History Main / TrivialTitle

* ''Film/DrStrangelove'': The titular character has lines in only two scenes, explaining things, and doesn't have any role in the film otherwise.

* ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'' is named after Ken's pet fish, which has very little do do with the plot. Certainly less than the human Wanda.

* ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'' does feature ComicBook/TheAvengers but also features several Marvel superheroes who are not Avengers. The name of the team is hardly used in the game. Instead, the heroes are joining ComicBook/{{SHEILD}}.

It may be an unimportant character, an unimportant plot point or something that doesn't come up until late in the story.

!!Examples:

* ''TheGlassMenagerie'' is named after a collection of glass animals owned by one of the characters. It should be specified, though, that the incidental element has symbolic meaning: The glass animals represent the fragility of the characters' relationship with each other.

* ''ChasingAmy'' is named after an anecdote KevinSmith (as Silent Bob) delivers near the climax of the film.

** Similarly, ''Warhammer 40,000'' was originally just ''Warhammer'' RecycledInSpace, but now the franchises are noticeably different. Warhammers are still used, but just by certain characters of a faction or two. "40,000" refers to the whole 41st Millennium, as the in-universe present year is actually 40,999 AD (this date hasn't changed since the first edition of the game).

** Similarly, ''Warhammer40K'' was originally just ''Warhammer'' RecycledInSpace, but now the franchises are noticeably different. Warhammers are still used, but just by certain characters of a faction or two, and the current present is the 42nd millenium.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Many people assume that it's named after Ichigo's bleached-looking bright orange hair, but WordOfGod states that the word 'bleach' is meant to be evocative of the color white, which contrasts with the color black, which is the main color of the main characters' uniforms. So the title refers to the complementary color to their uniforms just to make it more interesting and artistic.

* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' aka "When the Cicadas Cry" is an example, although it's also a play on words. [[spoiler:The Japanese word for "cicadas" is similar to the Japanese word for "murderer".]] Cicadas aren't important to the story at all. Their chirping is just used as a background sound effect for atmosphere.

* In the Troma movie ''Plutonium Baby'', the titular plutonium baby doesn't appear until right at the end.

* ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'' does feature ComicBook/TheAvengers but also features several Marvel superheroes who are not Avengers. The name of the team is hardly used in the game. Instead, the heroes are joining {{SHEILD}}.

* In ''TheGhostOfFrankenstein'' the Ghost is on screen for about 60 seconds.

* ''TheRoom'': The action doesn't all happen in one room, and there's nothing special about Johnny's living or bedroom, or about any other rooms featured in the movie.

* ''LegendOfZelda'' might be considered this. Not any specific title, but just the name in particular, but to the fact that the story mostly centers around Link, not Zelda. So, this means that Link pretty much does anything. [[LinksAwakening Some games]] don't even ''have'' Zelda in them.

A subtrope of NonIndicativeName. May be a consequence of ArtifactTitle. May result from Low Concept.

[[folder: Anime And Manga ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

A subtrope of NonIndicativeName. May be a consequence of ArtifactTitle.

Most stories get their titles from the main plot or the name of the main character, but this is when the author takes an incidental element from the story and gets the title from that.

It may be an unimportant character, an unimportant plot point or something that doesn't come up until late in the story.

Keep on mind that some of these are examples where the literal thing to which the title refers is not that significant, but the title also describes the theme (or one of the themes) of the work, so it's not really trivial. In these cases, it may overlap with JustifiedTitle.

A subtrope of NonIndicativeName. May be a consequence of ArtifactTitle.
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!!Examples:

[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Many people assume that it's named after Ichigo's bleached-looking bright orange hair, but WordOfGod states that the word 'bleach' is meant to be evocative of the color white, which contrasts with the color black, which is the main color of the main characters' uniforms. So the title refers to the complementary color to their uniforms just to make it more interesting and artistic.
* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' aka "When the Cicadas Cry" is an example, although it's also a play on words. [[spoiler:The Japanese word for "cicadas" is similar to the Japanese word for "murderer".]] Cicadas aren't important to the story at all. Their chirping is just used as a background sound effect for atmosphere.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In the Troma movie ''Plutonium Baby'', the titular plutonium baby doesn't appear until right at the end.
* ''ChasingAmy'' is named after an anecdote KevinSmith (as Silent Bob) delivers near the climax of the film.
* The ''{{Film/Subspecies}}'' series is named after a small race of creatures who barely factor into the movies.
* ''CaveDwellers'': The actual cave dwellers are shown very briefly in the movie. The rest of the plot revolves around a journey made by a character named Ator to save his former mentor from the bad guy. The scene with the cave people is just a brief detour. It's worth mentioning that it was originally ''Ator l'invincible 2'' (''Ator the Invincible 2'', also released in the US as ''Ator, the Blade Master'' or ''The Return''). ''Cave Dwellers'' is just the title that Venture Films International slapped on it when they got the distribution rights. Of course, since the VFI version was the one featured on ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'', it's the most famous one.
* ''Film/DrStrangelove'': The titular character has lines in only two scenes, explaining things, and doesn't have any role in the film otherwise.
* The movie ''Film/{{Chocolate}}'' is about an autistic girl beating people up to pay for her mother's chemotherapy. She also happens to like chocolate, though that doesn't affect the plot in the slightest.
* In ''TheGhostOfFrankenstein'' the Ghost is on screen for about 60 seconds.
* The title of the British movie ''DivorcingJack'' refers to [[spoiler:how the protagonist mishears the last name of composer AntoninDvorak]]. However, [[spoiler:the composer]] isn't really significant to the plot either, [[spoiler:"Dvorak"]] is merely a clue that leads the protagonist to some information he was looking for, which has nothing to do with [[spoiler:Dvorak or his music]].
* ''TheRoom'': The action doesn't all happen in one room, and there's nothing special about Johnny's living or bedroom, or about any other rooms featured in the movie.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'': Despite the enraged plummeting pachyderm on the cover of some editions, to say nothing of the title, the book is not actually about an elephant. Well, it ''is'' about an elephant, but a metaphorical, not literal, one. [[DisorganizedOutlineSpeech OK, OK, there is a literal elephant]], but it's a legend of something that may or may not have happened millions of years ago. The titular Fifth Elephant lost its footing on Great A'tuin's shell in prehistory and collided with the Disc, breaking apart its Pangaea-type supercontinent and being responsible for Uberwald's fat reserves; and is also a Uberwaldian phrase meaning "something that is not what it seems".
* ''TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' refers to an anecdote told in the story. It's also a TitleDrop as the last words of the novel (not of TheFilmOfTheBook).
* In ''TheCatWhoWalksThroughWalls'', the eponymous cat is a very minor character which shows up near the end and doesn't do much, apart from walking through a wall or two.
* ''StateOfFear''. The title refers to the thesis that the U.S. government and the media are collaborating to [[YouCanPanicNow keep the public in a near-constant panic]], ensuring their continued power. This thesis was completely overshadowed (both in the novel, and in the RealLife media controversy surrounding the novel) by the secondary point that global warming in particular is just a hoax--the latest such hoax used to perpetuate the state of fear.

[[AC:{{Live-Action TV}}]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Bells of St John". The title refers to [[spoiler: the TARDIS phone ringing]] and has nothing to do with the Evil Wi Fi plot at all.
** The title of the series itself is a subversion. The question "Doctor who?" has always been a [[AsYouKnow clarification to new audience members]] that his name is ''just'' "the Doctor" and not "Doctor [surname]." But after series 6, the question--and therefore, the title--has been given significance as TheReveal of his name and [[spoiler:the end of the universe]] ([[TeasingCreator probably]]).

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' is named after Sigmar's hammer Ghal Maraz (Skull-splitter), but it sees relatively little use in the fluff, being one weapon among hundreds used by one faction among a dozen.
** Similarly, ''Warhammer40K'' was originally just ''Warhammer'' RecycledInSpace, but now the franchises are noticeably different. Warhammers are still used, but just by certain characters of a faction or two, and the current present is the 42nd millenium.

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]
* ''WhosAfraidOfVirginiaWoolf'' is named after an OrphanedPunchline in the play.
* ''TheGlassMenagerie'' is named after a collection of glass animals owned by one of the characters. It should be specified, though, that the incidental element has symbolic meaning: The glass animals represent the fragility of the characters' relationship with each other.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* ''LegendOfZelda'' might be considered this. Not any specific title, but just the name in particular, but to the fact that the story mostly centers around Link, not Zelda. So, this means that Link pretty much does anything. [[LinksAwakening Some games]] don't even ''have'' Zelda in them.
* ''SherlockHolmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo'': The game is named after a tattoo you find during a corpse examination, which is important for identifying the corpse. Apart from that, the tattoo has no relevance to the plot and isn't mentioned again.
* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' the eponymous artifacts are only a background element in the [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena first]] [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall three]] [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind games]] and play only a small role in one side questline in [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion the fourth]]. However ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' has one as an important piece of the puzzle in the main quest: [[spoiler:it allows you to travel back in time to learn the [[BrownNote Dragonrend]] Shout]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Dubloon}}'' is titled after the currency used in the game that has no bearing to its plot.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'':
** The episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS1E8NoSnoozeIsGoodNews No Snooze Is Good News]]" had very little to do with actual sleeping, as Bogus's fantasy life while asleep is only acknowledged in the second act.
** Likewise, the episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS1E9HipsterTripster Hipster Tripster]]" has absolutely nothing to do with actual hipsters.
----

Keep on mind that some of these are examples where the literal thing the title refers to is not that significant, but the title also describes the theme (or one of the themes) of the work, so it's not really trivial. In these cases, it may overlap with JustifiedTitle.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Many people assume it's named after Ichigo's bleached looking bright orange hair, but WordOfGod states that the word 'bleach' is meant to be evocative of the color white, which contrasts with the color black, which is the main color of the main characters' uniforms. So the title refers to the complementary color to their uniforms just to make it more interesting and artistic.
* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' aka "When the Cicadas Cry" is an example, although it's also a play on words [[spoiler: The Japanese word for "cicadas" is similar to the Japanese word for "murderer"]]. Cicadas aren't important to the story at all. Their chirping is just used as a background sound effect for atmosphere.

* In ''TheCatWhoWalksThroughWalls'' the eponymous cat is a very minor character which shows up near the end and doesn't do much, apart from walking through a wall or two.
* ''StateOfFear''. The title refers to the thesis that the US government and the media are collaborating to [[YouCanPanicNow keep the public in a near-constant panic]], ensuring their continued power. This thesis was completely overshadowed (both in the novel, and in the RealLife media controversy surrounding the novel) by the secondary point that global warming in particular is just a hoax--the latest such hoax used to perpetuate the state of fear.

* ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Bells of St John". The title refers to [[spoiler: the TARDIS phone ringing]] and has nothing to do with the Evil Wi Fi plot at all.

* ''{{Warhammer}}'' is named after Sigmar's hammer Ghal Maraz (Skull-splitter), but it sees relatively little use in the fluff, being one weapon among hundreds used by one faction among a dozen.
** Similarly, ''Warhammer40K'' was originally just {{Warhammer}} RecycledInSpace, but now the franchises are noticeably different. Warhammers are still used, but just by certain characters of a faction or two, and the current present is the 42nd millenium.

* ''TheGlassMenagerie'' is named after a collection of glass animals owned by one of the characters. It should be specified, though, that the incidental element has symbolic meaning: the glass animals represent the fragility of the characters' relationship with each other.

!Examples:

** The Doctor Who itself could count as a subversion. The question "Doctor who?" has always been a [[AsYouKnow clarification to new audience members]] that his name is ''just'' "the Doctor" and not "Doctor [surname]." But after series 6, the question--and therefore, the title--has been given significance as TheReveal of his name and [[spoiler:the end of the universe]] ([[TeasingCreator probably]]).