The name isn't the problem. Well, it depends on perspective. The problem is that the name and the description are at odds; the descriptions seems to be saying something specific ("Sadistic Choice involving the hero's Love Interest") while the name is a bit broader ("Do something dangerous to save a girl"). I vote for expanding the definition; changing the name doesn't seem like it would help, unless we change it to something bland like Love Interest Sadistic Choice.
Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.I think the current description is too narrow to be worthwhile; nothing special about a Sadistic Choice, there.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman![]()
It's not necessarily a Sadistic Choice, though. Depending on the hero, they might not care about the people who die to save their Love Interest.
The current definition is strongly encouraging a Sadistic Choice, definitively one presented by the plot, not always by the villain. The wick check I made shows 52 wicks that did not suggest a Sadistic Choice, and 31 wicks that do suggest one. (52/31)= 1.68 ratio.
Love Interest takes an even worse hit.
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.The "someone they personally care about" is a common, but not statistically significant element from my wick check.
"prevent something worse from happening to other people" is not as common as "the hero puts themselves in danger".
We may need a disambiguation here, or even turn this into an index of tropes.
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

Assuming I've got 100 examples (I checked 98 pages, while many had multiple references to the trope, there's a bunch of ZCE), then 42% of examples are about Always Save the Girl meaning the hero is doing something dangerous to savea girl, and 20% of the examples are about the definition (Sadistic Choice involving the hero's Love Interest).
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.