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Lame Pun Reaction used to be "Incredibly Lame Pun". It was a Pothole Magnet for tropers to refer to puns they themselves didn't like (which was indeed its intended purpose, in the heady early days of the wiki). It was renamed to clean up all the potholes, most of which were gratuitous complaining, and allow for an In-Universe trope that wasn't overshadowed by out-of-universe uses. "Incredibly Lame Pun" is now a redirect to the more neutral Pun.
Lampshaded Double Entendre used to be "Nudge Nudge", and before that just "Nudge", and before that "If You Know What I Mean". The first rename was necessary because the "I" in the title turned it into a Pothole Magnet and encouraged tropers to talk about themselves. The second rename came because "Nudge" was unclear (and indeed it was a temporary replacement). The third rename came because "Nudge Nudge" was still unclear — although more people understood it (perhaps because it was more reminiscent of a famous use of the trope from Monty Python's Flying Circus, although it's unclear if it was meant to be the Trope Namer), it was still not thriving. The final rename not only made it clear what it was, it also made it clear that it wasn't about the Double Entendre itself, but a character lampshading it.
Large-Ham Announcer used to be "Anything's Awesome with Announcers". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Awesome with X" snowclone family. And in any event, it used "anything" rather than "everything", which confused some tropers, and it also wasn't clear that it referred to a specific kind of announcer.
The Last Straw used to be "Wafer Thin Mint", after a scene from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. Not everyone got the reference, and many who did associated the scene with a different trope like Death by Gluttony or Ludicrous Gibs (it's a pretty disgusting scene). The term "last straw" was a longstanding idiom for the concept — even the trope's description acknowledged it as a more common name for it.
Late-Arrival Spoiler used to be "You Should Know This Already". Many tropers interpreted it literally and potholed it when they wanted to tell the reader that they "should know" something, even as an excuse not to use spoiler tags. The new name clarifies that it's the creator who's thinking this.
Late to the Punchline used to be "Swiss Moment", after a not very widespread association of the Swiss with being slow to get jokes. Switzerland is generally associated with other tropes, like yodeling, opaque banking practices, and neutrality.
Late to the Realization used to be "The Last Horse Crosses the Finish Line", a reference to an idiom that may not even exist. It was essentially a long and unwieldy Word Salad Title and needed a rename.
Late to the Tragedy used to be "Late to the Party". It was misused for pretty much any use of "party", such as an adventure, a fight, or a literal party.
Launcher of a Thousand Ships used to be "Little Black Dress", the idea being that such characters "go with everything". Other than that, it had nothing to do with dresses. It also gave the impression that the trope was Always Female when it wasn't. Little Black Dress now covers Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid was formed from the merger of "Lava is Red Hot Water" and "Lava is Kool-Aid". They were so often confused with each other that a rename was needed, and in the process, it was decided that even if they were distinct tropes, they happened together so often that they may as well be part of the same trope.
Lead Police Detective used to be "The Inspector". It was considered too narrowly defined — not all Lead Police Detectives are inspectors.
Legacy Character used to be "Dread Pirate Roberts", after an example from The Princess Bride. It required familiarity with the reference to understand.
Leg Focus used to be "She's Got Legs". It's supposed to be for when the camera and/or a character in a work draws attention to a character's legs, but it was frequently misused for creepy gushing.
Less Embarrassing Term used to be "The European Carry-All", after a reference from Seinfeld. Not everyone got the reference, and many who did thought it was specific to "man-purses".
Lesser Star used to be "Garfunkel", after one half of Simon & Garfunkel. It was commonly misused for Stuck in Their Shadow, of which it was a much better example — Art Garfunkel wasn't a Lesser Star, being a key component of the duo's harmonies.
"Lesson of the Day" Speech was renamed from "Script Wank" partially to reduce complaining, and partially to clarify the definition.
Level in the Clouds used to be "Bubbly Clouds", after a level from the Kirby series. It was renamed to clarify that it's about video game levels.
LGBT Fanbase used to be "Fan Yay", an opaque snowclone of Ho Yay. It was renamed because not everyone got that said fans had to be LGBT; in other words, not everyone got that the "Ho" part was what carried over.
Light 'em Up used to be "Light the Way". It was misused to refer to literal lighting of a path; the rename clarified that it was about an elemental power.
Light-Flicker Teleportation used to be "Blackout Blink". It was renamed to clarify that it meant "blackout" in a literal sense, not in a metaphorical sense like "blackout drunk".
Like a Duck Takes to Water used to be "The Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer". It was renamed because it wasn't clear that the caveman became a lawyer after being unfrozen, and because it was mistaken for referring specifically to lawyers (leading to occasional confusion with Simple Country Lawyer). In the process, it absorbed the existing trope "Like a Fish Takes to Water", which was poorly defined to begin with.
Likes Older Women used to be "Cake Eater", after the Japanese idiom "Christmas cake" for women considered too old to date — which used to be its own trope, but was merged in with Old Maid.^note Not everyone got the reference, leading to the rename.
Literal-Minded used to be "Amelia Bedelia", after the title character of the Amelia Bedelia series of children's books. Not everyone got the reference, and many who did mistook the trope for the work's page.
Literal Split Personality used to be "Starfish Character", a reference to Animorphs, where this happened to a character after they were cut in half while transformed into a starfish. It was renamed to make it clearer what it meant.
Little Bit Beastly used to be "Kemonomimi". It was renamed for being Gratuitous Japanese and very hard to search. The Japanese name came from an attempt to refine the former trope "Petting Zoo People", which wound up being merged with Beast Man.
Little Guy, Big Buddy used to be "Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot", characters from the old cartoon Feed the Kitty. Not everyone got the reference, and many who did thought it was limited to dogs and cats, as opposed to any two characters.
Little Miss Badass used to be "Badass Lolita". It's not a direct reference to Lolita, but rather the derivative Fan Speak term "loli" for sexualized underage characters. Naturally, this became a big issue after The Google Incident. In any event, there was no requirement that such characters had to be sexualized.
Little Miss Snarker used to be "Deadpan Loli", again a reference to sexualized underage characters and renamed for the same reason as Little Miss Badass. Before then, it was "The Ruri", after the character from Martian Successor Nadesico, but was renamed for being an opaque reference.
Loan Shark used to be "All-Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks", a reference to a company from Pikmin 2. Although it did get the point across, it was long, unwieldy, and difficult to remember.
London Gangster used to be "Kray Winstone". It was a bizarrely oblique reference; the first name was the surname of an iconic pair of Real Life London gangsters, and the second was the surname of an actor whose performance they inspired. Many tropers didn't get either reference, let alone both. In any event, the Krays are commonly associated with The Don, whereas the current trope encompasses a variety of gangster archetypes.
Lonely Funeral used to be "Tragic Funeral". It was renamed for clarity, as not all tragic funerals are lonely affairs.
Longing for Fictionland used to be "Longing for Pandora", after the setting of the movie Avatar. Not everyone got the reference, and many tropers mistook it to refer to other uses of Pandora, mostly Pandora's Box from Classical Mythology.
Long-Lost Uncle Aesop used to be "Uncle Ned", after such a character from Family Ties. Few got the reference, and many who did mistook it for the broader trope Remember the New Guy?.
Long Song, Short Scene used to be "Wasted Song". It was renamed to make it less negative.
Look Behind You used to be "Hey, What's That?" It might seem like a lateral move now, but back in the day we didn't have custom titles, and we didn't like names with punctuation in them.
Loot Drama used to be "The Ridill", after a sword from Final Fantasy. It was an opaque reference, and "loot drama" was a pre-existing term in the MMORPG community which was clear enough to be understood by a wider audience.
Lost in Medias Res used to be "Hold Your Horses". It was a Stock Phrase that wasn't clear that it was directed at the author.
Loudness War used to be "Record of Loudness War", a pun on the title of Record of Lodoss War. It required familiarity with the work, which had nothing to do with the trope. The new name appears to preserve the pun, but it's actually a pre-existing term.
Lovable Alpha Bitch used to be "Lovable Libby", after the former trope "The Libby". When the supertrope was renamed to Alpha Bitch, this trope was renamed to match.
Loved Ones Montage used to be "Nakamania", a reference to the former trope "Nakama". It didn't make much sense to begin with, and it made much less sense once "Nakama" was renamed to True Companions.
Lovely Assistant used to be "The Vanna", after the hostess from Wheel of Fortune. Not everyone got the reference, and the rename allowed the page's scope to be expanded beyond just game shows.
Lover Tug of War used to be "Tug Lover War". The rename kept the essence of the old name but arranged it in a much more logical way.
Loves My Alter Ego used to be "The Lois Lane", after the Love Interest from Superman. Lois was associated with a few other tropes, and in any event many wicks were references to the character and not the trope.
Luck-Based Search Technique used to be "Shaggy Search Technique", after the character from Scooby-Doo. Although it was clearly a search technique, it required familiarity with the work. Those who didn't have it occasionally mistook "Shaggy" for something else, like "Shaggy Dog" Story and its derivatives.
Lyrics/Video Mismatch used to be "Narrative Non Sequitur". It was renamed to clarify that it's specifically a Music Video Trope.

Machine Worship used to be "Ave Machina", a reference to the Latin salute Ave (e.g. the famous Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant^note). Not everyone got that it was a salute. And it was quite similar to the Latin Ave Maria, a reference to Christianity, leading to people thinking it had a different kind of religious element than it did.
Magical Eye used to be "Evil Eye". It was a pre-existing term for a plethora of tropes which weren't this one. Evil Eye is now an index page for such tropes, including Magical Eye.
Magical Girl Warrior used to be just "Magic Warrior". It was renamed to clarify that it was about Magical Girls and not Magic Knights.
Magpies as Portents used to be "One for Sorrow, Two for Joy", a reference to a nursery rhyme which turned out to be unfamiliar to many outside the British Isles.
Make Room for the New Plot used to be "Got a Bigger Problem Now". It was misused as a line of dialogue and not clear that it the "bigger problem" would be the new plot.
Male Band, Female Singer used to be one half of "The Suzi Quatro Principle", after 80s rocker Suzi Quatro, who often used an all-male backing band. The other half of the trope became Female Rockers Play Bass. When they were the same trope, it was considered too narrow, leading to the split. In any event, not everyone was familiar with the Trope Namer, which would have necessitated a rename anyway.
Maligned Mixed Marriage used to be just "Mixed Marriage". It was misused to refer to any interracial relationship. The new name clarified that said relationship had to be seen negatively.
Man Bites Man used to be "Take a Bite Out of Crime", a reference to the slogan of "McGruff the Crime Dog" from a series of American Public Service Announcements. It was often mistakenly for a trope about fighting crime, and it also wasn't clear that a human had to do the biting — especially since the Trope Namer wasn't a human.
Manchild used to be "The Oscar", after a character from Arrested Development. It failed the One-Mario Limit, especially with respect to the Oscars. And the Trope Namer wasn't even an example himself.
Mandatory Motherhood used to be "Childfree Is Not Allowed". In this case, "childfree" is the name of a somewhat controversial movement; those who picked up on it gave it unnecessary connotations. It's entirely possible to be childless without identifying with the movement.
Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy used to be "Pink Boy, Blue Girl". It was mistaken for an inversion of Pink Girl, Blue Boy, which it wasn't — it didn't have to do with colors and motifs, but rather character types.
Meaningless Villain Victory used to be "Pound of Flesh Twist", after William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice. Although Shakespeare is far from obscure (there's a reason for The Zeroth Law of Trope Examples), it was renamed to combat underuse from suspected lack of clarity. There was also a conflict with the similarly named "Pound of Flesh", which was itself renamed to Off the Table. See what happens when you name two tropes after the same scene?
Meaningful Echo used to be "You Are with Me", after a line from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Even if you were familiar with the work, you'd have to be really familiar with it to know the line. And if you weren't familiar with the line, there was no way to know it was said twice. Fan Myopia at its finest.
Meddlesome Patrolman used to be "The Longtarin", after a character from Gaston Lagaffe. If you didn't know the reference, the name made no sense.
Media Scaremongering used to be "You Can Panic Now". It was renamed because the old name didn't communicate that it was related to news media, and it also read like a stock phrase, resulting in it frequently being confused with This Is No Time to Panic and other tropes related to panicking, when it wasn't just taken to mean any sort of panic.
Media Scrum used to be just "Scrum". It was renamed to clarify which kind of scrum it's about.
Men Buy from Mars, Women Buy from Venus used to be "Men Are from Candy Bars, Women Are from Shaving Products". It was long, opaque, and hard to remember.
The Men in Black used to be "MIB". First, initialisms are difficult to parse and disfavored for trope names, and second, the initialism invited accidental references to the work Men in Black.
Mentor Archetype used to be "The Obi-Wan", after the character from Star Wars. Although most tropers knew who Obi-Wan was, he was associated with a plethora of other tropes, making the name unintuitive.
Metaphorically True had three previous names. First, it was "Jedi Truth", a reference to Star Wars — specifically the exchange from Return of the Jedi where Obi-Wan explains to Luke that he didn't technically lie about Darth Vader being his father. It was renamed because even if you knew the exchange, the name wasn't clearly about it, so it became "From a Certain Point of View" (a direct quote from the exchange). Then it was renamed for still being unclear, so it became "Half Truth". Finally, it was renamed to "Metaphorically True" as part of a split that still hasn't been implemented.
Metronomic Man Mashing used to be "Metronomic Mook Massacre". It was renamed because it had little to do with mooks or massacres. And we found a way to keep the Added Alliterative Appeal, to boot.
Merged Reality used to be "Make a Better World". It was misused for characters who just had the desire to make the world better, rather than a merger with a parallel world, regardless of the motivation for it.
Messy Pig used to be "Everything's Messier with Pigs". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family. To wit, even though the old name had "messier" in it, not everyone understood that it was essential to the trope, leading to effectively a list of pigs in media.
Mid-Battle Tea Break used to be "Crocker Tea Breaker", after a scene from the The Fairly OddParents! movie Abra-Catastrophe!. It was renamed for being a gratuitous reference to a character not everyone was familiar with. The Trope Namer is still the page image, though.
Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow used to be "Asian Gal with White Guy". It was misused as a list of any relationship between a Western man and an Asian woman, which amounts to People Sit on Chairs. Before then, it was "Me Love You Long Time", after a scene from Full Metal Jacket; in addition to being kinda racist, it wasn't even an example — it's a hooker propositioning a soldier in Vietnam, leading to the idea that the trope referred to that scenario.
Mind Control used to be "Mind Manipulation". Not all manipulation involves control, but we went with an alliterative name over the pre-existing term. "Mind Control" was already a redirect to it but had far more wicks than the actual name. Even then, the trope was retooled as a supertrope for a bunch of other types of mind control, of which there are many.
Minigame Zone used to be "Golden Saucer", after the amusement park in Final Fantasy VII. It required familiarity with the game and suffered from underuse. And in any event, in the game itself it's called the "Gold Saucer".
Minimalist Cast used to be "Omega Cast". The reference to "omega" was unclear (is it like "alpha and omega", or does it come after Beta Couple?), leading to no one understanding what kind of cast it actually was. As such, it suffered from underuse.
Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot used to be "Gonna Need a Bigger Warrant", a snowclone from the Gonna Need More X family. It suffered from underuse and was renamed to clarify that it was not limited to official investigations that would require a warrant.
Minor Flaw, Major Breakup used to be "Man Hands", a reference to Seinfeld. Not everyone understood the reference, and many who did thought it was about a woman with freakishly big hands, not making the connection that it's about Jerry breaking up with such a woman for it.
Misaimed Merchandising was renamed from "Misaimed Marketing" because the trope is supposed to be a trope about the marketing for merchandise for a work missing the point of said work, but it was often misused in place of tropes for advertisements unrelated to merchandise, such as Never Trust a Trailer.
Missing Steps Plan used to be "Step Three: Profit", after a memetic scene from South Park. It was renamed to broaden it from specific uses of the memetic format — it can have more than three steps, the last step can be things other than "profit", and the missing steps don't need to be denoted with question marks.
Mistaken for Pedophile used to be "Little Kid Lover". It was misused as a general list of pedophiles; the rename made it clear that the character is not a pedophile, just mistaken for one.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal used to be "Help-Face Turn", a bad snowclone of Heel–Face Turn. It was entirely misleading, sounding more like the Heel–Face Turn happened because The Hero helped them rather than because their Bad Boss mistreated them.
Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold used to be "The Boo Radley", after a character in To Kill a Mockingbird. If you were unfamiliar with the work, you wouldn't get it. If you were familiar with the work but hadn't finished it, it was a Spoiler.
MockGuffin used to be "Golden Helmet of Mambrino", after an example from Man of La Mancha. If you didn't know the reference, the name made no sense.
Model Scam used to be "You Would Make a Great Model". It was mistaken for a Stock Phrase and used for any invitation to be a model. The rename clarified that such invitations are dishonest — those who accept don't end up doing any modeling at all.
The Modern Age of Comic Books used to be just "Modern Age". It was renamed because it gave no indication that it had anything to do with comic books, leading to wicks about all kinds of eras known as the "modern age".
Moe used to be "Moe Moe". Back in the day, there used to be a minimum character length for trope names; "Moe" was too short, so it had to be doubled. Once that limit was removed, it was renamed after the proper term. It does cause confusion with Western media characters named "Moe", but it's a legit name for a legit trope. As they say, mo' moe, mo' problems.
Moment of Awesome used to be "Awesome Moments" and before then "Crowning Moment of Awesome". It was originally intended to be for each work's single most awesome moment (hence "crowning moment"), but it quickly metastasized to include every awesome moment in the work. Unable to stem the tide, we capitulated and renamed it "Awesome Moments" to reflect its longstanding usage. Then we renamed it "Moment of Awesome" because it was such a well-known trope under its former name that it seemed unfair to change it too much. We did the same thing for the related tropes snowcloned from it, like Funny Moments (formerly "Crowning Moment of Funny") and Heartwarming Moments (formerly "Crowning Moment of Heartwarming").
Money-Making Shot used to be "Money Shot". It was renamed because the term is widely associated with a specific shot in pornography.
Monster Organ Trafficking used to be "Mainlining the Monster". The definition was unclear, and the trope was given a new name when the definition was refined.
Moon Logic Puzzle used to be "See the Sailboat", after a Magic Eye puzzle in the movie Mallrats. In addition to requiring familiarity with the work and having nothing to do with sailboats, it was something you stare at fruitlessly trying to decipher — an example of its own trope.
Moose and Maple Syrup was renamed from "Canada, Eh?" to make it more clear that it's specfically for stereotypical depictions of Canada.
Moral Event Horizon used to be "Rape the Dog", after Kick the Dog. It was commonly misused to mean "Kick the Dog, but more evil". (Also, TV Tropes is the wrong place for bestiality.)
More Friends, More Benefits used to be "Mambo Intimacy 5". Not only was it unclear what it referred to, those who understood the naming convention (the same one for Level-Up at Intimacy 5) thought it had to do with video games when it didn't necessarily.
Moses in the Bulrushes used to be "Moses in the Bullrushes". It was renamed to correct the spelling. (How embarrassing!)
Moveset Clone used to be "Ryu and Ken", after a pair from the Street Fighter games. They failed the One-Mario Limit and it wasn't always clear how they related to the trope.
Mr. Alt Disney used to be "Dis Not". It was renamed to be a clearer reference and to make it apparent that it's a parody of Walt Disney himself and not his creations.
Mr. Fanservice used to be "Estrogen Brigade Bait". It was supposed to be a Spear Counterpart to Ms. Fanservice, but it was misused for any male character whom tropers thought was sexy. Its relation to Estrogen Brigade suggested it was a form of Multiple Demographic Appeal. Instead, it was renamed to reflect the trope it's actually related to.
Mrs. Hypothetical used to be "Thinking of Changing Her Name to His". It was intolerably wordy and didn't quite outline the general concept. Tellingly, it lasted only a few hours after launch before the name change.
Mr. Vice Guy used to be "McDuck", after the character Scrooge McDuck from the Disney Ducks Comic Universe. In addition to requiring familiarity with the work, the Trope Namer is associated with several other tropes. And the lack of a "the" meant invited tropers to mistake the trope for a page about the character, not helped by how "McDuck" is easy to accidentally format as a WikiWord.
Multicultural Alien Planet used to be "Lots of Planets Have a North", after a line from Doctor Who. In addition to requiring familiarity with the work, it wasn't even an example — it was more about Aliens of London, in that aliens have accents that Earth people recognize.
Mummies at the Dinner Table used to be "Norma Bates", after a character from Psycho. If you weren't familiar with the work, it made no sense; if you were, it was a Spoiler. Before then, it was "Last Dance with Mary Jane", a reference to Tom Petty's song Mary Jane's Last Dance (or rather a lyric therefrom), which gave the impression that it was specifically about necrophilia.
Mundane Made Awesome used to be "What Do You Mean, It's Not Awesome?" It was renamed in the cleanup of the What Do You Mean, It's Not an Index? snowclone family.
Muppet Cameo used to be "Everything's Better with Muppets". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family, and to clarify that it's about The Muppets outside of their home franchise.
Murderous Malfunctioning Machine used to be "Crush, Kill, Destroy". It was renamed to clarify that it was about defective machines, not machines programmed to crush, kill, and destroy.
Must Be Invited used to be "Vampire Invitation". It was renamed to clarify that it wasn't exclusive to vampires and applied to other supernatural beings.
Must Not Die a Virgin used to be called "You Don't Want to Die a Virgin, Do You?" It was mistaken for a line of dialogue and misused to refer to any life-or-death situation.
Mutant Draft Board used to be "The Corps Is Mother", after the slogan of the infamous Psi Corps from Babylon 5. If you didn't know the reference, the name made no sense.
My Friends... and Zoidberg used to be "And Zoidberg". Both refer to the character from Futurama, but the rename clarified how he related to the trope. It also avoided the issues of starting the trope with "and", making it easy to tack on to the end of a sentence as a Pothole Magnet. In between, it was briefly "Ladies and Alice", but we found a way to preserve the Trope Namer in a way that made a lot more sense.
Mystical 108 used to be just "One Hundred and Eight". It was renamed to clarify that it relates to its relevance to Dharmic religions. Without it, it was just appearances of the number 108 in fiction, which amounted to People Sit on Chairs.
Mystical India used to be "Sim Sim Salabim", which was named after a magic phrase said by Hadji Singh from Jonny Quest. It was renamed because the old name was a gibberish phrase, had nothing to do with India, and might have contributed to the trope's relatively low wick count.
Mystical White Hair used to be "White-Haired Pretty Girl". It was renamed in the cleanup of the Personal Appearance Tropes; now, it's clearer that it's about a mystical character rather than just a beautiful one. It's also now gender-neutral.

Naked Apron used to be "Hadaka Apron", which means the same thing but in Gratuitous Japanese. Even if you understood it — which is not something that the wiki should expect — it gave the impression that it was specifically a Japanese Media Trope, which it isn't.
Naked Freak-Out used to be "Unmentionable BSOD". Not everyone made the right connection with the word "unmentionable" (which can refer to Unmentionables, which wouldn't be present on a character who's naked), and it also implied a connection with Heroic BSoD that didn't really exist.
The Name Is Bond, James Bond used to be "Surname First Name Surname". It was unwieldy and difficult to parse (the dialogue is three words, but the trope name has four), and not everyone picked up on what "surname" meant. It then became one of the few tropes that didn't have a Trope Namer to pick one up in a rename; in this case, it's quite obviously James Bond.
Narrating the Obvious used to be "This Just In". It was mistaken for a News Trope about announcing breaking news, and indeed This Just In! is now the name of such a trope.
Naughty Nurse Outfit used to be "Night Nurse". It was mistaken for a character type rather than a costume trope.
Navel-Deep Neckline used to be "Absolute Cleavage". It was renamed because the word "absolute" didn't clearly indicate that part of the woman's abdomen has to be visible, leading to misuse to refer to cleavage in general.
Nested Story used to be "Push Pop Plot", after the computer science abstraction known as a "stack". Most readers don't know anything about stacks, and many who did weren't familiar with how push and pop operations apply to a stack. Some tropers thought it was a kind of candy (if you're wondering, it is). (One wonders what they think a "hash table" might be.)
Neutron Bomb used to be "Kill the Poor", after a song of that name by the Dead Kennedys. The song was only connected in that it suggested that the former was a good way to accomplish the latter; other than that, there was no link. Tropers thought it referred to killing the poor, and Kill the Poor is now a trope about it.
Never a Self-Made Woman used to be "Female Success Is Family". It was mistaken for a wide array of related tropes like Acceptable Feminine Goals and Traits, Career Versus Man, and Family Versus Career.
Never Live It Down used to be "Jean Grey Escalation", after the X-Men character. The idea was that she had one Comic Book Death which the writers and fans both blew out of proportion to the point that it helped define her character. This same mischaracterisation plagued the trope name, with tropers using "Jean Grey Escalation" as a synonym for Death Is Cheap.
Never My Fault used to be "You Blockhead", after Lucy's Character Catchphrase in Peanuts. Even though the character is the type to never admit fault, the catchphrase wasn't always used in that context. In any event, the name was also a line of dialogue and occasionally used as a way of tropers expressing their own opinion about things.
Never Win the Lottery used to be "Lottery Ticket". It was used too broadly; the rename clarifies that (a) you have to win, and (b) it doesn't work out the way you think.
New Job as the Plot Demands used to be "Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?", after a line from The Simpsons. It was misused as a line of dialogue and listed any character changing jobs multiple times for any reason.
New Rules as the Plot Demands used to be "Screw the Rules, I Have Plot!". It was renamed because it didn't really relate to the other "Screw the Rules" tropes. Before then, it was "The Catapult Turtle Flying Castle Gambit", after a scene from Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series. It was renamed for being clumsy, hard to remember, and unintuitive — but it was renamed to a "Screw the Rules" snowclone because that family of tropes has the same Trope Namer.
Next Tier Power-Up used to be "Shōnen Upgrade". It was mistaken for a Japanese Media Trope when it really isn't.
Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant used to be "Nightmare Dispenser", and before that it was... "Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant". The first rename was back when we distinguished between "Nightmare Fuel" and "High Octane Nightmare Fuel", and someone proposed a trope called "High Octane Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant" just to make it match. The definition never got farther than "NFSA, but scarier", leading to the idea that the original trope name was misleading (especially since Nightmare Fuel is a Subjective Trope, but NFSA was not). Then when we cleaned up Nightmare Fuel (and deleted High Octane in favour of Accidental Nightmare Fuel), we decided to change it back.
Nightmare Sequence used to be "Nightmare Dreams". It was renamed for being unwieldy and obscure.
No Biological Sex used to be "No Gender". Gender identity and biological sex are not the same thing. By focusing on gender rather than sex, the trope collected examples of characters with a biological sex but no gender identity.
Noble Male, Roguish Male used to be "Light Masculine and Dark Masculine", after the trope Light Feminine and Dark Feminine. However, they were more different than the name indicated, and the rename made that clear.
No Dead Body Poops used to be "Bowel Existence Failure", an awkward snowclone of "Author Existence Failure" (the old name for Died During Production). In addition to being less awkward, the rename matches with the more closely-related Nobody Poops, and clarifies that it's about dead bodies, preventing confusion with Potty Failure.
No Delays for the Wicked used to be "The Trains Run on Time". The idiom after which it's named was more commonly used for Repressive, but Efficient, for which "The Trains Run on Time" is now a redirect.
No Export for You used to be "Our Country Is Speshulz". It was difficult to remember how to spell its LOLCats-inspired title, and it was also mistaken for other nationalism tropes.
No-Gear Level used to be "Warring Without Weapons". It wasn't clear that it was about video games, leading to underuse and confusion with Good Old Fisticuffs.
"No. Just… No" Reaction used to be "No, Just... No". The old name was a line of dialogue that became a Pothole Magnet for tropers to react that way themselves. The new name makes it clear that it's an In-Universe trope.
No Love for the Wicked used to be called "Villainous Aromantic Asexual" and was renamed partially because the definition was refined to focus less on sexual and romantic orientation and more on the villain's inability to feel love, and partially because the aspect of the trope that requires the villain's lovelessness to be used to portray them as freakish was frequently ignored.
"Nominal Parody" used to be "Parody Failure". It was renamed to make it less negative. Didn't exactly work, which is why it was since merged into Redundant Parody.
"No More Holding Back" Speech used to be "'World of Cardboard' Speech", after a scene from Justice League Unlimited in which Superman threatens Darkseid with the fullest extent of his power. The trope was meant to be about the hero overcoming obstacles and finally giving it their all. But it was misused to mean "this is why I'm the hero," "I could destroy this world without difficulty," or "I was holding back on purpose, but you're too big a threat" (which is kind of what the Trope Namer was about).
Non-Action Snarker used to be "The Shelton", after Dr. Shelton from the roleplay Darwin's Soldiers. It was too obscure to be a good Trope Namer, meaning that almost no one could tell what the trope meant.
Non-Powered Costumed Hero used to be "Costumed Non-Superhero". It was renamed because it implied that it wasn't about heroes at all; the "non" qualifier was confusing as to how it related to Super Heroes.
Non Sequitur Distraction used to be "Forget It, He's Rolling", after a scene in Animal House. Said scene didn't relate to the trope, because it wasn't really in response to a non-sequitur. Indeed, those familiar with the scene thought the trope meant the exact opposite, because (as the name suggests) the characters there were able to shrug off the distraction.
No Sidepaths, No Exploration, No Freedom used to be "Pipe Shooter", apparently a nickname in Finnish media (not that we could verify that), which was too obtuse for anyone to understand. The name, when taken literally, also invoked images of the early video game Tempest, which is actually a Rail Shooter.
Not-Actually-Cosmetic Award used to be "What Do You Mean, It's Not Cosmetic?" It was renamed in the cleanup of the What Do You Mean, It's Not an Index? snowclone family; its dialogue title invited misuse.
Not Always Evil used to be "Good All Along". It did a poor job describing the trope, especially as it doesn't require being good. Good All Along is now a page for Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
Not Badass Enough for Fans used to be "What Measure Is a Non-Badass?". It was renamed because the fact that it's about fans disliking a character because they don't think they're badass enough by the standards of the work and/or genre was often overlooked, particularly because the naming scheme "What Measure Is a(n) X?" usually refers to characters being treated as disposable instead of simply unlikable.
Not Growing Up Sucks used to be "Can't Grow Up". Not only was it too broad for the trope at hand, it's apparently also the title of a work.
No Time to Think used to be "Red Wire, Blue Wire". It was very frequently mistaken for the Wire Dilemma.
"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer used to be "I Am Not Making This Up", after a line by Dave Barry. It was an incredible Pothole Magnet; the "I" invited tropers to link to it as a way of commenting on the example. And since tropers like to one-up each other, this led to tropers linking to this page any time anything mildly extraordinary happened. Needless to say, it was extremely annoying. The rename clarifies that it's an In-Universe trope.
Not Now, Kiddo used to be "Not Now, Bernard", after the work of the same name. Not everyone got the reference, and it collided with the work's page.
Not Quite Forever used to be "You Fail Forever Forever", a snowclone from the now-deprecated "You Fail X Forever" family. Even before those tropes were cleaned up, it was realized that this one didn't really relate to them.
"Not So Different" Remark used to be just "Not So Different". It was renamed to clarify that it's an In-Universe trope — someone in-story has to make the observation.
Not-So-Forgotten Birthday used to be just "Forgotten Birthday". It was too broad; it's not enough for the birthday to be apparently forgotten, but someone has to eventually remember it. Forgotten Birthday is now a trope about the broader meaning.
Not-So-Harmless Villain used to be just "Not So Harmless". It was way too broad, being used for anything that was "not so harmless" as opposed to villains specifically.
Not-So-Phony Psychic used to be "Phony Phony Psychic". It was renamed for being rather ambiguous (do the "phonies" cancel each other out, or do they double?).
Not Too Dead to Save the Day used to be "Dead Ex Machina", a confusing snowclone of Deus ex Machina. The tropes aren't really related, as the former trope doesn't necessarily have to involve an intervention that hasn't been built up beforehand.
Not Using the "Z" Word used to be "Not Using the Zed Word". The Trope Namer is Shaun of the Dead, a British film; it was launched by an American who didn't realise that "zed" is just how the British (and the rest of the Commonwealth) say the letter "Z".
"Not Wearing Pants" Dream used to be just "Not Wearing Pants". It was renamed to clarify that it has to be in a dream.
Not with Them for the Money used to be "Gold Burier", an opaque snowclone of Gold Digger. In addition to not everyone getting the reference, the tropes aren't opposites of each other.
NPC Roadblock used to be "Dronejam", after The RPG Cliches Game. Few got the reference, and it led to underuse.
Nuclear Mutant used to be "Nuclear Nasty", and was renamed because it was retooled into a trope about radioactive mutants in general, rather than just villainous ones.

Obsessively Organized used to be "Super OCD". It was renamed because it was frequently mistakenly used to refer to actual Obsessive Compulsive Disorder despite being about characters obsessed with rule and order, regardless of whether they have OCD.
Obstructive Vigilantism used to be "Obstructive Vigilance". It was renamed for greater clarity; not all vigilant characters are engaged in vigilantism.
Odd Last Item Index was previously a trope titled "The Last of These is Not Like the Others", but was converted to an index due to heavy misuse and redundancy issues with related tropes such as Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking and Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick.
Of Corpse He's Alive used to be "Weekend at Bernie's", after the film of the same name. Although the film is a very prominent example of the trope, the trope conflicted with the work's page and needed a rename.
Off Bridge, onto Vehicle used to be "Jump off a Bridge". It was mistaken for several other tropes, like Car Cushion and "Jump Off a Bridge" Rebuttal.
Offscreen Inertia used to be "Tethercat Principle", after a particular strip of The Far Side. If you didn't know the reference, the name made no sense. In the process, it also absorbed the trope "No End in Sight", which itself was in dire need of a rename because it gave no indication that it was specific to porn.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome used to be "Missed Moment of Awesome", and before then "Epic Fail". The first rename was a result of misuse to mean "any complete catastrophe or failure", which Epic Fail is now about. The second rename was a result of misuse to mean "things that didn't happen but really should have" as opposed to "things that did happen but we didn't get to see".
Off the Table used to be "Pound of Flesh", after William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. It was mistaken for the similarly named "Pound of Flesh Twist", named after the same play and since renamed to Meaningless Villain Victory.
Oh God, with the Verbing! used to be "Oh God, with the Troping!" A bit of a lateral move, but a useful one; first, it made it more specific, and second, it removed "trope" as a placeholder.
Ojou Ringlets used to be "Princess Curls". It was mistaken for Regal Ringlets, which is the supertrope. It's actually a specific hairstyle primarily associated with the Ojou archetype.
The Old Convict used to be "The Old Con". It was renamed because not everyone got that "con" was short for "convict"; a few mistook it for The Con.
Old Cop, Young Cop used to be "Somerset and Mills", after a pair of characters from the movie Se7en. If you didn't know the reference, the name made no sense.
Older Alter Ego used to be "Glam of Shazam", after the comic book Shazam!. The name was opaque and wasn't clear how the work related to the trope, and not everyone was that familiar with the work anyway (which is indeed how it became the Trope Namer for I Am Not Shazam).
Old Friend, New Gender used to be "Something's Different About You Now". It was a classically ambiguous Stock Phrase, failing to clarify that the "something" is a Gender Bender.
Ominous Owl used to be "Owl Be Damned". It was renamed as obtuse and too "clever" for its own good. Indeed, it wasn't clear that said owls have to be ominous; we've already got other owl tropes like Cute Owl and The Owl-Knowing One.
Omniscient Database used to be "Magical Database". It was misused as a list of literal magical databases, which is what Magical Database is now.
Once Killed a Man with a Noodle Implement used to be "Once Noodled a Man to Death". Both come from Noodle Incident, but the old name was confusing because of the use of "noodle" as a verb. Interestingly, it was drafted with its current name but launched with the other name.
Once Original, Now Common was renamed from "Seinfeld Is Unfunny" because it was often misused in place of other Audience Reactions, such as Condemned by History and Values Dissonance, when it's specifically about once-innovative works being seen as unoriginal by newer audiences due to other works imitating the original works.
One Drink Will Kill the Baby used to be "Alcohol Is Poison". It was misused to refer to any instance of alcohol being poisonous or dangerous, as opposed to specifically for pregnant women. The rename also captured how it just has to be perceived as super-dangerous.
One Judge to Rule Them All used to be "Aoyama Panel Judge", after a particular example from Kanon (Chiho Saito). If you didn't know the reference — and odds are you wouldn't unless you were a particularly keen fan of Shoujo manga — the name made no sense.
One Myth to Explain Them All used to be "One Myth to Rule Them All". Both come from the famous ring inscription in Lord of the Rings, but the new name clarifies what the myth is there to do.
One-Neighbor Neighborhood used to be "Möbius Neighborhood", apparently a metaphor for how a Möbius strip has only one side. Other than that, it had nothing to do with Möbius strips and attracted confusion with Alien Geometries.
One of the Kids used to be "Adult Child". It was renamed after persistent confusion with Manchild.
One-Scene Wonder used to be "Cardinal Wolsey", after Orson Welles' role in A Man for All Seasons. Not everyone got the reference, especially given that Cardinal Wolsey is a Historical Domain Character, leading tropers to get the wrong impression.
One-Tract Mind used to be "Carthaginian Conclusion", a rather opaque allusion to Cato the Elder, the Roman senator who famously ended every meeting with Carthago delenda est ("Carthage must be destroyed"), regardless of whether it had anything to do with the meeting.
Only Sane Employee used to be "Liz Lemon Job", after the character from 30 Rock. Even those who were familiar with the Trope Namer couldn't figure out what she had to do with the trope.
Only the Chosen May Wield used to be "Sword in the Stone", after a famous example from Arthurian Legend. It was misused to refer specifically to swords in stones or other Arthurian elements, and it was also occasionally mistaken for the work page for The Sword in the Stone, Disney's take on the mythos.
Only the Pure of Heart used to be "Nimbus Privileges", after an example from Dragon Ball. Not only did it require familiarity with the work, many who had it mistook it for Incorruptible Pure Pureness.
Opaque Nerd Glasses used to be just "Nerd Glasses". It was misused to refer to any example of nerdy glasses; the name got a Trope Transplant to a new supertrope.
Opinion Flip Flop used to be "Like a Weasel". It was tremendously opaque; even if you associated "weasel" with "shifty" (as in the common idiom Weasel Words), it wasn't clear that it was about an opinion that was shifting.
Oral Fixation used to be "Oral Fixation Fixation". The second "fixation" was redundant. We're not sure what it was doing there to begin with.
Organization Index used to be "The Organization". It was renamed because it didn't indicate that it was an index, leading it to be mistaken for a trope in itself.
Ostentatious Secret used to be "Meghan Box", after a high-profile secret on Felicity. If you weren't familiar with the work — and in many cases even if you were — it made no sense.
The Other Darrin used to be "Sister Becky". The new name comes from Bewitched, the most well-known example. The old name comes from Roseanne, the second most well-known example. The rename happened a long time ago, so by now, "the Other Darrin" is stuck as one of our pervasive and unique turns of phrase. The new name has the advantage of making it clear that it's about a replacement (hence the "other Darrin"). The old name had the advantage of falling in line nicely with the trope "Brother Chuck" — but that one got renamed to Chuck Cunningham Syndrome.
Our Gods Are Different used to be "Our Gods Are Greater". It was renamed to fit in with the Our Tropes Are Different snowclone family, one of the few successful snowclones.
Our Graphics Will Suck in the Future used to be "We Will Use Micros in the Future". It was renamed because many people didn't know what "micros" meant in this context. (If you're wondering, it doesn't have to do with microwaves.)
Our Minotaurs Are Different used to be "A Load of Bull". It was renamed because bulls are not minotaurs; it was frequently confused with Brutish Bulls.
Our Sirens Are Different used to be "Enthralling Siren", and before that "Our Sirens Are Louder". The first rename came as a result of people thinking the name referred to police sirens. The second name more clearly referred to creatures, but it was mistaken to refer to any enthralling creature. The second rename made it a snowclone again, but at least that snowclone family makes it clear that it's about a specific creature (y'know, once you get rid of the "louder" bit).
Outlaw Couple used to be "Bonnie and Clyde", after a notorious real life example. The old name overlapped with the film of the same name and was frequently misused to refer to the actual people regardless of context.
Out-of-Character Alert used to be "Something They Would Never Say". It was misused to include cases where a character just doesn't want to say something, as opposed to someone figuring out something is wrong because they said something they wouldn't normally say.
Out-of-Genre Experience used to be "Unexpected Genre Change". It was originally a Trope Transplant from the trope that was renamed Unexpected Gameplay Change, but it still got a rename to avoid confusion with the latter trope.
Overnight Age-Up used to be "Thirteen Going on Thirty", after the film of the same name. It was renamed to avoid collisions with the work's page.
Overshadowed by Awesome used to be "The Krillin", after the character from Dragon Ball. Not everyone got the reference, and many who did associated the character with other tropes.
Overused Copycat Character used to be "Drizzt Syndrome", after the most famous Forgotten Realms dark elf. Those who didn't get the reference couldn't understand the name, and those who did couldn't tell how the character related to the trope.
Overworld Not to Scale used to be "World Map". It was too broad and consequently misused for maps in general, or other world map formats like the Point-and-Click Map.

Pædo Hunt used to be "All Pedophiles are Child Molesters". It was renamed because actual pedophiles discovered the page, took it personally, and started defending themselves on the page, fighting the moderators all the way.
Pages Needing A Better Description used to be "Needs a Better Description". It was misused as a Predefined Message at the end of work descriptions. It's supposed to be a directory of tropes needing help, not an accusation on the page itself. It was used so prolifically for the latter that the old name was sent to the Permanent Red Link Club.
Pages Needing Wiki Magic used to be "Needs Wiki Magic Love". In addition to being a little obtuse, it was misused as a Predefined Message in the descriptions of unfinished pages, rather than as a directory of tropes that need help. The misuse was bad enough that the old name was sent to the Permanent Red Link Club.
Painful Body Waxing used to be "Wax On, Wax Scream", a snowclone from the trope Wax On, Wax Off. It otherwise has nothing to do with the latter trope. No, not even the "wax" bit; the latter trope is about mundane-looking training regimens and named after a particularly famous example from The Karate Kid.
Pain Mistaken for Sex used to be "Looks Like She Is Enjoying It". It was intended as an In-Universe trope, but it was flagrantly misused for tropers' own opinions of a given sex scene. About 80% of the examples were wrong in some way.
Paintball Episode used to be "Paintball Error". It was too negative, essentially being a list not of paintball antics in fiction but of everything fiction got wrong about it.
Pair the Smart Ones used to be "Genius Breeding Act". The rename was to clarify it was more about the entities being paired together than the government or some other entity forcing them to do it (which isn't even necessary for the trope).
Palette-Swapped Alien Food used to be "Green Eggs". It was renamed for being unintuitive and occasionally mistaken for the unrelated trope I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham (both having the same work as their Trope Namer).
"Pan Up to the Sky" Ending used to be "Look Up the Sky Ending". No, there's no "to" in the old name; it's not about endings where someone looks up the word "sky" in the dictionary.
Parity Product Paradox used to be "Best Is Average, Better Is Best". It was renamed for the sake of clarity when it was retooled into a Definition Only Page.
Parodies for Dummies used to be "Tropes for Dummies". It was renamed to get away from using "trope" as a placeholder.
Parody Displacement used to be "'Weird Al' Effect", after "Weird Al" Yankovic, who has a habit of causing this. It was renamed for clarity; indeed, sometimes Weird Al was so good at this that it wasn't exactly what he was associated with as a musician.
Parrot Exposition used to be "Metal Gearing", and before them "Prince of Space Sir". The first name was a reference to Prince of Space, which was considered too obscure (most people only knew about it from its appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000). The second name came from the Metal Gear series, but it gave no indication of what the trope is about, and the franchise is associated with many other things.
Past Experience Nightmare used to be "Bad Dreams". It was misused as a list of any time a character has a bad dream, whereas this is specifically about dreams regarding a bad past experience.
Past Victim Showcase used to be "Not Very Pretty Now, Is He?" It was mistaken for a Stock Phrase, and it wasn't clear why the character's not pretty anymore, suggesting disfigurement rather than preservation.
Patient Childhood Love Interest used to be "Osananajimi", which is Gratuitous Japanese for exactly the same thing. In addition to being mistaken for a Japanese Media Trope, it was also hard to remember and spell (although it can be fun to say once you do).
Payment Plan Pitch used to be two tropes, "Four Equal Payments Of" and "Just Pennies a Day". They were merged because they were determined to not be distinct enough from each other and because they had low wick counts.
Pendulum War used to be "One-Sided Battle". It was mistaken for a single Curb-Stomp Battle, whereas it's actually a series of alternating Curb-Stomp Battles. One Sided Battle is now a redirect to the latter trope.
Percussive Maintenance used to be "Fonzarelli Fix", after the character from Happy Days. It suffered from underuse, and there was a perfectly good pre-existing term for it. And the Trope Namer isn't that famous; they even replaced him with another page image.
Perfect Play A.I. used to be "MK Walker", an obtuse reference to Mortal Kombat. Those who didn't get the reference couldn't parse the trope (maybe it was someone's name?). The trope also wasn't clear that it was specific to video games.
Perilous Power Source used to be "Gorgon Gazing", and before that "Showing Off the Perilous Power Source". The first name was considered too long, but for whatever reason we gave it a totally different alliterative name that gave the wrong impression (since it's not about a deadly stare or one that turns you into stone).
Periphery Hatedom used to be "The Barney", after the title character of Barney & Friends, who's a prominent example. First, it fails the One-Mario Limit. And second, it's an Audience Reaction rather than a character trope.invoked
Permadeath used to be "Final Death". It was renamed because it was not clear that it applied to video games, with tropers thinking it was a general Death Trope. The former name became a disambiguation for tropes related to permanent deaths both in and outside of video games.
Permanently Missable Content used to be "Lost Forever". It was mistaken for anything that's been lost forever, including non-video game tropes like Missing Episode and Keep Circulating the Tapes.
Persona Non Grata used to be "Banned from Argo", after a Filk Song that's impliedly about Star Trek. It was considered too obscure and renamed after the pre-existing term for the phenomenon in international diplomacy. Banned from Argo is now a page about the song.
Person as Verb used to be "I Pulled a 'Weird Al'". It was mistaken for something specific to "Weird Al" Yankovic, like the trope formerly named "'Weird Al' Effect".
Phallic Weapon used to be "Gun in My Pocket". It was mistaken for Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?, which is about pockets but not necessarily weapons.
Photoflood Lighting used to be "Hollywood Lightbulb". The old name suggested it was part of the Hollywood Style index, when it isn't; it's a real light bulb, just very different from what you usually see.
Pink Is for Sissies used to be "Pink Is for Girls". It was interpreted as "pink is a girls' color" (the kind of thing you'd see at Pink Girl, Blue Boy), when it's really more "boys who wear pink are considered effeminate".
Planet Heck used to be "Bonus Level of Hell". However, it's not specifically about bonus levels, and it sounded like it was a hellishly hard level (which is at That One Level). Bonus Level of Hell is now a redirect to the new page Brutal Bonus Level.
Planet of Steves used to be "Welcome to Marklar", a reference to an episode of South Park. In addition to being an opaque reference, it wasn't even really an example; the more obvious gag with Marklar was Smurfing, which isn't quite the same thing.
Platonic Life-Partners used to be "The Straight Will and Grace", after Will & Grace. It was confusing, oblique, and suggested a dynamic specifically similar to those characters.
Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading was briefly known as "Friendship Writing Fumble", and was renamed because, despite the previous name, it can apply to platonic relationships other than friendships, such as familial relationships.
Playable Menu used to be "Walk Over Here for Options". It was renamed for clarity.
Player Personality Quiz used to be "Test of Character". It was mistaken for character tests in all media, leading to confusion with the largely unrelated trope Secret Test of Character.
Player Versus Environment used to be "PvE", after the common acronym PvP for Player Versus Player. Note how the latter trope is not an acronym. It was renamed to make the tropes match and make the name clearer.
Playful Cat Smile used to simply be called "Cat Smile". It was renamed because the old name did not properly indicate that the facial expression is supposed to indicate playfulness or mischievousness, rather than referring to any use of the facial expression.
Playful Otter used to be "Everything's Wetter with Otters". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family. Indeed, the new name clarifies that it's about a specific kind of otter.
Playing a Tree used to be "You Are a Tree, Charlie Brown", after the character from Peanuts. And it was a gratuitous reference; this never happened in the franchise.
Playing Cyrano used to be just "The Cyrano". Both are a reference to Cyrano de Bergerac, but the rename made it clearer that it's less about the character archetype than about the scheme he concocts.
Plot Coupon That Does Something used to be "Gameplay and Story Integration", after the existing trope Gameplay and Story Segregation. It was far narrower than the name implied. It was made a redirect to the latter trope, then re-redirected to the newly created supertrope Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration.
Plot-Irrelevant Villain used to be "Villain Who Doesn't Do Anything", a snowclone of The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. The new name better reflects the trope.
Plot-Powered Stamina used to be "Marathon Man". It was renamed to make it clearer and to avoid confusion with the work of the same name.
Plot Tailored to the Party used to be "Eigen Plot", an apparent reference to the mathematic concept to the eigenvector that otherwise had little to do with the trope.
Play the Game, Skip the Story used to be "Waste of Time Story". It was renamed to be less negative and avoid misuse; it was intended to suggest that the developers wasted their time writing the story, but it was used to suggest that the player would be wasting their time getting into the story.
Plummet Perspective used to be "The Apple Falls Far". It was mistaken for something specific to do with apples, or referring to an idiom that has more to do with Generation Xerox.
Polar Opposite Twins used to be "Different as Night and Day". It was misused as a list of any two things that are very different. The rename clarifies that it's specific to twins.
Polished Port used to be "Porting Distillation", a snowclone of Adaptation Distillation. It was renamed because the latter trope is a little controversial, and not all Polished Ports are necessarily distillations.
Pompous Political Pundit used to be "Neocon Newscaster". It was both too broad (the newscaster has to be pompous) and too narrow (it doesn't have to be a newscaster or a neoconservative — or even a conservative at all).
Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure used to be "What Was Whose Sled?", an awkward snowclone of It Was His Sled. Even if you could parse it, tropers thought it was more about the Twist Ending than about Pop-Cultural Osmosis.
Porn with Plot used to be "Plot Without Porn". It was quite misleading — indeed, the vast majority of works qualify as "plot without porn".
Portal Slam used to be "Portal Splat". It was mistaken for the similar but different tropes Tele-Frag and Teleporter Accident, which tend to evoke "splat" more than the Portal Slam.
Post-Defeat Explosion Chain used to be "Chain Reaction Destruction". It was misused as "Disaster Dominoes, but more".
Pounds Are Animal Prisons used to be "Pounds Are Doggy Prison". It was renamed to clarify that the trope is not limited to dogs.
Power Copying used to be "Mega Manning", after the Mega Man games. It was difficult to pin down exactly how the trope related to the character, especially given that said character has several distinct incarnations across the franchise.
Powered by a Forsaken Child used to be "Soylent Green". In addition to being the name of a work, it carried connotations of Human Resources — it was about paying a human cost to run something rather than consuming humans. Its new name came from the former name of what's now Aesoptinum, and it comes from an exchange on The Venture Brothers.
Power Levels used to be "Over Nine Thousand", after a ridiculously memetic power level on Dragon Ball Z. Most wicks were to the meme rather than the trope. The former name was long a redirect to this trope, but then its destination was changed to the point of the original scene: Readings Are Off the Scale.
Power-Up Mount used to be "The Yoshi", after the Super Mario Bros. character. It wasn't clear which aspect of the character the trope was about, he's not a Powerup Mount in every game, and most wicks were references to the character, regardless of whether or not he was being used as a mount.
Pre-Approved Sermon used to be "Ecumenical Meddling". It was considered too broad, and in any event the word "ecumenical" was being used in a very different way from its dictionary and common-use definition.
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner used to be "Chew Bubblegum", after a famous example from the film They Live!: "I've come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." Most references were to the specific format of the Trope Namer, which Chew Bubblegum is now for.
Precious Puppy used to be "Everything's Precious with Puppies". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family. Indeed, as with several similarly named tropes, the old name encouraged a list of all puppies, regardless of portrayal.
Precision F-Strike was briefly renamed to "Breaking-Point Swearing" before being renamed back to Precision F-Strike. The trope had seen gradual decay and misuse, straying from meaning "a sudden, uncharacteristic use of profanity for emphasis" to instead highlight any kind of profanity, and it was briefly argued to be the result of the name being too vague on depicting what scenario it's meant to describe. The trope was renamed to "Breaking-Point Swearing" to de-emphasize the "F-Strike"/implied "F-bomb" that was believed to be the reason why the trope was such a Pothole Magnet, as well as to narrow down the scenario in question. However, this new title was quickly deemed to be too narrow as it only implies uncharacteristic profanity from angry outbursts (making several examples, such as a character casually swearing out of nowhere for comedic Mood Whiplash, no longer counting despite fitting the trope's original point), and it quickly became subject to misuse in its own right (by the title's implication, a character reaching their Rage Breaking Point and releasing a long stream of profanity would count, despite Cluster F-Bomb being almost the opposite of the intended idea). After further reconsideration, the original Precision F-Strike title was restored as it was deemed the least problematic and confusing option, with the growing misuse being less because of the title itself and more general user error.
Predatory Business used to be "VoldeMart" an obtuse and irrelevant pun on the Big Bad from Harry Potter that otherwise has nothing to do with the trope.
Pre-emptive Declaration used to be "Your ____ Is Broken". First, the underscores made searching for it awkward. Second, it wasn't clear that it was a preemptive announcement, leading it to be used as a Stock Phrase for broken things.
Prefers Going Barefoot used to be "Does Not Like Shoes." It was widely misused to denote any time an anthropomorphic/human(oid) character is shown barefooted (regardless of the circumstances leading up to such an event), and the idea of a character literally not liking shoes was an additional source of the aforementioned "example misuse."
Pretentious Pronunciation used to be "It Is Pronounced Tro-PAY". It was misused for any alternative pronunciation, regardless of whether it was created specifically to make it sound fancier. In some cases tropers used it as a patronizing way to teach others how to pronounce a character's name when it's not obvious.
Pretty Butterflies used to be "Everything's Prettier with Butterflies". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family. Indeed, as with several similarly named tropes, the earlier name encouraged a list of all butterflies, regardless of portrayal.
Pretty Princess Powerhouse used to be "Badass Princess". It was renamed to clarify that it's not enough for her to be tough and capable; she also has to look as dainty as your typical princess.
Primal Scene used to be "Oh, Kitty", after a scene from That '70s Show. If you didn't know the reference, the name made no sense. You'd be forgiven for thinking it had to do with cats.
Privacy by Distraction used to be "Go Look at the Distraction". It was misused to refer to any distraction, when it's for distractions designed to give characters privacy. Before that, it was called "Crummies", after a phrase that induced this reaction in an episode of Friends; it was renamed for being thoroughly unintuitive.
Product Facelift used to be "Plastic Surgery". It was mistaken for actual cosmetic surgery and wasn't clear that it referred to items rather than people.
Production Lead Time was renamed from "Animation Lead Time" because it isn't animation-specific.
Product Placement Name used to be "Trope Co. Trope of the Week". It was renamed partially for clarity's sake and partially because its scope was expanded.
Progressively Prettier used to be "Fail Polish". First, it was non-indicative. Second, the "fail" gave it a needlessly negative connotation. And third, not everyone got the pun on "nail polish", thinking it had to do with people from Poland.
Projectile Spell used to be "Magic Missile". It was renamed to focus on the "magic" part rather than the "missile" part.
Prolonged Prologue used to be "Longest Prologue Ever". It was renamed to make it sound less negative.
Prone to Tears used to be "Fragile Flower". It was misused as a synonym for Shrinking Violet; the trope is less about shyness than it is about crying.
Prophet Eyes used to be "Milky White Eyes". It was renamed to shift the emphasis from the eye color to the fact that they change when the character is using them for prophetic purposes.
Pseudolympics used to be "Ridiculympics". It was renamed for being awkward, negative, narrow, and misleading; it's broader than just spoofs of the Olympics.
Pseudo-Romantic Friendship used to be "'Romantic Two-Girl Friendship". It was misused to refer to girls in an actual romantic relationship, and it also implied that it was Always Female when it wasn't necessarily.
Psycho Knife Nut used to be "Knife Nut". The old name was unclear that it was about psychopaths who prefer knives, leading to it being misused for any character with a knife.
Psycho Supporter used to be "Crouching Support Hidden Batshit", an awkward snowclone of Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass. In addition to being awkward, the word "batshit" didn't sit well with a number of people.
Psychotic Love Triangle used to be "Yandere Love Triangle". It was renamed to clarify that it's not a Japanese Media Trope and not exclusive to Yanderes.
Psychological Torment Zone used to be "Epiphanic Purgatory". It was renamed to make it narrower and more distinct from Epiphanic Prison.
Punctuated! For! Emphasis! used to be "This! Is! SPARTA!", after a memetic instance of it from the film 300. Most references were to the meme, and there were quite a lot of them. And it also never displayed properly, since it was a custom title on a ptitled page.
Puppeteer Parasite used to be "The Puppet Masters", after the work of the same name. In addition to colliding with the name of the work, it was frequently mistaken for other puppet tropes like Marionette Master.
Puppy Love used to be "Toy Ship". It was renamed to make it more objective and less prone to confusion with maritime shipping, and also to use a pre-existing off-wiki term for the phenomenon. Toy Ship is now the name of its Audience Reaction counterpart, and is a no-examples Fan Speak page.
Purely Aesthetic Glasses used to be "Brainy Specs". It was intended to be for characters who don't need glasses but wear them to make people think they're smart; tropers were using it for actually smart characters who wear glasses, a concept which became the trope Smart People Wear Glasses.

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