History IAmNotShazam / Literature

* ''Literature/TheBible'':
** A variant: The ''Literature/BookOfMalachi'': It's often assumed Malachi is the proper name of the person who supposedly wrote it (a reasonable assumption, as many books in the Bible are named after the author). "Malachi" is really just Hebrew for "(My) messenger", the book as it was found is anonymous.
** The four protagonists of the ''Literature/BookOfDaniel'' are Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who are then given the Babylonian names Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, respectively. However, only Daniel gets referred to popularly by his Hebrew name, while the other three are more commonly referred to by their Babylonian names, even though these names represent their captivity and forced assimilation.

* Neither the lion, the witch, or the children in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' are named Narnia. The lion is named Aslan, the witch is named Jadis and the children are named Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. The country where the stories take place is indeed named Narnia. Yet even there, [[PlanetEngland a further confusion exists as to what you call the whole planet, which includes other lands besides just Narnia]].

* ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'': The titular Charlotte is the spider, not the pig. The pig's name is Wilbur, and it's a he, not a she. This mistake is usually made by people who've never read the book or watched the film or AnimatedAdaptation, but has at least seen the book cover or heard of the book from somewhere.

* The main character of Literature/TheMoomins is named Moomintroll, not just Moomin.

* Possibly UrExample: Literature/{{Frankenstein}} is not the name of [[FrankensteinsMonster the monster]], but the surname of his creator (full name Victor Frankenstein). Down the years, people have pointed out that it's not quite so simple, though. The monster does claim to be essentially Victor's son, and elsewhere says, "I ought to be thy Adam", so it has been claimed convincingly that he thinks of himself as "Adam Frankenstein". And there's the old chestnut that goes "Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein is not the monster. But Wisdom is '''understanding''' that [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Frankenstein is the monster]]." In modern times, some people can take a middle ground and call the creature "Frankenstein's Monster" to acknowledge both the creator and his creation in one go.

* Possibly UrExample: Literature/{{Frankenstein}} is not the name of [[FrankensteinsMonster the monster]], but the surname of his creator (full name Victor Frankenstein). Down the years, people have pointed out that it's not quite so simple, though. The monster does claim to be essentially Victor's son, and elsewhere says, "I ought to be thy Adam", so it has been claimed convincingly that he thinks of himself as "Adam Frankenstein". And there's the old chestnut that goes "Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein is not the monster. But Wisdom is '''understanding''' that [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Frankenstein is the monster]]."

* Possibly UrExample: Literature/{{Frankenstein}} is not the name of [[FrankensteinsMonster the monster]], but the surname of his creator (full name Victor Frankenstein). Down the years, people have pointed out that it's not quite so simple, though. The monster does claim to be essentially Victor's son, and elsewhere says, "I ought to be thy Adam", so it has been claimed convincingly that he thinks of himself as "Adam Frankenstein". And of course, there's the old chestnut that goes "Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein is not the monster. But Wisdom is '''understanding''' that [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Frankenstein is the monster]]."
** The book itself is something of an UnbuiltTrope, as despite the confusion regarding the name, "Frankenstein" is indeed a main character in the story, and even narrates the majority of it. So the book ''is'' named after a central character, but people get confused about which one (The full title avoids this confusion; "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus", clearly meaning the Scientist rather than the Creature if you know your Myth/GreekMythology).
** Tired of nitpicking, ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' "resolved" the issue by making [[http://xkcd.com/1589/ its own version]] of ''Frankenstein'' where it ''is'' the monster's name, so that people can say that is their canonical version.
* ''The Inferno'' is the first (and most famous) part of Dante Alighieri's epic poem ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''. This part of the poem and in particular its images of Hell is often referred to as "Dante's ''Inferno''", but people often take this to mean that the whole poem is titled ''Dante's Inferno'', assuming Dante to be a character or other part of the narrative, rather than the writer, when in fact he is all three.

* Moby Dick is the whale; ''Literature/MobyDick'' (with a hyphen) is the book.
* Many people who have not read ''Literature/{{Rebecca}}'', or who do not remember it very well, refer to the narrator by that name. It is actually the name of her husband's first wife, who is dead before the story begins. The narrator's name [[NoNameGiven never comes up]].
** Parodied in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YptTtb4VPA Mitchell and Webb sketch]]. Hitchcock's FilmOfTheBook is being made, but ExecutiveMeddling demands that if it's named Rebecca, it has to be about Rebecca. They don't change the names, though, they just replace all instances of "first wife" with "second wife" and vice versa.
* A variation of this would be the fact ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'' is not an instruction manual for mockingbird hunters. There weren't even any mockingbirds. It's a reference to a metaphor used throughout the story. There was even a TitleDrop in which mockingbirds were referenced directly, and they're a symbol for one of the growing-up lessons Scout learns.
--> '''Atticus:''' Shoot all the jays you want, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. ... They don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy.
** At the end, when Scout agrees not to reveal [[spoiler: Boo Radley's heroism]]:
--> '''Scout:''' Well, it'd be sort of like shooting a mockingbird, wouldn't it?
** This is referenced in ''Film/FailureToLaunch'', when Creator/ZooeyDeschanel's character is annoyed by a mockingbird outside her window. She goes to a gun shop and wants to buy one to kill a mockingbird. The clerk tells her she can't do it, and references the book. Having never heard about it, she assumes that it's an instruction manual.
*** ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had a similar joke, with Homer bitterly remarking that "I swore never to read again after ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' gave me no useful advice on killing mockingbirds! [[AnAesop It did teach me not to judge a man by the color of his skin]], but what good does that do me?"
* The main character in ''Literature/JohnnyGotHisGun'', a fairly [[AndIMustScream horrific]] story about a World War I soldier waking up in a hospital, is often mistakenly referred to as "Johnny"; his actual name is Joe. The title's a LiteraryAllusionTitle to the patriotic pro-war song "Song/OverThere" (which begins with the words ''Johnny, get your gun'').
** The video for the Music/{{Metallica}} song "One" was inspired by the film version of this novel. In an interview following the video, Lars Ulrich informs the audience that he had been deeply moved by the story of poor ''Johnny''.
* Spoofed in ''Literature/TenSixtySixAndAllThat'', which makes ''Theatre/HenryIV'' Parts I and II separate characters. Recently referenced by Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion: "'Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought', as Henry IV Part II said to his son."
* The monster in Lewis Carroll's poem "Literature/{{Jabberwocky}}" is only called the Jabberwock. He may have intended "Jabberwocky" to mean "the story of the Jabberwock", in the same way that ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' is the story of Odysseus.
** This is forgotten in some translations, where the name of the poem is identical to the name of the creature (e.g. in Dina Orlovskaya's Russian translation, both the creature and the poem are called "Barmaglot", however, in Vladimir Orel's translation, the poem is called "Umzara-Zum", while the creature is just "Umzar").
* Many of the books in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' have titles with very little if anything to do with what actually goes on in the series. A few come from prophecies and sayings in universe (only in the openings to the books where the author always sticks one of these). The biggest offender is definitely Book 6, Lord of Chaos, a phrase that the reader never actually finds out the meaning of. It's ''probably'' one of [[IHaveManyNames many titles]] either of the hero or the BigBad, but it's never made explicit.
* James Joyce's ''Literature/{{Ulysses}}'' does not literally star any character with the same name.
* The protagonist in ''Literature/GoAskAlice'' is Carla, not Alice. The title is an AliceAllusion. The LiveActionAdaptation ended up renaming her "Alice" because of this trope.

* ''{{Literature/Eragon}}'' isn't the name of the dragon on the cover of the book, but rather the name of the book's farm boy protagonist. The dragon is named Saphira.
* Modern works based on Myth/ArthurianLegend tend to call Myth/KingArthur "Arthur Pendragon" as if "Pendragon" is his surname. But in the medieval texts "Pendragon" (a title meaning "chief dragon" or "chief warrior") is only used by his father Uther Pendragon, and sometimes an uncle literally named Pendragon who rules briefly before Uther, who then adopts the name - never Arthur himself. Plus the people who first wrote this stuff down didn't yet have surnames as we know it, and they lived centuries after Arthur was supposed to.
* The four protagonists of the ''Literature/BookOfDaniel'' are Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who are then given the Babylonian names Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, respectively. However, only Daniel gets referred to popularly by his Hebrew name, while the other three are more commonly referred to by their Babylonian names, even though these names represent their captivity and forced assimilation.
* ''Literature/RoseMadder'' by Creator/StephenKing. The title does not refer to Rose Daniels, the protagonist. Rather, it refers to the nickname Rose gives to the woman she finds inside the painting (whose real name is Dorcas).
* ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'': The titular Charlotte is the spider, not the pig. The pig's name is Wilbur, and it's a he, not a she. This mistake is usually made by people who've never read the book or watched the film or AnimatedAdaptation, but has at least seen the book cover or heard of the book from somewhere.

* Neither the lion, the witch, or the children in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' are named Narnia. The lion is named Aslan, the witch is named Jadis and the children are named Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. The country where the stories take place, of course, is indeed named Narnia. Yet even there, [[PlanetEngland a further confusion exists as to what you call the whole planet, which includes other lands besides just Narnia]].
* ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'' has an InUniverse example. In a SeinfeldianConversation, the characters start talking about leprechauns, and in particular the advertising mascot for Lucky Charms. Christopher refers to the character as "Magically Delicious," and April ridicules him for ever thinking that something like that would be the character's name. The Lucky Charms commercials have now made it clear that his name is actually "Lucky the Leprechaun," but that wasn't as clear at [[TheNineties the time Everworld was written]]; those commercials hadn't been aired yet.
* A variant: The Literature/BookOfMalachi from ''Literature/TheBible'': It's often assumed Malachi is the proper name of the person who supposedly wrote it (a reasonable assumption, as many books in the Bible are named after the author). "Malachi" is really just Hebrew for "(My) messenger", the book as it was found is anonymous.
* ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'' isn't the real name of the young girl that the pedophile VillainProtagonist obsesses over, but rather his AffectionateNickname ([[TermsOfEndangerment from his viewpoint, that is]]) for her. Her real name is Dolores Haze.
* ''Literature/JessicaChrist'': Jessica's last name is not Christ. It's [=McCloud=].

* A variant: The book of Malachi from ''Literature/TheBible'': It's often assumed Malachi is the proper name of the person who supposedly wrote it (a reasonable assumption, as many books in the Bible are named after the author). "Malachi" is really just Hebrew for "(my) messenger", the book as it was found is anonymous.

* Possibly UrExample: Literature/{{Frankenstein}} is not the name of [[FrankensteinsMonster the monster]], but the surname of his creator (full name Victor Frankenstein). Down the years, people have pointed out that it's not quite so simple, though. The monster does claim to be essentially Victor's son, and elsewhere says, "I ought to be thy Adam", so it has been claimed convincingly that he thinks of himself as "Adam Frankenstein". And of course, there's the old chestnut that goes "Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein is not the monster. But Wisdom is '''understanding''' that Frankenstein ''is'' [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the monster]]."

* ''Literature/HansBrinkerAndTheSilverSkates'': Hans Brinker is not the dike-plugging boy, who is never named.

* Subverted in ''Literature/MaximumRide'' - despite sounding like something else, Maximum Ride is in fact the narrator and main protagonist's name.

* ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers''. The world may never know that there were, in fact, ''four'' of them. Though many adaptations have D'Artagnan not become a musketeer himself until the end, in the original book he becomes a Musketeer about halfway through. Actually, he's made a musketeer twice. It's seems that due to the vagaries of serialized fiction, Dumas forgot he ended a chapter with D'Artagnan being made one. Several chapters later, he's made one permanently.
** ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'' cleverly exploits this misconception. The climactic question is "The Three Musketeers are Athos, Porthos, and who else?" Since "everyone knows" that D'Artagnan is one of the Three Musketeers, a lot of viewers think that "D'Artagnan" is the right answer and "Aramis" is the wrong answer.

* L. Neil Smith's book ''The Forge of the Elders'' has an in-universe example: the giant nautiloids that sponsored the expedition (back) to Earth all have four-syllable names. The first two syllables of the expedition leader's name are pronounced "miss" and "terr", so the Americans that meet him and his agents assume that half of his name is a title ("Mister").

* ''Literature/TheTaleOfPeterRabbit'': Peter Rabbit is commonly referred as "Peter Cottontail" by Americans, which isn't helped by the fact that there is a Creator/RankinBass [[EasterSpecial Easter special]] called ''WesternAnimation/HereComesPeterCottontail'' which also stars a male rabbit character and isn't that well-known to the public. This can cause a lot of people in the US to think that the song "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" is about Peter Rabbit when its actually about the Easter Bunny from that special. This can also be a pretty embarrassing mistake when Americans forget that Peter actually has a sister named Cottontail. (Creator/BeatrixPotter published her first Peter Rabbit story in 1901; Thornton Burgess' Peter Cottontail stories - about Peter Rabbit also, he explained, but Peter putting on airs and a new name- - followed in 1910.)
* The novella ''Armageddon 2419 A.D.'' by Phillip Francis Nowlan is generally known as the first appearance of ComicBook/BuckRogers. However, he was never called "Buck" in the novella or its sequel ''Airlords of Han''. He was Anthony Rogers. Reprints in past decades, however, regularly did state on the cover that this was the seminal appearance of Buck. Anthony would not be called Buck until a few years later in his first comic and movie serial appearances. The reason for the "Buck" was because it sounded more like heroic than Anthony, noting the many cowboy characters named Buck.

* The novella ''Armageddon 2419 A.D.'' by Phillip Francis Nowlan is generally known as the first appearance of ComicBook/BuckRogers. However, he was never called "Buck" in the novella or it's sequel ''Airlords of Han''. He was Anthony Rogers. Reprints in past decades, however, regularly did state on the cover that this was the seminal appearance of Buck. Anthony would not be called Buck until a few years later in his first comic and movie serial appearances. The reason for the "Buck" was because it sounded more like heroic than Anthony, noting the many cowboy characters named Buck.

* Modern works based on the Myth/KingArthur legends tend to call him "Arthur Pendragon" as if "Pendragon" is his surname. But in the medieval texts "Pendragon" (a title meaning "chief dragon" or "chief warrior") is only used by his father Uther Pendragon, and sometimes an uncle literally named Pendragon who rules briefly before Uther, who then adopts the name - never Arthur himself. Plus the people who first wrote this stuff down didn't yet have surnames as we know it, and they lived centuries after Arthur was supposed to.

* Possibly UrExample: Literature/{{Frankenstein}} is not the name of [[FrankensteinsMonster the monster]], but the surname of his creator (full name Victor Frankenstein). Down the years, people have pointed out that it's not quite so simple, though. The monster does claim to be essentially the Doctor's son, and elsewhere says, "I ought to be thy Adam", so it has been claimed convincingly that he thinks of himself as "Adam Frankenstein". And of course, there's the old chestnut that goes "Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein is not the monster. But Wisdom is '''understanding''' that Frankenstein ''is'' [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the monster]]."

* ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'': The titular Charlotte is the Spider. The pig's name is Wilbur, and it's a he, not a she. This mistake is usually made by people who've never read the book or watched the film or AnimatedAdaptation, but has at least seen the book cover or heard of the book from somewhere.

* ''Literature/JessicaChrist'': Jessica's last name is not Christ. It's McCloud.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' is Sauron, the BigBad, not any of the heroes in the series. This misunderstanding is already cleared up in the book: Pippin at one point calls Frodo the "Lord of the Ring", only to be hastily corrected by Gandalf -- the One Ring serves only one master and bends all others to his will. Frodo later titles the Red Book of Westmarch as ''The Downfall of the Lord of the Rings and the Return of the King''. The popular [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings live-action film version]] also pointed this out ("There is only one Lord of the Rings, and he does not share power"), so there's probably less confusion on this one nowadays.

* Similar to the ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' example above, ''Literature/TheBadSeed'' refers to the novel's antagonist, the EnfantTerrible and [[TheSociopath Sociopath]] Rhoda Penmark. The novel's protagonist is her mother, Christine Penmark.

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in case of ''Literature/RainbowSix''. Rainbow Six is the codename of the leader, the team is simply called Rainbow.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': It is "The Marauder's Map", not "The Marauders' Map". The four people who designed it shouldn't be referred to as "the Marauders". That name is for ''anyone'' in possession of and using the map.

* The novella ''Armageddon 2419 A.D.'' by Phillip Francis Nowlan is generally known as the first appearance of BuckRogers. However, he was never called "Buck" in the novella or it's sequel ''Airlords of Han''. He was Anthony Rogers. Reprints in past decades, however, regularly did state on the cover that this was the seminal appearance of Buck. Anthony would not be called Buck until a few years later in his first comic and movie serial appearances. The reason for the "Buck" was because it sounded more like heroic than Anthony, noting the many cowboy characters named Buck.

* ''{{Literature/Eragon}}'' isn't the name of the dragon on the cover, but rather the name of the book's farm boy protagonist. The dragon is named Saphira.

** The book itself is something of an UnbuiltTrope, as despite the confusion regarding the name, "Frankenstein" is indeed a main character in the story, and even narrates the majority of it. So the book ''is'' named after a central character, but people get confused about which one (The full title avoid this confusion; "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus", clearly meaning the Scientist rather than the Creature if you know your Myth/GreekMythology).

* Possibly UrExample: Literature/{{Frankenstein}} is not the name of [[FrankensteinsMonster the monster]], but the name of his creator. Down the years, people have pointed out that it's not quite so simple, though. The monster does claim to be essentially the Doctor's son, and elsewhere says, "I ought to be thy Adam", so it has been claimed convincingly that he thinks of himself as "Adam Frankenstein". And of course, there's the old chestnut that goes "Knowledge is knowing Frankenstein is not the monster. But Wisdom is '''understanding''' that Frankenstein ''is'' [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the monster]]."