Inconsistent Dub

Sailor Moon: Moon Tiara Vaporize!
Luna: Serena, weren't you supposed to say "Moon Tiara Magic"?
Sailor Moon: Yeah, but apparently American children are too stupid to notice.

— Sailor Moon Abridged Episode 4, pointing out an actual inconsistency with Sailor Moon's first North American dub

When a dub uses inconsistent naming or story telling in translation. Usually done either because of poor translation, tricky romanization or because of Executive Meddling. Unlike Dub-Induced Plot Hole, this doesn't include Dub-Induced Plotline Changes that later don't make sense because of either cultural/language differences or new developments in the plot. This just changes the exact same thing over and over because the localization team can't seem to decide (or because different localization teams handled the dub without a consistent "show bible" to draw from). There may not even be anything wrong with the last name they came up with.

This often happens in anime where characters practice calling their attacks, as many anime dubs feature a character who has tons of attacks in its source given all the same name in the dub, or where a single attack gets renamed Once an Episode.

Inconsistent fansubs exist, but are much rarer; while it may have been a problem when hardsubbing (making the subtitles an actual, permanent part of the video) was the norm, the growth of softsubbing (which entails using subtitles that can be freely turned off in the manner of a DVDs) has made it a simple matter to correct and re-release an episode to keep terminology consistent.

Compare Inconsistent Spelling.

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Examples:

• Anime & Manga
• Video Games

Asian Animation

• Western releases of Eena Meena Deeka can't decide whether to call the fox character Bhukkad or Foxie.
• The English dub of Happy Heroes isn't consistent with its own title. Is it Happy Friends, Happy Heroes, Happy Hero, or Happy Superman?
• Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf:
  • The English dub usually calls the characters Weslie and Wolffy, but the names Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf are used in a couple dubs, such as the dub of season 1 and the dub of the spin-off Pleasant Goat Fun Class.
  • The English title for one of the seasons is either Joys of Seasons or Joy of Seasons.
• Tayo the Little Bus: The South Korean show's English dub prounounces characters' names differently from season to season. Examples: Lani is pronounced "Laney" and Citu is pronounced "Cito." It can be very jarring, especially due to the large cast.

Comic Books

• The Icelandic translations of Disney comics, while keeping the names of major characters consistent, regularly change the names of all minor characters who only pop up here and there, the different translators seemingly not bothering to check if this character's name has been translated before. This happens now and then in Swedish editions too. When The Carl Barks Collection were published in Sweden, exisiting translations were used wherever possible, but the editors did go back and make sure that things like Scrooge's money bin and Number one dime had consistent names throughout.
• New Gods: In Brazilian Portuguese media:
  • The first publication to feature Lightray identified him as "Raio-de-luz", a literal translation of his original name. Later, his name was changed to Magtron. By 2019, comics started to refer to him by his untranslated English name.
  • The Lump was initially called "The Tumor". In Mister Miracle (2017), he is instead referred to as "The Knee" (From the common idiom "knee-face", which refers to a newborn child's lack of defined facial features). In 2020, his name was changed once more to "The Mass".
• Tintin:
  • The Hebrew translations of the series are inconsistent both within and between albums as to what Captain Haddock is called. This applies to both his title — which bounces between the anglicism "Kepten" and Hebrew translation Rav haḤovel — and his name, which is usually a straight translation of the word for the haddock fish (Ḥamor haYam — literally "sea donkey"), but is sometimes written phonetically as "Hadok".
  • One of the 7 victims of the Inca curse is called Marc Charlet in the original French version, in English, he's called Mark Falconer in "The Seven Crystal Balls" but is suddenly called Carling in "Prisoners of the Sun".
• Two example in the French translation of Bone:
  • The name of the Crown of Horns keeps changing between "Couronne de Cornes" (Crown of Horns), "Couronne d'Épines" (Crown of Thorns) and "Couronne d'Aiguille" (Crown of Needles) in each book.
  • The name of the Locust is translated as "Seigneur des Criquets" ("Lord of Locusts", albeit with a French word that sounds completely different than "locust") for most of the story. But in the last book, they inexplicably call him "Locuste", a more literal translation of his original name.

Comic Strips

• The Spanish translation of Garfield, on the strip's own site, took a few years to figure out how to translate Doc Boy's name. Sometimes he was the literal Spanish translation ("Chico Doc"); other times, his name was unchanged. The translation also went back and forth on whether or not Pooky the teddy bear's name was left alone or changed to the phonetic "Puky".

Fan Works

• Citadel of the Heart flips between either using the Japanese terminology for anything Digimon related, or using the English Dub terminology. Digimon Re: Tamers, on the other hand, decides to invoke this trope as a means of using it for Foreshadowing purposes, making certain characters stand out between one another by having this be a part of their characterization, among other examples. Henry uses his English Dub name because he's shedding the family name, whereas the original names for his family members are kept as they were in the Japanese version. Ruki and her family, as well as Renamon, maintain all of their Japanese names and terminology all the way down to Renamon using said terminology as her own Insistent Terminology (such as referring to Rookie Level Digimon as Child Level Digimon, calling her own attacks by their Japanese names, etc.). Then of course Impmon's entire backstory as to why he uses the Dub terminology is because he's native to the US servers of the Digital World in which the Dub terminology is considered the correct terminology to use, and Impmon's general characterization is a somewhat boorish Eaglelander. Jeri's name is a more mundane case; at birth, when her father was registering her name for her birth certificate, he misspelled her name from the original (Juri) and ended up with Jeri and never bothered to correct it.

Films — Animation

• An intra-language version of this sort of thing happens in Ralph Bakshi's animated version of The Lord of the Rings. The voice actors refer to the character of Saruman as "Aruman" half of the time. This was an originally an intentional change, to make sure the character wouldn't be confused with Sauron, but they flipped between names at random. Also, in spite of Tolkien's detailed notes concerning the pronunciations of certain character names, in the book itself, many of the voice actors pronounced them differently — and in different ways depending on the actor.
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls:
  • The Brazilian dub changes the title of the first movie to Meninas de Equestria. This is all fine and good... but then Rainbow Rocks came along. The official preview on the Hasbro channel uses the localized title, but then in the movie itself the original English title is used instead. This problem is increased in the mobile game, where a completely different title is used for the Equestria Girls minigame. This was never a problem in the European Portuguese dub, where the English title is used from the get-go.
  • A new problem was risen in the European Portuguese dub of Rainbow Rocks. When it was first broadcasted, advertisements used the movie's Working Title of Equestria Girls 2 but the movie itself used the correct title.
  • The Italian dubs keep changing the name of the school. In the first movie it's "Scuola Superiore di Canterlot" ("Scuola Superiore" is the formal translation of "high school"), in the second movie it's "Liceo di Canterlot" ("Liceo" is the term to refer to regular high schools to separate them from technical institutes) and the third movie just leaves "Canterlot High School" in English.
• A peculiar one in the Italian dub of Wreck-It Ralph: The medal Vanellope gives to Ralph says on one of its sides "To Stinkbrain". In dialogue the monicker is translated as "Capoccione Puzzone" ("Smelly Big Head"), but the medal itself is edited to say instead "A Puzzacervello", a more literal translation of the original writing.
• The infamously bad EastWest English dub of Dingo Pictures' Wabuu renames Wuschel the squirrel "Silly", whereas Wabuu's recap of his story in The Countryside Bears reverts to Wuschel.

Films — Live-Action

• Star Wars is a major sufferer of this in several languages, partly due to its age and changes in countries' dubbing practices during the franchise's lifespan.
  • In both the French and Italian versions of the original Star Wars movies, most characters and vehicles received a Dub Name Change. However, in translations of the prequels and later Expanded Universe material, most of these changes were reverted. The "reverted" names are treated as the official ones, despite the original trilogy not getting an extensive redub in those languages for consistency; in Darth Vader's case (see below), while he's one of the few characters to keep his Dub Name Change in the European French versions, even he had his name reverted for French-Canadian translations from The Phantom Menace onwards.
    • In the case of French, Darth Vader is a unique case; both France and Canada share one dub of the original movies, made in France, in which Vader's name (the only "Darth" character at that point) is changed to "Dark Vador". Although later translations in France kept this change and carried it over to new characters ("Dark Maul", etc.), the French-Canadian versions of the new movies, series and packaging blurbs on merchandise not only kept "Darth", but also used Vader's original English name. This actually happens a lot in Canadian French when new entries to old movie and TV series are dubbed. Before the 1990's, most French translations were done in France. Nowadays, most of them get a local dub in Quebec; series that got early instalments dubbed in France can have later ones dubbed in Quebec (Indiana Jones, The Lion King and Family Guy come to mind). And if that wasn't inconsistent enough, from The Force Awakens and onward, they return to his name being Dark Vador like in France meaning that going from the original trilogy, then the prequels and then the sequels, we go from Dark Vador, to Darth Vader, back to Dark Vador again.
    • A New Hope isn't even consistent with itself. The Stormtroopers are refered to as "Imperial Shock Troopers" by Obi-Wan Kenobi and "Commandos" by Princess Leia. C-3PO also refers to the spice mines of Kessel as the "salt mines of Kasselring".
    • For the Italian versions, there was actually a poll to determine whether Darth Vader (known as "Dart Fener" in Italian) would use his original name in the Revenge of the Sith dub. "Fener" won with 55% of the votes, although "Darth Vader", for some reason, is still used in most Italian merchandise blurbs. And other Sith Lords would use "Darth" rather than "Dart" as a title.
    • The Italian translation of every media released since The Phantom Menace uses the Italian dub names for every character from the classic trilogy except for the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 (who were renamed D-3BO and C1-P8 originally)^note Originally they were going to adlib in Bail Organa's line about resetting them in Revenge of the Sith something about "changing their registration numbers" in order to explain the name change between the two trilogies, but the idea was vetoed by executives... until The Force Awakens came by and they were forced to keep all of the original names, to much disdain from everyone.
  • The German Star Wars franchise has some serious problems with consistency. Sometimes English titles like captain and lieutenant are swapped with the German versions, sometimes not. Sometimes Poggle the Lesser is Poggle der Geringere, sometimes not (even within some episodes in The Clone Wars). Sometimes Tarkin is a Grand Moff, but sometimes it gets woolseyised to Mufti (interpreter or expounder of Islamic law). Even the comics, with a staff of promoted fanboys, it is not safe to say if the Home One is Heimat Eins or not. Jango is said with the English pronunciation everywhere except for The Clone Wars where it is Ijangoh.
    • In A New Hope the Emperor is consistently referred to as "der Kaiser", but in every movie and book (except the original novelizations) thereafter it would be translated as "der Imperator". While both are exact translations, the connotation is different: Imperator fits more with a Roman or Neo-Roman context while Kaiser evokes a medieval/early modern feudal mood, fitting with the idea of a fairy tale IN SPACE! The German translation of the novelizations kept referring to Imperial troops as "kaiserliche Truppen" rather than "imperiale Truppen" (as in the movies and subsequent EU works), and TIE fighters were called "Spurjäger" (tracker fighters, whatever that is supposed to be... actually trail hunters, which makes even less sense, and both would indicate a long-range recon role which is the complete opposite of what TIE fighters are built for), but would be referred to by their English names in every subsequent work. Oddly enough, lightsabers would be translated literally ("Lichtsäbel") but as light swords ("Lichtschwert") and laser swords ("Laserschwert") in later works.
    • Kessel, as in "Kessel Run". The dub of A New Hope renamed it "Kossal", presumably due to "Kessel" already being the German word for "cauldron". Many Expanded Universe works retained "Kessel", but there were exceptions like Lightsaber Duels, which used Kossal. Star Wars Rebels used "Kessel", but The Force Awakens was back to "Kossal", and then Solo actually used both. At least they had become consistently inconsistent by this point, as they specifically called the world "Kessel" and flying there the "Kossalflug", but this merely made it an in-universe inconsistency, of course.
  • Same for the Hungarian translations. Nobody is sure whether the Millennium Falcon's name should be left in English, or if the dubs (there are several) of the Original Trilogy are correct by naming it "Ezeréves Sólyom" ("Thousand-Year-Old Falcon"). Lightsabers also get to be referred to as "Laser swords" a lot, and although the dubbing studio made an effort to keep the voices and name translations of the prequels and the cartoon shows consistent, they still switched them around needlessly. The dub of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, for instance translated the clone nicknames at first, then decided to go with their English names, only Rex is voiced by the "standard" clone voice actor from the movies, and the voices of secondary characters also keep changing depending on the episode.
  • The Castilian Spanish dub of the original trilogy can't decide whether to pronounce the I in Jedi as in English or in Spanish (more or less like "jeddy"). Since in the prequels it's always pronounced as in English, you might think this is an artifact of the scenes dubbed later for the special editions, but the inconsistency shows up much more often than that.
• Some gag dubs of Dmitry Puchkov (AKA Goblin) are this way. For example, in the dub of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Gimli is named Gimler (referring to Heinrich Himmler), but in the second and third films' Gag Dubs, he is named Givi, a stereotypical Georgian name. Also done in the Gag Dub of The Matrix, where Matvey (Morpheus) claims to be travelling aboard an armored train (called KV-1, even though it's a tank) in the vicinity of Berlin, although later he claims to be aboard a submarine. In case of Gimli's name, it was a retcon. He was given a Georgian accent, and dwarves in general became the Fantasy Counterpart Culture of the Caucasian republics, so a Georgian name made more sense for him than the name of a Nazi officer. His name was also changed to Givi in the Re-Cut version of Fellowship.
• In the Netherlands, the subtitles of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (in the cinema, anyway) used the same names for the characters as in the Dutch translation of the novel — such as Merry being called Merijn. The other two parts, however, used the English names. Likely, this was after protests from people who had seen the film but not read the book.
• For the Castilian Spanish version of Back to the Future, Doc Brown's "1.21 jiggawatts" mispronunciation was kept as "Gigovatios" on the first film, but the third one used the correct "gigavatios". Inversely, the first move calls the Flux Capacitor "Condensador de Fluzo", with "fluzo" being a made-up word. The third movie properly translates it as "flujo", but Popcultural Osmosis only uses "fluzo", probably because it's more associated with the film.
• The Hungarian dubs of the Saw movies shift back and forth between using "Kirakós" (jigsaw) or "Fűrész" (saw) to refer to the Jigsaw Killer. The Hungarian words for "jigsaw" and "saw" have no relations, so it comes out of nowhere when Jigsaw is called "Fűrész".
• In the international cut of Mr. Nice Guy, Giancarlo has additional lines introducing the Demon gangstress Sandy as "Tara", but the end credits keep her original name.
• The Latin-American dub for Commando is specially stupid, because it doesn't only introduces a plot hole, but is not even consistent with itself. At some point, John Matrix says to an enemy that he likes him, so he'll kill him last. In the Mexican dub Matrix says "Me caes bien, por eso te haré talco" (lit. "I like you, so I'll turn you into talcum powder"), maybe because the "A" in "last" is said very obviously and the dubbing tried to adjust to that. But later in the movie Matrix finds the mook again and he asks "Remember that I told you that I would kill you last? I lied." The Mexican dub has Matrix asking the same question... even when in the dub he never asked the mook that.

Literature

• The Swedish translation of the Discworld books, while generally excellently flowing and providing good localization of English-specific puns and jokes, does have some annoying inconsistencies: for example, the translation of "the Dungeon Dimensions" alternates between Källardimensionerna ("the Basement Dimensions"), which keeps the meaning while losing the alliteration, and Demondimensionerna ("the Demon Dimensions"), which sounds awesome but loses the important point that the Things in the Dungeon Dimensions are nothing as rational and anthropomorphic as demons. However, the worst is probably the translation of "sourcerer", which is translated in three equally bad ways: urmagiker ("source-magician", keeping the meaning but losing the pun); häcksmästare ("hedge-ician", creating a bad pun that has nothing to do with the meaning... not that "sourcerer" is that awesome a pun), and finally, in the sourcerer-centric book Sourcery, svartkonstnär ("warlock"), which is neither funny nor descriptive of what a sourcerer does.
  • The Finnish translation for the Dungeon Dimensions varied for awhile between "Tietymättömät tyrmät" ("Unknown/Endless Dungeons") and "Umpi-ulottuvuudet" ("Sealed/Closed Dimensions), finally settling for the latter. The Finnish translation of Mort also went against every other translation's conventions, by for example translating trolls as "jätit" (giants/ogres), even though there's a perfectly good direct equivalent "peikko", which is used in every other Discworld book, and wizards as "taikurit" ("magicians"), even though that term is more commonly used of stage-magicians than the real deal, especially in a fantasy setting.
• Harry Potter:
  • The American editions of the books:
    • Initially, the American version had all iterations of "jumper" changed to "sweater", but quit at some point, creating a strange ambiguity. For all one knew, Lupin actually was intended to be wearing a child's dress, because surely if they meant a warm, woolen pullover which is worn by all sorts of people, they'd say so, as per usual.
    • The American editions of the first couple books saw fit to change Dumbledore's fondness for sherbet lemons into a fondness for lemon drops. So in the American edition of the second book, the password to Dumbledore's office becomes "lemon drop". However, "sherbet lemon" was left intact in the fourth book, causing Harry to "remember" the password to Dumbledore's office being "sherbet lemon" despite the fact that that only happened in the British version of the second book.
    • In the U.S. edition of the first book, every instance of "mum" was changed to "mom." Rowling objected to this, declaring that Molly Weasley is "not a mom." From the second book onwards, the American editions leave the "mums" intact.
  • An entire book has been written about problems in the Italian translation. Some infamous examples are listed here:
    • In Philosopher's Stone, Terry Boot mantains his original name, in Order of the Phoenix he becomes "Terry Steeval" (an anglicized version of "stivale", i.e. "boot" in Italian)
    • In Fantastic Beasts, the Thestral is called "Testro", in Order of the Phoenix it's called just Thestral.
    • House Ravenclaw was inexplicably translated as "Pecoranera" ("black sheep") in the first books and in later books and editions as "Corvonero" ("black raven"). Rowena Ravenclaw was called Priscilla Pecoranera first, then only the surname was changed in the books, while the movies called her Cosetta Corvonero to keep the Alliterative Name.
    • Goblins are usually translated to "folletti", but sometimes they are called "goblins", in English.
    • But the best is a name which is translated inconsistently within the same book. In Order of the Phoenix, the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks are called "Snorticoli Cornuti" in a chapter, and then "Ricciocorni Schiattosi" in a later chapter. Reprints removed the "Snorticoli Cornuti" mention, leaving "Ricciocorni Schiattosi" as the only official translation.
  • In the Swedish translations of book 1-4, Neville's grandmother is translated to be his "mormor" (maternal grandmother, literally "mothermother"). From book 5 and onward, after Neville's heritage is revealed, it is changed to "farmor" (paternal grandmother, literally "fathermother"). The translator commented on this in an interview.
  • In the Catalan translation of book 2, "Tom Marvolo Riddle" is changed to "Tod Morvosc Rodlel". Later on, when the name appears in full (or just as Tom Riddle), it seems the translators remember to change it, but not when Dumbledore calls him just "Tom" in book 5.
• In different Italian translations of the Dune saga, the Golden Path is translated sometimes to "Sentiero Dorato" and sometimes to "Via Aurea".
  • Turkish ones too, sometimes retaining the original English terms and sometimes translating them with no apparent consistency or pattern.
• Italian translations of Tolkien's works suffer the same problem. Examples: orcs are "orchi" in The Hobbit, "orchetti" in The Lord of the Rings; Bilbo's sword, Sting, is "Pungiglione" in The Hobbit, "Pungolo" in The Lord of the Rings.
  • It's a matter of setting things right. The English "orc" may look similar to the Italian "orco" ("ogre"), but they indicate different creatures. In the translation of The Hobbit they used the false equivalence "orc = orco", while in The Lord of the Rings they used the translation with the correct meaning.
  • The same can be said for the Hungarian translations. This lead to so much confusion, in fact, that for The Hobbit, they released a revised translation, integrating the terms popularized by The Lord of the Rings books. Then, when the LOTR books received a revision of their own, Hobbit saw its fourth and (hopefully) final re-translation. See here for a comprehensive list of name variations^note  1st column: Original Hobbit translations; 2nd column: Original LOTR translations; 3rd column: first revised edition; 4th column: finalized name changes, and here for a less in-depth list, which also includes the English terms.
  • The infamous Swedish translation of The Lord of the Rings by Ake Ohlmarks couldn't make up its mind whether one place was named Isengard, Isendor or Isendal. The river Entwash was first named "Slamma flod" ("Muddy River"), then "Bukteån" ("Bendy Stream") before finally becoming "Ente älv" ("Ent River").
• In The Bible, there is an observance known in the Hebrew text as "Pesach" and the English as "Passover". In the Greek, it's called "pascha", an obvious derivative of the Hebrew word. One time, however, for no apparent reason, "pascha" was translated "Easter" in the King James Version. You don't find this term anywhere else in The Bible, and it doesn't tell you when, why, or how to observe it, or even to observe it, even if "Easter" was meant, which seems unlikely.
  • Christian Bible translations are notorious for retconning Christian ideas into (someone else's) holy book that simply does not jive with them, be it through deliberately insincere translations, translations from Greek ambiguity that completely ignore the original Hebrew, or anachronisms such as the above. The King James translation of 1 Maccabees (which, for the record, does not form part of the Jewish Biblical canon, but the original Hebrew version has been preserved) casually mentions Jesus in the line of Old Testament Israelite leadership. (Of course this is meant to be Joshua).
• The Dutch translation of Artemis Fowl has some problems with this. For starters, there isn't a difference between the word 'elf' and 'pixie', until the fourth book, after which 'pixie' becomes 'elfje' (Little elf, Dutch doesn't have a word for pixie). 'Warlock' is first translated with the 'heksenmeester', but when they turn out to be a breed of demon, they become 'demonenmeester', before shifting back to 'heksenmeester'. And the spelling of the elves' language is 'Gnomisch' for the first books, which later on changes to 'Gnommisj'.
• Spanish translators couldn't agree on how to spell Winnie the Pooh's name. The first book translation, from 1945, simply called him "Pu". Disney went with "Winnie Pooh" (and other phonetic spellings, while the books (which were translated in the 80's) called him "Winny de Puh" (also phonetic).
  • Italian translators couldn't settle on a proper name for Pooh either. The first translation (from 1936) called him "Ninni Puf", but later translations (since 1946) began to call him Winnie Pooh or some spelling thereof.
  • In the end, Disney's Spanish and Italian translators have settled upon the English title.
• Both Italian translations of Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman have some inconsistencies:
  • The first translation called Melvin Sneedly "Giovanni Cioppis" instead of his usual Italian name, Mariolino Atomo. The second translation, which keeps the original names for the kid characters, doesn't have this issue.
  • The second translation reintroduces two pages that were cut in the first edition to not show that Mr. Krupp and Ms. Ribble's (failed) wedding is a Jewish one. The inconsistency is that in those two newly-translated pages Mr. Krupp's non-stop blubbering is kept as in the original version, while in the original translation used up until that point his blubbering was replaced with gasping.
• Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection: In-universe. The Translator Microbes aren't always good at telling what should be translated and what shouldn't. Names are by far the biggest problem; sometimes names are translated literally, and sometimes they aren't. And the tone and cultural context is lost in translation, such as a Red Shirt Army that ends up being translated as "Army of Jerks."
  Dr. Srinavasan: Again, the translator is not perfect. I'm sure there's a little confusion about what—
  Mrs. Oh: They're an army and they're jerks, Doc. Translator's doing fine.

Live-Action TV

• The Russian dub of Stargate SG-1 alternates between three different renderings of the name "Daniel", among other things.
• For a couple of episodes, the Hungarian dub of MythBusters kept referring to Buster both by his original English name (which is normally used in the dub) and "Tulok" ("Bullock"). Even the narrator was surprised about it, as you could tell by his voice. However, it is a dub that has the voice cast alternate from episode to episode...
• The first season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers gave some of the weapons and vehicles on the show more than one name. For example, the Dragonzord Fighting Mode (the Dragonzord/Sabretooth Tiger/Triceratops/Mastondon Zord combination) is also referred as the Mega Dragonzord (not to be confused with a different Dino Megazord/Dragonzord combination) and the Dragonzord Battle Mode.
  • The Brazilian dub of Power Rangers S.P.D. at first Woolsey'd the titular Space Patrol Delta into "Super Patrol Delta" in order to keep the acronym, but later episodes (presumably translated by different people) would just have it translated literally to "Patrulha Espacial Delta".
  • The Italian dub of Power Rangers Megaforce translated the names of the various Megazords. Guess what? Gosei Great and Gosei Grand were both translated as "Grande Megazord Gosei".
  • The original Power Rangers Megaforce itself, being an edited translation, also suffers from this trope to silly degrees(a mixture of Creator's Apathy and the crew never checking terms in the original seasons, despite Megaforce being an anniversary season celebrating the others). Examples includes the battleclaws of the Jungle Fury Rangers being called the claw boosters, the Animarium being called Animaria, which is the name of the kingdom the Animarium comes from (They also mispronounced it), Super Dino Mode being called Dino Rampage and more. It boggles the mind really, as anyone who watched the earlier seasons then watches Megaforce can tell right away they never ever bothered to get the terminology or attack names from earlier seasons right. It's not even consistent with itself, as the Sentai-only rangers get different names on each appearance; Power Rangers Blitz or simply "New Powers" are used for different teams on different teams, depending on the episode.
• Friends
  • The European Spanish dub renders Joey's "How you doin?" catchphrase a different thing everytime it shows up, which kills the point of a catchphrase in the first place.
  • In the Italian dub, it happens with the pronunciation of the name Alice (girlfriend of Phoebe's brother Frank). In her debut episode, she's called "Alice" with the Italian pronunciation that sounds completely different ("Al-ee-che"). In all her other appearances they keep the English pronunciation of her name.
• The Hungarian dub of Star Trek: Voyager's 7th season was an example, but thankfully a second dub rectified the problem. It was handed over to a Romanian dubbing studio called Zone, notorious for its very cheap and lazy dubs. It was not only inconsistent with the dubbing of the rest of the show (new voices for everyone, new name variations, new expressions), but also with itself. It was so bad, in fact, that the TV station issued a public apology to the fans and re-dubbed the entire thing with the original cast some time later.
• The Korean dub of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger refers to Samurai Sentai Shinkenger as Power Rangers Blade Force. This contradicts an earlier dub name the team received in Kamen Rider Decade where they were known as Power Rangers Samurai Force.
• The Castilian Spanish dub of the second season of Game of Thrones changes Yara Greyjoy's name back to Asha, as she was named in the A Song of Ice and Fire source novels. The third season, however, keeps Yara. Adding to the confusion, "Yara" doesn't appear in this season until the last episode, while Theon keeps talking about her during his captivity.
• In the Italian dub of The Vampire Diaries Elijah is renamed Elìa for some reason, but in the spin-off The Originals he keeps the name Elijah. Oddly enough, when Elijah's brother Klaus (who also left The Vampire Diaries after season 4 and is now in The Originals) comes back in one of the later episodes of The Vampire Diaries, he talks about his brother calling him Elijah, instead of Elìa, the Italian dub name previously used in that show.
• One Tree Hill: In the Italian dub of the first two seasons, "Keith" is pronounced like the female name Kate (again, using the Italian pronunciation with words being pronounced as they are written). They later realized it was a mistake and from season 3 onwards the dub started using the correct pronunciation of "Keith".
• Xena: Warrior Princess: In the German dub, Gabrielle was called "Gabriella" for the first season. Joxer's name was rendered as "Chocka" for quite a while, then briefly turned to "Jocka" for an episode or two before finally arriving at the proper "Joxer" for the rest of the series' run.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In her first episode, Kai Winn was called "Kai Wunn" in the German dub. When she turned out to be a recurring character istead of a one-episode guest star, the dub switched to properly calling her Kai Winn with no explanation.
• The French dub of Married... with Children changes Marcy's name to "Marie", but only in Season 1. Starting with Season 2, she becomes "Marcy".
• In the French dub of The Office (US), Andy's nickname for Jim "big tuna" is changed into "barracuda" for the first batch of episodes, before getting reverted to a litteral translation "gros thon".
• El Chapulín Colorado: Happened often in the classic Brazilian dub for the series, done from 1984 to 1992.
  • The titular character was originally named "Polegar Vermelho" ("red thumb") in the earliest dubbed episodes, as a reference to "Pequeno Polegar", the Brazilian name of "Hop-o'-My-Thumb" (as a reference to the character's small size). This was done because the original Spanish name, Chapulin, belongs to an insect which is known in Mexico but not in Brazil; however, at the same time, it made the "CH" symbol on his chest meaningless. In later dubs, the character was renamed to just "Chapolin", without the "Colorado" part of his name, even if the word "Chapulin" didn't make any sense in Portuguese. Eventually, his official Brazilian name was fully estabilished as "Chapolin Colorado".
  • The dub had especially a hard time estabilishing the recurring villains' names:
    • Carlos Villagrán's gangster villain, "El Cuajináis", usually tends to be translated to "Quase Nada" ("Almost Nothing"), which is his most known name on the dubbed version and was chosen due to sounding similar to the original name and fitting well on its lip sync. However, in a handful of episodes, the same character had his name adapted very differently; in separate occasions, he has been named "Chinesinho" ("Little Chinese", probably a reference to his slanted eyes, one of which is partly closed by a scar), "Gorila", and "O Fura-Tripa" ("The Gut-Piercer").
    • Ramón Valdés' "El Rascabuches" is almost always named "Racha-Cuca" ("Head-Cracker") on the dub, for the same reason as Cuajináis; to preserve an auditive resemblance to the original Spanish name. The only exception was the dub of an 1979 episode, where he was instead renamed to "Rasga-Bucho" ("Stomach-Ripper"), which sounds even closer to the original name.
    • An example which ocurred on the same episode: Rubén Aguirre played an one-off villain named "El Pocas Trancas", which was adapted to "Porca Solta" on the initial dub the episode received in 1984. However, the same episode was redubbed six years later, with the character's name being the much more literal translation "Poucas Trancas".
  • A recurring element from the series are Chapulin's "Pilulas de Chiquitolina" (a portmanteau of chiquito - which means "small" - and -lina), pills which allow him to drastically reduce his own size when ingesting them. In the Brazilian dub, they have alterned between three names: "Pilulas de Polegarina" (from polegar; thumb, referencing the character's original name in the dub), "Pilulas de Nanicolina" (from nanico; "tiny"), and "Pastilhas Encolhedoras" (which means simply "shrinking pills").

Tabletop Games

• When the old "red book" Dungeons & Dragons game was translated to Finnish, the translators of supplement books often didn't bother checking the original rulebook for consistency. The result was that these books would sometimes refer to unfamiliar spells or monsters, to the confusion of players who had no way to figure out that e.g. "Epätodellinen voima" and "Illuusio" were both referring to Phantasmal force. This could even result in different terms getting conflated together, e.g. Polymorph and Shapechange both getting translated as "Muodonmuutos".
• In Yu-Gi-Oh!, a very early card went by the name of "Kagemusha of the Blue Flame", and described him as "a double for the Ruler of the Blue Flame." However, it would later be revealed that "Blue Flame" wasn't a title; it was actually a guy named Shien, whose name is the characters for "blue flame." Every future card involving Shien simply called him "Shien."

Web Animation

• Used deliberately in Girl-chan in Paradise when Galacticamaru's Quirky Miniboss Squad are referred to as Taishos, Bushido Blasters, Captains, Bushido Captain Blasters, and Captain Taisho Bushido Blaster Busters.
• Invoked by the Italian dub of Star Wars: Galaxy of Adventures. The show uses archived audio of the original movies to voice the characters, but there's also an additional narrator that states a few lines in each episode. Since the multiple Dub Name Changes from the dub of the original trilogy have been retconned over time, it creates a dissonance where characters are called with two names in the same short (R2-D2 and C1-P8, Han Solo and Ian Solo, C-3PO and D-3BO...), plus the Emperor having three different voices in the same short.

Webcomics

• This could also fit under Overlapping and is a BIG Lampshade Hanging. The Hungarian (fan)translator of Roommates (Lakótársak) and Girls Next Door (A Szomszédlányok), as both are Mega Crossovers and heavy on Shout Outs, developed the catchphrase "Keep/Compare notes, damn it!" because of this trope.
  Ashe's artist comment on Misto: See the musical "Cats" for more information — I have yet to pick up a copy of Eliot's book.
  Translator's addition: I read it... but sadly the Hungarian translators of the musical and the book never compared notes.
  • She also created an additional Running Gag from the characters being puzzled because of it... like poor Princess Buttercup wondering whether her name is "Boglárka" (film) or "Pitypang" (book).
• Yumi's Cells tend to flip between names for the Cells, like Manner/Etiquette Cell, Jinx/Jump-the-Gun Cell, and Hunger/Hungry Cell. It also sometimes mixes up the genders of androgynous Cells, since Korean doesn't have gendered personal pronouns. Diet Cell is introduced as male but becomes female when ship-teased with Hunger Cell, and One-Step-Behind Cell starts out female but is referred to as male after some hundred episodes after being absent.

Web Videos

• In Chadtronic's review of a tape called You on Kazoo!, he points out the children are dubbed by adults at different points of the video, and what's worse, they don't even bother trying to sound like kids. On top of all that, one has to wonder why they did this in the first place.

Western Animation

• Far too many Hungarian dubs to list. Most of the time, it's the result of switching dubbing studios or translators, although one has to wonder why the voice actors don't point out the inconsistency.
  • Greek dubs tend to have a similar issue, though it's mostly by switching voice actors around or translating stuff differently between episodes.
• The Brazilian Portuguese dub of 101 Dalmatian Street first translated Doug and Delilah's names as Pongo and Perdita, respectively. However, these changes were reverted, probably because the dubbers realized how weird it would be if they were still alive.
  • The Danish and Brazilian Portuguese dubs gave Da Vinci a male voice in "Poetry Scam", but in "Doggy Da Vinci" gave her a female voice and changed her gender from male to female. The problem lies that in the original she was female the whole time. Woops.
• In the Italian dub of the Adventure Time episode "Card Wars", the concept of Flooping was translated as "Ruotare" ("Spin"), but in "Daddy-Daughter Card Wars" it becomes "Fluppare", an Italianized version of the English name.
  • In the Norwegian dub, Princess Bubblegum is called "Prinsesse Sukkersøt" (Princess Sugar Sweet). However in some episodes she goes under the name "Prinsesse Tyggegummi" (direct translation of her original English name).
• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • The Arabic dub originally mistook Tails for a squirrel and gave him a squirrel Dub Name Change. This was fixed later on.
  • In the Italian dub, Tails's real name Miles was translated as "Trottolino" in the flashback of his first meeting with Sonic in "Tails' New Home", but when it's mentioned again in "The Little Hedgehog" the original name is left.
• The Amazing World of Gumball:
  • The Italian dub just can't decide if Alan, Bobert, Idaho, Leslie, Masami, Penny and Tina should keep their English names or be renamed respectively "Balloon", "Robot", "Potato", "Flower", "Cloud", "Peanut" and "T-Rex".
  • Again in the Italian dub, the homemade tabletop game seen in early episodes, Dodge or Dare, was translated as "Scappa o Sfida" ("Escape or Challenge") in Season 1, but when it got its own episode in Season 2 it became "Tira o Rischia" ("Roll or Risk"). The Brazilian Portuguese dub had a similar case, with the game becoming "Desvie ou Enfrente" ("Dodge it or Face it") in Season 1, and becoming "Drible ou Desafie" (which is more or less a more faithful translation) in season 2. However, considering how the game's name was retconned to be spelled as "Dodj or Daar" in season 2, this might've played a part on the confusion in the dubs.
  • Early on the Latin American Spanish dub, a few side characters recieved Dub Name Changes, for example, Mr. Small became "Sr. Pequeño" or Idaho became "Papita", but in Season 3, their original English names abruptly began to be used for the rest of the series.
• The first episodes of American Dad! in Castilian Spanish translated Snot's nickname, but after 10 episodes or so they kept it in English for no reason.
• In the Latin American Spanish dub of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, MC Pee Pants' gender was zig-zagged due his high-pitched voice, and Dr. Weird accidentally referring to him as his "beautiful fiancée" in a Cold Opening: In his debut episode of the same name, Mc Pee Pants was referred to as a female and even got a female voice actress, but he was later reverted back into a male in his second appearence in the episode "Super Sir Loin" and got a male voice actor, just to be turned back into a female in his third appearence in the episode "The Last One", with his previous voice actress even returning, and yet, he was reverted back into male again in his fourth and final appearence in the episode "Little Brittle", although with a different voice actor.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Trying to follow the Brazilian dub is a little harder than it should be thanks to this trope.
    • The most poignant inconsistency is the translation of the term "bender". Since there is not a precise equivalent of the term "bender" (which has one or two extra meanings in English) in Portuguese, the dubbers opted for "dobra" (folding), which sounds as weird as it would be in English when referring to elements. While the term was mildly popular, it was gradually changed to "dominador" (manipulator), which doesn't carry the exact same meaning, but definitely makes more sense.
    • As far as pronunciations go, the dub really can't make up its mind. Iroh will be pronounced interchangeably as "Eye-roh" and "Ee-roh"; Mai will be either "May" or "My-ee"; Suki will be either, well, "Suki" or "Su-KEE"; Ty Lee will be either "Tye Lee" or "Tee Lee" etc. It's surprising to see how Aang kept his English pronunciation consistent.
    • The minor character Pipsqueak got his nickname translated ("Tampinha") sometimes, and other times kept as is.
  • Like with both the Powerpuff Girls shows below, the European Portuguese dub was inconsistent between the two shows, though to a much minor degree. Like with the Brazilian version above, they couldn't decide on what to call the elemental powers in the series. In the original, the English name was kept for the users (e.g. Firebender) but was translated for the actual power (e.g. "Poder do Fogo" [lit. "Power of Fire"] instead of Firebending), while the sequel series kept the power's name, but changed the user's name into "Guardião/Guardiã"^note Male/Female, respectively.
  • In the Norwegian dub, it seems like they couldn't quite decide if the show was supposed to be named "The Last Airbender" or "The Legend of Aang", as it kept switching back and forth between the two titles.
  • The Russian dub just couldn't decide how to tactfully rename the character Suki, whose original name is a swear word meaning "bitches" in Russian. She was called Dzuki in the first season, Suyuki in the second, and Zuki in the third. The Russian fandom typically calls her Suyuki regardless.
  • The Japanese dub:
    • In the first episode, Katara calls the Water Tribe "水の部族" (Mizu no buzoku) ^Translation the literal translation in her initial narration. After that, however, they're almost always referred to as "水の民" (Mizu no Tami) ^Translation "the Water Folk" instead. Note that the latter sounds more natural in Japanese than the former does.
    • Seasons 1 and 2 use "西の龍" (Nishi no ryū) to refer to Iroh's Red Baron as the Dragon of the West. However, Season 3 instead refers to it as "西のドラゴン" (Nishi no doragon).
• The Italian dub of Bob's Burgers has its fair dose of inconsistencies:
  • The last name of the main characters, Belcher, is usually mispronounced as "Bell-care", with only a few episodes in Season 1 and some in Season 9 using the correct pronounciation.
  • The "Jr." part of Jimmy Pesto Jr.'s name is sometimes pronounced correctly, while in other episodes is pronounced as its Latin root ("You-nior").
  • Zeke's name is usually mispronounced "Zeck", with the correct pronounciation being used only twice in the entire series.
  • The Thunder Girls are usually translated literally as "Ragazze Tuono", but keep the English name in the episodes "Tina, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and "Sleeping with the Frenemy".
  • When mentioned for the first time in "The Millie-churian Candidate", the name of the pet chinchilla in Louise's class, Princess Little Piddles, is translated as "Piccola Principessa Pisciasotto" ("Little Princess Peepants"), but in "Adventures in Chinchilla-Sitting" the name is instead "Principessa Pisciatina" ("Princess Brief Piss").
  • Boyz 4 Now keep their English name in most of their appearances, but in "Just one of the Boyz 4 Now" they're suddenly translated as "I Mitici 4" ("The Mythical 4").
• The German dub of the DiC series of The Care Bears suffers from this big-time, particularly in regards to changing character voices and genders:
  • Proud Heart Cat is male in this dub, but "his" voice is completely different in "Concrete Rain" compared to his/her other appearances in "Lucky Charm", "Dry Spell", and "The Old Man and the Lighthouse".
  • Grumpy Bear is voiced by an actress in "Split Decision", "The Last Laugh", and "The Night the Stars Went Out", but for his other appearances in "Magic Mirror" and "The Cloud Worm", he's voiced by a male actor as in the original, and speaks in his normal deep, baritone voice.
  • Cozy Heart Penguin is voiced by a male actor in three episodes: "The Last Laugh", "Drab City", and "The Old Man and the Lighthouse". To top it off, "his" voice sounds completely different in "The Last Laugh" (more of a "cutesy" falsetto) compared to the other two episodes mentioned. In her other two appearances, "Forest of Misfortune" and "Daydream", she's female as in the original.
  • In "Camp", "Split Decision", "Magic Mirror", and "Forest of Misfortune", Love-A-Lot Bear is erroneously male.
  • In "Forest of Misfortune", Treat Heart Pig is male, but in "Daydreams", she's female as in the original.
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers:
  • The Russian dub consists of 52 episodes done in early 90s by TPO Kinoprogramm and 13 remaining episodes dubbed in 2000s by Nevafilm with a completely different cast. The Nevafilm-dubbed episodes translate the names of some characters (such as Fatcat) differently. For those who want to watch CDRR in the original order of episodes, this can be rather jarring since some Nevafilm-dubbed episodes are going to be sandwiched between those dubbed by TPO Kinoprogramm.
  • How did they translate "Rescue Rangers" in Germany? As an in-universe name, it became "Rettungstruppe" ("rescue troop"). The on-screen title card however turned it into "Die Ritter des Rechts" ("the knights of justice"), presumably to keep the "RR" abbreviation. And the official title appears to be "Ritter des Rechts" without the article.
• Season 1 of the Polish dub of Codename: Kids Next Door had the five characters called by nicknames (something that was scrapped from the English version after the previews, but persisted here) rather than their real names, however it starts to use the real names from Season 2 onwards perhaps due to them being more and more relevant to the story. This is also the case for the Brazilian Portuguese dub, although these nicknames were only used in promotional material (such as the "Cartoon Zaum" crossver brand) rather than the series proper.
  • Speaking of the latter dub, they can't seem to decide if Numbuh 5's family name should be "Lincoln" like in the original or be replaced by "Oliveira"(Wikipedia and the CN website works around this by referring to her as "Abigail Oliveira Lincoln"). Numbuh 3's first name also was switched between "Kuki" and "Ukibi".
• The Brazilian dub of The Cuphead Show! can't decide if they are naming the characters of the show with the names taken from the brazilian translation of the game or the original english names, Cuphead and Mugman are named Xicrinho and Caneco, some bosses got their translated names like Captain Brineybeard to Capitão Barba-Salgada and Cala Maria to Dona Iara, while other bosses kept their english names like Werner Werman and Sally Stageplay, this trope is in full effect with Ribby and Croaks that kept their english names in their first appearance, but later were named by their translated names Escoaxo and Sopapo.
• The Latin American Spanish dub of Daria has one of the most bizarre examples of this trope. While the series was dubbed in Mexico, many episodes mix Mexican with Spaniard and even South American slang and terminology in the dialogue, partly because the series was dubbed for the entire Spanish-speaking world, including Spain, despite that country, from the mid-to-late-1990s onward, preferring to broadcast locally-made European Spanish dubs. Later episodes were dubbed with a more neutral dialogue through.
• The Italian dub of Darkwing Duck has a bunch of inconsistencies.
  • F.O.W.L. is usually translated as O.C.A. (which translates to "Goose" and is an acronym for "Organizzazione Criminale per l'Arricchimento", "Criminal Organization for Enrichment"), but in some episode the original name is kept (with the acronym adapted as "Federazione Ovoidale Wargames e Ladrocini", which translates to "Egg-shaped Federation for Games of war and Robbery").
  • Professor Moliarty and Tuskernini, usually renamed respectively "Professor Talponi" and "Dente Alighieri", have been called with their English names in some occasions. In fact, Tuskernini is called more often with his English name rather than the Italian dub one.
  • In his first appearance, Gizmoduck is called Robopap, the same name that was used for the character in DuckTales (1987). In all his subsequent appearances, he's instead called Roboduck. Also, the last name of his civilian identity Fenton Crackshell, translated as "Paperconchiglia" in ''DuckTales, was changed to "Sganapini".
  • Splatter Phoenix switches back and forth between being named "Rembranda Von Duck" and "Miranda Von Quack".
  • The Fictional Videogame Wiffle Boy was translated in a very literal way as "Soffietto" in its first appearance, but when reappearing in a later episode it was changed to "Zak Game" (with the titular character becoming "Capitan Zak" accordingly)
  • Gosalyn's masked alter ego Quiverling Quack was translated initially as "Robinia Hood", but when she dons the costume again later on the name is changed to the more literal "Dardinia Quack".
  • S.H.U.S.H. scientist Sarah Bellum is usually translated into "Lona Cervel", but in a single instance they called her instead "Professoressa Cervelletti".
• The Italian dub of The Fairly OddParents! is filled with this.
  • In the episode where Timmy gives superpowers to his parents, the original names (Mighty Mom and Dyno Dad) are kept. But when they get their powers back in a later episode, their superhero identities are now "Supermamma e Papà Sprint" ("Supermom and Fast Dad").
  • Chet Ubetcha's surname was originally mispronounced as "Uh-BATCH-ka" for most episodes, than it was literally translated as "Chet Puoicontarci", than it went back to his original name but now pronounced "U-BACK-a", and finally they got the right pronunciation.
  • Similarly, Remy Bucksaplenty went from the correct pronunciation in his first appearance, to being pronounced "BOOKS-a-plenty" in the subsequent two appearances, and being translated as "Remì Piendigrana" in his last appearance.
  • The Crimson Chin is another big issue. He was originally "Crimson il Mentone" ("Crimson the Big Chin"), then it became "C-Man" in two episodes and then it stayed as "Crimson Mentone" for the remainder of the series.
  • Bronze Kneecap had a similar fate too: It was translated as "Ginocchiera di Bronzo" ("Bronze Kneepad") in his first appearance, then was changed into "Ginocchio di Bronzo" ("Bronze Knee"), and in a episode he further became "Rotula di Bronzo", a more literal translation.
  • Negachin was called "Nega Mentone" ("Nega Big Chin") in his first appearance but kept the English name in his second appearance.
  • Also, the actual concept of "Fairy Godparents" is translated in meny different ways during the series. While the regular translation is "Fantagenitori" (as in the Italian title of the show, Due Fantagenitori), sometimes other monickers were used, including "Folletti Magici" ("Magic Pixies"), "Spiriti Fatati" ("Enchanted Spirits"), the literal translation "Padrini Fatati", "Fate" ("Fairies", the second most used translation) and in a single occasion even "Elfi" ("Elfs").
  • The Fairy World is usualy named "Fantamondo", but sometimes it's called "Mondo Fatato" (a more faithful translation"), and in the April Fool episode it even became "Paese delle Fantasie" ("Fantasy Town").
  • Speaking about the April Fool... another character unable to keep a single name for more than one episode. Sometimes he is "Il Re dei Buffoni" ("The Buffoon King"), another time he was "Il Giullare del Primo d'Aprile" ("The April Fools Day Jester")..
  • Hungarian dub of The Fairly OddParents! is one of the more interesting cases. Originally, there were two dubs produced for two networks (Nick and KidsCo). When the Disney Channel started airing the show, they sort of "blended" the casts of the two dubs together. Timmy retained his Nick voice, some second-rate characters got new voices that matched the originals better, but mostly everyone else sounds like in the KC dubbing. After season 6, Nickelodeon ditched their dubbing studio (Labor) and brought over the Disney cast (studio SDI), along with their name translations — this meant Poof's name changed from "Pufi" to "Csiribú" during the shift. There remains other inconsistencies: despite being voiced by the same actress in both the original Labor and SDI dubs, Wanda's voice is much higher-pitched in the new Nick dub, and while the original SDI KidsCo and Disney dubbings didn't bother translating the songs (not even in subtitles), the Nick version does dub even the singing scenes.
  • Catman had at least three names in the Hungarian dubbing: Macskandúr (Portmanteau of cat and tomcat), Cicahős (Kittyhero) and Macskaember (straight translation).
• In the Italian dub of Futurama Lrrr (pronounced LYURR) kept his original name in the first 3 seasons. Then in season 4 he was suddenly renamed "Goffredo" and, while his voice actor remained the same, he also gained a completely different accent. Later episodes switched back to Lrrr (this time pronounced literally, as in LEH-RRR with hard Rs), but with a different voice actor and yet another different accent. Also, the "future" name for Christmas (Xmas) was translated pretty inconsistently over the course of the series: at first, in season 2 it was translated as "Nasale" (literally "Nasal", a play on the Italian world for Christmas, "Natale"), losing all satirical implications, while in season 6 it was changed to "Namale" (supposedly a play on "Natale" and "male", the Italian word for "evil"). In all the episodes in between it was just translated as "Natale".
• The Brazilian dub of I Am Weasel had a strange treatment of Weasel's name: The show's title and his catchphrase were translated "Eu Sou o Máximo" ("I am the greatest; Máximo is also a real name in Portuguese), but his name was originally "Possante" ("Mighty"); so he was introducing himself with one name, while everyone else called him another. His name was eventually changed to match the title, but the theme song kept the aforementioned inconsistency.
• The character Motor Ed of Kim Possible has the Verbal Tic of peppering his sentences with the word "seriously". When translated into Swedish, "seriously" can become two words, both with practically the same meaning: "seriöst" and "allvarligt". For some unknown reason, the dubbers went with having one of the two Motor Ed-centered episodes translating "seriously" to "seriöst" and the other translating "seriously" to "allvarligt".
• King of the Hill: Apart from abandoning the foul-mouthed Woolseyisms, the Hungarian dub changed John Redcorn's name to "Vörös Kukorica" (literally "Red Corn") in season 7, and started calling the Mega Lo Mart shopping center by its English name rather than "Giga Plaza", which was the name used in the earlier seasons.
• The Loud House:
  • As usual, the Italian dub has a good chunk of inconsistencies:
    • Lucy's favourite show, Vampires of Melancholia, was originally translated as "Vampiri e Malinconia" ("Vampires and Melancholy"), but later on it was changed to a more faithful "I vampiri di Malinconia"^note with the last word being pronounced differently to make clear that it's a place whose name sounds like "Melancholy".
    • Again with Lucy: her school club, the Morticians Club, has been translated as "Club dei funerali" ("Funeral Club"), "Club dei becchini" ("Undertaker Club"), "Club dei giovani becchini" ("Young Undertakers Club"), "Mortiferi Club" ("Club of the Deadly Ones") and "Becchini Junior" ("Junior Undertakers").
    • Flip's smoothee, the Flippee, usually keeps its English name, but in "Intern for the Worse" it was translated as "Flappé" (a pun between Flip's name and "frappé" - "milkshake" in Italian and French).
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • First localized in Hungary on promo DVDs. When they started airing the show on television, a completely new dub got produced, using mostly different voice actors and translations (though there is some overlapping). Fans are still arguing over which one is better/worse, as not all of the changes seemed to have been actual improvements.
  • The Italian dub:
    • They just couldn't decide if translate "Cutie Mark" as "Simbolo di Bellezza" or keeping it in English (often using both in the same episode), but in later seasons they chose the latter.
    • Also, the name of Pinkie Pie's Element. In Season 1 it was "Gioia" ("Joy"), in Season 2 became the more literal "Risata" and in Equestria Girls it became "Allegria" ("Happiness").
    • The monicker "The Great and Powerful Trixie" was translated as "La Grande e La Formidabile Trixie" ("The Great and The Amazing Trixie"), but became the more literal "La Grande e Potente Trixie" starting from the brief mention of her in "Ponyville Confidential"... until "To Here and Back Again" came back to the original monicker.
    • After keeping her English name for four seasons, in Season 5 Spitfire was suddenly renamed "Saetta" for no reason other than to match "Fulmine" (Soarin's Italian name, which was there since Season 1)
    • In "The Cutie Remark", Sunburst was renamed "Sunray", but in "The Crystalling" they kept Sunburst as his name.
    • In the dubs of "Bridle Gossip" and "Sonic Rainboom", Rainbow Dash's mocking nickname was changed from Rainbow Crash to Rainbow Splash, but in "Newbie Dash" they kept Rainbow Crash.
  • The Portuguese dub refers to bits as either coins (moedas) or cents (cêntimos). The localization of the mobile game keeps the original name untranslated.
  • The Croatian HRT dub:
    • It had some moments of misnaming characters, particularly as a result of sloppily copying one of the two Serbian dubs in most songs and later episodes; for example, in the Croatian dub of Art of the Dress Applejack gets referred to as "Jabuklina" even though her name is "Ivka", Fluttershy as "Tihana" while it's actually "Plahuljica" etc.
    • The voice actors are inconsistent as well; characters are occasionally voiced by VAs other than their intended one (for example, in "Bridle Gossip", Twilight gets voiced by a man in one line, as well as Scootaloo on occassion), especially during songs and the parts where audio is taken from one of the Serbian dubs. Several characters also received multiple different voice actors across the whole two first seasons, and on a few occasions within the same episode as well (for instance, in "Look Before You Sleep", Rarity has her VA in the episode itself but gets a different one in the Cold Open).
    • "May The Best Pet Win!" has two, both involving Tank. The first one is when Rainbow Dash initially meets Tank; she at first calls him a turtle (which is correct by the original script), but in her very next sentence she calls him a tortoise, to which Fluttershy remarks that he's a tortoise. The second one is his gender, wherein he's first referred to as a female and then as a male near the end of the episode.
    • Ponyville was named "Ponigrad" since the first episode, but for reasons unknown the name was changed to "Ponijevo" in the midst of the second season.
  • The Romanian dub: Poor Cutie Mark Crusaders. This dub just can't decide how to call them. "Cutie mark" is usually translated as "semn drăguț" or just "semn", except two episodes in Season 2. In "Cutie Pox" it's "semnişor" and in "Ponyville Confidential" they keep the English name. The biggest problem is the name of the team: "Aventurierii/Căutătorii/Cavalerii/Cercetaşii semnelor drăguțe/semnişoarelor"...
  • The French dub:
    • Ponyville keeps alternating between keeping its original name, or being literally translated to Poneyville. Sometime, the names alternate in the same episode.
    • The Elements of Harmony are either called "Éléments d'Harmonie", which is a literal translation, or "Éléments d'Équilibre", which means "Elements of Balance". Sometime, the names alternate in the same episode.
    • The Everfree Forest was originally changed to "la Forêt Désenchantée" (the Un-enchanted Forest), but starting from the middle of the season 2, they decided to keep the original "Everfree" name.
    • Owlowiscious is meant to keep his original name, but in "May the Best Pet Win!", he's called "Chouette délicieuse", meaning "Delicious owl". Doubles as a "Blind Idiot" Translation because Owlowiscious's name is meant to be a mix between "owl" and "Aloysius", not "owl" and "delicious".
    • The Wonderbolts go untranslated in all but one episode. In "The Ticket Master" they're called "Les Flèches de l'Air" (lit. "The Arrows of the Air/Air's Arrows").
• Polish dub of The Penguins of Madagascar has some inconsistencies:
  • Depending on the episode, Skipper will be addressed by his English name or as "Szef" ("Boss").
  • Doctor Blowhole was initially named as Doktor Waleń Głębokie Gardło (Doctor Whale the Deep Throat). The translators didn't know that he's not a whale but a dolphin, when his name appeared for the first time. Since "Dr. Blowhole’s Revenge", the Doctor is named "Doktor Bulgot" (Doctor Gurgle).
  • Also Blowhole's real name was confused in Polish dub; in one episode he's named "Płetewka", later - "Płetewek".
  • In first few episodes, Chuck Charles was named Maks Kolanko (after famous Polish TV reporter, Mariusz Max Kolonko), but later he was called in English.
  • Bada and Bing have Polish names (Bolo and Lolo), but sometimes their English names are used.
  • Phil was named in various episodes by various names: Edek, Stefan, Zenek.
  • The Space Squid is named as kosmiczna kałamarnica, kosmiczna mątwa, kosmiczna ośmiornica, which means: space squid, space cuttlefish and space octopus. But it's still a squid.
  • Kowalski's invention from "Invention Intervention" episode, which is called "Gemetrator" in Polish, is later (in the same episode) named "Gematron".
• The Mask: The French dub sometimes leaves Walter's name as it is, sometimes changes it to Martin.
• The Latin American Spanish dub of Phineas and Ferb translated OWCA- Organization Without a Cool Acronym, accurately as OSBA- Organización Sin un Buen Acrónimo for the Summer Belongs to You special. Later mentions, where the acronym's meaning isn't mentioned, it is just OWCA. At first it can be considered a good thing when OWCA's logo appears, (saying 'OSBA' when a sign clearly says OWCA can be a bit confusing), but it's still jarring, since in the nineties Disney used to edit signs on their movies and cartoons to fit the language it was done for, an action which ironically, with current technology, is even easier.
  • The Brazilian dub is even more inconsistent. Not only OWCA's name inconsitency also applies to this dub (it was first translated as OSUSB ^note  Organização Sem Uma Sigla Bacana, but it had multiple other names before returning to OSUSB for the rest of the series), but many things such as Doofenshmirtz's Inators or quotes get retranslated pretty often, specially in flashbacks. Part of the inconsistencies is because Phineas changed voice actors during season 2, so they couldn't just reuse season 1 clips with his old voice ^note  that didn't stop them to redubbing some season 1 episodes with Phineas' new voice, such as S'winter, and none of his lines have changed., but for other characters that retained their voices through the show (such as Candace and Doofenshmirtz), it made no sense at all.
  • In the Scandinavian dubs, none of the text is translated, but sometimes, a narrator reads the signs in the Danish version, but that is very rare. The reason for this might be that the video for all countries is shared, but not the audio.
  • In the Russian dub, Doofenshmirtz's last name was changed to "Foofelshmirtz", but during the first season, the captions read "Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated", while the singers sung "Foofelshmirtz Evil Incorporated".
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998)
  • In the Dutch dub, the "fighting crime" ending theme was translated in Dutch in the episode "Dream Scheme/You Snooze, You Lose", but it was in English on every other episode.
  • In the Italian dub, the Rowdyruff Boys kept their original names in their first appearance. In their later reappearances, they were renamed "Lino", "Dino" and "Mino" following the same "nearly identical names that start with L, D and M" pattern as the dub names of the Powerpuff Girls.
• In the German dub of Recess, the Diggers start out as twin brothers, then become identical best friends, and switch back to being twin brothers. In the original version, they were only best friends who happened to look identical (Rule of Funny).
  • In the first few airings of the German dub, and in a translation of one of the Disney Adventures comics for the show, Gus was named Paul. The dubbers recognized their mistake and redubbed those moments with his correct name.
  • The Italian dub also had its fair size of inconistencies:
    • Swinger Girl was changed to "Altalena Superstar" ("Swingset Superstar") for a good chunk of the episodes, but later on became the more literal "Ragazza altalena".
    • Cornchip Girl just had no name whatsoever for most of her appearances. The first time they tried to translate her nickname she became "Granturchina" ("Little Corn"), but after that they settled on "Patatina" ("Potato chip").
    • Depending on the episode, Kickball was translated either as "Tiracalci" ("Kickthrow") or "Calcioball" ("Soccerball").
    • Upside-Down Girl was either "Ragazza capovolta" or "Ragazza sottosopra" (both literal translations).
• The Smurfs (1981):
  • The Italian dub has inconsistencies, mainly because the first season is a big case of Early-Installment Weirdness. In the first 10 episodes they don't bother translating the English names of the Smurfs, and only midway through season 1 onward they start using the Italian translated names. The first two dubbed episodes have all the characters with different voice actors from the rest of the series, and Gargamella (Italian name of Gargamel) is also referred to as Garganella.
  • Also in the Italian dub, the smurfberries are called either "puffbacche" (a faithful translation, since Smurfs in Italian are "Puffi" and berries are "bacche") or "puffragole ("smurf-strawberries"). They just alternate between the two, depending on the episode.
• South Park's Hungarian dub changed its translator multiple times, which lead to an awkward period around the middle of the series when the consistency of names, verbal tics and the translation in general took a nosedive. In one episode, Cartman's voice actor even broke character to point out the sudden name change of Big Gay Al, and the studio ran with it instead of retaking the scene. For the later seasons, they hired a fan to translate the scripts, so these issues eventually got ironed out.
  • In the Italian dub, Mr. Mackey's "'mkay?" is usually translated as "'pito?" (slurred form of "Capito?", Italian for "Got it?"), but in Season 5 (which was the first one after the dubbing company and the cast were entirely replaced) it was instead translated as "E dunque..." ("And so...").
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • In the Dutch Dub most notably with Squidward's rival Squilliam Fancyson, who was allowed to keep his English name for his debut episode but was renamed "Octon te Verwend" in a later episode. Also happens to the Krusty Krab, which is usually translated as 'Krokante Krab' (a literal translation) but also sometimes 'korstige krab' (a less literal translation). Also, the Salty Spitoon was originally named "Zoute Roggel" but it was changed to "Zilte Spuugton" upon returning in Season 13.
  • In the Italian dub:
    • Squilliam Fancyson keeps his original name in his early appearances, but is renamed Squilli Elegant in some of the later episodes. The "Squilli" change was probably made to make his name similar to Squidward, who is only known as "Squiddi" in the Italian dub.
    • Mr. Krabs is renamed "Mr. Kreb" (pronounced just like "Crab") in the show, but the dub of the first movie keeps the original name.
  • Exaggerated with the European Spanish dub, which can not get Squilliam's name consistent. In "Band Geeks", he's Squiliam. In "Squilliam Returns", he's Guimardo. In "House Fancy", he's Calamardi Elegantínez, and later that season in "Professor Squidward", he's Calamarón el Guay III. In "I Heart Dancing" and "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful", he's Calamarino. In "Back to the Past", the dubbers confused him for Squidward and called him as such.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, the Gal Pals are called "Compañeras" (Partners) in "Girls' Night Out", but "Secre-amigas" (Secret Friends) in "A Cabin in the Kelp".
  • In the Arabic dub Squidward Tentacles is called Shafiq Habbar (Shafiq Squid) in most episodes but in some episodes he is called Shafiq Mijasat (Shafiq Tentacles).
• Steven Universe:
  • In the Italian dub, the name of Ronaldo's blog (Keep Beach City Weird) was originally translated as Beach Superstramba City ("Beach Superweird City") in "Cat Fingers", but in "Steven's Lion" they changed it into Keep Beach City Wow, and in the eponymous episode it became Beach City, La Città che Stranisce ("Beach City, the city that weirds you out")
  • Not exactly in the show itself, but Cartoon Network Italy's page initially referred to Garnet as "Rodolite", implying that she was going to have a Dub Name Change. She's still called Garnet in the actual show.
  • The Hungarian dub also alternates between translating names and keeping them in English, at times within the same scene. The translator eventually tried to salvage the script by handling the translated names as if they were generic designations denoting what type of gem a character is, while the English names were their personal names. But this notion falls apart as even non-gem characters switch their names randomly. The Crystal Gems went through several revisions too: at first they were "the Diamond Team" (still used in the Theme Song), "Crystal Fairies" or "Crystal Kids", before the dub settled on a literal translation. Callbacks to past events or exchanges also constantly get lost, as if every sentence of the show was translated by a different person, all bad at English.
• Teen Titans Go!:
  • In the Italian dub of the episode "Croissant", Killer Moth is all of a sudden renamed "Falena" ("moth"), when in his earlier appearances he kept his original name.
  • Still in the Italian dub, Lady Legasus was translated as "Lady Gambasus" in her first episode, but in the later appearances she became "Lady Gambesus."
• Winx Club:
  • The Rai/Cinelume English dub correctly referred to Bloom's home world as "Domino" for the first 3 seasons, but switches to "Sparks" for season 4 to match the 4Kids English dub, which had been calling it that from the beginning. In addition, the Rai/Dubbing Brothers USA dubs of the first two movies also use "Sparks". Fortunately, the Nickelodeon dub ignores all that, and just calls it "Domino".
  • In the first season of the Norwegian dub, the witch/fairy Mirta was called "Mista", but in season 2 they started referring to her as Mirta.
  • This also happened in Singapore English dub in the episode where Mirta was introduced. It was fixed afterwards.
• The Romanian dub of Xiaolin Showdown is inconsistent with the names of some Shen Gong Wus. For example, "The Shroud of Shadows" switches between "Giulgiul Umbrelor" and "Învăluirea Umbrei" quite often.
• X-Men cartoons in Hungarian. Hoo-boy... First, the original dub of the '90s animated show that aired on Fox Kids disregarded the comic book name translations, angering many fans (for example, Wolverine became Wolf, Storm became Cyclone, etc.). Then, X-Men: Evolution followed on Cartoon Network, with a fantastic dub, but kept the Fox Kids names, and season 4 didn't get dubbed. The X-Men live action movies followed suit, and thus the new names became widespread, so that now the general public recognizes "Wolf" as the character's basic name. Sometime later, the un-aired episodes of the '90s series receive a wholly new dub, and didn't bother with translating names, but only kept a handful of the original voice actors. Finally, to everyone's surprise, a different channel demanded Evolution's dub be finished, after a long wait that lasted for about half a decade. Unfortunately, even though all of the original actors were still accessible, only a select few characters kept their voices, they got some names wrong at certain points, and a few of the old voices returned in different roles. The final episode also contained a quite noticeable goof-up; namely, Jean's voice completely changed for just one scene.
• The hindi dub of Courage the Cowardly Dog that aired on Cartoon Network India had renamed the titular character as "Sher Dil", which literally translates to Lion Hearted, (meaning Brave and Determined)... only for about half the series. The rest of the series has others and himself refer to him as "Courage".
• In the Danish dub of Milo Murphy's Law, "sweater vest" is translated as "sweatervest" in the theme tune (i.e. the same word, except that it's written in one word in Danish), but when Milo talks about his sweater vest in the series proper, it's always translated as "strikvest" (lit. "knitted vest"). While both translations are equally correct, "strikvest" sounds somewhat more old-fashioned. This is due to the theme tune being translated a long time before the series proper and by a different translator, but it still comes off as weird that the translator of the series proper apparently hasn't even listened to the theme tune of the series he's translating.
• Ready Jet Go!:
  • The Hungarian dub contains numerous inconsistencies and errors:
    • The Propulsion family is both referred to with their English last name and English name order (surname after given name), as well as with a Hungarianized last name with Hungarian name order (surname before given name). The usage of last name and name order varies from episode to episode.
    • Mindy's last name varies between "Melendez" and "Mendez."
    • During the "Scientific Method" song, whether or not the line where all the kids sing the chorus is dubbed or left silent varies from episode to episode.
    • During the "Night of a Bazillion Stars" song, the names of the stars which Jet sings do not match up to the stars he points at in the song. The beginning line is also repeated three times at various speeds, as Jet's voice actor flubbed the line; these outtakes are kept in the final version of the song.
  • The Uzbek dub contains numerous inconsistencies:
    • The name of Sydney's favorite superhero, Commander Cressida, was translated as "Qo'mondon Kressida" up until "So Many Moons," in which the translation used by this dub was changed to "Kapitan Kressida." However, beginning with "Scientific Sean," the "Qo'mondon Kressida" translation began being used again alongside "Kapitan Kressida."
    • The lyrics to the Commander Cressida Theme Song and Take-Off chant were inexplicably changed following the first 10 episodes. The changed lyrics more closely resemble the Russian-dubbed versions of the songs than their original English versions. The lyrics were reverted back to the initial lyrics in "Space Junk," but episodes following it such as "The Mindysphere" continued using the changed lyrics alternating with the initial ones.

Overlapping

• Transformers in Hungarian is screwed beyond comprehension, just from the sheer amount of different people and studios its comics, cartoons and movies have gone through, without the slightest trace of cooperation having taken place between them.
  • For years, the only TF media available were the Marvel comics, which introduced classic name translations that the fans grew to be familiar with (although some, like Wheeljack, Blaster or Powerglide did switch their names around a bit).
  • The G1 cartoon never got dubbed, only the movie, twice. Neither used the Marvel names, nor bothered to keep any of the voices consistent, as they changed literally from scene to scene.
  • Transformers: Energon rolled around in 2004, and also made up new names for the characters (most infamously "Optimus, the First" and "Robotika" in place of Decepticon). In 2013, Energon saw a redub, which hads a much more severe case of this. It at first attempted to reinstall the Marvel translations, but after a while, randomly switched back to using the old-Energon names, seemingly alternating between the two variations depending on the episode. The voices similarly keep changing. Further, this makes it even more inconsistent with its prequel Armada and its sequel Cybertron.
  • By the time of Transformers: Cybertron, fans had gotten into contact with the translator and persuaded him to change some names to their original Marvel counterparts, but this only happened to a select few characters. Even those that had their Marvel names reinstalled got to be called by their Energon names at times. And Landmine received a new name for just the intro, which differed from both his Energon name and the one the actual Cybertron series used. The dub was dreadful, and besides the name screw-ups, it kept changing the voices (even the genders) around far too much for comfort. Cybertron was also redubbed in 2014. This version also a mix of Marvel, old!Energon and Bay-verse names, and again, Landmine has multiple designations. Leobreaker also christens himself with a different name than what's used in the rest of the show.
  • The Ultimate Battle DVD special: Only some of the original Marvel names were used, the rest were a confusing mishmash of Energon names or new ones. Even within this twenty-minute special, they couldn't manage to keep names and voices consistent. A number of the original voice actors from the Energon and Cybertron shows returned, they did so in other roles, like Kicker's actor suddenly voicing Ironhide, and Thunderbolt's actress playing every female character, including her own, but only for one line. Afterwards, she spoke in a male's voice.
  • "Bayformers": Although the dubbing was very low-quality, border-lining incomprehensible at times, it finally used the Marvel names, save for a couple of instances when they accidentally left in English terms. One persistent naming inconsistency is Cybertron's name: "Kibertron" in movie #1, Cybertron in the rest.
  • Titan Magazines released a series of comics based on the Transformers movie franchise, and when these were imported to the country, they got the cheapest translation job imaginable. Inconsistent terminology, name changes, the dialog not making any sense.
  • Transformers: Animated very nearly avoided inconsistent dubs. The show never got dubbed, but the single toy commercial that aired on TV and the McDonald's promo couldn't decide whether to go with the Marvel or old!Energon names.
  • Transformers: Armada's dub was made completely independently from its sequels, Energon and Cybertron, thus had a wholly different voice cast. Despite the live-action movies having made the Marvel names household terms, the dub still opted to start from scratch, and continued to give new names for each of its characters. What more, it has a lot more mix-ups (both names and voices) than the already infamous English dubbing.
  • Transformers: Prime: On a positive note, for the first time in the dub of a TF animated series, they refer to the Decepticon faction by its original Hungarian Marvel name, and a chunk of the terminology introduced in the movie dubs, even some of the voices have also remained intact after the medium-shift. However every other name is left in English. This is justified: the distributors forbid changing the names, probably to ensure that the TV characters would share a name with the toy products — same thing happened to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, whereas the dubs of the earlier shows translated the names.
    
    Aside from that, even within the cartoon's own boundaries, inconsistency reared its head in the form of sound editing bloopers regarding Soundwave's synthesized audio snippets and other miscellaneous effects, as well as the varying translations of Ratchet's catchphrase. A couple of terms introduced in the movies have also been left in English (Wreckers), and the character known as the "Fallen" went from being called "Bukott" to "Ördög" (Devil). Allegedly this can be traced back to an older name-list that a fan put out for the translator to use.
  • The dub of Transformers: Rescue Bots, which is the sister show of and takes place in the same continuity as TF: Prime, is a step back, there being no consistency between the two dubs. Here, Optimus Prime has a different voice (two voices, actually) and the names are once again translated... except for Prime's... though it is translated in the intro... differently than in any other dubs... and at times the others are left in English as well... or are translated differently. At least Cybertron and Bumblebee are called by their Marvel names. The production was handled by a different dubbing studio than any of the previously localized Transformers shows' dubs, but that doesn't explain the in-show inconsistency.
• Transformers in Italian:
  • G1 has some inconsistencies here and there:
    • First, Red Alert was shortened to "Alert" in the toyline, but changed into "Giaguaro" in the TV show.
    • The TV show itself had some name confusions here and there, with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker trading their names back and forth and Huffer being called "Piedone" in an episode but "Turbo" in the rest of the series.
    • At the end of Season 2, the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Combaticons and Protectobots are introduced with their original names (Except for Menasor, now named "Ultrax"). Then in the toyline they got new Italian names, and Season 3 used them instead of the original ones... sometimes. As a result, the jeep Combaticon kept switching name back and forth between Swindle and Crusher, for example.
    • Characters introduced in the movie... eh. In the '86 movie every character introduced keeps his original name... except Wheelie, who inherits Wheeljack's name for some reason, and Rodimus Prime, who is still called Hot Rod. Then in Season 3 everyone gets a new name (except Arcee, whose name is now pronounced "Archie").
    • In Headmasters (the Italian dub follows the Japanese series for license reasons, since Italy had the Takara license for the toyline), names start to get weird: Arcee and Ramhorn get completely different names, Kup is called by his Japanese name and other characters switch between Italian and Japanese names (confusing enough? The Japanese names for Optimus Prime and Defensor, Convoy and Guardian, are the same as the Italian ones for Ultra Magnus and Metroplex).
    • Masterforce recycles names of older characters for the new ones, so confusion galore: Ginrai is Optimus Prime ("Commander"), Minerva is Streetwise ("Phantom")...
  • Beast Wars is the last Transformers dub in Italy that changes the names of the characters... and that makes no problems, until we get to the part with Autobots and Decepticons. Everyone of them is called by his original name rather than the Italian one, and Starscream and Ravage actually get new Italian names!
  • In 2007, the '86 movie got a new dub: everyone has his Italian name... sorta. Well, Arcee uses her Headmasters name ("Saturnia"), while Ravage, Laserbeak, Ratbat and Rodimus Prime keep their original names. Also, for non-naming issues, Optimus Prime says one line in Ultra Magnus's voice while Ultra Magnus also says a line in... Armada Cyclonus's voice?
  • Also, don't ask about Frenzy and Rumble's names. Not only do they get shuffled around (and Frenzy actually gets two different names during the series), but also Frenzy's regular name is "Tremor" in the cartoon, yet according to the Italian edition of the Marvel Transformers Universe it should be "Tremot".
  • Then there's the Italian release of the Legends Transformers (the Classic Pretenders without their shells); they are Bumblebee, Jazz, Grimlock and Starscream, but rather then their usual names ("Maggiolino", "Tigre" "Tiran" and "Astrum") they're called "Folgore", "Saetta", "Drago" and "Tornado"... which are actually the names of Hot Rod, Wheeljack, Hot Spot and Air Raid.
• The Transfomers franchise in Latin American Spanish, unlike the aforementioned Hungarian and Italian cases, has kept the names mostly consistent thanks to Hasbro's meddling, since the dubs from the G1 series (both the American made and Japanese ones) were done in Spanish-speaking studios in Los Angeles, CA, as Hasbro wanted to had more control over the dub.^note This is not exclusive from this franchise, as also other Hasbro-owned works, like G.I. Joe (The Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions one and the movie), My Little Pony (until Friendship is Magic) and Jem and the Holograms were dubbed in that city sharing most of the voice cast between those series. The only exception on this rule would be a brief one during the Beast Wars era: The dub of the first seasons (which were done in Mexico rather than the U.S) had very different names for the main characters. For the Beast Machines era, they reverted back to their original English names, very likely due to the backlash. On the other hand, while the names are kept mostly consistent for years, the voice casts and even the dubbing countries are not. The entire franchise has being dubbed in almost all American countries with working voice acting industries, excluding Argentina and Peru:
  • United States: All the G1 series (both American-made and Japanese ones) and the movie.
  • Mexico: Beast Wars era, all the live-action films, Transformers: Robots in Disguise and all the G7 and G8 series.
  • Chile: Transformers: Animated.
  • Venezuela: All the G4 series.
• A rather harmless, but interesting example: There is no consistent way to pronounce Donald Duck in Germany. Early dubs and the first hosts of the TV show Disney Club pronounced Donald's first name like a German name (you can listen to this pronunciation here). Sometime in the mid-90s, the dubs of the cartoons and Quack Pack changed it to the English pronunciation, perhaps to sound more modern. Some of the new hosts of Disney Club changed also to the English pronunciation, but others would keep saying "Donald" the German way. Since the time of Mickey Mouse Works, the dubbers have kept switching between the German and the English prononciation. Well, at least not during the same episode, but some shows say it this way, other cartoons and ads the other. And some fans even insist on pronouncing "Duck" as if it were a German word. But these fans are a Vocal Minority. *phew*
• The European Portuguese dubs of The Powerpuff Girls (1998) and Powerpuff Girls Z are very much consistent within themselves, but completely inconsistent between each other. The problem arose because the original used the original English names and pronunciations, while the newer one used the names used in the Brazilian Dub, which were also used in the original.
• By default, the European Spanish dialect is used in the majority of games translated in Spanish for both Spain and Latin America. Since the Xbox 360 era, many videogames, especially Western ones, are being translated to Latin American dialects, mainly Mexican, Colombian and Argentinian ones. Despite this, some companies still use the European dialect along with the Latin American ones:
  • All Valve Software (and by default, Steam) games use the European dialect. The main problem, at least with Steam, is all the on-screen text is an unholy mixup of both Latin American and European dialects in the menus. This was finally averted at October 2018, when Steam included support for Latin American Spanish, leaving the European one as a separated option for Spaniard users.
  • The Spanish translations of both Spelunky, Final Fantasy XV and La-Mulana also mixes European and Latin American dialects, and the translations do not use voseo.^note The pronouns used mainly in Spain and Argentina. In the case of Spelunky, this was finally averted in the sequel, when there's a option for choosing both Latin American and European dialects separately, instead of mixing them.
  • The Latin American Spanish voice acting of both Halo 3 and Quantum Break uses the Mexican dialect, but the on-screen text and menus still use the European dialect. Unlike other examples, this was intentional according with Word of God in order to save money on translation costs.
  • The earlier versions of Skullgirls were translated with a mix of European and Latin American dialects. Starting with the Season 1 pass, however, all the translations are now done in Latin American Spanish exclusively, despite, at least in Steam, the game says the game was exclusively translated in the European dialect. This is justified in this case, as the game was developed in the U.S., a country with a big Latino population.
• Japanese dubs of foreign media have this problem, especially when dealing with honorifics or pronouns. Since by default Western (and in less degree West Asian media, like Arabic or Hebrew) media rarely deal with this kind of stuff, especially when the original creators or producers doesn't give too many details about the social hierarchy of the characters or the way how they should speak, sometimes the Japanese translators and voice actors have to figure this out in some way. This is especially troublesome when dealing with twins or triplets, as the Japanese language doesn't recognize the principle of equality, and one should be the "older sibling" despite them being the same age.^note Normally, when twins are involved in Japanese media, the first one to come out from the mother's womb is considered the older one, albeit this is not universal. In Western media, although this order matters less, the first to be born is always considered the older sibling if it's relevant.
• Danganronpa has several inconsistencies between the games and the anime, probably due to different teams translating each one. In the games, people primarily refer to each other by their first names, while in the anime last names are preferred. The title each character has is rendered as the more descriptive "Super High School Level" in the anime and the more concise "Ultimate" in the games. The interjection used to counter an argument is rendered as either "You've got that wrong!" (anime) or "No, that's wrong!" (games). The list goes on and on.
• The Norwegian translations of the Peanuts comics and most of their animated adaptations gives most of the characters a Dub Name Change. However when the The Peanuts Movie got dubbed into Norwegian, many of the characters did keep their original English names. This is despite that the 2014 animated series was airing on Norwegian televison around the same time, were the characters did keep their Norwegian names.

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