History Main / NaturalizedName

* ''Film/Parasite2019'' has a variation in that while every character is Korean, go by Korean names, and the story never leaves Seoul, three characters also take on Westernized names -- TruthInTelevision as it's not uncommon for East Asians who want to make it big to do this in order to make connections in the West. The patriarch of the rich Kims Dong-ik is a top guy in his architectural firm and English-language articles framed around the house name him Nathan Park; the two adult children of the Kims Ki-Woo and Ki-jeong use the names Kevin and Jessica as part of their made-up persona of having studied in the United States in order to impress the SuperGullible Mrs. Park into hiring them.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Destiny}}'', Lily can't remember her birth name from before she was forced into an American boarding school. She knows it wasn't in English but likes to think it was something exotic like "Tiger Lily".

''That they could change my name''

* In the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Reunion}}'' Ron Stoppable mentions his great-grandfather Nicholai, who was so determined to emigrate to America that, when he arrived at Ellis Island, he shouted, "I am Nicholai! I am unstoppable!" The clerk wrote his name down as "N. Stoppable".

* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'': While a number of the series's LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters fall under IHaveManyNames, explicitly ''naturalised'' names mostly come up in two contexts:

* In ''ComicBook/TheOrder'', Magdalena Marie was born Magdalena Marie ''Neuntauben''. She dropped her surname because nobody could pronounce it properly.

* In ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'', the Solomons' real names are never revealed. They chose the last name Solomon off of a passing truck; Harry remarks that they nearly became "the K-Marts".

* Sally Jupiter, the first Silk Spectre, from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' changed her name from "Juspeczyk" so people wouldn't know she was Polish. Her daughter Laurie went the opposite route and changed her surname back to "Juspeczyk," both to take pride in her Polish heritage and so that people wouldn't automatically associate her with her mother.
* Martians in the DC Universe tend to have names that are pretty much English sounding names with apostrophes, and translate them on earth. ComicBook/MartianManhunter is "J'onn J'onzz" which becomes "John Jones" in his human persona. Miss Martian is named "M'gann M'orzz", which becomes "Megan Morse" when living as a human girl.
* The original name of ComicBook/{{Starfire}} of the ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' is Kori'andr. When she got to Earth, she adopted the name Kory Anders. "Starfire" is also a literal translation of her name.

* ''ComicBook/WerewolfByNight'': Jack's stepfather changed his last name from Russoff to Russell after moving from Romania to the United States. This caused Jack's own name to be Americanized as well: his original last name was [[spoiler:also Russoff, because his stepfather is his late father's brother (a.k.a. his uncle)]].
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''
** Both Superman and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} are Kryptonians. Superman's birth name is "Kal-El" but he was raised as "Clark" by his human family. Pre-Crisis Supergirl used "Linda Danvers" as her SecretIdentity but more modern depictions typically avert this trope and have her use her name, Kara, instead.
** In ''[[ComicBook/JustImagineStanLeeCreatingTheDCUniverse Just Imagine: Superman]]'', the alien Salden adopts the name Clark Kent after becoming stranded on Earth.
** ''ComicBook/SupermanSmashesTheKlan'': Chinese-American Roberta Lee's Chinese name is Lan-Shin, in keeping with the ''Superman'' supporting cast's ThemeInitials of LL. At the end of the story, she starts going by Lan-Shin again at Lois's suggestion.

* Jeffrey Mace, the third ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, is of Russian Jewish descent. His family used to have the surname Masalsky, but changed it when they arrived in America.
* In some continuities, ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'s family changed their names from Kelowski to Kyle.

* In ''ComicBook/TheOrder'', Magdalena Marie was born Magdalena Marie ''Neuntauben''. She dropped her surname because nobody could pronounce it properly.
* In ''ComicBook/MadwomanOfTheSacredHeart'', Alan Mangel was born Alan Mangelowski. He changed his name in order to cut ties with his father.
* In ''ComicBook/TopTen'', Jeff Smax was raised as Jaafs Macksun, which was itself a naturalized name, since his biological parents never actually named him or his sister. When he left his homeworld and moved to Neopolis, he changed his name so that nobody would know where he came from, as he is deeply embarrassed about coming from a "backwoods" dimension.
* The Peacemaker was the son of Wolfgang Schmidt, a wealthy Austrian businessman and secretly a Nazi war criminal. When he's exposed, he commits suicide, leaving his wife to take their son to the US and change their name to Smith.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Reunion}}'' Ron Stoppable mentions his great-grandfather Nicholai, who was so determined to emigrate to America that, when he arrived at Ellis Island, he shouted, "I am Nicholai! I am unstoppable!" The clerk wrote his name down as "N. Stoppable".
-->'''Ron''': He thought that's how America worked; come to America, you get a new life and a new name. He was actually very proud of it. So we've been Stoppables ever since.

[[folder:Film]]
* In the flashback sequences of ''Film/TheGodfatherPartII'', it's revealed that the Corleone surname is a result of a clerical error; Vito Andolini from the town of Corleone is listed as Vito Corleone due to a mixup at a hectic Ellis Island.[[note]]In Italian, that would be Vito Andolini da Corleone, which someone unfamiliar with Italian naming conventions might plausibly take to mean that Andolini is Vito's middle name and Corleone his surname.[[/note]]
* ''Series/AlienNation''. The Newcomers were given Earth names when they arrived. Eventually, immigration officials got bored and decided to have fun with the names; many were named after famous humans (such as Rudyard Kipling, Albert Einstein, or Humphrey Bogart), others were given {{Punny Name}}s (including Sam Francisco, Harley Davidson, Dallas Fort-Worth, Kenny Bunkport, Paul Bearer, and Norman Conquest). Sam Francisco is actually one of the lead characters; his human partner finds the pun so repulsive he insists on calling him George.
* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', Doc Brown mentions that his family emigrated from Germany as the "Von Brauns". They changed it to "Brown" to dodge racist backlash when UsefulNotes/WorldWarI started.
* In ''Film/DrStrangelove'', the titular character is a German immigrant. When General Turgidson mentions that the name "Strangelove" doesn't really sound German, another character reveals that it was originally "Merkwürdigliebe" (literally means "strange love"), but he anglicized it after moving to the US.
* ''Film/TheUntouchables1987'': George Stone's birth name is Giuseppe Petri, almost a direct translation ("Petri" is close to ''pietre'', Italian for "stones", but Giuseppe's English equivalent is traditionally Joseph, not George).

* In ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'' Creator/JackieChan's character is named "Chong Wang", but every American just calls him by the closest they can manage: John Wayne.

* ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'' has the singer Sugar Kane. Her birth name is "Sugar Kowalczyk".
* Esther Blodgett is given the StageName of "Vicki Lesther" in ''Film/{{A Star Is Born|1937}}'' because the executives don't think her real name sounds good for an actress.
* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' is about Jewish-Russian FunnyAnimal mice who move to America in the 1880s. Tanya was given an "American name" of "Tillie" and Fievel was given the name "Phillie" at the start of the film. Neither of them use the names. A human immigrant is renamed "Smith" by an immigration official on Ellis Island.
* ''Film/TheJazzSinger'' is about a man named Jakie Rabinowitz who becomes a jazz singer who goes by the stage name "Jack Robin".
* A minor example in ''Film/Underworld2003'', where Michael Corvin is a descendant of a Hungarian warlord named Alexander Corvinus. The novelization mentions that Corvin's grandfather dropped the "us" after moving to America.
* In ''Film/TheWrestler'', Randy Robinson was born Robin Ramsinski, but changed it so that he could pursue a career as an AllAmericanFace.
* In ''Film/LocalHero'', the top CEO at an American oil company wants to send an employee named [=MacIntyre=] to Scotland to negotiate the purchase of a small Scottish village on the basis of his surname; he even tells [=MacIntyre=] that for him, going to Scotland must be like going home. [=MacIntyre=] later tells a coworker that he's not really Scottish; his parents were Hungarian, and they changed their names because they thought [=MacIntyre=] was a more American-sounding name.
* PlayedForDrama in ''Film/GentlemansAgreement'': Phil learns that his secretary, Elaine Wales, was born "Estelle Walovsky." She changed her name because her Jewish name made it hard for her to find work due to anti-Semitic attitudes.
* In ''Film/{{Carol}}'', after Carol remarks about how unique Therese's surname Belivet is, Therese explains that it was actually changed from a Czech surname, but Carol interrupts her before she can say what her original surname was.
* ''Film/{{Ashfall}}'': Kang Bong-rae goes by "Robert" abroad. When he decides to move back to Korea at the end he and Yoo-kyung agree to refer to him by his Korean name instead.
* In ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'', Shang-Chi escaped his Chinese father and goes by Shaun while laying low in San Francisco. His friend Katy Chen (a third-generation immigrant whose Chinese name is Ruiwen) considers it a LazyAlias.

* In ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' by Creator/DouglasAdams, Dirk Gently was actually born "''Svlad Cjelli''".

* ''Literature/SalemsLot'' mentions that the Glicks changed their family from Gliccoucchi.

* Another clerical error version shows up in ''Literature/ImperialEarth''; protagonist Duncan Makenzie's surname is the result of a computer error that occurred generations ago when his ancestor Malcolm Mackenzie's name was misspelled as Makenzie; after a five-year struggle to get it corrected, Malcolm gave up and accepted the new spelling.
* ''Literature/EndersGame'': Ender's own father is a first-generation Polish immigrant to America. Their family name "Wiggin" is a naturalized form of "Wieczorek", a common Polish surname, although most Polish immigrants turn it into "Wiggins" instead.
* In ''[[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars A Princess of Mars]]'', after John Carter kills the Tharks Dotar and Sojat in combat, he is given their names as part of the spoils of combat, which he uses as his Barsoomian name. In a later book, Ulysses S. Paxton is christened "Vad Varo" after arriving on Barsoom.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
** In ''Literature/FeetOfClay'', it's briefly mentioned that Cheery Littlebottom's surname in Dwarfish is actually "Sh'rt'azs". Presumably, the same goes for other Morporkian dwarf names.
** Billy Slick, a goblin working for Harry King in ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'' who reckons you can't get ahead in Ankh-Morpork with a goblin name like Of the Wind Regretfully Blown.
* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Aragorn is first introduced in Bree by the disreputable-sounding alias of "Strider." In Gondor, he decides to use Strider as a surname, after applying an appropriate translation: "In the high tongue it will not sound so ill, and ''Telcontar'' I will be and all the heirs of my body."
* In ''Literature/TheAmazingAdventuresOfKavalierAndClay'', Sammy Klayman and Josef Kavalier adopt the names Sam Clay and Joe Kavalier when they enter the comic-book business. Sam's dad, born Alter Klayman, also operates under a naturalized name, Alphonse von Klay.
* In ''The Literature/SnarkoutBoys and the Baconburg Horror'', there's a character named Gus Bowlingpin. His ancestors were the Baulongpinskis, who changed their name upon coming to America from Romania.
* The titular LightNovel/JorgeJoestar - originally called George, but goes by Jorge living on the Spanish island of La Palma.
* In ''Literature/SomethingMoreThanNight'', private eye Joh Devlin was born "Johan Dieffenbach", and the villainous Home family, owners of the sinister Home House, are descended from a German immigrant who changed his name from "Sigurd Heim".

* In the ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' episode "Election Day", a German-born resident gives his name as "John Smith". Government agent Terrence Myers speaks German to him, and when the man replies in the same language, Myers challenges him on his "real name". The man says his name was "Johannes Schmidt" and he changed it because other Canadians had trouble pronouncing it.
* In the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode "The One with the Fake Monica", Joey Tribbiani decides to change his name to something less ethnic. Chandler jokingly suggests "[[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Joseph Stalin]]". Being TheDitz, Joey doesn't know how infamous this name is and tries to use it. Apparently he doesn't learn from this, as the episode's {{Stinger}} is of Joey going onstage and introducing himself as "Holden [=McGroin=]".
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E3EnsignRo Ensign Ro]]", Ro Laren explains that some Bajorans [[NameOrderConfusion switch their name order]] to the Anglosphere's given name-then-surname when dealing with offworlders. She very pointedly prefers to be addressed in the Bajoran style, however.
* One line in ''Series/AnotherPeriod'' implies the Bellacourt family was once the "Bellawitcz" family.
* In ''Series/TheAmericans'', everyone involved in the Illegals program adopted more American-sounding names when they arrived in the United States, and thus Nadezhda and Misha became Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings, Vitaly became William Crandall, and Semyon became Gabriel.
* In ''Series/{{Caprica}}'', Joseph Adama changed his name to Joseph Adams to fit in better with Caprican society. He changes it back at the end of the pilot.

* A recurring skit in ''Series/GoodnessGraciousMe'' involves two TheWhitestBlackGuy families: the Coopers, who were originally the Kapoors, and their neighbors the Robinsons, originally Rabindranaths. They get ''very offended'' if anyone uses their original names.

* ''Series/{{Happy}}'':
** Sonny Shine was born Louis J. Sheinberg, but changed his name because "Sonny Shine" was more marketable.
** Happy's full name is Happilocus Imaginus. Since that's kind of a mouthful for the imaginary friend of a little girl, he shortened it to "Happy".
* In ''Series/{{Trust}}'', Bullimore's name is actually Jahangir Khan, but J. Paul Getty started calling him "Bullimore", because that was the name of his original butler, and Khan never bothered to correct him.
* In ''Series/{{Timeless}}'', Denise Christopher's real name is Dhriti Siristavana. When she became a cop, she adopted a more "American" name to cut ties with her disapproving traditional family.

* In ''Series/PartyOfFive2020'', Mexican-American Valentina Acosta adopts the name "Amanda Davis" after joining a largely-white dance class.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Time and Teresa Golowitz", Bluestone's original surname was Blaustein but he changed it at the beginning of his career as a composer.
* ''Series/{{Watchmen 2019}}'':
** William Reeves's full birth name is never revealed, but his last name may have been Robeson (his mother's maiden name.) After his parents were murdered, he adopted the surname "Reeves" after his childhood hero, Bass Reeves.
** Angela Abar's last name is her grandmother's maiden name; her father took the maiden name after he and his mother left his father.
** Laurie Juspeczyck adopted the name Laurie Blake (her biological father's surname) because none of her colleagues at the FBI could pronounce "Juspeczyck".

* ''Series/SupermanAndLois'': Lana Lang's husband Kyle Cushing is Latino, and it's eventually explained his father changed their last name from Cortez, fearing bigotry in Smallville otherwise.

* The Nozmo one-shot ''Sweetie'' has protagonist [[GenderBlenderName Madoka]] mention that his Canadian classmates couldn't pronounce his name correctly, so he gave up correcting them and asked them to call him "Maddie" instead.

* ''Series/Gotham'': Oswald Cobblepot ([[Characters/BatmanThePenguin the Penguin)]] was born with the name Kapelput, which his mother still uses.

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

** William Reeves' full birth name is never revealed, but his last name may have been Robeson (his mother's maiden name.) After his parents were murdered, he adopted the surname "Reeves" after his childhood hero, Bass Reeves.

* ''Series/SupermanAndLois'': Kyle's a Latino, and it's eventually explained he changed his last name from Cortez to Cushing, fearing bigotry in Smallville otherwise.

* In ''Series/{{Caprica}}'', Joseph Adama changed his name to Joseph Adams to fit in better with Caprican society.

* Sally Jupiter, the first Silk Spectre, from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' changed her name from "Juspeczyk" so people wouldn't know she was Polish. Ironically, her daughter Laurie went the opposite route, taking the last name Juspeczyk so that people wouldn't know that she was Sally Jupiter's daughter.

* Creator/ToniMorrison's ''Literature/SongOfSolomon'' features the "clerical error" variant in the protagonist's family history. The protagonist's grandfather Jake, who was born into slavery, had to register as an American citizen with the Freedmen's Bureau after the end of the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. Because the Freedmen's Bureau clerk was drunk at the time, he asked Jake his birthplace ("Macon, Virginia") and asked him his parents' current residence ("They're dead"), and accidentally wrote his answers down as his given name and surname -- resulting in him being saddled with the UnfortunateName "Macon Dead" for life.

* In ''ComicBook/UnstoppableWasp'', Nadia Pym changes her name to Nadia Van Dyne after becoming a naturalized American citizen, as a way of getting out of her famous father's shadow.

** The Trump family is of German origin and was originally spelled Drumpf.

* VideoGame/TheForgottenCity: The city tailor is actually named''Georgios'', but in the long tradition of the Romans re-naming everything Greek, (to this particular Greek's annoyance) he's referred to as Georgius.