Adaptation Name Change / Live-Action Films

Adaptation Name Change in Film.

---

• O'Brien from Nineteen Eighty-Four is renamed O'Connor in the 1956 film adaptation, likely to avoid confusion with the actor Edmond O'Brien, who plays Winston in that film.
• Alice in Wonderland (2010): Alice's surname is changed from "Liddel" (which is never given as her surname in the books, but which is accepted by most fans because it was her real-life counterpart's surname) to "Kingsleigh".
• All the Troubles of the World: Ali Othrnan's character is Gender Flipped and renamed Barbara Hammond.
• In An American Christmas Carol, all of the A Christmas Carol characters were given new names. Ebenezer Scrooge becomes Benedict Slade, Bob Cratchit becomes Thatcher, and Jacob Marley becomes Jack Latham.
• The films based on And Then There Were None do this constantly:
  • In the 1945 film:
    • General John Gordon Mackenzie became General Sir John Mandrake.
    • Antony Marston became Nikita Starloff.
    • Judge Lawrence John Wargrave became Judge Francis J. Quincannon.
  • In the 1965 film:
    • Vera Claythorne became Ann Clyde.
    • Philipp Lombard became Hugh Lombard.
    • General John Gordon Mackenzie once again became Sir John Mandrake.
    • Judge Lawrence John Wargrave became Judge Arthur Cannon.
    • Antony Marston became Michael Raven.
    • Thomas and Ethel Rogers became Joseph and Elsa Grohmann.
    • Emily Brent was replaced with an entirely new character, an actress named Ilona Bergen.
  • The 1974 film is the biggest offender. The only name that version left unchanged was Dr. Armstrong's.
    • General John Gordon MacKenzie became General Andre Salve.
    • Antony Marston became Michel Raven.
    • Vera Claythorne became Vera Clyde.
    • Philipp Lombard became Hugh Lombard.
    • Judge Lawrence John Wargrave became Judge Arthur Cannon.
    • William Henry Blore became Wilhelm Blore.
    • Thomas and Ethel Rogers became Otto and Elsa Martino.
    • Emily Brent was once again replaced by an actress named Ilona Morgan.
• In American Psycho, Paul Owen, Marcus Halberstam and Timothy Price in the novel become Paul Allen, Marcus Halberstram and Timothy Bryce in the film.^note A major theme of both the book and film are the confusion of people's identities, names included.
• Annie (2014):
  • Oliver Warbucks is renamed Will Stacks.^note  This is likely because "Warbucks" was originally a Meaningful Name, referring to the fact that he got rich from the American manufacturing boom during World War I. This wouldn't have translated very well to the 2010s Setting Update, so his surname was changed to "Stacks", a slang term for dollar bills.
  • Miss Agatha Hannigan gets her first name changed to Colleen.
  • Among Annie's friends from the orphanage/foster home, Molly is renamed Mia and Duffy is renamed Isabella.
• Are You Being Served?: While still playing Young Mr. Grace's secretary as she had done in the series, Penny Irving's character is now called "Miss Nicholson" rather than "Miss Bakewell".
• Artemis Fowl:
  • The name of the Fowl family's ship is changed from Fowl Star in the books to Owl Star here.
  • The Council from the books, is renamed The Executors here.
• Barbarella:
  • Confusingly, Big Bad Durand Durand is called Gronf II in the comics, while Barbarella's ally Professor Ping is called Durand (just one).
  • Strickno was renamed Mark Hand.
• Roddy Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy is an interesting example. The Commitments averted this trope, but when The Snapper and The Van were adapted, due to a rights issue, the Rabbitte family is renamed for both films, though Colm Meaney plays the father in all three films.
• The movie adaptation of Beaches changes quite a few character names:
  • Cecilia "Cee Cee" Bloom becomes Cecilia Carol Bloom, with her nickname ("C.C.") now coming from both her first and middle names. Still a minor change compared to the rest of the cast.
  • Roberta "Bertie" White is renamed to Hillary Whitney, with "Hil" being used as an occasional nickname.
  • Bertie's daughter is named "Nina Rose Barron" in the original novel, but the film gives her the name of "Victoria Cecile Essex".
  • In the case of minor characters, Cee Cee's love interest John Perry is renamed John Pierce. Bertie's ex-husband also changed from Michael Barron to Michael Essex, and her Aunt Neet ^note Given as shorthand for "Anita" became Aunt Vesta.
• In Beastly, Kyle's housekeeper goes from a Latina named Magda to a black Jamaican named Zola. And her real name isn't "Kendra," either.
• Beauty and the Beast (2017) names the French Maid feather duster Plumette and the opera-singing wardrobe Madame de Garderobe, despite the fact that the 1994 stage musical named them Babette and Madame de la Grande Bouche. (Neither character is named in the original animated film, though the direct-to-video midquel Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World names the feather duster Fifi.)
• Bicentennial Man: The film makes a number of changes to character names from "The Bicentennial Man", especially to the robotics company that built Andrew. Instead of robots all being built by United States Robots and Mechanical Men (US Robots), Andrew was built by North American Robotics (NorthAm Robotics), with current CEO Dennis Mansky instead of robopsychologist Merton Mansky. The reason behind Andrew's In-Series Nickname also changes; Little Miss doesn't pronounce "aNDRoid" properly and says "Andrew" instead. Some of the Martins also change names; Sir changes from Gerald to Richard and Little Sir (Little Miss's son) changes from George Martin to Lloyd Chaney.
• The film adaptation of The Big Short changed many of the names from the book, including Baum, Vennett, Shipley, Geller and Rickert; of the central characters, Michael Burry and Baum's employees all kept their real names. Since the characters' roles and behavioral traits didn't change in the adaptation, it's very easy to decipher who's who.
• In The Big Sleep, Terrence "Rusty" Regan" is renamed Sean Regan.
• In Blue Is the Warmest Color, Clémentine becomes Adèle.
• The Blue Lagoon (1949): In addition to make the Kissing Cousins Unrelated in the Adaptation due to The Hays Code, the leads became:
  • Emmeline Lestrange = Emmeline Foster
  • Richard "Dick" Lestrange = Michael Reynolds
  • Even the baby was renamed, from Hannah to Paddy.
• The Bride: Here, Dr. Frankenstein is named Charles rather than Viktor. That name instead is given to his first creation (instead of just "the creature" or "Adam") by someone else.
• Bride and Prejudice did this with the characters due to the Setting Update and change of location to India.
  • The Bennets are now the Bakshis. Elizabeth Bennet is Lalita Bakshi. Jane, Mary and Lydia Bennet become Jaya, Maya and Lakhi.
  • Fitzwilliam Darcy is just plain Will Darcy. His sister Georgiana is renamed Georgina and is nicknamed Georgie.
  • Mr. Bingley and Caroline Bingley are now Mr. Balraj and Kiran Balraj.
  • Mr. Collins is Mr. Kohli.
  • Charlotte Lucas is Chandra Lamba.
  • And, for absolutely no reason, George Wickham is renamed Johnny Wickham.
• The TV movie In Broad Daylight, based on Harry N MacLean's True Crime book about the murder of town bully Ken McElroy, changes everyone's names. McElroy, for example, was renamed Len Rowan.
• Cabaret changes the main character's name from Cliff Bradshaw to Brian Roberts.
• Captain America (1990) changes the Red Skull's name from Johann Schmidt to Tadzio de Santis, as he is Italian instead of German. Cap's love interest is also called Sharon Cooperman instead of Sharon Carter.
• Several versions of A Christmas Carol change the name Scrooge's former fiancée Belle, whose name is only mentioned once in the book anyway. Scrooge (1951) calls her Alice, Scrooge (1970) and Mickey's Christmas Carol both call her Isabel, and A Christmas Carol: The Musical calls her Emily. The latter choice was made because composer Alan Menken already had another musical with a heroine named Belle.
• Casper: In the older Casper comics, the Ghostly Trio are named Fatso (the fattest), Lazo (the tallest) and Fusso (the average one). In the film, Fatso is retained, the tallest is Stretch and the third is Stinkie. Also, the last two received different characterizations and traits, with Stretch as the leader instead of Fatso.
• Cinderella (2015):
  • If one goes by the animated Disney film, Cinderella was actually the girl's real name: the narrator introduces her at the beginning as her father's "little daughter Cinderella." In Cinderella (2015) (though it's following many other versions of the story), Ella is her real name, with 'Cinderella' being the nickname her step-family gives to her.
  • Likewise, the prince is here named Kit, as opposed to "Prince Charming."
  • Drizella's name is spelled "Drisella".
  • Jaq the mouse became a female named "Jaqueline".
• Cloud Atlas: Nea So Copros (which presumably refers to ''all'' of Korea) becomes Neo Seoul. While the book makes it clear that none of the names he goes by are real, Hae-Joo Im is named Hae-Joo Chang in the film, as his film version is a Composite Character of Im and Chang.
• Color Out of Space (2020): Nahum Gardener becomes Nathan Gardener. His children's names are also changed: Thaddeus becomes Benny and Zenus is now Jack, while the middle son Merwin is gender flipped into Lavinia.
• In the film adaptation of Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, Ellen was to have been renamed to Namita to match the ethnicity of her actress; but they changed it back after fan demand.
• In the film adaptation of The Conformist, Lina Quadri becomes Anna, possibly to avoid confusion with the character of Lino.
• In the film adaptation of Congo, Munro's name is changed from Charles Munro to Munro Kelly.
• A Crime in Paradise is The Remake of Sacha Guitry's La Poison (1951). The changes go go from Paul Louis Victor Braconnier to Joseph "Jojo" Braconnier and from Blandine Braconnier to Lucienne "Lulu" Braconnier for the couple, and from Aubanel to Jacquard for the lawyer.
• The Crow (1994): Sherri became Sarah in the film, in addition to her increased role.
• In the 1934 film adaptation of J. B. Priestley's Dangerous Corner, the Caplan family became the Chatfield family and Olwen Peel became Ann Beale.
• Doctor... Series:
  • Doctor in the House (1954): The main character in the novel was called "Richard Gordon" (after the author), however, his name in the film, "Simon Sparrow", was what Richard was renamed in one of the later novels.
  • While Doctor in Trouble's main character is Dr. Burke, the original novel (Doctor on Toast) had focused on Dr. Grimsdyke. However, Leslie Phillips had previously played both characters (who were basically the same with a different name) in Doctor in Love and Doctor in Clover, so the change wasn't too jarring to watch.
• Day Watch renames Kostya's father from Gennadiy to Valeriy, making him The Danza, as the character is played by Valeriy Zolotukhin. His job is also changed from a well-off interior decorator to a poor butcher.
• In Dear Evan Hansen, Jared Kleinman's surname is now Kalwani, matching his portrayal by Indian-American actor Nik Dodani.
• The American film adaptation for Death Note changes Light's surname to "Turner" instead of "Yagami" and Misa's full name to "Mia Sutton."
• Death Wish:
  • The main character, Paul, has his last name changed from "Benjamin" in the book to "Kersey". This was retained for Death Wish (2018). Thanks to being a Divorced Installment, Death Sentence completely changed his name to "Nick Hume".
  • Paul's daughter had this twice over as she was married and has taken her husband's last name of "Tobey" in the book.
• Dr. Strangelove not only changed its title from Red Alert, but also changed practically everyone's names (except for the Canon Foreigner title character and originally nameless President Muffley).:
  • General Quinten to General Jack D. Ripper
  • Major Paul Howard to Group Captain Lionel Mandrake
  • Lt Col Andrew Mackenzie to Col Bat Guano
  • Captain Clint Brown to Major TJ Kong
  • General Franklin to General Buck Turgidson
  • M. Zorubin to Alexei de Sadeski
  • The Alabama Angel to The Leper Colony
• In Dr. Who and the Daleks the Doctor, along with becoming a human scientist, is now referred to as Doctor Who.
• In Double Indemnity, the novel's Walter Huff becomes Walter Neff in the film, for some reason. Also, Mr. and Mrs. Dietrichson were Mr. and Mrs. Nirdlinger in the novel; the latter choice was specifically because Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder (the film's screenwriters) thought that Nirdlinger was too silly a name for such a serious story.
• In Ebenezer (1998), while Scrooge's name is the same, Jacob Marley becomes Jacob Marlowe, Belle becomes Rebecca, and "Cratchit" is spelled "Cratchitt."
• In Emma. (2020) (2020), the housekeeper of Mr Knightley's estate Donwell Abbey is called Hodges in the book. In this movie, she's called Mrs Reynolds. (Incidentally, it's the name of the housekeeper of Pemberley in another Austen's book, Pride and Prejudice.)
• The film version of Fahrenheit 451 changes Montag's wife Mildred to Linda.
• In the American live-action Fist of the North Star movie, Jagi is renamed Jackal, the name of an unrelated villain in the manga. While not related to Kenshiro here, the script confirms he is indeed Jagi and the Japanese dub goes back to Jagi, complete with Role Reprise from the anime.
• An example of What Could Have Been: In Wes Craven's unfilmed Flowers in the Attic script (which was rejected by V. C. Andrews) the Dollangangers inexplicably became the Chapmans.
• The Fly (1986) renamed the scientist who accidentally mutates himself into a human-fly hybrid via a teleportation experiment gone wrong Seth Brundle, when his name was Andre Delambre in the 1958 film and the short story it was adapted from.
• In Universal's classic Frankenstein, Dr. Victor Frankenstein is renamed Dr. Henry Frankenstein. This is a bit confusing since there is a different character in the film named Victor.
• In the original Freaky Friday novel the girl is named Annabel Andrews, and her mother is Ellen. The 1976 film and 1995 remake stick to this. In the 2003 remake, they're Anna and Tess Coleman, and in the 2018 musical, they're Ellie and Katherine Blake. The 2003 film also renames Ben and Boris as Harry and Jake, and the film musical changes the names of Ellie's friends from the stage version.
• The Fugitive:
  • Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard was named Philip Gerard (and was a Police Lieutenant) in the original series.
  • The One-Armed Man's real name was Fred Johnson in the series but became Frederick Sykes in the film.
• Gunnery Sergeant Hartman of Full Metal Jacket was named Gerheim in the original novel The Short-Timers. Pvt. Pyle's civilian name went from Leonard Pratt to Leonard Lawrence.
• In the 1940 UK film adaptation of Gas Light, Jack Manningham becomes Paul Mannen, and Bella Manningham is therefore Bella Mannen. The 1944 US adaptation changed nearly everyone's name, most notably Jack is Gregory Anton and Bella is Paula Anton. In addition, Alice Barlow becomes Alice Alquist, Detective Rough becomes Inspector Cameron, and Louis Bauer becomes Sergei Bauer.
• In the film version of The General's Daughter, the title character's name is changed to Elizabeth from the novel's Ann.
• In the original Ghost in the Shell manga, it was strongly suggested (and explicitly said so in the first TV series) that Motoko Kusanagi was a pseudonym rather than the protagonist's actual name. In Ghost in the Shell (2017), Motoko Kusanagi was explicitly the protagonist's birth name before she was kidnapped and placed in a cybernetic body. In a double example, she's renamed "Mira Killian" by her captors after they erase her memories.
• In G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, some characters had real-name changes from their previous toy/comic/cartoon counterparts:
  • Breaker: from Alvin R. Kibbey to Abel Shaz
  • Heavy Duty: from Lamont A. Morris to Herschel Dalton (which carried over to G.I. Joe: Renegades as well)
  • The Baroness: From Anastasia DeCobray/Cisnarova to Ana Lewis, though as the Baroness she's taken on the DeCobray name through marriage.
• The In Name Only 1938 film of Gladiator changes the protagonist Hugo Danner's name to Hugo Kipp. Professor Danner, who's no longer Hugo's father as he was in the novel, gets his first name changed from Abnegado to Abner.
• The protagonist of Go Ask Alice is unnamed however a line suggests that she's named "Carla". The name of the book is actually an Alice Allusion. The Made-for-TV Movie changed her name to "Alice".
• Godzilla:
  • Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II: A strange inversion. Rodan's name was left as "Radon" (his Japanese name) for the English version.
  • MonsterVerse:
    • The films' novelizations have a couple instances of this: Jerry Boyd in the opening scene of Godzilla (2014) has his first name changed to Oscar, and Senator Williams in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) is instead named Senator Claire Godine.
    • This trope is Zig-Zagged with Mechagodzilla in Godzilla vs. Kong in relation to previous ncarnations of the character. In-Universe, it's called the Mecha by Apex Cybernetics, and it gets christened as Mechagodzilla by a shocked Josh Valentine when Team Godzilla witness it (although one of Apex's screens call it "MechaG").
• The evil armored bear, Iofur Raknison, had his name changed to Ragnar Sturlusson in The Golden Compass because it sounded too similar to the hero bear, Iorek Byrnison.
• In the film version of Gone Baby Gone, Remy Broussard becomes Remy Bressant.
• Many of the characters in Goodfellas had their names changed in the movie. Henry has his real-life last name, but:
  • Jimmy was a Burke in real life. Conway, his mother's maiden name, was used after his sister threatened to sue the filmmakers.^note For the same reason, Jimmy's son Jimmy Jr., a minor character in Pileggi's book and the only real-life survivor of the Lufthansa heist crew besides Henry and Jimmy, is completely excised from the film. Paul Cicero was Paul Vario in real life. Tommy DeVito was based on the real life Tommy DeSimone.
• Grease
  • Sandy Dumbrowski became Sandy Olsen, in part due to Olivia Newton-John being cast in the role (and the character being changed to Australian).
  • Roger was renamed Putzie.
  • Miss Lynch was changed from a teacher to a principal, thus becoming known as Principal McGee
  • Eugene Florcyzk had his surname changed to Felsnic.
  • The Burger Palace Boys become the T-Birds.
• In The Moving Target, the novel that was adapted into Paul Newman film Harper, the character was named Lew Archer. The producers changed the character's name to Lew Harper because they bought the rights to the novel, but not the character of Lew Archer, who was the star of a series of detective novels.
• In the 1998 live adaptation of Great Expectations, the names are mostly changed to match the setting in modern-day Miami. Pip is renamed Finnegan which is shortened to Finn. Miss Havisham is renamed Ms Dinsmoor.
• 1970 French film La Horse got a remake on French television in 2005. The name of the main protagonist, Auguste (played by Jean Gabin), was changed to Joseph (played by Pierre Mondy).
• The Howling (1981) changes several names from the book:
  • A slight example with the heroine. In the novel, the heroine is named Karyn Beatty. Here, her name is Karen (with an "e") and her surname is White, with it being noted that she didn't take her husband's surname for career reasons.
  • The heroine's husband is named Roy Beatty in the novel, while in the movie he's named Bill Neil.
  • The Femme Fatale werewolf who seduces Karen's husband is named Marcia Lura in the novel, while here she's named Marsha Quist. Marsha is a variation of Marcia (both mean "warlike" or "dedicated to Mars" - as in the Roman war god), while her surname being changed to Quist is to highlight her familial connection with Eddie.
  • The psycho who attacks the heroine and kicks off the plot is named Max Quist in the book and Eddie Quist here.
  • In the book the werewolf-populated town the protagonists unwittingly move to is named Drago, while in the movie it's simply named the Colony; this is partly due to the town's origins being slightly altered, as in the book Drago was a seemingly ordinary settlement, while the Colony was established as a retreat for Dr Waggner's patients or that's Waggner's cover story, at least.
• I, Monster changed the names of its main characters to Charles Marlowe and Edward Blake, because it was attempting to be a Truer to the Text adaptation of a novel whose original twist would have been instantly recognizable if they'd been called by their original names: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. (The supporting characters Lanyon, Utterson, and Poole keep their names from the novel, presumably because anybody familiar enough with the novel to recognize those names would spot what was going on in any case.)
• An odd example occurs in I Shot Jesse James. Given how many of the characters were real-life people, it stands out when Edward Capehart O'Kelley was changed to John Kelley for the film. However, it should be noted that while his first name was blatantly changed, many publications of the era dropped the O in "O'Kelley", so the writers may have thought that his last name actually was “Kelley”.
• In the short story "Impossible Dreams" by Tim Pratt, the main characters are Pete and Ally. In the short film adaptation, their names have been changed to Daniel (Mitkovsky) and Shiri.
• In the film version of The Indian in the Cupboard, Omri's two brothers are nicknamed "A.D." and "Gilly," while in the original books they go by their full names, Adiel and Gillon. The film credits list them by their full names from the books, though.
• Inspector Gadget (1999):
  • A retroactive case is the title character. The film gave him the real name of "John Brown", whereas in 2018, it's be revealed his canonical real name is Augustin Tamare.
  • The film gives Dr. Claw the name of "Sanford Scolex" with "Claw" serving as a nickname. Canonically, Dr. Claw isn't an alias, but his real name, with his first name being "Edward".
• In the various film adaptations of The Island of Doctor Moreau, Edward Prendick has been named Edward Parker (Island of Lost Souls 1933), Andrew Braddock (The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)) and Edward Douglas (The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)).
• James Bond:
  • Casino Royale (1954)^note The first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel, released in 1954 as a television movie/episode of the anthology series Climax!:
    • James Bond's first name was changed to the more American-sounding Jimmy.
    • Felix Leiter's first name was changed to Clarence.
  • From Russia with Love:
    • In the film adaptation, Red Grant's real first name is Donald. In the original novel, it's Donovan.
    • The MacGuffin was renamed from Spektor to Lektor, presumably to avoid confusion with SPECTRE.
  • In Thunderball, Domino's real name is changed from Dominetta Vitali (née Petacchi) to Dominique Derval due to her being French rather than Italian. Her brother's name is accordingly changed from Giuseppe Petacchi to François Derval.
    • Also counts for the non-Eon Productions remake, Never Say Never Again, in which she's named "Domino Petachi", and her brother goes from François Derval to "Jack Petachi". While we're at it, Emilio Largo becomes "Maximilian Largo" and Fiona Volpe becomes "Fatima Blush". And Q, Major Geoffrey Boothroyd in the Eon series, becomes "Algernon".
    • In the book, the SPECTRE agents' numbers are simply randomly assigned codenames: Largo is Number 1, Blofeld is Number 2. In the film, the numbers appear to indicate rank, with Blofeld Number 1 and Largo Number 2. Two unnamed SPECTRE agents involved in a Blofeld Ploy early in the movie go from Numbers 7 and 12 to Numbers 11 and 9, respectively.
  • In Spectre, we find out that Ernst Stavro Blofeld is actually an alias, and that Blofeld's real name is Franz Oberhauser.
• Jurassic Park (1993): "John Arnold" in the books becomes "Ray Arnold" due to the One-Steve Limit. According to supplementary materials his full name is John Raymond Arnold, or Ray for short.
• Just Visiting (The Remake of Les Visiteurs): Godefroy is renamed "Thibault" (Malefète was kept), Jacquouille la Fripouille becomes "André le Paté", Frénégonde becomes "Rosalind", Béatrice becomes "Julia" and Ginette becomes "Angelique". The wizard, meanwhile, goes unnamed, while his name is Eusaebius in the original film.
• Kamen Rider: The First changes Hayato Ichimonji/Kamen Rider-2's real name to Katsuhiko Yano. "Hayato Ichimonji" is simply the alias he uses after being brought Back from the Dead by Shocker.
• In Kick-Ass:
  • John Genovese is renamed Frank D'Amico.
  • Red Mist's civilian identity, Chris Genovese, is renamed Chris D'Amico.
  • Eddie Lomas is renamed Rasul.
  • In Kick-Ass 2, Colonel Stars is renamed Colonel Stars and Stripes, since he's a Composite Character and there is no Lieutenant Stripes. His dog is also renamed from Sophia to Eisenhower.
  • A deleted scene on the DVD/Blu-Ray has Colonel Stars and Stripes call his dog Sophia — and explain to Dave that it's her secret identity.
• The movie King Ralph was a loose adaptation of the Emlyn Williams novel Headlong. The novel's equivalent of the main character Ralph Jones was named Jack Green (nee Sandrig), while the movie renames Jack's advisor William "Willie" Millingham to Sir Cedric Willingham and the conniving Sir Godwin Rodd to Lord Percival Graves.
• Kingsman: The Secret Service:
  • Gary London becomes Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, his mother Sharon becomes Michelle. His Uncle Jack is no longer his uncle, and is renamed Harry Hart.
  • Secret Agents become referred to by codenames derived from Arthurian legend, so they might retain their names if they aren't ever called by their real ones. Chester King's closest counterpart is a man called Sir Giles in the comic.
  • In the original comic, the characters serve in a fictional version of the British Secret Service and openly refer to themselves as such. In the film, they're a part of the Kingsman Intelligence Agency, which operates independently of all governments and in strict secrecy.
• Lantana, based on Speaking in Tongues:
  • Nick Robson becomes Nik D'Amato. The same applies to his wife Paula, though she was The Ghost in the play.
  • Sarah Phelan gets a Gender Flip and becomes Patrick Phelan.
  • Possible case with Neil Toohey, whose unnamed counterpart is credited as "Mystery Man". Since most of his subplot is cut, he's only recognisable as Neil because of the scene where collides with Leon while jogging and breaks down in tears.
• In The Last Man on Earth, the first adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, Vincent Price's character's surname was changed from Neville to Morgan.
• The hero of The Leatherstocking Tales is Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo, which is difficult for a modern person to even say without giggling. In The Last of the Mohicans he becomes Nathaniel Poe.
• Amanda White from the second book in the Left Behind series becomes Amanda Wright in Left Behind: Rise Of The Antichrist.
• Lemonade Mouth names Charlie's brother Tommy. In the original book, his name was Aaron.
• The Lincoln Lawyer: Investigator Raul Levin becomes Frank Levin, judge Connie Fullbright becomes Jameson Fullbright, and Jesus Menendez becomes Jesus Martinez.
• The masochistic dental patient in The Little Shop of Horrors was named Wilbur Force; while he was Adapted Out of the subsequent Screen-to-Stage Adaptation, he was restored in the film version, where he was renamed Arthur Denton.
• The Little Vampire:
  • Anton Bohnsack is renamed Tony Thompson.
  • Rüdiger Von Schlotterstein is renamed Rudolph Sackville-Bagg. His younger sister Anna keeps her first name, but his older brother Lumpi der Starke is renamed Gregory Sackville-Bagg.
  • Rüdgier's parents Ludwig der Fürchterliche and Hildegard die Durstige are renamed Frederick and Freda Sackville-Bagg.
• In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, a minor character at Bilbo's farewell party is named Everard Proudfoot. In the books, he is named Odo Proudfoot. (Also in the books, the character named Everard was a Took — and a young hobbit, while Odo is an old hobbit. Everard Took does not appear in the film.)
• In the 1998 Madeline film, the boarding school cook's name is changed from Mrs. Murphy to Hélène, and Lord Cucuface becomes Lord Covington, with "Lord Cucuface" as a nickname the girls give him behind his back.
• Maleficent features a few when compared to Sleeping Beauty:
  • Philip's father has been changed from Hubert to John.
  • The three fairies are named Flittle, Knotgrass, and Thistletwit instead of Fauna, Flora, and Merryweather. (Though since they're also Adaptational Dumbass, so fans prefer to think of them as separate characters entirely.)
  • Aurora's name is always "Aurora", as opposed to the Fairies raising her as "Briar Rose."
  • Diaval, the raven, was originally called Diablo.
  • Aurora's mother is either named Beatrice or Leah in canon (there are contradicting sources, but fanon leans towards the latter). Here she is named "Leila".
• In both the original novel of The Maltese Falcon and the famous 1941 film adaptation, Femme Fatale Brigid O'Shaughnessy is introduced going under the alias of Miss Wonderly. In the lesser-known 1931 version, Ruth Wonderly is the character's actual name.
• In the stage version of Mamma Mia!, one of Sophie's potential fathers is called Bill Austin. Due to the character being played by Stellan Skarsgård in the film adaptation, his name is changed to Bill Anderson.
• In the original novel Marooned (set aboard a Mercury capsule) the stranded astronaut is Dick Pruett and the one who comes to his rescue is Jim Dougherty, while things were run from the ground by George Keith. The film version updated the setting to an Apollo spacecraft and added two completely new characters, but the existing ones became Jim Pruett, Ted Dougherty and Charles Keith. The novel was rewritten to take all these changes into account.
• Some character from The Jungle Book get their names changed in Mowgli:
  • Chil the kite is referred to by Serkis as Rann, although his name is never spoken in the film. Interestingly, this was his initial name in the earliest editions of the book, making this an unusual example of reverting a name change that had already happened.
  • Mowgli's mother wolf Raksha has her name changed to Nisha.
  • John Lockwood is essentially Buldeo with a name change plus Race Lift (from Indian to British).
• In Mystic River, Jimmy Marcus becomes Jimmy Markum.
• The Maze Runner Series, based on The Maze Runner books:
  • WICKED^note World In Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department from the books, became WCKD^note World Catastrophe Killzone Department in the films although the pronunciation remained the same.
  • In books, the Gladers' names are revealed to be false names implanted in their brains when they were first taken in by WICKED, with their real names going unrevealed. There are three exceptions revealed in the prequels: The Kill Order reveals that Teresa was originally Deedee and The Fever Code reveals that Thomas and Sonya were Stephen and Lizzy respectively. However, The Maze Runner lacks the reveal about the Gladers' names being false, and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials has a flashback where Thomas's mother calls him "Thomas" before he's handed over to WCKD, and in a later scene Teresa, having recovered her memories, mentions a memory of her own mother calling out "Teresa" long before she was ever taken by WCKD. All of this suggests that the names they've been using are their real names - which is implied to be true for the other Gladers as well.
• The McKenzie Break: Almost every character has one or both of his names changed (Willi Modherson becomes Willi Schulter, etc.). The exceptions are Colonel Perry, Unger the Tunnel King, and Bantering Baddie Buddies Schmidt and Hochbaer.
• Monster Mash (1995) was loosely based on the hit song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett of the same name as well as Pickett's stage musical I'm Sorry the Bridge Is Out, You'll Have to Spend the Night, with some of the changes including characters going by different names.
  • The male lead is named Scott instead of John.
  • The mummy Elvis Presley was just a generic mummy in the original stage musical, with the mummy's servant Dr. Abdul Nasser reinterpreted as Elvis' fictional manager Hathaway.
• Mortal Engines:
  • The small mining town eaten by London at the beginning of the story is called Salthook in the book, but Salzhaken here.
  • The town of Speedwall from the novel, is renamed Scuttlebug for the film.
• When Nancy Drew got her first movies in the 1930s, her long-suffering boyfriend Ned Nickerson inexplicably had his name changed to "Ted" for reasons likely lost to time.
• Nightfall (1988):
  • There is still an Aton and Sor from the original story, but they are wildly different from their original characterization and no longer have last names.
  • The Book of Revelations has also been changed to the Book of Illumination, to match with the temple being the Temple of Illumination.
  • The city's original name is Saro, and the planet was named Lagash, but in this film, everyone calls it the city or our planet.
  • Because this film only has half as many stars, they are named based on their colour (white, red, and yellow) instead of Greek letters.
• Nightfall (2000): When adapting the story into a movie, the planet was renamed Aeon, the cast of characters was essentially replaced entirely, while still retaining the conflict between science and religion.
• Lucas Corso of The Club Dumas becomes Dean Corso in the film adaptation, The Ninth Gate.
• Nosferatu is an adaptation of Dracula, however to avoid having to ask for permission and pay royalties the characters names were changed. Thus Dracula was renamed Orlok, Jonathan Harker was renamed Thomas Hutter, Mina Harker was renamed Ellen Hutter, Renfield was renamed Knock, Van Helsing was renamed Bulwer, and Seward was renamed Sievers.
• Official Secrets: The real Katharine Gun's husband is named Suat Gün. No explanation is given for the change to "Yasar". (Also, the real Katharine Gün uses an umlaut on her married name, but the real-life press left it off, as does this film.)
• Our Ladies (2019):
  • Kylah's band is called Thunderpup, the name it originally had in The Sopranos (Warner) before she joined and changed it to Lemonfinger.
  • Orla's last name changes from Johnstone to Johnson.
• Painkiller Jane: Jane's last name changes from Vasko to Browning in this movie.
• The Parent Trap (1998) changes all the character's names from The Parent Trap (1961). The twins' names are changed from Susan and Sharon to Hallie and Annie, the mother is renamed from Margaret McKendrick to Elizabeth James, the father from Mitch Evers to Nick Parker, and his fiancée from Vicky Robinson to Meredith Blake.
• The Parent Trap (1961) had itself changed the names of all the characters from Lottie and Lisa, even the English translation. In the book, the twins are Lottie and Lisa (or Lotte and Luise in the original), the parents are Ludwig/Arnold Palfy and Luiselotte Körner/Lisalotte Horn, and the potential stepmother is Irene Gerlach.
• Perfect Pie:
  • Marie's last name changes from Begg to Beck.
  • Francesca becomes Francesca Prine, when in the play she had Only One Name.
  • Marie's date's name becomes Don Rayford instead of Donny Neilson.
• The Phantom has the Phantom's archnemesis being Kabai Sengh of the Sengh Brotherhood, where in the comics it's Kabai Singh of the Singh Brotherhood.
• In Planet of the Apes (1968) Ulysse becomes Taylor.
• The Relic:
  • Dr. Gregory Kawakita gets renamed into Greg Lee.
  • Jullian Whittlesley, the monster's human identity, is renamed John Whitney.
  • The monster in the novel is called the Mbuwn, with the Kothoga being the tribe where it originated. In the film, the monster is the Kothoga and its tribe goes unnamed.
• In RoboCop (2014), Omni Consumer Products was changed to "OmniCorp". In the end, it's later revealed that it's part of OCP. Some characters also got their names changed.
  • Alex Murphy's wife and son are changed from Ellen and Jimmy to Clara and David.
  • Bob Morton, the man in change of the RoboCop project was changed to Dennett Norton.
  • Anne Lewis has become an African-American man named Jack Lewis.
  • Sgt. Reed was gender flipped into a woman named Karen Dean, though Dean being a Dirty Cop might've also played a role.
  • Clarence Boddicker had become Antoine Vallon.
• Rosita is loosely based on the opera Don César de Bazan. "Don César" ("Don" being a honorific) became "Don Diego" and "Maritana" became "Rosita".
• Scarface (1983) did this with the characters due to the Setting Update and change of location to Miami:
  • Tony and Francesca Camonte -> Tony and Gina Montana
  • Guido Rinaldo -> Manny Ribera
  • Poppy -> Elvira Hancock
  • Johnny Lovo -> Frank Lopez
  • Ben Guarino -> Mel Bernstein
  • Tom Gaffney -> Omar Suarez
  • Louis Costillo -> Hector the Toad
• In the film version of Shane, Bob becomes Joey and Luke Fletcher becomes Rufus Ryker. For added confusion, the character called Frank Torrey in the film plays the same role that Ernie Wright does in the book...but Frank Torrey is the name of a different character in the book.
• In Silent Hill Cheryl Mason is named Sharon Da Silva, Harry Mason is Christopher Da Silva and Pyramid Head is credited as Red Pyramid. Rose Da Silva the protagonist is also a case of this, as the mother in the original game was named Jodie Mason albeit she was dead before the story takes place, unlike Rose who takes Harry's role in the plot making it also a case of both Spared By Adaptation and Ascended Extra.
• In The Sleeping Cardinal, Holmes refers Moriarty as 'Professor Robert Moriarty'. In the original Sherlock Holmes canon his first name was James (same as his two brothers).
• In the film of Stardust, Captain Johannes Alberic of the skyship Perdita becomes Captain Shakespeare of the skyship Caspartine ... or rather, Robert De Niro plays an entirely different character who serves the same role in the plot.
• In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968), the name of Jekyll's attorney and closest friend is changed from Gabriel Utterson to George Devlin.
• Blanka's ending in Street Fighter II revealed that his real name is Jimmy. The live-action movie makes him a Composite Character with Charlie Nash, resulting in his name being changed to Carlos "Charlie" Blanka.
• In Super Mario Bros. (1993), Mario's girlfriend is called Daniella rather than Pauline. However, the script reveals that her full name is "Daniella Pauline Verducci."
• One film adaptation of Swallows and Amazons changes Titty's name to Kitty, and another changes it to Tatty. It's not hard to see why.
• Capt. Stein becomes Capt. Staros in Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line.
• Transformers Film Series:
  • Spike Witwicky is renamed Sam Witwicky. His father Sparkplug is renamed Ron. The reason was given by the writers that the movie versions don't share the same backgrounds as mechanics/oil rig workers as their original counterparts.
  • There are also inconsistencies regarding some robot names across media. The tank-Decepticon called Brawl from the first movie was accidentally referred to by his working name of Devastator in the film itself, although other media such as the toys used the correct name (and the real Devastator appeared in the sequel). From the third film, Mirage and Wheeljack are renamed to Dino and Que respectively.
  • In Transformers: Age of Extinction, the Pteranodon Dinobot is named "Strafe" instead of the traditional name of "Swoop", since the creators considered him to be too far altered from previous Swoops to be considered the same character; however, toys of the original Swoop released at the time were also renamed Strafe, suggesting they instead may have lost the trademark to his name at the time. The Triceratops Dinobot was also renamed from "Slag" to "Slug" because the former is a curse word in Britain.
• In The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Robert Lacaud becomes Robert Cody.
• Some of the characters in Twice Round the Daffodils had different names in Ring for Catty, the play the film was based on:
  • Ian Richards was first called "Donald Gray".
  • Bob's first name used to be "Leonard".
• Twilight Zone: The Movie: In "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", the protagonist's name is John Valentine. The protagonist was named Arthur Jeffrey Wilson in the short story and Robert Wilson in the original episode.
• Ubu Król, a 2003 Polish movie based on Ubu Roi, changed the names of Poland and Lithuania to Foland and Fithuania.
• Radio Free Albemuth: The film changes Fremont's first name and middle initial to Richard J.
• Vampire Academy:
  • The character Ralf Sarcozy is renamed to "Ray" in the film. His role is essentially the same.
  • The teacher Mr. Nagy is renamed to "Mr. Meisner". His role is mostly the same, trying to humiliate students by reading their secret notes aloud. Only instead of a note by Rose and Lissa (as in the book), he reads a note from Mia.
  • A minor name change. The character Camille Conta is renamed to "Camilla Conta" in the film.
• In V for Vendetta, Adam Susan becomes Adam Sutler, Sulter being intended to be a Portmanteau of Susan (Adam's original last name) and Hitler according to the other wiki.
• When Worlds Collide: The novel's Bronson Alpha and Beta, the rogue planet which destroys Earth and the planet the survivors evacuate to respectively, become Bellus and Zyra. Their namesake, Dr. Sven Bronson, had his first name changed to Emery.
• In Wild Wild West, Dr. Loveless went from Miguelito in the original series to Arliss in the film.
• The Witches of Eastwick:
  • Darryl van Horne's first name is Daryl in the film, while most of the other characters get new last names:
    • Alexandra Spofford to Alexandra Medford
    • Jane Smart to Jane Spofford
    • Sukie Rougemont to Sukie Ridgemont
    • Clyde and Felicia Gabriel to Clyde and Felicia Alden
• The Wizard of Oz (1925):
  • Dorothy's true name is "Dorothea", not "Dorothy Gale".
  • King Krewl is changed into Prime Minister Kruel.
• The character known as the "Tin Woodman" in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was renamed simply the "Tin Man" in The Wizard of Oz. Nor is his real name from the book series, "Nick Chopper," ever mentioned.

---