In Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, Smoke and Stack are twins who have returned home to Mississippi to open their very own juke joint, and weirdly enough, their names say a lot about their characters. Released on April 18, 2025, Sinners is a historical horror film that has quickly become a smash hit, breaking box office records and adding to Hollywood’s recent vampire renaissance. In general, Sinners is a special movie that blends genres and centers on important themes of race, culture, and prejudice. However, what makes it even better are the small intentional details.

Sinners manages to pack a lot of story into a two-hour package, and part of that has to do with details. These are the types of references that come up in pᴀssing, and don’t necessarily get full explanations, but help build the world of the movie. For example, Sinners’ villain, Remmick, has a hidden Irish accent when he sings and mentions how religion overtook his homeland. These small moments hint at Remmick’s Irish upbringing, which audiences could understand more fully with a bit of research. Smoke and Stack’s nicknames are another example of this.

Smoke & Stack Aren’t The Twins’ Real Names In Sinners

What Having These Nicknames Means For Their Characters

Smoke and Stack are the protagonists of Sinners, and over time, audiences subtly learn that these aren’t their true names. The twins are actually named Elijah and Elias Moore. The only people to use their real names, and only sparingly, are their lovers, Annie and Mary. For the rest of the time, they are known by their nicknames to friends, acquaintances, and even enemies. These nicknames imply a lot about the characters, but mainly, they reveal that Smoke and Stack have gained reputations prior to the movie’s start time.

Even without analyzing the actual names, Smoke and Stack, it is easy to come to some conclusions about the characters. Namely, it seems as though the Moore twins earned their nicknames while they were growing up in Mississippi, before the war and before moving to Chicago. Everyone in town knows them as Smoke and Stack, which implies that the names started there. More than that, the fact that they go by these nicknames hints that they did something to earn them. Their reputations started in Mississippi as young people.

The Real Meaning Behind Smoke & Stack’s Names In Sinners

The Importance Of Names In Sinners

There are a few ways to interpret Smoke and Stack. A more surface-level concept is that Smoke has an affection for smoking cigarettes, while Stack eagerly gives out stacks of money. There is also the far-fetched idea that an actual smokestack was integral to their upbringing, though the movie offers no hint at that. The most likely theory is that Smoke is the more skilled fighter of the twins (he brings the “smoke”), while Stack is more business-minded and uses schemes to earn the brothers their money. These character traits could have been prevalent even in their youth.

No matter how you analyze it, Smoke and Stack’s names uncover truths about their characters, and they aren’t the only ones. Sammie is known as Preacher Boy because of his father’s vocation, but he seems to try and buck that reputation at every turn, wanting to be his own person. There are also characters like Delta Slim and Cornbread, whose real names we never really get to learn about. Ultimately, these names show how a person can hide behind or be hidden by their reputation. Thus, when their real name is used, it means something.

Why Smoke & Stack Have Different Styled & Colored Hats In Sinners

Michael B. Jordan’s Portrayals Of Smoke & Stack Are Vital

One more interesting element of Smoke and Stack are their different styles. Smoke wears a blue scalley cap while Stack dons a red fedora. These differing styles could just be a way to tell the twins apart, but of course, the analysis goes even deeper than that. The distinct hats could be a reference to the twins being part of two different Chicago mobs: the Irish for Smoke and the Italian for Stack. The colors of the hats could also hint at the mens’ personalities. Smoke is more calm and collected, while Stack is a bit more vibrant and fiery.

The difference between Smoke and Stack is also made clear by Jordan’s performance. Though the twins look identical, Jordan manages to imbue them with different personalities that work with and against each other. Stack is perhaps more willing to take risks, but Smoke is the one who can follow through with the dirty work. Both men are in love but show their feelings a bit differently. All in all, Sinners is rife with meaningful details.