History Main / ArtifactTitle

* The Franchise/DisneyPrincess franchise is called that despite the fact that only half of the characters featured in that Franchise actually qualify as princesses. Brand new cast members at the Disney Parks are actually taught which ones are and which ones aren't princesses, as it's a popular piece of Disney trivia they get asked by guests often. For the record, only [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White]], [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Aurora]], [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ariel]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Jasmine]],[[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Tiana]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Brave}} Merida]] and [[Franchise/{{Frozen}} Anna]] are princesses. [[Franchise/{{Frozen}} Elsa]] ''was'' one until her elevation to queen, while the rest of them don't qualify because the culture they come from doesn't have "princesses" (WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}} and WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}), come from cultures in which commoners marrying royals do not get promoted to royalty themselves (WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} and [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Belle]]), or never marry a prince in the first place (WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}).

* The Franchise/DisneyPrincess franchise is called that despite the fact that only half of the characters featured in that Franchise actually qualify as princesses. Brand new cast members at the Disney Parks are actually taught which ones are and which ones aren't princesses, as it's a popular piece of Disney trivia they get asked by guests often. For the record, only [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White]], [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Aurora]], [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ariel]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Jasmine]], [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Tiana]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]] and [[Franchise/{{Frozen}} Anna]] are princesses. [[Franchise/{{Frozen}} Elsa]] ''was'' one until her elevation to queen, while the rest of them don't qualify because the culture they come from doesn't have "princesses" (WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}, WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}, and [[WesternAnimation/{{Brave}} Merida]]), come from cultures in which commoners marrying royals do not get promoted to royalty themselves (WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} and [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Belle]]), or never marry a prince in the first place (WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}).

Sometimes, the creator may try to [[DefiedTrope defy]] this by keeping around the characters or McGuffin the work is titled after, but chances are this will simply pass the irrelevance from the title to another story element making said element TheArtifact.

* The ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}}'' is named after the assault carrier that is the player's mothership and base of operations. It gets blown to smithereens at the end of ''Sunrider: Liberation Day'' and is replaced by a completely different ship in the next game.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', 4*Town was originally a four-man band before their fifth member joined, but they kept their original name.

A series title that made perfect sense when it began, but after a number of changes to the premise, no longer makes sense to people who don't go back to the beginning. Sometimes a new element is put in to justify the title.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': The original show was originally marketed as being about a team of four with both names and signature colour schemes that could form the title "RWBY". Each girl received a prequel trailer that was named after her colour: The Red Trailer (about Ruby Rose), the White Trailer (about Weiss Schnee), the Black Trailer (about Blake Belladonna) and the Yellow Trailer (about Yang Xiao Long). However, the show itself featured a CastHerd for Volumes 1-3 before using Volume 4 to transition into an EnsembleCast from Volume 5. The show has also spawned a [[Franchise/{{RWBY}} franchise named after it]]; every franchise work will have "RWBY" in the title, regardless of whether it features Team RWBY or not.

* ''Master Chief Sucks at Ordering'' stops being about Master Chief sucking at ordering things after the third episode. However, the series (and its [[IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming episode titles]]) continue to reference the fact that Master Chief sucks at doing things. The reason the show wasn't simply called "Master Chief Sucks" to avoid this problem was presumably because another series already used that name; said series would then be permanently renamed to ''Machinima/ArbyNTheChief''.
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':

* ''Machinima/FalloutLoreTheStoryteller'' was originally just a documentary series about events in the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' franchise backstory. Now it's about the guy who's telling the stories almost, if not more so, than the stories themselves.

--> '''The Animated Heroine

->

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'' trilogy, the titular island is only a major part of the plot of the first movie. In [[WesternAnimation/MadagascarEscape2Africa the sequel]], the island is featured at the start, but the animals leave it and wind up on mainland Africa. In [[WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted the third film]] the protagonists go to Europe, and the island isn't featured at all.

See also TheArtifact. ArtifactName is this, but for names of not-works. Often a direct result of NothingIsTheSameAnymore and EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. Sometimes results in NewSeasonNewName. Happens often in poorly devised AlternateUniverse FanFiction. Eventually this could turn a title into a NonIndicativeName. This can also happen on a larger scale with NetworkDecay. Compare TrivialTitle.

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* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Jungle Book|1967}}'', after being adapted into a film; the ''book'' in ''The Jungle Book'' became unnecessary although it still has a StorybookOpening.

* The word "Podcast" in itself. Prior to the ubiquity of smartphones and widespread wifi on public transport, podcasts were designed as offline radio shows you could save to your mp3 Player, of which the Apple iPod was the most popular (hence the name). Nowadays, they're far more likely to be streamed on peoples' phones or laptops. As of 2022, Apple has discontinued the final actively-sold iPod (the iPod Nano), ensuring the name will continue to be archaic for the rest of the medium's existence. There is an entire generation of podcast listeners [[WhatAreRecords who have no idea why they're called that]].

* The word "Podcast" in itself. Prior to the ubiquity of smartphones and widespread wifi on public transport, podcasts were designed as offline radio shows you could save to your mp3 Player, of which the Apple iPod was the most popular (hence the name). Nowadays, they're far more likely to be streamed on peoples' phones or laptops.

* ''WesternAnimation/StitchTheMovie'', as a result of production issues. The movie was originally going to be titled ''Lilo & Stitch: A New Ohana'', but then the decision was made to only have Stitch's name in the title of this and the subsequent series, which was going to be called ''Stitch! The Series''. It was then decided to rename the series back to ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'', but the memo wasn't given to the marketing team for ''The Movie'' in time for the name to be changed.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'' trilogy, the titular island is only a major part of the plot of the first movie. In [[WesternAnimation/MadagascarEscape2Africa the sequel]], the island is featured at the start, but the animals leave it and wind up on mainland Africa. In [[WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted the third film]] the protagonists go to Europe, and the island featured at all.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'' trilogy only in the first movie do the protagonists are in the titular island. [[WesternAnimation/MadagascarEscape2Africa The sequel]] goes the subtitle route by adding ''Escape [[PunBasedTitle 2]] Africa''. [[WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted The third film]] has them going to Europe.

* ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'': This Shakespearean play has no real title. Its title comes from the fact that it was commissioned to be performed for Twelfth Night Celebration (the night before January 6th). The full title is ''Twelfth Night, or [[ShrugOfGod What You Will]]''

* When ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' reached Latin America and Brazil, it was under the title "En Busca del Valle Encantado/Em Busca do Vale Encantado" (In Search of the Enchanted Valley). As the characters were no longer looking for it in the sequels, that title was given the same treatment ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' was.