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Just for the record: Yes, it was always "Berenstain," and no, you are not living in a parallel universe. Unless you're from a parallel universe.

I say we need to stay vigilant here. Gaddafi with a G may be gone, but we still have not captured Qadaffi, Kaddafi, Gathafi, and Chanukkah.

This trope describes names and other terms which are not spelled consistently in officially published materials (and not fan-made translations), usually because of transliteration issues.

This most commonly happens in translations of Japanese media including Anime & Manga, although it also crops up in other languages. Situations include anything from vowel additions to unique-cipher dropping due to phoneme sets and writing systems. English, for example, is famous for many ways and rules of spelling (e.g., Americans generally dropping extra vowels such as in the word color, as compared with its Commonwealth spelling colour), despite having far fewer actual sounds they represent. Japanese has separate vowel-heavy syllabic and ideographic writing systems. Spanish has several familiar-looking letter combinations intended to be pronounced in specific ways.

Complicating the issue is that some names simply become popular enough in other languages that they're modified to fit them better, and you can't be sure if it's actually intended to be meaningful. In other cases there may be a specific foreign name that the original writer clearly intended given context, but which the translator was apparently not aware of and so erroneously interpreted.

Related to Adaptation Dye-Job (and/or other Adaptation Tropes, as the case may be). Compare with Rouge Angles of Satin, when a word or name is spelled incorrectly in a way that it is confused with another existent word, and Viewer Name Confusion, for when the name is spelled consistently but the viewers get it wrong.

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Example subpages:

Other examples:

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    Asian Animation 
  • With Noonbory and the Super 7, the most common spelling inconsistencies come from Mamby/Mambi, Jetybory/Jettybory, and Kikibory/Kikybory. Of these, the former of each are considered the official spelling (Mamby and Kikibory even have their names directly confirmed by episode titles).

    Audio Plays 
  • In The Dolls of New Albion, Annabel McAllistair's surname is spelt multiple different ways within the lyrics of the album, and there's not much fan consensus on which spelling is the definite one. Furthermore, even her first name changes significantly, being spelt alternately Annabel and Annabelle at the beginning (though Annabel seems to be more definitive, as that's the spelling used in the song titles) and later in the album changing to Annabella.
    Narrator: And Annabelle McAlistair who's raising up the dead
    Narrator: So Annabella destroys her doll, her beloved toy boy

    Comic Books 
  • Amazing-Man, the character, was usually spelled with a hyphen, but not always. The series he starred in was apparently formally titled Amazing Man Comics, although the cover title did use the hyphen until it was redone two years in (and shortly after that, Centaur went out of business).
  • Batgirl:
    • The original Bat-Girl, currently known as Flamebird, was originally Elizabeth "Betty" Kane. Starting post-Crisis her name has been written as "Bette" instead.
    • The fourth (or third, it really depends who you ask) Cassandra Cain, was given the name Black Bat after she gave up the Batgirl name. Some writers, however, spelled it Blackbat instead.
  • Some writers change how you spell the name of Dinah Drake, the original Black Canary, because she shares her name with her daughter (Dinah Lance). At least one writer has tried to rename her "Diana Drake".
  • The name of Diabolik's character Elisabeth Gay has been misspelled as Elizabeth, Elisabet, and even Elisabetta (the Italian equivalent).
  • Godzilla: Aftershock: This graphic novel misspells Vivienne Graham's first name as "Vivian".
  • In one panel of Jem and the Holograms (IDW) Eric's name is written as "Erik" on his coffee cup. This is possibly an in-series version of this.
  • Jimmy Tornado: Lupé's name is written without the accent in the magazine version, but with the accent in the album version.
  • Magneto. People are often confused as to the spelling of his preferred civilian name. Erik is sometimes written as Eric, and Lehnsherr is written as Lensherr as often as not.
  • Motu Patlu has this sometimes. It's either Motu or Moto, and it's either Dr. Jhatka or Dr. Ghatka.
  • Renee Montoya's first name has sometimes been spelled with only one E at the end, which would make it the masculine form of that name. It sometimes has an accented E at the end as well.
  • When the Sabrina the Teenage Witch comic came out it was "Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch". Over time the spelling of "teenage" changed and with it the series' title.
  • Spider-Man:
  • In Pre-Crisis Superman comics, the name of Supergirl's mother was Allura In-Ze. In later continuities, though, most of writers spell it Alura.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage), Michaelangelo. Spelled that way because Eastman and Laird didn't look up how to spell "Michelangelo."
  • From her debut in The New Teen Titans, Starfire's civilian nickname was spelled "Kory", but the New 52 began spelling her name "Kori". This was undone in DC Rebirth, and it's been spelled "Kory" ever since.
  • In one issue of Werewolf by Night, Buck Cowan's last name is misspelled as Cohen. The spelling of Jack's father's first name also alternates between Philip and Phillip.
  • Wonder Woman:
    • Is Diana's mother's name spelled Hippolyta or Hippolyte? Both have been used in canon, but the first is more common.
    • Wonder Woman (1942): Diana's merman friend's name has been spelled Ronno and Renno.
    • In the Golden Age the Heyday gals were triplets and their names were spelt Tillie, Millie and Lillie. The Legend of Wonder Woman (2016) reduces the Holliday Girls siblings to twins, and spells their names as Tilly and Milly.
  • X-Wing Rogue Squadron: The various weird spellings of Klivian, lampshaded by the man himself.
  • Zombies Christmas Carol: Scrooge's sister is alternately named Fan or Fran, sometimes differing between consecutive panels.

    Comic Strips 
  • In Over the Hedge, the name of Verne's nephew constantly alternated between Plushie and Plushy.

    Fairy Tales 
  • "The Death of Koschei the Deathless": Depending on this Russian tale's translation, the female lead's name is Maria or Marya. The name of the titular villain has been spelled as Koschei, Koshchei and Kashchey, among other names.

    Films — Animation 
  • An American Tail: Fievel, who is listed as "Feivel" in the beginning credits of the first movie, which is the actual Yiddish spelling. The spelling was changed to "Fievel" to avoid confusing American audiences who might otherwise pronounce it as "Fay-vel", but in other countries where the movie was released the "Feivel" spelling was left intact. Ironic because that's actually how it's pronounced in Yiddish, too.
  • Despicable Me: When Gru's profile is shown on Miss Hattie's computer, his first name is spelled as "Felonious," and in the Gru Family Tree, it's spelled as "Felonius."
  • Frozen (2013): Supplementary material isn't consistent on how to spell the names of Elsa and Anna's parents. "Agnarr" or "Agdar"? "Idun", "Idunn", or "Iduna"? By Frozen II, they settled on "Agnarr" and "Iduna".
  • One of the first examples may be the Sorcerer from Fantasia, all due to his name having been only a code-name between animators for decades, and popping up for the first time to the public in a Japanese video game. Is his real name Yen Sid, or Yensid?
  • Hercules (Pure Magic) was re-released by Phoenix Games as Legend of Herkules, with the change in spelling carrying over to the back-of-box blurb. And it also spells Hera's name "Heras", making it a literal "spell my name with an s".
  • My Little Pony: The Movie (1986): It's not clear how the plant that Reeka and Draggle are sent to harvest sap from and/or its same are supposed to be spelled. "Phlume", "Flume" and "Floom" all get the sound across, but no official spelling was ever released during G1's run. My Little Pony Generations eventually settled on "Flume", providing the first official written spelling of the word after thirty-five years.
  • The international subtitles for The Super Mario Bros. Movie can't agree on whether Mario's nickname for his brother is spelled Lu or Lou.
  • In Turning Red, some official materials spell Tae Young's name as "Tae-yung".

    Films — Live-Action 
  • In Animal Crackers, Captain Spaulding has the first name of "Jeffrey" in the film credits and in the script of the play, but "Geoffrey" in a newspaper headline also displayed at the start of the film. (Spaulding's name originally lacked the U, but was changed to avoid coincidental resemblance to persons living or dead.)
  • Mulch Diggum's last name is spelled "Diggems" on official Artemis Fowl merchandise.
  • The Awful Dr. Orloff: Orloff's name is variously spelled as 'Orloff' and 'Orlof'.
  • Carry On... Series:
    • Carry On, Sergeant:
      • The distributing media don't know whether to write William Hartnell's character's surname as either "Grimshaw" or "Grimshawe". Neither does the film itself, as the former spelling is used on the door of his quarters, and the latter is used on the chart showing the progress of his squad.
      • Dora Bryan's character is called "Norah" but the name has also been given as "Nora" from time to time.
    • Carry On Loving:
      • There is much debate as to whether Richard O'Callaghan's character is called "Bertram" or Bertrum". The DVD subtitles call him Bertram with an "a". Also, while his surname is often spelt "Muffet", the script gives it as "Muffett".
      • In addition, there is also the issue of whether the surnames of Hattie Jacques and Terry Scott's characters' names end with a double "t" or not. The DVD subtitles use "Plummet" and "Philpot".
      • Also, if Janet Mahoney's character's name ends with an "e" or not. The DVD subtitles call her "Gaye".
    • Carry On Henry: While Julian Orchard's character's name is often spelt the "Duc de Poncenay", according to behind-the-scenes material, his character is actually the "Duc de Pincenay".
    • Carry On Abroad:
      • Barbara Windsor's character's last name is sometimes mistakenly spelt with a "p". However, both a place card with her name and the DVD subtitles correctly spell it as "Tomkins".
      • Whether Peter Butterworth's character's name is spelt with an "e" or an "é" is up for debate. The script calls him "Pepe", while the DVD subtitles call him "Pépé".
      • Is Nicholas' last name spelt "Phipps" or "Fipps"?
      • Is Ray Brooks' character called "Giorgio" or "Georgio"? The DVD subtitles use the former.
    • Carry On Dick:
      • There is debate as to if Barbara Windsor plays a character called "Harriet" or "Harriett". The DVD subtitles use the former spelling.
      • The DVDs can't decide if John Clive's tailor character is called "Isaac" or "Isaak".
  • Doctor... Series:
    • Doctor at Sea: The crewman with the bird is called "Sandeman" on the DVD subtitles, but "Sandyman" in the script.
    • Doctor at Large: Is the surname of Shirley Eaton's character "Macpherson" or "McPherson"? The DVD subtitles use the former, but the script uses the latter.
    • Doctor in Love: Dr. Nicola Barrington's nickname is "Nicky" on the DVD subtitles, but "Nikki" in the publicity booklet.
    • Doctor in Distress (1963):
      • Tommy's last name is "French" on the DVD subtitles, but "Ffrench" in the script.
      • Mylène Demongeot's character is called "Sonja Stromberg" on the DVD subtitles and the film's trailer, but "Sonia Stronberg" in the script.
    • Doctor in Clover:
      • The physiotherapist Dr. Grimsdyke is in love with is called "Janine" on the DVD subtitles, but "Jeannine" in the script.
      • The nurse with a thing for Miles' surname is spelt "Holliday" on the DVD subtitles, but "Holiday" in the script.
      • The campy actor who works with Miss Rubikov is called "Sidney" on the DVD subtitles, but "Sydney" in the script.
  • Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys: Irys's name is just as often spelled as Iris, like the flower, and nobody can really agree on which spelling to use.
    • It's also worth noting that Iris/Irys is an in-universe nickname derived from a deceased cat. The creature's actual name in mythology and records is Ryuseicho, which in turn is derived from the quadrants of the sky that the Vermilion Bird constellation is in.
  • Godzilla:
    • Jeffrey Angles' afterword in Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again notes that the script for Godzilla uses Ōto Island rather than the more popular fan-spelling "Ōdo Island", but that he decided to go with the fan convention with his translation to avoid angering hardcore fans.
    • In almost all English versions except Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993), the monster Radon (from "pteranodon") is called Rodan. Speculation as to why it was changed includes confusion with the element radon and a conflict with the name of a British brand of soap; nobody's exactly sure why.
    • There's also King Shisa, whose name in English is spelled either King Seesar or King Caesar.
  • Mélanie Laurent's character in Inglourious Basterds is named Shosanna, but a number of sources, from fans to articles to even the film's own Wikipedia page, misspell it as "Shoshanna".
  • The Hangover: Is it rufilin or roofalin?
  • Depending on the source, the heroine of King Kong spells her name as either Ann or Anne.
  • Same goes for the heroine of Legend (1985)—her name is either spelled Lili or Lily, and not even the film's own fandom is sure which is correct.
  • Mulan (2020): Xian Lang's name has also been spelled as "Xianniang" in official materials.
  • The tablet owner from Night at the Museum's name is popularly spelled Ahkmenrah, but other spellings exists as well. In the Nintendo DS Licensed Game of the movie's sequel, they added the spelling "Akmenrah" and "Akhmenrah", which was mentioned during the beginning, when Jedediah called Larry on the phone.
  • Zep Hindle from Saw is commonly mistakenly referred to as "Zepp" by viewers and fans due to his name being written as such in the soundtrack "Hello Zepp". Charlie Clouser deliberately spelled his name in the song's title like that as a Shout-Out Pun to the jazz band Zapp.
  • Fionnula McConnel from The Sopranos (Warner) has her first name spelt as "Finnoula" in Our Ladies (2019).
  • Qo'noS is titled "Kronos" in Star Trek Into Darkness. The script for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country had used the "Kronos" spelling, and background references mention that it is the anglicanized version of the Klingon word.
  • Early The Three Stooges shorts had Curly billed as "Curley".
  • The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity: Some subtitles spell Zhang Ping's name "Chang Ping". The confusion started because the character in her name, 长, can be read as both "cháng" and "zhǎng".

    Mathematics and Science 

    Multiple Media 

    Music 
  • The Japanese band Bow Wow later switched the Latin spelling of their name to Vow Wow. This might have been to avoid confusion with another band named Bow Wow Wow, or the eponymous rapper.
  • Most of her CDs Romanize her name "Shéna Ringö", but she's gone through plenty of other Romanizations, so almost nobody humors her and instead goes for the literal Romanization, Shiina Ringo.
  • Florence and the Machine, or Florence + the Machine, or even Florence + the machine? Nobody can decide.
  • Woven Hand or Wovenhand? He's released albums as both.
  • Country Music singer Janie Fricke couldn't seem to make up her mind as to whether her last name was spelled "Fricke" or "Frickie". Her albums used both spellings.
  • K. T. Oslin's 1990 single "Mary and Willie" is sometimes missing its final E. The album spells it "Willi", but Joel Whitburn's Hot Country Songs book spells it "Willie".
  • Invoked by Country Music singer Neal McCoy. His real last name is McGaughey, which he changed to the phonetic spelling of McGoy early in his career. He ultimately changed to the more common McCoy due to people constantly getting "McGoy" wrong.
  • Years earlier, country music pioneer Ernest Tubb was frequently referred to — often by the less-sophisticated — as Ernie Tubbs, among other variants. This continued well into his last years of performing (prior to his 1984 death).
  • beatMARIO's Touhou arrange track ナイト・オブ・ナイツ can be read as "Night of Nights", "Knight of Nights," "Night of Knights", or "Knight of Knights". The artist has stated that all four readings are correct. Thus, things get awkward when the title has to officially appear in Roman script; the English-language versions of maimai and Groove Coaster in particular write out "Night of Knights / Knight of Nights" as if the developers narrowed it down to two choices but couldn't decide further.
  • The name of Lovers & Liars is spelled both "Lovers And Liars" and "Lovers & Liars".
  • Sandi Patty's 1979 debut album "Sandi's Songs" had a typo where her last name was spelled with an "i" at the end instead of a "y", and considering it would be almost 20 years later before it was corrected maybe she felt a relatively minor misspelling wasn't worth issuing a complaint over.
  • The title of YOASOBI's "Halzion" is spelled as "Halcyon" at the end of its music video's English subtitles, and "Harujion" in The Sims 4.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • The latter is more commonly used by Spanish sources themselves, yet English sources seem to be divided on whether it should be written technico or técnico...
  • Shawn Michaels's group of friends either goes by The Kliq or The Clique.
  • Princesa Sugehit was so named because it was believed she would reach great heights in the industry in spite of her small stature, but for literally decades no one seemed to agree on just how her name should be spelled. Sugehit(her real middle name as later revealed with her unmasking) became the most common after CMLL settled on it, but given it pronounced "Suu-haay", this is probably still wrong (and even CMLL occasional spelled it Sugeth instead before that reveal). Other common variations are Suhey (beautiful), Suhei (Sunset), Sugey (swamp flower/beautiful star), Sujey (Gift from God), and Sujei (a mythological queen of stars, which is probably also wrong considering she is a princess).
  • Most lucha libre enterprises tend to spell their names Faby and Mary likely because the latter is a very common name and it goes with their mother Lady Apache, yet it is very common to see the Apache sisters spelled Fabi and Mari instead online and in publications, likely because their full names are Fabiola and Mariela.
  • While most official sources seemed to agree the wrestler's name is El Texano Jr, it is not uncommon to find the name written as Tejano Jr with a j instead, a j making a completely different sound than the one that then follows. This is confusing because Texano and Tejano were two completely different wrestlers, thus the son's lineage would suggest x.
  • Candice Michelle was infamous for accepting both Candace and Candice without preference, though the latter is most often accepted as the proper spelling.
  • CMLL has always used Ephesto for the former Hombre Sin Nombre but Hefesto is sometimes used by others having the Greek god in mind. It doesn't help that the two names are pronounced the same way in Spanish, despite having different meanings.
  • Ric Flair's first name would sometimes have a "k" at the end. The most infamous instance of this was the "Rick Flair" nameplate on the Big Gold Belt, which was later replaced with a new nameplate without the "k" on "Ric".

    Tabletop Games 
  • Chess has many openings from Russian players, among them the Petroff/Petrov/Russian defense (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6), and the Tchigorin/Chigorin defense (1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6).
  • The drow chief god in some Dungeons & Dragons settings is either spelled Lolth or Lloth.

    Theatre 
  • Aida (Verdi): In early-20th-century English-language books, Aida was spelled Aïda, Radamès as Rhadames, and Ramfis as Ramphis.
  • Cats: Rumpleteazer. Spelled Rumpelteazer in the original poems and on the official website, but credited as Rumpleteazer in the 1998 movie version. The -le spelling is now more common. The z is also occasionally replaced with an s.
  • The Merchant of Venice contains a character called, depending on the editor, "Launcelot" or "Lancelot". This doesn't seem so bad... except that the folios call him "Launcelet" or "Lancelet", and spell his last name, Gobbo, alternately as "Jobbe" or "Job".

    Toys 
  • In Japan, from 1996 until 2008, Tamagotchi was officially spelled as "TAMAGOTCH'S", closer to its English translation of "egg watch". Beginning with the release of the 2009 anime, merchandise spelled the franchise's name as "Tamagotchi".

    Visual Novels 
  • Saber from Fate/stay night is identified in Character Material IV as "Altria," but the most commonly-used spelling according to Google is "Arturia," followed by "Artoria." Both have their logical points: Saber is, in fact, King Arthur. "Arturia" could be a plausible feminization of Arturus, while "Artoria" IS the feminine of Artorius, a Roman family name some historians have connected to the Arthur legend. Some fans argue that "Altria" is canon, while others say that it should be given no more credence than El-Melloi II being styled "Load" instead of "Lord."
    • Other Type-Moon examples: Is Ilyasviel's Servant Herakles, Heracles or Hercules? Is Ilyasviel herself spelled with one or two L's in the first syllable?
    • Fate/Grand Order threw the fandom a curveball by apparently romanizing Mashu's name as "Matthew." For the moment it seems she's been canonized as just "Mash."
  • Higurashi: When They Cry: "Onikakushi" (Demoned Away) is the first arc. "Onigafuchi" (Demon's Abyss) is what Hinamizawa used to be known as. As well as confusion between the two, the latter is sometimes spelled with a double C; this is wrong as it would imply a doubled consonant in pronunciation that's not there.
  • In the first case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All, police officer Maggey Byrde is put on trial for the murder of her coworker and boyfriend Dustin Prince. One piece of evidence that would implicate Maggey is a photo of the victim, who seemed to have written his killer's name in the sand shortly before death. There is one problem with this piece of evidence, however: the name is spelled "Maggie", which would indicate that whoever wrote it only heard her name, but didn't know how it was spelled. One would think Prince would know the spelling of his own girlfriend's name, which is a major piece of evidence exonerating Maggey.
  • The Sunrider games and their official website seem to be in disagreement over how certain characters’ names should be spelt. Is Sola’s full name Sola di Ryuvia, or Sola vi Ryuvia? Is it Claude Trilleo, or Claude Triello? The games consistently use the former spellings, while the website and promotional materials use the latter.
  • Your Turn to Die: Is it Joe Tazuna or Jou Tazuna? Most merchandise and in-game references go with "Joe", but occasionally "Jou" is used instead.

    Web Animation 
  • Albi and Azul. Is it spelled "Abbi" or "Albi"? The video titles spell it "Abbi", but the series intro spells it "Albi".
  • Homestar Runner:
    • Doreauxgard. The only source for the spelling of his name is an XML file.
    • Some senders of Strong Bad Emails misspell Strong Bad's name as Strongbad, which he often mocks and corrects.
      Strong Bad: (reading "Hey Strongbad" in an email) Hey two words. Two different words. That are not one word. That are "Strong" and "Bad".
    • Peasant's Quest also does this — if you type "make friends with Kerrek", the game responds "Look, it didn't work for Strongbad and it's not gonna work for you either."
  • Nickel on Inanimate Insanity was often typoed as "Nickle" by voters, summoning what appears to be a living human who goes by the name "Nick-Le". And he's highly offended.
  • Red vs. Blue:
    • In Seasons 10, 12, and 13, Malcolm Hargrove's given name is spelled "Malcom". This is changed to "Malcolm" in Red Vs. Blue: The Ultimate Fan Guide.
    • Axel's codename is spelled both "Axel" and "Axle". He signs Carolina's cast as "Axle", and his personnel file lists him as "AGENT AXEL a.k.a. AGENT AXLE".
  • RWBY:
    • Death Stalkers were spelled "Deathstalkers" in official subtitles when first introduced in Volume 1, Episode 8. However, from the ninth episode, both in-universe spelling and the official subtitles spell it as two words. While other spelling inconsistencies in early subtitles for Volume 1 (such as "Grimm" missing a "m" in the pilot episode) appear to have been corrected over time, this inconsistency remains.
    • Almost all official material spells Neo's name as "Neopolitan", including Chibi, Combat Ready, Monty Oum's facebook page and the 2019 Companion book. However, both RWBY: Amity Arena and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle have it spelled "Neo Politan" based on the references files Amity received.

    Web Original 
  • Amoridere:
    • On the "Sunnie the Pikachu" blog, Sunflower's nickname is either spelled "Sunnie" or "Sunni", though the former is the most consistent spelling.
    • Is Brittani's name spelled "Brittanie", "Brittani", "Britni", or "Britani"? So far the most constant spelling seems to be "Brittani".
    • From Killerbunnies (the wiki), Oleander's nickname on her official image is spelled "Imogen", whereas here and her profile it's spelled "Imogene". Then again, it is possible it couldn't be spelled that way because of the character limit in the name boxes on DeviantArt.
  • The Nostalgia Critic: It's ambiguous whether the resident Loony Fan character is spelled "Hyper Fan Girl" or "Hyper Fangirl." Most video titles and promotional material spell "Fan Girl" as two words, which gets confusing as fangirl is typically spelled as a single word. However, some material (such as the title of her Q&A video and her eponymous song on the Phantom of the Opera musical review album) refers to her as "Hyper Fangirl." In her hate comments video, Hyper claims that "Fan Girl" is a misspelling of her name...despite the title of that very video spelling her name as "Fan Girl."
  • The subs for Vaguely Recalling JoJo series spell Avdol as Abdul. According to the rules of Arabic, both spellings are correct.


Alternative Title(s): Transliteration Trouble

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