History Main / ThisIsMyNameOnForeign

'''Examples:'''http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThisIsMyNameOnForeign?action=edit

'''Examples:'''

* Friedrich Händel became Frederick Handel after he moved to London.

** In the [[VirginNewAdventures New Adventures]] novel ''Timewyrm: Exodus'', he translates his occasional makeshift identity of "Dr John Smith" into German, presenting himself as "Dr Johann Schmidt".

* In ''Salvage For TheSaint'', Charles Tatenor's real name is revealed to be Scharzkopf. As literally translating his surname into English would have sounded ridiculous ('blackhead'), he went for something that sounded like blackhead in French (''tete noir'').

-->"You see, the French word for Christmas is 'Noel,' and 'Carillon' means 'bells.'"\\

* ''The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' (an old-time radio program) once featured the character of an opera singer named Liza Bordelli. It turned out she was actually American, but used an Italian version of her name on stage... because her real name was Lizzy Borden.

* As a TruthInTelevision example, {{Casanova}} went by the name Newhouse in England, a literal translation of Casa Nova.
** Many immigrants translate their name into the language of their new country--Schmidt becomes Smith, Weiss becomes White. And in 19th-century New York, the captain of industry August Belmont used to be Schönberg (German into French).
*** This is also why there are so many more Millers in the U.S. than in Britain -- English millers had a reputation for cheating their customers, so "Miller" was an unpopular surname. American Millers were mostly originally Müller, Møller etc.

* In mid-20th century Soviet Union, Physics books by AlbertEinstein were signed as (translated to English) Albert Singlestone due to his obviously Jewish last name.
** Except that it wasn't. This amusing tidbit, often told in the West as a genuine truth, is actually a ''joke'', aimed at the casual antisemitism of post-Israel Independence Soviet Government, and its awkward efforts to reconcile it with its official internationalist stance.
*** True. Censorship did exist in the Soviet Union, but Einstein's name was never censored like the original Troper implied.

** In ''Discworld/TheLightFantastic'', an alternate-universe version of Twoflower was named "Zweiblumen". Rincewind was changed to "Rjinswan", but that apparently isn't an actual translation of anything. There is, however, Rincewind's possible Ephebian ancestor Lavaeolus, which is pseudo-Latin for... 'rincer' of wind.

* The main character of ''RockADoodle'' is named Chanticleer-which is the name of a rooster in the ReynardTheFox tales, and has become a French byword for "rooster".

* "The Deaf Man" is a recurring character in the ''EightySeventhPrecinct'' novels by Ed [=McBain=], and he always uses aliases that are some play on 'deaf' in a foreign language. These have included Mort Orrechio (Italian for "dead ear"), L. Sordo ('el sordo') and Herr Taubmann. And he likes to call Detective Steve Carella and say something like "You'll have to speak up. I'm a little hard of hearing." Even though he's worn a hearing aid in public, it's anyone's guess whether he really has a hearing problem.

* The title character of ''Marjorie Morningstar'' was born Morgenstern, [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready one of those immigrants who translated her name]].

** Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was christened (in Latin) Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, where it is thought that the Greek "Theophilus" stands for the German name "Gottlieb". However, he preferred the French translation and called himself Wolfgang Amadé, which was later usually rendered in the Latinized form.

** Common in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, people of international fame (like physicians or astronomers) latinized their names or adapted them to host country's language when travelling. The famous Flemish Renaissance anatomist Andreas Witinck went by the name of Andreas Vesal (after the town Wesel where his family was from) which was latinized into Andreas Vesalius. The 11th century Persian physician, philosopher, astronomer and alchemist Abū Alī al-Husayn ibn Abdullāh ibn Sīnā became known in Europe as Avicenna.
*** The Swedish Carl von Linné, father of modern taxonomy, known to us as Carolus Linnaeus.
*** Philipp Melanchthon is born as Philipp Schwartzerd. His last name means ''black earth''.

* The CaptainAmerica villain the Red Skull often Anglicizes his birth name, Johann Schmidt, into John Smith as a disguise (though he has used [[MasterOfDisguise dozens of others]]). The opposite was done in Alastair MacLean's 1967 WWII thriller novel (and the 1968 film version) ''WhereEaglesDare'', where SOE commando Major John Smith talks his way past his Gestapo captors using his cover identity of Major Johann Schmidt of SS Military Intelligence.

* As in the quote above, Bowen in {{Dragonheart}} gives the dragon the name "Draco" - Dragon in Latin.

* In the ''CasinoRoyale'' book, it's mentioned that Le Chiffre's aliases are the word "cypher" in various languages.
* Lily Weatherwax in ''[[{{Discworld}} Witches Abroad]]'' went by the name of Lillith Tempscire (a literal translation of weatherwax in French).
** Similarly, in ''Maskerade'', Henry Slugg goes by the name Enrico Basilica.
** And in ''The Light Fantastic'', an alternate-universe version of Twoflower was named "Zweiblumen". Rincewind was changed to "Rjinswan", but that apparently isn't an actual translation of anything. There is, however, Rincewind's possible Ephebian ancestor Lavaeolus, which is pseudo-Latin for... 'rincer' of wind.
* Inverted in the book and movie ''Fuzz'', where the lead villain, who wears a hearing aid, uses the name ''Mort Orrechio'' which is Italian for "Dead Ear."
** "The Deaf Man" is a recurring character in the ''EightySeventhPrecinct'' novels by Ed [=McBain=] (of which ''Fuzz'' is one), and he always uses aliases that are some play on 'deaf' in a foreign language.
** He's also used L. Sordo ('el sordo') and Herr Taubmann. And he likes to call Detective Steve Carella and say something like "You'll have to speak up. I'm a little hard of hearing." Even though he's worn a hearing aid in public, it's anyone's guess whether he really has a hearing problem.

* In Rafael Sabatini's novel ''Captain Blood: His Odyssey'' (though not in the [[Film/CaptainBood]] based on it), the title character Peter Blood uses the aliases Don Pedro Sangre and Le Sang when dealing with the Spanish and French respectively.

* In one of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels (this editor forgets which one), John Clark attempts to pass himself off as a Russian using the name "Ivan Klerk". When it's pointed out to him that "Klerk" is an extremely uncommon name in Russia, he rationalizes that his grandfather was an Englishman who emigrated to Russia in the '20s and Russified his name.
** Earlier than that, in 'The Cardinal of the Kremlin', a Russian official gives Jack Ryan the nickname Ivan Emmetovich, based on his father's name and his full name, John Patrick Ryan.
*** The first appearance of "Ivan Klerk of Pravda" was in Debt of Honor.

* Another RealLife example: The many foreign translations of ''WarriorCats''. Since most of the characters names are collections of nouns and verbs, they all have to be translated for foreign audiances to understand their significance (the exception being the Japanese translation, which uses the original English names, leading to a lot of GratuitousEnglish).

* In the book TheBeanTrees, Esteban and Esperanza introduce themselves as "Steven" and "Hope" to someone who might be racist towards latinos.

** In the novel ''Timewyrm: Exodus'', he translates his occasional makeshift identity of "Dr John Smith" into German, presenting himself as "Dr Johann Schmidt".