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Abandon Shipping used to be "Abandon Ship". It was mistaken for cases of abandonment of actual, maritime ships instead of Shipping. The old name was reused for a new trope reflecting the more common usage.
Abridged for Children used to be "Dropped Abridged on It", an obscure snowclone of Dropped a Bridge on Him. Since the tropes were not otherwise related, the former trope suffered from underuse.
Abstract Apotheosis used to be "Becoming Hope", a reference to Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Not only was it obtuse, it was also too specific (the trope includes turning into abstract concepts other than hope, like hate or love) and kind of a Spoiler.
Accidental Nightmare Fuel used to be just "Nightmare Fuel", and what we now call Nightmare Fuel was "High Octane Nightmare Fuel" (and even before that "Nightmare Fuel Unleaded"). The former trope is for things that are unintentionally scary, and the latter for things that are intentionally scary. But plain old "Nightmare Fuel", meant for the former, suffered Trope Decay and became used for the latter. Meanwhile, "High Octane Nightmare Fuel" basically became The Same, but More.
Accidentally-Correct Writing used to be "Accidentally Accurate". It was being misused in several ways; some Tropers were mistaking it for Accidental Aiming Skills, whereas others were using it for anything the creators did that might have turned out to be right.
Acting in the Dark used to be "Karim the Assassin", a Fan Nickname for Karim Zreik, co-executive producer of Harper's Island who had a habit of making his actors do this. If you didn't know this, the name made no sense.
Actor Allusion used to be "The Alkazar", after a minor character from Futurama who was an expy of Al Bundy from Married... with Children, who was half the show's married sitcom couple alongside Peg Bundy (played by Katey Sagal, who plays Leela in Futurama). The former name required you to know two shows to understand. And what's worse, it wasn't even spelled right; the character's name was Alcazar. On top of that, Alcazar isn't even voiced by Al Bundy's actor, but series regular David Herman, meaning Alcazar isn't even an example himself — the episode was an Actor Allusion for Leela.
Actor Leaves, Character Dies used to be "McLeaned", after McLean Stevenson, whose character on M*A*S*H was killed off after he left the show. Since Trope-Namer Syndrome made it unclear that it's about characters being killed off when their actor leaves, it was renamed.
Actor/Role Confusion used to be "Your Secret's Safe with Me, Superman". Tropers who understood the reference (a line from The Simpsons episode "Mr. Plow") thought it had to do with a Secret Identity (or even the more specific trope Loves My Alter Ego), whereas this has to do with fictional actors. And even then, the joke in the quote the original name comes from was that Barney didn't even get Adam West's role right.
Adaptational Self-Defense used to be "The Dog Shot First", a reference to a meme from A New Hope which is usually associated with a Re-Cut rather than an adaptation. It was also thought to have something to do with Shoot the Dog, which it didn't.
Adaptive Ability used to be "Viva la Evolution". The previous title was non-indicative and misleading.
Addressing the Player used to be "Anyone You Know?", after an example of the trope from the Metal Gear series.
Adjacent to This Complete Breakfast used to be "Part of a Balanced Breakfast Stone Soup", named after a gag by Dave Barry. The new name still references the gag but is much more intuitive. The old name is still used for the corresponding TropeCo product.
The Adjectival Superhero used to be "The Egregious Trope-Man". It was renamed because it seemed like a Troper in-joke, using both "trope" and "egregious" as placeholders.
Adorably Precocious Child used to be "Cute Shotaro Boy". It was specifically supposed to be a Japanese Media Trope. And its name wasn't a pre-existing Japanese term; it actually came from Shotaro Kaneda (known in the West as Jimmy Sparks) from Gigantor. Despite this, it was used more broadly as "cute little boy", and it was decided to keep the broader definition and change the name to reflect it.
Adventure Duo was launched as "Adventure Couple", which led even mods to think that it was about romantic couples adventuring together. It was actually supposed to refer to a Hero-Lancer set of personalities adventuring together.
Advertisements used to be "Notable Campaigns". It was renamed because There Is No Such Thing as Notability. Advertising Campaigns was similarly renamed from "Notable Advertising Campaigns".
Advertising-Only Continuity used to be "Plot Sold Separately". It was renamed for being unintuitive.
Adults Only Rating (ESRB) used to be "Adults Only Rating". It was being misused as a duplicate of Explicit Content. It was eventually determined to be a Useful Note rather than a trope and renamed to reflect the real-life entity that uses the rating "Adults Only".
Afterlife Express used to be "Soul Train". It was renamed because it shared its name with the series Soul Train.
Age Lift used to be "Playing Hamlet", after the tendency for productions of Hamlet to hire middle-aged actors to play the teenaged title character. This wasn't clear from the trope name; Hamlet is famous for a lot of other reasons.
Air-Vent Passageway used to be "Air Vent Escape". It was used to refer to using air vents for things other than escaping, and it was renamed to reflect this usage.
Alice Allusion used to be "Go Ask Alice". It refers to references to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but the old name was also the title of a totally different work with the same name.
Alien Non-Interference Clause used to be "Prime Directive", after the version of it from Star Trek. This was actually the second time "Prime Directive" was renamed; the original version was a reference to how Star Trek characters treated the Prime Directive and renamed to Obstructive Code of Conduct. A new "Prime Directive" trope was created but renamed again to allow it to be comprehensible to people not familiar with Star Trek. "Prime Directive" is a redirect to the new trope.
Allegedly Dateless was renamed from "Hollywood Dateless" because it was frequently misused to refer to characters who are unable to land a date, when it's actually about characters who are claimed to be unable to land a date despite having multiple love interests.
Alliteration & Adventurers used to be "Magic Ampersand". It was renamed due to a combination of Trope Decay and the original name being unclear.
All-Loving Hero used to be "The Messiah". It was renamed due to confusion with Messianic Archetype.
All the Little Germanies used to be "Prussia and All That Lot". The original name was a bit historically misleading.
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl used to be "Tall, Dark and Bishoujo". It was a bad snowclone of Tall, Dark, and Handsome and incorrectly presumed to be an exclusively Japanese trope.
Alpha Bitch used to be "The Libby", after a character in Sabrina the Teenage Witch. In addition to the usual problems with character-named tropes, this character failed the One-Mario Limit (so Tropers thought it referred to characters from other works) and only appeared for a few seasons anyway.
Alternative R&B used to be "PBR&B". It was apparently a joke — specifically a portmanteau of "PBR" ("Pabst Blue Ribbon", a beer associated with hipsters) and "R&B". Nobody got it; even its creator regretted it. It was changed to what everyone else calls the subgenre, including Wikipedia.
Always in Class One used "Class is in Room X01". The old name was found to be far too vague and non-indicative.
The Amazon Rainforest used to be called "The Amazon", and was renamed when it was moved to Useful Notes. The old name became a disambiguation page.
Ambition Is Evil used to be "Slytherin House", after the Harry Potter group and its typical portrayal. However, the trope itself was not about groups.
Ambushing Enemy used to be "Wall Master", after an example from The Legend of Zelda. However, Wall Masters are more known for being Mook Bouncers, which led to misuse.
America Won World War II used to be "America Wins The War". It was renamed to make it clear that World War II was the war in question.
Amicable Exes was originally "Amicably Divorced". It was renamed to allow it to more broadly refer to couples who didn't necessarily get married to begin with.
Anatomically Impossible Sex used to be "Artistic License — Sex Ed", and before that "You Fail Sex Ed Forever". It got caught up in the mass rename of the "You Fail X Forever" tropes to "Artistic License — X". However, it wasn't actually part of that series of tropes; it wasn't about sex ed so much as basic physics.
Anatomy of the Soul used to be "Dream Mirror", a reference to a piece of Soul Anatomy from Sailor Moon. The trope itself is not about mirrors or dreams per se, so if you didn't know the work, you wouldn't get the trope.
And the Fandom Rejoiced used to be "Cue Cullen". It was a twisted double reference; it was a pun on the name of Celtic folk hero Cu Chulainn and a reference to Transformers — specifically, Peter Cullen returning to the role of Autobot leader Optimus Prime. It's a pretty sparse venn diagram of people that familiar with both, and it failed the One-Mario Limit, with people thinking it referred to Bill Cullen or Edward Cullen.
And Then John Was a Zombie used to be "You Are the Demons". Both are memes from the So Bad, It's Good fanfic DOOM: Repercussions of Evil, but the former meme referred to Tomato in the Mirror, whereas this trope refers to the inexplicable transition to get there.
Anger Born of Worry used to be "Fear Leads to Anger", a reference to a line from The Phantom Menace that didn't have anything to do with the trope.
"Angry Black Man" Stereotype used to be "Angry Black Man". It was renamed because the trope was being misused for any angry black man as opposed to black characters who resent the government for holding black people down.
Animal Athlete Loophole used to be "Ain't No Rule". It was too general, leading to misuse of the trope to refer to its supertrope, Loophole Abuse. The old name is now an alt-title for Loophole Abuse.
Animal Nemesis used to be "Pick on Someone Your Own Species". It was too broad, leading to examples that did not feature a human trying to take revenge on an animal.
Animated Shock Comedy used to be "All Adult Animation is South Park". The former name unfortunately was an invitation to complain about South Park; the examples were all phrased negatively, and the aversions all phrased positively. When it was renamed, several examples had to be rewritten to be more objective.
Animation Tropes used to be "Animated Trope". This index was renamed to what people would naturally call its contents in English.
Anime Chinese Girl used to be "Chinese Girl". It was renamed to clarify that it's a Japanese Media Trope.
Annoying Video Game Helper used to be "Stop Helping Me!" The old name wasn't clear that it referred to video games, and it attracted a lot of complaining to boot. The former trope was split into Annoying Video Game Helper, in the spirit of the old trope, and Unwanted Assistance, for general In-Universe examples.
Answers to the Name of God used to be "Smith Will Suffice", after an exchange to that end from The Matrix Reloaded. There are so many Smiths out there that you had to be familiar with the movie.
Anthropomorphic Vice used to be "John Barleycorn and Friends", after the character John Barleycorn of British folklore, who in later centuries was co-opted as the embodiment of alcohol abuse. Interestingly, the current title was suggested while the trope was still in the Trope Launch Pad, but the sponsor insisted on John Barleycorn.
Anthropomorphic Typography used to be "Talking Typography", but it wasn't thriving under that name. It was cut and recreated on the Trope Launch Pad under a new, broader title.
Appeal to Force used to be "Screw the Rules, I Have a Nuke!" It was renamed as a bad snowclone from Screw This Index, I Have Tropes.
Arbitrary Weapon Range used to be two separate tropes, "Arbitrary Minimum Range" and "Arbitrary Maximum Range", and the latter was originally "Space-Based Weapon Has Cutoff Range". It was a long and awkward title, and everyone knew it; even in the Trope Launch Pad, the sponsor asked for a better name, but it was launched anyway. It lasted a year before someone noticed and took it to the Trope Repair Shop, and later on, its counterpart for minimum ranges was merged with it into a single trope.
Arc Fatigue used to be "Are They Still on Namek", a reference to a particularly fatiguing arc from Dragon Ball Z. If you didn't know the show, the name was meaningless.
Aloof Archer used to be "Archer Archetype", and before that "The Archer", and before that "Straight Arrow", a term more often used metaphorically for someone who's very direct and follows all expectations. The name was originally changed to refer to weapon usage rather than character traits, then changed again to make it look less like a character-named trope, then changed again to further clarify the character traits involved.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking used to be "Bus Full of Nuns", after an incident on The Simpsons. It was too obscure even within The Simpsons fandom, and the unfamiliar also mistook it for Bus Full of Innocents.
"Artistic License — X" articles were created from a series of snowclones that invited complaining, like "You Fail X Forever", "Somewhere, an X Is Crying"^notewith the one exception of Somewhere, an Equestrian Is Crying and "X Does Not Work That Way", the latter a Futurama reference. The new name was designed to make things more objective. A couple of other tropes also got an "Artistic License" rename:
- Artistic License – Ships used to be "Failed to Pay Shipping Charges", which was mistaken to refer to Shipping.
- Artistic License – Military was renamed twice. It was originally "You Fail Basic Training Forever", then was renamed to "Artistic License — Basic Training", but this was far too narrow for the trope.
- Artistic License – Music was merged with All Guitars Are Stratocasters, a similar trope that was commonly mistaken to be about works or even real-life bands/artists that feature a Fender Stratocaster. The trope was considered for renaming, but once it was determined that there wasn't enough to differentiate it from Artistic License – Music, it was merged into that trope instead.
Asbestos-Free Cereal used to be "Made with 100% Pure Grade-A Crap". Not only was the old name too negative, it was mistaken for Our Product Sucks.
Ascended Extra used to be "Super Grape". Apparently, it's a reference to a character who used to be "as nondescript as one grape in a bunch" but emerges as a distinct character in their own right. Even when explained, it barely made any sense.
Ascended Fanon used to be "Sure, Why Not?" It sounded too much like a Stock Phrase and was often mistaken for Sure, Let's Go with That. The new title has the added benefit of fitting in with the other "Ascended" tropes.
Ashes to Crashes used to be "Chekhov's Ashes". It was a non-indicative snowclone suggesting a relation to Chekhov's Gun, and while some examples were foreshadowed like the latter trope would imply, many wouldn't. It was renamed to be broader.
Asian Fox Spirit used to be "Kitsune". It was renamed because despite the original name, it covers East Asian fox spirits other than the Japanese kitsune, such as the Chinese huli jing and the Korean kumiho.
Ask a Stupid Question... used to be "Here's Your Sign", after a Running Gag by comedian Bill Engvall. "Was it changed for being opaque?" "No, it was changed for having an apostrophe in it."
Assimilation Plot used to be "Instrumentality", after a concept in Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was not only a little obscure, it was also kind of a Spoiler.
The Assimilator used to be "You Will Be Assimilated", after the trademark line of the Borg in Star Trek. The new name makes it clearer that it's a character trope.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership used to be "Asskicking Equals Authority". It was renamed because its similarity to the old name of Rank Scales with Asskicking, "Authority Equals Asskicking", led to the two being confused with each other.
Assumed Win used to be "And the Winner Is..." It was considered unclear and renamed.
Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption used to be "Appropriate Conversation Interruption". It was considered not quite descriptive enough and renamed.
Atrocious Alias used to be "Fail O'Suckyname". It was too negative and mistaken for Unfortunate Names.
Attack Its Weak Point used to be "For Massive Damage". Both names come from the same memetic line from Sony's presentation at E3 2006. The trope is about weak points, not massive damage. This Index Hits for Massive Damage is now an index of tropes for dealing extra damage in video games.
Audience-Alienating Ending used to be "Ending Aversion". It was misused to refer to any ending people disliked, regardless of whether it turned anyone away from the work as a result.
Audience-Alienating Era used to be "Dork Age". It was renamed to reduce confusion with related Audience Reactions like Sequelitis and Seasonal Rot.
Audience Awareness Advantage used to be "Viewer Myopia". It was renamed because it didn't make it clear that it's the creators who are being myopic, not the viewers.
Audience-Coloring Adaptation used to be "Ink-Stain Adaptation". It was renamed and reworked as the trope was mostly complaining.
Australian Media (an index) was previously "Australian Culture" and Australian Mass Media (a Useful Notes page) used to be "Australian Media". They were renamed for parity with other Works By Nationality indexes, and to reduce confusion with each other.
Authority in Name Only used to be "The King of Town", after a character from Homestar Runner. It was renamed for clarity.
The Autism page of Useful Notes used to be called "High-Functioning Autism". It was renamed to refer to the autism spectrum in general; the old name also generated controversy with respect to the propriety of "functioning" labels in the autistic community.
Awesome McCoolname used to be "Perdita X Dream", after a character from Discworld. In addition to suffering from Trope-Namer Syndrome, people who did get the reference didn't always assume it had to do with the name; it was a self-applied appelation which later became used for a sort of Split Personality.
Awesomeness Is a Force used to be "Pure Awesomeness". The old name didn't clearly refer to awesomeness being described like a physical ability.
Awful Wedded Life used to be "No Exit", after the play of that name by Jean-Paul Sartre. First, it was renamed to make room for the page on the play. Second, the play doesn't have anything to do with marriage specifically; people who got the reference thought it had to do with a Self-Inflicted Hell. And third, as Blondie fans might tell you, "No Exit" is also the title of at least one other work.
Awkwardly Gay Dream used to be "Homoerotic Dream". Its name was changed to better indicate that the trope is more specific than simply being about same-sex Erotic Dreams. In addition, the definition was adjusted when it was renamed.

Baby-Doll Baby used to be "My Baby Doll". It was renamed after people thought it just referred to the toy in general (or perhaps the film Baby Doll), not specifically a character deluded into thinking the toy is actually a baby.
Backing into Danger used to be "Walking Backwards". It was mistaken for something much more general, leading to examples of anyone walking backwards regardless of its relevance to the story.
Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch used to be "Knifing the Libby in the Back". It was a snowclone of "The Libby", which was itself renamed to Alpha Bitch; this trope was similarly renamed to reflect the change.
Badass Decay used to be "Spikeification", after Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not only did this require familiarity with the work, there were debates as to whether the trope namer was even an example. Others didn't realise that the trope was named for a character and thought it had to do with adding Spikes of Doom to things.
Badass in a Nice Suit used to be "Dressed to Kill". The trope is more about the "dressed" than the "kill", but people thought the opposite and assumed it was about assassins who happen to wear fancy clothes when working. It's really about any badass who's also a Sharp-Dressed Man.
Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work used to be "Big Damn Villains". It was a snowclone of Big Damn Heroes but wasn't strictly related to it, leading to confusion with Villainous Rescue.
Bad News, Irrelevant News used to be "Switching to Geico", after a pervasive U.S. advertising campaign that used the trope prominently. It used to be even worse; the title used to use the full line from the ad, "I Just Saved a Bunch of Money on My Car Insurance by Switching to Geico", which was changed just for being overly long.
Bait-and-Switch Gunshot used to be "False Gunshot". It was renamed to more clearly distinguish it from Staged Shooting.
Bait-and-Switch Sentiment used to be "Mawkish Mistake". It was renamed almost immediately after launch after it was discovered that Americans didn't know what "mawkish" meant (sentimental in a feeble or sickly way, but usually only used in Britain). The title was even changed to "mawkish" right before launch.
Bait-and-Switch Tyrant used to be "Bait-and-Switch Umbridge", a snowclone of the former name "The Umbridge". The latter trope was renamed to Tyrant Takes the Helm, and this trope was renamed to reflect the change.
Barbie Doll Anatomy used to be "Anime Anatomy". It was renamed because (a) it's not exclusive to anime, (b) it's not the only kind of odd anatomy you find in anime, and (c) the old name fell into many of the same stereotypes as All Anime Is Naughty Tentacles.
Barefoot Cartoon Animal used to be "Barefoot Funny Animal". It was renamed to better align it with its Sister Tropes: Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal, Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal, and Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal.
Base-Breaking Character used to be "Base Breaker". It was renamed because it invited tropers to apply it to anything, character or not, that causes a Broken Base.
Bears Are Bad News used to be "Everything's Worse With Bears", a snowclone of the discredited "Everything's Better with X" family. Under the former name, it was misused to refer to bears in any context, regardless of the threat they pose.
The Bechdel Test used to be "Bechdel's Rule". They're both named after the creator of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For — while it's never named in the work, the character who describes it calls it a personal rule, which led to it being mistaken for an actual rule. This led to the trope being used as an endorsement of works that passed and an indictment of works that failed. The rename, aside from matching off-wiki usage, came as a way of enforcing that it's not about passing judgment on a work (and it was also moved to Useful Notes).
Been There, Shaped History used to be "The Gump", named after the title character of Forrest Gump. It was renamed because this wasn't the character's most memorable trait.
Beergasm used to be "Best Beer Ever". Tropers mistook it for really good beer, leading to effectively gushing about beer you like. The rename made it clear that it's about a character's over-the-top reaction to beer.
Beer Goggles used to be "Ten With a Two", after a song by Willie Nelson. People were mistaking it for other tropes, and it was also pointed out that "beer goggles" was already a widely used term for the concept.
Behind a Stick used to be "Narrow Escape". People assumed the trope referred to the name's common meaning, when it had nothing to do with escapes at all.
Belated Injury Realization used to be "I Ain't Got Time to Bleed", after a line from Predator. It was often mistaken for other Injury Tropes like Major Injury Underreaction and Only a Flesh Wound.
Belligerent Sexual Tension went through three renames. It started out at "Takahashi Couple", after mangaka Rumiko Takahashi, whose works are known for prominently featuring such relationships. That name was popular enough that it's still a redirect, but it fell afoul of the usual problems of Trope-Namer Syndrome — not everyone was familiar with Takahashi, or they mistook it to refer to a different person like Kazuki Takahashi. So it was renamed to "Tsunderes in Love", but that implied that both parties were Tsundere, so it was quickly renamed again to "When a Jerk Loves a Tsundere". It was given its current name to express the idea more broadly.
Bespectacled Cutie used to be "Meganekko", and was renamed because it was frequently misused to refer to any girl with glasses, which isn't a trope. The original name was reused for an Anime Fanspeak Definition-Only Page related to the trope.
Best Her to Bed Her used to be "The Red Sonja", after the film Red Sonja. It was renamed due to misuse and because the trope only constitutes one of the traits of the Trope Namer.
Bestiality Is Depraved used to be "But You Screw One Goat". It was misleading because it was the punchline of a joke about Once Done, Never Forgotten.
Best Known for the Fanservice used to be "Everyone Remembers the Stripper". It was mistaken for something that happened In-Universe, like when a stripper shows up at a party.
Better with Non-Human Company used to be "Not Good with People", and was renamed because the old name didn't indicate that examples of the trope are good with beings/lifeforms other than other humans, leading to confusion with No Social Skills.
Big Bad Wannabe used to be "Evil Frog Who Wants to Be an Ox". In addition to the title being long and unwieldy, it wasn't easily connected to its subject; you had to know the specific Aesop and apply it correctly.
Big, Bulky Bomb used to be "BFB", a snowclone of BFG. It was renamed for being totally unintuitive.
Big Damn Movie used to be "Why Is Arnold Saving Something?", a reference to The Movie of Hey Arnold!. "Arnold" here badly fails the One-Mario Limit — in particular, people mistook it for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who tends to save things in his movies and also has a trope named after him.
Big Disaster Plot used to be "Trainwreck Episode". It suffered from underuse, and the name was both too narrow (it refers to disasters other than trainwrecks) and too broad (if tropers were taking "trainwreck" figuratively rather than literally).
Bigger Is Better in Bed used to be "Biggus Dickus", a reference to Monty Python's Life of Brian. However, that joke wasn't about the character actually having a big dick, but rather having a Real Joke Name, so people mistook it for the latter trope. The rename also clarifies that the trope isn't just about the size — it has to correlate to sexual performance.
Bizarre Instrument used to be "Xenophone". It was renamed for being unclear and non-indicative of the trope, leading to misuse.
Bizarro Episode used to be "BLAM Episode", a reference to the acronym for Big-Lipped Alligator Moment. Not everyone understood the acronym, so it was renamed. In the process, it also got merged with the related trope "A Day at the Bizarro".
Black Comedy used to be "Dead Baby Comedy". It was renamed because the old name was better known as a term for Vulgar Humor. "Black Comedy" also existed briefly as a lesser-known trope and was absorbed into the older one in the renaming process.
Black Comedy Rape used to be "Rape as Comedy". It was renamed in the process of cleaning up the Sexual Harassment and Rape Tropes to make it more clear that the trope doesn't necessarily condone rape.
Black Shirt used to be "Jackals", an artefact of its split from the one-time trope Dying Like Animals. The latter page still exists as Just for Fun and recognises the Black Shirt under its former name.
Blaming "The Man" used to simply be called "The Man", and was renamed because the original defiinition was unclear. The trope was renamed when the definition was refined into a trope about characters blaming ambiguous authority figures for perceived problems.
Blasphemous Boast used to be "More Tropes than God". It was renamed as part of a general deprecation of "trope" as a placeholder.
Bloody Murder used to be "Weaponized Blood". It was lost in The Great Crash and happened to get a new name when it was relaunched.
Bluff the Impostor used to be "Cry Wolfie", a pun on Crying Wolf and a reference to a scene from Terminator 2. It was mistaken for the latter trope as a result.
Blunt "Yes" used to be "Flat Yes". It was changed for clarity, as it was sometimes mistaken as related to Flat Joy.
Boisterous Bruiser used to be "The Toblerone", after the character Dablone from Escape 2000 and the obscure nickname he was given on Mystery Science Theater 3000. It was obtuse, but delightfully so; we couldn't keep it, but we kept it as a disambiguation and a Sugar Wiki page.
Bonus Episode used to be "Baker's Dozen", a colloquial term for the number thirteen. It required you to assume it referred to the 12-Episode Anime format, which not everyone even knew existed.
Bonus Material used to be "Omake". It was renamed so that it wasn't Gratuitous Japanese.
Bonus Stage Collectables used to be "Chaos Emeralds", after the MacGuffins from Sonic the Hedgehog. The Chaos Emeralds are known for a lot of things aside from being collected in bonus stages (more famously being Plot Coupons and Green Rocks), which caused a lot of confusion, so the trope was renamed for clarity.
Boob-Based Gag was previously named "Gag Boobs", but the old name led to the use of large breasts in general, when the trope is about jokes about breasts.
Boobs-and-Butt Pose used to be "Over the Shoulder Pose". It was renamed for being too broad and not clarifying that it's a Fanservice pose.
Borrowed Biometric Bypass used to be "Bloody Biometric". It was renamed for clarity.
Boyfriend-Blocking Dad used to be "Overprotective Dad". It was renamed because the old name made the trope sound broader than it actually is, leading to misuse. The old name became a disambiguation for various tropes relating to overprotective dads.
Braces of Orthodontic Overkill used to be "Lisa Needs Braces", from a mildly Memetic line to that effect from The Simpsons. It wasn't a particularly well-known meme, and the new name is much more descriptive of the trope.
Brady Bunch Spinoffs used to be "Jim Henson's Muppet Bradys", a reference to a Running Gag on Mystery Science Theater 3000 where they would characterize some scene or other as "Jim Henson's [whatever] Babies!" It amounted to a work page referencing another work, which just sends the wrong message.
Brain Food used to be "No Brainer", among other titles. It was renamed to more clearly describe the trope.
Breakout Character used to be "The Fonzie", after said character from Happy Days. While Fonzie was an example, he was too good of one — few people were even aware that he was ever a minor character to begin with.
Breakout Mook Character used to be "A Day in the Slimelight", a snowclone of A Day in the Limelight, and specifically named after Lime the Slime from the Lunia games. Other than the name, it had little to do with the latter trope. And it wasn't a given that you'd get the reference; indeed, many didn't realise it was meant to be a reference at all, and some who did assumed it referred to the more famous Slimes from Dragon Quest.
Breakout Villain used to be "Moriarty Effect", after the Arch-Enemy of Sherlock Holmes. Since Moriarty was deliberately introduced as Holmes' arch-enemy, he wasn't really an example. He was better known as a criminal mastermind anyway, leading to misuse.
Break the Scientist used to be "The Professor Is Crying Again", after an opaque reference to a one-shot joke from El Goonish Shive. Most people didn't even realise it was supposed to be a reference, and those who did assumed it was one of any number of characters who could be fairly called The Professor.
Breakup Breakout used to be "The Jannetty", after pro wrestler Marty Jannetty who had this happen to him. If you didn't know wrestling — and sometimes even if you did — the name was just too obtuse to work.
Breath Weapon used to be "Beaming Grin". People assumed it referred to the facial expression, but it was actually a pun on turning it into a beam weapon.
Bring It used to be "Bring It On". Nothing wrong with the name itself, but it had to be disambiguated from the movie Bring It On.
Bring My Red Jacket used to be "Bring My Brown Pants". They both come from the same joke, and Bring My Brown Pants is still a trope, but now it means what people expect — the first is for characters who wear red to hide blood, and the second is for people who have a Potty Failure from fear.
Brits Love Tea used to be "Spot of Tea". It was misused to refer to any character who drinks tea, regardless of nationality. The rename made it clearly a trait of a very British character.
Broken-Window Warning used to be "Window Pain". While it was a pretty cool pun, it invited misuse to refer to any time a window breaks, which isn't tropable on its own. The rename was an attempt to salvage it to refer to the specific trope of someone breaking a window as a warning to the building's occupant.
Broken Win/Loss Streak used to be "Broken Streak". It was renamed for being too broad and referring to any recurring trend. The Missing Supertrope was eventually created as Breaking Old Trends.
The Bronze Age of Comic Books used to be just "Bronze Age". It gave no indication that it had anything to do with comic books, and it also needed to match the new names for The Golden Age of Comic Books and The Dark Age of Comic Books.
Bubblegloop Swamp used to be "Krem Quay", after a stage from Donkey Kong Country 2. It was renamed for being non-descriptive and unintuitive. The trope was renamed after a stage from another Rare game, Banjo-Kazooie.
Building of Adventure used to be "Xanadu", after the big mansion from Citizen Kane. It was renamed in part for confusion with the film Xanadu, and not everyone got the original reference, either.
Built with LEGO used to be "Everything's Built with LEGO". It was renamed in the cleanup of the "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family.
Bulk Buy Only used to be "Midnight Bakery Trip". It was misused to refer to literal midnight bakery trips; it's actually a reference to how some bakeries will sell leftover goods really early the next morning, but only in dozens.
Bumbling Sidekick used to be "The Baldrick", after the character from Blackadder. It was renamed in part because not everyone got the reference, and partly because even if you did, not all incarnations of Baldrick really fit the trope (although the most famous ones certainly did).
Bunny Tropes used to be "Everything's Better with Bunnies". In the process of the "Everything's Better with X" snowclone cleanup, this one was broken up into several tropes and turned into an index.
But Not Too Foreign used to be "Charlie Dog", after the Looney Tunes character. Only diehard Looney Tunes fans would easily recognise the character, and even then it's not the trope they would usually associate with him.
Buxom Beauty Standard was renamed from "Buxom Is Better" because the In-Universe Examples Only aspect was often overlooked because of the old name, leading to creepy gushing.
Bystander Syndrome used to be "Somebody Else's Problem", but it was renamed to make it sound less like a Stock Phrase and to align it with a better-known Real Life term.

The Cake Is a Lie used to be "There Will Be Cake". It was misused for pretty much any situation in which cake was involved. Interestingly, this rename was to a very Memetic phrase in itself, this one from Portal.
Camp Follower used to be "Bring Your Halter to the Slaughter", a rather obscure pun on a song by Iron Maiden. In addition to its obscurity, it was also unwieldy. "Camp Follower" is a known Real Life term to refer to such people.
Can't Refuse the Call Anymore used to be "Belly of the Whale". It was commonly taken literally and misused to refer to a common appearance of the Monster Whale.
Cape Snag used to be "No Capes", after a line from The Incredibles. It was renamed for clarity.
Captain Morgan Pose used to be "Riker Pose", after the character from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Riker was not commonly associated with the trope, hence the rename. The new Trope Namer is the Captain Morgan brand of rum, whose logo is of a pirate captain making the pose.
Career-Building Blunder used to be "House Hiring Heuristic", after the title character of House. However, people didn't get the reference and thought it referred to actual houses. And the trope wasn't about hiring; it's about promotion or otherwise building trust and respect. And some people weren't familiar with the word "heuristic" either.
Casanova Wannabe used to be "The Leisure Suit Larry", after the protagonist of Leisure Suit Larry. Originally, it didn't even have a "the", leading to collisions with the page on the video game. Even after adding a "the", about half of the links to it mistook it for the game. And in any event, Larry himself isn't a Casanova Wannabe; he always ends up with several conquests, making him much closer to a Kavorka Man.
Cast Full of Pretty Boys used to be "Blue Bishōnen Ghetto", a snowclone of "Pink Bishōnen Ghetto", itself renamed to Improbably Female Cast. Not only did it not make much sense (even though we've kept Bishōnen as a trope in itself), it implied that it was the Spear Counterpart to the latter trope, when it isn't exactly.
Casual Danger Dialogue used to be "Casual Danger Dialog" and was changed because "dialogue" is the more common spelling of the two outside the context of dialog boxes on computers.
Catastrophic Countdown used to be "Metroid Bomb", after its common appearance in the Metroid series. However, there are other types of bombs in Metroid, and this name was unclear as to which one it referred to.
The Catchphrase Catches On used to be "Sein Language", after Seinfeld and its ability to introduce neologisms into the English language. Problem was that people were mistaking it for the different but similarly-named Seinfeldian Conversation.
Category Traitor used to be "Straw Traitor". It was renamed as too vague for the concept.
Cavalry of the Dead used to be "Army of the Dead". It was renamed to clarify that it's a form of The Cavalry and not about undead armies in general.
Cell Phones Are Useless used to be "Can You Hear Me Now?". It was an ambiguous Stock Phrase and renamed to clarify that the answer is no.
Cel Shading used to be "For the Cel of It". It was renamed to use the common term for the phenomenon.
Censored for Comedy used to be "This Trope is [BLEEP]". It was often mistaken for the more general Sound-Effect Bleep or related tropes; the rename made it clearer and more distinct.
Changed My Mind, Kid used to be "Abandoned by the Cavalry". It was renamed because the name usually failed to suggest that the abandoner was coming back at the last minute; indeed, it sometimes suggested the opposite.
Character Aged with the Actor used to be "Getting Too Old for This". It was mistaken for a Stock Phrase and renamed.
Character Outlives Actor used to be "Died on a Bus". It was renamed after confusion for related tropes like Bus Crash or other Tropes on a Bus.
Cheerful Funeral used to be "Fun in the Funeral". And it wasn't The "Fun" in "Funeral", for which many tropers mistook this trope. That's what led to the rename.
Chessmaster Sidekick used to be "Puss in Boots". It was renamed both for being character-named and colliding with two works, Puss in Boots and Puss in Boots.
Chewing the Scenery used to be "Feed Me", after a longstanding actor's reference to the catchphrase of the Man-Eating Plant from Little Shop of Horrors. It was often mistaken for an In-Universe trope rather than a style of acting.
Childhood Friend Romance came from the merger of "Unlucky Childhood Friend" and "Victorious Childhood Friend", a pair of tropes that needed a rename anyway because they did not clarify that the "luck" was in romance.
Child Popstar used to be "Little Boy Blue Note". It was a very unclear title, and it wasn't thriving until the rename.
Chokepoint Geography used to be the "Third Law of Travel", after the corresponding item on The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Clichés. It made no sense unless you were versed in all the items on the list, and on its own it made no indication as to what it was actually about.
The Chosen Many used to be "Green Lantern Corps", after the group from Green Lantern. If you didn't know Green Lantern, the name made no sense. Accordingly, slightly over half of the links to it assumed it was an article on the fictional organisation rather than about the broader trope. "Green Lantern Corps" now redirects to Green Lantern.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome used to be "Brother Chuck", named as a counterpart to Cousin Oliver. While the reference is preserved (after Chuck from Happy Days, who's a very good example of the trope), the new name more clearly refers to the specific Trope Namer (as opposed to any other Chucks) and also clarifies that it's more about the phenomenon than a character type.
Circling Monologue used to be "Circle of Extinction". The name was obtuse, and the trope was not thriving.
Classical Elements Ensemble used to be "Four Element Ensemble". Not only was it being mistakenly applied to any mention of the Natural Elements, regardless of whether or not it was an actual team/group of people, it was also misleading as the four elements in the title specifically referred to the Classical Elements and the classical elements were not always a set of four (sometimes it's a set of five). The old name remains as a redirect.
Climactic Battle Resurrection used to be "Battle Royale with Cheese". Not only was the name misleading, it was an obscure reference (probably — but not certainly — from a side exchange from Pulp Fiction that had nothing to do with the trope). The old name was redirected to the disambiguation Battle Royale.
Climbing the Cliffs of Insanity used to be just "Cliffs of Insanity". It was misused simply to refer to the existence of tall cliffs, which is not a trope in itself.
Clone Angst was previously "Cloning Blues". It was renamed because it was frequently misused to refer to the general concept of cloning, when it's specifically about clones feeling angst over the fact that they're not the originals.
Closer to Earth used to be "Women Are Wiser". It was too broad of a trope; the name Women Are Wiser is now used for its Missing Supertrope.
Coat Full of Contraband used to be "You Wanna Buy a Watch?" It was considered too narrow and a Stock Phrase.
Coincidental Dodge used to be "Gardener Contract", an oblique reference to Chance the Gardener from Being There. While the character might be the kind who would do a Coincidental Dodge, nothing like that happens in the movie. And even if you did get the reference, there was no way to figure out what exactly the trope was.
Comedic Lolicon used to be just "lolicon", a general term for persons attracted to prepubescent girls and the media aimed at them. The general term didn't fit the narrower trope, which was renamed.
Comedic Underwear Exposure used to be "I See London", a reference to a children's rhyme ("I see London, I see France, I see someone's underpants!") which naturally not everyone would be familiar with.
Combined Energy Attack used to be "Spirit Bomb", after a technique from Dragon Ball. People mistook it for a weapon that attacks the opponent's spirit, rather than drawing from the spirit of a group of people. And even among Dragon Ball fans, the attack was more associated with The Worf Barrage.
Comically Missing the Point used to be "Completely Missing the Point". It was misused as an out-of-universe Stock Phrase; rather than referring to a character missing the point for Rule of Funny, it was used in an accusatory manner against anyone or anything people disagreed with.
The Comically Serious used to be "Unfunny", and before then "The Unfunny". Interestingly, the older name was technically the better one; at least it was clearly about a character rather than just an accusation. But even then, neither older name indicated that it was about a serious-minded person who doesn't find anything funny rather than a character trying to be funny and failing.
Commercialized Christmas used to be "Green Christmas", a play on "White Christmas". It wasn't clear what "green" was supposed to be, and the trope suffered underuse.
Company Town used to be "Set Behind the Scenes". It was mistaken to refer to works about production of other fictional works. The latter name was reused for a trope to that effect.
Complaining About People Not Liking the Show used to be "Shit Flies from the Fans". It lasted only a couple of days before a rename.
Compressed Hair used to be "Hyperspace Hair". It was renamed in part from confusion with "Hairy Hammerspace" (since renamed Hammerspace Hair).
Concealed Customization used to be "Only Six Helmets", a snowclone of Only Six Faces. Other than that, it had little to do with the latter trope.
Condemned by History used to be "Deader than Disco". It was renamed because tropers were arguing about what exactly qualified; "Deader than Disco" implied that the average "man on the street" determined what was no longer popular, which was found to be too restrictive against things that were considered niche. Indeed, by the time of the rename, the anti-disco backlash had faded from popular culture and disco had gotten a little bit popular again. It was also misused for characters who hated disco or thought it was hopelessly dated, for which the new trope Disco Sucks was created.
Condescending Compassion used to be "Pitying Perversion". It was renamed for being misleading; it's not about perversion.
Confetti Drop used to be "Tickertape Parade". The trope is not about parades, but about confetti or balloon drops on Game Shows. Tickertape Parade is now Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
Confirmation Bias used to be "Preaching to the Choir". The two are both common terms but don't mean exactly the same thing; the rename made it more accurate.
Confronting Your Imposter used to be "Because I'm Jonesy", an obscure reference from The Adventures of Dr. McNinja. The old title was ambiguous and attracted misuse.
Confusion Fu used to be "Schrödinger Fu", a reference to Schrödinger's Cat. The reference implied that it was about the fighter splitting into multiple simultaneous versions rather than simply being erratic and unpredictable.
Constantly Curious used to be "Elephant's Child", after the main character in a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was renamed as not very descriptive.
Consulting Mister Puppet used to be "Consulting Mr. Flibble", after the example from Red Dwarf. The new name kept its essential character but was much clearer as to what it meant.
Consummate Liar used to be "Liar Liar". In addition to not very well describing the trope, it collided with the film of the same name.
Contractual Purity used to be "Prisoners of Pollyanna". It was too easily confused with The Pollyanna and otherwise wasn't clear.
Convenient Replacement Character used to be "Welcome to the Liberator", apparently a reference to Blake's 7, where this kind of thing happened once. Even if you were familiar with the show, there was no way you were getting what the name meant.
Conveniently Empty Building used to be "Abandoned Warehouse District", after a line from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. It was renamed because it was broader than just warehouses, groups of buildings, or groups of warehouses.
Conviction by Contradiction used to be "Bugs Meany is Gonna Walk", a reference to Encyclopedia Brown, where this kind of thing happened a lot. However, even if you got the reference, it wasn't clear which specific part of the criminal process it was referring to, leading to misuse.
Conviction by Counterfactual Clue used to be called "Encyclopedia Browned", also a reference to Encyclopedia Brown and doubling as a reference to the original name of Falsely Advertised Accuracy, "Dan Browned". However, much like with "Bugs Meany is Gonna Walk", the series is known for several courtroom tropes, and it wasn't clear what this one referred to.
Cosmic Horror Story used to be just "Cosmic Horror". The latter is actually the proper term, but people weren't aware of that and used it to refer to the monsters that usually inhabit them — what we call an Eldritch Abomination. Cosmic Horror is now a redirect to the latter trope.
"Could Have Avoided This!" Plot used to be "We Could Have Avoided All This". It was a gratuitous Stock Phrase and accordingly attracted misuse.
Counterpart Comparison uesd to be "Why Does Everyone Think I'm Deadpool?" Even if you knew Deadpool, the trope name was too long and unwieldy. Then people mistook it for Surprisingly Similar Characters, and it was made a redirect to the latter page.
Cover-Blowing Superpower used to be "Awkward Ability". It was commonly mistaken for the power itself rather than its cover-blowing properties.
Covert Group with Mundane Front used to be "Spy from Weights and Measures". It was renamed for being completely unclear.
Creating Life Is Bad used to be just "Creating Life". It was renamed because it didn't clarify that it was meant to be a negative trope. Creating Life still exists as an index and neutral supertrope.
Creator's Apathy used to be "They Just Didn't Care", after a gag from Mystery Science Theater 3000. It attracted rampant misuse, as people were linking it to complain about anything they didn't like, regardless of whether the creator cared or not.
Creator's Culture Carryover used to be "We All Live in America". It was renamed because the old name didn't clearly indicate the trope's meaning.
Creator's Pet used to be "The Wesley", after Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Not only did not everyone get the reference (and it also failed the One-Mario Limit), its similarity to The Scrappy led to it being commonly mistaken for "the Scrappy, but more".
Creator-Viewer Reactions Index used to be "Viewers Are Indexed". It was renamed after it was retooled to cover opinions creators can have about the audience other than ones related to viewers' intelligence.
Credits Running Sequence used to be "Running Sequence". It was renamed to clarify that it occurs during the credits.
Creepy Cockroach used to be "Everything's Creepier with Cockroaches". It was renamed in the cleanup of the discredited "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family.
Creepy Crossdresser used to be "Villainous Crossdresser". It was renamed as too narrow; creepy crossdressers aren't always villains.
Creepy Crosses used to be "Creepy Cool Crosses". It was renamed as too narrow; creepy crosses aren't always cool.
Criminally Attractive used to be "Fatal Attraction", and was renamed due to frequent misuse. The definition was expanded slightly and the trope was renamed.
Criminal Mind Games used to be "Along Came a Spider". It was renamed to avoid collisions with the film Along Came a Spider.
Criminal Procedural used to be "Crime Time TV". It suffered from underuse and was unnecessarily medium-specific.
Crowded-Cast Shot used to be "Everyone Get in Here", after a line from Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. It was renamed because it was unclear, it was a Stock Phrase, and it didn't even get the quote right (it's "Everybody get in here").
Cruel Cheerleader used to be "The Cheerleader". The trope was renamed due to being misused for all cheerleaders portrayals in fiction instead of the negative ones the trope was supposed to be about. The old name is now a disambiguation page.
Cruella to Animals used to be "The Cruella". Both are named for the character from 101 Dalmatians, but the new name clarifies which aspect of her character the trope refers to and also helps people unfamiliar with the work understand the trope.
Cruel Twist Ending used to be "Outer Limits Twist". It was renamed in part because not everyone understood the reference, and partly because The Outer Limits (1963) was remade into The Outer Limits (1995), and the revival series didn't use the trope as often.
Crutch Character used to be "Jeigan Character", after a character from Fire Emblem. Even if you were familiar with the series and associated the trope to this aspect of his character, you ran into spelling issues — the character's "official" English name is Jagen.
Cryonics Failure uesd to be "Popsicle Splat", a reference to the Human Popsicle. While people might have gotten that, it was unclear as to what exactly the trope did with said popsicles.
Cryptic Background Reference used to be "What's a Secret Four", a reference to the kids' detective novel series The Three Investigators. The old name impenetrable to non-fans — which you'd expect from a cryptic background reference. People thought it might have been a Henway.
Culturally Religious used to be "Raised Catholic". It was renamed because the trope is broader than Catholicism and doesn't clearly indicate the character's relationship to their religion. Before then, it was called "Good Catholic", which was even less indicative of its meaning.
Cultural Stereotypes used to be "Acceptable Cultural Targets". It was renamed to make it more objective.
Cut a Slice, Take the Rest used to be "Improper Fraction". It was renamed for clarity.
Cutaway Gag used to be "Manatee Gag", a reference to Family Guy, which is famous for them. But not a direct reference — it actually draws from a Take That! from South Park against Family Guy's love for the practice. This just layered on the confusion. "Cutaway Gag" is an accepted term for the trope off-wiki. Funnily, the trope was actually drafted as "Cutaway Gag" but somehow got launched as "Manatee Gag".
Cute and Psycho used to be "Yangire", a term in the anime fandom to describe this kind of character. Not only is it not exclusively a Japanese Media Trope, it's not even a real Japanese word.
Cute Clumsy Girl used to be "Dojikko", a term in the anime fandom to describe this kind of character. Even though such characters are real common in anime, they're far from exclusive to it. Dojikko still exists as a subtrope of Cute Clumsy Girl, but it's a Definition Only Page.
Cute Kitten used to be "Everything's Cuter with Kittens". It was renamed in the cleanup of the discredited "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family.
Cut Short used to be "Woody's Finest Hour", a reference to the Show Within a Show from Toy Story 2. Not only was it an unclear reference, it might not even be an example (a Meaningful Background Event implies that the show wasn't cut short).
Cutting Off the Branches used to be "Road Cone". It was renamed as very opaque.
Cynicism Catalyst used to be "Dead Little Sister". It was commonly used to refer more generally to dead siblings and renamed to be clearer.

Damage-Proof Vehicle used to be "Not a Scratch on It". It was considered too ambiguous and renamed.
Damsel in Distress used to be "Distressed Damsel". It doesn't look like a significant change, but the new name is the term much more widely used for this character type off-wiki.
Damsel out of Distress used to be "Badass Damsel". It was renamed to more clearly link it to the Damsel in Distress trope.
Damsel Scrappy used to be "The Kimberly", after Kim Bauer, the designated Damsel in Distress from 24. It was renamed for badly failing the One-Mario Limit.
Danger Deadpan used to be "Chuck Yeager", after the Real Life pilot who was the first to break the sound barrier and was renowned for talking like this. It sounded like a character-named trope, was opaque, and implicitly narrow (suggesting it only applied to pilots).
Dangerous Key Fumble used to be "Oops, I Dropped the Keys". It was renamed to sound less like dialogue.
Danger Room Cold Open used to be called "Professor X Likes to Watch Teenagers Sweat", after the X-Men character who caused many such cold opens. In addition to being long and unwieldy, it was loaded with implications that made you think of a different trope.
The Dark Age of Comic Books used to be just "Dark Age". It was renamed for not having any indication that it had to do with comic books, leading to it being mistaken for the trope The Dark Times.
Dark Horse Victory used to be "Zmelik", after Czechoslovak decathlete Robert Změlík, who won the decathlon gold in the 1992 Olympics after Americans hyped up the race as being primarily between Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson. It was renamed for being really opaque.
Dark Mistress used to be "Doctor Girlfriend", after the character from The Venture Brothers. Even if you got the reference, the character was known for several different traits.
Dashing Hispanic used to be "Badass Spaniard". It was simultaneously too narrow (not every Hispanic is a Spaniard) and too broad (it implies simple badassery without the specifics of honour, wit, grace in battle, and romance).
Dated History used to be "History Marches On". It attracted widespread misuse for any history-related inaccuracy, regardless of whether it was accepted knowledge when the work was made.
Dating Do-Si-Do used to be "Degrassi Dating", after the Degrassi franchise. In addition to requiring familiarity with the series, it was also mistaken for a reference to the Totally Radical '80s aesthetic of the franchise's earliest and most famous incarnations.
Dating Service Disaster used to be "Matchmaker.com", after an online dating website. In addition to being confused for a reference to the actual company, it was also too broad, not specifying that the dating experience had to be bad.
Dead Person Impersonation used to be "Martin Guerre", after a musical of that name. In addition to being opaque, the name collided with the name of the play. "The Don Draper" may or may not have been considered, but it wouldn't have been much better.
Death by Newbery Medal used to be "Dog Dies at the End", a common rendition of the trope. It was renamed to be easier to understand.
Death by Woman Scorned used to be "He Had It Coming". Although it sounds like a Stock Phrase, it doubles as a reference to Chicago. It was renamed for clarity.
Death of a Thousand Cuts used to be "One Thousand Needles", after an attack from the Final Fantasy games that did this. It was renamed to make it clearer that it's an attack. "One Thousand Needles" was repurposed for a different trope which was itself renamed to Fixed Damage Attack.
Debut Queue used to be "Ducks in a Row". Even if you were familiar with the expression, it was easily mistaken for All in a Row and gave no indication that it was for a way of introducing characters to a story.
Decadent Court used to be "Deadly Decadent Court". It was considered too narrow; it's about the court, not about its occasional murderous tendencies.
Decapitated Army used to be "Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead" after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It was used either as a reference to the work or mistaken for And There Was Much Rejoicing.
Decapitation Required used to be "Vorpal Weakness", after the Vorpal Blade's ability to instantly decapitate enemies in Dungeons & Dragons. However, that name was completely unclear if you didn't know the reference, was possibly confused with One-Hit Kill since that's the more known part of Vorpal weapons, and wasn't clear that this was a requirement even if you did understand it.
Declaration of Protection was formed from the merger of "I Will Protect Her" and "I Will Definitely Protect You". Both were Stock Phrases and necessitated a rename; the latter was apparently designed as a Japanese Media Trope, being a translation of a common Stock Japanese Phrase.
Decoy Trial used to be "Trial of Someone Besides the Defendant". It was renamed for being a mouthful.
Deep-Fried Whatever used to be "Everything's Better Deep Fried". It was renamed in the cleanup of the discredited "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family, and it was also misused to refer to anything that was deep fried regardless of whether or not it was unusual.
Defecting for Love used to be "Capulet Counterpart", a reference to Romeo and Juliet. While that is a well-known work, it's often associated with a plethora of other tropes like Star-Crossed Lovers, War Ship, or Dating Catwoman.
Deliberate Injury Gambit used to be "I Have Two Kidneys". It was renamed for being opaque.
Delicate and Sickly used to be "Ill Girl". It was frequently misused to describe any character with an illness (if not mistaken for the Littlest Cancer Patient), rather than the character type the trope actually describes.
Delusions of Eloquence used to be "Shlubb and Klump English", after Those Two Guys from Sin City. It had the usual problems of character-named tropes; many users didn't get the reference, and many who did associated them with a different trope.
Demoted to Extra used to be "Isn't It Sad", a reference to a Meme from Tsukihime about a character who had this happen to her. Few got the reference, or even that it was a reference, instead believing that it had to do with any sad situation in general.
Demythification used to be "Low Low Fantasy". It looked like Low Fantasy, but moreso, and it was mistaken as such. It's actually about stories that are stripped of fantastic elements and presented as Historical Fiction. The rename hit a snag, too, as it was briefly "Demythtification" — apparently, it was a Pun on "demystification", which mostly went unnoticed and was assumed to be a typo.
Designated Villain used to be "Designated Antagonist". It was renamed because not all antagonists are villains (e.g. the Hero Antagonist).
Despair Event Horizon used to be "Morale Event Horizon". It was created as a pun on Moral Event Horizon, but this left it poorly defined. And people who saw it mistook it for a misspelled version of the original trope.
Deus Exit Machina used to be "Eaten by a Snake", a reference to an arc from One Piece. Few got the reference and assumed it referred to being Swallowed Whole by a snake.
Developer's Foresight used to be "The Dev Team Thinks of Everything", a reference to a Meme about NetHack. It was commonly mistaken to refer to any instance of developers paying attention to detail, as opposed to actually predicting the bizarre things a player might do.
Developing Doomed Characters used to be "Twenty Minutes with Jerks". It was renamed for being too negative.
Devilish Hair Horns was previously "Horned Hairdo", and was renamed because the fact that it's supposed to indicate that a character is evil was frequently overlooked, leading to misuse to mean any character with horn-shaped hair.
Diabolus ex Nihilo used to be "Diabolus Ex Vacuus". It was renamed once we discovered that there was a common preexisting term we weren't using. (Also, we were mixing up our nominative declension with the ablative. Who knew?)
Diagnosed by the Audience used to be "Ambiguous Disorder". It was renamed because the concept was determined to be subjective and was already used for speculation that a given character has a disorder that isn't either mentioned in the work or via Diagnosis of God, so the definition was retooled to fit how it was commonly used and renamed to fit the retooled definition.
Didn't Want an Adventure used to be "I Wanted to Go Bowling", a reference to The Incredibles. It was renamed as an opaque reference and Stock Phrase.
Died During Production used to be "Author Existence Failure". It was misused to refer to creators who died after the work was released, which literally every creator has done or will do.
Diegetic Soundtrack Usage used to be "Theme Tune Cameo", and before that "Name That Tune". The first name was a reference to the show Name That Tune, but the name was unclear and collided with the show's page. The second name led to misuse, as tropers thought it referred to music from other media making a cameo, and there was confusion as to whether it allowed In-Universe appearances of other music from the soundtrack.
"Die Hard" on an X used to be just "Die Hard" for an embarrassingly long time. Naturally, it made searching for the trope as opposed to the movie Die Hard next to impossible.
Dies Wide Open used to be "Dies Wide Shut", a pun on Eyes Wide Shut, which otherwise has nothing to do with the trope. This also made the name misleading, hence the change.
Digging Yourself Deeper used to be "Bucket of Ears", after a reference from Coupling. It was so opaque that almost all references to it related to the former Trope Namer.
Digitized Hacker used to be "Malus Ex Machina", a Gratuitous Latin phrase meaning "evil out of the machine" in a failed imitation of Deus ex Machina. In addition to requiring a little knowledge of Latin, it had nothing to do with hacking.
Disappointing Last Level used to be "Xen Syndrome", named for the location of the final levels of Half-Life. In addition to being horrendously opaque, it also suggested that everyone held the same opinion about the finale of Half-Life, when it's really a YMMV trope.
Disco Dan used to be "Joe Quesada Reality", after the much-disliked Marvel Comics executive Joe Quesada. It had a "bitter fan" vibe with its inherent Take That!, and in any event Quesada barely was an example himself. Thankfully, it was renamed after only one day (and not one day more).
Disc-One Final Boss used to be "Fake Boss". It was renamed after being mistaken for Bait-and-Switch Boss.
Disconnected by Death used to be "Murdered in a Phone Booth". It was considered too narrow and renamed as a way to include other phone-based murders.
Disguised in Drag used to be "Bosom Buddies", after the series of the same name. It collided with references to the show and wasn't obvious anyway.
Distanced from Current Events used to be "Too Soon". The term was widely used off-wiki, but there it meant something different — a Dude, Not Funny! reaction to a recent tragedy. A plurality of the examples used the latter definition. The trope doesn't have to do with people being offended, but rather changes in content to avoid potential references to a recent tragedy. Too Soon is now a disambiguation between Distanced from Current Events and Dude, Not Funny!.
Distinction Without a Difference used to be "No Except Yes", which was mistaken for By "No", I Mean "Yes". Before then, it used to be "This Is Pest Control", after a line from Doctor Who which was otherwise impenetrable.
Distressed Dude used to be "James Bondage". It was renamed so that it wouldn't sound porn-related.
Divergent Character Evolution used to be "Luigification", after Luigi from Super Mario Bros.. It was renamed because Luigi is more commonly associated with several other tropes, perhaps demonstrating the success of his divergent character evolution.
Divided We Fall used to be "Hanging Separately", after a quote to this effect by Benjamin Franklin. Not everyone was familiar with the quote, so it was changed to a better-known phrase.
Divine Race Lift used to be "Token Deity". It was renamed because the trope isn't really about Tokens.
Documentary Episode used to be "The Documentary". It didn't clearly refer to a particular episode of a show and was mistaken for the more general page Documentary.
Dodge by Braking used to be "Top Gunned", after Top Gun. The film is known for a variety of things besides that particular aerial evasive technique.
Does Not Know His Own Strength used to be "Ace Lightning Syndrome", after Ace Lightning. It was renamed as too obscure a reference.
Doesn't Trust Those Guys used to be "Never Trust a Trope". It was renamed both for being a Stock Phrase and using "trope" as a placeholder.
Do Not Do This Cool Thing used to be "Truffaut Was Right", after a quote from French director François Truffaut about anti-war movies. Unfortunately, not many tropers were familiar with Truffaut, and those who were associated him more with The Auteur Theory, which he proposed. Before then, it used to be "Pink Lipstick Aesop", after a scene in an episode of Daria, a reference that eluded everyone unfamiliar with it.
Don't Explain the Joke used to be "Yes Ted, That's the Joke", after an obscure reference to Ted Turner on Family Guy. Although you didn't strictly speaking need to know who "Ted" was, the new name was much cleaner and more descriptive.
Doofy Dodo used to be "Dumb Dodo Bird". It was misused to refer to any appearance of a dodo. The rename allowed a retool to clarify that it's about funny dodo birds.
Many Double Standard tropes with the format "Double Standard: X, Y" used to be "X is OK When It's Y" (e.g. Double Standard Rape: Female on Male used to be "Rape is OK When It's Female on Male"). They were all renamed because tropers mistook the "X is OK" to mean we're saying it's okay, not that the character thinks it's okay. (There's one survivor, though: Stalking Is Funny if It Is Female After Male).
Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto Us used to be "Pandora Plea", a reference to Pandora's Box. It was renamed for clarity, since Pandora's Box doesn't clearly bring to mind dangerous weapons.
Down to the Last Play used to be "The Casey Effect", after the poem Casey at the Bat. Few were familiar with the poem in question, and those who were mistakenly believed that the protagonist always loses on the last play, or that the trope was specific to baseball.
Do Wrong, Right used to be "This Is Not El Alamein", an oblique reference to the Battle of El Alamein which took place in Egypt during World War II. Even if you were familiar with the battle, its association with the trope was a story in itself, being named after a quote from Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby.
Dramatic High Perching used to be "I Have the High Ground", and was renamed because the fact that the original Trope Namer was actually an example of Geo Effects often led to this trope being confused with that one.
Dramatic Slip used to be "I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up", after a Breakaway Advertisement that went Memetic because of that line. It was misused as a Stock Phrase and a reference to the meme, which led it to struggle.
Dream-Crushing Handicap used to be "Sorry, Billy, but You Just Don't Have Legs". It was too long, unclear, and mistaken for a line of dialogue.
Dream Reality Check used to be "Pinch Me". While this is a common expression of the trope, it also commonly expresses a wide variety of other related tropes, leading to misuse.
Drink-Based Characterization used to be "Drink Order". It was renamed to clarify that the trope isn't about the drink so much as the person who orders it.
Driven by Envy used to be "Salieri Syndrome", after Amadeus. It was renamed for being opaque and failing to attract wicks.
Driver Faces Passenger used to be "Hollywood Driving". It was considered too broad for the trope and renamed.
Drunk on Milk used to be "Drunk on Malts". It attracted occasional confusion over the definition of "malt" — in this context, it refers to a clearly non-alcoholic drink, but some alcoholic drinks are made with malted hops.
Dub-Induced Plot Hole used to be "Errors Through Localization", but it was considered too negative and was renamed. Before that, it was "My Name Is Prince Darien", after an event in the DiC dub of Sailor Moon; this was considered too obtuse.
Dub-Induced Plotline Change used to be "Cut-and-Paste Translation", and was renamed because the original name didn't clearly indicate that it was about a translation changing a work's plot. In addition, it was often used to refer to translations that were made from parts of multiple works due to the "cut-and-paste" part of the name; Frankenslation was launched to cover these examples.
Dueling Hackers used to be "Dot Combat". It was renamed to make it clearer.
Dying Curse used to be "A Plague on Both Your Houses", after a line from Romeo and Juliet. It was renamed to make it clearer that it was a curse, not just being really mad.
Dying Declaration of Love used to be "Going Down with the Ship", a reference to Shipping. It was frequently mistaken for maritime captains who literally go down with the ship. Going Down with the Ship was repurposed for Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
Dying to Be Replaced used to be "Klingon Promotion", after the Klingons from Star Trek. However, it had very little to do with Klingons and was often mistaken for You Kill It, You Bought It, or for the Klingon practice of killing someone and taking their place in the hierarchy — a trope that didn't exist back then but now uses the name Klingon Promotion.

Earth All Along used to be "Planet of the Apes Ending", after Planet of the Apes. While the ending is well-known, most entries referred to the specific example or homages to it.
Easily-Overheard Conversation used to be "The First Law of Sitcom Acoustics". First, the name was too long; second, it implied there were other "laws of sitcom acoustics" when there weren't; and third, it wasn't limited to sitcoms. The trope suffered underuse and was renamed.
Eating the Eye Candy used to be "Female Gaze". This implied that it was a Distaff Counterpart to Male Gaze, but it wasn't; it's actually used In-Universe. Female Gaze was then created to be an actual Distaff Counterpart to Male Gaze.
Eccentric Mentor used to be "The Dumbledore", after the character from Harry Potter. It was renamed because the character was known for several things other than this trope.
Echoing Acoustics used to be "Live from Khazad-dûm", after an underground location from The Lord of the Rings. It required familiarity with the work, and even then it didn't have anything to do with the work anyway.
Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette used to be just "Pale-Skinned Brunette". It was renamed in the cleanup of the Personal Appearance Tropes; like many of them, this trope was misused to refer to just light-skinned, dark-haired people, which amounted to people sitting on chairs. The "eerie" changed it to a genuine character archetype.
Egg MacGuffin used to be "Egg McGuffin". The generally accepted spelling of "MacGuffin" is with an "a", but this trope was a pun on the Egg McMuffin from McDonald's, which doesn't have an "a". After some confusion, it was decided to align it with the spelling of MacGuffin.
Egocentrically Religious used to be "Spoiled Brat of the Lord". The first problem is that not every troper associated "Lord" with a deity. The second is that those who did limited the trope to the Abrahamic deity, when it's not specific to those religions. And third, it implied that it was about a spoiled adherent to a religion, when it's really more about self-serving religious belief.
Either "World Domination", or Something About Bananas used to be "The Vodka Is Good But the Meat Is Rotten". Not only was it opaque, it was an example to the wrong trope — it's actually the result of a Recursive Translation.
Elegant Classical Musician used to be "Air in a G-String", an obtuse pun that didn't convey the definition of the trope at all.
Elevator Floor Announcement used to be "Ding! Sportswear, Pantyhose and Tropes". The old name was more evocative, but harder to remember, and the trope suffered from underuse.
Eloquent in My Native Tongue used to be "I Sound Like a Retard in English". The former name not only didn't convey the trope very well, it also rubbed more than a few people the wrong way with its casual use of the word "retard".
Emergency Food Supply Animal used to be "Eat the Dog". It was renamed because the bad snowclone of Kick the Dog resulted in misuse related to either that trope or misuse related to pets being eaten in contexts unrelated to emergency rations.
Emergency Impersonation used to be "Guise Will Be Guise", a pun on a phrase that otherwise had nothing to do with the trope.
Empowered Badass Normal used to be "Badass Abnormal". People focused on the "abnormal" part of it and gave examples that were pretty much the opposite of a Badass Normal.
The Ending Changes Everything used to be "The Usual Suspects Ending", which was a reference to a specific film which revealed nothing but still managed to be a big Spoiler. It was impossible to talk about without spoiling the film; the trope description even said to watch the movie before reading the rest of it.
Endless Game used to be "Kobayashi Mario", a pun on Super Mario Bros. and the then-named trope "Kobayashi Maru", which was itself later renamed to Unwinnable Training Simulation. In addition to drawing from two different works, it sent the wrong impression; the Kobayashi Maru scenario wasn't endless, just unwinnable.
End-of-Episode Silliness used to be "Uncle Herbie", after a Running Gag involving this trope on Welcome Back, Kotter. If you weren't familiar with it, you were totally lost.
The End... Or Is It? used to be just "Or Is It?" It was renamed to prevent misuse not just as a Stock Phrase, but as a Verbal Tic; the old name was a prolific Pothole Magnet, and not in a good way.
Enigmatic Empowering Entity was formed from an awkward partial merger of "Empowering Lake Lady" and "Strange Pond Woman". Both were in need of a rename, being a reference to the Lady of the Lake from the Arthurian Legend; this led to both tropes being thought of as overly specific, and when they were broadened they were redundant to each other.
Epic Battle Boredom used to be "Kicking Ass and Taking Names". It was renamed due to being unclear and falling into disuse.
Epic Movie used to be "BFM", an incomprehensible initialism that was effectively a snowclone of BFG. It was renamed to a generally used term for the concept.
Erotic Eating used to be "Yum Yum". It was renamed as ambiguous (possibly — people are weird, so it was understood correctly surprisingly often).
Ethereal White Dress used to be "Woman in White". It was misused to refer to the clothes rather than the character archetype, and it attracted examples that amounted to just a lady wearing white.
"Eureka!" Moment used to be "Creek Moment", after the British TV detective series Jonathan Creek. Few got the reference, with many mistaking it for a different "Creek" like Dawson's Creek. Even those who did get the reference had no idea what it was supposed to be. "Eureka" was far more searchable as well.
Even Mooks Have Loved Ones used to be "Even Evil Has Loved Ones". It was misused to mean any instance in which an evil person demonstrates genuine love for one another; this accounted for more than 80% of its wicks. It actually has to do specifically with Mooks. Even Evil Has Loved Ones was repurposed for a trope covering the original misuse.
"Everybody Dies" Ending used to be "Kill 'Em All". It was renamed because the name doesn't say that it's an Ending Trope and was thus frequently confused with several other tropes about killing people, and the old name later became a disambiguation.
Everybody Knew Already used to be "The Not-Secret". It was renamed after confusion with the similar-but-different Open Secret.
Everything Except Most Things used to be "Overwhelming Exception". The former title is a pre-existing term for a fallacy described in the article, but tropers misused it to mean a singular exception that is somehow "overwhelming" when it's actually about exceptions that outnumber straight cases.
Every Year They Fizzle Out used to be "The Peyton Manning" after the Hall of Fame quarterback whose college career and first decade in the NFL saw him develop a reputation for great regular season performances but failing to win a championship. The trope name was understandably unclear. The new name comes from a Saturday Night Live sketch during an episode hosted by Manning after he finally won a Super Bowl, poking fun at the idea behind the trope.
Evil Colonialist used to be "Mister Danger", after a character from the little-known Doña Barbara. As such, nobody understood the reference, and nobody made the connection to colonialism.
Evil Stole My Faith used to be "There Is No God". It was renamed for being a Stock Phrase and for being mistaken for other tropes about atheism like Hollywood Atheist and Religion Is Wrong.
Excited Title! Two-Part Episode Name! used to be "Excited Episode Title!" However, it was about a particular episode naming convention that was more than just a title with an exclamation point (which used to be a separate trope called "Excited Show Title!", but was cut due to amounting to, well, "titles with exclamation points").
Expendable Alternate Universe used to be "All the Myriad Ways", after a work of the same name. It was quite opaque and collided with the page on the work.
Experimental Archeology used to be "Kon Tiki Plot", after a famous example in the 1947 voyage of the Kon-Tiki which was later the subject of the documentary Kon-Tiki. But not enough tropers got the reference, leading to underuse. The rename also allowed it to be broader and clearer than just the specific Kon-Tiki voyage.
Explaining the Soap used to be "Soap on a Trope". In addition to being non-indicative, it made use of the deprecated convention of using "trope" as a placeholder.
Exponential Plot Delay used to be "Zeno's Race", after an early mathematical theory of limits. The idea was that a story that showed increasing plot delay could be metaphorically represented by Zeno's theory. Most readers didn't make the connection; even if they understood the theory, they didn't link it to plot pacing.
Expositing the Masquerade used to be "We Have Been Researching Phlebotinum for Years". In addition to being unwieldy and a Stock Phrase, it didn't necessarily have to do with Applied Phlebotinum, leading to underuse.
Exposition Fairy used to be "Ninja Butterfly", after the video game Red Ninja: End of Honor. If you weren't familiar with the work, you wouldn't assume "friendly advice-giving character"; you'd assume "stealth lepidopteran assassins of shadow".
Extranormal Institute used to be "Wizarding School". It was renamed because it didn't specifically have to do with wizardry. Wizarding School is now the name of a trope that's Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
Extra Y, Extra Violent used to be "XYY". It was renamed because even if one understood the reference to chromosomes, it didn't clarify that the extra Y-chromosome leads to violent behavior.
Extreme Sports Plot used to be "Extreme Sport Excuse Plot", but was renamed to make it less negative. Before then, it was "Xtreme Sport Xcuse Plot", but the Xtreme Kool Letterz made it hard to find and led to underuse.
The Extremist Was Right used to be "And It Worked". It was renamed as a Stock Phrase that wasn't very clear.
Exty Years from Publication used to be "Exty Years from Now". It was renamed after frequent confusion for Exactly Exty Years Ago and Year X.
Eyelid Pull Taunt used to be "Red Eye". It was mistaken for other instances of red eyes, like Red Eyes, Take Warning. It also collided with the film Red Eye.

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