* ''Creator/{{MTV}} WesternAnimation/LiquidTelevision'''s original title ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux'' in the animated shorts, did not originally refer to the show's main character of the female assassin; but rather, the title described the series-concept "eons in flux" as explained by creator Peter Chung. The character later acquired the name "Aeon Flux," when the cartoon became a regular series of its own with spoken parts, thus requiring that the individual characters have names.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', as people may assume the Boondocks is the name of the protagonist family, they’re actually known as the Freemans. The word “boondocks” is an American expression from the Tagalog (Filipino) word bundók ("mountain"). It originally referred to a remote rural area, but now, is often applied to an out-of-the-way area considered backward and unsophisticated by city-folk. In other words, the Boondocks is the name of the hood setting of the show.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** The show title refers only to the Simpson family, not to every character in the show as if "Simpson" was the name of some sort of race the characters are. Characters like Ned Flanders, Moe and Mr. Burns are not "Simpsons" and therefore saying something like "my favorite ''Simpson'' is Ralph Wiggum" is an inaccurate statement.
** The show itself has also spoofed this trope. When Homer tries to entice Creator/MelGibson to a certain course of action: "Would ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' run away? Would ''Film/{{Payback}}'' run away?" In another episode, it is also mentioned that Homer [[TheDitz writes fan letters not to the movie creators but the movies themselves]]: "Dear Film/DieHard. You rock. Especially when that guy was on the roof. P.S: Do you know Film/MadMax?"
*** Spoofed again at the end of the Simpsons/Family Guy crossover episode: after their fight, Peter and Homer reconcile somewhat and Peter says: "You see, I'm a family guy...". Then Homer says: "I understand, I'm a The Simpsons."
** Also, during a montage of watching movies on stolen cable, Bart says the following: "This is where Film/{{Jaws}} eats the boat! This is where Film/DieHard jumps out the window! This is where Film/WallStreet gets arrested!"
** "Jump, Film/FreeWilly! Jump! Jump with all your might!"
** "Thank you, Blood and Tears! We were sorry to hear about Sweat..."
** Ralph Wiggum once said "I'm a Franchise/StarWars!" while dressed up as Leia (probably justified since Ralph is a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}). Marge says the same thing in a different episode while wearing a Darth Vader mask made out of a paper plate.
** Homer seems to always have had difficulty distinguishing between movie characters and movie titles. In high school, he tried to get elected student council president with a campaign poster where the headline read "Film/{{Jaws}} and Franchise/StarWars agrees..."
** Marge makes a similar mistake, referring to the main character of ''Film/{{Showgirls}}'' as Showgirl.
** In the "Treehouse of Horror X" story "Life's a Glitch, Then You Die", Homer tries to pretend he's a celebrity, specifically the pianist from the movie ''Shine''. When asked what his name is, he answers "Uh, Shiny [=McShine=]?".
** In one episode, Homer said "There was this guy that got killed and I think it was in Miami, so CSI Miami [[RougeAnglesOfSatin investigateded]] it. Then some family said how much they love The Olive Garden. Then I fell asleep. When I woke up, Letterman was talking to Alias".
** In one episode, Homer said "Once upon a time, there was a hilarious ogre named [[WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird Shrek 3]]."
* ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'':
** The main character uses the alias "ComicBook/{{Static}}." ''Just'' "Static." The word "Shock" is only found in the series title, and his occasional CatchPhrase ("I'm ''Static'', I put a ''shock'' to your system"). Even a villain, Shiv, once says, "Take that, Super Shocker, or... whatever-your-name-is!" It doesn't help that in the theme song, he is explicitly called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMFR-cK3FSo Static Shock]]. The misconception is widespread enough that when he started showing up in comics again as a member of the Comicbook/TeenTitans, the writers would erroneously refer to him as "Static Shock" at various points. It infuenced his Brazilian DubNameChange, in which he was called Superchoque (''Supershock'').
** The episode titled "Flashback" introduces a time travelling Bang Baby who adopts the moniker Timezone. it's common to find her incorrectly referred to online as Flashback.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Inhumanoids}}'' was named for its villains, rather than the heroes.
* Several ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episodes have InUniverse examples:
** Peter is at a hospital and wonders if Series/{{Scrubs}} works there, as he wants to meet him, and also "Black Scrubs."
** Peter calls the shark from ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' "Jaws".
** Carter Pewterschmidt also seems to be under the impression that ''Series/{{Medium}}'''s protagonist is named Medium.
** Out of universe example: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7eRLHfGmJs One Teletoon Detour promo]] referred to Peter as "Family Guy" to fit with the rhyming scheme.
* InUniverse example on ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. Cartman mistakenly refers to Peter Griffin as "Family Guy".
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' refers to all of the main characters on the series, as heard in the theme song (a take-off on "WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes") and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwgAWwwo1_M this]] promo from Creator/TheHub starring Pinky and the Brain. The Warner siblings, as the de facto main characters, are the ones frequently associated with the term, and are thus called "the Animaniacs" in much of the print merchandise and even some Creator/KidsWB spots, as does ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies''.
** In an infamous example, an episode of ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' had one question where the "correct" answer was "Who are the Animaniacs?" and one contestant was counted wrong when he answered "Who are the Warner Brothers and the Warner Sister?"; during a commercial break the judges realized ''they'' were in the wrong and awarded the contestant the money he should have gotten in the first place.
** The kid that always talks about Randy Beaman is not Randy Beaman. His name is Colin.
* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoe'' is not the name of any one character, but the name of their organization. The subtitle "A Real American Hero" doesn't help much either, as it implies "A" and "Hero" as in "Singular" instead of "Heroes".
** And that's not at all helped by the fact that in the ''original'' 1960s G.I. Joe toy line, he ''was'' just one guy. And in the 1970s reboot, he was the leader of the G.I. Joe team.
** There ''was'' a character called "G.I. Joe" in the ''Real American Hero'' continuity: General Joseph Colton, the "original G.I. Joe" who had been given that codename in the 1960s when appointed by UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy to create what would later become the G.I. Joe ''team'' that we all know. However, Colton was a relatively minor character in the comics and didn't appear in the cartoon at all, so not many casual fans know about him. He does appear in ''Film/GIJoeRetaliation'', where he is a major character.
** Some of the commercials for G. I. Joe toys used the phrase 'Real American Heroes' -and then the show would come back on with 'A Real American Hero.'
* The surname of ''WesternAnimation/TheBerenstainBears'' isn't "Berenstain" it's "Bear". Berenstain is the surname of the series' creators.
** In the Berenstain Bears' Breakfast Oatmeal episode of ''WesternAnimation/SproutDiner'', Bean refers to the Bear family as the "Berenstain family."
* The heroes of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' are International Rescue. The Thunderbirds are their five (eventually six) primary vehicles. The trope, however, was carried into ''Thunderbirds 2086'' and the live-action adaptation, where the heroes were indeed referred to as "The Thunderbirds".
* InUniverse on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''--when Fry has to write an episode of ''Single Female Lawyer'' to [[ItMakesSenseInContext appease invading aliens]] he has characters refer to protagonist [[Series/AllyMcBeal Jenny McNeal]] as if "Single Female Lawyer" was her actual name.
* From a commercial that aired on Creator/AdultSwim:
-->InAWorld of sex and spaceships, only one man has the [[UnusualEuphemism onions]]! His name... is Futurama!
* In ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie'', Willie is the name of the steamboat, not an old name for WesternAnimation/{{Mickey|Mouse}} or WesternAnimation/{{Pete}}.
** The title was also meant to be a play on the [[ParodyDisplacement then-popular]] Creator/BusterKeaton film ''Steamboat Bill Jr.''
* Similar to the Static Shock example, ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' is not the name of the future Batman. He's still just called Batman.
** Though later, in ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'', they finally did a TitleDrop to reveal the project that ended up creating Terry was "Project Batman Beyond". The Batman himself is still never called this, though.
** Averted by the overseas renaming as "Batman of the Future". Lame name, but accurate.
** The Justice League that appears in ''Batman Beyond'' is called the Justice League Unlimited, while they're just called the Justice League in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited''.
* Parodied by ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' when they commented on Hole's "Violet" video. They repeatedly referred to Music/CourtneyLove as "this Hole chick" because they thought that was her name.
** The same gag happened on their commentary for "This Love" by Music/{{Pantera}} (probably referring to Phil Anselmo). Butthead wonders if Pantera's dad "kicked his ass when he was a kid" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2khPKg1idaI and it goes on like that for the rest of the skit]].
-->"Dammit, Pantera! This beer is warm! Get me another one."
* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' features an in-universe version in "O.T.: The Outside Toilet", where it turns out that for years, Teddy has apparently assumed that Bob's last name is "Burgers", not Belcher.
* On an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhostCoastToCoast'', Space Ghost and guest Creator/DenisLeary have the following exchange:
-->'''Leary:''' And I'm Denis Leary, master of the universe.\\
'''Space Ghost:''' Master? I know one or two guys who might disagree with you...master!\\
'''Leary:''' Like who?\\
'''Space Ghost:''' Yoda.\\
'''Leary:''' Okay, who else...?\\
'''Space Ghost:''' [pause] Franchise/StarWars.
* ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' is the series. The guy is just Rex. Though in one episode when trying to think up a theme song for himself he refers to himself as "Gen Rex."
** Incidentally, the song itself is a ShoutOut/parody of AlternateUniverse series ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'''s theme song.
* Many people think that Creator/ManOfActionStudios is the pseudonym for a single person. It's the name used by a quartet of comic book writers (Duncan Rouleau, Creator/JoeCasey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle) when collaborating on animated projects such as ''Franchise/Ben10''.
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', vampires are vampires, but all black vampires are Film/{{Blacula}}s.
** Jefferson Twilight somewhat justifies it by saying he doesn't know the politically correct term for a black vampire ("Africa-American vampires" doesn't work because sometimes they're British).
* Generally {{averted|Trope}} in ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}''. "Transformer" is generally accepted as the species name for the Autobots and Decepticons (at least when the two factions aren't considered a race in and of themselves). Some incarnations, however, prefer to use the term "Cybertronian", referring to the robots being from the planet Cybertron. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''.
--> '''Sari:''' ''"What are you?"''
--> '''Bumblebee:''' ''"Well, I'm an Autobot. Actually, I'm a Cybertronian."''
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In regions where the first installment of the series isn't called ''Avatar: The Legend of Aang'', there are those who call Aang "Avatar", as if that is his given name, or Avatar Aang (which, while his official title, is used very little in the show).
* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' do not refer to the characters, just to the no-continuity cartoons themselves.
** Furthermore, ''Merrie Melodies'' was a separate cartoon series that used the same characters as ''Looney Tunes'' but was focused on music (hence the name), but most people refer to any cartoon starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig et al. as a "Looney Tunes" short. To be fair, though, ''Merrie Melodies'' would [[ArtifactTitle shift away from the music focus]] over time and eventually become [[DistinctionWithoutADifference indistinguishable]] from the ''Looney Tunes'' shorts aside from the different names and the opening and ending titles.
---> '''Creator/FrizFreleng:''' "I never knew if a film I was making would be ''Looney Tunes'' or ''Merrie Melodies'', and what the hell difference would it make, anyway?"
** ''Film/SpaceJam'' and ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy'' are exceptions, where the characters are referred to as Looney Tunes. This relates to the fact that they are AnimatedActors who are aware that they star in ''Looney Tunes'' cartoons. However, in ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'', they are not referred to as Looney Tunes even though they are Animated Actors.
** ''Taz-Mania'' isn't the name of the Tasmanian Devil, it's just Taz.
** The first WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird cartoon ever to pair the two characters together was called [[PunBasedTitle "Tweety Pie"]] and therefore a lot of people call the character "Tweety Pie" instead of "Tweety Bird" (or just "Tweety").
* The main character of ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' is simply Zim. While he gives himself the title of "Invader", he isn't really one. At the very least, the title was revoked after he screwed up on the first invasion attempt.
* One website referred to [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Scrooge [=McDuck=]]] as "''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales|1987}}.''" There are also some who refer the main cast of characters as ''[=DuckTales=]. It's not the name of the squad, it's the name of the show [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin that tells tales about ducks]].
* A lot of people who aren't super-familiar with ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' call Orel "Moral." The name of the town is Moralton, and the early episodes (at least) are about Orel learning morals. Creator Dino Stamatopoulos says this is one of his pet peeves, saying "You don't call [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS Dennis 'Menace']]."
* Given that they don't really ''have'' an official group name, the Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles fit this. They're usually just known as "the turtles" or "the ninja turtles". The 1987 cartoon is a notable exception, as they are called by the name several times, most notably Splinter in the pilot as he finishes explaining their backstory.
* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' had a skit where a woman reveals to her parents that she is dating Frankenstein's monster, referred to as "Frank/Frankie", and her father constantly thinks he's a monster trying to attack them. By the end, the daughter gets married to him, and the mother tells the father "I'm so proud of you finally coming to terms with our daughter marrying Frankenstein", and the father gets mad, saying "Franken-STEIN? He's Jewish?", and shooting at their car. Granted, this could count as RuleOfFunny, but it's still an example nonetheless.
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': The heroine just goes by Ladybug. Miraculous isn't her civilian name; that would be Marinette. Miraculous refers to the jewels that a Miraculous Holder uses to transform with their Kwami. The only time the phrase is used is when Marinette uses Lucky Charm to purify an enemy as she gives a TitleDrop. This might be why some regions instead call the show ''Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir''.
* "Frightmare" is only the title of a third season episode of ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', not the name of its villain. The episode's villain is named Nocturne.
* "Time for Timer" was a series of {{public service announcement}}s aired on Saturday mornings on ABC during the 1970s and 1980s. The character Timer is often erroneously referred to as "Timer the Cheese Guy", most notably by ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' and ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', due to the famous "I Hanker for a Hunk of Cheese" segment. The ''Robot Chicken'' sketch even states that Timer is made of cheese, as he complains in court that Chester Cheetah of Cheetos "hankered for a hunk of [his] ass!" In truth, Timer represents the sense of "time" in a human being (one's internal body clock that people with sleep issues often talk about). He's from an ABC Series/AfterschoolSpecial called "The Incredible, Indelible, Magical Physical, Mystery Trip", but the [=PSAs=] ran long enough for an entire younger generation of kids to come along who hadn't seen the original special and only knew him from the announcements.
* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'': Every now and then, you'll see people -- usually those who haven't seen it in a while -- refer to the main characters as "the Scooby Gang" or "the Mystery Gang". They're actually called "Mystery Incorporated". This misconception extends to works like the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' crossover, where the Winchesters refer to them as the Scooby Gang.
** Some people refer to Mystery Incorporated as the "Mystery Machine", which is the name of the van the characters roam around in (an understandable mistake since the van's name is printed on its side, making it look like a company logo of sorts).
* ''WesternAnimation/SquirrelBoy'': Some misremember Rodney's name as Squirrel Boy.
* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' notably has VideoGame/KidIcarus, who's canonically known as Pit in his home series. This is actually intentional, being a mandate from Creator/{{Nintendo}} to help kids more easily find the game that's being promoted.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', in a weird [[IconicCharacterForgottenTitle inversion]], is mistakenly identified as [[ProtagonistTitle Lincoln Loud]] by some kids.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Some kids or adults who grew up watching the series refer to it as "Timmy Turner".
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': Terra's real name isn't "Terra", but many fans accidentally treat it as such. It's merely her superhero alias, though her real name is the phonetically-similar "Tara Makarov". To be fair, her real name (just like nearly every other character's) is [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname never stated in the show]].
* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'':
** The team of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' is not called Young Justice. In fact, the secret covert-ops group doesn't have a name at all, and is called simply "The Team." The confusion stems from the fact that there ''was'' a team in the comics called "Young Justice," and Superboy was a member, along with Robin III, Kid Flash II, and an archer chick with who is kinda-sorta but not really connected to ComicBook/GreenArrow. But it's a case of similar names; the cartoon isn't an adaptation of the comic.
** Carrying over into the revived series, ''WesternAnimation/YoungJusticeOutsiders''- technically, there ''is'' a team called the Outsiders, but it is ''not'' the Nightwing-Halo-Geoforce-Forager ensemble, nor is it Batman's squad of Metamorpho and Katana. It's the team Beast Boy founds about two-thirds of the way through the season, though the title is actually referring to how all three teams are "outsiders" in the sense of operating outside Justice League auspices, rather than that group specifically.
* ''WesternAnimation/AngelinaBallerina'': The titular character's real name is "Angelina ''Mouseling''", though many parents and non-fans refer to her as "Angelina Ballerina". The sequel series ''The Next Steps'' gets this wrong too, with ''the titular character'' calling herself "Angelina Ballerina" in the introduction to every episode. That said, though, in the episode "Angelina's New School," the other characters do refer to her correctly as "Angelina Mouseling." Some of the books that began releasing in or around 2020 also have other characters refer to her this way, as well as the books themselves doing so in the narration.
* ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'': While many older viewers refer to her by the title of the show, which isn't wholly inaccurate seeing as some characters do give her the title "Explorer Dora", she actually does have a full name: Dora Marquez, though it's admittedly mentioned infrequently.
* ''WesternAnimation/RainbowBrite'': This is flip-flopped, as the titular character's real name is Wisp, but she took the nickname Rainbow Brite when she entered Rainbowland. As her real name was only referenced in the pilot, some parodies will insist that her name ''really is'' Rainbow Brite.
* The main protagonist of ''WesternAnimation/{{Wallykazam}}'' is Wally Trollman, not Wallykazam, which is his {{CharacterCatchphrase}}.
* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'': At no point is the train ever actually called the "Infinity Train". The title is only referencing the infinite possibilities it has.
* ''WesternAnimation/BigNate'': ''Nickelodeon itself'' refers to the main character as "Big Nate" in promotional materials, even though he is never called that InUniverse -- in fact, it wouldn't even make sense to do so, as the "big" comes from a childhood nickname the author called his big brother, while the character in question doesn't have a younger sibling.
* ''WesternAnimation/HigglytownHeroes'' aren’t the kids and Fran. The Higglytown Heroes refers to the various workers around the town.
* {{Parodied|Trope}} in the second episode of season 6 of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', where Summer is doing a ''Film/DieHard'' while not knowing much about the movie at all. She keeps referring to herself as "Die Hard" to the villain, seemingly believing that's the main character's name (until she reads a book explaining the plot).
* Many people refer to the main protagonist from ''WesternAnimation/TwelveOunceMouse'' as "12 oz Mouse". His name is actually Mouse Fitzgerald (or Fitz for short).
* Flip-flopped with ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst''. The titular character is referred to "Princess Sofia" in-universe, and "Sofia the First" is merely her royal title. This hasn't stopped non-fans from insisting her name ''really is'' "Sofia the First".
* The protagonist of ''WesternAnimation/RoliePolieOlie'' is Olie Polie. He never is referred to as Rolie Polie Olie.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/SolarOpposites''. The title of the show is simply a play on words with the concept of the alien family being stuck on Earth. However, beginning in season 2, Terry starts to refer themselves as such, usually to queue up the Catchphrase, “The Solar Opposites are Etc.” Later episodes even have them use “Opposites” as a surname.
* ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts'': The MadScientist from ''WesternAnimation/TheMadDoctor'' is named Dr. XXX, not the Mad Doctor. Later incarnations ''do'' refer to him as The Mad Doctor, in part because [[HaveAGayOldTime XXX has different connotations today]].
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