History Main / InNameOnly

* The Creator/HayaoMiyazaki film ''HowDoYouLive'' (titled ''Anime/TheBoyAndTheHeron'' for international audiences) bares the same name as the famous 1937 novel but bares a completely original story. Instead the book it's named after exists InUniverse while the story is more of a fantastical autobiography of sorts based on Miyazaki's childhood and how the book (which was a gift from his mother) shaped him a lot as a person growing up.

* The Creator/HayaoMiyazaki film ''Anime/HowDoYouLive'' (titled ''The Boy and the Heron'' for international audiences) bares the same name as the famous 1937 novel but bares a completely original story. Instead the book it's named after exists InUniverse while the story is more of a fantastical autobiography of sorts based on Miyazaki's childhood and how the book (which was a gift from his mother) shaped him a lot as a person growing up.

->''"Every single word in this title is a lie. There are no teenagers, no mutants, no ninjas, and no turtles. Well, there actually may be turtles -- it's hard to tell."''

* Website/PlatypusComix's longest-running series, ''Webcomic/ScrambledEggs'', received inspiration from a juvenile fiction novel titled ''Hello, My Name is Scrambled Eggs'', but Peter Paltridge says the only similarities the current comic and the novel have include some characters' names and the use of "No kidding!" as a CatchPhrase.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManSpiderVerse'': Outside the concept of having multiple Spider-Heroes from across the multiverse meet, none of the ''Spider-Verse'' films have nothing to do with the plot of the 2014 ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' storyline from the comics, where hundreds of Spiders must come together to defeat Morlun and his family, or any of its sequels, which revolve around maintaining and protecting the Web of Life and Destiny. In fact, the first installment (''[[WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse Into the Spider-Verse]]'') has far more in common with the plot of the 2012 ''ComicBook/SpiderMen'' storyline, as both have Peter Parker enter Miles' dimension and serve as a mentor for the novice superhero.

* ''Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers2022'' doesn't have anything in common with [[WesternAnimation/ChipAndDaleRescueRangers the original cartoon series]] aside from the title and having the main characters present. The series is used as more of an outlet to tell a self-aware story satirizing reboots and the animation industry.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'': Outside the concept of having multiple Spider-Heroes from across the multiverse meet, ''Into the Spider-Verse'' (nor its sequels, for that matter) have nothing to do with the plot of the 2014 ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' storyline from the comics, where hundreds of Spiders must come together to defeat Morlun and his family. In fact, ITSV has far more in common with the plot of ''ComicBook/SpiderMen'', as both have Peter Parker enter Miles' dimension and serve as a mentor for the novice superhero.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'': ''Lightyear'' shares nothing with either ''Franchise/ToyStory'' or ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' besides Buzz's [[spoiler:and Zurg's]] names and the movie taking place in space. The film's marketing attempted to tie the movie to the ''Toy Story'' universe by saying the movie was a ShowWithinAShow from the 80s that inspired the show Andy watched as a child that in turn inspired the ''Buzz Lightyear'' toyline, but the movie has little to do with any of the few details that were given about the ''Buzz Lightyear'' franchise in ''Toy Story'' universe (that is, an AffectionateParody of [[SpaceOpera space operas]] like ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and ''Franchise/StarWars'').

* Aside from the names, ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' has very little in common with the comics it's inspired by, including {{Race Lift}}ing the entire team and moving the setting from Japan to the fictional city of [[{{Americasia}} San Fransokyo]].
* Outside the concept of having multiple Spider-Heroes from across the multiverse meet, ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' has nothing to do with the plot of the 2014 ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' storyline from the comics, where hundreds of Spiders must come together to defeat Morlun and his family. In fact, it has far more in common with the plot of ''ComicBook/SpiderMen'', as both have Peter Parker enter Miles' dimension and serve as a mentor for the novice superhero.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'': ''Lightyear'' shares nothing with either ''Franchise/ToyStory'' or ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' besides Buzz's [[spoiler:and Zurg's]] names and the movie taking place in space. The film's marketing attempted to tie the movie to the ''Toy Story'' universe by saying the movie was a ShowWithinAShow from the 80s that inspired the show Andy watched as a child that in turn inspired the Buzz Lightyear toyline, but the movie has no hallmarks of the 80s and takes no inspiration from the fifties' [[SpaceOpera space operas]] that the show and toyline clearly were meant to [[AffectionateParody affectionately parody]] (not to mention having little in common with the scarce things we were told about the Buzz Lightyear franchise in the ''Toy Story'' films).

Contrast SerialNumbersFiledOff, SpiritualAdaptation,[[note]]Which are basically In All ''But'' Name[[/note]] ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, {{Expy}}, {{Remake}}.

* While it's more of a spinoff of the ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' series, ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots'' has very little to do with [[Literature/PussInBoots the original fairy tale]]. The only thing the two have in common is that there is a talking cat that wears boots.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' itself also fits this trope. The movie does keep the essentials of the original William Steig book (a fairytale satire about a disgusting ogre who befriends a donkey and marries an ugly princess) but otherwise has a very different story.

* ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'' has nothing whatsoever to do with the stories about Literature/SinbadTheSailor other than featuring a character named Sinbad who happens to be a sailor. Further, it removes "Sinbad" from the original story's Literature/ArabianNights background and places him in a completely Greek setting -- probably because, this having been 2003, the producers felt that it was too soon after 9/11 for an Arab hero (which is pretty stupid, like thinking it would be offensive to have a character from Oklahoma in a movie released just after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing).

* Music/GunsNRoses. Actually, they have been since 1985, two months after LA Guns and Hollywood Rose merged, when Axl Rose fired all the former LA Guns members (making the name of the band confusing) and replaced them with Slash, Duff [=McKagan=], and Steven Adler. And now it is ''that'' band In Name Only, because, except for FaceOfTheBand Rose, everyone in that lineup left the band by 1997; and besides, the band's style shifted more toward industrial metal than plain old hard rock.

* Pretty much the only things related to ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' that ''[[https://www.roblox.com/games/493629299/Crossover-Sonic-3D-RPG-V3 Crossover Sonic 3D RPG]]'', a VideoGame/{{Roblox}} game, has are the FunnyAnimal characters, rings, Chaos/Fake/Sol Emeralds, and certain character animations. The game revolves around TheCorruption, a smog which infects people with purple fungi and turns them aggressive, and the Hero who saved the uninfected.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'': ''Lightyear'' shares nothing with either ''Franchise/ToyStory'' or ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' besides Buzz's [[spoiler:and Zurg's]] names and the movie taking place in space. The film's marketing attempted to tie the movie to the ''Toy Story'' universe by saying the movie was a ShowWithinAShow from the 80s that inspired the show Andy watched as a child that in turn inspired the Buzz Lightyear toyline, but the movie has no hallmarks of the 80s and takes no inspiration from the fifties' [[SpaceOpera space operas]] that the show and toyline clearly were meant to [[AffectionateParody affectionately parody]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'': ''Lightyear'' shares nothing with either ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' or ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' besides Buzz's [[spoiler:and Zurg's]] names and the movie taking place in space. The film's marketing attempted to tie the movie to the ''Toy Story'' universe by saying the movie was a ShowWithinAShow from the 80s that inspired the show Andy watched as a child that in turn inspired the Buzz Lightyear toyline, but the movie has no hallmarks of the 80s and takes no inspiration from the fifties' [[SpaceOpera space operas]] that the show and toyline clearly were meant to [[AffectionateParody affectionately parody]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Lightyear}}'': ''Lightyear'' shares nothing with either ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' or ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' besides Buzz's [[spoiler:and Zurg's]] names and the movie taking place in space. The film's marketing attempted to tie the movie to the ''Toy Story'' universe by saying the movie was the movie Andy watched as a child that inspired the Buzz Lightyear toyline, [[ContinuitySnarl but the movie's content directly contradicts Buzz's toy lore in the movies]] and ''Buzz Lightyear of Star Command''.

** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with Heaven & Hell's ''The Devil You Know''. Since Ozzy had already re-united with Black Sabbath at the time, Dio formed a new band with the same line-up as his time with Black Sabbath. This ended up as Heaven & Hell's only album, since Dio passed away a year later.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax'''s fandom was pretty infamous for this at its height, as the majority of its content was TransplantedCharacterFic starring the Once-ler and nobody else. This led to [[FountainOfExpies a vast proliferation of alternate-universe versions of the character]], most of whom proceeded to interact exclusively with either characters from other properties or ''other'' alternate-universe versions of the character rather than the film's actual cast. When the fandom went on the wane, many blogs featuring alt-Once-lers rebranded themselves as blogs featuring [[AscendedFanfic original characters]]--and this really didn't take much work, as usually the only things those characters had in common with the original was being a skinny pale guy with a mildly dorky personality.

* DC Comics created several characters during UsefulNotes/{{the Golden Age|OfComicBooks}}, but by the end of WWII the interest in superheroes died down, and most titles (except Superman and Batman) were closed or moved to other genres. The [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] began with the relaunch of Franchise/TheFlash: besides the name, the speed, and a few costume elements, Barry Allen had nothing in common with Jay Garrick, and his first appearance established that Jay Garrick was a fictional character in-universe. The same thing was done with Franchise/GreenLantern, Comicbook/{{Hawkman}}, and others. But the prize goes to Comicbook/TheAtom, who went from a rough-and-tumble boxer who was kinda short to a physicist who could shrink to subatomic size.

** Since DC's business theory (such as it is) is about hanging onto trademarks as long as possible, they have a long history of reusing names in some odd fashion or another. Such as the 1940's superhero Johnny Thunder, the 1950's cowboy Johnny Thunder, and the 1980's noir detective Jonni Thunder. Or all those unrelated characters named Comicbook/{{Starman}}. This often leads to the point where a story tries to [[ArcWelding reconcile these different incarnations somehow]].

* When Creator/VertigoComics publish a series that shares a name with a Creator/DCComics property, that, and a few loose concepts, will be ''all'' it shares (with a few exceptions, such as ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'', ''ComicBook/SwampThing'', and ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol''). The most extreme example (if you don't count ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', which did at least feature the original character in two brief cameos) was ''Beware ComicBook/TheCreeper!'' which was about a 1920's Parisian surrealist who wore a costume vaguely similar to Jack Ryder's.
* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways 2015}}'':

* In the Comicbook/New52 version of ''Comicbook/TeenTitans,'' this was a criticism of Bart Allen/Kid Flash. The original was Barry Allen's FunPersonified [[KidFromTheFuture Grandkid from the Future]]; at first New!Bart seemed to fit in personality, but he had IdentityAmnesia and had apparently never worked with Franchise/TheFlash before. As time goes on we learn that his real name is Barr Tor (Bart Allen being an alias) and that while he is from the future, he is unrelated to Barry Allen and does not use the Speed Force. Also he started a galactic war and is wanted for war crimes, which rapidly takes a DarkerAndEdgier toll on his personality. Like the example below, DC later brought back the original Bart Allen as a separate character stating he'd been trapped in the Speed Force since the beginning of the New 52.

** In terms of actual fics which are more or less this on a broader scale, [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12318020/1/Sword-Art-Online-Special-Edition ''Sword Art Online: Special Edition'']] is this to ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' due to the larger emphasis on the real world, some of the noteworthy villains from the canon being either downplayed with almost none of them reprising their BigBad roles, and the biggest example being the mixture of AIs which can materialize into the real world via HardLight akin to Franchise/{{Digimon}} or the presence of {{Physical God}}s who pose an OutsideContextProblem altogether. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Oh, and the]] SharedUniverse aspect going on between it and [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12752772/1/Reflection-Code ''Reflection Code'']], a fic based on ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''.

* [[Comicbook/SilentHill Scott Ciencin's comic book adaptations]] of ''Franchise/SilentHill''. As [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] put it, all the adaptations with Ciencin's name on them share is the name of the town and a monster list. Those comics are a prime example of the writer completely missing the point of the source material.

* ''Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers2022'' doesn't have anything in common with [[WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers the original cartoon series]] aside from the title and having the main characters present. The series is used as more of an outlet to tell a self-aware story satirizing reboots and the animation industry.

* ''Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers2022'' doesn't have anything in common with [[WesternAnimation/ChipAndDaleRescueRangers the original cartoon series]] aside from the title and having the main characters present. The series is used as more of an outlet to tell a self-aware story satirizing reboots and the animation industry.

* ''ChipNDaleRescueRangers2022'' doesn't have anything in common with [[WesternAnimation/ChipAndDaleRescueRangers the original cartoon series]] aside from the title and having the main characters present. The series is used as more of an outlet to tell a self-aware story satirizing reboots and the animation industry.

* ''ChipNDaleRescueRangers2022'' doesn't have anything in common with [[WesternAnimation/ChipAndDaleRescueRangers]] the original cartoon series aside from the title and having the main characters present. The series is used as more of an outlet to tell a self-aware story satirizing reboots and the animation industry.

* The ''[[Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers2022 Chip 'N Dale movie]]'' doesn't have anything in common with the original cartoon series aside from the title and having the main characters present. The series is used as more of an outlet to tell a self-aware story satirizing reboots and the animation industry.

* Some comics released under the name ''Webcomic/VGCats'' have only cats, others have only gaming, and others have ''neither''.

Contrast SerialNumbersFiledOff, SpiritualAdaptation[[note]]Which are basically In All ''But'' Name[[/note]], ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, {{Expy}}, {{Remake}}.

* The Nightcrawlers' [[https://youtu.be/ZBR2sraqEVI "Push The Feeling On (The Dub Of Doom)"]], remixed by Marc Kinchen, is a completely new track built around a vocal hook assembled from chopped & screwed snippets of [[https://youtu.be/A4tZiThZPdE the original]] lyrics.

* 2022 saw the inaugural season of the USFL, an American spring football league[[note]]"Spring football" as in it's played in the spring, not that the ball has a spring in it[[/note]]. Outside of owning the name and associated trademarks the current USFL has no connection to the USFL that flamed out in the mid-80s.

* Invoked in ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak'' "[[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/06/03/dark-science-01/ Dark Science]]" arc: Ronnie Awning made adaptations of famous works without reading them. Which allowed his sponsor to use the authors turning in their graves for energy generation.