Inconsistent Spelling / Western Animation

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• Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: Depending on the source material, version, and/or translation of said material, Captain Foxx's first name is spelled Zachary, Zachery, or even Zacharias. His wife gets the same treatment, as her name is spelled Eliza or Alisa depending on the source.
• American Dad!
  • Hayley is frequently subject to this, both by fans and within the show itself along with source material. "Haley" and "Hailey" are common misspellings.
  • Roger's name is sometimes spelled "Rodger".
  • Klaus' surname is "Heisler". Whether it's spelled with one "S" or two varies.
• In the Croatian version of Billy, the title character's name was "Bili", but only on the back of the DVD.
• BoJack Horseman: The name of BoJack's on-again, off-again pussycat agent/lover is "Princess Carolyn", despite many fans' and reviewers' misspelling it as "Princess Caroline".
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers fans can't seem to decide on one spelling for the name of Gadget's Hawaiian lookalike. Technically, the spelling of her name is All There in the Manual. The problem, however, is the multitude of "manuals" which are more or less hard to come by, and which contradict each other. The Writer's Bible spells it "Lahwhinie", but the Writer's Bible was obviously hard to obtain. TV closed captioning spelled it "Louwhiney", but who has ever recorded that back in the late 80s? The DVD subtitles spell it "Lawhinie", but the Rangerphiles had to wait for a DVD release for quite a long time.
  • Gangster Aldrin Chlordane is named for two types of pesticides, aldrin and chlordane, but despite this, his surname is frequently presented as everything from Klordane to Clawdane (the latter based on Drake's Brooklyn Rage accent).
• The Five-Man Band's resident computer geek in Code Lyoko is Jeremy Belpois. Or was it... Jérémie Belpois? Apparently, either spelling is acceptable. It doesn't help that his specific Eye Catch spells it "JEREMIE" in Season 1 and "JEREMY" starting Season 2.
• Dragon Tales is sometimes called Dragon Tails, and it was spelled this way on Ron Rodecker's obituary.
• The Fairly OddParents!:
  • Juandissimo Magnifico's first name begins with either "Ju" or "W", but even the end credits and the people making the merchandise aren't sure. Official production art from the Frederator Blog, as well as a draft script for "Wishology" refer to him as Juandissimo. Maybe that will clear things up. Considering that the character is either a Spaniard or Latino, his first name most likely derives from the Spanish name "Juan", making Juandissimo correct.
  • Timmy Turner's Dad's Sitcom Archnemesis family is spelled as both Dinkleberg and Dinkleburg.
• A recurring visual gag in Home Movies is that Jason's last name is spelled differently every time its shown. The spellings "Panopolis", "Popodopolis", or "Penopopolis" had all been used throughout the show and the close captions for one episode even spells it "Penopolis".
• Jem:
  • The character is named "Ba Nee" not "Bonnie", though even official books have used "Bonnie" on occasion. The banner at the end of the final episode spells it "BaNee", but then again it also says "Good By".
  • Closed captioning refers to Lin-Z by her real name, Lindsey, instead of her Stage Name.
• Kamp Koral:
  • The series can't seem to get down if Lady Upturn's butler is named Regigille or Regigilled. The captions refer to him as "Regigille" in earlier episodes, but in later ones, it's pronounced "Regigilled".
  • The anglerfish camper's name is spelled "Roxie" when she signs her name in her debut episode, but episode credits call her "Roxy".
• Life With Loopy: The title character's real name was spelled as "Lupecia" by series creator Stephen Holman in a 1998 interview with Nickelodeon Magazine. However in the 2007 book Not Just Cartoons, Nicktoons!, her name is spelled as "Loopecia". Her name was never shown written on-screen in the show.
• Yes, the show's name is Llanargollen, with the dashes being very important to the Pun-Based Title. However, there have been a few sources calling it "Llanargollen" without the dashes, including videos on the official channel for the show itself.
• Metalocalypse:
  • Charles Foster Offdensen/Offdenson is inconsistent within the show: one episode used the former name, another used the latter. 'Ofdensen' was also used often in the early days of the show based on how closed captioning spelled it before the 'Offdensen' reveal. (The first is the generally accepted spelling these days.)
  • Dr. Rockso/Rockzo the Rock n' Roll Clown (he does cocaine) is no exception. The latter is used in the first season, while the former is used in the third and fourth seasons.
• Some listings for Mike, Lu & Og spell Mike's full name, Michelanne, as Michelle.
• My Life as a Teenage Robot: The main villain Vexus often has her name misspelled as "Vexas" in the subtitles.
• My Little Pony:
  • My Little Pony 'n Friends: As the original shorts didn't have official closed captioning, many characters' names were only spelled out either on VHS cases or nowhere at all. This has resulted in long-running confusion on how to properly write them down based on how they're pronounced — for instance, the villain of the first show is referred to as either Tirac or Tirek, while the villain in "Bright Lights" gets called either Arabus or Erebus.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has a lot of this.
    • The spelling of Big McIntosh's name was eventually confirmed through its use by the toyline, by show creator Lauren Faust on DeviantArt, and by show writer M.A. Larson on Twitter, but the trading cards, Hasbro's My Little Pony Facebook page, The Hub's website, the closed captions for the show, and even the old European toyline releases have all spelled it as Big Macintosh. "McIntosh" is the official spelling of the apple, and also serves as a trademark dodge because "Big Mac" often means the hamburger.
    • The name of Discord's species, "draconequus", has had its spelling confirmed by the trading cards, by Hasbro's My Little Pony Twitter account, and by show creator Lauren Faust on DeviantArt, but it's been spelled as "Dragonokis" on The Hub's website and as "draconequis" in the closed captions.
    • The spelling of Nightmare Moon's name was eventually confirmed through its use by the toyline and by the trading cards, but multiple other sources have either spelled it as Night Mare Moon or flip-flopped between the two.
    • The name of Owlowiscious has had its spelling confirmed by his trading card by show creator Lauren Faust on DeviantArt, and by show director Jayson Thiessen on Twitter, but various other sources have spelled it as Owloysius, Owlicious, or even just Aloysius.
    • At least one piece of merch has referred to Applejack as Apple Jack.
    • Princess Cadance's name has been spelled as Princess Cadence a comparatively small number of times. The spelling was apparently changed from the latter to the former late in development, as most uses of Cadence are older and a few of them were later changed to use Cadance.
    • Steven Magnet's name is spelt "Stephen" in the credits of "Slice of Life".
    • Starswirl the Bearded's name is written as a single word in the credits of later-season episodes where he has speaking parts, but older written media spells it as two words — "Star Swirl".
    • Moondancer's name is spelt either as one word (in the end credits) or as the two word "Moon Dancer" (in the closed captions).
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey: In-universe. The premise of the show is that Adam's last name was misspelled as Lion instead of Lyon, which is why he got sent to a school of animals.
• Phineas and Ferb:
  • The Intern, Carl, was also inconsistently spelled "Karl" during the credits. However, a later episode confirmed his name was in fact Carl, and finally began using his full name in the credits: "Carl Karl."
  • Stacy's name was spelled Stacey at least once.
• In some episodes of Pinkalicious & Peterrific, Rafael's name is spelled as "Raphael" in the subtitles. The credits consistently use the Hispanic spelling "Rafael", matching the character's ethnicity.
• The Powerpuff Girls:
  • In some earlier episodes of the show, Fuzzy Lumpkins' name is spelled as "Fuzzy Lumkins" including the What A Cartoon Pilot. From "Meet the Beat-Alls" onwards, the name is revised as "Lumpkins".
• Razzberry Jazzberry Jam: Two characters have their names spelled differently between the closing credits and the show’s supplementary materials: Sid / Cyd from “Give It A Rest” and Hershel / Herschel from “Phantom Of The Jam”
• Moonglow from Rainbow Brite had her name spelled "Moonglo" on one VHS release.
• Ready Jet Go!: PBS has claimed that Mitchell's surname is "Petersen", even though the show's credits spell it "Peterson".
• Recess: Gus's last name is spelled Griswald in most episodes and on the merchandise. However, in two episodes it's "Griswold".
• Filburt the turtle was credited as "Filbert" during the first season of Rocko's Modern Life, when he was mostly a recurring extra rather than Rocko's friend.
• Rugrats:
  • Closed captioning spells Kimi's name as "Kimmie" or "Kimmy".
  • Whether Chuckie's and Kimi's father's name is "Chas", "Chaz", or (less commonly) "Chazz" depends on the source.
  • In closed captioning for some episodes, Tommy's little brother Dil has his name spelled as "Dill" or even "Dyl".
• The Simpsons: Occasionally, you'll find misspellings in television closed captions or other sources.
  • Crusty (the Clown) instead of Krusty (the Klown)
  • Mo instead of Moe
  • Willy instead of Willie
  • Millhouse instead of Milhouse
  • Captions for "C.E.D'oh" refer to Dr. Hibbert as Dr. Hibbard.
  • Captions for earlier episodes spell Waylon Smithers' name as "Wayland".
• South Park:
  • Kyle's surname is usually Broflovski, but it has appeared as Brovlofski, Broflofski, Brofloski, and Broflowski. While the show is notorious for discontinuity, it perhaps falls under the inconsistent spelling rules of names from Slavic nations into English.
  • Kenny's surname is usually spelled McCormick, but the opening used from late Season 4 to Season 5 and the episode "Kenny Dies" used McKormick.
  • Mephesto's son's name is either spelled Terrence or Terrance. The former spelling would differentiate him from the Canadian character.
  • The show still can't decide if Stan's sister is named Shelly or Shelley.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Though Squidward's official Italian name is "Squiddi", some sources misspell him as "Squiddy". Sometimes happens with Patrick as well, as even official sources will sometimes call him "Patric" or "Patrik".
• One of signature characters from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Ahsoka Tano, gets her name frequently misspelled as Ashoka. It's not farfetched to get such a mistake, as Hindu emperor Ashoka the Great was among several inspirations of hers.
• Steven Universe:
  • Sour Cream's first appearance has the credits spelling his name as one word ("Sourcream").
  • In "Onion Friend", Peedee is listed on Steven's contact list as "Pee Dee".
  • At least one episode listing had Smoky Quartz's name spelled "Smokey Quartz".
• Superjail! has had a few cases of debated names:
  • Jared's Distaff Counterpart was inconsistent. Adult Swim's site spelled her name as "Sharice", while the DVDs gave the spelling of "Charise". The third season would wind up confirming the latter.
  • The ancient fighting civilization (in the episode "Combaticus") is referred to as "Pamelonia" on the Season 1 DVD, but Adult Swim's video site uses the spelling "Pummelonia", which further enforces the pun in the name.
  • Jacknife's name is said to be spelled with just one "k", though one episode spelled it "Jack Knife".
• Super Why!: Whyatt's name is sometimes misspelled as "Wyatt", when it should be "Whyatt". With an "h".
• SWAT Kats: Commander Feral's treacherously incompetent second in command insists, in "The Wrath of Dark Kat," that his name is spelled "with two Es", meaning it'd be "Steel". However, when we see the nameplate on his desk in "Enter the Madkat," it's spelled "Steele".
  • This was eventually solved when the storyboards for that episode became available, revealing his name really is spelled "S-T-E-E-L," including on the nameplate. The nameplate saying "S-T-E-E-L-E" is therefore an error. Despite this, "Steele" with an E at the end is still used by many people, either because they prefer it or because they think that, error or not, the spelling provided on the nameplate counts as actual onscreen evidence trumping the behind-the-scenes material.
  • Another character who frequently has their name misspelled (maybe) is Morbulus. Many fans identify him as "Morbulous." The problem is that there's no official material identifying him as Morbulus or Morbulous; due to the name change midway through production, all behind-the-scenes materials referencing the character use his original name of Occulus. The general consensus, though, is that because Occulus ends in -us, the most likely spelling for his final name is therefore "Morbulus," but "Morbulous" still persists in some corners.
  • Dr. Viper's real name of Purvis is sometimes spelled as Pervis. His toe tag in the morgue after he dies reads "Elrod Purvis" and Glenn Leopold's script for "The Origin of Dr. Viper" does indeed use Purvis with a U.
  • Dr. Sinian's first name is frequently spelled as "Abi." This is because her first name was never seen written in any official material for many years. The only model sheet of her available for a long time, for instance, a size comparison sheet from "The Pastmaster Always Rings Twice," had her name covered up by the Cartoon Network logo. The mystery was finally solved when behind-the-scenes material (the script and storyboards for "The Pastmaster Always Rings Twice," the episode outline for "The Deadly Pyramid" and the script for the unfinished episode "Succubus!", which featured Sinian as a supporting character) surfaced, and all of them gave her first name as "Abby." As with other SWAT Kats examples, though, the use of Abi persists, mostly due to individual preference.
• The Disney+ closed captions on Teacher's Pet give Ian Wazselewski's last name as "Wazaloseky".
• While most uncertainties relating to Transformers names are of Japanese origin, there's a few pure Western examples.
  • Elita One has had her name spelled Elita-One, Elita-1, Eleta-1 and Aleta-1 officially, and a couple of more variations unofficially. This confusion was brought on because of her debut in an unwritten medium, so people could only guess what it was spelled like. Given how much the cartoon made a point of her being equal to Optimus Prime, it is somewhat odd (the correct) Elita One (Prime/One, get it?) was dismissed as a viable option for so long, although the Orion Pax-Optimus Prime & Elita One-Ariel link understandably caused "Alita"-confusion. Since those days, script material and the production bible have become available to reveal her name as Elita One, but for varying reasons her name continues to be a source of debate. Most noticeably in that is that other franchise incarnations of Elita One have their names spelled differently: Elita-One for the movie and Transformers: Shattered Glass versions and Elita-1 for the Transformers: Animated and Revenge of the Fallen versions, which may lead to trademark claims that affect the name under which another Elita One version is released.
  • A similar thing happened with the computer "Teletraan I", also debuting in the cartoon. Aside from the spelling, its pronunciation also varied to include "Teletron-1", a fact that was lampshaded in the series finale of Beast Wars.
  • Not to mention Tarantulus/Tarantulas from Beast Wars. The former spelling is the most recently used since "Tarantulas" can be pronounced as the plural of "tarantula" and thus couldn't be trademarked.
• The Monarch in The Venture Brothers is either named "Malcom" or "Malcolm". It's been spelled on-screen in-show both ways.

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