The "Sole" Survivor?

[The Man From Nowhere]

How does that even even make sense?

There are 2 survivors who come from that vault. The player character and his/her son.

 

[TerminallyChill]

It likely sounded cool to the developers. I find it's best not to put too much thought into the decisions made by Howard and crew, as they largely seem to be based on momentary impulses rather than logic.

What I'm saying is that Todd Howard is the Michael Bay of video game direction.

 

[Prone Squanderer]

Clearly it's a reference to how well-preserved his/her shoes are.

 

[Deleted member 98605]

I guess no one really knew about the Institute taking Shawn until you tell them. Rumor is that the Institute raided the vault, then a few decades later someone comes out of the vault. Not much room to guess for another survivor.

It might also be a small hint to kill Shawn. Because fuck Shawn.

 

[Norzan]

Bethesda writers also called the PC in Fallout 3 "The Lone Wanderer". Even though you can recruit companions.

 

[Immortalkickass]

They are not big on words, or English. Look at their quests, you can finish a 'clear the room' quest by killing just the leader.

 

[Daniel The NCR Veteran]

Meanwhile, going into Fallout 1, 2 and NV:
Fallout 1: Taking the role of the Vault Dweller. And it's an actual fact, you ARE from a vault.
Fallout 2: The Chosen One. You got CHOSEN by your tribe to take the initiation ritual to be prepared to get the G.E.C.K.
Fallout NV: You ARE a Courier. Everyone knows that. Literally.
Obsidian back then didn't waste their time making a fancy and "cool" stage name for your character that might aswell not be true. But Bethesda's more edgy and they gotta appeal to the mass so... you get shit like The Lone Wanderer when he's never alone and in the canon he probably doesn't even wander. The Sole Survivor... well, I can't make sense of it and I don't want to waste my fucking braincells for that.