History Woolseyism / WesternAnimation

** Also in Brazil, Ed has catchphrases he doesn't have in the original; "cute", "it didn't even hurt", and instead of liking buttered toast and gravy, he likes chicken with okra. His like of gravy is only mentioned when it is unavoidable (such as his gravy bathtub), and the word "gravy" is replaced with just "molho" (sauce) as "molho de carne" (meat sauce) is too long.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs''

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' commented on music videos regardless of whether or not the bands featured would be recognizable to foreign audiences. When the show was dubbed in other countries, the original verion's music videos would sometimes be replaced with the duo commenting on ones that ''would'' be familiar with that country's audience. A good example is this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaJUJahct6o&ab_channel=JustStop exclusive music video commentary]] from the German dub.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'':
** In the original American version of the show, the duo commented on music videos regardless of whether or not they would be familiar to foreign audiences. When the show was dubbed in other countries, the original verion's music videos would sometimes be replaced with the duo commenting on ones that ''would'' be familiar with that country's audience. A good example is this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaJUJahct6o&ab_channel=JustStop exclusive music video commentary]] from the German dub.

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'':
** The Mexican dub had the title translated as ''Los Reyes de la Colina'' ("The Kings of the Hill"), changing the family's name to Reyes, a real Hispanic name, while still preserving the pun on the phrase "king of the hill." For example, Hank Hill's name was changed to Hector Reyes.
** The Hungarian dub attempted this, though how successful it was is questionable. Essentially, they rewrote every line of dialog to sound more "realistic" -- by [[ObligatorySwearing packing them chock full of swear words]], especially Boomhauer's speeches. This is a common tactic, and the dubs of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' and ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' also made use of it, but unlike those, ''King of the Hill'' had morning and afternoon timeslots, when children could watch it. Another unique change they made was giving Hank a ''very'' gruff redneck voice. Beginning from season 7, the dub became a straight translation of the original, abandoning the profanities.
** Quebec’s french dub was adapted to the local culture, right down to the Joual, which is Quebec’s slang. King of the Hill became Henri pis sa gang (Henry and his gang), Peggy became Paulette, Dale Gribble decame Dan Grenier, Bill became Boule (Pudgy), Boomhauer was Papineau, John Red Corn was John Sept Grains (A reference to Anacin, which was once presented as a “seven grains analgesic” in the French-Canadian ads) and the town of Arlen became Sainte-Irène, since most villages and small towns in Quebec are named after saints. When the episodes are specifically themed around the fact that they are texans, or when Mexico is just an hour’s drive away, no explanation is given, the Quebec setting is simply ignored.
* When ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicRoundabout'' made the transition from France to the United Kingdom, the plot for each episode was completely rewritten and narrated by Eric Thompson. Although the show's creator, Serge Danot, expressed concern over these changes, Thompson's thoroughly British revamp of the animations gained cult status. Eric in fact wrote the scripts without looking at the original French ones; he based it entirely off the film. Then there's the strange case of the 2005 computer-animated movie... It was made as a joint French-British effort, and had a voice cast from each country. Then it had a separate American dub, which is just considered terrible in of itself.
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' series sometimes translate the {{meaningful name}}s of the characters along with the dialogue, because not doing so made more of a mess than usual. For example, Starscream sometimes becomes Gwiazdowrzask (literally "Starscream") in the Polish dub. Accurate. But not exactly snappy.
** In the German translation of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', the garbage-loving Wreck-Gar's name is Wreck-sauger. It's a play on the German word "staubsauger", which means "vacuum cleaner".
** In the Hungarian dub of the live-action film, Starscream became Üstökös ("Comet"). Though he has had a number of other names in different series. In ''Armada'', he is called Csillagsikoly (Starscream, literally), sometimes abbreviated to Csillag (Star); and his ''Energon'' (re-)incarnation was christened Surranó (Sneaker, which is what he does at his first appearance). Both dubs of the '86 movie refer to him as Starscream, however the delivery at times makes it sound like "Szarszkrém" (Shitscream).
** According to the Transformers Wiki the otherwise atrocious G1 English dub by Omni Productions (a Hong Kong-based company) renamed Blurr, a transformer known for his superspeed movement and speech, to "[[ComicBook/TheFlash Wally]]". No, really.

** Pretty much all cartoons dubbed in Mexico before the 1970s got this treatment to a bigger or lesser degree. For instance, in the Latin American Spanish dub of ''WesternAnimation/ThePerilsOfPenelopePitstop'', Penelope Pitstop became "Penélope Glamour", and Sylvester Sneekly became "Silvestre Dos Caras" (Sylvester Two Faces).

* The original Mexican dub of ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends'' left virtually no line of dialogue untouched, turning a stock-standard superhero action cartoon into a legendary, hilarious show that many children of TheEighties (and even the [[ParentalBonus parents of those children]], for various reasons) quote to this day. Sadly, this dub was replaced for a dead-literal one done in Los Angeles in post-2000 reruns, and the show lost most of its charm.
* ''WesternAnimation/CountDuckula'''s Latin American dub, also produced in Mexico, inserted rapid-fire references to Mexican culture (pop and otherwise) that make it one of the most beloved cartoons in the country's history. Such as "patolín" (how Nanny refers to Duckula in Spanish instead of "Ducky-Boos") wanting tortillas made from [[ProductPlacement Maseca]]-Seca for lunch; or how he almost never refers to Nanny as such, preferring to use "Gordis" or "La Gorda" (think "fatty/fatso" as a very affectionate term of endearment) and "Gorda de la caridad!" when especially irritated with her.
** The ending of "Hardluck Hotel" in the German dub changed the line from, "Nanny... you're a ninny, Nanny" to "Emma... ich bin auf Dilemma, Emma."
* Hanna-Barbera's ''WesternAnimation/TopCat'', which originally consisted of only 30 episodes and which wasn't so successful in the United States, was dubbed into Latin American Spanish with the names of all the characters altered to fit. But what really took the cake was that every cat spoke in a different accent, which is what made the series so wildly successful in Mexico. The same 30 episodes have been rerun over and over in mainstream Mexican TV for about 30 years.
* The same can be said about ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' (know as Los Pitufos in Latin America). Not only were the names changed changed very liberally (Brainy Smurf, for example, became Pitufo Filósofo or Philosopher Smurf), they also gave each Smurf a particular accent.
** In the Arabic dub, Gargamel's name was changed to Sharshabil and Azazel's name to Halhool (sometimes Harhoor). Further shows and movies keep this change even in subtitles, though Azazel's name is sometimes left unchanged.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' had a Dutch dub which featured the characters talking over the end credits, practically turning this into a show-within-a-show as they introduced bizarre, made-up back stories (such as frequent mention of Egon's days in the "Sea Explorers", a scouting group), cracked jokes about the events featured in the episode and even referred to the hosts of the SaturdayMorningKidsShow it was part of.
* The Polish version of ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' changed the name of character "Monterey Jack" (a name of American cheese) to "Rockfor" (which is "Roquefort", a name of French cheese, written phonetically). Also, the "RR" in the title was translated as "Risky Rescue Brigade" (which, also, was the Polish title of the show).[[note]]Actually, the show's title is just "Chip and Dale", because at the time it debuted (January 1991), the shorts weren't airing regularly on Polish television. That "Risky Rescue Brigade" undertitle was added for home video usage and airings on commercial TV channels in Poland.[[/note]]
** The Swedish dub of the series changed nearly all the character names, as well as the title, due to the fact that the originals doesnt translate into very dynamic names. Chip and Dale were given the same names as they had in the original translated shorts, Piff and Puff, while the show itself became "Räddningspatrullen/Rescue Patrol". Monterey Jack, who is named after a cheese that is almost unknown in Sweden, had his name changed to the somewhat generic name "Oscar". Gadgets name would translate into "Prylen" or "Maskinen", so it became "Pärlan/Pearl". Fat Cat's name was changed to "Svinpäls", which is an old slang for villain or jerk.
** The name of Roquefort a.k.a. Rocky was also left in the Russian dub, with some additional changes like Gadget becoming Guyka (Nut, although not ''this'' kind of nuts you may think about first) and Fatcat becoming Tolstopuz (Fatbelly).
** In fact, the Russian dubs of most of the classic Disney animated shows are notorious for their "liberal" approach to character names that ended up mostly working and themselves became iconic. For example, in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', the names of the triplets Huey, Dewey and Louie, which sound silly to a Russian audience (invoking a slang word for penis), were changed to Billy, Willy and Dilly -- which ironically works the same way to an English audience.
** The Hungarian dub of ''Chip and Dale'' translates the show title as "Csipet csapat" (literally "Tiny team"), Monterey Jack is renamed Kvarg Lipi (a pun on Quargel cheese or possibly Liptai túró/Liptauer Quark/körözött, made of quark/cottage cheese), Gadget becomes Sziporka ("spark," as in genius) and Fat Cat is called Pukkandúr (combining "pukkan" (to pop) and "kandúr" (tomcat)).
** The Italian dub renames Fat Cat to Gattolardo, which not only has the same meaning (''gatto'' "cat" + ''lardo'' "lard"), but also sounds like ''Il Gattopardo'' aka ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Leopard The Leopard]]'', a novel about a Sicilian nobleman, an apt choice for a refined crime boss. The same dub renames Prof. Nimnul to Dr. Pan De Monium.
** In the Norwegian dub Gadget name is changed to "Fiksi" that means something around like fixing.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** A very clever, multifaceted example: In the German dub of the episode "Born Again Krabs," when the Flying Dutchman comes after Mr. Krabs, the fake LineOfSightName he gives after looking at the flower on the end table is "Benjamin Blümchen," rather than "Harold Flower" in the English version. It's still a LineOfSightName because "Blümchen" is a diminutive of the German word for "flower", but it's also a Woolseyism because it references Benjamin Blümchen, the elephant from the popular German children's audio-stories and cartoons. In addition, it's also an ActorAllusion, because Mr. Krabs' German VA is Jürgen Kluckert, who has been the voice of Benjamin Blümchen since 1994. Krabs' voice actor even changes his voice to the much calmer, softer tone he uses for said pachyderm.
** In the German version of ''WesternAnimation/ChristmasWho'', Sandy tells [=SpongeBob=] about Knecht Ruprecht (Farmhand Rupert), the companion of Saint Nicholas in German folklore.
** In the Latin American dub for "Krusty Krab Training Video", the acronym "P.O.O.P." (People Order Our Patties) became the similar "C.A.C.A.", which stands for "Clientes adoran comer aquí", meaning "Customers enjoy eating here".
** Since the literal German translation of "square pants" (''"quadratischehosen"'') sounds rather awkward, and doesn't have the same cadence as the English version, Spongebob's surname in the German version is ''"Schwammkopf"''--meaning "Sponge-head". It's also a {{pun}} on ''"Schwachkopf"'', meaning "idiot".
** The word "barnacle" in the German dub is always translated as ''Blaubarsch'', which actually means "bluefish". This may be because "Rankenfußkrebs" is such a long word and doesn't really fit in the names of characters like Barnacle Boy or ''JustForFun/TheUglyBarnacle''. In the Brazilian Portuguese dub it is always translated as "Mexilhão" which means mussel, since there's not a specific word in Portuguese that refers to barnacles.
** In "Krab Borg", Squidward's corny joke was changed in the German dub while keeping the meat of the punchline intact.
--->'''Squidward:''' Why don't [[AcceptableTargets the Chinese]] like pirate movies?[[note]]Original joke: Why couldn't the 11-year old get into the pirate movie?[[/note]]\\
'''Mr. Krabs:''' Why?\\
'''Squidward:''' Because [[AsianSpeekeeEngrish they can't say]], "Arrrr!"[[note]]Original punchline: It was rated "Arrrr!"[[/note]]
** Squidward's name is a humorous {{portmanteau}} of "squid" and "Edward", which is somewhat tricky to translate into other languages. Some of the international translations don't even bother to preserve the wordplay, which is why Squidward is called "Carlo" in French and "Thaddäus" in German. But the Latin American Spanish translation cleverly renames him "Calamardo", a portmanteau of ''"calamar"'' ("squid") and "Eduardo". Similarly: his name in the Japanese translation is "Ikarudo", a portmanteau of ''"ika"'' ("squid") and the Japanese pronunciation of "Edward" ("Eh-da-wa-ru-do"); as a bonus, it also rhymes with the Japanese pronunciation of "Ricardo" ("Ri-ka-ru-do")
* The Italian dub of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has replaced most English swear words not with their direct Italian equivalent, but with words which have a similar sound and whose meaning can be linked to the character who uttered it. For example, in one episode Zoidberg's "the hell" is rendered in Italian with "cozza" (Italian for "mussel"), which is extremely similar to "cazzo" (Italian for "dick", and general go-to swearword).
** Another example: The acronym F.A.R.T. (Fathers Against Rude Television) was rendered as P.U.Z.Z.A., or Padri Uniti Zittiscono Zotici Attori (United Fathers Hush Coarse Actors). "Puzza" translates literally as "bad smell".
* The Brazilian dub of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' tends to go to [[LostInTranslation the other side of the scale]], since it was made in an amateur studio with amateur actors. Nevertheless, one entire-episode joke got a surprisingly creative treatment in the episode "Jared has Aides". Since the portuguese word for "aides" ("ajudante" or "assistente") doesn't sound at all like "AIDS" (or "SIDA"), the joke got a slight remake - Jared keeps telling everyone that he has "H&V". Which sounds exactly the same as "HIV", but he says that "H&V" stand for "Hagamenon and Vito", his aides ([[DubNameChange originally called Tyler and Scott]]). Sure, there were still some issues with grammar (especially verbal conjugation) due to the change, but still managed to get the joke across competently.
** The German version handles this rather creatively, too, by having Jared talking about A.I.D.S as an acronym for "Assistenten im Diätsystem" (diet system assistants).
** The European Spanish version renames Tyler and Scott to Elviro and Positivo to sound like "El virus positivo" ("The positive virus") when it's spoken really fast, while the Latin American dub calls them Victor and Hector ("V&H").
** The Swedish subtitles, too, make A.I.D.S. an acronym.
** The Hungarian dubbing likewise used HIV, pronounced the same as the word "hív", meaning "fan" or "supporter". The grammar wasn't perfect, seeing as "hív" refers to a single person, but at least the joke still worked.
** To intensify the mystery on Mysterion, because he is an expy of [[Film/{{Watchmen}} Rorschach]] and presumably because they had the chance, Mysterion in the German dub is voiced ''like'' Rorschach ''by'' the German voice actor of the original Rorschach.
*** Which makes an extremly stark contrast when he speaks up with his unmuffled voice in the scene where the kids research Cthulhu, because he is voiced by a woman when not speaking as Mysterion.
** The Mexican dub of ''South Park'' attempted to do this by covering the profanity with slang from Mexico City. It didn't work, and was soon replaced by the more successful Miami dub, which was more faithful in its graphic nature.
** The Italian dub added several comical and bizarre expressions, in line with the early seasons of the show that were more of a surreal vulgar comedy. For example, Cartman's catchphrase "Screw you guys, I'm going home" was rendered as "Fatevi un clistere, io me ne torno a casa", meaning "Have yourself an enema, I'm going back home". Another example: Terrance and Phillip were renamed "Trombino & Pompadour", to keep their initials and also give them silly names that vaguely sound like vulgar innuendos in Italian (more or less "Fucker & Sucker").

** Similar to the ''King of the Hill'' examples above, the Québec dub replaces many U.S. pop-culture references with local ones, and even implied that the show was set in Québec (despite no {{Dub Name Change}}s), thought the later stopped with the increased references to U.S. politics of the later seasons, and the contrived situations generated by the local Québec references, including Burt Reynolds and a Québecois celebrity talking to each other in a Québec-made awards ceremony!!!

** Another one about ''The Simpsons'': The episode "Girls Just Want to Have Sums" features Lisa [[SweetPollyOliver disguising as a boy]]. In the Italian dub, since Lisa's voice actress Monica Ward also voiced Urkel ''Series/FamilyMatters'', they played along with it by having her doing "Jake Boyman"'s voice in the same tone as Urkel, sneaking his trademark laugh and even a "Did I do that?" in the dialogues.

* In the original English ''WesternAnimation/MickeysChristmasCarol'', the characters retain their names from the [[Literature/AChristmasCarol original story]], even though they are "played" by familiar Disney characters - Scrooge [=McDuck=] as Ebenezer Scrooge, or at least Ebenezer Scrooge looking like Scrooge [=McDuck=], etc. In the Finnish dub, their names switched back to the Disney characters, which makes perfect sense since Finnish children would presumably be at a loss with the odd English names they've never heard. This also necessitates a further change: Isabelle/Daisy in Scrooge's past is identified as Goldie O'Gilt, because it would be too odd for Scrooge to be dating her if she was actually named as Daisy Duck. (That all said, the translation also has [[BlindIdiotTranslation some serious fumbles]], such as "Ghost of Christmas Porridge" and, due to some dropped words of explanation, Scrooge and his fiancée apparently having a financial contract to get married that involves her having to pay him.)
* Polish dialoguist Dariusz Dunowski is generally a controversial figure in the dubbing industry, but his translations can be pretty damn clever. Not only does he include a lot of Polish slang, which makes the dialogue incredibly interesting to listen to - there's no stiff sentences or word-to-word translation. He also tends to put in references to the Polish culture, even when there's no reference in the original. Almost always, it makes the dialogue sound funnier while still preserving the original thought. Some examples (all taken from the dubbed version of ''WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum''):
** Original: "Hey guys, great session, why don't you take a break? Frosty Freezy Freeze's on me!". Translation: "Hey guys, you're great, Sopot and Opole await you, now get out!" (Sopot and Opole being Polish cities known for music festivals).
** Original: "Janitor Poopatine, we will not let you down!". Translation: "You can rely on us like you would on Zawisza!" (Zawisza Czarny was a Polish knight and nobleman living in the 14 - 15th century).
* The Irish dub of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is peppered with Woolseyisms (and excellent acting).
** Of particular note is Katara's speech to the Earthbenders trapped on the iron prison ship. The entire speech stole bits out of Irish Colonial poetry (mostly Mo Ghile Mear) about how the Irish had hope of fighting back against the English because Bonny Prince Charlie is coming (if you're not that well up on Irish history, Charlie never did come), but the names were changed around to we have hope of defeating the Fire Nation because the Avatar is coming. Some nearly cried, and as a result found the original to be quite narmish.
** Also, the actors all speak a different dialect of Irish depending on where in Ireland they came from. The Fire Nation have Connacht accents (western Ireland). Katara and Sokka have southern tendencies, and the Earth Kingdom has more standardised, academic Irish. Aang, representing all nations, seems to have a bit of everything;.
** The Swedish dub changes The Boulder's name from a wrestling reference to a pun by re-naming him Bum Ling, "bumling" being Swedish for "boulder". Dream!Ozai's line about his "royal parts" is also changed to his "royal jewels".
** The Hebrew dub changed the original's "That's why we call it justice - because it's just us." into a different pun, based on the fact the Hebrew words for "a grammatical sentence" and "a trial" are the same. Back-translating the Hebrew pun into English is a Recursive Woolseyism of sorts, which stresses the KangarooCourt nature of Aang's trial - "That's why it's called being sentenced - I say a sentence, and then you say a sentence".
** Also from the Hebrew dub, Combustion Man being renamed "the Bombardologist" - based off the fact his "sparky sparky boom" rays come from his forehead.
* The Hungarian dubbers of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' evidently had lots of fun working on the show, and gleefully changed many non-visual gags into jokes that the Hungarian audience would be more likely to get, such as referencing ''Series/{{House}}'' in an episode that had been made before the aforementioned series debuted or at times taking jabs at Hungarian celebrities. If a famous [[SpecialGuest guest star]] happens to share his or her voice actor/actress with one of the cartoon characters, it tends to get [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] as well.
** The Taiwanese version adds a lot of local jokes, similar to ''The Simpsons''.
* The majority of the non-English versions of ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' have her teaching English instead of Spanish.
* ''WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker'''s character Wally Walrus is...well, a walrus, who speaks mostly in a Swedish accent. In Brazil, his accent is Argentinean. The woolseyism is found when you realise that, while Argentina doesn't have any walruses (to be fair, there are no walruses in Sweden, either), it really is (at least in the Far South) very cold, with a climate similar to Sweden, is home to seals (some species of seal are also found in Sweden), and has a soccer rivalry with Brazil. (That's only in the old 50's series. In recent versions he retains his Swedish accent.)
* In the German and Spanish dubs of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', the episode titles are changed. For example, "The Picnic Panic" and "Weighty Problem" were changed to "Hormingas cantarinas" and "Sobrepreso" in the Spanish dub, and "Best Of Breed" and "School Daze" were changed to "Meister allen Klassen" and "Eilpacket nach Ahu Dubai" in the German dub.
** The original version of "What Harm Can It Do?", as well as many foreign dubs of it, had Wade speak most of the song rather than sing it, but the Hungarian dub has him sing it entirely!
** In the Spanish version of the ''ComicStrip/USAcres'' episode "Kiddie Korner", this happens. For example, "Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet" became "La pequeña Lou, se sentó en su poo".
** In [[Film/SnowWhiteAndThe77Dwarves Snow Wade and the 77 Dwarves]], Lanolin talks in a cute voice when offering Wade the poison apple, and openly states it's poison. In the Spanish version, she talks in what seems to be an Italian accent and doesn't tell him the apple is poison.
** In the Spanish dub of "Video Airlines", the comically bad Spanish dubbed version of "Kung Fu Creatures on the Rampage 2" is instead in comically bad ''English'' - complete with incorrect grammar and mispronunciation, and [[OohMeAccentsSlipping the Spanish VA's native accent slipping through.]] (However, the "El Cine Fantastico" title card remains unchanged.)
* Many foreign dub of the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes shorts does this with many of the characters' names and and their catchphrases:
** In the Mexican dub, WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck is renamed as ''Pato Lucas'' (Lucas the Duck). ''Lucas'', besides being a common Spanish name, is also a Mexican slang for ''crazy'' or ''insane'', quite fitting, due of his personality.
** On the other hand, in the Japanese dub, while keeping his original English name, his catchphrase becomes お前って、サイテー[[note]]Omaette, Saitee[[/note]] (Roughly translated as ''You're the Worst'').
** In the Mexican dub, Tweety Bird becomes ''Piolin'', which is diminutive form of ''Pio'', the Spanish onomatopeia for ''Tweet''. His catchphrase "I tawt I taw a puddy tat!" becomes "''Me pareció ver a un lindo gatito''" ("I think I saw a cute little kitty").
** In a similar way, in the Japanese dub, his catchphrase becomes 見た、見た、ネコたん![[note]]Mita, Mita, Neko-tan![[/note]] or in older dubs, ネコたん、見たでしゅ[[note]]Neko-tan, Mitadeshu, a very slurred way to pronounce ''Mitadeshou''.[[/note]] (Translated as ''Look, Look, a Kitty!'' or in older dubs ''I Shaw a Kitty!'' in a slurred way.)
** In the Italian dub, Sylvester's ''Sufferin' Saccotash!'' becomes ''Sinfonia di Sogliole Siamesi!'' (''Symphony of Siamese Soles!'')
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBigKnights'' was released on German TV as ''Die Retter-Ritter'' ("The Rescuer Knights").
* In Spanish, [[WesternAnimation/WackyRaces Dick]] [[WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines Dastardly]] is given a heavy French accent and is known as "Pierre Nodoyuna," the last name translating as "I always lose."
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'' episode ''To Bowl or Not to Bowl'', one of the gags involves Daffy tying to give nicknames to his bowling partners, his own being "Poobah the Grand", of which only the "Poo" part appears on screen. The Hungarian version changed it to "Po the WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda", which of course isn't a perfect solution ("Po" wouldn't give you "Poo"), but it is a successful ActorAllusion, as Daffy (at least in this show) and Po are voiced by the same actor.
* The characters in ''WesternAnimation/TheAnimalsOfFarthingWood'' mostly kept their names in the Swedish dub, being named after their own species, which works the same in both English and Swedish. However, Scarface's name was changed into "En-Öga/One-Eye" because his original name translates to "Ärransikte".
* The Japanese dub of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' did a small change in Brain's CatchPhrase: ''Rat? I'm A MOUSE!'': In Japanese, the phrase was changed to ねすみ？俺はマウスだ！[[note]]Nezumi? Ore wa MOUSE da![[/note]] The ''Mouse'' part was [[GratuitousEnglish left as it in English]] rather than using ''nezumi'' because in Japanese, both mice and rats are named ''nezumi'' for both species, rather than having a specific word for ''rat''.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
** In the Japanese dub, Mabel's pet pig Waddles is named Yottan, a combination of ''yororo'' (the onomatopoeia for waddling) and the diminutive suffix "-tan".
** Both the Latin American and Brazilian dubs manage to preserve Candy's joke about giving the members of Sev'ral Timez "several kisses" in "Boyz Crazy".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheWackyWorldOfTexAvery'': In the German dub, "Sagebrush Sid" was called "Sägeblatt Sid" ("Sawblade Sid"). [[BlindIdiotTranslation Sage/Säge?]] You might easily think this, until you learn that sagebrush indeed has leaves that resemble a saw. (And it keeps true to his villainous character, anyway.)

* The Japanese dub of ''WesternAnimation/MagicAdventuresOfMumfie'' has a lot of these:
** Anytime Mumfie hums or whistles, "The Beginning of Things" is the song he will be whistling.
** Eel [[RhymesOnADime rhymes most of her sentences]], especially during her first appearance.
** The Japanese dub calls "what-iffers" "moshinara", or "if-ifs".
** In "The Chase Is On", Mumfie, instead of "I've got it!", [[GratuitousEnglish yells "Nice catch!" in English, and Davy Jones yells "Ready...escape!" in English a few seconds later]].
* The Brazilian dub of ''WesternAnimation/HiHiPuffyAmiYumi'' replaced Kaz's line "These aren't masterpieces! They're messed-up pieces!" for "Essas não são obras-primas! São obras-tias!" ("obra-prima" means "masterpiece" while "prima" means "female cousin" and "tia" means "aunt").
* ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck''
** His CatchPhrase "Let's get dangerous" became "Let's risk the feathers" ("lad os så vove fjerene") in the Danish dub. [[HoldYourHippogriffs This derives from]] "risking the fur" ("vove pelsen") which is a common Danish euphemism for undertaking a dangerous endeavour.
** The dubbing of ''Darkwing Duck'' for Latin America kept more or less the same English names, but one of the more interesting exceptions was changing Quakerjack's name for "Cuackguasón" Quack[[ComicBook/TheJoker Joker]].
* ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'' is known in Latin American countries by the PunBasedTitle ''Escandalosos'', a portmanteau of the Spanish words "escandaloso" (scandalous, outrageous) and "osos" (bears). It's a fitting title for a show about three [[NoSocialSkills socially awkward]] [[BearyFunny talking bears]].

* The Venezuelan dubbing team that dubbed ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' for Latin America choose to keep the already famous Mexican variation of the characters names made popular by the 60s TV series as, for example; Bruce Wayne = Bruno Diaz, Dick Grayson = Ricardo Tapia, Catwoman = Gatúbela, The Joker = El Guasón, Batgirl = Batichica, and Gotham = Ciudad Gótica (they kept James Gordon, thankfully, and not Comisionado Fierro). Also, the names of the Bat-artifacts with the made-up “Bati” prefix were also used, as in Batmobile = Batimóvil and Batcave = Baticueva. This tradition was kept even with the successor series like ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''.
** Of course, ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' and all Creator/HannaBarbera shows featuring Batman used the Mexican names.
** In the Arabic dub lyrics were added to the intro.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'''s Spanish dubs have used some clever names for the characters:
** Scrooge [=McDuck=] is Rico [=McPato=] ("Rich [=McDuck=]") in Latin America and Gil Pato in Spain.
** Huey, Dewey and Louie are Hugo, Paco y Luis in Latin America and Juanito, Jorgito y Jaimito in Spain.
** Duckworth is Bautista in Latin America and Patista in Spain.
** Launchpad [=McQuack=] is Joe [=McQuack=] in Latin America and Juancho [=McQuack=] in Spain.
** Gyro Gearloose is Ciro Peraloca/Giro Sintornillo in Latin America and Ungenio Tarconi in Spain.
** Gizmoduck is Pato Aparato (lit. Gadget-Duck) in Latin America and Robo-Pato (Robo-Duck) in Spain.
** Gladstone Gander is Pánfilo Ganso/Glad Consuerte in Latin America and Narciso Bello in Spain.
** Flintheart Glomgold is Flint [=MacNate=][[note]]This is a wordplay, as the word "magnate" means "tycoon"[[/note]] in Latin America and Isidoro Dorado in Spain.
** The Beagle Boys are Los Chicos Malos ("The Bad Guys") in Latin America and Los Golfos Apandadores ("The Crusher Bums") in Spain.
* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': In Brazil, "Eduardo" is the equivalent to "Edward", so Ed, Edd N' Eddy had their names changed to Du, Dudu & Edu, diminutives for Eduardo.
** Also in Brazil, Ed has catchphrases he doesn't have in the original; "cute", "it didn't even hurt", and instead of liking buttered toast and gravy, he likes chicken with okra. His like of gravy is only mentioned when it is unavoidable (such as his gravy bathtub), and the word "gravy" is replaced with just "molho" (sauce) as "molho de carne" (meat sauce) is too long.
** In the Brazilian dub, Eddy disguising himself as Carl from Ecuador was replaced with him disguising as Junin from Salvador, a city in the Brazilian northeast. He speaks with a Salvador accent.
* The end of ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouse Playhouse'' has the hero saying to us "See you next week, boys and girls... same time, same station. Goodbye!" According to an apocryphal claim, the Spanish dub changed it to "That's all, friends, and don't forget your vitamins and minerals!"
* In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', Italian sorceress Magica De Spell was voiced, for some reason, with an Eastern European accent. The Italian dub, remembering she lives near Naples, had her voiced with a heavy Neapolitan accent-and did the same with [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017 the reboot]], in the former case improving the hilarity due to Neapolitan being synonymous with hilarity, cunning and [[LargeHam extreme hamminess]] even for [[WorldOfHam Italy]], and in the latter making Magica's viler incarnation more unsettling because a [[VocalDissonance Neapolitan accent just isn't supposed to come out from the mouth of such a psycho]].
* In the Japanese dub of ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'', the Kitten Catastrophe Crew are called the Nyan Patrol.
* ''WesternAnimation/MissBG'' is a dub of a French cartoon called ''Bravo Gudule'', based on a series of children's books called ''Gudule''. To reflect the initials of the original version, the protagonist was named ''Miss BG", with BG standing for "big girl", reflecting her personality as a TeamMom.
* ''WesternAnimation/KiddVideo'''s Italian dub renames among other things the Flipside to Mondo Rock ("Rock World", as in the music genre) and the BigBad Master Blaster becomes "Mister Bruttoceffo" (something like "Mr. Uglymug" or "Mr. Nastyguy") to preserve his initials. Not every change worked though: for example the Copycats were translated literally as "Copiagatti", which doesn't really mean anything.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'''s Latin Spanish language is one of the show's most popular dubs, mostly out of courtesy of Óscar Flores (voice of Numbuh 1), who fills the character's dialougue with non-sequiturs and random pop culture references, such as Mexican singer Luís Miguel (possibly a joke to the fact that Miguel is Numbuh 1's dub name), all the while keeping up with his serious and authoritative voice tone. The rest of Sector V also have their highlights in the dub as well.
* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'':
** In Norway, the show is called Jet fra Bortom, which literally translates to Jet from Beyond. "Bortom" sounds almost exactly like "Bortron", the star system that Jet and his family are from. So they really are from beyond.
** Sunspot [[DubNameChange is renamed]] to Sputnik in the Finnish dub, as a ShoutOut to the first artificial Earth satellite.
*** Likewise, he's Ray (Лучик) in the Russian dub and the adorable Sun Bunny (Saules Zaķis) in the Latvian voiceover.
** In the Sinhala dub of "The Milky Way" song from "A Visit to the Planetarium", Jet sings a solfège (do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do) at the end instead of "Good evening friends!" like in the original English. This not only makes the song work better in Sinhala, but also highlights Jet's quirky nature.
*** In their dub of "My Three Suns", they made Face's comedian persona be named Joker Face, as a clever pun on 'poker face'.
** In the Hungarian dub, whereas other characters keep their names in English and with English name order (surname last), Jet and his family’s names use Hungarian name order (surname first) along with having a translated last name. This is likely to indicate that they are alien.
** In the Polish dub, Carrot and Celery have regular human names (Karol and Celina, respectively), because Polish is a gendered language and the words for the vegetables are the opposite gender from the characters Carrot and Celery.
** In the Russian dub, the "a kid's place is exploring space" TagLine becomes "Best friends; the cosmos, the world and me", which is not only adorable, but reflects the themes of the whole series.
** The Uzbek dub changes the components of a three-part Bortronian meal from a hoagie, Figinnuz, and exploding shake to "Bortron burger, potato fries, and an exploding sherbet".

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'':
** The Mexican dub had the title translated as ''Los Reyes de la Colina'' ("The Kings of the Hill"), changing the family's name to Reyes, a real Hispanic name, while still preserving the pun on the phrase "king of the hill." For example, Hank Hill's name was changed to Hector Reyes.
** The Hungarian dub attempted this, though how successful it was is questionable. Essentially, they rewrote every line of dialog to sound more "realistic" -- by [[ObligatorySwearing packing them chock full of swear words]], especially Boomhauer's speeches. This is a common tactic, and the dubs of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' and ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' also made use of it, but unlike those, ''King of the Hill'' had morning and afternoon timeslots, when children could watch it. Another unique change they made was giving Hank a ''very'' gruff redneck voice. Beginning from season 7, the dub became a straight translation of the original, abandoning the profanities.
** Quebec’s french dub was adapted to the local culture, right down to the Joual, which is Quebec’s slang. King of the Hill became Henri pis sa gang (Henry and his gang), Peggy became Paulette, Dale Gribble decame Dan Grenier, Bill became Boule (Pudgy), Boomhauer was Papineau, John Red Corn was John Sept Grains (A reference to Anacin, which was once presented as a “seven grains analgesic” in the French-Canadian ads) and the town of Arlen became Sainte-Irène, since most villages and small towns in Quebec are named after saints. When the episodes are specifically themed around the fact that they are texans, or when Mexico is just an hour’s drive away, no explanation is given, the Quebec setting is simply ignored.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' series sometimes translate the {{meaningful name}}s of the characters along with the dialogue, because not doing so made more of a mess than usual. For example, Starscream sometimes becomes Gwiazdowrzask (literally "Starscream") in the Polish dub. Accurate. But not exactly snappy.
** In the German translation of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', the garbage-loving Wreck-Gar's name is Wreck-sauger. It's a play on the German word "staubsauger", which means "vacuum cleaner".
** In the Hungarian dub of the live-action film, Starscream became Üstökös ("Comet").
*** Though he has had a number of other names in different series. In ''Armada'', he is called Csillagsikoly (Starscream, literally), sometimes abbreviated to Csillag (Star); and his ''Energon'' (re-)incarnation was christened Surranó (Sneaker, which is what he does at his first appearance). Both dubs of the '86 movie refer to him as Starscream, however the delivery at times makes it sound like "Szarszkrém" (Shitscream).
** According to the Transformers Wiki the otherwise atrocious G1 English dub by Omni Productions (a Hong Kong-based company) renamed Blurr, a transformer known for his superspeed movement and speech, to "[[ComicBook/TheFlash Wally]]". No, really.

** All of the central cast has name changes. Anne is named Anna (a common Romanian girl name), Sprig is named Broschi (a Romanian pun on "frog" and "jump"), Polly is named Paula (same reason as Anne), and Hop Pop is named Mos Hop (Mos meaning forefather, or ancestor, which makes his name rather literal in relation to his grand-kids).
** Several line changes are made throughout some episodes to keep character lip sync relatively intact while working around language differences. For example, Hop Pop saying "I don't feel safe." in Anne Theft Auto is changed to "Mă cam sperie." which means "She kind of scares me." instead. A literal translation of the English line to Romanian would be
"Nu mă simt în siguranță." and would be too long.

* In Spanish, [[WesternAnimation/WackyRaces Dick]] [[WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines Dastardly]] is known as "Pierre Nodoyuna," the last name translating as "I always lose."

* ''[[ComicBook/MonicasGang Monica and Friends]]'': Jimmy Five's SpeechImpediment is slightly changed in the Japanese dub of the animated series. Having him [[ElmuhFuddSyndwome mispronounce his “R”s]] doesn’t really translate well to Japanese, (many Japanese speakers [[JapaneseRanguage swap “R” with “L” on the regular]]), so he instead swaps "s" for "sh" abd "tsu" for "chu".

** The Italian dub features some changes to side characters, most prominently with Chief Wiggum and Groundskeeper Willie. The former is renamed Commissario Winchester (Chief Winchester) as a parallel to the now-defunct weapon manufacturer of the same name, and is given a thick Neapolitan accent to go along with his bumbling, hilarious attitude. The latter instead is given a Sardinian accent and has his place of origin changed from Scotland to Sardinia; this makes a lot of sense considering Sardinia can be considered Italy's own Scotland, being a place with very distinct culture and customs compared to the rest of the country.

* ''[[ComicBook/MonicasGang Monica and Friends]]'': Jimmy Five’s speech impediment is slightly changed in the Japanese dub of the animated series. Having him mispronounce his “R”s doesn’t really translate well to Japanese, (many Japanese speakers swap “R” with “L” on the regular), so he instead slurs his “S”s at times (i.e. he would sometimes pronounce “Kasukon” as “Kashukon”).

** The title in the German dub, ''Spongebob Schwammkopf'' in general, which is a pun on "Schwamm" (Sponge) and "Schwachkopf" (Idiot).

* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': In Norway, the show is called Jet fra Bortom, which literally translates to Jet from Beyond. "Bortom" sounds almost exactly like "Bortron", the star system that Jet and his family are from. So they really are from beyond.

** In the arabic dub for the smurfs, Gargamel's name was changed to Sharshabil and Azazel's name to Halhool (sometimes Harhoor). Further shows and movies keep this change even in subtitles, though Azazel's name is sometimes left unchanged.

** In the arabic dub lyrics were added to the intro.

** The Italian dub features some changes to side characters, most prominently with Chief Wiggum and Groundskeeper Willie. The former is renamed Commissario Winchester (Chief Winchester) and is given a thick Neapolitan accent to go along with his bumbling, hilarious attitude. The latter instead is given a Sardinian accent and has his place of origin changed from Scotland to Sardinia; this makes a lot of sense considering Sardinia can be considered Italy's own Scotland, being a place with very distinct culture and customs compared to the rest of the country.

** The Hungarian dub attempted this, though how successful it was is questionable. Essentially, they rewrote every line of dialog to sound more "realistic" -- by [[ObligatorySwearing packing them chock full of swear words]], especially Boomhauer's speeches. This is a common tactic, and the dubs of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' and ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' also made use of it (more like abused it), but unlike those, ''King of the Hill'' had morning and afternoon timeslots, when children could watch it. Another unique change they made was giving Hank a ''very'' gruff redneck voice. Beginning from season 7, the dub became a straight translation of the original, abandoning the profanities.

*** Played with on occasion. In one recent episode, Homer ended up in Canada by accident. This wasn't changed in the Quebec dub, but the roles of an English and a French Canadian were reversed in one scene, with French being the language that Homer understood rather than English.

* Creator/GuilhermeBriggs is a famous Brazilian dubber. Most of the fame comes from the exceptional voices he makes for incredibly different characters (he dubs Superman from the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' and Cosmo from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'', as well as Creator/JimCarrey in his movies), but few know that Briggs also largely improvises on his more comedic personas with jokes easily understood by Brazilians. In fact, many consider his version of most of these characters to be superior to the originals. For instance, he dubbed Hank for the ''WesternAnimation/{{Sealab 2021}}'', managing to make this above average cartoon into comedy gold singlehanded.
** Briggs was the dubbing director, too, so, it helped ''a lot''. His work on Mewtwo in ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'' made a cute Pokemon clone that happened to be wicked into a wicked clone monster that happened to be a cute Pokemon. And it was adapted from the 4Kids version.
** Nowadays, Briggs could very well be considered the EnsembleDarkHorse of voice acting in Brazil. Almost every work he had a hand in, and definetely every single one where he was the director, were very acclaimed in Brazil.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'''s Latin Spanish language is one of the show's most popular dubs, mostly out of courtesy of Óscar Flores (voice of Numbuh 1), who fills the character's dialougue with non-sequiturs and random pop culture references, such as Mexican singer Luís Miguel (possibly a joke to the fact that Miguel is Numbuh 1's dub name), all the while keeping up with his serious and autoritarian voice tone. The rest of Sector V also have their highlights in the dub as well.

'''Squidward:''' Because they can't say, "Arrrr!"[[note]]Original punchline: It was rated "Arrrr!"[[/note]]

-->'''Squidward''': Why don't [[AcceptableTargets the Chinese]] like pirate movies?[[note]]Original joke: Why couldn't the 11-year old get into the pirate movie?[[/note]]
-->'''Mr. Krabs''': Why?
-->'''Squidward''': Because they can't say, "Arrrr!"[[note]]Original punchline: It was rated "Arrrr!"[[/note]]
** Squidward's name is a humorous portmanteau of "squid" and "Edward", which is somewhat tricky to translate into other languages. Some of the international translations don't even bother to preserve the wordplay, which is why Squidward is called "Carlo" in French and "Thaddäus" in German. But the Latin American Spanish translation cleverly renames him "Calamardo", a portmanteau of ''"calamar"'' ("squid") and "Eduardo". Similarly: his name in the Japanese translation is "Ikarudo", a portmanteau of ''"ika"'' ("squid") and the Japanese pronunciation of "Edward" ("Eh-da-wa-ru-do"); as a bonus, it also rhymes with the Japanese pronunciation of "Ricardo" ("Ri-ka-ru-do")

* The Brazilian dub of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' tends to go to [[LostInTranslation the other side of the scale]], since it was made in an amateur studio with amateur actors. Nevertheless, one entire-episoded joke got a surprisingly creative treatment in the episode "Jared has Aides". Since the portuguese word for "aides" ("ajudante" or "assistente") doesn't sound at all like "AIDS" (or "SIDA"), the joke got a slight remake - Jared keeps telling everyone that he has "H&V". Which sounds exactly the same as "HIV", but he says that "H&V" stand for "Hagamenon and Vito", his aides ([[DubNameChange originally called Tyler and Scott]]). Sure, there were still some issues with grammar (especially verbal conjugation) due to the change, but still managed to get the joke across competently.

** The European Spanish version renames Tyler and Scott to Elviro and Positivo to sound like "El viro positivo" ("The positive virus"), while the Latin American dub calls them Victor and Hector ("V&H").

** The mill scene in "Homer's Phobia" is specially cherished in Spain for its meme-inducing status. The more vulgar "Hot stuff coming through!" was replaced with "Give me passss! I'm burning hoooot!", and the exchange "You are all sick!" / "Oh, be nice!" was rendered as "You are all crazy!" / "''You'' are crazy, you bald girl!", playing with the fact that some Spanish gays (not transgender people) refer to each other with feminine pronouns. In addition, Roscoe switches to an effeminate voice when he says "We play hard", after speaking with an exaggerated macho voice in the rest of the scene.