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Completely Different Title / French

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Completely Different French Titles, sometimes not in French. Works translated in French sometimes have a different title for European releases and for Quebec releases due to the differences in language (think British vs. American English).

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Akame ga Kill! was released in France with the English title Red Eyes Sword.
  • Tetsuwan Atom (which means "The Mighty Atom"), better known in the English language as Astro Boy, became Astro, le petit robot ("Astro the little robot") in French.
  • Barefoot Gen became Gen d'Hiroshima (Gen of Hiroshima).
  • The Bush Baby is Jackie dans la Savane.
  • In French, Captain Harlock is Albator, le Corsaire de l'Espace. He got a Dub Name Change to avoid the risk of confusion between Captain Harlock and Captain Haddock from Tintin.
  • Captain Tsubasa will forever be known in France as Olive et Tom, based on the dub name changes of Tsubasa Ozora (Olivier Atonnote ) and Genzo Wakabayashi (Thomas Price).
  • Cells at Work!:
    • Cells At Work is known in French as Les Brigades immunitaires (The Immune Brigades).
    • Downplayed with the spin-off Cells at Work! CODE BLACK, released as Les Brigades immunitaires BLACK as per the original Japanese title Cells at Work! BLACK.
  • The City Hunter anime's French dub is titled Nicky Larson after its renamed protagonist. The manga, which is a faithful translation, keeps the title.
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba was initially called Les Rôdeurs de la nuit ("The Night Prowlers") before Panini Manga discontinued the manga and then rereleased it under the English title.
  • The anime of Fist of the North Star downplays the trope; it is known as Ken le Survivant in France; while it's completely different from the original title Hokuto no Ken's translation ("Fist of the Big Dipper"), it does repurpose the original title's "Ken" into a Protagonist Title. The manga itself keeps the Japanese title.
  • Flame Of The Alpen Rose is called Julie et Stephane in French, because the French dub changed Jeudi's name to Julie and Lundi's name to Stephane.
  • Hello! Sandybell is called Sandy Jonquille in France. "Jonquille" means daffodil, and daffodils are Sandybell's Flower Motif throughout the show.
  • The French dub changed the title of Kiki's Delivery Service to Kiki: The Little Witch.
  • Lady!! is called Gwendoline in French, and the titular character's name is also changed from Lynn to Gwendoline.
  • The camping manga Laid-Back Camp became Au Grand Air ("In the Great Outdoors"). The anime keeps the Japanese Untranslated Title Yuru Camp.
  • Lucy-May of the Southern Rainbow became Karine, l'aventure du Nouveau Monde.
  • My Dress-Up Darling: The manga was retitled in French as Sexy Cosplay Doll (yes, in English), making both the parallels between Gojo's ambition to be a dollmaker and his gig as Marin's costumer, and the fanservice, explicit from the title. The anime keeps the English title My Dress-Up Darling.
  • Like in English, The Mysterious Cities of Gold is named Les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or, as opposed to Taiyo no Ko Esteban (Esteban, Child of the Sun). Sort of justified since it is a Franco-Japanese production.
  • Ryu the Cave Boy was known as "Nolan, the boy of the Caves" in France.
  • Okko's Inn was released in French as Okko et les fantômes (Okko and the ghosts).
  • Ouran High School Host Club became Ouran Host Club: Le lycée de la séduction (Ouran Host Club: The High School of Seduction)
  • The theatrical adaptation of Penguin Highway was released in French as Le mystère des penguins ("The Mystery of the Penguins").
  • Persia, the Magic Fairy is "Vanessa et la Magie des Rêves" (Vanessa and the magic of dreams).
  • Pompo: The Cinéphile was apparently retitled with the generic English phrase Coming Soon. Nevermind that "cinéphile" was originally a French word.
  • The tragic manga Saikano's French title was changed to Larme ultime ("Ultimate Tear") as a pun on the literal translation of the Japanese title - L'arme ultime ("The Ultimate Weapon"). The anime, on the other hand, kept the l'arme title.
  • Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro became Le Voyage de Kuro (Kuro's Journey).
  • The title of the manga Summer Time Rendering was changed to the simpler Time Shadows.
  • "Talentless Nana" was translated to simple "Talentless".
  • UFO Robo Grendizer and its titular Humongous Mecha famously became Goldorak (which means nothing in French either; it seems to be a very distorted version of "Gold Drake") and under that title became the first anime to become hugely popular in Europe. Most of the human characters also had their names changed after stars.
  • Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is usually translated as Record of Yokohama Shopping Trip. The French edition has the title Escale à Yokohama, which means Stopover in Yokohama.

    Asian Animation 

    Films — Animation 
  • There seems to be a trend in France when a movie is aimed for a younger audience to treat them as Viewers Are Morons and completely change any weird title to include the main protagonist's name at least or even expand to a "[character] the [profession/animal]" formula. Though this is probably based on some actual charts and studies, but it gives all these films an immediate childish image. And now when a movie tries to break the trend, it almost always ends up in a I Am Not Shazam situation. (ask a French person the name of the rat from Ratatouille and you'll see...) This trend includes:
    • The Emperor's New Groove → Kuzco, l'Empereur Mégalo ("Kuzco, the Megalomaniac Emperor") in European French. Averted with the Canadian French title Un empereur nouveau genre ("A New Kind of Emperor").
    • The Great Mouse Detective → Basil, Détective Privé ("Basil, Private Eye").
    • The Fox and the Hound → Rox et Rouky (the French names for Tod and Copper). Ironically, the original novel left those character names in English, and its title was the far more literal Le renard et le chien courant.
    • All Dogs Go to Heaven → Charlie, mon héros ("Charlie, My Hero"). Averted in Quebec with a literal translation.
    • Cats Don't Dance → Dany, le chat superstar ("Dany the Superstar Cat"). Averted in Quebec, again with a literal translation.
    • The Land Before Time → Le Petit Dinosaure ("The Little Dinosaur"). Surprisingly, Quebec plays it straighter with Petit-Pied, le dinosaure ("Littlefoot the Dinosaur").
    • An American Tail → Fievel et le Nouveau Monde (Fievel and the New World)
    • The Secret of NIMH → Brisby et le Secret de NIMH (Brisby and the Secret of NIMH)
    • The Nightmare Before Christmas → L'Étrange Noël de Mr. Jack (Mr. Jack's Strange Christmas)
    • The Rescuers → Les Aventures de Bernard et Bianca.
      • The Rescuers Down Under became known as Bernard et Bianca en Australie ("Bernard and Bianca in Australia") in Canadian French and Bernard et Bianca au pays des Kangourous ("Bernard and Bianca in the Land of Kangaroos") in European French.
  • The most recent Disney animated adaptations of old fairy tales gives them original titles such as Tangled and Frozen, but they keep their traditional titles in French (in this case Raiponce (Rapunzel's French name) and La Reine des Neiges (The Snow Queen)).
  • The subtitle of Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch was changed to Hawaii, nous avons un probleme (Hawaii, We Have a Problem).
  • A Bug's Life became 1001 Pattes ("1001 Feet") in European French, and Finding Nemo became Le Monde de Nemo ("Nemo's World"). In Canadian French, however, both those movies got straight translations of their English names (Une Vie De Bestiole and Trouver Nemo respectively).
  • Mavka: The Forest Song: The film is called Le royaume de Naya (The Kingdom of Naya), using the Dub Name Change of Mavka into "Naya".
  • Monsters, Inc. became Monstres et Cie (Monsters & Co.).note 
  • Hoodwinked! became known as La Véritable Histoire du Petit Chaperon rouge ("The True Story Of Little Red Riding Hood").note 
  • Recess: School's Out became La Cour de récré : Vive les vacances! (Recess: Long Live Vacations!)
  • Once Upon a Forest became Le Voyage d'Edgar dans la forêt magique (Edgar's Voyage in the Magical Forest) in French. Why it focuses on Edgar in particular is anyone's guess (most likely due to the climax in which the poor eponymous mole gets caught in a trap, but still), and the forest is not magical.
  • Over the Hedge became Nos voisins, les hommes ("Our Neighbors, The Humans").
  • Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (translated Spirited Away in English) is Le Voyage de Chihiro ('Chihiro's Journey').
  • Corpse Bride was retitled Les Noces funèbres ("The Funeral Wedding") in European French. The Canadian French title was translated literally as La Mariée cadavérique.
  • Shrek Forever After became Shrek 4 : Il était une fin ("Once Upon an Ending").
  • Despicable Me is known in European French as Moi, moche et méchant ("Me, Ugly and Mean"). Translated literally in Canadian French as Détestable Moi.
  • Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is called Capitaine Superslip in European French, but in Canadian French, it's Les aventures du Capitaine Bobette, le film, "bobette" being a more familiar term there.
  • Bee Movie is Drôle d'abeille ("Funny Bee") in Canadian French. It's also used in European French as a subtitle.
  • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is Tempête de boulettes géantes ("Giant Meatball Storm") in European French, while it's Il pleut des hamburgers ("It's Raining Hamburgers") in Canadian French.
  • The Emoji Movie becomes Le Monde secret des Emojis ("The Secret World of Emojis") in European French.
  • Ultimate Avengers became Les Vengeurs in Canadian French.note .
  • Big Hero 6 becomes Les nouveaux héros ("The New Heroes").
  • Wreck-It Ralph becomes Les Mondes de Ralph ("The Worlds of Ralph").
  • Flushed Away becomes Souris City ("Mouse City"), despite the fact the main characters are rats rather than mice.
  • Superman Unbound became Superman contre Brainiac ("contre" means "vs.").
  • Rumble becomes Steve : Bête de combat ("Steve: Combat Beast") in European French.
  • ParaNorman became L'Étrange Pouvoir de Norman ("Norman's Strange Power") in European French.
  • Wolfwalkers became Le Peuple Loup ("The Wolf People").
  • DC League of Super-Pets became DC Krypto super-chien ("DC Krypto Superdog") in Canadian French. While the European French version was initially gonna use the same title minus "DC"note , it was later changed to Krypto et les super-animaux (Krypto and the Super-Animals).
  • Home (2015) became En route! (On the way!).
  • Dingo Pictures' Animal Soccer World becomes Les "Foot" du Stade, a Pun-Based Title revolving around "foot"(ball) and "fou" (crazy) sounding slightly similar.
  • Turning Red became Alerte rouge ("Red Alert").
  • Strange World became Avalonia, l'étrange voyage (Avalonia: The Strange Journey) in European French and Avalonia : Un monde étrange (Avalonia: A Strange World) in Canadian French).
  • Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which retained the Untranslated Title in France and was translated literally in Canadian French, became Spider-Man: Seul contre tous (Spider-Man: Alone Against All) in Belgium. It's a Spoiler Title describing Miles' relationship with the Spider-Society by the end of the film.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem became Ninja Turtles: Teenage Years in European French and Les Tortues Ninja: Chaos chez les mutants ("Ninja Turtles: Chaos Among Mutants") in Canadian French.
  • Fireman Sam: Set for Action! is known as Sam le pompier: Les feux de la rampe au cinéma ("Sam the Firefighter: The Limelight of the Cinema") in French.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Cold Pursuit became Sang froid ("Cold Blood") in French and Poursuite de sang-froid ("Pursuit of Cold Blood") in Quebec.
  • Get Carter became La Loi du Milieu ("The Law of the [Criminal] Underworld").
  • Kind Hearts and Coronets became Noblesse oblige in French.
  • James Bond films in European French:
  • The Naked Gun became L'Agent fait la farcenote  in Canadian French, and Y a-t-il un flic pour sauver la reine? ("Is There a Cop to Save the Queen?") in European French.
    • Airplane! was Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion? ("Is There a Pilot in the Plane?"), too.
    • This crept to other Leslie Nielsen movies: The Naked Gun movies are all titled "Is There a Cop to Save X?" where X depends on the movie.
    • Wrongfully Accused had several French-language titles, one of which fit a similar schema: Y a-t-il un fugitif à bord?.
  • Jaws was translated in French as Les dents de la mer ("The Teeth of the Sea"). It sounds totally badass.
  • Pete's Dragon, both the 1977 and 2016 films, became Peter et Elliott le dragon ("Peter and Elliot the Dragon").
  • In European French, Die Hard became "Piège de cristal" (lit. "The Crystal Trap", think "The Glass Trap"), but the sequels' titles contained no mention of being part of a series. That is, until Live Free or Die Hard "Die Hard 4: Retour en Enfer" ("Die Hard 4: Back in Hell")...
    • The series is often called "Marche ou Crève" in French (lit. "Walk or Die [violently]" or idiomatical, "Do or die").
    • The 2nd movie was renamed "58 minutes pour vivre" ("58 minutes to live), which may be a nod to the novel (58 Minutes) Die Hard 2 was originally written as an adaptation of.
    • The third movie, Die Hard with a Vengeance, became "Une journée en enfer" ("A Day in Hell"). It sounds like if it was linked to From Dusk Till Dawn, known as "Une nuit en enfer" ("A Night in Hell") in European French. That would be awesome.
    • The first two installments' Canadian French titles have the same name as in European French. Die Hard with a Vengeance, however, was translated as Marche ou Crève: Vengeance Définitive ("Walk or Die [violently]: Final Vengeance") and Live Free or Die Hard was translated almost literally. ("Live Free or Die [violently]")
  • The 1978 horror film Jennifer became "HORRIBLE CARNAGE" in European French, with a suitably over the top poster.
  • Analyze This and its sequel Analyze That were "translated" as Mafia Blues and Mafia Blues 2 respectively.
    • Canadian French titles are translated literally: Analyse-moi ça and Analyse-moi ceci. Ironically, "ceci" is closer to "this" than "ça", which is close to "that". (The first movie was translated with Quebec slang in mind).
  • The Princess Bride became La Princesse Bouton d'or ("Princess Buttercup") in Canadian French.
  • A few egregious examples of this include Cruel Intentions being retitled Sexe Intentions, which grammatically makes no sense, Not Another Teen Movie becoming Sex Academy and School of Rock changed to Rock Academy, probably in order to cash in on the Star Academy factor (a French Pop Idol clone).
    • The Canadian French title for Cruel Intentions is Un Pari cruel ("A Cruel Bet"), and the two other were translated literally.
  • Never Been Kissed wound up as Finally, a Kiss in Canadian French. Not that far off, particularly if a direct translation wouldn't have the same connotations.
  • The In-Laws was retitled Ne tirez pas sur le dentiste ("Don't Shoot the Dentist") in its French release, referencing the François Truffaut film Tirez sur le pianiste ("Shoot the Piano Player"). The film's writer later said he much preferred the second title and wished he'd come up with it.
  • The French equivalent to in-laws, La Belle-Famille, is incidentally the Canadian French title of Meet the Parents, which, in European French, is called Mon beau-père et moi ("My Stepfather and Me").
    • Meet the Fockers becomes L'Autre Belle-Famille ("The Other In-Laws") in Canadian French and Mon beau-père, mes parents et moi ("My Stepfather, My Parents and Me") in European French.
    • Little Fockers becomes La Petite Famille ("The Little Family") in Canadian French and Mon beau-père et nous ("My Stepfather and Us") in European French.note 
  • MouseHunt was simply titled La Souris ("The Mouse") in European French.
    • In Canadian French, it was Ne réveillez pas une souris qui dort ("Don't wake up a sleeping mouse"), a play on the common expression "Don't wake up the sleeping cat" or don't go looking for past dirt on someone.
  • Numerous European dubs of Return to Oz title the film as something like "Oz: A Magical Land".
  • Rebel Without a Cause became La Fureur de vivre ('The anger of life').
  • Less Than Zero became Neige sur Beverly Hills ("Snow on Beverly Hills"), though the original Bret Easton Ellis novel was correctly translated as Moins que zéro.
  • Total Recall (1990) had the name Voyage au centre de la mémoire ("Journey to the Center of the memory") in Québec. Averted with the 2012 film, where both dialectal French versions share The Foreign Subtitle.
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) became Les Griffes de la nuit (Claws of the Night).
  • Batman Returns became Batman, le défi (Batman, the challenge) in European French. Literally in Canadian French.
    • On a side note: Batman Forever becomes Batman à jamais in Canadian French. While it seems they were aiming for a literal translation, it may sound more like "Batman for Good" for some.
  • The Fast and the Furious:
    • In Quebec, the film series is known as Rapides et dangereux ("Fast and Dangerous").
    • Fast & Furious, the fourth film in the series, is known as Fast and Furious 4 in European French and Rapides et dangereux 4 in Canadian French, removing the confusion in the series' film names.
    • In European French, the fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth are simply called Fast & Furious [number]note . The fifth film's Canadian French title is Rapides et dangereux 5. As for the seventh, eighth and tenth films there, they are directly translated to French from the original English title (Dangereux 7, Le destin des dangereuxnote  and Rapides X, respectively) while the ninth has the de-acronymized translation of Rapides et dangereux 9.
  • Street Smart (1987) was simply named La Rue (The Street).
  • Sister Act kept its original title in European French, but was retitled Rock'n nonne in Canadian French, which could also work in English ("Rock'n'Nun").
  • Bizarrely, French cinemas showed The Hangover under the title Very Bad Trip, in English. In Quebec, the title was translated as something that would be totally intelligible in English (Lendemain de veille, literally meaning "Morning After the Night Before") but basically means "Hangover".
    • Not that bizarre, in fact: "Bad trip" is a common expression in European French, while "hangover" isn't. However, "bad trip" refers to drugs, not alcohol. The French expression for "hangover" is "avoir la gueule de bois" (to have a wooden jaw).
  • Distress was retitled L'Énigme de l'universe (Mystery of the Universe).
  • Many classic western movies fit this trope, generally to make them sound more badass.
  • The original Halloween (1978) was retitled La Nuit des masques ("The night of the masks"), as this event was introduced in France only in the late 1990s (amusingly, the word "Halloween" is replaced by "All Saints Day" in the film itself). It stayed Halloween in Canadian French, though, as Quebec was familiar with Halloween, living surrounded by English-speaking cultures. In more recent editions, the French version has been retitled Halloween: La Nuit des masques, since everyone knows what the word means nowadays.
  • Seltzer and Friedberg's Meet the Spartans became "Spartatouille" in European French. That might be the only reason why anyone would have watched it. In Canadian French, it's Voici les Spartiates ("Here's the Spartans").
  • In Bruges was released as Bons baisers de Bruges ("From Bruges With Love") in European French.
  • The Beatles film A Hard Day's Night is "Quatre Garçons Dans Le Vent" in European French and "Quatre gars dans le vent" in Canadian French (both meaning "Four Boys in the Wind", "dans le vent" meaning "in", fashionable").
  • Léon: The Professional became known simply as Léon in European French, as it is in British and Australian English.
  • Hoosiers became Le Grand Défi ("The Great Challenge").
  • We Are Marshall became L'Esprit d'une équipe ("Spirit of a Team") in Canadian French, but was an Untranslated Title in European French.
  • Another film about the the same sport, The Blind Side, became L'Éveil d'un champion ("Awakening of a Champion") in Canada, but was untranslated in Europe.
  • The Kentucky Fried Movie became Hamburger film sandwich. Amazon Women on the Moon, which had a similar style plus some involvement from KFM director John Landis, became Cheeseburger film sandwich ("The Cheeseburger Movie").
  • Dave became Président d'un jour ("President For A Day") in European French (although Dave acts as president for much longer than that in the film).
  • Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood became Spoof Movie (written in English). For the record, the movie only came out in 2001 in European French, so the title may be a reference to Scary Movie.
  • Come and See was initially released under the title Va et regarde, with is a faithful translation of the original one. During the 2000s, it has been retitled Requiem pour un Massacre ("Requiem for a Massacre").
  • You Don't Mess with the Zohan becomes Rien que pour vos cheveux (For your hair only), a reference to For Your Eyes Only (which was literally translated as 'Rien que pour vos yeux'). Translated literally in Quebec.
  • The Step Up film series is called Sexy Dance in Europe. And yes, it's written in English. In Quebec, it's known as Vivre pour danser ("Living to Dance").
    • Similarly, Not Another Teen Movie is called Sex Academy in European French. However, its Québécois title is a direct translation (Pas encore un film d'ados !)
  • Multiple films have got their names changed to "American X" in European French:
    • Bring It On became American Girls. The Canadian French title is Ce soir, tout est permis ("Tonight, Everything Is Allowed").
    • For a Good Time, Call... became American Sexy Phone. The Canadian French title is Le Téléphone rose ("The Pink Phone").
    • Get Him to the Greek became American Trip. The Canadian French title is 72 heures ("72 Hours").
    • Animal House became American College. The Canadian French title is identical, but properly translated (Collège américain).
    • Van Wilder became American Party.
    • The Purge became American Nightmare, most likely to avoid jokes about the film itself being a "purge" (a colloquial way to describe a work that’s painful to sit through in French).
    • Even movies that already have such a title in English have their title changed there, while still keeping the concept:
  • The Good Shepherd became Raisons d'État in European French, which translates directly as "Reasons of state," and more loosely as "In the national interest."
  • Italian Vendetta dal futuro ("future revenge") was known in European French as Atomic Cyborg and in Canadian French as L'Enfonceur ("the one who pushes/hits/breaks").
  • Perfect Assassins became Scheduled to Kill.
  • Witchboard became Ouija in Canadian French.
  • Bloodsuckers from Outer Space became Horror Academy 1.
  • Blood & Donuts became Heart of the Vampire in the French-speaking parts of Canada.
  • Grave of the Vampire became Baby Vampire or The Children of Frankenstein, depending on the version.
  • Doctor... Series:
  • Doctor Blood's Coffin became The Corpse That Kills.
  • The Brain (1988) became Manipulations.
  • Teenagers from Outer Space became The Martian Invasion.
  • Trancers became The Guardian of the Future.
  • The Most Dangerous Game became The Hunts of Count Zaroff.
  • Samurai Cop became The Samurai of L.A.
  • Shaft became Les Nuits rouges de Harlem ("The Red Nights of Harlem").
  • Wild Things became Les Racoleuse ("Streetwalkers") in Quebec and Sexcrimes in France.
  • The Devil Bat became Revenge of the Vampire in Belgium.
  • The Black Room became The Baron Gregor.
  • Idiocracy became Planet Stupid in European French, but only on DVD.
  • Bedknobs and Broomsticks became L'Apprentie sorcière ("The Witch Apprentice").
  • The Hitman's Bodyguard became Mon meilleur ennemi ("My Best Enemy") in Canadian French while the European French version got the not-completely different title Hitman and Bodyguard (yes, written in English).
  • The Has Fallen film series of Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen and Angel Has Fallen:
    • In European French, the movie titles go "La Chute de X" ("The Fall of X"), which gives us La Chute de la Maison-Blanche, La Chute de Londres and La Chute du Président ("The Fall of the White House", "The Fall of London" and "The Fall of the President" respectively).
    • In Canadian French, the first two movies, like the European versions, are more precise for the first two movies, with Assaut sur la Maison-Blanche and Assaut sur Londres ("Assault on the White House" and "Assault on London"). Angel Has Fallen, however, is renamed L'Ultime Assaut ("The Ultimate Assault").
  • The Ghostbusters franchise, with the unique Untranslated Title exception of Extreme Ghostbusters, became S.O.S Fantômes ("S.O.S Ghosts"). In-Universe, "Ghostbusters" as the firm's name has been translated as "casseurs de fantômes" ("ghostbreakers").
    • Ghostbusters: Afterlife became S.O.S Fantômes: L'Héritage ("S.O.S Ghosts: The Legacy") in European French and S.O.S Fantômes: L'au-delà ("S.O.S Ghosts: The Afterlife") in Canadian French.
    • The Real Ghostbusters has the Recycled Title S.O.S Fantômes rather than a name to distinguish it from the films.
    • Bizarrely enough, Scrooged received the same title in Italian: S.O.S fantasmi, despite being unrelated to the other franchise.
  • Blazing Saddles became Le shérif est en prison ("The Sheriff Is in Jail").
  • Zombi 2 became L'enfer des zombies ("Zombie Hell").
  • The first Mad Max film became Bolides hurlants ("Screaming Cars") in French Canada. Other movies in the series were called similarly to the English titles there.
  • My Bloody Valentine became Murders on Valentine's Day.
  • First Blood:
    • European French: Rambo
      • Because of this, Rambo IV was extended to his full name John Rambo.
    • Canadian French: Rambo : Le Dévastateur ("The Devastator")
  • Home Alone became Maman, j'ai raté l'avion ! ("Mom, I Missed the Plane!")
  • The Crucible became La Chasse aux sorcières ("Witch Hunt").
  • The Serpent and the Rainbow became L'Emprise des ténèbres ("The Grip of Darkness").
  • The Evil became The Legacy of Vargas in Canada.
  • Weird Science became Une créature de rêve ("A Dream Creature").
  • The Evil Dead (1981) and its reboot became L'opéra de la terreur ("The Opera of Terror") in Canadian French.
  • Just Before Dawn became Survivance ("Survival").
  • The Virgin Spring became La Source ("The Source").
  • Alice, Sweet Alice became Communion sanglante ("Bloody Communion").
  • The Burning became Carnage.
  • Pieces became Le Sadique à la tronçonneuse ("The Sadist with the Chainsaw") in European French.
  • He Knows You're Alone became Noces sanglantes ("Bloody Wedding Anniversary").
  • Black Christmas (1974) became Noël Tragique ("Tragic Christmas") in Canada.
  • Stitches (2012) became Dark Clown.
  • To Kill a Mockingbird became Du silence et des ombres ("Of Silence and Shadows").
  • The Pumpkin Karver became The Halloween Mask.
  • Hawk the Slayer became Voltan the Barbarian.
  • Children of the Corn (1984):
    • Canadian French: Children of Horror
    • European French: Corn Demons
  • Blood Feast became Bloody Orgy.
  • Sisters (1973) became Blood Sisters.
  • The Blob (1958) became Planetary Danger.
  • Escape from New York became New York 1997.
  • Reefer Madness became Narcotics.
  • Tombs of the Blind Dead:
    • Canadian French: The Revolt of the Templars
    • European French: The Revolt of the Living Dead
  • Don't Go in the Woods became The Forest Killer.
  • Nightcrawler:
    • Canadian English: Le Rôdeur ("The Prowler")
    • European French: Night Call
  • The Beastmaster became Dar l'Invincible ("Dar the Invincible").
  • Mean Girls:
    • Canadian French: Méchantes Ados ("Mean Teens")
    • European French: Lolita malgré moi ("Lolita in Spite of Me")
  • Blood and Black Lace became The Workshop of Death in Canadian English.
  • Hard Candy became Dur à croquer ("Hard to Bite") in Canadian English.
  • The Bird with the Crystal Plumage became The Sadist with the Black Gloves in Belgian French.
  • Deep Red becames Les Frissons de l'angoisse ("The Chills of Anguish") in European French.
  • Prom Night (1980) became The Horror Ball.
  • Don't Torture a Duckling:
    • Canadian French: Les Poupées de sang ("The Blood Dolls")
    • European French: La Longue Nuit de l'exorcisme ("The Long Night of Exorcism")
  • Hush became Pas un bruit ("Not a Sound").
  • The Boondock Saints:
    • Canadian French: Mission des Dieux ("Mission from the Gods")
    • European French: Les Anges de Boston ("The Angels of Boston")
  • The Final Girls became Scream Girl in European French, but surprisingly completely untranslated in Canadian French.
  • Gutterballs became The Bowling Horror in Canada.
  • Cast a Deadly Spell became Detective Phillip Lovecraft.
  • The Void became The Curse of the Afterlife in Canada.
  • What Have You Done to Solange? became Special Games.
  • The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake became The Bamboo Dagger.
  • Brotherhood of Blades became The Three Brothers.
  • Dance of the Dead became The Zombies' Ball in Canada.
  • Time After Time became It Was Tomorrow.
  • Pacific Rim became Rives du Pacifique ("Pacific Shores") in Canadian French. The sequel became Rives du Pacifique : La Révolte ("Pacific Shores: The Revolt").
  • Fright Night (1985) became Vampire, vous avez dit vampire ? ("Vampire, Did You Say Vampire?")
  • Dark Night of the Scarecrow became Blood Flowers.
  • Idle Hands:
    • Canadian French: The Murderous Hand
    • European French: The Hand That Kills
  • It Came from Beneath the Sea:
    • Belgian French: Panic in San Francisco
    • Canadian and European French: The Monster Comes from the Sea
  • Earth vs. the Flying Saucers became The Flying Saucers Are Attacking.
  • Hatchet became Butcher: The Legend of Victor Crowley.
  • Dragonheart became Draco: The Legend of the Last Dragon in Canadian French.
  • Freaked became The City of Monsters.
  • Rolling Thunder became Legitimate Violence.
  • Fletch Lives was retitled Autant en emporte Fletch! ("Gone With Fletch")
  • Leprechaun became The Abominable Goblin in Canada.
  • Funny Man became The Horror Jester.
  • Wyrmwood became Road of the Dead.
  • What We Do in the Shadows became Vampires in Complete Privacy.
  • Near Dark became At the Frontiers of Dawn.
  • Dark Asylum:
    • Canadian French: Flayer
    • European French: Maniac Thrasher
  • The Blood Beast Terror became The Vampire is Thirsty.
  • Shoot 'Em Up became Feu à volonté ("Fire at Will") in Canadian French, while the European French title has The Foreign Subtitle Que la partie commence ("Let the game begin").
  • One Man's Justice became Elite Warrior.
  • Bloody Pit of Horror became Virgins for the Executioner.
  • Heathers became Fatal Games.
  • The Limehouse Golem became Golem, the London Killer.
  • The Blood on Satan's Claw became The Night of Hexes.
  • The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism became The Vampire and the Blood of Virgins.
  • Cannibal Holocaust became Hell of the Cannibals in Canadian French.
  • Caddyshack:
    • Canadian French: À Miami faut le faire ("In Miami, You Gotta Do It")
    • European French: Le Golf en folie ("Crazy Golf")
  • Rolling Vengeance became The Wheels of Death.
  • Witchfinder General became The Grand Inquisitor.
  • Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker became On the Edge of Nightmare.
  • It! The Terror from Beyond Space became The Rocket of Horror.
  • Absurd (1981):
    • Canadian French: Hellish Psychosis
    • European French: Horrible
  • The Wailing became The Strangers.
  • From Beyond became At the Gates of the Beyond in Canada.
  • South Bronx Heroes became Revenge of the Innocents.
  • The Flesh and Blood Show became The Curtain of Death.
  • Lethal became Triple Action.
  • The Fly (1958) became The Black Fly.
  • Men Behind the Sun became Camp 731.
  • House of Whipcord became Flagellations.
  • Tourist Trap:
    • Canadian French: The Motel of Terror
    • European French: Le Piège ("The Trap")
  • The Losers (1970) became The Devil's Machines.
  • House on Haunted Hill (1959) became The Night of All Mysteries.
  • The Last Man on Earth became I Am Legend, after the original book.
  • 976-EVIL became The Devil's Line.
  • Blastfighter became The Exterminating Executioner in Canada.
  • Hands of the Ripper became Jack the Ripper's Daughter.
  • Hell of the Living Dead became Cannibal Virus.
  • Howl (2015) became The Full Moon Train in Canada.
  • Big Bad Wolf became Order of the Wolf.
  • Peeping Tom became The Voyeur.
  • The Toolbox Murders became The Bloody Drill.
  • Future Force became Special Police in Canada.
  • The Stepfather became Fatal Encounter in Switzerland.
  • The Deadly Spawn became The Thing.
  • Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels became Arnaques, crimes et botanique ("Scams, Crimes and Weed").
  • Death Rides a Horse became Death Was at the Rendezvous.
  • And God Said to Cain... became And the Wind Brought Violence.
  • God's Gun became The Ruthless.
  • Creature with the Atom Brain became The Atomic Brain Killer.
  • Terror Train became The Train Monster.
  • Horror Express became Terror in the Shanghai Express.
  • The Dark (1979) became Nights of Violence.
  • The People Under the Stairs became The Basement of Fear.
  • The Iceman became The Hitman in Canada.
  • 10 to Midnight became The Midnight Vigilante.
  • Deathdream became The Living Dead.
  • 24 Hours to Live became 24H Limit.
  • Trained to Kill, USA became The Slaughterer.
  • Department Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes became The Investigations of Department V: Mercy.
  • Drive Angry:
    • Canadian French: Conduite infernale ("Hellish Driving")
    • European French: Hell Driver
  • Into the Night became Série noire pour une nuit blanche ("A noir [story] for a sleepless night").
  • Reign of the Gargoyles became Stone Demons.
  • The Amityville Horror (1979) became Amityville: The Devil's House.
  • The Devil's Own became Ennemis rapprochés ("Close Enemies") in European French and La Rage au cœur ("Rage in the Heart") in Canadian French.
  • Solo (1996) became The Steel Warrior.
  • Cave of the Living Dead became The Girls' Cave in Belgian French.
  • Gunpowder Milkshake became Bloody Milkshake in European French.
  • Hogfather was aired as Les Contes du Disque-Monde ("Tales from the Discworld") in European French.
  • Frankenstein's Bloody Terror became The Vampires of Dr. Dracula.
  • Blood Monkey became Primal Instinct.
  • The Vampire Lovers became Passion for Vampires.
  • Hellraiser became The Pact.
  • Nightbreed became Cabal.
  • The Midnight Meat Train became The Slaughter Train in Canadian French.
  • Pain & Gain was retitled Coup musclé ("Muscle Job") in Canadian French and No Pain, No Gain (written in English) in European French.
  • Act of Vengeance became Women's Revenge.
  • Alien:
    • Alien became Alien, le huitième passager ("Alien, The Eight Passager").
    • Aliens became Aliens, le retour ("Aliens, The Return").
  • The Shawshank Redemption became Les Évadés ("The Escapees") in European French and À l'ombre de Shawshank ("In Shawshank's Shadow") in Canadian French.
  • From Dusk Till Dawn:
    • Canadian French: La Nuit la plus longue ("The Longest Night")
    • European French: Une nuit en enfer ("A Night in Hell")
  • The Hunger became The Predators.
  • They Live! became Invasion Los Angeles.
  • Ocean's 11 was renamed Onze hommes à minuit ("Eleven Men at Midnight") in Belgian French and L'Inconnu de Las Vegas ("The stranger from Las Vegas") in European French. The Steven Soderbergh reboot was released under the later title in Canadian French.
    • Ocean's Twelve became Le Retour de Danny Ocean ("The Return of Danny Ocean") in Canadian French.
    • Both in Canadian French, Ocean's Thirteen became Danny Ocean 13 and Ocean's 8 became Debbie Ocean 8.
  • Daylight was retitled Le Tunnel de l'enfer ("The Tunnel from Hell") in Canadian French.
  • Frostbite became Tale of Vampires.
  • The Long Kiss Goodnight was retitled Au revoir à jamais ("Goodbye Forever") in European French and Souviens-toi Charlie ("Remember, Charly") in Canadian French.
  • To Live and Die in L.A. became Police fédérale, Los Angeles.
  • Absolute Power (1997) became Pouvoir d'exécuter ("Executive Power", in the "to execute a person" sense) in Quebec.
  • Outlaw: Gangster VIP became The Scoundrel.
  • Liberal Arts became Love and Other Lessons.
  • Kiss the Girls became Le Collectionneur ("The Collector") in European French and Et tombent les filles ("And thus the girls fall") in Canadian French.
  • National Treasure was retitled Benjamin Gates et le Trésor des Templiers ("Benjamin Gates and the Treasure of the Templars") in European French.
  • Manhunter became Le Sixième Sens ("The Sixth Sense"), making it Similarly Named Works with The Sixth Sense which had a literal translation in both regions.
  • La La Land became Pour l'amour d'Hollywood ("For the Love of Hollywood") in Canadian French, but basically everyone there calls it by its original name anyway.
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind became Du soleil plein la tête ("Head Full of Sunshine") in Canadian French.
  • Ford V Ferrari became Le Mans 66 in European French, the native region of the real-life event that the film covers, the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1966.
  • Get Shorty became C'est le petit qu'il nous faut ("It's the Short One We Need") in Quebec.
  • Life of Pi
    • Canadian French: L'Histoire de Pi ("The Story of Pi")
    • European French: L'Odysée de Pi ("The Odyssey of Pi")
  • Saw becomes Décadence in Quebec.
  • Speed becomes Clanches! ("Full Speed Ahead!", probably at the second person) in Quebec.
  • Spy Hard becomes Agent zéro zéro ("Agent Double-O") in European French and L'Agent secret se découvre ("The Secret Agent Unveils Himself") in Canadian French.
  • The Santa Clause series gets this treatment, being a Pun-Based Title that doesn't work in other languages since Santa Claus in French is called "le Père Noël" ("The Father Christmas"),
    • In European French: Super Noël, Hyper Noël and Super Noël 3 : Méga Givré ("Mega Frosted").
    • In Canadian French, the series goes by Sur les traces du Père Noël ("In the Footsteps of Santa Claus"). The third one has the subtitle La Clause Force Majeure ("The force majeure clause").
    • In both regions, the further punny title of the Disney+ series The Santa Clauses was rendered simply as the Title: The Adaptation name "[series title]: La Série" ("The Santa Clause: The Series")
  • The King of Comedy became La valse des pantins ("The Puppet Dance").
  • Friends became Deux enfants qui s'aiment ("Two Children Who Love Each Other").
  • Eaten Alive! (1976) became The Crocodile of Death.
  • The Marvel Cinematic Universe in Canadian French; any film not listed is either left intact or a partial or fully literal translation (European French is largely Untranslated Titles with a few literal translations):
    • Spider-Man: Homecoming is Spider-Man: Les Retrouvailles ("Spider-Man: The Reunions").
    • Avengers: Endgame is Avengers: Phase Finale ("Avengers: Final Phase").
    • Spider-Man: Far From Home is Spider-Man: Loin des Siens ("Spider-Man: Far From His Loved Ones").
    • Spider-Man: No Way Home is Spider-Man: Sans Retour ("Spider-Man: No Return").
    • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is Black Panther: Longue vie au Wakanda ("Black Panther: Long Live Wakanda"). What's weird here is that they had literally translated Black Panther for the first movie (Panthère noire), but kept it in English for the sequel.note 
  • Blood Debts became Eliminator.
  • Cocaine Bear used the English-language Crazy Bear in Europe, but Ours sous cocaïne ("Bear on Cocaine") in Canada.
  • Blue Streak is Flic de haut vol ("Top Cop") in Europe and Flic ou voleur ("Cop or Crook") in Canada.
  • Dude, Where's My Car? became Deux épais en cavale ("Two Idiots on the Run") in Quebec.
  • Above the Law (1988) was retitled Nico in French, a title change shared with many other markets.
  • Hard to Kill became Échec et Mort ("Checkdeath" - a pun on "échec et mat" ("checkmate") that only works in French) in Europe and Ultime Vengeance ("Ultimate Vengeance") in Canada.
  • Out for Justice became Justice sauvage ("Savage Justice") French.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which is commonly shortened in French to either Ninja Turtles or Tortues Ninja ("Ninja Turtles"):
    • In European French, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze became Les Tortues Ninja 2: Les héros sont de retour ("Ninja Turtles 2: The Heroes Are Back") for the theatrical release and Les Tortues Ninja 2: Le secret de la mutation ("Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Mutation") for the home video release. In Canadian French, it's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: La Solution Secrète ("The Secret Solution", in the context of "chemical solution").
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows became the plain Numbered Sequel Ninja Turtles 2 in European French. Literal translation in Canadian French ("Les Tortues Ninja: La Sortie de l'ombre").
  • Dirty Harry series:
    • The original movie: L'Inspecteur Harry ("Inspector Harry")
    • The Enforcer: L'Inspecteur ne renonce jamais ("The Inspector Never Gives Up")
    • Sudden Impact: Le retour de l'inspecteur Harry ("The Return of Dirty Harry")
    • The Dead Pool: La Dernière Cible ("The Final Target", Europe) / Les Enjeux de la mort ("The Stakes of Death", Canada)
  • Who Am I? became Jackie Chan perd la mémoire ("Jackie Chan Has Amnesia") in Canadian French.
  • On the Buses became Aces of Imperial.
  • Please Turn Over became Indiscreet Pages.
  • Killers of the Flower Moon was retitled La note américaine ("The American Bill") in Canada.
  • Me and Earl and the Dying Girl became This is not a love story (still in English) in France.

    Literature 
  • Atlas Shrugged was translated as La Grève ("The strike").
  • Bored of the Rings, a parody of The Lord of the Rings, became Lord of the Ringards. This title is written in English except for the final word, which loosely translates to "has-beens".
  • Graham Greene's Brighton Rock once ended up with the title Les Rochers de Brighton (The Cliffs of Brighton) which was a bad mistake - Brighton doesn't have those iconic white English cliffs. The "rock" being referred to is, instead, a sort of cylindrical hard candy with the approximate dimensions of a drumstick.
  • Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency became Un cheval dans la salle de bains (A Horse in the Bathroom).
  • When the first three Discworld novels were translated into French, they acquired Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The Colour of Magic became La Huitième Couleur (The Eighth Colour), The Light Fantastic became Le Huitième Sortilège (The Eighth Spell) and Equal Rites became La Huitième Fille (The Eighth Daughter). Then they gave up and called Mort Mortimernote . Most of the later books had direct translations, exceptions including Moving Pictures (Les Zinzins d'Olive-Oued - "the Crazies of Olive-Oued", with "Olive-Oued" being an attempt to keep the Holy Wood pun), Interesting Times (Les Tribulations d'un mage en Aurient - "The Tribulations of a Wizard in the Aurient", a play on the Jules Verne title Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine or "The Tribulations of a Chinaman in China"), and Unseen Academicals (Allez les Mages ! - "Come on Wizards!").
    • The name of the whole series was translated as Les Annales du Disque-Monde ("The Discworld records").
  • Eloise: Eloise Takes a Bath became Eloise Drowns the Plaza in its French translation.
  • Fancy Nancy (the books, not the show) is called Je lis avec Mademoiselle Nancy, which means "I read with Miss Nancy".
  • Several of the Fletch novels received different titles in French:
    • Fletch Won: Fletch se défonce ("Fletch goes wild")
    • Fletch Too: Fletch père & fils ("Fletch, Father and Son")
    • Carioca Fletch: Fletch à Rio ("Fletch at Rio")
    • Fletch and the Man Who: Fletch et les Femmes mortes ("Fletch and the Dead Women")
  • Harry Potter:
    • The French title of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is Harry Potter à l'Ecole des Sorciers (Harry Potter at Wizard School). With France being the origin of the Philosopher's Stone legend, French readers are more familiar with Alchemy than their English-speaking counterparts, and the publishers didn't want the title to give away any crucial plot information.
    • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows became Harry Potter et les Reliques de la Mort (Harry Potter and the Relics of Death), which is actually almost completely literal, as Hallows are, in this case, holy objects, which is the general meaning of Relique (which also means objects owned by Saints, as in relic in English). In fact, the titles of most non-English versions of the book were based on the alternative title Harry Potter and the Relics of Death at Rowling's suggestion, as many translators found "Hallows" hard to translate.
  • The French title of His Dark Materials is À la Croisée des Mondes ("At the crossworlds").
  • The Hobbit used to be known as Bilbo the Hobbit in France, the full original title being Bilbo le Hobbit, ou, Histoire d'un aller et retour (Bilbo the Hobbit, or, Story of a Departure and Return, or in keeping with the original English, There and Back Again). In several translations of The Lord of the Rings (including the Peter Jackson films' French dub), the name Bilbo Baggins actually becomes Bilbon Sacquetnote . Frodo becomes Frodon,note  Samwise becomes Samsagacenote , and so on. The 2012 edition restores this as Le Hobbit, probably due to the film adaptation.
  • I Know What You Did Last Summer was translated under the title Comme en un mauvais rêve ("As in a Nightmare"). The film that was loosely adapted from it, however, was translated under the titles Souviens-toi... l'été dernier ("Remember... Last Summer") in most French-speaking countries and Le Pacte du Silence ("The Silence Pact") in Canada.
  • The Little Witch: The French translation uses the title Une délicieuse petite sorcière ("A Delightful Little Witch").
  • Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit is known in French simply as Le Gardien de L'esprit Sacré ("The Guardian of the Sacred Spirit").
  • My Eyes Are Up Here by Laura Zimmerman's French title is De l'importance de savoir rebondir ("The importance of knowing how to bounce back").
  • Nancy Drew is known as "Alice Roy" in France.
  • Rainbow Magic: "The Jewel Fairies" series is known as "The Precious Stones Fairies" in Canadian French ("Les fees des pierres precieuses"). The European French title uses the more direct translation of "Jewel Fairies" ("Les fees des bijoux").
  • Rivers of London:
    • The series as a whole became Le Dernier Apprenti Sorcier ("The Last Sorcerer's Apprentice"). Due to developments in the books, it is simultaneously an Artifact Title.
    • Book 5, Foxglove Summer, became Les Disparues de Rushpool ("The Missing of Rushpool").
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events became "Les Désastreuses Aventures des orphelins Baudelaire" (The Disastrous Adventures of The Baudelaire Orphans).
  • A Song of Ice and Fire was translated in France as Le Trône de Fer (The Iron Throne). However, the books are a weird case as each book was divided in three (two in the case of A Game of Thrones and four for A Storm of Swords) smaller books by the French editor:
    • A Game of Thrones was divided into Le Trône de Fer (The Iron Throne) and Le donjon rouge (The red dungeon)
    • A Clash of Kings became La bataille des rois (The battle of kings), L'Ombre maléfique (The evil Shadow) and L'invincible forteresse (The invincible fortress)
    • A Storm of Swords is Les brigands or Intrigues à Port-Réal (The brigands/Scheming in King's Landing), L'épée de Feu (The fire sword), Les noces pourpres (The purple wedding) and La loi du Régicide (The Kingslayer's law)
    • A Feast for Crows is Le Chaos (The Chaos), Les sables de Dorne (Dorne's sands), and Un festin pour les corbeaux (A feast for crows)
    • A Dance with Dragons became Le bûcher d'un roi (A king's pyre), Les dragons de Meereen (Meereen's dragons) and Une danse avec les dragons (A dance with dragons).
    • In France, the TV adaptation Game of Thrones retains the English title as Gratuitous English. However, the title is changed to Le Trône de Fer in French Canada, just like with the books. Though Canadian French speakers will always use the English title anyway, like the La La Land example above.
  • The French translation of Warrior Cats uses the name La Guerre des Clans (War of the Clans).
  • The Worst Witch is known in France as Amandine Malabul (which is Mildred Hubble's name in French). All of the books were prefixed with her name, and a subtitle. For instance, the fourth book The Worst Witch All At Sea became Amandine Malabul: La Sorciere a Peur de l'eau ("Mildred Hubble: The Witch with a Fear of Water").

    Live-Action TV 
  • Many TV series have different titles in French, some are close to the original title (The Pretender became The Chameleon), some are completely different (The Avengers (1960s) was changed to Chapeau Melon et Bottes de Cuir ("Bowler Hat and Leather Boots"), while The Persuaders! was changed to Amicalement votre ("Friendly yours")).
  • Being Human (UK) is translated as Vampires et Cie (Vampires and Company) for the Canadian French dub of the first season, presumably to cash in on the Twilight-fueled vampire craze. The dub is renamed from season 2 onward into La Confrérie de l'étrange ("The Brotherhood of the Strange"), which is The Foreign Subtitle of the European French dub.
    • The Canadian French dub of Being Human (US) had the straight translation name of Être humain, while the European French sub has an Untranslated Title with no foreign subtitle.
  • Bewitched is known in France as Ma Sorcière Bien-Aimèe ("My Beloved Witch").
  • The Cherry Queen is titled Le temps des cerises (The Time of Cherries). This is probably a Shout-Out to the (completely unrelated) 1866 French song "Le temps des cerises".
  • Get Smart was translated to Max La Menace (Max the Menace).
  • The Outer Limits (1963) was retitled Au-Delà du Réel (Beyond Reality). The Outer Limits (1995) became Au-Delà du Réel: L'aventure continue (Beyond Reality: The Adventure Continues) despite having no narrative link with the 1963 series.
  • The titles of the Stargate movie and Stargate SG-1 were directly translated from the word "Stargate" into "La Porte Des Étoiles" in Quebec, so the naming convention was retained for Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe which respectively became "La Porte d'Atlantis" ("The Gate of/to Atlantis") and "La Porte de l'Univers" ("The Gate of the Universe").
  • Most famously, Star Trek: The Original Series series became known as "La Patrouille du Cosmos" ("The Patrol of the Cosmos") in Quebec. Later series kept the full English name, except for Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was Star Trek : la nouvelle génération ("The New Generation").
  • The Toy Castle was released in French as La Château Magique ("The Magic Castle")
  • The original Law & Order show has various names: on cable it was "New York District" and now it's "New York: Judiciary Police". Special Victims Unit is known as "New York: Special Unit" and Criminal Intent has been translated as "New York: Criminal Section".
    • Law & Order: LA and UK are known by their respective city’s name followed by "Judiciary Police."
    • The series' name in Quebec is La loi et l'ordre, a literal translation of the English name. Special Victims Unit is called La loi et l'ordre : Crimes sexuels ("Law and Order: Sexual Crimes"), while Criminal Intent is called La Loi et l'ordre : New York section criminelle ("Law and Order: New York Criminal Section").
  • CSI became "Les Experts" (The Experts). CSI: Miami became "Les Experts : Miami" and CSI NY became "Les Experts : Manhattan".
    • The show couldn't be called "New York" because this is already the name of the Law & Order shows.
    • In Quebec, the first CSI series beared the name CSI : Les Experts. Miami didn't have its name changed and NY had its name lengthened (CSI : New York).
  • The A-Team became "L'Agence tout-risque" ("The All-Risk Agency").
  • Deadliest Catch is Péril en haute mer ("Peril on the High Seas").
  • Sledge Hammer! became Mr. Gun.
  • Relic Hunter became Sydney Fox the Adventurer.
  • Knight Rider became known as K 2000 in France.
  • Baywatch became known as "Alerte à Malibu" ("Alert in Malibu") in France. Hawaiian Nights became "Alerte à Hawaii".
  • Doctor Who:
    • The Canadian French dub of the Doctor Who 1996 television movie became Le Seigneur du Temps (The Time Lord).
    • While the series' name itself is an aversion, more than half of the episode titles of the modern 2005-present series have been changed in the French dub. See the trivia pages for each episode's recap page.
  • The Six Million Dollar Man was known as "L'Homme qui Valait Trois Milliards", The Man Who Was Worth Three Billions, as US$6 million at the time were roughly 3 billion old francs.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer is known as the Versus Title Buffy contre les vampires ('Buffy vs. the vampires') in France. The initial movie had a different title: Bichette la terreur. Bichette being a cute baby female goat and terreur meaning, in this context, a small, turbulent child.
  • Power Rangers in France:
    • Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers was originally broadcast on French television as just Power Rangers shortly after its US broadcast, back when there was no hint that Power Rangers would go big and become multiple series over 3 decades. As such, Netflix France gave it the retronym subtitle Mighty Morphin'; ergo, its European French name is now Power Rangers: Mighty Morphin', in line with the rest of the franchise being all subtitles.
    • Lost Galaxy became L'Autre Galaxy ("The Other Galaxy").
    • Ninja Storm became Force Cyclone ("Hurricane Force").
    • Dino Thunder became Dino Tonnerre, a literal translation... of "Thunder Dino".
    • The "S.P.D." in Power Rangers S.P.D. is an acronym left untouched, but its meaning was de-anglicized from "Space Patrol Delta" to "Super Police Delta".
    • And just for record keeping: "Zeo" is a made-up word and "Turbo" and "(Super) Samurai" already exist in the French dictionary so they were left untouched, every series from In Space to Operation Overdrive had a literal translation, and every series from Jungle Fury onwards kept an Untranslated Title.
  • The French version of Sesame Street became known as 1, Rue Sesame (1 Sesame Street). Instead of just having a street name it gained an address related to the channel of the broadcaster.
    • The 2000s revival was known as 5, Rue Sesame, reflecting a Channel Hop.
  • Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? became known as Qui Veut Gagner Des Millions (Who Wants To Win Millions) in France. This could be down to the fact the top prize was 4 million Francs (hence millions, rather than million) or the fact another game show called Millionaire already existed.
  • The Bionic Woman was retitled Super Jamie for some reason.
  • Queen of Swords became Tessa, à la pointe de l'épée (Tessa at the Point of the Sword) in France, then Sous Le Signe de L'Épée (Under the Sign of the Sword) for the DVD release.
  • Hardcastle and McCormick became Le Juge et le Pilote (The Judge and the Racer).
  • With Primeval, this trope caused some trouble since the series was titled Nick Cutter et les Portes du temps (Nick Cutter and the Doors of Time) up until season 4 — as the translators clearly didn't expect for lead character Nick Cutter to be killed off. Afterward, it was shortened to Les Portes du temps and then became The Foreign Subtitle Primeval: Les Portes du temps.
  • In regards to the Space Sheriff trilogy of the Metal Heroes franchise, Space Sheriff Gavan became the completely made-up name X-OR, Space Sheriff Sharivan was spared and Space Sheriff Shaider became Captain Sheider.
  • Hogan's Heroes became Stalag 13, but is much better known as Papa Schultz.
  • The French version of Deal or No Deal is called À prendre ou à laisser ("Take It or Leave It"), while the Quebec version is Le Banquier ("The Banker").
  • The spy series Fortune Hunter became Dans l'Œil de l'Espion (In the Spy's Eye).
  • White Collar became FBI: Duo très special ("FBI: Very special duo") in France, while in Quebec it is FBI: Flic et Escroc ("FBI: Cop and Crook").
  • Murder, She Wrote was retitled Arabesque in France.
    • The series contains an In-Universe example: the episode "A Fashionable Way to Die" has a French police officer who is a fan of Jessica's book The Corpse Danced at Midnight, but he knows it as The Damsel Waltzed at the Ball and Was Buried at Dawn.
  • One Tree Hill was retitled The Scott Brothers, which became a bit awkward after one of the brothers left the series.
  • Airwolf was retitled Supercopter.
  • Wiseguy was renamed Un flic dans la mafia ("A Cop in the Mafia").
  • Black Sheep Squadron became Les Têtes brûlées ("The Hotheads" or "The Mavericks").
  • Space: 1999 became Cosmos: 1999.
  • Up until the 2019 series with an Untranslated Title, each series of The Twilight Zone had the title of "The Xth Dimension", so both the 1959 series and Twilight Zone: The Movie were La Quatrième Dimension ("The Fourth Dimension"), the 1985 series La Cinquième Dimension ("The Fifth Dimension") and the 2002 series La Treizième Dimension ("The Thirteenth Dimension"). The latter two titles reflect channel hops, having been originally broadcast respectively on the defunct La Cinq ("The Five") and on 13e Rue ("13th Street").
  • The X-Files was titled Aux frontières du réel ("At the Frontiers of Reality") for seasons 1 to 9 before reverting to an Untranslated Title for the last two seasons.
  • The Ballad of Big Al was titled L'aventure extraordinaire de Big Al ("The Extraordinary Adventure of Big Al").
  • The Wild Wild West is called Les mystères de l'Ouest ("Mysteries of the West") in France.
  • Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation was retitled Les Tortues Ninja: La Nouvelle Génération ("Ninja Turtles: The Next Generation").

    Puppet Shows 
  • At one point Thunderbirds was known as Les Sentinelles de L'air ("The guardians of the sky") in France.

    Tabletop Games 
  • The numerous titles for Disney Villainous and its expansion packs have different titles when the game was released in France:
    • "The Worst Takes It All" became "Quel Méchant sommeille en vous?" ("Which Villain Lies Within You?").
    • "Wicked to the Core" became "Mauvais jusqu'à l'Os" ("Bad to the Bone").
    • "Evil Comes Prepared" became "La Fin est Proche" ("The End is Near").
    • "Perfectly Wretched" became "Cruellement infects" ("Cruelly Infected").
    • "Despicable Plots" became "Monstrueusement Malsains" ("Monstrously Unhealthy").

    Theatre 
  • Older Than Radio: Most European nations translate the title of Richard Wagner's opera Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) directly. The French always thought this sounded silly, and so gave it the title Le Bateau Fantôme (The Ghost Boat) or Le Vaisseau Fantôme (The Ghost Ship/Vessel).

    Video Games 
  • "Deception" is also a French word for "disappointment" (it's a false friend) and looks a bit too much like the Spanish "decepción", which means the same as the French word. Know that, and you'll know why Mortal Kombat: Deception (which refers to the main character's Unwitting Pawn role) was renamed Mortal Kombat: Mystification in French, while the other games have untranslated titles...
  • In a case of completely different subtitle, Medal of Honor: European Assault was retitled Medal of Honor: Les Faucons de Guerre ("Medal of Honor: War Falcons") in France.
  • South Park: The Fractured but Whole, being a Pun-Based Title that doesn't quite work in other languages ("the fractured butthole"), was turned into a different dirty pun as South Park : L'Annale du destin ("South Park: The Annals of Destiny").
  • Crusader of Centy became known as Soleil in Europe.
  • Need for Speed: High Stakes was retitled Need for Speed: Conduite en état de liberté ("Need For Speed: Freedom Driving" - it's a pun on "Conduite en état d'ébriété", meaning driving under the influence) in Europe.
  • The Raving Rabbids, who in their native France are called "Lapins Crétins" (dumb rabbits)
    • Rayman Raving Rabbids was changed into the Versus Title Rayman contre les Lapins Crétins ("Rayman vs. the Raving Rabbids").
    • Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 became Rayman contre les Lapins encore plus Crétins ("Rayman vs. the even dumber rabbits", or "Rayman vs. the Even More Raving Rabbids").
    • Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party became Rayman Prod' Présente: The Lapins Crétins Show ("Rayman Productions Present: The Raving Rabbids Show", with "Productions" shortened in a slangy manner). From this point on, the series' name in French is a case of Spell My Name with a "The" (The Lapins Crétins). Oh, and the French logo of this game de-emphasizes the word "Rayman" in contrast to the English one, reflecting the character of Rayman being phased out to spin the Rabbids off into their own series.
    • Rabbids Go Home became The Lapins Crétins: La Grosse Aventure ("Raving Rabbids: The Big Adventure").
    • Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time became The Lapins Crétins : Retour vers le Passé ("Raving Rabbids: Return to the Past").
    • Raving Rabbids: Alive and Kicking became The Lapins Crétins Partent en Live ("Raving Rabbids Go Live").
    • Rabbids Rumble became The Lapins Crétins: La Grosse Bagarre ("Raving Rabbids: The Big Brawl").
    • Aside from translating "Raving Rabbids", the names of Rabbids Land and the Mario + Rabbids sub-series are untranslated from English.

    Visual Novels 
  • Higurashi: When They Cry has two separate French titles: Le Sanglot des Cigales ("The tears of the cicadas") for the visual novel and Hinamizawa, le Village Maudit ("Hinamizawa, the Cursed Village") for the anime adaptation − the two translations were made completely independently from each other. The former is also a pun on the word "sang" (blood), which is the reddened part of the title on the VN cover and replaces the untraslatable pun on "naku/cry"'s double meaning.

    Western Animation 
  • Spongebob Squarepants is known as Bob l'éponge (Bob the sponge) in the Francosphere.
  • The Atom Ant Show became known as Atomas: La Fourmi Atomique ("Atomas: The Atomic Ant") in France.
  • DuckTales (1987) became known as La Bande à Picsou ("Picsou's Gang") translated in French (Picsou being Scrooge's French surname)
  • TaleSpin become the Character Title Super Baloo in European French.
    • In Quebec, it became known as Looping instead.
  • The French dub of Beast Wars was changed to Animutants and had little reference to being related to Transformers.
    • In Quebec it was known as Robo-Bêtes (Robo-Beasts).
  • In France Batman Beyond became Batman 2000 for season 1 and Batman: la Relève (The Relay) afterwards.
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold became Batman: L'Alliance des Héros ("Batman: Alliance of Heroes") in France. It's worth noting that the original comic book got a straight translation as Le Brave et L'Audacieux... but, granted, this was several decades before the show.
  • The Emperor's New School became Kuzco: An Emperor At School.
  • Total Drama became Défis Extrêmes, which literally means "Extreme Challenges".
  • Spider-Man (1967) referred to him as L'Araignée (The Spider). Other series retained his original name.
  • King of the Hill is called Les rois du Texas ("The Kings of Texas") in France and Henri pis sa gang ("Henri 'n' his gang" — "Henri" is the dub name of Hank) in Québec.
  • Family Guy is named Les Griffin (The Griffins) in France. The Quebec dub, starting at Season 8, uses the Untranslated Title instead.
  • ThunderCats series in France:
  • The Wild Thornberrys and its title family became known as La Famille Delajungle (The Delajungle Family), a pun on "La famille de la jungle" (The family from the jungle).
  • Road Rovers became Les rangers de l'espace (The space rangers), which is a Non-Indicative Title because the team members were not space adventurers.
  • The Backyardigans are called Les Mélodilous, meaning "The Melodious Ones".
  • Super Why! became Super Tom et les Motamots, the respective dub name changes of Super Why and the Super Readers. Both are punts: 'Tom' is the French word "mot", meaning "word", reversed and 'Motamot' is based on the expression "mot à mot", meaning "word for word".
  • The Fairly OddParents! is called Mes parrains sont magiques (My godparents are magic) in France.
    • In Quebec, it's Tes désirs sont désordres (Your wishes are disorders), a pun on "Tes désirs sont des ordres" (Your wishes are orders).
  • Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats was renamed Les Entrechats.
  • While ReBoot kept its name in France, it became Mégabogues in Quebec (which tends more than France to gallicize computer terms).
  • Close Enough becomes De proches en proches ("Between Relatives") in Quebec. The series airs in France under its original title, though it's just the original English version with French subtitles.
  • Final Space becomes Gary a besoin d'espace ("Gary Needs Space") in Quebec.
  • We Bare Bears became Ours pour un et un pour t'ours (Bear for one and one for bears). It's a pun on "Tous pour un et un pour tous", or "All for one and one for all".
  • The Owl House is aired as Luz à Osville ("Luz in Osville") in France. In French, "os" means "bone" and "ville" means "city", so the show is literally called Luz in Bone City in French (referring to Boneborough, the town the characters live in).
  • The Loud House is aired as Bienvenue chez les Loud ("Welcome to the Louds'") in France.
  • Superman: The Animated Series became Superman: L'ange de Métropolis'' ("Superman, The Angel of Metropolis").
  • Braceface became "Sourire d'Enfer" ("A Wicked Smile").
  • The Huckleberry Hound Show became Roquet belles oreilles (Beautiful Ears Pug).
  • Precious Pupp became Mademoiselle Rose et Charlemagne. This actually makes sense in the context of the show. Roses may be pretty and sweet, yet they are thorny, similar to Granny Sweet aka Mademoiselle Rose. Charlemagne is the quintessential good king, yet in keeping with the theme, Precious Pupp is anything but good.
  • Top Cat became Le Pacha (a play between pacha, a noble title, and chat, cat).
  • Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner is Bip Bip et Coyote.
  • Winsome Witch became Sophie la sorcière.
  • Elinor Wonders Why became Elinor veut tout savoir (Elinor Wants to Know Everything).
  • While the series' name itself is an aversion, more than half of the episode titles of Batman: The Animated Series have been changed in the French localization. Here's an exhaustive list of them.
  • Hailey's On It! became Hailey sauve le monde (Hailey Saves the World).
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which is shortened in French to Tortues Ninja ("Ninja Turtles"):

    Other 
  • Not limited to media, either. In Quebec, Staples office supply stores are called "Bureau En Gros" (Wholesale Offices). Loblaws grocery store franchises are known as "Provigo", originally a separate franchise.
  • Kellogg's Coco Pops Coco Rocks became known as Coco Pops 2 Choc in France.

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