Adaptation Name Change

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Alice Andrews in the books becomes Alice Allen in The Movie then Annie Adams in The Series.

This is when a character or group has a name change between adaptations.

The Name Change of The Character can be their first name, last name or both that also includes super alter egos.

The key to this trope is that between adaptations, the character must clearly be the same. If they are a Suspiciously Similar Substitute or a Composite Character, then this trope does not apply.

This is very common in foreign adaptations, where names are changed to either reflect the local culture, or to give the show its own identity.

This trope only applies when the adaptation is in the same language as the original. When a character's name changes in a translation, that's Dub Name Change.

Examples of Adaptation Name Change include:

Anime and Manga

  • In the first anime of Berserk, Dante and Errol are renamed Dan and Earl.
  • Rebuild of Evangelion introduces some name changes for characters from the original Neon Genesis Evangelion. Asuka's family name changed, for example, becoming "Asuka Shikinami Langley" rather than "Asuka Langely Soryu."

Comic Books

Film

  • In Kick Ass:
    • John Genovese is renamed Frank D'Amico.
    • Red Mist's civilian identity, Chris Genovese, is renamed Chris D'Amico.
  • Barbara Gordon receives a name change in Batman and Robin as she is now Alfred's niece
  • Mr. Bobo in Coraline is renamed Alexander Sergei Bobinsky (and is made a Fake Russian).
  • In Transformers Spike Witwicky is renamed Sam Witwicky.
  • In American Psycho, Paul Owen and Timothy Price in the novel become Paul Allen and Timothy Bryce in the film.
  • In Double Indemnity, the novel's Walter Huff becomes Walter Neff in the film, for some reason. Also, Mr. and Mrs. Dietrichson were Mr. and Mrs. Nirdlinger in the novel; the latter choice was specifically because Chandler and Wilder (the film's screenwriters) thought that Nirdlinger was too silly a name for such a serious story.
  • At least one film adaptation of Swallows and Amazons changed Titty's name to Kitty. It's not hard to see why.
  • In the 1934 film adaptation of JB Priestley's Dangerous Corner, the Caplan family became the Chatfield family and Olwen Peel became Ann Beale.
  • In Mystic River, Jimmy Marcus becomes Jimmy Markum.
  • In the film version of Gone Baby Gone, Remy Broussard becomes Remy Bressant.
  • In the various film adaptations of The Island of Doctor Moreau, Edward Prendick has been named Edward Parker (Island Of Lost Souls 1933), Andrew Braddock (Island of Dr Moreau 1977) and Edward Douglas (Island of Dr Moreau, 1996).
  • In the film adaptation of Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, Ellen was to have been renamed to Namita, but they changed it back after fan demand.
  • In the In Name Only film version of Black Butler, only two characters retain their names, but of the rest only Mey-rin → Lin is really reasonably similar enough to fit this trope.

Live-Action TV

  • Nia Vardalos's character in My Big Fat Greek Wedding was named Toula, but renamed to Nia for the TV series in order to match the actress.
  • The TV adaptation of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit changed Jeanette's name to Jessica, possibly to detract from the autobiographical elements of the story.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • Asha Greyjoy becomes Yara Greyjoy to avoid confusion with the similarly-named Osha.
    • Robert Arryn also becomes Robin Arryn to avoid confusion with King Robert, whom he's in fact named after in the books.
  • In the upcoming TV series Arrow, based on Green Arrow, Dinah Laurel Lance is just Laurel Lance, her dad Detective Larry Lance is Detective Quentin Lance, and Star City itself is Starling City.

Web Comics

  • Darths and Droids renames Luke Skywalker to Adam Lars. Obi Wan then told him his real name was Luke Amidala. He may still take on Anakin's surname eventually.

Western Animation

  • Spider-Man: The Animated Series:
    • The Sinister Six was called the Insidious Six. Fox Kids censors felt that the word sinister sounded too menacing for a children's program (even though another Fox Kids program, X-Men, had Mister Sinister as a villain).
    • Electro was renamed because the producers did not want to interfere with the continuity of James Cameron's proposed Spider-Man movie, in which the Sandman and Electro were supposed to be the villains. Although Sandman remained unseen in the series when Cameron's film fell through, Electro was belatedly introduced in the series' fifth season. Electro appears in the "Six Forgotten Warriors" storyline of season five; here his name is Rheinholt Schmidt instead of Max Dillon.
  • The Spectacular Spider-Man
    • Molten Man's civilian identity, Mark Raxton, is renamed Mark Allan (because he and Liz Allan are full siblings instead of stepsiblings).
    • Ned Leeds is Asian in the series, and is therefore renamed Ned Lee.
    • Kenny "King Kong" McFarlane from Ultimate Spider-Man is also Asian, and named Kenny Kong.
  • In Young Justice, the Secret Society of Super Villains was called "The Light."
  • In ThunderCats (2011) Jackalman and Monkian are renamed Kaynar and Addicus
  • In One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Mr. and Mrs. Dearly were changed to Roger and Anita Radcliffe for the animated movie. Later adaptations give them the given names from the movie and the surname from the book. Also, Saul Badun becomes Horace, and Lt. Tib becomes Sgt. Tibbs (with that particular cat also getting a sex change in the process).
  • In X-Men: Evolution, Toad's real name was changed from Mortimer Toynbee to Todd Tolensky and Avalanche's was changed from Dominic Petros to Lance Alvers.
  • Ms. Frisby to Ms. Brisby in The Secret of NIMH, due to the frisbee (the toy)'s name being copyrighted.
  • The Koopalings in Super Mario Bros.
    • Larry=Cheatsy
    • Morton=Big Mouth
    • Wendy=Kootie Pie
    • Iggy=Hop
    • Roy=Bully
    • Lemmy=Hip
    • Ludwig=Kooky
  • The My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic toyline has become somewhat infamous for using different names for some of the minor characters in the show (among other problems).
    • The storybook version of the show's pilot calls Princess Luna "Selena". This was her name in the development but changed for legal reasons. Lauren Faust suspected the storybook writer didn't get the memo.
    • One of the show's first antagonists, Trixie, got a toy in the blind bag series... named Lulamoon. Most fans ignored this outside of a few jokes, but later toys updated her name to be Trixie Lulamoon.
    • There's a background pony who's been called twice on screen as Rose and has a toy named Roseluck. The name "Roseluck" hasn't been used in the show yet, but its easy to believe Rose is short for that.
    • One of Rose's friends is named Daisy in the show. She has a toy named Flower Wishes. The jury is still out on that one.
  • The cartoon series adaptation of Watership Down changed Hyzenthlay's name to Primrose. The show was aimed at a much younger audience than the book, so presumably they wanted characters' names to be easier to remember and pronounce. It's also possible that they just wanted a girlier sounding name.
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