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To be fair, those who don't speak Japanese would likely call it Midnight Maximum Tune otherwise.

"Tony Hawk's Skateboarding. Okay, it's not as catchy as Pro Skater, but did you know that Proskater is a curse word in the UK? Yeah, it's true, it's very bad to say. So when this game came out in the UK, they changed the name of it. And if you don't like that, then you can suck my proskater."

Translating titles makes sense. After all, an English audience will have a better idea what a film is about when it's named Seven Samurai rather than Shichinin no Samurai.

But that doesn't mean you can't change the title around if it's already in English (or whatever the language of the market). There are multiple reasons for doing this: maybe it's a sequel and the original never came out, it uses an idiom or cultural reference that won't be understood overseas, a Pun-Based Title that does not translate into other languages, somebody else already owns a trademark on that name in your country, the original title doesn't make much sense in the country it's being released in, or maybe your marketing department has just decided that having lots of different names for the same thing is better. And sometimes a famous actor from that market is in the movie, and the makers want that to be highlighted.

Most of this is Executive Meddling from the assumption that Viewers Are Morons, and it causes no end of confusion when fans from different countries try to discuss the same thing. Compare Homogenous Multinational Ad Campaign and American Kirby Is Hardcore. Contrast with Censored Title, where a work has its title changed due to obscenity reasons, not marketing or legal reasons.

Dub Name Change is this trope for in-universe terminology and character names. If the different names are instead given by different factions In-Universe because the real name is unknown/unpronounceable/in a different language to them, that is a case of Reporting Names.

If a title is in a foreign language, the translated title may be accurate, or may be a Completely Different Title. See Dolled-Up Installment and Translation Matchmaking, when the new title makes one installment "part of" another popular work.


Examples:


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    Anime & Manga 
  • Ah! Megami-sama! was published in the U.S. under the title Oh! My Goddess, after the phrase "Oh My God!", despite the fact that the English title used in Japan is Ah! My Goddess.
  • Assassination Classroom: The series was called "Invincible Teacher" in the Philippines when it aired on GMA, while in the Animax airing it was still referred to by its original title.
  • Shingeki no Kyoujin, which means "The Advancing Titan(s)" (or, slightly more loosely, "Attack of the Titans" - as it is known in some European non-English markets) in Japanese was renamed to the rather Engrish-y Attack on Titan. Thankfully the title is the only wonky part of the translation.
  • When the manga/anime Captain Harlock was imported in France, the main character Captain Harlock was renamed into Albator. Translators thought that Captain Harlock was too close from Captain Haddock from Tintin and young people would be confused by the two characters.
  • Captain Tsubasa is Super Campeones or Los Super Campeones in Latin American Spanish, Super Campeões or Capitão Falcão in Brazilian Portuguese, Olive et Tom in French, Flash Kicker in Indian, Captain Majid in Arab languages, Holly e Benji in Italian, Campeones: Oliver y Benji in Castilian Spanish, and in Vietnamese as Subasa.
  • Cardcaptor Sakura:
    • The anime was known as Cardcaptors in English speaking countries such as the US and the UK. In some other countries it is known as Sakura Cardcaptors. However, many American viewers would know it by the Japanese title, because the bumpers on Kids' WB!, the block where it aired, still calls it "Cardcaptor Sakura". Part of the reasoning behind the rename is because the series was edited by way of a Dub-Induced Plotline Change to make Syaoran Li a more equal main character since they didn't think it would do well with the major focus being on Sakura. So, the two were collectively called Cardcaptors.
    • It was broadcasted by the title Card Captor Cherry in Korean.
  • Chrono Crusade was originally published as Chrno Crusade in Japanese as a result of a typo. The English editions corrected this and later editions of the manga in Japan followed suit.
  • Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door was released in the West as Cowboy Bebop: The Movie to avoid conflicts with Bob Dylan.
  • This happens a lot to the Digimon franchise.
    • Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Tamers and Digimon Frontier were merged together under the banner title of Digimon: Digital Monsters in numerous countries outside of Japan, respectively becoming seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4 of said banner show.
    • Outside of Japan (or at least in Singapore, the USA, the UK, Latin America and Germany), Digimon Savers is known as Digimon Data Squad.
    • Digimon Xros Wars is called Digimon Fusion in the U.S. dub, and any dubs based on it (such as the Latin American one). The same series is known as Digimon Fusion Battles in the Disney XD Malaysia airing (which utilizes an alternate English dub, as shown in this trailer) and in the Italian one. Coincidentally, "Digimon Fusion Battles" used to be the Working Title for the U.S. dub prior to removing "battles" in the title.
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is simply Kimetsu no Yaiba in Japanse (roughly translating as "Demon Destruction Blade" - a modification of the originally planned "Kisatsu no Yaiba" - "Demon Slaying Blade"), but the English title adds Demon Slayer before that to likely make the premise more clear. In France the manga was initially known as Les Rôdeurs de la nuit ("The Night Prowlers") before being discontinued and restarted under the English title; Shueisha, however, left the series with a completely new title in spanish: Guardianes de la Noche ("Night Guardians"). Some other markets use just the Japanese title or just the translation of the first part of the (rather Colon Cancer-like) English title.
  • In the United States, the portions of the Dragon Ball manga that correspond to what was animated under the name Dragon Ball Z is released under the latter name, as the anime was by far the most visible portion of the franchise.
    • Dragon Ball Kai was released internationally under the title Dragon Ball Z Kai. Likewise, when the second half of that series was released in the West, it came as Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters, when the original series kept the same title all the way through.
    • Funimation renamed the original 13 Dragon Ball Z movies when localizing them for the west - for example, "Close Fight - A Violent Fight - A Super Fierce Fight" got translated as Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan, while "Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Goku Can't Do It, Who Will?" got translated as Wrath of the Dragon. In fact, basically all of the DBZ's movies were renamed to names that described the antagonist and/or their goal, instead actually translating the original name.
  • Dragon Quest:
    • The manga Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai is Las Aventuras de Fly in Spanish and French. It's more-or-less a direct translation, accounting for the fact that the hero's name was changed from Dai to Fly in the process.
    • The anime series Dragon Quest: Abel Yuusha (Legend of the Hero Abel) was localized as Dragon Warrior in the US, matching the video game localization.
  • Dr. Slump is known as IQ Professor (IQ博士) in Hong Kong, and the first anime series was known as Genius Professor and his Robot Doll (天才博士和他的机器娃娃) in China.
  • Fist of the North Star (aka Hokuto no Ken) is known as Ken il Guerriero ("Ken: The Warrior") in Italy and Ken le Survivant ("Ken: The Survivor") in France. Both of these titles are likely derived from Ken: The Great Bear Fist, which was Toei Animation's proposed English title for the anime before they went with Fist of the North Star. The title Fist of the North Star itself is not an exact translation of Hokuto no Ken as the "Hokuto" in the Japanese title refers to the "Big Dipper" constellation and not to the North Star in particular, which is not actually part of the seven stars that forms the Big Dipper.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood was titled Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Fullmetal Alchemist in Japan to distinguish it from the 2003 series, using both, the original Japanese title (which literally translates to "Alchemist of Steel") and the English title for the franchise.
  • Fushigina Koara Burinkī (The Wondrous Koala Blinky) came to the US as Noozles, in French as Les Koalous, and in Spanish as Sandy y sus koalas.
  • When Viz Media translated Gash Bell, the title and the main character were renamed to Zatch Bell!, for one of two reasons: 1) The translator thought the censors would object to "Gash," as a "gash" in American English means either a really nasty wound or obscure slang for the vulva, or 2) They figured "Zatch" has more zing than "Gash".
  • Genesis Climber MOSPEADA was broadcasted by the title Macross in Korean for unknown reason.
  • Ghost in the Shell is a more thematically relevant name than the Japanese name Kōkaku Kidōtai. The Japanese name translates into "Mobile Armored Riot Police", a definitely more literal title.
  • Gunnm is published as Battle Angel Alita in English, as the original title, a Portmantitle-type One-Word Title of "Gun" + "Dream", was considered too ambiguous to be marketable. The titular Alita herself was originally named Gally.
  • Hoshi no Kirby ("Kirby of the Stars") was localized as Kirby: Right Back at Ya! by 4Kids Entertainment.
  • Ikki Tousen: The US and UK manga localization by Tokyopop calls the series Battle Vixens.
  • Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen (roughly "Kaguya Wants to be Confessed To: The Geniuses' War of Love and Brains") was given the much shorter title Kaguya-sama: Love Is War when it was licensed by Viz Media. This same title would also be used for the anime adaptation.
  • Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen Mae Hashutsujo (roughly "This is a Police Station in Front of Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward") was known as Kochikame overseas. In Korea, it was known as "여기는 공원앞 파출소" (This is the Police Station in front of a Park).
  • Kodomo no Jikan was to be titled Nymphet in the US by Seven Seas Entertainment, but only the manga, as the anime is still on No Export for You, and the Seven Seas release of the manga was cancelled due to its content.
  • Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o! (lit. A Blessing on This Wonderful World!) was localised as KonoSuba, which was also an Officially Shortened Title. In some regions, the anime was localised as KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World!, blending the Japanese and English titles.
  • Kyattou Ninden Teyandee (Cat Ninja Legend Teyandee) was heavily Americanized as Samurai Pizza Cats.
  • In Japan, Level 5's model robot-fighting franchise is called Danball Senki or "Cardboard War-Machines", referencing the arenas made of special cardboard that make the robot battles possible. When the franchise was released internationally, it was renamed LBX: Little Battlers eXperience, which is the name of the robots themselves (even in the original version).
  • Mach Go Go Go! was localized as Speed Racer.
  • Makai Tenshō: Jigoku-hen (Demonic Resurrection: Portrait of Hell) was released as Ninja Resurrection in the US due to the popularity of Ninja Scroll.
  • In the original Japanese as well as the English manga release of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, "Mermaid Melody" is the subtitle (although it comes before the main title... supertitle?). In the German version and ADV Films' proposed English dub, it was the other way around, probably to avoid Title Confusion.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:
    • The series was originally titled in Japan Shin Kidō Senki Gundam W or New Mobile Report Gundam Wing in English.
    • Mobile Suit Gundam Wing has a Spin-Off manga named Gundam Wing Dual Story: G-Unit, which was released in 1996...the same year 50 Cent's rap group of the same name formed. When the manga was brought to America in the early 2000s, Tokyopop was forced to rename it Mobile Suit Gundam: The Last Outpost.
  • Crunchyroll's simulcast of Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse shortened the title to just Total Eclipse.
  • The anime of Nanamaru Sanbatsu was brought over to the west as Fastest Finger First.
  • Pokémon: The English version calls different parts of the same season by different names.
    • The anime itself, titled Pocket Monsters in Japan, was initially aired as Pokémon in English (an Officially Shortened Title), before being renamed Pokémon: The Series.
    • The first part of the anime was retroactively named Pokémon: The Original Series outside of Japan. And sometimes, localization would split the original series into two parts based on generations: Pokémon the Series: The Beginning and Pokémon the Series: Gold and Silver.
      • The first season, simply Pocket Monsters in Japan, was called Pokémon: Indigo League in the English dub.
      • Pocket Monsters: Orange Shotō Hen (Pocket Monster: Orange Archipelago Chapter) became Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands.
      • Pocket Monsters: Kin Gin Hen (Pocket Monster: Gold Silver Chapter) was split into Pokémon: The Johto Journeys, Pokémon: Johto League Champions and Pokémon: Master Quest.
    • Pocket Monsters Advance Generation became Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire. In the English dub, it was split into Pokémon: Advanced, Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, Pokémon: Advanced Battle and Pokémon: Battle Frontier.
    • Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl became Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl. The English dub was split into seasons titled Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl: Battle Dimension, Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl: Galactic Battles and Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl: Sinnoh League Victors.
    • Pocket Monsters Best Wishes became Pokémon the Series: Black & White. The first season was called Pokémon: Black & White in the English dub.
      • Pocket Monsters Best Wish Season 2 became Pokémon: Black & White: Rival Destinies.
      • Pocket Monsters Best Wish Season 2 Episode N became Pokémon: Black & White: Adventures in Unova.
      • Pocket Monsters Best Wish Season 2 Decolora Adventure became Pokémon: Black & White: Adventures in Unova and Beyond.
    • Pokémon the Series: XY:
      • Pocket Monsters XY became Pokémon the Series: XY, and was when the English dub first started using the title Pokémon the Series rather than just Pokémon. Its second season was titled Pokémon the Series: XY Kalos Quest in the English dub.
      • The final season was titled Pocket Monsters XYZ in Japan, while the title of the anime overall was rebranded as Pocket Monster XY&Z. The English dub titled it Pokémon the Series: XYZ.
    • Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon became Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon. The second season was titled Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Adventures in the English dub, and the third was Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends.
    • After the Sun and Moon anime, the title in Japan reverted to simply Pocket Monsters. In order to avoid confusion with the first season of the anime, the English dub gave it the title Pokémon Journeys: The Series. The seasons in the English dub were titled Pokémon Journeys: The Series, Pokémon Master Journeys: The Series and Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series.
    • Pocket Monsters: Liko to Roy no Tabidachi (Pocket Monsters: Liko and Roy's Departure) became Pokémon Horizons: The Series.
  • Pokémon manga:
    • The English versions of Pokémon Special (North America and Singapore) were renamed Pokémon Adventures - because the use of "Special" sounds like it's a one-episode wonder rather than something with a continuing storyline. In addition, the North American releases of Adventures stopped for a while and were pretty far behind, so they tried to catch up by running later story arcs concurrently as separate series, named Pokémon Adventures: [chapter subtitle] (such as Diamond and Pearl/Platinum or HeartGold & SoulSilver).
    • The original release of the Yellow chapter was billed "Yellow Caballero", tying into the choice of incorporating a little Gratuitous Spanish in the dialogue.
    • Starting with Black and White, Viz attempts to translate the chapters as the individual rounds are coming out in Japan. To release those rounds in the US and Canada at a faster pace instead of having to wait and collect enough for a normal-sized collection, Viz releases smaller books containing half the rounds of a usual one and drops "Adventures" from the title so that they'd simply be Pokémon [chapter] (while noting them as "Pokémon Adventures special editions" on the back cover). Then after a few years, they later re-release the rounds in new collections with the original size and title.
    • Viz made the choice to publish the entirety of the Diamond and Pearl arc of Special after they published the entirety of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure!, so they added "Platinum" to the arc's name, probably to avoid confusion and/or self-copyright issues.
    • The first Italian release of the Red and Blue arc was renamed Pokémon: Le Grandi Storie a Fumetti ("The Great Comicbook stories"). The release was dropped two thirds in. In 2015 they began again to translate Special in Italian: The Black and White arc was released just as Pokémon Black and White, and later the earlier arcs (Red, Blue and Green, Yellow and Gold, Silver and Crystal) were released as Pokémon: La Grande Avventura ("The Great Adventure").
  • Pretty Cure:
  • Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden ("Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth Full Power Ninja Chronicles") was localized as Rock Lee and his Ninja Pals in America.
  • Battle Network Rockman.EXE, or Rockman.EXE, was localized as MegaMan NT Warrior. The second series, Rockman EXE Axess, was localized as MegaMan NT Warrior Axess.
  • The Rose of Versailles became Lady Oscar for most European countries.
  • Rurouni Kenshin was known as Samurai X outside of the English and Japanese versions.
  • Saint Seiya has been refferred to as "Los Caballeros Del Zodiaco" in Spanish, "Les Chevaliers du Zodiac" in French, etc., which led to a few English dubbed versions being called "Knights of the Zodiac".
  • Sailor Moon's full first season/series title, Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon or Pretty Soldier/Guardian Sailor Moon, usually localized as Sailor Moon. It was also broadcast by the title Sailor Moon, Fairy from the Moon in Korean.
  • The Boys' Love manga Sex Pistols was renamed Love Pistols by its American publisher BLU Manga, undoubtedly to avoid a trademark dispute with the band Sex Pistols.
  • Shin Lupin III was shown in the US as Lupin the Third.
  • The Slayers TV series was released outside of Japan as The Slayers. The Slayers OAV and movies retained the original name, because said versions were licensed to ADV Films.
  • The Stitch! anime was titled Yuna & Stitch for the show's German dub, maintaining the typical nomenclature of its parent franchise, though oddly it was the only dubbed version to do this.
  • Many Studio Ghibli movies had different titles when they were localised.
    • Tenkū no Shiro Laputa was translated as Laputa: Castle in the Sky in Europe and Australia, but in America, the "Laputa" was dropped from the title and it became simply Castle in the Sky. The reason for the change is that "la puta" is Spanish for "the whore".
    • Majo no Takkyūbin (Witch's Delivery Service) became Kiki's Delivery Service.
    • Omoide Poro Poro (Memories Come Tumbling Down) became Only Yesterday.
    • Umi ga Kikoeru (I Can Hear the Sea) became Ocean Waves.
    • Heisei Tanuki Gassen Pom Poko (Heisei-era Raccoon Dog War Pom Poko) was simplified to just Pom Poko.
    • Mimi o Sumaseba (If You Listen Closely) was localised as Whisper of the Heart, in order to make the meaning of the title clearer to English-speaking audiences.
    • Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away) became simply Spirited Away.
    • Neko no Ongaeshi (The Cat's Repayment) became The Cat Returns.
    • Ged Senki (Ged's War Chronicles) became Tales from Earthsea, taking the name from a short story collection.
    • Kari-gurashi no Arrietty (Arrietty the Borrower) became The Secret World of Arrietty in North America and simply Arrietty everywhere else.
    • Coquelicot-zaka Kara (From Coquelicot Hill) became From Up on Poppy Hill. (Coquelicot is a shade of red, named after a vernacular French word for the poppy.)
    • Omoide no Marnie (Marnie of [My] Memories) became When Marnie Was There.
    • The Red Turtle was released in Japan as Red Turtle: Aru Shima no Monogatari (Red Turtle: The Story of the Island).
    • Aya to Majo (Aya and the Witch) became Earwig and the Witch.
  • Tetsujin 28-Go (Iron Man No.28) was localized as Gigantor.
  • Tetsuwan Atomu (The Mighty Atom) was localized as Astro Boy in English, and as Space Boy Atom in Korean.
  • Tenchi Muyo!: Here are their original titles in Japanese:
    • Tenchi Muyo! (OVA): Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki; when Funimation got the US rights to the Tenchi franchise, the OVAs would be released under the original title, from OVA 3 onwards.
    • Tenchi Universe: Tenchi Muyo!
    • Tenchi in Tokyo: Shin Tenchi Muyo! (New Tenchi Muyo!)
    • Tenchi Muyo! The Daughter of Darkness: Tenchi Muyo! Manatsu no Eve (Tenchi Muyo! Midsummer's Eve)
    • Tenchi Forever!: Tenchi Muyo! in Love 2: Haruka No Omoi (Tenchi Muyo! in Love 2: Distant Memories)
    • Pretty Sammy (OVA): Magical Girl Pretty Samy
    • Magical Project S: Magical Girl Pretty Samy TV
    • When both Tenchi Universe and Tenchi in Tokyo were aired together in the Philippines, they aired together as one show under the name Tenchi Muyo TV!.
  • The Tokyo Mew Mew anime was localized as Mew Mew Power in the US by 4Kids.
  • When the anime adaptation of UFO Princess Valkyrie was released in English, ADV Films retitled it UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie, the reason for that is because at the time, ADV had licensed quite a few series that had "Princess" in the title and stores were asking them not to license anymore series with "Princess" in the title because the weren't selling very well, this prompted ADV the alter the series' name.
  • Yuri Genre manga Yagate Kimi ni Naru (lit. Eventually Becoming You) was localised under the English title Bloom Into You.
  • Yoroiden Samurai Troopers found its way to the US as Ronin Warriors.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters became simply Yu-Gi-Oh! outside of Japan, as the anime simply known as Yu-Gi-Oh! in Japanese (referred to as "Season Zero" by the fanbase) was never released outside of its native country. Similarly, the sequel series Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX was simply called Yu-Gi-Oh! GX internationally. After that, the Japanese anime dropped the "Duel Monsters" from the title, and the titles were the same in and out of Japan from then on.
    • In a rare "English title first" example for an anime, as well as a reversal of the above examples, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light (produced by 4Kids Entertainment) was later released in Japan with the title Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Hikari no Pyramid.
    • Gekijōban Yu-Gi-Oh!: Chō-Yūgō! Toki o Koeta Kizuna (Yu-Gi-Oh! the Movie: Super Fusion! Bonds That Transcend Time) had its title simplified to Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time in English.

    Asian Animation 
  • Iron Kid is known as Eon Kid in English-speaking countries.
  • Kung Fu Wa is called Kung Fu Sock in the UK, this is a literal translation since "wa" means sock in Chinese.
  • The Filipino dub of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf translates the title as Pleasant Goat and the Big Bad Wolf.

    Automobiles 
  • The AC Cobra sports car was called Shelby Cobra in the US due to an International Coproduction between AC Cars and Shelby American Inc.
  • Subverted in a popular urban legend says Chevrolet had to call the car Americans know as "Nova" something else in Spanish-speaking locales, because no va in Spanish means, "[It] doesn't go." The phrase actually does mean "it doesn't go" but there was no effect on the car's sales because the word nova means the same thing in Spanish as in English. Snopes.com link
  • Unlike the Mitsubishi Pajero, which is known as Montero in most Spanish-speaking countries and Shogun in the UK. "Pajero", you see, roughly means "wanker" in several dialects of Spanish. The Montero nameplate can also refer to a related but separate model marketed in some areas as the Challenger or Pajero Sport.
  • The Subaru Legacy was rebadged as the Liberty due to a perceived clash with charity organisation Legacy Australia.
  • The sedan version of Mitsubishi's sixth-generation Mirage, dubbed by the company as "Mitsubishi Attrage", was marketed as the Mirage G4 in certain markets. Mitsubishi Philippines senior adviser Masaaki Yamada stated that the reason why they went for the G4 nameplate was they felt that "Attrage" had negative connotations in the Filipino language, as it sounded too similar to the Tagalog word atras or "going backwards". This was presumably to keep the car from being seen as regressive or inferior in comparison with their competitors.
  • Nissan sold their cars in non-Asian markets as Datsuns, in order to avoid a connection with Nissan's support for Imperial Japan's military. The Datsun brand was phased out in the early 1980s, but it returned in 2013 as their low-cost vehicle brand for emerging markets like India and Russia.
  • GM has marketed the Astra with the same model name and several different marques; Saturn Astra in North America and Japan, Holden Astra in Australia, Vauxhall Astra in the UK, Opel Astra in the rest of Europe... same car.
    • In the case of Vauxhall and Opel, Vauxhall is nowadays (except for when they sold some Holden vehicles under General Motors ownership) just the British equivalent to the rest of Europe's Opel, and all their model names match. The Astra name was originally from the Vauxhall Astra, in the case of Opel it replaces the Kadett name (in most other cases the Opel name replaces the Vauxhall one, like the Cavalier being replaced by a Vectra). And it's no longer part of GM; it sold its European operations in 2017 to PSA (parent of Peugeot, Citroën, and DS), and PSA in turn merged with Fiat Chrysler in 2021 to form Stellantis.
    • Same thing occurred with Lotus's Opel Speedster, it was called the Vauxhall VX220 in the UK while it was called the Speedster in the rest of Europe.
    • In The Roaring '20s, Ford expanded overseas by opening branch plants. GM expanded by buying smaller companies, which kept their names.
    • Australian GM subsidiary Holden's small-to-midsize car line was switched from Opel-based to Korean-designed models marketed elsewhere as Chevrolet around 2010, with the Opel brand launched in Australia two years later... until it crashed just months after its launch, and Opel products returned to complement the South Korean models.
    • The Holden brand in general could be considered this, as they relied solely on rebadged, imported models from October 2017 until GM axed the brand in 2020.
  • Toyota:
    • Their (discontinued) MR2 (1985-1998) was known simply as the Toyota MR in France. "MR2" in French can sound like "est merdeux", which roughly translates to "is shitty".
    • Their 3rd Generation MR-S (1999-2007) was called the MR2 Spyder in North America, and the MR Roadster in Europe.
    • The Toyota 86 was known as the Scion FR-S in the US and Canada, until Toyota discontinued the Scion brand in 2016 and then started marketing the car as the Toyota 86 in those countries as well. More minor renames include the GT86 in Europe and the FT86 in Nicaragua and Jamaica.
    • From 2006 to 2017, the V6-powered Toyota Camry was marketed as "Aurion" in Australia.
    • During much of the '90s, the Camry came in two forms: a compact version for the Japanese market, and a "wide-body" version destined for North America and other export markets. However, the first wide-body Camry (the XV10) was sold in Japan as the Scepter.
    • The 1982-1991 Toyota LiteAce/TownAce was known as simply the Van in North America, the Model F in most of Europe, the Space Cruiser in Britain, and the Tarago in Australia.
    • The Highlander is sold in Japan and Australia as the Kluger. The company can't use "Highlander" in those markets because Hyundai owns the trademark to "Highlander", which it uses for one of its trim lines.
    • The RAV4 has a couple of variants sold under other names. In China, it sells the RAV4 under that name, and its Chinese joint venture GAC Toyota sells it as the Toyota Wildlander. In Europe, a plug-in hybrid version is sold as the Suzuki Across (Toyota holds a small stake in Suzuki).
  • Toyota sold some of their cars in North America and Europe under their Lexus nameplate. Examples include the Aristo (GS), Windom (ES), Altezza (IS), Soarer (SC), and Harrier (RX). The Lexus LS is a special case, as that came first, with the Toyota Celsior being introduced back to Japan following the unexpected success that the LS had in North America. When the Altezza's successor was unveiled, the Lexus brand was introduced back to Japan, and all the aforementioned models are now sold under the Lexus brand there as well. However, the Harrier nameplate, as a separate vehicle, remains in use worldwide to this day—except in North America and China, where since 2020 it has been sold in those markets as the Venza.
  • The Mazda MX-5 / Miata (US, old) / MX-5 Miata (US, current) / Roadster (JP). The Mazda Roadster used to be Eunos Roadster (one of Mazda's three short-lived marques in the '80s) as well...
  • The Nissan "Z" series of sports cars have always carried the name "Fairlady" (or Fairlady Z) in their home country. Yutaka Katayama, Nissan's US market director at the time, didn't want to sell a sports car with such a name and used the company internal code instead (240Z) back in 1969 and the pattern stuck.
    • Similarly, the S12 Silvia was sold outside of Japan as the 200SX. The subsequent two generations, the S13 and S14, retain the 200SX name in non-Japanese markets except in North America, which used 240SX instead due to being powered by a 2.4L engine, and because the 200SX name in this market was instead given to the coupe variant of the B14 Sentra.
  • The Nissan Skyline made its North American debut with the V35 generation, and sold under the Infiniti brand as the G35. The subsequent V36 generation also introduced the G25 and G37 models (the former a lower-end trim with a smaller engine, the latter outright replacing the G35), while the current V37 generation is called the Q50.
  • Honda hasn't bothered with their Acura brand in Europe at all; they're just badged as Hondas. Nissan had a similar approach with their Infiniti brand until launching a European division in 2008.
  • The Honda NSX was sold in the US as the Acura NSX. The idea was that Americans would not buy a $60k+ Honda, but would pay that for an Acura.
  • The 2003- Dodge Viper SRT-10 is sold under the name of SRT-10 in the United Kingdom, since someone else owns the Viper name.
  • The first-generation of the Dodge Viper was in Europe through Chrysler dealerships as the "Chrysler Viper".
  • When it was initially introduced in North America, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van was sold via Dodge dealerships, as the Dodge Sprinter. It is now sold via North American Mercedes-Benz dealerships after Dodge lost their contract to import the vans thanks to the split up of Daimler and Chrysler (the Sprinter is also occasionally sold under the Freightliner name- yep, Mercedes-Benz also makes those massive semi-trucks).
  • The first-gen Sprinter had to be renamed Transporter T1N for sale in Japan, because at the time, Toyota was still selling the Toyota Sprinter.
  • Honda was going to release a car called "Fitta". Which caused great controversy in Sweden, where fitta means "cunt". So instead they called it "Fit" and "Jazz".
  • Inverted by the Ford Fusion: Same name, two different cars: a Fiesta-based tall wagon in Europe and a biggish sedan in the Americas. Done at the last minute because the latter was meant to have been called "Futura" but they had lost rights to the name. After the European Fusion was discontinued in 2012, the American Fusion then used European Mondeo as a basis.
  • Similarly, the BMW 1 Series: A front-wheel drive (formerly rear wheel drive) hatchback in Europe plus a RWD coupe and convertible in Europe and North America on the same platform, but a front wheel drive sedan in China. Similarly, the 2 Series coupe and convertible which succeed the 2 door 1 Series are sold in Europe alongside the front wheel drive 2 Series Active Tourer wagon and 2-Series Gran Coupe in most markets.
  • The Renault 5 was sold in the US (during a period where Renault had teamed up with AMC before they got bought out by Chrysler) as the Renault Le Car. ("Le car" means "the motor coach", or maybe even "the because"…)
    • After AMC was sold to Chrysler, for various reasons (including a contract signed by AMC that Renault was holding Chrysler to), Chrysler created Eagle as a new brand to accompany Jeep (taking the name from the AMC Eagle 4WD crossover). Aside from the flagship Premier (intended to be sold as a Renault, but it ultimately didn't debut until after the rebrand) and the later Eagle Vision (one of Chrysler's LH/"cab forward" cars which were, in fact, based on the Premier), all of their cars were rebadged Renaults, Chryslers or Mitsubishis (as this was when Chrysler and Mitsubishi had the joint-venture Diamond-Star Motors). Thus, the Medallion was a former Renault, the Summit was a Mirage (and the Summit Wagon was a completely unrelated model, the Expo LRV), and the Talon was the famous Mitsubishi Eclipse.
  • In the latter half of the 1980s, Ford used the brand name "Merkur" in North America for two car models (the German word for the Greek god and element Mercury - the cars were sold through the Lincoln-Mercury dealer channel), the Merkur XR4Ti and the Merkur Scorpio. These were localized versions of the European-originated Ford Sierra XR4i and Ford Scorpio (which itself was called "Ford Granada Scorpio" in the UK). (Incidentally, in Gunsmith Cats, Roy's car is a Sierra XR4i, and it's called by that name and visibly has a "Ford" badge on the front, despite the story being set in the US. Perhaps he customized it with a Ford logo?)
  • The Buick LaCrosse sedan was originally sold in Canada as the Allure, due to "crosse" being Quebec French slang that could mean either masturbation or a scam or ripoff. The name was changed to LaCrosse in Canada shortly after the second generation debuted.
    • The second generation LaCrosse was also sold in South Korea as the Alpheon. Not "Buick Alpheon", just Alpheon, a standalone brand from GM Korea.
  • Mazda used to sell its vehicles with words as nameplates in the Japanese market and select export ones, but used alphanumerics in Western market cars (for example, the Familia/323, Capella/626, Luce/929 or Roadster/Miata/MX-5).
    • More recent examples, before the company went to a single global naming scheme in 2019: Demio/Mazda2, Axela/Mazda3, Premacy/Mazda5, Atenza/Mazda6. (In all of these cases,note  the current worldwide name is the latter.)
      • The Mazda MPV was sold as Mazda8 in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia.
  • Mexico often sees cars sold in that country under different names:
    • The Ford F-150, the good ol' reliable workhorse of the working man, was renamed in Mexico around 2000 with the much more badass name Lobo ("Wolf" in Spanish). The "F-150" name has been used every now and then for the base trims of the Lobo.
    • The first generation of Volkswagen's Golf/Jetta/Passat lineup was sold there as Caribe/Atlantic/Corsar.
    • From 2006 to 2014, the Hyundai Accent was sold there as the Dodge Attitude. That arrangement ended when Hyundai entered the Mexican market in January 2015, but the Dodge Attitude name remains in use to this day, with the donor car instead being the Mitsubishi Mirage.
  • Nissan/Mitsubishi vehicles are often sold under different names worldwide:
    • The Sunny/Sentra B11-B13 was sold as Tsuru, the hatchback version of the B13 was sold as Tsubame, and the Silvia S110 was sold as Datsun Sakura.
  • The Mitsubishi RVR is called like that only in Japanese, Korean, and Canadian English. In American English, Argentinan Spanish, Indonesian, and Brazilian Portuguese, it's known as Mitsubishi Outlander Sport. In European languages, Australian and New Zealand English, Mexican Spanish, and other Asian and American languages, it's the Mitsubishi ASX. Puerto Rico uses both ASX and Outlander Sport.
    • Similarly, the Nissan Qashqai is named like that in Europe, Australia (second generation) and Canada, but not in the US, where it's known as Nissan Rogue Sport.
    • The first generation Qashqai was known as Nissan Dualis in Japanese. That name was also used in Australian English because Nissan executives feared they would pronounce it "cash cow".

    Comic Strips 
  • The American Dennis the Menace cartoon was renamed Dennis in the UK, presumably due to the existing UK comic character of the same name. Likewise the British Dennis the Menace cartoon is known as Dennis and Gnasher (or in some cases, "Dennis the Menace and Gnasher") internationally, likely for the same reason (Gnasher is the name of the British Dennis's dog, by the way). The subsequent UK-Australian co-produced cartoon is called Dennis and Gnasher even in the UK, however. In Italy, the cartoon versions kept the original name for the UK Dennis and renamed the US one Denny, while in the comic they kept the original name for US Dennis and renamed the UK one Mino la Minaccia ("Mino the Menace"). Confusing? Yes.
    • In Latin America is known as Daniel el Travieso (meaning Daniel the Naughty) because it was though that the term "menace" (amenaza in Spanish) was too aggressive and the name change was an effort to use a much more common name in Spanish. This caused some Spanish-speaking people to think that Dennis is Daniel in English. The name Dennis is translated to Spanish as Dionisio and the name Daniel in English is... well, Daniel in Spanish (it’s pronounced differently, though).
    • In Swedish and Norwegian, the comic is simply known as "Dennis" because the "Menace" rhyme doesn't translate.
  • In Canada, U.S. Acres is known as Orson's Place, and Orson's Farm in some other markets.

    Films — Animated 
  • Ballerina was retitled Leap! in North American English, with a few of the voices re-dubbed.
  • Disney:
    • Big Hero 6 is named Baymax (ベイマックス) after the Ensemble Dark Horse robot in Japanese. This is probably because Big Hero 6 itself is already an Intentional Engrish for Funny title, which would perhaps translate back into an even more nonsensical name in Japanese. It was simply renamed Big Hero in Korean.
    • Frozen was titled Anna and the Snow Queen (アナと雪の女王) in Japanese, Winter Kingdom (겨울왕국) in Korean, Cold Heart (Холодное сердце) in Russian, and The Snow Queen in some other languages such as French.
    • The Great Mouse Detective became... "Adventure of Olivia-chan" (オリビアちゃんの大冒険) in Japanese and "Basil l'Investigatopo" in Italian, with "investigatopo" being a portmanteau of "detective" and "mouse".
    • In many foreign languages, Lady and the Tramp was retitled "The Lady and the Vagabond," because some languages don't have a direct translation for the word "tramp."
    • The Lion King 1 ½ became known as The Lion King 3 in numerous language versions, including international English releases.
    • Moana received the new title Vaiana in Spanish and Oceania in Italian. "Vaiana" is the new name of the heroine, a Tahitian word meaning "water from the cave". The reasons: "Moana" is a registered trademark in Spain and other European countries; also, this has not been officially stated, but in Italy the name "Moana" is inextricably linked to legendary porn actress Moana Pozzi. In Japanese it was renamed to "Moana and the Legendary Sea" (モアナと伝説の海) as per Disney Japan's preference for renaming its animated movies with longer titles. And in Vietnamese, it got a new title: Moana's Journey (Hành trình của Moana).
    • Tangled became known as Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale in certain Asian languages (simply Rapunzel (라푼젤) in Korean). Despite this, both Disney Channel Asia and Star Movies still refer to the film under its original name, while in Japanese it was titled Rapunzel at the Top of the Tower (塔の上のラプンツェル), which in turn affected the Japanese airing of Tangled: The Series- it became Rapunzel: The Series as an effect of the said title change.
    • The Japanese version of Wreck-It Ralph is called Sugar Rush (シュガー・ラッシュ), because most of the movie takes place in that game, and because the Sugar Rush theme is sung by the Japanese girl group AKB48. Ralph Breaks the Internet is called Sugar Rush: Online (シュガー・ラッシュ:オンライン) in turn.
    • Due to trademark issues involving a certain Danish zoo, Disney's Zootopia was renamed Zootropolis in certain European languages. Oddly, the movie is called Zoomania in German, while the French version went with the literal Zootopie.
    • Encanto became Mirabel and the Magical House (ミラベルと魔法だらけの家) in Japanese, and Encanto: The Magical Land (Encanto: Vùng đất thần kỳ) in Vietnamese.
  • The second Fireman Sam movie was released under the name "Heroes of the Storm" in the UK, since the plot deals with a hurricane, and as "Ultimate Heroes" in the US.
  • Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation had its subtitle changed to "A Monster Vacation" in languages where its regional release didn't coincide with summer vacation.
  • The Belgian CGI film The House of Magic was released in English as Thunder and the House of Magic.
  • The Canadian movie The Legend of Sarila was retitled Frozen Land for its releases in the United States. While the logo and title are ripoffs of Frozen, the actual film has no similarities other than them both taking place in snowy environments. The logo was so blatantly ripped off that Disney sued over it, forcing American distributor Phase 4 Films to change it back to the original title. In the UK, it was known as "An Eskimo Tale".
  • The French-British CGI film The Magic Roundabout (2005) was mostly redubbed (the voices of Kylie Minogue and Ian McKellen were retained - curiously, the Evil Brit trope was averted due to the bad guy (done by Tom Baker) getting revoiced by Jon Stewart) and retitled Doogal in America.
  • My Little Pony: The Movie was renamed "My Little Pony: The Princess' Big Adventure" in Japanese.
  • In Japanese, The Peanuts Movie became I LOVE Snoopy – THE PEANUTS MOVIE (I LOVE スヌーピー THE PEANUTS MOVIE). Yes, it was actually written in all caps in English, except that Snoopy's name was rendered in katakana.
  • The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists was released in countries outside of the UK as The Pirates! Band of Misfits, which actually isn't as strange of a title. The title was changed to "Band of Misfits" because tests showed that the word "Scientists" didn't test well in America, causing one critic to joke "Scientists don't test well in America because Americans don't test well in science!"
  • A common practice with Pixar movies:
    • In Japanese versions alone:
      • The Incredibles and its sequel to just Mr. Incredible (Mr.インクレディブル) and Incredible Family (インクレディブル・ファミリー) respectively;
      • Ratatouille was changed to Remy's Delicious Restaurant (レミーのおいしいレストラン);
      • Up to Old Man Carl's Flying House (カールじいさんの空飛ぶ家);
      • Brave to Merida and the Frightening Forest (メリダとおそろしの森);
      • Inside Out to the Engrish-tastic Inside Head (インサイド・ヘッド);
      • The Good Dinosaur to Arlo and the Boy (アーロと少年);
      • Cars 3 to Cars: Crossroads (カーズ/クロスロード).
      • Coco to the much more fitting Remember Me (リメンバー・ミー);
      • Onward to Half Magic (2分の1の魔法);
      • Soul to Soulful World (ソウルフル・ワールド);
      • Luca to That Summer of Luca's (あの夏のルカ);
      • Turning Red to Sometimes I'm a Red Panda (私ときどきレッサーパンダ).
    • Vietnamese titles usually consist of the original title (though there are exceptions) and another one that seem to sum up the whole premise of each film:
      • Monsters, Inc.: Monsters Company (Công ty Quái vật)
      • The Incredibles: The Superhero Family (Gia đình siêu nhân)
      • Cars: The Land of Automobiles (Vương quốc xe hơi)
      • Ratatouille: The Chef Mouse (Chuột đầu bếp)
      • WALL•E: The Robot Who Loves (Rô-bốt biết yêu)
      • Brave: The Curly-Haired Princess (Công chúa tóc xù)
      • Monsters University: Training Ground for Monsters (Lò đào tạo quái vật)
      • Inside Out: Pieces of Emotions (Những mảnh ghép cảm xúc)
      • Onward: Searching for Magic (Truy tìm phép thuật)
      • Soul: Soul: A Wonderful Life (Cuộc sống nhiệm màu)
      • Luca: Luca's Summer (Mùa hè của Luca)
      • Turning Red: The Shapeshifting Red Panda (Gấu đỏ biến hình)
    • Inside Out in particular had its title changed in many markets, as the phrase is very American in its meaning, so the film was released under language-specific titles with near-equivalents. For example, the European French title translates to Vice Versa, whereas the Canadian French title is Sens Dessus Dessous (meaning Topsy-Turvy).
    • Brave's Korean title, Merida and the Magical Forest (메리다와 마법의 숲), is similar to that of the Japanese title in some respects.
    • In some languages (like European Portuguese, Japanese and Korean), Lightyear was lengthened to Buzz Lightyear. Most languages that don't have "Lightyear" as his last name use his full name in that language, like European French (Buzz L'Éclair) or Polish (Buzz Astral).
    • In French, Turning Red is renamed Alerte rouge (meaning "Red Alert"), due to it flowing better than the more direct translation of Tourne rouge.
  • Quest for Camelot was retitled The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot in the United Kingdom and other international languages.
  • Sing 2 was released as Sing 2gether(씽2게더) in Korean.
  • The Secret Life of Pets was just shortened to Pet in Japanese, and changed to The Double Life of My Pet in Korean.
  • Wonderful Days, despite its title already being in English, was released as Sky Blue in English.
  • In Japanese, Minions: The Rise of Gru is known as Minions Fever. It was released as simply Minions 2 in Korean.
  • Ooops! Noah Is Gone… has four different titles in English alone. In the North America, it's called All Creatures Big and Small. In the UK and Ireland, it's called Two by Two. An American religious home media release uses the British title followed by the subtitle God's Little Creatures.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Accidental Hero is called Little Big Hero in Korean.
  • Airplane! is called Flying High in Australian and New Zealand English, and Japanese, because that isn't how you spell it there (at least in the former two). Why they couldn't just change it to Aeroplane! is unknown, but it does add a mildly amusing double entendre.
  • Aliens became Alien 2 in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, since plurals don't really exist in most East Asian languages.
  • The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was given the subtitle Rise of Electro in Australian English, and most European and Latin American languages.
  • An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars was released as American Girl: Shooting for the Stars in European countries, likely as the American Girl line isn't as well known overseas as it is in the States.
  • Presumably because baseball terminology doesn't make sense to most non-American audiences, the '90s Angels in the Outfield remake was renamed simply Angels in other countries, even where baseball is actually well known.
  • Appointment with Venus was released in the US under the incredibly generic title of Island Rescue. Why is anyone's guess.
  • The title of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was changed in many English-speaking countries, where the word "shag" is considered much more offensive than it is in America. It technically retained its title in the UK, but more prudish cinemas inserted asterisks or referred to it as "The Spy Who..." when referring to it on their display boards. Other posters simply read Austin Powers 2.
  • In Latin American Spanish, The Beautician and the Beast was renamed The Nanny and the President, despite Fran Drescher playing a completely unrelated character.
  • Bruce Lee's debut film, The Big Boss, was originally going to be retitled The Chinese Connection for the American market in order to cash in on the success of The French Connection (as both films' plot involved drug trafficking). Unfortunately the American distributor screwed up by accidentally switching the title with that of Bruce Lee's following film, Fist of Fury (in singular), which was meant to be called Fists of Fury in English. For awhile, The Big Boss was known as Fists of Fury in English, while Fist of Fury was The Chinese Connection, until later re-releases restored the original titles.
  • Big Tits Zombie has alternate titles that were likely less marketable than the more commonly known title.
  • A recut version of the British film The Boat That Rocked was released in America under the title Pirate Radio.
  • Peter Jackson's Braindead was released in America under the title Dead Alive, because another film there already had a trademark on that name.
  • Breakin' was called Breakdance in the UK (and thus the sequel was called Breakdance 2: Electric Boogaloo).
  • The Bring It On films are the American Girls films in France and the Girls United films in Germany.
  • The Bull of the West was released on DVD under the title Hot Lead.
  • Charlie's Angels (2000) was released in Korean as The Beautiful Trio to match the localized title of the original television series. The sequel Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle was released in the same market as The Beautiful Trio : Maximum Speed. Charlie's Angels (2019) was called The Beautiful Trio 3 although it isn't directly related to the two aforementioned films.
  • Cannibal Ferox was released as Make Them Die Slowly in the US and Woman from Deep River in Australia
  • CHiPs was released in Korean as The Motorcycle Patrol to match the localized title of the original television series.
  • Clegg was released in the US as The Bullet Machine and re-released as Harry and the Hookers.
  • The Criminal was released in English as The Concrete Jungle.
  • Curse of the Crimson Altar was released in America as The Crimson Cult.
  • Danny the Dog was released with that title in French and Cantonese, but renamed to Unleashed for the English version. The original title sounds like a children's program, and might cause viewers to mistake the film for a family entertainment or simply not take it seriously.
  • Dawn of the Dead (1978)... hoo boy. First off, for its European release it was recut by Dario Argento and given the title Zombi. The following year, another Italian filmmaker, Lucio Fulci, made the unofficial sequel Zombi 2, which was itself released under a bunch of titles in various countries, including Zombie in America and Zombie Flesh Eaters in the UK. Zombi 3, however, was released in America as Zombie 3, despite America having only known of its predecessor as Zombie. (In the UK, it was called Zombie Flesh Eaters 2.) The unrelated zombie film After Death was also released in the US as Zombi 4: After Death (and in the UK as Zombie Flesh Eaters 3), as was another unrelated zombie film, Killing Birds, as Zombie 5: Killing Birds. Things get even crazier after that. This Wikipedia article on the series lists all the various films that have been released at various points as Zombi sequels.
  • To capitalize on Mr. T's popularity in the Philippines, D.C. Cab had its name changed to "Mr. T and Company" there...despite the fact that he's a tertiary character in the film.
  • Spoofed in the Death Proof segment of Grindhouse. The movie obviously had an alternate titlecard revealing that it was originally called Thunder Bolt, which was quickly covered with the new Death Proof title. This was a common occurrence in B-movies of The '70s, which this film was an Affectionate Parody of and Genre Throwback to.
  • Dario Argento's Deep Red was titled Suspiria 2 to cash in on the success of that movie in Japan.
  • The fourth Die Hard movie is known as Live Free or Die Hard in American English, but as Die Hard 4.0 in British English and a few other languages. "Live Free or Die" is an Americanismnote  that is not well known outside of the country.
  • After the 2012 American theatrical release of Dino Time was cancelled, it was finally released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2015 as Back to the Jurassic.
  • Doctor in Clover was released as Carnaby, M.D. in America due to the international clout Carnaby Street (which featured in the film) carried.
  • The 1958 Hammer Horror film Dracula was retitled Horror of Dracula in the US to avoid confusion with the more famous 1931 film by Universal.
  • Dracula 2000 was released in the UK a year later than America, under the title Dracula 2001.
  • Earth Girls Are Easy is known as Brand New Girl in Japanese; this title comes from one of the movie's other songs.
  • Encino Man, a 1992 comedy, was retitled California Man for European and South American languages, presumably because people outside of America have no idea what Encino is.note 
  • Extreme Prejudice, a 1987 neo western, is title Double Border in Japan.
  • Fantasy Island (2020) was called Nightmare Island in French, presumably because the 1970s US TV series the movie is based on is not well-known in that country.
  • All of the The Fast and the Furious movies were retitled to Wild Speed in Japanese.
    • 2 Fast 2 Furious was retitled to Wild Speed X2.
    • The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was retitled to Wild Speed X3: Tokyo Drift.
    • Fast & Furious was retitled to Wild Speed MAX.
    • Fast Five was retitled to Wild Speed MEGA MAX.
    • Fast & Furious 6 was retitled to Wild Speed: Euro Mission.
    • Furious 7 was retitled to Wild Speed: Sky Mission.
    • The Fate of the Furious was retitled to Wild Speed: Ice Break.
    • Hobbs & Shaw was retitled to Wild Speed: Super Combo.
    • F9 was retitled to Wild Speed: Jet Break.
    • Furious 7 was released as Fast & Furious 7 in several countries in case people failed to associate the movie with the previous movies in the franchise. This was also true for the other films in the franchise, which lost their fancy titles (i.e. 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast 5) in said markets to ensure that viewers knew they were part of the franchise.
  • The movie called The 51st State in the UK is known as Formula 51 in North America, partially because the latter sounds more dynamic, partially because the phrase "51st State" (referring to perceived American dominance over politics/culture) is a somewhat controversial phrase in the USA.
  • Firebirds was titled Wings of the Apache in many overseas markets, in reference to the film's Cool Plane, the American AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.
  • The Flesh and the Fiends was released in the US as Mania, which is an odd choice as no one is suffering from any kind of mania.
  • Some Latin American countries turned Friday the 13th into Tuesday the 13th (Martes 13) as it is an equally unlucky day in Hispanic culture.
  • Full Circle was re-titled The Haunting of Julia upon its American release, making it more obvious it's an adaption of Peter Straub's novel Julia.
  • When Warner Bros. in America got the rights to the sequel film Godzilla Raids Again they renamed it Gigantis The Fire Monster (and called Godzilla "Gigantis" within the English dub of the film itself) because they thought that audiences wanted to see a different monster than Godzilla. They were wrong.
  • Similarly, all of the Showa Gamera movies released by AIP-TV were re-titled for their English dubs
  • Ghostbusters: Afterlife is known as Ghostbusters Legacy in other countries. It was released as Ghostbusters Rise in Korean.
  • The Happytime Murders was released in Italian as Pupazzi senza gloria, or "Inglorious Puppets", clearly meant to evoke Inglourious Basterds.
  • In the UK, the comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle was renamed Harold and Kumar Get the Munchies, as Brits would be unlikely to know of the association White Castle has to an American audience. Interestingly, as White Castle does not operate nationwide, there are many Americans that have never heard of the fast food chain White Castle, either.
  • Harry and the Hendersons was released in the UK as Bigfoot and the Hendersons. The film's UK distributors wanted to make it clear the movie was about Bigfoot. However, the later TV series and all home video releases of the film have used the original American title on both sides of The Pond.
  • Honey, I Shrunk the Kids was released in Japanese as Micro Kids. Because of this, the sequels also had their names changed in Japanese.
  • Hoosiers was titled Best Shot in the UK and Australia because the connection between Indiana and basketball was then (and still is now) unknown to most non-Americans.
  • Howling II: Stirba: Werewolf Bitch is known by the far more cumbersome title Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf in America.
  • Before its release in America, How to Make Love Like an Englishman was retitled Some Kind of Beautiful (although it kept the original title in Canada - The Globe And Mail's Kate Taylor wrote "Maybe somebody started to have second thoughts about American women’s fascination with the sex life of Englishmen. Or maybe (star-producer Pierce) Brosnan remembered he’s actually Irish"), and for its UK release it received another new title, Lessons In Love (presumably to avoid causing offence to Scottish, Irish and Welsh viewers).
  • Hummingbird was released in the US under the title Redemption.
  • I Come in Peace was titled "Dark Angel" in some foreign markets.
  • In the UK, Quentin Tarantino's film Inglourious Basterds was referred to simply as Inglorious in advertising materials prior to its release, though sometimes the full title was shown on screen (but not spoken) on ads airing after the 9pm watershed. Later television airings have had the title typed up on Film Four's continuity slides as Inglorious B------s and the continuity announcer will only refer to it as something like "Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece''.
  • James Bond:
    • For the James Bond film A View to a Kill, French translators couldn't find a suitable translation, so they went with a completely different title, Dangereusement Vôtre (Dangerously Yours). It was chosen as a reference to Roger Moore's TV series The Persuaders!, which was very popular in France, and was called Amicalement Vôtre (Friendly Yours) there. In Italian, the movie was titled "Moving Target", which is Hilarious in Hindsight because the phrase was spoken by Bond in Skyfall.
    • The UK Working Title for the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill was License Revoked. It was reportedly changed because American viewers were not expected to know what "revoked" means, and face it, License to Kill just sounds better. The Ultimate Edition DVD documentary Inside License to Kill explains that the reason for the change was that to Americans, the term "license revoked" denotes lost driving privileges.
    • Skyfall was relabeled as "Operation: Skyfall" in Latin America (both Spanish and Portuguese), turning it into a Non-Indicative Name given Skyfall is a place, not a codename of sorts.
    • In Italian, Dr. No was released as Licence to Kill; when the phrase was used to title the second Timothy Dalton Bond movie it was titled "Vendetta Privata" (Private Revenge). The Living Daylights, on the other hand, was titled Dangerous Zone.
    • In Korean, Tomorrow Never Dies was released as 007 Never Die, The World Is Not Enough as 007 Unlimited, and Die Another Day as 007 Another Day.
  • A Jolly Bad Fellow was released in the US as They All Died Laughing, probably because the US does not use the academic title 'fellow' thereby rendering the Double-Meaning Title moot.
  • The Edith Piaf biopic La Môme was re-titled La Vie En Rose in English-speaking markets, with the exception of the UK. Piaf was known as "La Môme" ("the kid"), but only in French, so outside France the film was named after her most famous song. In the UK it retained its original title, possibly to avoid confusion with the very similarly titled Ma Vie En Rose.
  • In America, the French film La Vie d'Adèle – Chapitres 1 & 2 ("Life of Adele - Chapters 1 & 2") is known as Blue Is the Warmest Color. Funnily enough, the original graphic novel that the film is based on is actually called Blue is the Warmest Color (or, rather, Le bleu est une couleur chaude). And the main character's name in the original is Clementine, not Adele. Go figure.
  • Laurel and Hardy experienced this at least twice. Sons of the Desert was released in the UK as Fraternally Yours, possibly to stop people thinking it was a Foreign Legion film. And Beau Hunks - which was about the Foreign Legion - became Beau Chumps in Britain.
  • The Japanese title of Legally Blonde is "Cutie Blonde", as if it really needed to sound even more hyper and cutesy. The sequel is even more hyper—the subtitle was changed from "Red, White & Blonde" to "Happy MAX". The Russian title tried to preserve the pun by calling it Blondinka v Zakone, or "Blonde in Law". The "in-law" particle has a very different connotation in Russian - rather than referring to relatives-in-law, all of whom have separate terms in Russian, it refers to vory v zakone or "thieves in law", the elite of The Mafiya. In European French, it became Revenge of a Blonde. Meanwhile in Korean, it was called The Blond is Going Too Far to emphasize the film's comedic nature.
  • Léon, the 1994 English-language French-produced film by Luc Besson, was originally released in the United States as The Professional. Home media releases since early 2000's tend to use both titles (as in Léon: The Professional).
  • The Lone Wolf and Cub films Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx and twelve minutes of Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance came to the US and UK dubbed as Shogun Assassin, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades as Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril as Shogun Assassin 3: Slashing Blades of Carnage, Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons as Shogun Assassin 4: Five Fistfuls of Gold, and Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell as Shogun Assassin 5: Cold Road to Hell.
  • Lucky Number Slevin became The Wrong Man in Australia for no apparent reason and then Lucky # Slevin for the DVD release.
  • Mad Max 2 was retitled The Road Warrior in America, due to the original Mad Max having a much more limited release and being rather unsuccessful in that country. (Nowadays, The Road Warrior is used as a subtitle)
  • Manhunter is based on the Thomas Harris book Red Dragon. Producer Dino De Laurentiis felt that the book's title would cause moviegoers to mistake this for a Kung Fu Movie, and he had recently released the flop Year of the Dragon.
  • Spanish/British English speaking Time Travel Romantic Comedy The Man with Rain in His Shoes was released as Twice Upon a Yesterday in America and If Only... in the UK.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • In Korean, the first Thor film was released as Thor : The God of Thunder to help the audiences who weren't familiar with Marvel Comics or the original North Mythology get the idea of the story.
    • When Captain America: The First Avenger was released, Paramount — afraid that anti-American sentiment would lead to poor box office performance outside the United States — offered its international distributors the option of removing Captain America from the title and marketing the film as simply The First Avenger. Ultimately, only the Russian, Ukrainian and Korean versions ended up using the altered title.
    • While the Korean versions of later Captain America films would stop changing the titles, the Russian and Ukrainian versions would continue this practice (even coordinating the name changes, which is odd considering the two countries have since then become enemies). Captain America: the Winter Soldier became First Avenger: AnotherNote on translation War, presumably because the Winter Soldier is not well known in these countries and (in Russia) would probably be viewed as offensive. Captain America: Civil War was first renamed to Breaking of the Avengers (completely disregarding the movie's protagonist), but following controversy it became First Avenger: Confrontation (which is still odd, considering the Civil War comic retained its original name both in Russian and Ukrainian).
    • The sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier was changed to The Return of the First Avenger in German, leaving out the Captain America part entirely. This was almost certainly due to hostility to the US in Germany over the revelation that the NSA had been tapping Angela Merkel's mobile phone, although coincidentally the film itself took a highly negative view towards intelligence agencies committing authoritarian acts in the pursuit of "security".
    • The second sequel, Captain America: Civil War was renamed The First Avenger: Civil War in German.
    • The Avengers movie was called Avengers Assemble (not related to the later animated series) in the UK and Ireland, possibly to avoid any confusion with the classic British TV show and to avoid reminders of the 90s film based off the show.
    • Thor: The Dark World had a slight title change to Thor: The Dark Kingdom in German.
    • In Japanese, the Thor films were renamed Mighty Thor (so Thor: The Dark World becomes Mighty Thor: Dark World). Thor: Ragnarok's subtitle was also changed in Japanese, becoming Mighty Thor: Battle Royale.
  • Matango was released by AIP-TV as Attack of the Mushroom People.
  • The original version of Miracle on 34th Street was released as The Big Heart in the UK, probably because Brits in 1947 would have had no idea where "34th Street" was or what it meant. Averted with the 1994 remake, which was released as Miracle on 34th Street on both sides of the pond. In Germany, both versions were released as Das Wunder von Manhattan (The Wonder from Manhattan).
  • Miss Congeniality was released in Danish as Agent Catwalk, as Dangerous Beauty in Japanese, Miss Agent in Polish and Korean, Miss Agente Especial in Spanish, Miss Detective in European French, Portuguese, and Spanish, Miss Kovis (Miss Secret Agent or Miss Secret Service) in Finnish and Swedish, Miss Popularitate in Romanian, Miss Simpatianote  in Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, and Miss Undercover in German.
  • Morning Departure was released as the more dramatic sounding Operation Disaster in America.
  • Mrs. Doubtfire was released in Japanese as Mrs. Doubt.
  • Murder at the Baskervilles: The film's original British title is Silver Blaze. It was changed to Murder at the Baskervilles for its American release in an attempt to cash in on the Basil Rathbone film The Hound of the Baskervilles.
  • British Film Noir Murder by Proxy was released in the U.S. as Blackout.
  • Mythica:
    • A Quest for Heroes became Weg der Gefährten (Journey of The Companions) in German.
    • The Godslayer became The Dragonslayer in the UK, and Crepuscule des Dieux (Twilight of the Gods) in French.
  • In the UK and Australia, Neighbors is known as Bad Neighbours to avoid confusion with the Australian Soap Opera Neighbours. Ironically, co-star Rose Byrne is herself Australian (as is her character in the movie, thus allowing her to avert Fake Nationality in an American production for once).
  • Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian was retitled Night At The Museum 2 internationally.
    • In South Korea, Night at the Museum series were released under the title The Museum is Alive to emphasize its main concept.
  • No Kidding was released in America as Beware of Children.
  • Disney retitled The North Avenue Irregulars Hill's Angels'' for its British release.
  • 1975's The Other Side of the Mountain was released in Britain as Window to the Sky after the film's Award-Bait Song performed by Olivia Newton-John. Confusingly, Universal changed the sequel's title for the UK from The Other Side of the Mountain, Part 2...to The Other Side of the Mountain.
  • In French, The Purge became American Nightmare, in English. That's most likely because in French, a "purge" is a metaphor for something that's very painful to sit through − like a bad movie.
  • The three Quatermass films produced by Hammer were all renamed when released in English:
    • The Quatermass Experiment became The Creeping Unknown.
    • Quatermass II became Enemy from Space.
    • Quatermass and the Pit became Five Million Years to Earth.
    • Another release simply restored traditional spelling of "Experiment" to the first movie's title. That peculiar title only made sense in Britain, where The Quatermass Xperiment was given an X rating. The British "X" was applied to much tamer material than its American equivalent, but highlighting the rating in the film's title gave notice that the movie featured stronger fare than the norm, for those who like that sort of thing.
  • Raising the Wind was released in America as Roommates and in New Zealand as Carry On Fiddling.
  • The fourth film of the Rambo series was named John Rambo in many European countries, following the "full name" pattern of the previous Stallone film, Rocky Balboa. Also, the first movie First Blood is known simply as Rambo. Others put it as Rambo IV.
  • In Italy, Red Heat was translated to the surname of the main character - Danko.
  • In the 1985 Red Sonja movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger's character's name was changed to Yado in the Italian dub and the movie is titled Yado to make him appear to be the protagonist. The Latin American Spanish title of the film is "El Guerrero Rojo (The Red (male) Warrior)", which also technically makes Ahnold's character the titular one... even if he never wears red and doesn't appears until at least the halfway point of the film (the kid and his bodyguard do wear red, but they are pretty obviously secondary characters). The European Spanish translation used "Sonja, La Guerrera (Sonja the Warrior)", which is a bit more faithful.
  • A certain anti-marijuana film became infamous under the title Reefer Madness, but its original title was Tell Your Children. It was originally made by a church group, but was purchased by exploitation filmmaker Dwain Esper, who added many salacious shots and released it under different market-based names within America:
    • Tell Your Children in the South.
    • Doped Youth west of Denver.
    • Reefer Madness in New England.
    • The Burning Question in central Appalachia.
    • In some other markets, it was Dope Addict or Love Madness.
    • After its initial run, it was shown nationwide under all of these titles until Reefer Madness became standard.
  • Renaissance Man was called Army Intelligence in Australia.
  • Rovdyr would literally translate from Norwegian as 'Predator', but was released in the English-speaking world as Manhunt to avoid confusion with the well known film franchise.
  • The Rundown was called Welcome to the Jungle internationally. This was 14 years before Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
  • Saving Silverman became Evil Woman outside of America.
  • Though it was an American production, Shelter was first released in the UK in 2010. When it did receive limited release in America in 2013, it was given the new title 6 Souls. Possibly this was due to the existence of a completely unrelated American film called Shelter from 2007.
  • Sicario: Day of the Soldado was released in the UK as just Sicario 2: Soldado.
  • In Japanese, Silence, the adaptation of Shusaku Endō's novel Silence, known as 沈黙 (Chinmoku) in its home country, directed by Martin Scorsese, was titled Chinmoku: Sairensu (with the latter term written in katakana) to distinguish from the 1971 adaptation of the novel by Masahiro Shinoda, which was called Chinmoku: SILENCE (with the latter term written in English). Averted in English, where both films are simply titled Silence.
  • A Simple Favor received a minor edit to its title when released in the UK, changing "Favor" to "Favour".
  • American executives nearly renamed the movie Snatch. Snatch'd, presumably because "snatch" is an American slang term for female genitalia. It's almost certain that Guy Ritchie knew and intended this.
  • Snapshot was released in the US as The Day After Halloween in an attempt to cash in on the success of Halloween.
  • Solo had its title changed to Ranger Solo for the Chinese market in order to downplay its connections to the Star Wars franchise, which has been relatively unsuccessful in China. On the contrary, it was released as Han Solo : Star Wars Story in Korean to emphasize the connection.
  • The rather awkwardly named 70's horror film Sssssss was renamed SSSSnake in some of the UK releases, or at the very least just Cobra.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog is called Sonic: The Movie in multiple languages, including Japanese, European French and both Spanish dialects. Some languages, however, simply translate the original title, like Canadian French (Sonic le hérisson) or Hungarian (Sonic, a sündisznó). In Korean, it was released as Super Sonic.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has a straightforward Numbered Sequel title in English—apparently too straightforward for Japanese, which retitled it Sonic the Movie: Vs. Knuckles. In Korean, it was released as Super Sonic 2.
  • When Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was released, a number of countries removed the "II" so as to hide the fact it was a sequel to the lackluster Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In Japanese, it was called The Counterattack of Khan.
  • When Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was released, some countries flipped the title making Star Trek IV the subtitle and The Voyage Home the main title, to downplay the fact it was the fourth movie in a series.
  • Star Trek (2009) was released as Star Trek : The Beginning in several markets to emphasize its story as a prequel.
  • Star Trek Into Darkness was released as Star Trek : Darkness in Korean.
  • The third Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi was called Revenge of the Jedi in its first release in Japanese, possibly due to the last-time title change of Lucasfilm's side.
  • In Brazilian Portuguese, Step Up is known as Ela Dança, Eu Danço ("She Dances, I Dance").
  • In Polish, Suicide Squad (2016) was marketed as Suicide Legion.
  • Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (the third installment of The Vengeance Trilogy) was shortened to Lady Vengeance in America due to the box office failure of the first installment, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (which opened domestically after the second installment, Oldboy).
  • Take Me Home Tonight was released as Kids In America everywhere but America, ironically enough. Both are cases of being Titled After the Song, and Kim Wilde's "Kids In America" was a bigger international hit than Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight", so it was probably assumed viewers outside of the US would be more likely to recognize the former title. Neither song is actually in the movie.
  • Michael J. Fox's role in Back to the Future led Teen Wolf to earn the title The Boy from the Future in Brazil.
  • The movie 13 Going on 30 was renamed Suddenly Thirty in Australia as someone thought the title would confuse the viewers. (Coincidentally, that's also the Brazilian title for the movie.)
  • The Sonny Chiba film Timeslip was released in the US as G.I. Samurai. Both titles are accurate, but the American one rhymes.
  • Tomorrowland was renamed Project T in the Netherlands and Belgium to avoid confusion with the music festival of the same name.
  • Torque is Acceleration in Bulgarian and Estonian, Anger on Two Wheels in Croatian, Circuits of Fire in Italian, Cruise Enthusiast in Turkish, Fury on Two Wheels in Latin Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, Hart am Limit in German, Impact Fatal in Canadian French, Iron in Hungarian, Maximum Speed in Greek, Torque: On the Limit in Castilian Spanish, Torque - The Fastest Law in Portuguese, and Torque, la route s'enflamme in European French.
  • In Hispanic America and Brazil, the original Total Recall (1990) got a name inspired by The Terminator; since the latter was called "The Terminator from the Future", Recall became "The Avenger of the Future".
  • Most of the spaghetti westerns starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer were retroactively renamed for home video releases in Brazil under the Trinity brand, due to the popularity of their original Trinity films.
  • 2:37 was released as 2:37 PM in several markets.
  • UHF was known as The Vidiot From UHF internationally, mostly due to Executive Meddling. When told to come up with a new title for when the movie was in places where the term "UHF" would have no meaning to the general public, "Weird Al" Yankovic suggested "Vidiots", at which point it got the clumsy title because they still wanted it to tie into the original title. Al was not amused.
  • Unaccompanied Minors became known as Grounded in the U.K.
  • The Untold Story was released under many names such as Bun Man (a better translation would've been "Dumpling Man") or Five Immortals Restaurant (the name of the restaurant featured in movie).
  • The 1985 film Vision Quest was retitled Crazy For You in the UK and other countries just to cash in on Madonna's involvement.
  • Many foreign countries renamed Warcraft to Warcraft: The Beginning - presumably noting how it's based on the first games instead of More Popular Spin-Off World of Warcraft.
  • What a Carve Up! was released in America as No Place Like Homicide.
  • Walt Disney Home Video released the Terry Jones film version of The Wind in the Willows in America and Canada under the title Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to help promote Disney Theme Parks. The theatrical release (done by Columbia Pictures) did retain the original title though.
  • The Windmill Massacre was released in America as The Windmill for unknown reasons. Presumably all of the words in the original title would have been comprehensible to Americans, and appealed to the film's target market.
  • Winter's Tale was renamed A New York Winter's Tale for its UK release, probably in case British people thought it was a film version of The Winter's Tale.
  • For reasons best known to crazed Djinn, Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell is known as Devil Stone in the UK.
  • Wonder Woman 1984 is called Wonder Woman 2 in China, likely due to its similarity to the famous novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four which is banned there outside of academic contexts due to its criticism of authoritarian police states.
  • X-Men Film Series
    • X2: X-Men United's simply called X-Men 2 in British English, European French, Brazilian Portuguese, Finnish and several other languages.
    • X-Men Origins: Wolverine became known as X-Men Zero in Japanese.
    • The Wolverine became known as Wolverine: Samurai in Japanese.
    • X-Men: Days of Future Past is called X-Men: Days of the Past Future in Castilian Spanish, mostly because it sounds better when translated to Spanish. The same change was applied to the original comic book. The film became known as X-Men: Future & Past in Japanese.

By Country:

    Literature 

By Author:

  • Isaac Asimov
  • Quite a number of Agatha Christie novels and short-story collections were given different titles in the USA, sometimes more graphically crime-related. The most notorious example was Ten Little Niggers/Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None, retitled at different times in different markets as racial sensitivities changed. It was always And Then There Were None in the US, making it possibly the only novel of hers that uses the US title in all English-language markets instead of the British title.
    • Examples (British Title / American Title)
      • The Sittaford Mystery / The Murder at Hazelmoor
      • Lord Edgewater Dies / Thirteen at Dinner
      • Why Didn't They Ask the Evans? / The Boomerang Clue
      • Three-Act Tragedy / Murder in Three Acts
      • Death in the Clouds / Death in the Air
      • Dumb Witness / Poirot Loses a Client
      • Hercule Poirot's Christmas / Murder for Christmas
      • Murder is Easy / Easy to Kill
      • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe / The Patriotic Murders
      • Five Little Pigs / Murder in Retrospect
      • Sparkling Cyanide / Remembered Death
      • Taken at the Flood / There is a Tide...
      • They Do it With Mirrors / Murder with Mirrors
      • After the Funeral / Funerals are Fatal
      • Destination Unknown/ So Many Steps to Death
      • Hickory Dickory Dock / Hickory Dickory Death
      • 4.50 from Paddington / What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!
      • The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side / The Mirror Crack'd
      • The Thirteen Problems / The Tuesday Club Murders
      • Parker Pyne Investigates / Mr. Parker Pyne, the Detective
      • Murder in the Mews / Dead Man's Mirror
  • British historian Max Hastings has had this a few times:
    • Nemesis: The Battle for Japan 1944-1945 (UK) became Retribution: The Battle for Japan 1944-1945 (US).
    • All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939-1945 (UK) became Inferno: The World at War 1939-1945 (US).
    • Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975 kept its title in the US, but gained a new subtitle for the UK paperback edition: An Epic History of a Tragic War.
  • Several of Ngaio Marsh's novels were also renamed for the American market. Sometimes the reasoning behind the changes isn't apparent.
    • A Surfeit of Lampreys, which was a play on the surname of a family at the center of the case, was retitled Death of a Peer, which was also accurate, since the central crime of the tale was the murder of the head of the family, who was a marquis.
    • Swing Brother Swing became A Wreath for Rivera, perhaps over the central word "Brother"?
    • Opening Night was renamed Night at the Vulcan, possibly because so many of her works were set in theatres, making the original title too general.
    • Off With His Head became Death of a Fool.
    • Death at the Dolphin became Killer Dolphin, scrapping alliteration for a more active word "Killer".
    • Curiously, the idiomatic title Black as He's Painted wasn't changed for the U.S. market, though the expression is more British than American.
  • The American publication of many of Noel Streatfeild's children's novels were retitled <Something> Shoes, to match her first two books being Ballet Shoes and Tennis Shoes.

By Work:

  • The first novel in The Adventures of Eddie Dickens series was called Awful End in its native country and in most others. The Awful End of the title was not a literal end, it was the house of the protagonist's Mad Uncle Jack and Even Madder Aunt Maud. Nonetheless, the American publication called it A House Called Awful End. Probably because the custom of naming houses, while not unheard of, is far less common in America than Britain.
  • Akata Witch and Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor were released in Nigeria and the UK as What Sunny Saw in the Flames and Sunny and the Mysteries of Osisi, respectively, due to the publisher's concerns over the pejorative term "Akata" in the titles.
  • Point Blanc in the Alex Rider series was renamed Point Blank to make the pun more obvious.
  • The Bible has been hit by a lot of this over the centuries. Ever notice how we use Greek or Latin names for a bunch of ancient Hebrew books? For example, the Book of Ecclesiastes has nothing to do with ecclesiastical matters (i.e. how to organize a church). Its original name was Koheleth, which means "The Teacher", and actually fits the content of the book.note 
  • The Poppy Z. Brite horror novel Birdland, a title that makes perfect sense when you read the story, had its title changed to Drawing Blood by the publisher. Because it's a horror novel and the main character is an illustrator. Drawing blood. Get it?
  • The third of Stuart MacBride's crime novels is called Broken Skin, except in America where it became Bloodshot, as the publishers thought Broken Skin was too violent a title. Oddly enough, they had no problem with the fourth book being called Flesh House. MacBride got so tired of people asking if they are different books, he's put a message on the front page of his website explaining that they're not.
  • The first quartet of Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic universe has different titles for the US and UK/Australia prints. In the US they are Sandry's Book, Tris's Book, Daja's Book, and Briar's Book in order. For the UK and Aussie releases they are, The Magic in the Weaving, The Power in the Storm, The Fire in the Forging and The Healing in the Vine respectively. The second quartet and two stand alone books share the same titles for the entire English-speaking market.
  • Two of the books in the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series had their titles changed for a US release. It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers became On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God ("knickers" in British English means women's underpants; in American English it means "knickerbockers", or knee-length trousers). ... And Then It Came Off In My Hand was deemed to be too rude, and was changed to Away Laughing on a Fast Camel.
  • Wolf of the Plains, the first book in the Conqueror series, was renamed Genghis: Birth of an Empire in America. Lords of the Bow and Bones of the Hills also got new titles, but in their case, the new names were simply the original title prefixed with Genghis.
  • Two Dalziel and Pascoe novels were retitled for their American release: The Death of Dalziel became Death Comes for the Fat Man and A Cure for All Diseases became The Price of Butcher's Meat.
  • Many of the Deverry novels have had their titles changed when released in the UK. The series is divided into multiple subseries, with the first two quartets having a pattern of the first two books' title sharing one structure and the second two books another. The UK editions retitle the second pair of books to reflect the structure of the first two books:
    • Thus, while Daggerspell and Darkspell retain their titles, The Bristling Wood becomes Dawnspell: The Bristling Wood (keeping the original title as a subtitle) while The Dragon Revenant becomes Dragonspell: The Southern Sea (ditching the original title altogether).
    • Likewise, A Time of Exile and A Time of Omens are followed by Days of Blood and Fire and Days of Air and Darkness in the US, while readers in the UK know them as A Time of War and A Time of Justice.
    • Books after that retain their original titles, although in the UK, The Gold Falcon, The Spirit Stone, The Shadow Isle and The Silver Mage are labeled as books four to seven of The Dragon Mage, while in the US they are considered a separate quartet entitled The Silver Wyrm (where The Dragon Mage is a mere trilogy).
  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid has gone through many name changes.
    • First, there's the book series as a whole, the title of which often is changed in translation.
      • The Swedish title translates to "Diary for all my fans." This is a reference to how Greg says that when he becomes rich and famous, he'll give reporters his old diary to read so that he won't have to waste time answering their questions.
      • The Dutch title means "The life of a loser."
      • In Vietnamese, it's called "Diary of a shy boy."
      • In Japanese, it's called "Greg's Useless Diary". Sure, Greg isn't too happy about the journal, but for him to actually call it useless is a bit of a stretch.
    • The first book is just called Diary of a Wimpy Kid, so translators have often made up their own titles for it.
      • In Swedish, it's called "The feats of Greg."
      • In Dutch, it's called "Bram Boterman's logbook."
      • A republishing in the Brazilian Portuguese language added a subtitle related to the one of the book's events, "Cheese Touch."
    • Book 6, Cabin Fever, is renamed often, partly since not every language has a word for cabin fever.
      • Its Swedish title is "Manny's Maneuver'', which is a Spoiler Title about the cause of the blackout that befalls Greg and his family.
      • The Dutch title roughly means "Don't panic!"
      • In Castilian Spanish, it's called "No exit!"
      • The Latin American title is "Trapped in the snow!"
      • In Brazilian Portuguese, it's called "House of Horrors."
      • In Portugese, the name is "Get me out of here!"
      • Its Vietnamese title is "Stuck."
      • In Italian, it's called "Save yourselves, anyone who can!"
  • For unknown reasons, Didou books were retitled to Louie in other European countries outside France and in most English-speaking countries, but was retitled to Sam instead in North American English.
  • In the initial UK launch of Escape from Furnace, the books were referred to as the Furnace series. American publishers decided to extend the title to Escape from Furnace as to make it clear this is a prison break series.
  • The Fighting Fantasy book House of Hell became House of Hades in American English, because hell can be used as a curse word over there.
  • The Final Fantasy VII Remake novel Final Fantasy VII Remake: Trace of Two Pasts was very slightly altered to Final Fantasy VII Remake: Traces of Two Pasts for its official English-language release.
  • Ian Rankin's Fleshmarket Close turned into Fleshmarket Alley for American audiences (no doubt to clarify matters).
    • Fleshmarket Close is a real Edinburgh lane in the Old Town and the most direct route between Waverley station and the Royal Mile, so many an American tourist will have walked up it. Making it even more strange that the title was changed.
  • In Poland, the For Dummies series is currently published under the title Dla bystrzaków ("for bright people"), which of course is the exact opposite of the original title. (The series was previously translated as Dla opornych, "for resistant people".)
  • The Harry Adam Knight novel The Fungus was re-titled Death Spore in the US.
  • The Great Big Book of Horrible Things by Matthew White (US title) is about mass killings in history. The UK publisher gave it the more sober title Atrocitology: Humanity's 100 Deadliest Achievements.
  • The Hardy Boys: Casefiles #117 Blood Sport was renamed Duel with Death in the UK due to the controversy surrounding fox hunting.
  • Harry Potter:
    • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone became Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in America. It was initially marketed as a children's book, and some of the higher-ups believed that American kids wouldn't be familiar with the real-life legend of the Philosopher's Stone, and a more magical-sounding name would be more inviting. Her American publisher initially proposed Harry Potter and the School of Magic, but Rowling didn't like it and suggested "Sorcerer's Stone" as a compromise. Interestingly, in France the novel was released under a similar title to the "School of Magic" alternative (Harry Potter à l'école des sorciers — Harry Potter at Wizards' School) for the exact opposite reason: the story of Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone is well known enough in France that the translators were afraid that the English title would be too much of a spoiler.
    • For Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rowling herself suggested that translations could be based on the phrase "Relics of Death", as many languages didn't have an appropriate equivalent for "Hallows". Apparently that wasn't enough, since reportedly she had to tell the different translators what the phrase referred to before the book was out so that they could tell their audiences what the translated title would be.
  • His Dark Materials: Northern Lights was renamed The Golden Compass in America due to the alethiometer looking like a compass. Scholastic believed "Northern Lights" would be the name of the trilogy and used "Golden Compass" as a Working Title. By the time Philip Pullman got wind of it and things were straightened out, it was too late. Pullman really liked The Golden Compass as a title, although it was a mistake, and patterned the other titles after it.
  • The sixth novel in the Hollows series, The Outlaw Demon Wails, was renamed Where Demons Dare in the UK because the publisher felt the namesake movie for the latter would be more familiar to a British audience than the former.
    • A bit similarly, in Polish, the first book - Dead Witch Walking - was retitled Bring Me The Witch's Head, as "dead man walking" is a phrase without a direct equivalent in Polish, and Every Which Way But Dead turned into All Magic Is Good, likely because "which-witch" pun wouldn't carry over into Polish.
  • The first-published book in C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series was titled The Happy Return in the UK, and Beat to Quarters in the United States. Several of the TV films similarly had alternate titles, usually while still managing a Title Drop.
  • James Bond
    • Casino Royale, the first Bond novel, was retitled You Asked For It when released in America.
    • COLD was retitled Cold Fall when it was released in America.
  • Jessica's Ghost is named Friends for Life in the United States.
  • Kiln People by David Brin was published in the UK as Kil'n People.
  • The Kraken Wakes was re-titled Out of the Deeps in the US.
  • Mandy Stanley's Lattice the Rabbit books were for some reason sold for a time with the titular character renamed to Bella in North America. The reason is unclear, and the book titles have been reverted to Lattice. However it is a bit strange to come across the same book with different titles in certain libraries in the US.
  • The American title of the English translation of Let the Right One In was changed to Let Me In, which removes the vampiric nuances of the original title. It was changed due to the original title being "too long". Thanks to the release and success of the Film of the Book, the title has been changed back. They even thought that the author John Ajvide Lindqvist's name was too long and asked him if they could change that too.
  • The second half of Little Women was published in the UK as Good Wives, a title that appears in some later compilations on both sides of the Atlantic. It seems safe to guess that L. M. Alcott did not care for this title.
  • Raymond E. Feist's Magician is published in the US as the separate Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master.
  • Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson is known in the U.S. as Where's My Mom?
  • Mortal Engines:
    • The first book and its sequels are collectively known as "The Hungry City Chronicles" in America, despite the series already having a perfectly good name - the Mortal Engines Quartet. Perhaps they felt the premise of cities eating each other wasn't quite obvious enough. Now, the series has been re-released in America under the name "The Predator Cities Quartet".
    • The four books were collectively published under the brand name "The Traction City Chronicle" in Korean.
  • A minor example: Joe Hill's NOS4A2 is changed to NOS4R2 in the UK release, to better agree with the British English pronunciation of "Nosferatu".
  • Notes From a Big Country by Bill Bryson, a collection of Mail on Sunday columns about life in America, was titled A Stranger Here Myself in the US, emphasizing the Stranger in a Familiar Land elements, and dropping the Cross-Referenced Titles to his book about Britain, Notes From a Small Island.
  • The UK print of Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Ponypalooza Party shortens the title to Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Pony Party.
  • Pig the Pug:
    • Pig the Grub was released as Pig the Stinker in some locations.
    • Pig the Blob was released as Pig the Slob in some locations.
  • Anne McCaffrey's Dragonseye was published (6 months earlier) in the UK as Red Star Rising. There are theories about possible confusion with Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy and Larry Bond published a decade earlier. However, many fans decided that the US publisher wasn't sure if a Pern book would be recognizable without "dragon" or "Pern" somewhere in the title.
  • Rivers of London became Midnight Riot in the US.
  • Robert A Heinlein's novel The Rolling Stones (1952) was retitled Space Family Stone in Britain after The Rolling Stones (Band) hit the big time.
  • The Saga of Darren Shan (originally from the U.K.) is known as Cirque du Freak (the title of the first book) in the U.S.
  • Seven Ancient Wonders was renamed Seven Deadly Wonders in the US, to make it sound more like an action book.
  • The fourth Silverwing novel, Darkwing, is known as Dusk in the UK.
  • Louis Sachar's Sixth Grade Secrets was published as Pig City in the UK - "Pig City' is an in-universe secret club central to the plot, and the term "sixth grade" wouldn't be familiar to a UK audience (the equivalent would be "year 7").
  • Diane Duane's second Feline Wizards book, To Visit the Queen, is titled On Her Majesty's Wizardly Service in the UK. No explanation has been offered.
  • The Ugly Little Boy (1991): In the USA, the title is The Ugly Little Boy, while in the UK, the title is Child of Time.
  • Where's Wally? is published as Where's Waldo? in the U.S. and Canada. Even creator Martin Handford refers to him as "Waldo" in many interviews and press releases. The name of the character's Evil Twin is Odlaw ("Waldo" backwards), even in the UK. Admittedly, "Yllaw" doesn't have the same ring to it.
  • Warrior Cats is simply called Warriors in the U.S. and Canada. However, due to it being more popular over there than in the UK, the shortened title is much more commonly used.
  • Michael Slade released the novel as Zombie in the UK, at the same time as Joyce Carol Oates released a novel with the same name, so it was re-titled Evil Eye.

    Live-Action TV 
  • When the late-70s adventure series The American Girlsnote  was screened in Britain, the title was changed to Have Girls, Will Travel for no apparent reason.
  • The Civil War drama The Americans aired in Britain as The Fighting Canfields and in Australia as The Blue And The Grey.
  • The long-running British version of America's Funniest Home Videos is titled You've Been Framed!.
  • In Israel, Andi Mack is simply titled Andi for some reason, while in Germany it became Story of Andi.
  • Bering Sea Gold is known in the UK as Gold Divers.
  • For the first seasons, Beverly Hills, 90210 was renamed to L. A. Beat in Finland.
  • The Six Million Dollar Man:
    • Why wasn't the Distaff Counterpart named The Six Million Dollar Woman? To start with, it was thought that having done all the R&D on Steve Austin, a second bionic agent wouldn't cost as much. But saying she was cheaper might anger women's groups. At the same time, (and with impressive double-think) they thought "The Six Million Dollar Woman" sounded like a really expensive hooker. So, Jaime Summers was The Bionic Woman.
    • The Bionic Woman was broadcasted as simply Sommers in Korean while The Six Million Dollar Man retained its original title.
    • In Israel, the show was named The Man Worth Millions to avoid memories of the Holocaust, as six million is the most commonly used estimate for the numbers of Jews who died during it.
  • The Australian series Bondi Vet, which airs on Animal Planet, airs as two different series as part of CBS's Saturday morning programming block. Dr. Chris Pet Vet focuses on the veterinary work of the titular veterinarian, Chris Brown, while Pet Vet Dream Team focuses on the other veterinarians helping to lead his practice. For exportation, each show was given an American narrator.
  • Casualty 1906 was titled London Hospital in the US, because it was an In Name Only spin-off from the British series CASUAL+Y, which didn't air in the States.
    • The term "Casualty ward" isn't used in the US ("Emergency Room" in casual speech although most hospitals refer to it as the "Emergency Department").
  • Charlie's Angels was called The Beautiful Trio in Korean.
  • Chase (NBC) was officially retitled Jerry Bruckheimer's Chase for the UK.
  • CHiPs was called The Motorcycle Patrol in Korean.
  • Some countries air Clarissa Explains It All as just Clarissa outside the US (in non-English-speaking territories), one example is when Nickelodeon Asia aired the show in the late 90's, and the only territory that has that title despite airing the show in English.
  • The Cosby Show was aired under the title Hooray for Cosbies in Korean although Cosby was the lead actor's real name and not the character's name.
  • The Disney Channel's 2015 What The What?!? thread of episodes (so named because in each episode someone shouts said phrase) with stars of DCLAU shows guesting on each other's seriesnote  was renamed "Guest Star Week" on Disney Channel UK, although the "What the what?" promos were still used.
  • Eureka was entitled A Town Called Eureka in Britain to avoid confusion with an 80s children's historical show about famous inventions (there was also a Canadian series from around the same time also called "Eureka", but it's pretty much unknown to most people in the UK).
  • Everwood was first shown in Britain on ITV as Our New Life In Everwood, ostensibly because it was a "more accurate" title. It was subsequently screened on Living and E4 under its original title.
  • The British version of the Game Show Family Feud is called "Family Fortunes", most likely due to the word "Feud" having stronger negative connotations over there. In Latin and South America, the show's title tends to be some variation on "100 <nationality> Said..."
  • First Day: The Danish localization of the series is known as Hannahs hemmelighed ("Hannah's secret"). It quickly becomes as an Artifact Title given that she's outed already at the end of episode 2 in season 1.
  • The Great British Bake Off is renamed The Great British Baking Show when aired in the U.S. and Canada, because of trademark issues with Pillsbury's Pillsbury Bake-Off competition (which formerly aired as a television special). ABC's U.S. version has followed its lead and called itself The Great American Baking Show (though CBS's first U.S. version was titled The American Baking Competition instead), the same with CBC and The Great Canadian Baking Show.
  • To better cash in on Bruce Lee's popularity most Southeast Asian countries (Excluding the Philippines, which aired the show with the title unchanged) retitled The Green Hornet, The Kato Show. It's still shown on some channels to this day on late night schedules.
  • The TeenNick airings of the Australian tweens' show H₂O: Just Add Water are aired under the shortened title of H2O, for unknown reasons.
  • The Japanese dub of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series just omits "The Series" in the name for some reason.
  • An Indian Hindi-language TV show was actually called Hitler Didi (Hitler elder sister- the lead character is very strict with her younger sibling)- but to air this show in some foreign markets, including the United States, they had to change the title to General Didi. Hitler is often a nickname in several countries including India for a draconian, overly strict individual- but in several other countries, has some unfortunate implications.
  • Hoarders is Acumuladores in Spanish-speaking Latin America.
  • Home and Away is known in France as Summer Bay, which is the location of where the show is set.
  • Several of the Horatio Hornblower TV films were renamed for the American market. Indeed, in the UK, the series was simply titled Hornblower, the naming being extended to include the character's first name for the US.
    • "The Even Chance" became "The Duel"
    • "The Examination For Lieutenant'' became "The Fire Ships"
    • "The Frogs and the Lobsters" became "The Wrong War"
  • iCarly (which as a series averts this trope) has a rare native language episode-specific case - "iShock America" is shown in the UK and other English-speaking countries as "iShock The World".
  • The HGTV Canada series Island of Bryan, focusing on the restoration of a Bahamian resort by a Canadian family, airs on the US version of HGTV as Renovation Island.
  • Ironmen of Cooking became Iron Chef in the US. In fairness, that translation was suggested by the series itself, what with Chairman Kaga dropping the Gratuitous English phrase "Iron Chef" into his otherwise Japanese-language introduction of the chefs each episode.
  • Outside of Japan, Kamen Rider Amazons is shortened to Amazon Riders. An example that works as the words "Kamen Rider" are never uttered in the series.
  • The Canadian/French production about a police canine officer and his dog partner Rudy was called Katts And Dog in Canada. In America, it was retitled Rin Tin Tin: K9 Cop (and in France, Rintintin Junior). The only other change was to redub mentions of "Rudy" to "Rinty".
  • Kickin' It is shown in some foreign-language versions as translations of Wasabi Warriors (the original Working Title).
  • TeenNick renamed the Aussie show Lightning Point to the more blunt Alien Surf Girls. The Netflix streams of the show airs it under the original title.
  • Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman:
    • The show was just called The New Adventures of Superman in the UK because it was assumed UK viewers would not have heard of the Lewis and Clark expedition. After transferring to ITV the original titlecard is retained but the network still refers to it as "The New Adventures of Superman" (although when the final season premiered on Sky it was called by the original title). The DVDs retain the original title as well.
    • The show bacame Superman for obvious reason, and called by the title Lois and Clark's Superman in its final season, in Korean. (The same station broadcasted The Adventures of Superboy as just Superman several years before, ignoring Superboy moniker in the show)
  • Mayday became Air Crash Investigation in Europe, Asia and Australia, while in the United States it became Air Emergency on National Geographic Channel and Air Disasters on Smithsonian Channel.
  • Men Behaving Badly (the British series) was advertised as British Men Behaving Badly on BBC America to avoid confusion with an American show of the same name.
  • Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers became known simply as Mighty Power Rangers or just Power Rangers in Malaysia because soccer moms complained that "morphin" sounded like "morphine" and that would somehow drive their kids to do drugs. The ban is not consistently enforced and it is possible to find Malay dubbed VCDs of the original series with the full name intact on the cover, however the 2017 movie tried to launch with the original MMPR title only to change because the soccer moms came out of the woodwork and complained. Other countries such as Spain also referred to the original series simply as Power Rangers, though not for reasons of censorship.
  • In Korean, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers was called Invincible Power Rangers. Power Rangers Zeo became known as Zeo Rangers. Power Rangers in Space became known as Mega Rangers (not to be confused with its Sentai counterpart Denji Sentai Megaranger, Power Rangers Samurai's Mega Mode, or Power Rangers Megaforce). Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue became known simply as Power Rangers Rescue. Power Rangers Wild Force was broadcasted as Power Force Rangers. Oddly enough, they later switched from Power Rangers dubs to Super Sentai dubs, yet kept the Power Rangers name (often some version of "Power Rangers: The Something Force"):
  • When the Super Sentai series started getting English-language DVD releases with Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, the series was referred to as "Super Sentai Zyuranger" (with the front cover reading "Super Sentai" in big letters with "Zyuranger" at the bottom), presumably to create more consistent branding for the franchise. Later releases starting with Gosei Sentai Dairanger would refer to the shows by their full titles, while retaining the "Super Sentai" name at the top. Zyuranger is the only one still referred to by the different title in marketing. On shopping sites like Amazon and Shout Factory, the full title is "Power Rangers: Super Sentai: (season name)"
  • The Japanese show Money no Tora ("Money Tigers") had its format exported internationally as Dragons' Den. When it reached the United States, it was renamed again to Shark Tank (presumably as a reference to "Loan Sharks"). In a few other countries, it's Lion's Den. And a handful of countries have versions with their own titles unrelated to dragons, sharks, or lions; but those are the three main international titles.
  • Motherland: Fort Salem is simply titled Fort Salem in the UK. While the official reason for this is unknown, it is most likely to avoid confusion with Motherland, a sitcom about parenthood, especially since both shows are distributed by the BBC in the UK.
  • The Canadian period drama detective series Murdoch Mysteries airs under the title The Artful Detective in the United States on the Ovation cable channel. It is aired under its original title when in syndication on other US stations.
  • Outside of North America, The Noddy Shop is known as Noddy in Toyland, with the title sequence being edited to reflect this change.
  • In Spanish-speaking markets, The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo is known as Buenas Noches con Elmo, which translates into "Good Night With Elmo" in English.
  • Ocean Girl, an Australian kids' sci-fi, was renamed Ocean Odyssey for British consumption.
  • Cop Show Ohara was released in Brazil under the title Karate Kid Ohara despite having nothing to do with The Karate Kid film franchise, except the fact that its protagonist is Pat Morita, who played Mister Miyagi in the franchise.
  • The short-lived British sitcom The Peter Principle was renamed The Boss in the United States.
  • The Australian television show Prisoner was billed Prisoner: Cell Block H in the UK and United States (though the show itself retained the original onscreen title in the UK) and Caged Women in Canada. This was to avoid confusion with The Prisoner (1967), an unrelated British show. Also, its 2013 "reimagining" as Wentworth was called Wentworth Prison in the UK. This time they did change the onscreen title as well.
  • Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) became My Partner The Ghost when it crossed the pond. Apparently it was thought Americans wouldn't understand the title.
  • Japanese Game Show Sasuke was renamed Ninja Warrior in English dubs.
    • Likewise for its predecessor Kinniku Banzuke, which was given the name Unbeatable Banzuke.
  • The first three S Club 7 TV series were originally produced for British television with titles that followed a set structure of "<name of city the band was in> 7" (i.e. Miami 7, L.A. 7, etc.). When the series was broadcast on Fox Family Channel in America, the names were changed to instead follow the "S Club 7 in <name of city>" template (i.e., Miami 7 became S Club 7 in Miami). The final series, Viva S Club, broke the "<city> 7" tradition, but was also renamed for American broadcast (to simply S Club, though promos referred to the series as "S Club 7 in Barcelona").
  • Sledge Hammer! became Mr. Gun in France.
  • The British spy series Spooks was titled MI-5 in America. "Spook" is slang for "spy" in both American and British English, but in American English it's also an outdated, but still offensive, racist slur for African-Americans.
  • Irwin Allen's TV series of Swiss Family Robinson aired in the UK as Island Of Adventure because a Canadian seriesnote  also based on the book got there first (the name change was even more justified, since both were shown on ITV).
  • Switched at Birth airs in Japan under the title "Switch ~A Quirk of Fate~", for some reason. The DVD boxsets do include the original title though.
  • Although Quinn Martin's Tales Of The Unexpected came before the more famous show of (almost) the same name, it was retitled Twist In The Tale for UK audiences.
  • In Romania, The Thin Blue Line aired under the title "Mr. Bean: Inspectorul Fowler", and all descriptions of the show presented by the TV channels that aired it treat Rowan Atkinson's character as Mr. Bean in other adventures.
  • Voyagers! was aired under the title Time Machine in Korean.
  • We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year had the subtitle changed to The Nominees outside of Australia.
  • In Ghana, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is called Who Wants to be Rich?, since the top payout is 500,000 Ghanaian cedi, or approximately US$286,451.
  • The Lifetime Made-for-TV Movie Why I Wore Lipstick To My Mastectomy is simply called Lipstick in other countries.
  • Wonders In Letterland became Troubles With T-Bag in Australia to avoid a copyright problem. One of the makers said that whilst neither title satisfied him, at least the second one referenced the character of the show.
  • World's Most Amazing Videos is known as Global Shockers in the Philippines when aired on ABC 5 in 2006. (now TV 5)
  • British adaptations of American game shows often change the title:
  • A number of German examples:
  • In Ukrainian translation, The Nanny and Ugly Betty became My American Nanny (Моя американська няня) and American Un-Beauty (Не краса по-американськи) to emphasize that these are American counterparts of Russian shows My Fair Nanny and Not Born Beautiful.

    Music 
  • Elton John's first live album was recorded from a radio broadcast in November 1970. It was released in 1971 with the title 17-11-70 in most of the world, but 11-17-70 in the US (where dates are invariably rendered month-first, whether the month is spelled out or left in numeric form).
  • British singer Sheena Easton's hit "9 To 5" was titled "Morning Train (9 To 5)" in the US to avoid confusion with Dolly Parton's song of the same name.
  • British band Alabama 3, most well known for "Woke Up This Morning", the theme to The Sopranos, is known as A3 in America allegedly to avoid potential legal conflicts with existing country band Alabama.
  • Australian rockers The Angels faced a lawsuit from both the glam band Angel and the 60's girl group The Angels, which forced them to use the name "Angel City" in the U.S.
  • A lawsuit from yet another obscure artist forced the Welsh band The Automatic to go by The Automatic Automatic in the US. Again, none of their American fans call them this.
  • The British band called The Beat came to be known as The English Beat in the US after discovering the existence of an American band of the same name (which is known as Paul Collins' Beat in Europe due an agreement by both bands not to use the name "The Beat" in each other's main area of operations). After discovering the existence of the other's band, bandleaders Paul Collins and Dave Wakeling struck up a friendship that culminated in the two bands touring together in 2012.
  • Due to yet another case of another band already laying claim to a name, British band The Bees are known in the US as A Band of Bees.
  • Meredith Brooks' Bitch was changed to Nothing In Between in several overseas markets (notably Malaysia — with the titular word silenced out instead of bleeped out in the song).
  • For a while, the Australian group The Bumblebeez had to be billed as Bumblebeez 81 in the US, due to an existing group called The Bumblebees - apparently the use of Xtreme Kool Letterz alone wasn't enough to differentiate the two. They're now back to being just Bumblebeez in both countries though.
  • Yet another band forced to change its name in another market is the British band Bush, briefly known as BushX in Canada, due to a band from the 70s already holding a trademark on that name in Canada. This particular case is interesting as the older Bush released the trademark in exchange for the British band making a couple charitable donations.
  • Swedish band Ceasars Palace was renamed to Ceasars outside of Sweden to avoid people from confusing it with the well known casino in Las Vegas (spelled Caesars Palace). In the rest of Scandinavia they were known as Twelve Ceasars. Eventually they ended up calling their band Ceasars everywhere in the world.
  • There have been cases of bands changing their names for certain markets due to legal conflicts by simply adding their country's suffix to their name.
    • The British group The Charlatans were forced to add "UK" to their name for their US releases, because a 1960s California rock band also had that name.
    • Goth rockers The Mission are known as The Mission UK in the US, due to a lawsuit by a Philadelphia-based R&B group.
    • Wham! were briefly called Wham! UK in the United States due to a similarly named artist. By the time they became popular, the suffix was gone.
    • Squeeze originally went by U.K. Squeeze outside of the UK due to legal conflicts with a band called Tight Squeeze. By the time of the Second British Invasion and their peak in popularity, they began going by Squeeze worldwide.
  • When American rock band Chicago's first album was released they were billed as the Chicago Transit Authority. When the city of Chicago's official transit authority initiated legal proceedings over the unauthorized use of their name, the band shortened their name to its current form. Apparently the city of Chicago has no further complaints.
  • Dua Lipa was going to have been referred to by Only One Name, Dua, for Greece, because of fears her surname Lipa (which means linden tree in Slavic) would be confused with the Greek word lipos- meaning "fat" as in liposuction, but this was averted in the end.
  • The first Electric Light Orchestra album famously ended up with a different title in the US by accident: Someone from the band's American label, United Artists Records, had called up ELO's manager to find out the album title, and when they didn't reach him, they left a note simply reading "no answer". Someone else thought the content of the note was the album title, and thus what was a Self-Titled Album in the UK was released in the US as No Answer.
  • American supergroup Eyes Adrift were known as Bud, Curt & Krist in Australia, due to there already being an Australian group called Eyes Adrift. The decision to change the group name to the members' first names in alphabetical order also led to a slight alteration of the cover art: The U.S. version of the album cover featured head-shots of Bud Gough, Krist Novoselic, and Curt Kirkwood in that order, so for the Australian version Krist and Curt were swapped with each other to avoid putting their names above to the wrong photos.
  • Peter Gabriel's fourth self-titled album in 1982 was released in the U.S. as Security, at the behest of his American label of the time, Geffen Records.
  • The German group Inga & Anete Humpe has an album, released in 1987, titled Swimming with Sharks. The American version of this album had the same cover picture, except that the group name was erased from it; this effectively changed the group's name to "Swimming with Sharks" in the US, and the album into a Self-Titled Album. This was probably because of the irresistible sexual associations of the name "Humpe" in the USA.
  • Nick Lowe's album known as The Jesus of Cool in the UK was originally called Pure Pop for Now People in the US.
  • Judas Priest's Killing Machine was deemed too violent-sounding a title, so in the U.S. it was released as Hell Bent For Leather instead. The song "Killing Machine" kept its title though - they basically just substituted one Title Track for another.
  • Motown began as Tamla Records, before Berry Gordy decided Motown was a more memorable name for the organization, with Tamla continuing as a subsidiary label. But in the UK fans generally referred to them as Tamla Motown and when they formally worked out a distribution deal with EMI there they made that the official name.
  • Kyu Sakamoto's "Ue o Muite Arukō" was released in English-speaking markets with the Non-Appearing Title "Sukiyaki", just because it was short, catchy, recognizably Japanese, and more familiar as a famous dish. A Newsweek columnist compared this re-titling to issuing "Moon River" in Japan under the title "Beef Stew".
  • For its release outside Japan, Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Ongaku Zukan" ("Musical Picture Book") had its name changed to the slightly more technical "Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia", and some tracks swapped out. In addition, two songs received titles of their own - the French titled "Ma Mere L'Oye" (which is a Japanese pun) became "Zen Gun", and "Hane De Hayashi De" (In A Woody Forest) became "In A Forest Of Feathers".
  • Japanese duo Puffy added the singers names - Ami and Yumi - when they began releasing albums in North America and got an animated series, to avoid confusion with Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs.
  • An obscure band caused the Jack White project The Raconteurs to change their name to The Saboteurs in Australia. Unlike the last two examples, the band is actually commonly called by this new name there.
  • In a curious aversion, The Radiators is the name of bands from the US and Australia. Both bands were formed in the late seventies, both are still playing, and neither has objected to the other, even though both have sold records in the other's country.
  • German band Scooter's "Ramp!" was renamed to "Ramp! The Logical Song" as per the chorus' author Supertramp's request, and released as such around Europe. However, it was renamed simply to "The Logical Song" for its UK release. On fan forums, the song is typically referred to as "Ramp!" for familiarity.
  • Micky Dolenz of The Monkees wrote a ragtime/psychedelic/scat tune called "Randy Scouse Git" which he titled after a phrase he heard on TV while in England... a phrase which means "Horny Idiot from Liverpool." UK censors refused to allow the title to be printed on records aimed at teens and pre-teens, and demanded he come up with an alternate title for the song. So, in the UK, he released it as "Alternate Title."
  • When they started out as Cliff Richard's backup group, the Shadows were known as "The Drifters". They released a couple of singles without Richard under that name which were also released in the U.S. on Capitol Records. The first one was quickly withdrawn from sale in the U.S. by request of Atlantic Records, who had the well-established R&B group The Drifters under contract, so the second one was issued under the name of "The Four Jets" to avoid further problems. Following those two singles, the group adopted their definitive name of "The Shadows".
  • New Zealand band Shihad changed their name to Pacifier (possibly a Meaningful Name) after September 11 out of concern that the similarity to "Jihad" might lock them out of the American market note . They had little success there anyway and changed it back in 2004.
  • In a reverse US-UK case, the American soul band the Spinners were known as the Detroit Spinners or the Motown Spinners (for records from that label) in the UK because of a well-known UK folk group with the same name.
  • Due to a lawsuit from an obscure folk singer, the British rock band Suede is legally known as The London Suede in the US, even though most fans of the band in the country commonly call the band by their actual name.
  • The T-Bones was the name of two different 1960s groups: an American studio group best known for "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)" and a British beat group. To avoid confusion, the American group became the "U.S. T-Bones" in the U.K. while the British group changed its name to "Gary Farr and the T-Bones" after a couple of singles.
  • I.R.S. Records insisted on tweaking Australian rock band Hunters & Collectors' fifth album What's a Few Men? for the US market, removing songs they deemed "too Australian" and having the band record replacements and changing the title to Fate. The proper title is a reference World War I vet A.B. Facey's autobiography A Fortunate Life.
  • The John Williams compliation album An American Journey is called Call Of The Champions overseas (both are titles of pieces on the album).
  • After signing to Atlantic Records to release their American debut album, Japanese rock band X had to rename themselves as X Japan in that nation in order to avoid confusion with the Los Angeles punk rock band X (US Band) (and maybe the Australian band). Eventually, they retained the new name worldwide instead of using the name in the US only.
  • Due to a lawsuit from a band of the same name, English Synth-Pop duo Yazoo is known as Yaz in the US. Oddly enough, this led to a little further confusion when a pop singer who went by Yazz cropped up a bit later in The '80s.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • Due to Unfortunate Implications with World War II gas chambers, WWE had to rename their Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event in Germany to No Way Out (which was the predecessor to Elimination Chamber).
    • This worked for three years, until WWE decided to revive No Way Out in 2012, which meant Elimination Chamber had to be called No Way Out while No Way Out was renamed No Escape.
    • To stop any further confusion, Elimination Chamber was renamed No Escape for Germany in 2013, and has continued as such to this day (2021). That freed up No Way Out for international use.
  • Similarly to Elimination Chamber in Germany, the 2010 Fatal 4-Way was renamed 4-Way Finale in France.
  • After Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin won the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team titles at ZERO1 Tenka Ichi Jr. - Day 2 - Max Land ~ Progress, the team became a hot commodity among bookers...who couldn't agree on what to call them. The next promotion to book them was California based Pro Wrestling Guerilla, which went with "Motor City Machine Guns" but when they showed up in Chicago at ROH Good Times Great Memories they were the Murder City Machine Guns. When ROH and PWG enacted a talent sharing deal in 2016 "Motor" was used everywhere.

    Puppet Shows 
  • Don't Eat the Neighbours is known by the name Big Teeth, Bad Breath in Canada. The show happens to be partly a Canadian production as well.

    Theatre 

    Theme Parks 
  • Autopia is the name of the race car attraction in Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. In the Magic Kingdom it's called the Tomorrowland Speedway and in Tokyo Disneyland it's named the Grand Circuit Raceway.
  • Florida's The Country Bear Jamboree was named The Country Bear Playhouse when the show was brought to California.
  • The Enchanted Tiki Room show in California's Disneyland was called Tropical Serenade from 1971 to 1998 in Florida's Magic Kingdom.
  • Tokyo Disneyland's Frontierland is called Westernland, due to the difficulty of translating "frontier" into Japanese.
  • Honey, I Shrunk The Audience was renamed MicroAdventure! in Tokyo Disneyland. This is because the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movies themselves are called Micro Kids in Japanese.
  • The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure in Disney California Adventure was renamed Under The Sea - Journey Of The Little Mermaid when it was added to Magic Kingdom.

    Web Animation 
  • Weebl & Bob was released as Wobbl and Bob on DVD and MTV Europe due to fear of copyright conflict with Weeble toys by Hasbro.

    Western Animation 
  • The part-Dutch, part-German, part-Japanese Alfred J. Kwak, which is based on a theater show and comic book created by the Dutch Herman van Veen, is known as Alfred Jodocus Kwak in Dutch. Jodocus is a fairly uncommon name in the Netherlands, but it's also a word meaning "jokester" or something similar. In almost every other country, the name Jodocus was changed to Jonathan. The title of the show is usually shortened to Alfred J. Kwak pretty much everywhere, including the Netherlands. In Japanese, the cartoon is known as "The Big Love Story of a Little Duck: Duck Kwak" (Chiisana Ahiru no Ooki na Ai no Monogatari Ahiru no Kuwakku).
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender became Avatar: The Legend of Aang in the UK, most likely because "bender" is a derogatory British term for homosexual.note  Of course, they couldn't do anything about the characters talking about "benders" throughout the entire series...
    • However the cover of the box set of season 3 released in the UK has the The Last Airbender subtitle on the cover rather than The Legend of Aang which was on the boxsets of the first two seasons.
    • The Legend of Aang title was also sometimes used in Australia, despite the fact that "bender" is unheard of in Australia. Since a lot of Australian and British DVDs both make use of the 50Hz PAL signal, however, they probably just switched the region on the DVDs. On the TV show, however, it uses The Last Airbender.
    • Didn't help that while the show aired as "Avatar: The Last Airbender" in Asia on Nickelodeon, on Amazon Prime Video Asia the show is called "The Legend of Aang", probably due to Amazon Prime Video's regional servers for Asia being situated in Australia. More perplexing is how the movie (which is also on the service) is still called "The Last Airbender" (without the Avatar part, however).
    • To add to the irony, both "The Last Airbender" and "The Legend of Aang" editions were aired on Nick Asia for some reason.
    • The American version of Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots managed to slip the "Legend of Aang" subtitle through. Then again, the game's developers (Blue Tongue; you may know them for de Blob nowadays) are based in Australia, and this is the same Licensed Game series that insists that Invader Zim always be capitalized as "INVADER ZIM" for no apparent reason.
    • With the release of the sequel series The Legend of Korra, the UK subtitle is somewhat more appropriate because it appears consistent and helps unify the Korra and Aang series by their core concept: following the journeys of Avatars in the Avatar Cycle. Outside the US (where the creators were unable to use the name anymore because of legal issues, thanks to the release of James Cameron's Avatar), the Korra series is known as "Avatar: The Legend of Korra", further reinforcing this concept.
  • Batman Beyond was renamed Batman of the Future in European languages, Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Japanese uses Batman the Future.
  • Caillou:
    • In European Portuguese, the show is known as Ruca, although the Brazilian Portuguese version kept his name as Caillou.
    • The show is known as Oblutak in Croatian.
  • The third and fourth seasons of the French cartoon The Crumpets are branded under the title Teen Crumpets outside of French-speaking markets. The name change better reflects the main cast's shift from season two to season three, while the French version of the show Les Crumpets keeps its title for all seasons.
  • The Animated Adaptation of Dennis the Menace (US) was just called Dennis in the UK, to avoid confusion with Dennis the Menace (UK).
  • French cartoon Didou is known as Louie in other parts of the world, except in America where he goes by the name Sam instead.
  • DuckTales (1987) in Norwegian is called "Ole, Dole og Doffen på eventyr" (Huey, Dewey, and Louie on Adventures). The reboot, however, is just called DuckTales (2017). In South Korea, the original show was called The Greedy Uncle Duck while the reboot was aired as Adventures of Donald Duck Family.
  • Family Guy became I Griffin and Les Griffin in Italian and European French respectively (The Griffins, presumably to match up with The Simpsons). Same applies in Russian, where it's called Гриффины.
  • Fancy Nancy is called Fancy Nancy Clancy in every country outside the US.
  • With Franklin, both the series and the titular turtle are Benjamin in French Canada, though still Franklin in France. The All-CGI Cartoon spin-off, Franklin and Friends, becomes Benjamin et ses Amis.
  • Remember Garfield and Friends? Remember those segments with Orson the Pig? In the US, they were known as "U.S. Acres", while in Canada and elsewhere outside the US (except for Australia) they were known as "Orson's Farm". The DVD set was made using the international masters, so they use the "Orson's Farm" title even in the US.
  • Unsurprisingly, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero was released outside the U.S. as either "G.I. Joe: An International Hero" or "Action Force: An International Hero.", or in some areas, just "G.I. Joe" (as is the case of Malaysia and Singapore). This could be considered a same-language example of Cultural Translation. However, there's more to it: Action Force was actually its own continuity before being merged with G.I. Joe.
    • The show was aired under the title The Ultimate Expert Team G.I.JOE in Japan.
  • Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks drops the subtitle in European markets and is simply Jakers!
  • British/Australian children's series Jellabies is known as Jellikins in several parts of the world, particularly the UK. The Jellikins versions also make the characters gummy bears whereas in the Jellabies versions they resembled actual humans.
  • Jimmy Two-Shoes is known as Jimmy Cool in Spanish-speaking countries and Eastern Europe, while in Italian, it is known as Jimmy Jimmy.
  • Looney Tunes: The short "Curtain Razor" was renamed "Show Stoppers" when it aired on The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show in the 1970s, due to censors objecting to the word "razor".
  • Mickey and the Roadster Racers gets the Engrish-y Mickey Mouse and Road Racers in Japanese.
    • After the show was renamed Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures in its third season, reruns of the first two seasons were renamed Mickey Mouse Roadster Racers.
  • Miles from Tomorrowland is shown on Disney Jr. in the UK as Miles From Tomorrow (and as with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when it was shown on British TV in the '80s-90s, the theme song was rerecorded to indicate the change).
  • In some European countries (like Italy and Spain), Peppa Pig got in season 3 the subtitle "Hip hip hooray for Peppa!", and in Season 4 the title was shortened in those countries to Peppa. Albeit people still call the series by the full name.
  • International localizations of Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders call the series Starla and the Jewel Riders.
  • Mainframe's (the same studio behind Beast Wars) Shadow Raiders was named such because it was loosely based on a US-based toy line named War Planets, and they couldn't include War in the name of a children's cartoon in Canada. Initial US runs restored the series name to War Planets to match the toys... but later runs kept the name Shadow Raiders which was the original for the series, but a Market Based Title compared to the toys it was based on. Confused yet?
    • In fact, after the release of the cartoon (which was a huge hit), the toys were renamed to Shadow Raiders for the Canadian market; reruns of the series have since used a combined title, with the War Planets name spelled out in tiny lettering above the Shadow Raiders logo.
  • Space Goofs became known as Home To Rent in the UK. For the second season it was changed back to the original title.
  • The Italian dub of SpongeBob SquarePants shortens the title to just "SpongeBob".
  • In the Italian dub, Star vs. the Forces of Evil is called Marco and Star VS the Forces of Evil. The Japanese dub is also called Devil Buster Star Butterfly.
  • TaleSpin somehow became Captain Baloo in German. Maybe Disney thought that the Punny Name title wouldn't translate well into German, or maybe they were trying to compete with another famous bear captain in Germany.
  • Because British policy forbade the mention of ninja in children's programming, the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series was renamed Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles there. The live-action movies managed to avoid it (even when they later aired on television alongside the cartoon), but the live-action television series still kept the "hero" moniker. The franchise finally got to use the word "ninja" in the region by the 2000s. This is lampshaded when the Turtles made an appearance in the charity Massive Multiplayer Crossover comic book The Comic Relief Comic. The presenters of the Comic Relief telethon, Lenny Henry and (comic book geek) Jonathan Ross, got into an argument as to what they were called while introducing them. They were finally billed as Teenage Mutant [Something] Turtles. In Japanese, they are just called Mutant Turtles.
    • The exact opposite happened in Latin American Spanish where the show is known simply as Las Tortugas Ninja without the mutant or teenage part, because the original title was thought to be too long.
      • Same in Italian, where it was known as Tartarughe Ninja alla Riscossa ("Ninja Turtles to the Rescue").
  • Several episodes of Thomas & Friends, mostly from the first few seasons, had their titles changed for the American dub of the show. Some of these changes were due to differences in railroad terminology (e.g. "Troublesome Trucks" became "Foolish Freight Cars", and "Thomas and the Guard" became "Thomas and the Conductor"), while others don't have a clear explanation (e.g. "Off the Rails" became "Gordon Takes a Dip", and "Dirty Work" became "Diesel's Devious Deed").
  • In Britain there was once a Top Cat brand of cat food. This led to The BBC changing Top Cat to (The) Boss Cat up to the late '80s. Seeing as they only changed the show's title, and not its theme song, or the lead character's name, it was rather a token gesture. The show was called by its proper title by the '90s.
  • Beast Wars: Transformers was known in Canada as Beasties, because the word "war" could not be used in children's cartoons per regulations. This is especially weird considering that the show was actually produced in Canada.
    • The first season of Beast Wars was released in Japanese under its English title with the additional modifier Super Lifeform Transformers; however, for reasons relating to the way shows are broadcast in Japan, the second and third were released under the title Beast Wars Metals. Beast Machines then became Beast Wars Returns.
    • Also, The Transformers for some reason became Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers when it was released in Japanese, with the third season released as Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010. Later, Transformers: Car Robots would become Transformers: Robots in Disguise when it was released in America.
    • This happened to the Japanese-made Unicron Trilogy as well. Transformers Micron Legend became Transformers: Armada, Transformers Superlink became Transformers: Energon, and Transformers Galaxy Force became Transformers: Cybertron. Other way around, really, since all three lines were created by Hasbro and renamed for the Japanese market.
    • Transformers: Prime was released in Japanese as Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Prime.
    • Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015) was released in Japanese as Transformers Adventure for its first season, and Transformers Adventure -Prime of Micron- or Micron Chapter for its second season and miniseries.
  • In Japanese, Trolls: The Beat Goes On! is named ''Trolls: Sing, Dance, Hug!".
  • The Polish dub of Uncle Grandpa is titled Uncle Good Advice, a reference to the film Miś which has become a common phrase in Poland.
  • In Spanish and Portuguese, Wander over Yonder changed its title to Galáxia Wander (Wander Galaxy), probably because the wordplay in the original English (the title being slang for "walk over there") does not translate so well. For the same reason, the series is called וונדר מציל את העולם (Wander Saves the World) in Hebrew.
  • Woody Woodpecker is Pica-Pau in Brazilian Portuguese. In South Korea, the show was simply known as The Woodpecker although the hero's name Woody got briefly mentioned from time to time during the story.

    Other 
  • Various tabletop and preschool games, as well as some preschool toys, are retitled in the UK:
    • Hasbro:
      • Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers are shortened to MB Games and Parker, respectively.
      • The newest version of Downfall is called Down Spin in America, but is still Downfall in the UK.
      • Trouble became Frustration.
      • Hungry Hungry Hippos became Hungry Hippos.
      • Operation: Rescue Kit became Operation: Rapid Responce.
      • NuJam Guitar became Rockin' Bop It.
      • Simon Trickstar became Simon Tricks.
      • Shark Attack became Shark Chase.
    • VTech:
      • The Go Go Smart [PRODUCT] line became Toot Toot [PRODUCT].
      • The Move And Crawl Ball became the Crawl And Learn Bright Lights Ball.
      • Alphabet Town became The Alphabet Desk, but the "Welcome To Alphabet Town" sign was not edited.
      • The Learn And Discover Driver became either the Tiny Tot Driver or the Turn And Learn Driver, depending on the release.
      • The 3 In 1 Smart Wheels Ride On became the Grow And Go Ride On.
      • The Innotab line is sold as the Storio in Europe.
      • The Interactive toy "Mr Squawky Talky" was released in the UK as "Call me Feathers".
    • Others:
      • Hokey Pokey Elmo became Hokey Cokey Elmo.
      • Don't Wake Daddy became Shhh! Don't Wake Dad.
      • Pop The Pig became Pig Goes Pop.
  • Camera company Minolta marketed its SLR cameras as Alpha in Japan, Maxxum in North America and Dynax in Europe. After Minolta's camera division was taken over by Sony, the cameras were marketed as Sony Alpha worldwide. Near the end of the 2010s, Sony pivoted to making and selling MILCsnote  and stopped selling DSLRs, with the Alpha brand now being used for the newer technology.
  • Canon still uses different names for its consumer-level DSLRs in different parts of the world. It uses Kiss in its home market of Japan, and Rebel in the Americas. Elsewhere, it simply uses an alphanumeric model designation, which it also uses for its MILCs.
  • "St. Pancras International" station in England is referred to at a number of stations run by railway company Thameslink as "St. Pancras Midland Road".
    • St. Pancras, along with other London terminals such as King's Cross, are "officially" known as London St. Pancras, London King's Cross et cetera, presumably to make life easier for national and international travellers not familiar with London's stations.
  • Outside of the UK, cleaning product "Jif" was known as "Cif". It was eventually changed to "Cif" in the UK. This also happened in the Netherlands.
  • Diet Coke is marketed in some countries as Coca-Cola Light. In fact, this '90s Elton John spot (in which The Dead Rise to Advertise) was simply re-edited for overseas markets.
  • Snickers bars were marketed in the UK under the name "Marathon" until the late '80s, presumably because marketers didn't believe that British consumers would publicly consume a snack that sounds like "knickers". Or "sneakers" for that matter- would you eat a shoe?
    • The name change was something that people complained- with various levels of seriousness- or comedians made endless jokes about for years afterwards. 20 years on, it still hasn't died down completely...
    • To make the matter even more confusing, there now exists a "Snickers Marathon" bar, billed as an energy bar.
  • Oil of Olay (which originated in South Africa) was originally marketed to UK women as Oil of Ulay (pron. YEW-lay). Even Brits with no knowledge of the world beyond their shores would have recognised Olay (Olé!) as a festive cry beloved of stereotypical Spaniards, and marketers were clearly worried that nobody would be able to buy or sell it with a straight face. It was also sold as Oil of Ulan in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia, and Oil of Olaz in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. In 1999, Procter & Gamble would rename it Olay across all countries except for Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, where it simply became Olaz.
  • Kellogg's Frosted Flakes are called Frosties in the UK, France and parts of Asia. And Corn Frosty in Japanese.
  • Kellogg's Cocoa Krispies are known as Coco Pops in the UK and in parts of Asia. They became known as Choco Krispies in the UK at one point, but the title bombed and it was changed back. Meanwhile on the continent of Europe, countries such as France and Poland continued to use the title Choco Krispies.
    • France at one point used Choco Pops before switching to Choco Krispies. They eventually switched to using Coco Pops.
    • Italy waved back and forth between Coco Pops and Choco Krispies multiple times, and now they use Coco Pops as an umbrella name for the original cereals (now known as Coco Pops Risociok), Chocos (now Coco Pops Barchette) and Chombos (now Coco Pops Palline).
  • Rice Krispies are called Rice Bubbles in Australia.
  • An example almost nobody knows, when Rockford-based fast-food chain Beef-A-Roo expanded its operations to Australia around 1970, the locations in the country were given the name "Beef-Ranch" instead, as the former would have been a controversial choice due to "Roo" being associated with kangaroo meat, which Australians generally hate.
  • Fast food chain Burger King has a rather interesting history with this in Australia. When it began its operations there in 1971, there was already a "Burger King" takeaway food store in Adelaide, so they offered the Australian franchisee Jack Cowin a list of pre-existing trademarks registered by Burger King and then corporate parent Pillsbury from which he chose "Hungry Jack", a Pillsbury pancake mix brand, and turned into the possessive "Hungry Jack's". When the Australian trademark on "Burger King" lapsed in 1996, Burger King Corp. claimed that Hungry Jack's Pty. Ltd. did not expand at the rate agreed upon in the 1991 franchise agreement renewal, terminated said agreement and began opening their own Australian restaurants in 1997 under the "Burger King" name. Hungry Jack's Pty. Ltd. sued for breach of contract and won in 2001, following which Burger King Corp. transferred ownership of its Australian locations to their New Zealand franchisee, Trans-Pacific Foods, which ran them for a couple of years before transferring them to Hungry Jack's Pty. Ltd., which rebranded them as Hungry Jacks. Outside of using a logo similar to the pre-1999/post-2020 Burger King logo and licensing the Whopper, the Tendercrisp and the Tendergrill from Burger King, Hungry Jack's is effectively a separate chain as the rest of the menu is completely different.
  • The popular Japanese powdered milk soft drink, "Calpis" was unable to carry its name to the English-speaking market for reasons that should be obvious (hint: say it out loud). It was renamed "Calpico" at Asian supermarkets and most package labels still carry the original katakana spelling. This didn't prevent them from selling their yoghurt drinks under the "Calpis" brand in other English-speaking Asian markets, however.
  • Hellmann's mayonnaise. "Known as 'Best Foods Mayonnaise' west of the Rockies". note 
    • Similarly, Dreyer's Ice Cream became Edy's Ice Cream (named after a different company founder) when it started selling products east of the Rocky Mountains. In this case, it was to prevent confusion with already-established ice cream maker Breyers. On the other hand, people west of the Rockies can get both Dreyer's and Breyers and there doesn't seem to be any problem telling them apart.
    • Oddly enough, both Hellmann's and Best Foods Mayonnaise, as well as Dreyer's and Edy's Ice Cream, are both available together at some Grocery Outlet supermarkets in California.
    • Unilever, who owns Hellmann's/Best Foods and make various other products, is known for buying local brands in different countries and keeping their names, so the same company's "Heartbrand" ice creams are known by dozens of different names across dozens of countries. (Note that Unilever also controls a number of other non-Heartbrand ice creams, e.g. Breyer's and the premium brand Ben and Jerry's.)
    • Unilever uses a similar strategy for Axe deodorant (it's called Lynx in the UK, Australia, and China).
      • Similarly, what's Degree in the US is Rexona in South-East Asia. Right down to the logo and the slogan "It won't let you down".
  • The Indian Board Game Pachisi was renamed Ludo in the UK and Parcheesi in North America.
    • Likewise, Cluedo in the UK became Clue in the US.
  • Walmart expanded into the UK and Japan by buying existing companies, and their attempts to rebrand them as Walmarts failed. They continued to do business as ASDA in the UK until selling a controlling interest to a British group in 2020, and still do business as Seiyu in Japan.
  • There used to be two unrelated American department stores both called Bealls: one based in Texas and one in Florida. Overlap was inevitable, so the Florida one went by "Burke's Outlet" in areas where the Texas one was present (and even a few regions where the Texas chain did not operate). Averted when Texas Bealls went belly-up in 2020 and Florida Bealls bought the national rights to the name.
  • French-based food company Groupe Danone goes by "Dannon" in the U.S.
  • In Canada, this is quite prevalent. DiGiorno pizza is called Delissio; Reese's and Hershey's drop the S from the end so that the names can still work in Quebec French, which lacks the possessive S; The Home Depot drops "The" from its name so that its name can also work better in Quebec French; and KFC is referred to in Quebec as PFK (Poulet Frit Kentucky, the French translation of "Kentucky Fried Chicken").
  • Reversing the previous entry, Canadian sit-down pizza restaurant chain Boston Pizza is known as "Boston's - The Gourmet Pizza" in the US, possibly to prevent people from thinking that it's pizza from Boston, Massachusetts, or that it's connected to the Boston Market restaurant chain.
  • Again in Canada, the bookstore Indigo bought several other bookstore chains that began failing, but kept their names and images, so that Chapters and Coles are also part of the Indigo company.
  • The product sold in the US as Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is Kraft Dinner in Canada, where it's become a cultural touchstone, and Cheesey Pasta in the UK.
  • The US toys Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots were called Raving Bonkers Fighting Robots in the UK. Even the biggest Anglophiles/patriotic Brits have to admit that name isn't exactly the catchiest.
  • Hardee's and Carl's Jr. were originally separate restaurant chains with their own look and menu. After the two fell under the same ownership in 1997, Carl's Jr. began slowly retooling Hardee's to be more like it. Now, the two chains differ only in name, with Carl's Jr. used mostly west of the Mississippi (although they unsuccessfully tried to rebrand some Illinois locations) and Hardee's east of the Mississippi.
  • The same is true of Rally's and Checkers, which used to be separate chains before merging and largely using Checkers' menu and appearance. (Coincidentally, Rally's and Hardee's were once under the same ownership.)
  • Panasonic products were known outside of North America as Matsushita, and as the brand National, until becoming Panasonic worldwide in 2008.
  • In Asia, Panasonic's line of long-life alkaline batteries is called Evolta. In Europe, it's called Evoia.
  • Pocky
    • It's marketed as "Rocky" in Malaysia (possibly to avoid sounding like "pork", which is prohibited by Islam, or because it sounds like puki, which is the Malay word for a woman's vaginanote ). This is actually a zig-zagging trope- one can still buy the original Pocky at import stores. Ironically, both versions come from the same factory in Thailand. One could argue that Rocky is marketed to the general public, while Pocky is marketed to Otakus and expats.
    • In the UK, Pocky is marketed as "Mikado", probably because the Japanese name sounds unpleasantly similar to "pock-mark".
  • Panera Bread started out in St. Louis, Missouri as St. Louis Bread Company. It still uses that name in Greater St. Louis and Panera everywhere else.
  • Church's Chicken is called "Texas Chicken" outside the United States. It has nothing to do with a church—the founder's name was George Church—but the company didn't want to confuse people. The chain did originate in Texas (George Church's original restaurant was in San Antonio—right across the street from the Alamo, in fact), though its headquarters are now in Atlanta.
  • Outside the United States, the motel chain America's Best Value Inn is named "[name of country]'s Best Value Inn".
  • In Malaysia, the Islamic authorities will no longer certify any beverage that refers to itself as "beer", regardless of alcohol content, as halal. This was a recent decision, since root beer has been sold as just that for a long time without any complaints from the Muslim population. This can harm their market viability among the Islamic population, which is a major demographic of the region. Since beverage companies have been trying to target root beer and other non-alcoholic beers to Muslims (alcohol is forbidden under Halal by default), concessions had to be made to remove the B word: A&W has used "sarsaparilla" and "RB" as a term instead, and some companies rebranded their sarsaparilla-esque beverages as Root B.
  • Lay's chips used to be named Smiths chips in the Netherlands. The name was changed to Lay's in 2001, except for Bugles, Hamka's and Nibb-its, which are still using the Smiths brand name. In the UK, Lay's chips are called Walkers crisps.
  • North Korea has marketed a number of its weapons for exports using their Reporting Names.
  • South Korean's instant noodle brand Doshirak initially has been launched in Russia as Dosirak (Korean for "lunchbox") and had to be hastily rebranded when someone realised "-sira-" is a root word for the "to take a shit" verb in Russian.
  • The family of single-player card games is known as "Patience" in the U.K. and "Solitaire" in the U.S.
  • ExxonMobil's gas stations are branded Exxon in parts of the U.S., Mobil in the rest of the U.S. and in some other countries, and Esso in the rest of the world (a few countries use both Mobil and Esso brands). The Exxon stations were, prior to 1972, known either as Esso, Enco or Humble depending on the state due to Standard Oil of New Jersey not having the rights to use the Standard brand or a derivative like Esso outside of the territories they were awarded in the 1911 breakup of Standard Oil (Standard Oil of Ohio thought even Enco was cutting it too close due to the logo being barely modified from the Esso logo).
  • The chocolate candy called Cadbury's Caramel Chocolate in the UK is called Caramello in the US.
  • At one time, the British children's shoe maker Start-Rite sold shoes in the United States under the "Sonnet" brand, perhaps to avoid any confusion with the similarly-named Stride Rite brand of children's shoes.
  • The computer perhipheral company Logitech goes by Logicool in Japan, as by coincidence there was already a company there called Logitec (no H) that also sells computer perhipherals.
  • Aspirin made by the Bayer company goes by "Beyer" in countries where they lost their trademark on aspirin.note  In many countries however, they still sell it under the trademarked "Asprin" name, with the generic equivilent being known as "acetylsalicylic acid" (ASA).
  • For some unknown reason, the chocolate bar known as Milky Way in the US is sold as the Mars bar worldwide, while the chocolate bar known worldwide as Milky Way is sold as 3 Musketeers in the US and Canada.
  • Smarties are called Refreshers in the UK, due to there existing a type of chocolate candy in the UK called Smarties (chocolate encased in a candy shell, similar to M&Ms except bigger).
  • Downy fabric softener is marketed as Lenor in Europe, Russia and Japan.
  • Dove chocolates are sold under the name Galaxy in the UK, Ireland, the Middle East, India and Australia, presumably to avoid confusion with the Dove brand of soaps and personal care products.
  • The Samsung Galaxy Z series of foldable smartphones was rebranded as the Galaxy Foldable line in Baltic states to avoid any association with the "Z" symbol used by Russia to glorify their war with Ukraine.

Alternative Title(s): Renamed For The Export, Localized Title, Localised Title

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