Adaptation Name Change

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.
• The Rebuild of Neon Genesis Evangelion introduces some name changes. Asuka's family name changed, for example.

Comic Books

• In Spider-Man Noir, the Green Goblin is just called the Goblin.
• In Ultimate Marvel, Victor Von Doom is renamed Victor van Damme.
• In Superman Red Son, Lana Lang is now Lana Lazarenko and Pete Ross is Pyotr Roslov. Superman's Kryptonian name is changed from "Kal-El" to "Kal-L", "L" being all that's left of "Luthor" a billion years into the future.

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 to "Barbara Wilson" 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 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 2018 movie Rampage (based on the video game series of the same name), Scum Labs has been renamed to Energyne.
• The Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • The Infinity Gems are rebranded as the Infinity Stones.
    • Likewise, the Cosmic Cube is now the Tesseract (which was now merely the container for the Space Stone).
  • A rather minor case but Captain Steven Rogers is now Captain Steven Grant Rogers.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy:
    • The Universal Weapon of the Kree Accuser Corp is now the Cosmi-Rod.
    • Thanks to Adaptation Species Change, the character's real name is now Drax, rather than Arthur Douglas. Repeated with Mantis in the sequel.
  • Hela Lokisdottir is now Hela Odinsdottir.
  • Another minor one occurs in Black Panther. The character is now Erik "Killmonger" Stevens rather than Erik Killmonger.
  • Captain Marvel:
    • Carol's "cat" is now Goose instead of Chewie.
    • Carol's callsign was "Cheeseburger" in the comics. Here it's "Avenger".
    • Thanks to a Gender Flip, Doctor Walter Lawson is now Wendy Lawson.
  • In Avengers: Infinity War, Black Dwarf is renamed Cull Obsidian. The Black Order also refers to themselves solely as "The Children of Thanos."
  • This might be the case for Quentin Beck/Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home but no clear answer is given.
  • Played for Laughs with the Spider Sense which is dubbed the "Peter Tingle" by Aunt May.
• In Superman, Faora is called Ursa.
• The DC Extended Universe:
  • Lex Luthor was named after his father, Alexander Luthor Sr. Usually, since Smallville, Lex's dad is called "Lionel Luthor."
  • Aquaman has a very weird example. For years, Black Manta was just called "David." The film named him "David Kane" only for the comics to also assign him a full name, "David Hyde", more or less at the same time that the film came out.
• In Dr. Who and the Daleks, as indicated by the title, the character's name is "Doctor Who" instead of "the Doctor." By consequence, Susan Foreman is now "Susan Who" and Barbara Wright is now "Barbara Who."
• In the Animated Adaptation of Superman Red Son, Superman's secret identity is "Somishka" rather than "Clark Kent."
• The princess in the film version of Aladdin is named "Jasmine" instead of "Badroulbadour."
• In the 2020 version of Mulan:
  • As per the original legend, the Fa family is named the Hua Family.
  • Shan Yu is named Bori Khan.
  • Hayabusa is named Xian Ning (while also going Adaptation Species Change and Gender Flip).
  • Little Brother is named Hua Xing (while also going through Adaptation Species Change and Gender Flip).
  • Li Shang is named Chen Honghui.
  • Like in the 2009 version, the Huns are the Rourans.
• In Big Hero 6, Hiro Takachiho is Hiro Hamada.
• In Farewell to the Master, the robot is called "Gnut". In The Day the Earth Stood Still, the robot is called "Gort". In the 2008 remake, the robot is called "Genetically Organized Robotic Technology".
• A downplayed example, but in the film adaptation of Holes, Mr. Pendanski is instead called Dr. Pendanski.
• Star Wars Legends never revealed Emperor Palpatine's full name, though Darth Plagueis suggested that it was "Cosigna Palpatine II". The new Star Wars Expanded Universe names him as "Sheev Palpatine".

Live Action TV

• Arrowverse:
  • Arrow:
    • Black Canary goes by "Black Siren". By virtue of Composite Character, this also applies to Black Siren's Secret Identity which, in the DCAU, was "Donna Nance" rather than "Dinah Laurel Lance".
    • Her father, Detective Larry Lance, is now Detective Quentin Lance.
    • Until Season 4, Star City was Starling City and no one ever uttered the term "Green Arrow."
  • In The Flash, Ira, or William, West is now Joe West.
  • Supergirl:
    • The eponymous heroine now goes by Kara Danvers rather than Linda Lee or Linda Lee Danvers. In a Mythology Gag, "Linda Lee" becomes the civilian identity of Red Daughter.
    • In the comics, Mon-El was the character's honorary name while it's his real one here. Lar-Grand, his true name in the comics, is given to his father.
• 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.
• Sherlock:
  • A rather minor case but Professor James Moriarty now goes by "Jim Moriarty."
  • Charles Augustus Milverton is now Charles Augustus Magnussen.
  • Thanks to a Gender Flip, the final Holmes child, the questionably canon Sherrinford Holmes, is now "Eurus Holmes".

Video Games

• Cyberswine: In the Australian comic “Issue One”, Cyberswine's name is George Porser. In this game, his name is George Fox.
• Given that Slag can be a derogatory term in some English speaking countries, the Dinobot was renamed "Slug" starting in Transformers Fall of Cybertron, a name that stuck in subsequent version of Transformers. Shrapnel was renamed "Sharpshot" in the game before Hasbro changed it again to "Skrapnel".

Webcomics

• Darths and Droids renames Luke Skywalker to Adam Lars. Obi Wan then told him his real name was Luke Amidala. He eventually calls himself "Luke Starkiller".

Western Animation

• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • Twilight Sparkle is a rebranded Twilight Twinkle from G3.
  • Technically the case with Pinkie Pie. Her full name is "Pinkamena Diane Pie" while the character she's based on full name was Pinkie Pie.
  • Lord Tirac is now Lord Tirek.
  • In Equestria Girls, the Everfree Forest is Camp Everfree and Sugarcube Corner is the Sweet Shoppe.
• 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). That said, the Latin American dub did call them Sinister Six.
  • 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 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.
• Voltron: Legendary Defender:
  • Commander Sendak is a rebranded Yurak from the 84 series.
  • While there have been other incarnations of the character named Lotor, this incarnation takes heavily after Sincline from Beast King GoLion but is named Lotor.
  • Voltron is just "Voltron", it's not Lion Voltron or Voltron of the Near Universe. This is because Vehicle Voltron is Adapted Out.
• Transformers:
  • In Transformers Animated, the triceratops Dinobot is now "Snarl" rather than the potentially offensive "Slag."
  • Thanks to some communications errors, Transformers: War for Cybertron named Optimus Prime's predecessor as "Zeta Prime" while Transformers Exodus went for the traditional "Sentinel Prime." Hasbro opted to split the difference and declare that the character's full name in the Transformers Aligned Universe as "Sentinel Zeta Prime."
  • Thanks to some trademark issues, Bombshell's counterpart in Transformers Prime is named "Hardshell." This was to be the name of the character going forward before Hasbro got the rights to "Bombshell" back.
  • Transformers: Cyberverse rebranded "Strika" and "Lugnut" as "Alphastrike" and "Clobber" respectively.
• In the Silver Surfer cartoon, Mistress Death is now Lady Chaos.
• In Iron Man, Tony's father was named Walter Stark instead of Howard.
• In the 2017 reboot of Duck Tales, Deuteronomy "Dewey" Duck is now Dewford Dingus "Dewey" Duck.
• Due to Jewelstar's Gender Flip, the "Star Sisters" of She-Ra: Princess of Power become the "Star Siblings" in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.
• Thomas the Tank Engine:
  • Sir Topham Hatt's name is changed to Sir Bertram Topham Hatt, with "Topham" being changed from his first name to his middle name.
  • Stephenson's Rocket (a fictionalized version of the real locomotive) is now named "Stephen" with "Rocket" as his nickname, alternatively known as "Stephen the Rocket". Even though plenty of non-conventionally named characters exist alongside the ones with normal names.