History Main / SirensAreMermaids

* This trope is so widespread that in in Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Latin, Romanian and Portuguese the word for mermaid is respectively Sirena, Sirène, Sirena, Syrena, Syreni, Sirenă, and Sereia.
** Averted in Finnish, where ''seireeni'' is explicitly a woman-waterfowl hybrid (usually a swan). A woman-eagle hybrid is ''harpyia''. A mermaid is ''merenneito'', maiden-of-sea. Likewise in Russian "Сирин" (sirin) is a woman-bird hybrid which has inherited the etymological and the musical aspect.
** German even has three different words for mermaids, "Nixe" (probably etymologically a "water spirit" and "Meerjungfrau" ([[MermaidProblem Ocean Virgin]]). According to the other wiki, the first one would be approximately the siren (nobody except a poet when hearing "Sirene" will think other than "police siren", thus that word is obsolete) but the two are used factically synonymous.

* in''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'': Averted, as both mermaids and sirens are present and are quite different from one another.

Compare OurMermaidsAreDifferent.

* The (chronologically) first story in Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse features some {{Enthralling Siren}}s who get quite stroppy when one of the alternate Mane Six mistakes them for seaponies, and insists that they are something quite different. They're right; see Western Animation for details.

* In the animated film ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'', The Other Spink sings the line "I'm known as the siren of all seven seas," while dressed as a mermaid.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'', the Dazzlings' original Siren forms resemble hippocampi or merhorses. When they appear in the parent cartoon, they are flying rather than water-based however.

* In the Made-For-TV-Movie ''Mermaids'' one of the mermaid sisters Venus is a Siren and is able to hypnotise men though with dancing and her eyes instead of singing. Her powers don't work if someone knows that she is a Siren.
* The horror film ''Nymph''[[note]]American title: ''Killer Mermaid''[[/note]] features an evil mermaid as its monster - but she also has powers of a Siren. Namely she hypnotises men with her singing and a quote about "the silence of the Sirens" is used to describe her.

* The heroine of Donna Jo Napoli's StarCrossedLovers novel ''Sirena'' is one of the actual Greek sirens... and a mermaid. Of course, even the humans of her time have gotten a lot of the facts wrong about her and her fellow myths.
* In Creator/TSEliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock".

* Parodied in ''Literature/IslandOfTheAunts'' by Creator/EvaIbbotson: A mermaid tried to make money by causing a ship to sink, enchanting the captain with her hypnotizing singing voice. Sadly, the times had changed, and instead of gold and treasures, the ship she caused to sink had oil on board.
* Creator/PiersAnthony's ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' novel "The Source of Magic". The Siren is a mermaid with a voice that lures all men who hear it to her.
* In Edgar Eagar's ''Magic by the Lake'', the children go on an adventure with a mermaid who "sings down a ship." Martha chastises her for luring men to their deaths.

* In ''Siren'' by Tricia Rayburn, the sirens don't have fins, but they need salt water to survive and can stay under water for long periods of time.
* In ''Lost Voices'' by Sarah Porter, the main characters are basically humans turned into mermaids, but are given magical voices like the sirens, which they use to lure humans to their deaths. These mermaids/sirens are all formerly human girls who were abused or neglected, and take vengeance on humanity for the mistreatment in their previous lives by sinking ships and drowning people.
* The Syren in ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'' is described as a mermaid, and she uses her song for malicious purposes.

* The mermaid Áine from J. Conway Jameson's ''Dream Girl'' seduces rapists and murderers by sneaking into their rooms at night and singing to them (basically hypnotizing them), then "accidentally" bumping into them on the street and causing them to fall in love with her and her "[[ManicPixieDreamGirl quirky]]" ways. Then she kills them and drinks their blood.
* Amanda Hocking's ''Literature/{{Watersong}}'' sirens (descendants of the Muses who were cursed by Demeter) are a combination of the classical versions of mermaids ''and'' sirens. They have three different forms: On land, they're human. In seawater, they're half-human, half-fish. When they need to fly or (more importantly) feed on the mortal men they lure with their songs, they're bird-women. They have beautiful voices and appearances only in their first two forms; the third form is a case of OneWingedAngel.
* The mermaids of ''Literature/IntoTheDrowningDeep'' are capable of perfectly mimicking any sound they hear, such as whale song and human speech, in order to lure prey in. Eventually, they are designated as sirens because mermaid implies they are all female. The study of mermaids is also known as sirenology.

* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' has a notable subversion. The fifth season featured two episodes pretty close together, one dealing with a mermaid and the other dealing with a Siren. Though in this case the Siren doesn't really match mythology, either--she still has hypnotic singing, but looks fully human and is actually a vengeful dead woman who comes back as a demon.
* The pilot for the ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} TV show introduced what probably would have been recurring enemies - Sirens that were basically really ugly mermaids.
* Averted in ''Series/OnceUponATime''. The mermaids are separate creatures from sirens. A siren shows up in the episode ''What Happened to Frederick'', appearing as a beautiful shapeshifting lady in a lake. Mermaids (including [[Disney/TheLittleMermaid Ariel]]) show up in Neverland. However, mermaids ''do'' have alluring singing voices, and at least one ''is'' encouraged by her father to lure ships onto rocks.

* The TV series ''{{Series/Siren}}'' is about mermaids who indeed have hypnotic singing abilities.

* In Irish folklore, merrow were beautiful mermaids who fell in love with mortal men and bewitched them into following them beneath the sea...where they used their magic to keep their husbands alive under the sea so they could live HappilyEverAfter. Male merrow were ugly and more sinister; they killed their victims and trapped their souls under the sea, although even then, some stories implied [[ObliviouslyEvil they thought their victims were happy about the whole deal]].
** The fact that male merrow were so ugly and repulsive was precisely WHY female merrow were so keen on keeping their mortal husbands alive. According to some stories, they could take on human form and live on land for a while, but eventually they would want to return to the sea, and so would ultimately move the family back home.

* The mermaids of ''Pinball/{{Fathom}}'' don't do any singing, but they definitely take sadistic glee in leading divers to their watery doom.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', on the other hand, went back to mythology and made them human-headed birds.

* In Creator/{{Shakespeare}}'s ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'', Oberon's story of the magic flower for the love potion includes a mermaid's beautiful singing, though she calms the sea rather than allures anyone to death.

** Gloucester in ''Theatre/HenryVIPart3'': "I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall."

* Elulu from ''VideoGame/LuminousArc3'' whose job class is Siren but also bears a lot of traits similar to mermaids.
* The Sirens of ''Mabinogi'' fit this to a tee. If you need an image, you don't need to look for one, they're almost the same as the above picture from ''VideoGame/LuminousArc'' (however, they are NOT a rip-off). And they're bad guys.
* A little bit of FridgeBrilliance: The Zora (read: merfolk-like fish people) from ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' evolve over time into the Rito (mythological siren-like bird folk). Medli, one of the main Rito in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' even plays a harp, though not to coerce anyone to their doom, luckily.
* SubvertedTrope in Castlevania as well; the Siren is (Though not a common enemy) a PaletteSwap of the [[HarpingOnAboutHarpies Harpy]] enemy, making them birdlike.
* Averted in ''Fable'' (1996). An underwater Siren appears with legs instead of a mermaid's tail.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'', where sirens are land-dwelling (levitating) demons.

* Averted but acknowledged in ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana''. Mermaids and Sirens are different species, mermaids being fish-tailed humanoids who can teleport via bubbles and sirens being beautiful harpy-like creatures that look like a cross between birds of paradise and women. The two species are friendly with each other, however, and implied to be distantly related in some way.

* Referenced in ''VideoGame/MegaMan9''. Splash Woman is basically a robot mermaid and one of her attacks involves singing to summon fish to attack Mega Man.
* Primarina, Popplio's final evolution in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' is referred to as a sea lion and a mermaid, but also has the distinctive singing feature of sirens. It is also part [[OurFairiesAreDifferent Fairy-Type]].
* Averted in ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma'': the Sirens of Bitterblack Isle harken back to the original portrayal of sirens, being a PaletteSwap of harpies.
* Sirens (and their stronger kin, the [[UndergroundMonkey Lamia and Ekhidna]]) appear this way in ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt''... at least at a distance. In fact the beautiful female upper bodies are a means of luring prey (read, unwary sailors) along with their voices. The deception drops when they attack, revealing the true, monstrous form beneath. They can both [[FlyingSeafoodSpecial swim and fly]] but are rendered practically defenseless if knocked onto solid ground.
* The titular Siren of ''VideoGame/LoneSiren'' is actually a mermaid.
* In ''Soda Dungeon'', the Water Temple mermaids are surrounded by hearts. Sirens appear as undead mermaids. In the Lair of Despair, the Harp mermaid sits on a rock and plays the harp like a Siren.

* In Kate Beaton's ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'', a mermaid [[http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=119 aims to drown a sailor with her frilly singin']]. Mermaids matching this trope make a few other appearances, including [[http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=188 one longer story arc]] (where no mermaid singing is heard, but is referred to, along with their tendency to drown people).

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in ''Webcomic/TheNoordegraafFiles'', as sirens are stated to be bird people, and the whole "why we refer to mermaids as sirens" thing explained above is then stated. The closest thing to mermaids are Nereids, which are half - squid, not half - fish.

* Averted in the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "Home Sweet Homer". The Sirens turn out to be disembodied heads mounted on tentacles, which are atop the head of a much larger, uglier monster.
* Coincidence or not, the mermaid queen from ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' reincarnates into a flying version called "skymaid", becoming more like a siren. This could also have been a reference to the original ending of "Literature/TheLittleMermaid".
* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'', both mermaids and sirens are present and are quite different from one another.
* One of the King Features ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' cartoons has him mesmerized by a siren who's basically a wily mermaid with a harp; it takes Olive to snap him out of it.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter remembers how he lured sailors to their death with his siren song... dressed as a mermaid.
* The original ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' cartoon gave us the Seaponies - who first appeared in ''Rescue At Midnight Castle'' and they were the first to get a song. It's very reminiscent of a BusbyBerkeleyNumber, and they would always appear singing a chord of "shoo be doo" in the remainder of the episodes.
* Averted in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode where D.W. retells ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', with herself as Odysseus. The sirens are just random girls dancing to [[EarWorm "Crazy Bus,"]] a song that D.W. became obsessed with [[CallBack in an earlier episode]].
* Played very straight with the mermaid that appears in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats}}''; her song entrances Tigra, and the obvious purpose of this is to lure him to her and get him to hold still so she can feed on him; the shot of her vampiric fangs right before the break to a commercial is one of the most chilling in the series.
* PlayedWith in ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}''--the mermaids aren't called sirens, but play the siren legend totally straight, to the point where ''Literature/TheOdyssey'''s "wax or tied up" strategy is used to combat them.
** [[spoiler:Subverted when it turns out it's actually the ''walruses from a neighbouring island'' that are the sirens.]]

However, despite all the differences in mermaid portrayals, they seem to have one thing in common. For some reason, mermaids tend to be called [[EnthrallingSiren sirens]], and are given the ability to sing phenomenally well, to the point of leading unsuspecting people to their doom.

This trope is an old one; the siren as mermaid was well-established in the medieval bestiary. In Thomas Hoccleve's early fifteenth century text, ''La Male Regle'', line 233, speaks of mermaids singing men to their deaths, "as old books tell us." The issue is not helped by the fact that in many Romance languages, both sirens and mermaids are referred to by the same word. In several traditional definitions of mythology, the Siren is often depicted as a winged bird-woman hybrid. In fact, the original Greek Sirens were portrayed as a cross between women and songbirds, and could die by drowning. However in another part of the world, the Filipino sirena were described in what we now envision as the mermaid siren. It could be an example of LostInTranslation that these two words became used interchangeably, displacing parts of both.

* The Russian animated short ''Animation/{{Mermaid}}'' is about a ''rusalka'', a mythological Russian creature that is basically a cross between a mermaid and a siren. It lives in the water like a mermaid, but it sings and lures men to their deaths like a siren. It also has a fully human body, like a siren.

* Hayame in ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'' is yet another mermaid with the ability to create MagicMusic.
* The Merrow from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''. It is their best weapon.
* [[spoiler:Akira Okouchi]] from ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' pactio name is ''Siren Valida'' while the outfit is more clearly mermaid-themed than harpie.

* Averted in ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' where Mermaids and Sirens are completely different monsters. The mermaids also never sing (they instead suck the life energy of people), while the Sirens do and from what we see can see from their true form, they are birdlike, resembling angels.
* Sirenoid from ''Anime/{{Bakugan}}'' is quite clearly based off of a mermaid.

* The 1858 painting by Frederic Leighton, ''[[http://www.illusionsgallery.com/fisherman.html The Fisherman and the Siren]]'' has a siren with a fish-tail seducing a young man.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' goes back and forth with this trope. On the one hand, there's the merfolk card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159845 Seasinger]], which is modeled after the siren legends. On the other, they have a separate "siren" creature type as seen on [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=189894 Alluring Siren]]
** The Sirens of Theros [[{{Aversion}} Avert]] the trope entirely, as they are a hybrid of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Sirens]] and [[HarpingOnAboutHarpies Harpies]], meaning vulture-like wings, talons, and such beautiful singing voices that shipwreck victims [[CharmPerson don't care.]]
** Even further averted on Ixalan. Like on Theros, Ixalan sirens are winged, and there is a card [[http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/entrancing-melody/ showing a siren seducing a merfolk with song]], as if to defy this trope outright.
* [[Anime/CardfightVanguard Cardfight!! Vanguard]] has the clan Bermuda Triangle - a clan of Mermaid Idol Singers. Their similar counterpart are the Battle Sirens from the Aqua Force clan, which are mermaids and uses their voices for various effects, from attacking to boosting their soldiers.
* ''[[TableTopGame/YuGiOh Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' has [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Deep_Sea_Diva Deep Sea Diva]], a mermaid with a heavy musical motif that can summon other monsters to it from the deck like a siren.

* One French adaptation of ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' has a bird-woman siren dive underwater.... [[DualModeUnit at which point her feathers seamlessly turn into fins.]]
* Another adaptation of the same work, in this case one issue of the Belgian comic ''Les Centaures'', features mermaid-like sirens even if the setting is (fairly) loyal to classical Greece.

** There's also a variant: the Scottish merfolk in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'' are called "[[SelkiesAndWereseals selkies]]," which are likewise a different creature in actual mythology.

* Another adaptation of the same work, in this case one issue of the Belgian comic ''Les Centaurs'', features mermaid-like sirens even if the setting is (fairly) loyal to classical Greece.

** There's also a quirk to their music: outside of water, merpeople's voices are loud, unpleasant screeching that humans can only understand if they've learned it as a separate language ([[StarfishLanguage Mermish]]). Underwater, it becomes the hauntingly beautiful music that humans can understand normally.
** There's also a variant: Scottish merpeople (as seen in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'') are called "[[SelkiesAndWereseals selkies]]," which are likewise a different creature in actual mythology.

* Averted in [[https://tw.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/484jey/as_a_child_i_wanted_to_be_a_mermaid/ this creepypasta]] where the protagonist is a young girl who dreams about being a mermaid, but is actually a siren.

** Averted in Finnish, where ''seireeni'' is explicitly a woman-waterfowl hybrid (usually a swan). A woman-eagle hybrid is ''harpyia''. A mermaid is ''merenneito'', maiden-of-sea.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' has a notable subversion. The fifth season featured two episodes pretty close together, one dealing with a mermaid and the other dealing with a Siren. Though in this case the Siren doesn't really match mythology, either--she still has hypnotic singing, but looks fully human and is actually a vengeful dead woman who comes back as a demon.

* ''{{DarthWiki/TheGingerverse}}'': During the song [[MindControlMusic Dear Scandinavia]], Younghee appears as this. Whenever a boy sees her, he tries to walk towards her and touch her, but she disappears before he can. And throughout this process, she is still singing and the boys can hear her even after she's gone.

* Averted in the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "Home Sweet Homer". The Sirens are part aquatic and part NightmareFuel.

* Averted in the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' episode "Home Sweet Homer". The Sirens are part aquatic and part NightmareFuel.

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica,'' the [[MonsterOfTheWeek witch]] [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie Oktavia von Seckendorff]] is an EldritchAbomination resembling a weird cross between a mermaid and an orchestra conductor. Possibly an accidental example, however, because there are symbolic reasons for this form ([[spoiler:her backstory resembles ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid,'' but with a musician friend in place of the prince]]).

This trope is an old one; the siren as mermaid was well-established in the medieval bestiary. In Thomas Hoccleve's early fifteenth century text, ''La Male Regle'', lines 233 ff. speak of mermaids singing men to their deaths, "as old books tell us." The issue is not helped by the fact that in many Romance languages, both sirens and mermaids are referred to by the same word. In several traditional definitions of mythology, the Siren is often depicted as a winged bird-woman hybrid. In fact, the original Greek Sirens were portrayed as a cross between women and songbirds, and could die by drowning. However in another part of the world, the Filipino sirena were described in what we now envision as the mermaid siren. It could be an example of LostInTranslation that these two words became used interchangeably, displacing parts of both.

* In ''Soda Dungeon'', the Harp mermaid sits on a rock and plays the harp; the standard mermaid does not. Sirens appear as undead mermaids.

* In ''Soda Dungeon'', the Harp mermaid sits on a rock and plays the harp, while the standard mermaid does not. Sirens are a more hideous form of mermaid.

* In ''Soda Dungeon'', mermaid enemies sit on a rock and play the harp.

This trope is an old one; the siren as mermaid was well-established in the medieval bestiary. In Thomas Hoccleve's early fifteenth century text, ''La Male Regle'', lines 233 ff. speak of mermaids singing men to their deaths, "as old books tell us." The issue is not helped by the fact that in many Romance languages, both sirens and mermaids are referred to by the same word. In several traditional definitions of mythology, the Siren is often depicted as a winged bird-woman hybrid. In fact, the original Greek Sirens were portrayed as a cross between women and songbirds, and could die by drowning. However in another part of the world, the Filipino sirenia were described in what we now envision as the mermaid siren. It could be an example of LostInTranslation that these two words became used interchangeably, displacing parts of both.