (couples)
Smith & Jones (fictional; colleagues)
Smith & Wesson (commercial partners) (gunmakers)
Smoke & mirrors (proverbial/idiomatic) The illusionist's elements
Smothers Brothers (colleagues; entertainers)
King Solomon & the Queen of Sheba (mythological/legendary; Biblical; couples)
Somerville and Ross
Sonny & Cher (colleagues; entertainers; couples)
Sooty & Sweep
Square & compass (symbols; juxtapositions) (Masonic emblem)
Stalagmites & Stalactites (conceptual; complementary; opposing)
Starsky & Hutch (fictional; colleagues)
Steptoe and Son (fictional; companions)
Strauss & Howe

T

Tarzan & Jane (fictional; couples)
Tex & Jinx (colleagues; entertainers)
Thelma & Louise (fictional; companions)
Thunder & lightning (proverbial/idiomatic; complementary)
Strom Thurmond & Essie Butler (couples; scandalous) Biological parents of mixed-race Essie Mae Washington-Williams
Tintin & Snowy (fictional; companions)
Titanic & Britannic (twin White Star ships that both met tragic fates)
Tom & Jerry (fictional; rivals/opponents; animated cartoon); also (proverbial/idiomatic).
Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn (fictional; companions)
Tool & Die (equipment; complementary)
Tonsils & Adenoids (anatomical; juxtapositions) (Customarily removed together; routine surgical procedure for children in the U. S. in the 1940s and 1950s).
Torvill & Dean (colleagues; entertainers) (figure skaters)
Trinidad & Tobago (geographical; juxtapositions)
Tristan & Isolde (fictional; couples)
Trylon & Perisphere (juxtapositions) Iconic monuments of the 1939 New York World's Fair
Trueman & Statham
Turks & Caicos (geographical; juxtapositions)
Town Mouse & Country Mouse
Tracy & Hepburn (colleagues; entertainers; couples)
Tudors & Stuarts
Tweedledum & Tweedledee (idiomatic/proverbial; complementary) Proverbial for an trivial difference; originally creations of John Byrom, referring to musical controversy; also (fictional; twins) creations of Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass
Tyne & Wear (geographical; juxtapositions)

U

Uday & Qusay (siblings)
Ulna & Radius (juxtapositions; complementary)
Uranium-235 & Uranium-238 (complementary) (Almost inseparable isotopes)

V

Van & Schenck
Victoria & Albert (couples)

W

Wallace & Gromit (fictional; companions; motion pictures; animation) Fictional creations of Nick Park
George Washington & Abraham Lincoln (complementary) Portraits frequently paired in U. S. classrooms; two highest rankers in the American Presidential pantheon
Wayne & Garth (fictional; companions)
Wayne & Shuster (colleagues; entertainers)
Watson & Crick (colleagues; scientists)
Weber & Fields (colleagues; entertainers)
Whigs & Tories (rivals; factions)
Wilbur & Orville Wright (colleagues; siblings)
Nero Wolfe & Archie Goodwin (fictional; colleagues; detectives) Creations of Rex Stout
The Woodies, Woodbridge and Woodforde tennis players
Woodward & Bernstein (colleagues; journalists)
Peg Woffington & Christie Johnstone
One and Two World Trade Center, New York (geographical; juxtapositions)

X

Xerxes & Esther (mythological/legendary; Biblical; rivals/opponents)
Xylem & Phloem (technical; complementary) Botanical circulatory elements

Y

Yin & Yang (conceptual; complementary and opposing)
York & Lancaster (rivals/opponents)

Z

Zager & Evans
Zenith & Nadir (concepts; opposing)
Zeno & Chrysippus (see also Stoicism)
Zero & One (concepts; opposing; complementary)
Zeus & Ganymede (mythological; couples)