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Questionable Casting used to be "WTH Casting Agency?" but was renamed due to the trope being expanded to allow casting that was well received pre-release, but considered questionable post-release.
Quickly-Demoted Leader used to be "The Obi-Wrong", a pun on the former trope "The Obi-Wan", since renamed Mentor Archetype. In addition to being based on a renamed trope, it didn't really relate to the other trope, leading to confusion and misuse.
Quip to Black used to be "Grissom One-Liner", after Gil Grissom from CSI. First, it required familiarity with the work. Second, those familiar with the character associated him with other tropes. Indeed, he wasn't the most prolific user of the trope even within the CSI universe; in particular, he competed with CSI: Miami's Horatio Caine, whose own version of the trope became a prolific Internet meme.
Quirky Bard used to be "Spoony Bard", after a famous version from Final Fantasy IV. However, not all quirky bards are "spoony"; most references were to bards who were sentimentally or foolishly in love (which is what "spoony" means), direct references to the Trope Namer, or to Good Bad Translation (which is how "spoony bard" became a meme).
Quirky Work used to be "Widget Series" ("widget" derives from "WJT", "weird Japanese thing"). The name was changed after the trope was redefined as being more about works in general that the audience finds unusual than about works considered odd strictly because of cultural differences.

Racial Face Blindness used to be "Identical-Looking Asians". It was renamed to broaden it to ethnic groups other than East Asians.
Radiation-Induced Superpowers used to be "I Love Nuclear Power". It was renamed because the old name didn't make it clear that it was specifically about nuclear radiation granting superpowers.
Raise Him Right This Time used to be "Second Chance". It was misused to refer to all kinds of second chances, as opposed to specifically a second chance to raise a kid.
Random Drop used to be "Randomly Drops". It was renamed to be easier to use; we prefer nouns to verbs.
Rank Scales with Asskicking used to be "Authority Equals Asskicking", and it was briefly known as "Authority Grants Asskicking" after that. It was renamed the first time because its similarity to the old name of Asskicking Leads to Leadership, "Asskicking Equals Authority", led to the two being confused with each other, while it was renamed a second time after it was determined that the then-new name was inaccurate.
Rape Portrayed as Redemption used to be just "Rape as Redemption". It was renamed in a general cleanup of Sexual Harassment and Rape Tropes to make it clear that it's the characters who have those viewpoints, not the work or the site itself.
Rapid-Fire Comedy used to be "Comedy Through Superior Firepower". It was renamed for being awkward and not clearly representing the trope.
Rapid-Fire Name Guessing used to be "'Tom? Dick?' 'My Name is Harry!'" It was unclear, awkward to use, and suggested that it was a line of dialogue when it wasn't.
Rascally Raccoon used to be "Everything's Rascally with Raccoons". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin used to be "Black and White Beauty". It was renamed to clarify that it's about the perception of this particular appearance, rather than a character who has it.
Realistic Species, Cartoony Species used to be "Realistic Humans, Cartoony Animals", and was renamed because the definition was expanded to include examples of a work featuring cartoony humans and realistic animals.
Reality-Breaking Paradox used to be "Divide by Zero", after a meme suggesting that reality would break if you did it. (You can't; it's mathematically impossible.) It was renamed for being ambiguous.
Real Joke Name used to be "Klutz the Surgeon". It was renamed for being totally unclear; one would be forgiven for thinking it was about Comically Inept Healing. Before then, it was "Mulligan the Headsman", after a character from The Wizard of Id; if you didn't know the reference, the name made no sense.
Really Gets Around used to be "Miss Yo-Yo Knickers". The change made three improvements: it satisfied the prudes, it accomplished gender-neutrality, and it was more comprehensible to tropers who might not have been familiar with the term "knickers".
Recurring Extra used to be "Yuppie Couple". It was renamed for sounding like a completely separate trope.
Recycled In Space used to be just "IN SPACE!" It became a Pothole Magnet and saw frivolous overuse; it was renamed to make it too awkward to shoehorn everywhere. The actual trope the original phrase referred to, a series that adds a gimmick to its original premise, is located at the more neutral Recycled with a Gimmick.
Recycled Trailer Music used to be "The Elfman Effect", after composer Danny Elfman. Even if you knew who he was (or associated the trope with the right "Elfman", as a few tropers thought it was a reference to Dharma & Greg character Jenna Elfman), it was difficult to associate him with this trope.
Red and Black and Evil All Over used to be "Red and Black, Keep Back". It was renamed to be more specific and clarify the exact nature of the trope.
Redemption Demotion used to be "Heel-Face Downgrade"; it was renamed to make it clear what the trope meant and reduce confusion with the regular Heel–Face Turn. Before that, it was "Good Is Dumb", a gratuitous reference to Spaceballs that people thought meant Exactly What It Says on the Tin; Good Is Dumb is now a page for exactly that.
Regenerating Health used to be "Walk It Off". It was renamed for being very unclear and attenuated from the trope; it was easily mistaken for something like Major Injury Underreaction.
Regional Bonus used to be "PAL Bonus". It was renamed to include bonus content from any regional version of a product.
Reliably Unreliable Guns used to be "Shur-Fine Guns", after an apparently notorious producer of Bland-Name Product foods. No one got the reference, and it was renamed for clarity.
The Remnant used to be "The Undefeated". It sounded like another trope entirely and needed a rename.
Renamed Tropes used to be "Former Trope Namer", making this a Self-Demonstrating Article. It was renamed first to broaden it (as not all former names came from a Trope Namer) and second to put more emphasis on the renaming process than the old names.
Repeating Ad used to be "Ad Nauseam". It was renamed for two reasons: first, it was mistaken for the literal meaning of the term ad nauseam, such as the Logical Fallacy argumentum ad nauseam; and second, it invited Complaining About Advertisements You Don't Like.
Repeating So the Audience Can Hear used to be "So, What You Are Saying..." It was mistaken for a generic line of dialogue rather than a trope, and it otherwise had little to do with the trope.
Repetitive Audio Glitch used to be "Like a Broken Record". It was mistaken for the regular Broken Record, which is a different trope; the latter trope is metaphorical (as the term "broken record" is often used), the former is literal.
Replacement Flat Character used to be "The Niles", after the character from Frasier. In addition to requiring familiarity with the work, it wasn't clear how the character related to the trope; indeed, the specific example started out as a Flat Character but got his own Character Development over the course of the series.
Resignations Not Accepted used to be "You Can Never Leave", after a lyric from the Eagles song "Hotel California". The name was only tangentially related to the trope.
The Rest Shall Pass used to be "I Got This", a vague Stock Phrase that applies to far more situations than just this trope.
Retired Monster used to be "Retired Complete Monster". It was renamed to make it broader; Complete Monster has a strict definition, and this trope applies to any villain and not just Complete Monsters.
Retroactive Preparation used to be "Wyld Stallyns Rule", after the protagonists of the film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. But not the characters themselves, but rather the band they were planning to form.^note If you weren't familiar with the specific scene being referenced, you'd assume it had more to do with the film's musical aspects than its Time Travel aspects. The rename makes it clearer that it's about time travel.
Retroactive Recognition used to be "Hey, It's That Guy!" They were actually separate tropes; the latter was for actors you recognize but whose name you don't know because you always see them in minor roles, whereas the former was for actors whose name you do know and are seeing in a minor role before they were famous. The latter needed a rename because it was kind of a Stock Phrase and invited misuse as a Pothole Magnet; in the process, it was discovered that the two were often mistaken for each other, and it was decided to merge them under the more indicative "Retroactive Recognition" name.
Reverse Escort Mission used to be "Protectorate Player". It was renamed to clarify that it is the inverse of Escort Mission.
Rhetorical Request Blunder used to be "Rid Me of This Priest", after a famous example from oral tradition — specifically, how King Henry II of England complained about Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, and his knights misinterpreted it as a request to kill him. Not everyone knew the reference, and many who did thought it referred specifically to murder, priests, or murdering priests.
Ridiculous Exchange Rates used to be "Funny Money". It was misused for any money people thought was funny, regardless of whether it had a ridiculous exchange rate (e.g. Canadian dollars) or was even currency (e.g. Disney dollars).
Rightful King Returns used to be "Return of the King", after The Return Of The King, the third part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was misused as a reference to the work.
Rise to the Challenge used to be "Rising Death from Below". It was lost in The Great Crash, and when it was recreated the opportunity was used to give it a clearer name.
Rogue Juror used to be "Twelve Angry Men", after the film of the same name which prominently used the trope. It was renamed to avoid collisions with the work's page.
Role Reprise used to be "Role Reprisal". It was renamed because of an etymology issue; turns out "reprise" and "reprisal" don't mean the same thing, and we were using the wrong word all along.
Romantic False Lead used to be "The Paolo", after a character from Friends. It required pretty in-depth knowledge of a specific work to understand.
Romanticized Abuse used to be "Abusively Sexy". It was renamed in the general cleanup of Sexual Harassment and Rape Tropes to clarify that the abuse shouldn't be portrayed positively.
Romantic Plot Tumor used to be "George Lucas Love Story", after the director of Attack of the Clones. It was a gratuitous Take That! against a single work and named when people still cared enough to complain about it. In any event, Lucas has proven that he can do a better job in some of his other works.
Romantic Runnerup used to be "The Baxter", after the character from The Apartment. In addition to requiring familiarity with the work, it failed the One-Mario Limit (including inviting confusion with the former trope "Ted Baxter", which is now Small Name, Big Ego), and it also happened to be the name of an unrelated work.
Rube Goldberg Device used to be "Robinson/Goldberg Contraption". The term "Rube Goldberg device" is a well-known term off-wiki, but for whatever reason we had to reinvent the wheel and throw in the name of someone else known for such devices, Heath Robinson.
The Ruins I Caused used to be "Above the Ruins". It was mistaken for a Stock Pose; the rename clarifies that it's not about the the character's position so much as their thoughts.
Rule-Breaker Rule-Namer used to be "Skippy Rules", after Skippy's List. It was renamed due to ambiguity.
Russian Naming Convention used to be "Trope, Son of Trope, Smith". It was renamed in part to clarify that it's pretty unique to Russia, and also to avoid using "trope" as a placeholder.
Russian Reversal used to be "In Soviet Russia, Trope Mocks You!" It was misused as a Pothole Magnet and also made use of "trope" as a placeholder.
Russians with Rusting Rockets used to be "Tricolours with Rusting Rockets". It was intended to emphasize that this was post-Soviet Russia, which had transitioned to a tricoloured flag, but "tricolour" could refer to the flag of a number of different countries, especially France. The new name has the advantage of Added Alliterative Appeal.
Ruthless Modern Pirates used to be "A Disgrace to Blackbeard". It was renamed to clarify that it's about modern-day pirates. And in any event, it's kind of hard to be a disgrace to the historical Blackbeard, who was quite ruthless in his day; most portrayals of him are romanticized.

Sacrificial Lion used to be "The Cedric", after a character from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was a big Spoiler for the book, and it also failed the One-Mario Limit.
Same Content, Different Rating used to be "Rated W for 'Why?'" It was misused to refer to odd ratings in general and renamed to make it more specific.
Same Language Dub used to be "Milli Vanilli", after the pop group, who actually weren't an example — they were infamous for lip-syncing to other singers' voices, not overdubbing them. It was mistaken to refer to the group rather than the trope. (Interestingly, this prompted the creation of a page for the group — which was cut as a poorly written stub and then recreated.)
Sarcasm-Blind used to be "Does Not Understand Sarcasm". It was renamed to clarify that it's about inability to get sarcasm, not just refusal.
Satellite Love Interest used to be "Shallow Love Interest", and before that "Shallow Female Love Interest". The first rename came because the trope was not Always Female (and it's kinda sexist to suggest it is). The second rename came because it invited complaining about love interests tropers didn't like; the new name made it less negative and clear that it's less about a character flaw than about a writing convention.
Satiating Sandwich used to be "Everything's Satiating with Sandwiches". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family.
Scamming the Bereaved used to be "Bibles from the Dead". It was unclear, had unnecessary religious connotations, and attracted underuse.
Scandalgate used to be "Gate Construction". It was renamed for being thoroughly unintuitive, leading tropers to think it was about building literal gates. It was meant to be a reference to the Watergate scandal and how so many scandals since then are referred to with the "-gate" suffix.
Scary Stinging Swarm used to be "Bee Afraid". It was misused to refer to individual antagonistic bees, whereas this one is about a swarm; Bee Afraid was repurposed for individual bees. Before then, the trope was formed from the merger of "Everything's Worse with Bees" and "Gosh Hornet", both of which needed a rename as obtuse names (and the former of which was part of the discredited "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family).
Scenery Censor used to be "Peek-a-Boo". It was renamed as unintuitive and failing to convey the sense of the trope.
Scenic-Tour Level used to be "Black Mesa Commute", a reference to the Half-Life games. Even if you were familiar with the work, it wasn't a given that you'd understand how it relates to the trope.
Schmuck Banquet used to be "Goldilocks and the Mines of Moria". The name was obtuse and didn't convey the trope at all; the latter bit was a gratuitous reference to The Lord of the Rings.
Science Fantasy used to be "Science Fiction Versus Fantasy". It was misused in two ways; some thought it was out-of-universe and referred to a specific Fandom Rivalry, whereas others thought it was in-universe but mistook it for The Magic Versus Technology War. The rename clarified that it was for incorporating both science fiction and fantasy elements into the same work. The Analysis page for Speculative Fiction now houses the long discussion of the differences between the two that used to be in the former trope's page description.
Scrabble Babble used to be "Kwyjibo", after an example from The Simpsons. Although it didn't necessarily require familiarity with the work to understand, it was still obtuse and difficult to remember how to spell.
Sealed Evil in a Duel used to be "Sisyphus vs. Rock", after the character from Classical Mythology. The trope had little to do with the legend, which was about a man doomed to push a rock up a hill forever; every time he finished, the rock would just roll back down the hill, and he'd have to do it again. That kind of thing is associated with different tropes like Failure Is the Only Option or Absurdly Dedicated Worker.
Searching the Stalls used to be "Stalling for Time". It was misused for the actual idiomatic meaning of the phrase "stalling for time"; the former name was a pun on it that few people picked up on.
Sea Sinkhole used to be "Circular Waterfall". It was renamed for clarity.
Second Season Downfall used to be "One-Season Wonder". It was mistaken for shows that were cancelled after one season (rather than those that stuck around but got worse), or else for characters who were great but only appeared in one season.
Secret History used to be "Plausible Deniability". Both phrases are widely used off-wiki, but the trope is about the former. The sense of the latter can now be found at Plausible Deniability. It's kinda weird; "Plausible Deniability" didn't go through the Trope Repair Shop, but someone redefined the trope to mean "plausible deniability". Only problem is that they didn't change the wicks, meaning that many of them were still written as if the definition were "secret history". This lasted six years before we cleaned it up. (This is why we have TRS, people.)
Seemingly Profound Fool used to be "Chance the Gardener", after the protagonist of Being There. Not everyone got the reference, and many who did mistook the page as a reference to the character rather than the trope.
Seinfeldian Conversation used to be "Chocolate Cornet", a reference to Lucky Star. If you weren't familiar with the work, the name made no sense.
Selective Enforcement used to be "Flaming Cobra Sugar Cellar", after a scene from The Simpsons. It required close familiarity with the work, and it required you to parse the British phrase "sugar cellar" to describe the event (not so likely given that The Simpsons is an American work). If you didn't pick up on all that, it was effectively a Word Salad Title.
Self-Censored Release used to be "Bleached Underpants", which was an unclear play on the phrase "dirty laundry". In addition, the definition was adjusted to refer to later versions of adult-oriented works being cleaner instead of focusing primarily on characters from adult-oriented works appearing in cleaner works.
Self-Constructed Being used to be "Evil Seed Plot". It was renamed to clarify that it's not limited to evil folk, seed-based regeneration, or whole plots.
Send in the Search Team used to be "Heart of Darkness", after the book of the same name. First, it collided with the work's page. Second, those unfamiliar with the work wouldn't get it. And third, those who were familiar with the work tended to associate it with other tropes, like River of Insanity or Darkest Africa.
Sensei for Scoundrels used to be "The Tyler Durden", after the character from Fight Club. If you weren't familiar with the work, the name made no sense.
Sentimental Music Cue used to be "Full House Music", after the series Full House. Not everyone got the reference; indeed, not everyone got that it was a reference, instead parsing it as the idiom "full house".
Sequel Goes Foreign used to be "Third Movie Goes to Asia". In addition to being more concise, the new name clarifies that it's not limited to third installments, movies, or specifically Asia.
Serial Escalation used to be "Beyond the Impossible". It was misused to refer generally to things that were impossible, or as a synonym for Up to Eleven. Beyond the Impossible now has its literal meaning.
Set Behind the Scenes used to be "Company Town". Apparently, it required tropers to connect it specifically to production companies (and SoCalization — the "town" in this case is usually Los Angeles). It was misused to refer to Exactly What It Says on the Tin, which is what Company Town now describes.
Set Swords to "Stun" used to be "Reverse Blade Sword", which had nothing to do with the trope.
Sex Signals Death used to be "Death by Sex". It was renamed because it's a foreshadowing trope for when characters who have sex are more likely to be killed off, but it was frequently being misused for when characters die during or after sex, which is covered by Out with a Bang.
Sex Starts, Story Stops used to be "Coitus Ensues". It was frequently misused for sex scenes in general, when it's supposed to specifically be for when sex scenes interrupt the plot.
Sexual Harassment and Rape Tropes used to be just "Rape Tropes". It was renamed to make it broader, and also to avoid thorniness with respect to the exact definition of "rape".
Sexy Sweater Girl used to be "Sweater Girl", and was renamed because the fanservice aspect was often ignored, leading to misuse to refer to any girl wearing a sweater.
The Shangri-La used to be "Shamgri-La". It was renamed to clarify that it's not fake Shangri-La analogues.
Shapeshifter Mode Lock used to be just "Mode Lock". It was renamed to clarify that it is specific to Shapeshifting; under the old name, a good chunk of wicks mistook it for Baleful Polymorph (now Forced Transformation) or Power Incontinence.
Shock Value Relationship used to be "Shock and Aww Couple", a snowclone of Shock and Awe. No one could parse it, and it suffered severe underuse.
Shoddy Knockoff Product used to be "POP Station", after a specific example that Stuart Ashen liked to complain about. Few people got the reference; the new name makes it much clearer.
Shoo Out the New Guy used to be "The Poochie", after the character from a Show Within a Show in The Simpsons. Not everyone got the reference, and many who did mistook him for a Creator's Pet (and his ouster for Take That, Scrappy!). It was renamed to clarify the nature of the trope.
Shoot the Dangerous Minion used to be "Shoot the Dragon". It was renamed to broaden it beyond just cases involving The Dragon.
Shoplift and Die used to be "Easily Angered Shoplifter"; it was renamed to make it more precise. Before that, it was "Izchak's Wrath", after one of the shopkeepers from NetHack, which suffered from all the hallmarks of Trope-Namer Syndrome.
Short-Lived Aerial Escape used to be "Renny Harlin Helicopter Explosion", after director Renny Harlin, who liked doing this kind of thing. Few got the reference, and in any event, it's not limited to helicopters.
Short Teens, Tall Adults was previously "Teens Are Short". It was renamed because it was misused for any instance of a teenager being short, even though it's about a work generally depicting teenagers as shorter than adults, particularly compared to real life.
Sickbed Slaying used to be "If You Should Die Before You Wake". It was renamed for being long, awkward, unclear, and conducive to underuse.
Side Effects Include... used to be "Yes, But What Does Zataproximetacine DO?" It was long and unwieldy, and no one could remember how to spell "Zataproximetacine", which was a word we just made up.
Sidekick Song used to be "Hakuna Matata", after the song from The Lion King. It was misused to refer to "hakuna matata" the life attitude, which is what Hakuna Matata now refers to.
Silly Simian used to be "Everything's Better with Monkeys". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family. Indeed, before the rename, it was commonly misused as a list of monkeys in fiction, which amounted to People Sit on Chairs.
The Silver Age of Comic Books used to be just "Silver Age". It was renamed to clarify that it was specific to comic books. There aren't too many "silver ages" out there, but we had to rename the former tropes "Golden Age" and "Dark Age" for the same reasons, and those were commonly used for things other than comic books; this rename aligned the trope to the others' new names.
Simultaneous Warning and Action used to be "Stand Back Hello", a reference to Half-Life. If you weren't familiar with the work, the name made no sense.
Sixth Ranger Traitor used to be "Sixth Column". It was intended to be a reference to the idiom "fifth column", referring to a traitorous segment of society.^note It otherwise doesn't have to do with the Sixth Ranger. The new name clarifies the trope's relation to Sixth Ranger.
Skyward Scream used to be "The Khan", a reference to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. First, it required familiarity with the work. Second, it was named as if it were a character trope, when it's really a Camera Trick. And third, the Trope Namer was not an example; it was much more associated with Say My Name, to which "The Khan" is now a redirect.
Slave Collar used to be "Chain of Command". It was misused to refer to its common idiomatic meaning, or the trope related to it, The Chains of Commanding.
Sleuth Dates Cop used to be "Cop Boyfriend". It was renamed to clarify that the cop doesn't strictly have to be Always Male, that the other half of the relationship has to be an unofficial investigator of some sort, and that it's more about the relationship than the character types in it.
Sliding Scale of Adaptation Modification used to be "Sliding Scale of Adaptation Decay". It was renamed to be less negative and to broaden it from instances of Adaptation Decay.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism used to be "Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Realism". It was renamed once we recognised that realism is the middle ground between idealism and cynicism.
Slipstream Genre used to be just "Slipstream". It was renamed to clarify that it's about a subgenre and not literal slipstreams.
Slow Electricity used to be "Power Slows", a snowclone of Power Glows. It didn't have to do with the latter trope and wasn't clear that it was about electricity. Funnily, it was renamed only about half an hour after it was launched.
Slow Laser used to be "Frickin' Laser Beams", a reference to Austin Powers. It was renamed to clarify that it's about lasers that travel slower than the speed of light. The old name was commonly misused for Energy Weapon (to which it's now a redirect), or occasionally to Weaponized Animal (because the Trope Namer wanted the "frickin' laser beams" attached to sharks).
Slow-Paced Beginning used to be "It Gets Better". It was mistaken for an in-universe trope (akin to an inversion of From Bad to Worse), as opposed to an out-of-universe trope about Pacing Problems. Before then, it was "Get on with It, Already!", which was too negative, misused as a Stock Phrase, and didn't specify that it even had to do with pacing.
Small Name, Big Ego used to be "The Ted Baxter", after the character from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. If you weren't familiar with the show, the name meant nothing. The new name "Small Name, Big Ego" had been used for a different trope, which was for out of universe examples and became magnet for complaining; it was locked and made a Definition Only Page before it was discovered that the name could be repurposed for the former "The Ted Baxter".
Small-Town Tyrant used to be called "Corrupt Hick". It was renamed because it was thought to be about any rural villain, when it's specifically about corrupt authority figures in rural settings.
Smash Mook used to be "The Ogre". It was mistaken for ogres in general, which was already at Our Ogres Are Hungrier; The Ogre is now a redirect to the latter trope.
Smelly Skunk used to be "Everything's Smellier with Skunks". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family; indeed, instead of a list of skunks, it was repurposed for skunks that smell bad.
The Snack Is More Interesting used to be "Cavalier Consumption". It was renamed to make it clearer. "Appetite for Apathy" had the advantage of Added Alliterative Appeal but wasn't quite as clear; it did get to be a redirect, though.
The Snark Knight used to be "The Daria", after the title character from Daria. Few got the reference, and those who did get it didn't necessarily connect the name with the trope.
Sneeze Cut used to be "Sneezing". It was incredibly imprecise, leading to misuse; in addition to being a list of sneezes, it was occasionally mistaken for a few other sneezing tropes, like Pepper Sneeze, Freeze Sneeze, or Sneeze of Doom.
Snowclones used to be "Chekhov's Pun", a reference to Chekhov's Gun. Everybody thought it related in some way to the latter trope, when it really didn't.
Soap Within a Show used to be "All My Circuits", after an example from Futurama (itself a parody of the real-life soap All My Children). If you didn't know the reference, the name made no sense. Many who did thought it was a reference to the Trope Namer rather than a trope in itself.
So Bad, It Was Better used to be "I Liked It Better When It Sucked". It was renamed to combat misuse and make it slightly less negative.
Softer and Slower Cover used to be "The Vonda Shepard Treatment", after a singer who performed several of them for Ally McBeal. It was a particularly obtuse reference, requiring specific fan-specific knowledge.
Sole Entertainment Option used to be "Easily Amused". It was mistaken as a trope far broader than it really was.
So Long, and Thanks for All the Gear used to be "Wutai Theft", after an incident in Final Fantasy VII. Not everyone got the reference, and the trope is broader than just theft.
Solve the Soup Cans used to be just "Soup Cans", after a puzzle in The 7th Guest. It was totally obtuse — but famously so, to the point that it became a bit of an internal meme, especially given that there's a nice parallel with an unintuitive name for a trope about unintuitive puzzles. That's why we kept the "soup cans" reference, but added the bit that you had to "solve" them, making it clear that it's about puzzles.
The Something Force used to be "Troper Force". It was renamed to avoid using "troper" as a placeholder.
Something Only They Would Say used to be "As You Wish", after a line from The Princess Bride. Those who didn't get the reference didn't get the name. Those who did get the reference more associated the scene with The "I Love You" Stigma (or something like it) than with the trope.
The Something Song used to be "The Trope Song". It was renamed to avoid using "trope" as a placeholder.
Song Association was "Grand Theft Auto Effect", after the Grand Theft Auto games. The series is better known for other tropes, and the name didn't indicate that it was an Audience Reaction.
Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot used to be just "Sorcerer's Apprentice". It was mistaken for either lists of The Apprentice to a sorcerer; it's actually a reference to an Older Than Feudalism story that's been adapted several times. Indeed, several wicks mistook it for similarly named works, including the film The Sorcerer's Apprentice and the animated short from the Disney film Fantasia. The rename clarified that it's a Whole-Plot Reference trope.
Soul-Sucking Retail Job used to be "Super Slave Market". It was renamed to clarify that it had nothing to do with slave markets or people with superpowers.
SoYouWantTo.Write A Good Summary used to be "I Suck at Summaries". It was originally meant to be a Stock Phrase encountered in Fan Fic summaries, but it was decided that the content was more suited for a So You Want To page, and it was moved there.
Space Zone used to be "Lylat System", after the setting of the Star Fox. Not everyone got the reference, and most who did couldn't figure out how it related to the trope.
Spaghetti and Gondolas used to be "Olive Garden", after a Kitschy Themed Restaurant chain with an Italian theme. Many didn't get the reference, and many who did associated it with the latter trope.
Spanner in the Works used to be "Xanatos Gilligan", a snowclone of Xanatos Gambit. It required knowledge of two works: Gargoyles and Gilligan's Island. It was one of many "Xanatos" snowclones, but this one in particular didn't have much to do with Xanatos Gambit to begin with. The current name is a commonly used term for the trope off-wiki.
Speaking Like Totally Teen used to be "Get a Load of That Square". It was mistaken for a line of dialogue, difficult to search, and gave the impression that it was about someone who was uncool rather than about the language being used to describe that uncoolness.
Speaks Fluent Animal used to be "The Dr. Dolittle", after the work of that name and its protagonist who has that skill. It had all the problems of a character-named trope and wasn't thriving.
Special Person, Normal Name used to be "Plain Name". It was a little too negative, and without the "special person" bit, it was also People Sit on Chairs.
Spectacular Spinning used to be "Everything's Better with Spinning". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family.
Splash Damage Abuse used to be "Hit the Helpless Hex". It was an obscure term, and if you weren't familiar with it, it amounted to a Word Salad Title. Accordingly, it suffered from severe underuse.
Spoken Word used to be "Plain Song". The former name didn't adequately explain the song's nature, while the new name is a preexisting term.
Spooky Animal Sounds used to be "Howling to the Night". It was renamed partially because it was being confused with Wolves Always Howl at the Moon and partially because the defintion was expanded to cover the sounds of animals other than wolves.
Spotlight-Stealing Squad used to be "Uchiha Syndrome", after the Naruto character Sasuke Uchiha, who was accused of doing this to the title character. Not only was it a character-named trope who required familiarity with the work and that one associated the character with the correct trope, such an opinion was far from universally held among the fanbase.
Spot the Victim used to be "Where's Deado?", an opaque reference to the Where's Waldo? books. Although the phrase was apparently known among mystery aficionados who like to do this, it was far from clear to everyone else.
Sprint Shoes used to be "Bunny Hood", after an item from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. If you didn't know this, the name made no sense. And even then, the Bunny Hood item appeared in other games but didn't always confer super-speed (e.g. its appearance in Ocarina of Time).
Sprouting Ears used to be "Hyperspace Ears". The idea was to align it with Hammerspace, some of whose constituent tropes use "hyperspace" as a descriptor (e.g. Hyperspace Mallet), but it suffered from underuse, and consensus decided that it would be more appropriate to describe the ears as "sprouting" to help tropers make the connection.
Square Race, Round Class used to be "Rogue Elephant". It has nothing to do with elephants; it instead has to do with game classes, and was meant to be a play on the common class "Rogue". Nobody made that connection (and it was pointed out that the convention in games is to put the race first, meaning it would be "Elephant Rogue" in any event).
Staged Pedestrian Accident used to be "Flopsy". It was claimed to be a common slang term for the con, but not only did no one get it, no one could even find any evidence off-wiki for the term.
Staged Shooting used to be "Fake Gunshot". It was commonly mistaken for False Gunshot and renamed to clarify the distinction.
Stalker with a Crush used to be "Bunny Boiler", after a character from Fatal Attraction. Those who didn't get the reference didn't get the trope; those who did usually associated the character more with Yandere.
Stalking is Love used to be "Edward Cullen Syndrome", after the character from The Twilight Saga. Not everyone got the reference; while many did (at least more so than with other character-named tropes), they did so mostly because Internet people liked to complain about the work a lot. The rename helped the trope sound a bit less negative and also avoid Flame Wars with respect to the specific work.
Standard Evil Organization Squad used to be "Generic Evil Organization Squad". Seems like a lateral move, but changing "generic" to "standard" made it sound less negative.
Standard Fantasy Races used to be "Five Races". It was originally designed as a fantasy race analogue for Five-Man Band, but after it was determined to be Too Rare to Trope, it was no longer related to Five-Man Band and needed a rename.
Standard '50s Father used to be "Mister Cleaver", after the father character from Leave It to Beaver. While he was certainly a good example of the trope, not everyone was sufficiently familiar with the work to know the character's name (even if they could easily picture him in their heads). Without that connection, one would think Asian Cleaver Fever (or perhaps something more sinister).
Standard Human Spaceship used to be "ISO Standard Human Spaceship". The "ISO" part was wholly unnecessary and was dropped.
Stating the Simple Solution used to be "Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?" It became a Pothole magnet and was misused for any situation in which a character is missing a simple solution, regardless of whether or not another character points it out. The old name was repurposed for the Missing Supertrope.
Status Quo Game Show used to be "You Can't Win". It was not specific to game shows and thus used for any situation in which winning is impossible, or even taunts to that effect. The name actually came from Stay Tuned and a Show Within a Show therein which wasn't even an example.
Stealth Pun used to be "Incredibly Lazy Pun". It was for puns that were difficult to understand, but it was misused to refer to any pun tropers thought was stupid. The initial solution was to create the new trope "Incredibly Lame Pun" to catch the misuse, but tropers kept mistaking the two and the latter was poorly defined. "Incredibly Lazy Pun" was renamed Stealth Pun to emphasise that it's hard to pick up on (regardless of its quality), whereas "Incredibly Lame Pun" was redirected to the main trope Pun.
Stern Nun used to be "Mother Penguin", after an example from The Blues Brothers. If you didn't get the reference, the trope made no sense.
Stewed Alive used to be "Cannibal Cauldron". It was renamed to clarify that whoever was doing the stewing didn't necessarily have to eat the poor victim afterwards.
Stock Superpowers Index used to be just "Stock Superpowers". People were linking to it as if it were a trope; it was renamed to clarify that it was indeed an index.
Stopped Caring used to be "I Don't Even Care". It was mistaken for a line of dialogue, and indeed the two names don't mean exactly the same thing; the new name captures the trope better.
Stop Trick used to be "Jeannie Cut", after I Dream of Jeannie, which employed it frequently. It was obtuse and required knowledge of a specific work; the new name was an established term off-wiki.
Strange Minds Think Alike used to be "Did a Korean Person Die?", after a single gag from 30 Rock. If you weren't familiar with it, the trope name made no sense.
Strange Secret Entrance used to be "Platform Nine and Three Quarters", after an example from Harry Potter. It required familiarity with the franchise, and those who had it didn't always pick up on how it related to the trope.
Straw Character used to be "Strawman Political". It was renamed because not every debate is necessarily political. (And we don't necessarily believe that All Issues Are Political Issues.)
Strawman Ball used to be "Idiot of the Week". It was originally derived from the Index of the Week, but that's more associated with characters who show up once and then leave. It's more in line with the Ball Index, in which a recurring character holds the "ball" for one episode and behaves unusually to advance the plot; in this case, the character serves as a Straw Character.
Strawman Has a Point used to be "The Strawman Strikes Back". It was mistaken for any instance in which a strawman gets his revenge; the rename clarifies that the strawman hits back in the argument which the author intends for him to lose.
Straw Nihilist used to be "Nietzsche Wannabe". It was renamed because Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy was pretty damn complicated, and if anything he was The Anti-Nihilist. Reducing his philosophy to "nihilism" is indeed the kind of mistake a Straw Nihilist would make, but it's not one we should make on the wiki.
Stuffy Old Tropes About the Buttocks used to be "Nothing Butt an Index". It was originally cut amid The Second Google Incident for being too lewd; eight years later, a troper who wasn't aware of this put the trope on the Trope Launch Pad; although we figured out what was up, it was decided that it was safe to relaunch. Its new name comes from its most prominent subtrope, Stuffy Old Songs About the Buttocks.
Stupidity-Inducing Attack used to be "Idiot Cannonball". It was renamed for being unintuitive and causing serious underuse.
Succubi and Incubi used to be called "Horny Devils", which used a pun on the sexual slang term "horny" at the expense of clarity. The definition was also expanded into a more general Our Monsters Are Different subtrope that includes depictions of succubi and incubi in general regardless of whether they drain life force via sex, which is another reason why the name was changed to something more general-sounding.
Sudden Downer Ending used to be "Cerebus Ending", after Cerebus Syndrome. It was renamed because Cerebus the Aardvark wasn't an example of this trope, even if it was an example of the trope it was named after.
Suddenly Always Knew That used to be "I Know Kung-Fu". It was mistaken for the trope I Know Karate, which is about people revealing that they know a martial art; this one's actually about people revealing that they know something (not necessarily a martial art) that they never previously showed because You Didn't Ask. The trope name came from The Matrix, which wasn't an example to begin with; the protagonist learns kung-fu through an Upgrade Artifact, which is more Instant Expert than anything else. "I Know Kung-Fu" now redirects to I Know Karate.
Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish used to be "Talks to Squirrels". It was mistaken for Speaks Fluent Animal, which is about the ability to talk to animals in general.
Suggestive Collision used to be "Gravity Is a Harsh Seductress", an overdone snowclone of Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress. The trope has nothing to do with gravity, hence the rename.
Sultry Belly Dancer was renamed from "Belly Dancer" to put more emphasis on the fanservice aspect due to Zero-Context Example problems with the old name.
Superboss used to be "Bonus Boss". It's about optional bosses which are much harder than anything else you'd encounter, but it was frequently mistaken for any optional boss, which turned out to be a Missing Supertrope for which we created the new Optional Boss.
Superhero Gods used to be "Super Gods". It was renamed for clarity.
Superhero Trophy Shelf used to be "Super Trophy Super Rack". It didn't roll very well off the tongue and was unclear as to what it meant.
Supermodel Strut was renamed from "Sexy Walk" because the fact that it has to be intentional on the character's part was often overlooked, leading to inappropriate gushing.
Supernatural Gold Eyes used to be "Eyes of Gold". It was misused to refer to any character with golden eyes, regardless of whether they have anything to do with the supernatural. It was part of our general cleanup of Personal Appearance Tropes, even though you don't see gold eyes too often in Real Life.
Supernatural Light used to be "Ghost Lights". It was renamed to broaden the trope beyond just ghosts.
Supernatural-Proof Father used to be "Dad's Afraid of No Ghosts", a reference to the Theme Tune from Ghostbusters. It was misused as a Stock Phrase, and it's not about not being afraid of ghosts, it's about not even believing in them.
Superpower Silly Putty used to be "Twenty-Four-Hour Super Power". It was mistaken to superpowers that wear off after twenty-four hours, as opposed to superpowers that change after that time. The former name became a redirect to Superpowers For A Day.
Super-Scream was "Make Me Wanna Shout" (A reference to The Isley Brothers song), and was renamed due to misuse in place of other sound-based powers, such as those covered by Make Some Noise.
Super Swimming Skills used to be "Olympic Swimmer". It was misused to refer to actual Olympic swimmers, regardless of whether they exhibited super swimming skills.
Supporting Leader used to be "The Aragorn", after the character from The Lord of the Rings. It suffered from the usual problems of a character-named trope, including a lack of clarity as to how the character related to the trope.
Surprise Incest used to be "Incest Is Relative". Although it was a nice pun, it was mistaken for any instance of incest; the name Incest Is Relative was repurposed as an index for such tropes.
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome used to be "Reality Ensues", a snowclone of Hilarity Ensues. It was a Pothole Magnet that invited extensive misuse; the rename ensured that it was used for surprisingly realism.
Surprisingly Sudden Death used to be "Deadly Guest". It was renamed to clarify that it's a Death Trope rather than a character trope.
Surveillance as the Plot Demands used to be "Palantir Ploy", after a magical surveillance device from The Lord of the Rings. Even if you were familiar with the work, it was kind of an obscure reference, and it wasn't clear how it related to the trope anyway.
Surveillance Drone used to be "Magic Cam". It was renamed because the trope has nothing to with magic.
Suspiciously Similar Song used to be "The Jimmy Hart Version", after a Professional Wrestling manager who would write those kinds of songs. If you didn't know wrestling, the name made no sense. (It stuck around with that name for a surprisingly long time, though.)
Suspiciously Similar Substitute used to be "Jonas Quinn", after an example from Stargate SG-1. If you didn't know the reference, the name made no sense.
Swarm of Rats used to be "Squeaking Carpet". It was understood literally; few made the connection of "squeaking" to rats, hence the rename.
Swiss-Cheese Security used to be "Lex Luthor Security", after Superman's Arch-Enemy on Smallville. However, that character resides in a shared universe and wasn't an example in every continuity.
Sworn Brothers was renamed from "Blood Brothers" because the trope is about two characters making an oath or explicit bonding activity/scene to be brothers/sisters/siblings/family in spirit, but it was often misused for close non-familial relationships that don't involve an oath or pact.
Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist used to be "Inspector Zenigata", after the example from Lupin III. It was renamed for requiring familiarity with the work.

Tailor-Made Prison used to be "Oubliette". It was renamed because an oubliette is, roughly, a big hole in the ground, which is thematically pretty much the exact opposite of the trope.
Taking Up the Mantle used to be "You Are Batman". It was renamed as being obtuse and having a gratuitous Trope Namer (it may have been a reference to the "I'm Batman" meme).
Talk About That Thing used to be "The Thing", after an episode of Family Ties which used the phrase "the thing" in the service of the Room Shuffle. Even those who did know the reference mistook it for the latter trope. Those who didn't had no idea what it meant and often confused it with other things called "The Thing", like the classic horror film with that name, the Fantastic Four member with that name, or the character from The Addams Family with that name.
Talking with Signs used to be "Sign Language". It was renamed to avoid confusion with literal Signed Languages.
Tangled Family Tree used to be "Summers Family Tree", after the X-Men character better known as Cyclops. While said character is a very good example, he failed the One-Mario Limit, leading to particular confusion with Buffy Summers, protagonist of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It led to the not infrequent suggestion that the trope was implying that Buffy and Scott were distant relatives somehow. (Makes sense — This Very Wiki originated from a debate on a Buffy fansite.)
Teacher/Student Romance used to be "Hot for Student"; it was renamed to clarify that the relationship goes both ways. Before then, it was "Mary Kay Letourneau Teaches Here", after a highly publicized Real Life example; that one was changed because not only did few get the reference, it was long, hard to spell, and difficult to use organically in descriptions.
Team Power Walk used to simply be called "Power Walk", and was renamed because the fact that it only applies to group shots was often overlooked.
Technicolor Magic used to be two tropes, "Supernatural Is Green" and "Supernatural Is Purple", before it was decided that the distinction between the two wasn't significant enough. Even earlier than that, "Supernatural Is Green" was known as "Green Is Unnatural", which was renamed because the old name sounded more like it referred to toxic/dangerous substances rather than the supernatural.
Teenage Mutant Samurai Wombats used to be "Radioactive Teenage Samurai Robot Wombats". While it kinda got the point across in the vein of the Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot and evoked the name of its most prominent example, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it was just too long, cumbersome, and hard to remember. But when it was initially changed to "Secret Mutant Hero Team", it suffered from underuse because the new name just never caught on like the old one. It was eventually decided to adopt the current name, which more directly referenced the Ninja Turtles but was short enough to remember.
Teleportation used to be "Teleporters and Transporters". It was renamed to broaden the trope to all forms of instant travel, including those which don't use technology like magic or natural phenomena.
Teleportation Misfire used to be "Random Teleportation". It was mistaken for Random Transportation and renamed to clarify its meaning.
Temporary Substitute used to be "Substitute Teacher". In spite of the name, it's not actually about substitute teachers, which is a trope in itself (or at least making their lives difficult is). This one's a case of Real Life Writes the Plot wherein an actor can't appear for one installment and a new character is hastily written to do what the actor's character was supposed to do for that installment. The rename at least makes it clearer and aligns it more with the trope's permanent equivalent, Suspiciously Similar Substitute.
Ten Little Murder Victims used to be "And Then There Were None", after the Agatha Christie story of the same name. It was renamed to avoid collisions with the work's page. The new name is still a kind of reference to the story, which at one time was called Ten Little Indians, both being lyrics from the same nursery rhyme.
Tennis Boss used to be "Playing Tennis with the Boss". It's a boss you have to beat by reflecting their attacks like you're playing tennis, but the longer title led tropers to mistake it for a variant of Go-Karting with Bowser — i.e. taking time off from fighting the Big Bad to play friendlier competition with them in a spinoff game.
Tenses used to be "How Do I Used Tense?" It's currently a Useful Notes page about how to write tense properly on the wiki (and elsewhere), but it was originally a catalogue of places in writing where the tense unintentionally shifts. It turned out that there were no such examples on the actual page (making it read like a Useful Notes page long before it became one), but it still became a Pothole Magnet for tropers looking to accuse someone else of poor grammar.
Terrible Artist used to be "Hollywood Scribbling". It didn't really belong in the Hollywood Style index, though; this is about a character archetype, whereas the Hollywood Style tropes are about writing conventions. In other words, "Hollywood Scribbling" should be about scribbling consistently portrayed incorrectly in fiction, whereas the trope is actually about a character who draws bad art. Most wicks were to the latter definition, and the rename reflected common usage.
Terrible Trio used to be "Team Rocket", after an example from Pokémon. Not everyone knew the reference, and they weren't really an example anyway; especially in the anime, they were more of a Goldfish Poop Gang. (Indeed, their reputation for not being a real threat led them to name a trope to that effect that we did keep: Team Rocket Wins.)
Terrifying Tyrannosaur was renamed from "King of the Dinosaurs" partially because it was used for any appearance of a T. rex, which isn't a trope on its own, and partially because the trope was expanded to include other tyrannosaur species.
Terror-dactyl was renamed from "Ptero Soarer" because the old name caused it to be misused for any inaccurate portrayal of pterosaurs, when the trope is supposed to be about portrayals of pterosaurs as monstrous, and often bat-like or dragon-like.
Thanksgiving Episode used to be "Thanksgiving Day". It was mistaken for a Useful Note about the holiday, which existed at the page "Thanksgiving". Both wound up being renamed; the latter was moved to Thanksgiving Day, taking up the former's wicks, while the former accumulated instances of the holiday in fiction as it was supposed to.
That One Level used to be "Scrappy Level". It was renamed because its relation to The Scrappy was a little too negative — for some gamers, being frustrated is just part of the experience. And we already had That One Boss, which reflected that mindset, so this trope was renamed to align it to a closer parallel.
That One Player used to be "That One Guy". It was renamed to avoid confusion with The One Guy, which is a totally different trope.
Thememobile used to be "Tropemobile". It was renamed after "trope" was deprecated as a placeholder.
They Killed Kenny Again used to be just "They Killed Kenny". It preserved the reference to South Park, but adding "again" made it clear that it's supposed to be a Running Gag.
Thing-O-Matic used to be "Trope-O-Matic". It was renamed after "trope" was deprecated as a placeholder.
Third-Option Adaptation used to be "The Pikachu Effect". While Pikachu is probably the single most famous Pokémon out there, no one had any clue how Pikachu related to the trope. It was supposed to be a reference to Pokemon Yellow, a remake of Pokémon Red and Blue which introduced Pikachu as the starter 'mon because he filled that role in the anime adaptation which had gotten popular in the intervening years, but nobody guessed that.
Third-Option Love Interest used to be "Cheryl Blossom", after a character from Archie Comics. The expectation was to emphasize the parallel to Betty and Veronica, which is named after the franchise's first two "options". But it took a lot of persistent use and Pop-Cultural Osmosis for the latter to gain currency as a trope name, and it was too much of a stretch to expect people unfamiliar with the work to connect the two tropes, hence the rename.
This Index Fights Dirty used to be "Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty". It was renamed to clarify that it is indeed an index; too many wicks treated it as if it were a trope in itself.
This Index Hits for Massive Damage used to be just "For Massive Damage". The name "For Massive Damage" had previously been used for a different trope which was renamed to Attack Its Weak Point, both being references to Sony's memetic 2006 E3 presentation. The community wanted to preserve the meme and repurposed the page as an index for extra damage in video games, but it wasn't clear that it was an index, and most wicks treated it as if it were a trope. The rename clarified that it was an index, but it kept its Trope Namer.
This Index Touches Itself was previously a trope called "A Date with Rosie Palms". It was converted into an index and renamed because masturbation was determined to not be a trope on its own.
This Is for Emphasis, Bitch! used to be "This Is a Sentence, Bitch!" The rename made it less awkward to use in examples and clarified that the "Bitch!" is for emphasis as opposed to an integral part of the sentence.
This Loser Is You used to be "You Suck". It was an irresistible Pothole Magnet and attracted misuse. Indeed, while most tropers understood that it was directed from a show to its audience, they used it for just about any Take That! against said audience, as opposed to specifically doing so by depicting a highly unflattering character whom the audience is nevertheless expected to identify with. The broader sense of the trope was repurposed as Take That, Audience!.
This Product Will Change Your Life used to be "This Trope Will Change Your Life". The rename served two purposes; first, to remove "trope" as a placeholder, as the practice was now discredited; and second, to emphasize that it's an Advertising Trope.
Those Two Actors used to be "Bogart-Bacall Syndrome", after Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, a Creator Couple who often appeared on screen together. It was renamed because it didn't really describe anything, and the "syndrome" bit suggested it was a problem or medical condition of some kind.
Threatening Shark used to be "Everything's Even Worse with Sharks". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family.
Three-Month-Old Newborn used to be "Dawson Babies", a snowclone of the trope Dawson Casting. However, this didn't get the point across very effectively, as the age difference usually seen in Dawson Casting would imply toddlers playing newborns (or even three-month-olds). The rename clarifies the convention and how it's not immediately obvious.
Threesome Subtext used to be "Three Yay", a snowclone of the trope Ho Yay. The problem is that Ho Yay was never very well defined and eventually split; Ho Yay became for fans seeing subtext where none was there, and the new trope Homoerotic Subtext was for intentional subtext. This trope followed the latter and was renamed accordingly.
Timeline-Altering MacGuffin used to be "Gray's Sports Almanac", after the Trope Codifier from Back to the Future Part II. Not everyone got the reference, and many who did took the trope too narrowly and thought it was specific to books or information sources that alter the timeline.
Tin-Can Telephone used to be "Tin Can You Hear Me Now". Rather than use the simple, Real Life name for the device, we overcomplicated it and named it in reference to the former trope "Can You Hear Me Now?" (apparently a reference to a memetic series of American cell phone ads), since split into Super Cell Reception and Cell Phones Are Useless.
Token Black Friend used to be "Black Best Friend". It was renamed to emphasize the "token" aspect of the trope; the old name caused the trope to clutter up with Zero Context Example of best friends who happen to be black.
Token Mini-Moe used to be "Token Loli", the term "loli" referring to sexualized underaged girls. That came with obvious Unfortunate Implications and necessitated a rename.
Token Minority Couple used to be "Token Shipping". It was renamed because Shipping is for couples that aren't (but the fanbase wishes they were), and this is a trope about couples that are.
Too Awesome to Use used to be "P-Wing Effect", after a particular item from Super Mario Bros. 3. It required particular familiarity with the Mario franchise to understand and had to be renamed. (Twice, thanks to The Great Crash.)
Too Bleak, Stopped Caring used to be "Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy". It was often misued to complain about any dark elements in a work, rather than specifically about elements so dark that viewers stopped caring about the protagonists' success. It was initially renamed to "So Bleak, It's Boring", but it was very quickly determined to be no less confusing (and a pointless snowclone to boot, from the "So X, It's Y" family). The new name is its own play on the meme "Too Long, Didn't Read".
Too Rare to Trope used to be "Chairs Sit on People", a Russian Reversal of People Sit on Chairs. However, tropers thought it was a Just for Fun page rather than an actual policy page. The joke was preserved in the page image, though; it's the only example we could find of a chair sitting on a person, courtesy of the prolifically bizarre Rick and Morty.
Toplessness from the Back used to be "Sexy Back", after a song by Justin Timberlake which otherwise doesn't have to do with the trope. It was commonly mistaken for a "back that is sexy" rather than a sexy thing shown from the back. It was also commonly mistaken for Sexy Backless Outfit, which was split from the former trope to collect those examples.
Tortured Monster used to be "Tortured Abomination". It was renamed to broaden it beyond just Eldritch Abominations.
Torture for Fun and Information used to be "Gene Hunt Interrogation Technique". It was a snowclone of Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique, this time changing the reference to Ashes to Ashes (2008). While Jack Bauer from 24 successfully wormed his way into our troping vocabulary, no such luck for the more obscure Gene Hunt, hence the rename.
Totally Not a Criminal Front was renamed from "Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club" because it was often misused, particularly where Covert Group with Mundane Front would be more appropriate.
Tough Leader Façade was previously called "The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask", and was renamed when the definition was broadened into a gender-neutral trope for leaders who project a tough public appearance for their subjects' sake.
Tragically Disabled Love Interest used to be "Disabled Love Interest", and it was renamed after it was retooled to refer to tragic characters. Before that, it was "Disabled Hottie, and it was renamed after misuse of the trope to mean "attractive disabled person".
Training Montage used to be "Gonna Fly Now Montage", after a particularly famous example from Rocky. Most uses of the name were specific to Rocky or homages thereof (there are plenty, but the trope is not that narrow). And many uses of the trope were using Training Montage as a redirect anyway.
Transformation Name Announcement used to be "I Am Hero, Hear Me Roar!" It was renamed for being incomprehensible and completely unintuitive.
Translation Train Wreck used to be "Do Not Want", after a very memetic line from the prominent example Backstroke of the West. Most uses of the name referenced the meme itself, which in common usage wasn't about translation but more akin to a Squick reaction. Accordingly, after the rename, "Do Not Want" was repurposed as a redirect for the latter trope. That was a bad idea; it turned into such a Pothole Magnet that it was cut and moved to the Permanent Red Link Club.
Transplanted Character Fic used to be "Cookie Cutter Fic". It was renamed because no one could agree on what the "cookie cutter" part meant.
Trapped in the Past used to be "Connecticut Yankee", after the Mark Twain story A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Not everyone got the reference, and many who did associated it with a different trope, which was created as Giving Radio to the Romans after the rename.
Traumatic Haircut used to be "Rape of the Lock", after the work of the same name. It was renamed to prevent collisions with the work's page. And in any event, the work itself isn't the best example; the hair in question was a trivial amount, but it was treated like a Traumatic Haircut (it's that kind of work).
Trojan Prisoner used to be "Wookiee Gambit", after Star Wars — and specifically a scene in A New Hope in which Chewbacca is used in this manner. While many people are familiar with Star Wars, the name wasn't clear exactly how it related to the trope. (You'd be forgiven for thinking it related to the wholly unrelated Chewbacca Defense.)
Tropes About Perverts used to be "This Index Is Full of Perverts". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "This Index Is X" snowclone family.
Trouble Magnet Gambit used to be "Vasor Gambit", after a one-off character from Doctor Who (and specifically from the first season of a ridiculous Long Runner). If you weren't a Whovian with encyclopedic knowledge of the franchise, there was no way you were getting what the trope meant.
Troubling Unchildlike Behavior used to be "Troubling Unchildhood Behavior". It was renamed to make it slightly less grammatically baffling.
True Companions used to be "Nakama". And it was a contentious name in its day. The word is simply Gratuitous Japanese for "friends" or "companions", but many tropers insisted that it meant something deeper and more nuanced. The idea was that even though it wasn't a Japanese Media Trope, the only way to properly express the concept was with its Japanese name, like what we did with Tsundere. Discussion revealed otherwise, but not before accusations were thrown around of Occidental Otakudom. (They fought really hard to keep that name.) In any event, the supposed deeper meaning of "friends with ties stronger than anything" amounted to The Same, but More.
True Final Boss used to be "Perfect Run Final Boss". It was renamed because not all such bosses require a perfect run to access.
Trust Password used to be "I Am John Smith", after a specific example from Haruhi Suzumiya which also happened to be a massive Spoiler. If you weren't familiar with it, there was no way to understand what the trope meant.
Tsurime Eyes and Tareme Eyes used to be just "Tsurime" and "Tareme". Although they were Japanese Media Tropes, they still have to be somewhat comprehensible to non-speakers of Japanese. The rename clarified that they are about eye shapes.
Turn the Other Fist used to be "McLintock Punch", after the John Wayne Western comedy film McLintock!. If you didn't know the reference, the trope was impenetrable, and accordingly it suffered from severe underuse.
Two Beings, One Body used to be "Biological Mash-Up". It was renamed after extensive confusion with Mix-and-Match Critters, which is more like "one being, two half-bodies".
Two Decades Behind used to be "Still the Eighties". It was renamed to broaden the pool of examples to any work that's two decades behind the times, both where that's before and after The '80s.
2D Visuals, 3D Effects used to be "3D Effects, 2D Cartoon"; it was renamed to broaden it beyond traditional animation. Before then, it was "Conspicuous CG", but that name didn't indicate that it was a stylistic choice and led to tropers using it to complain about CG elements they didn't like.
Two Words: Added Emphasis used to be "Two Words: Obvious Trope". It was renamed in the cleanup of use of "trope" as a placeholder; furthermore, the "obvious" caused confusion and misuse.
Tyrant Takes the Helm used to be "The Umbridge", after a character from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Not everyone got the reference, and many who did associated the character with other tropes.

Ukefication used to be "Wimpification" — and before then "Ukefication". It's a fun story, too. It was originally renamed for being Gratuitous Japanese, which was unfortunately a problem in the early days of the wiki (e.g. True Companions being called "Nakama"). But it wasn't just the Japanese that was the problem — its reference to the "seme/uke" paradigm suggested that the trope was about the relative positions in the relationship as opposed to the stereotypes associated with them. But changing "uke" to "wimp" didn't get across the sense of the word, and indeed it led to frequent confusion with Badass Decay and related tropes. Turns out that despite being Anime Fan Speak, "uke" at least got across that it's about a gay relationship, and the userbase got a lot better about Gratuitous Japanese than they were before.
Unabashed B-Movie Fan used to be "There's No 'B' in 'Movie'". It was misused to refer to B-movies in general and renamed.
Uncanny Village used to be just "The Village". It was renamed to specify the kind of village, and also to avoid collisions with the variety of works called The Village.
Unconfessed Unemployment used to be "I Can't Tell the Wife I Got Laid Off". It was renamed for being too long, looking like a line of dialogue, and implying that it was exclusive to Sitcom husbands.
Unconvincingly Unpopular Character used to be "Cool Loser". It was moved to YMMV and renamed after it was determined this was based on audience reaction.
Undesirable Prize used to be "Flokati Rug", after an example from Press Your Luck. If you didn't know the reference, the name was impenetrable.
Unexpected Character used to be "The Unexpected". It was renamed to narrow it specifically to characters, as opposed to anything unexpected.
Unexpected Gameplay Change used to be "Unexpected Genre Change". It was meant to be a Video Game Trope, but it was mistaken for a much broader one. Accordingly, it was renamed to clarify its scope, and the broader examples were moved to the new trope Out-of-Genre Experience.
Unexplained Recovery used to be "I Got Better", after a line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. While enough people appeared to get the reference (the film is ridiculously memetic, after all), it was misused as a Stock Phrase and a Pothole Magnet for anyone and anything who "gets better", regardless of whether or not there was a satisfactory explanation for it.
Unintentionally Unwinnable used to be just "Unwinnable". Well, kinda — "Unwinnable" was split into three tropes. Two of them — "Unwinnable by Mistake" and "Unwinnable by Insanity" — were determined to be redundant and merged together into what's now Unintentionally Unwinnable, which was the original sense of "Unwinnable". The third, Unwinnable by Design, is still its own trope. Unwinnable is now an index containing those two tropes plus Unwinnable Joke Game.
Unfazed Everyman used to be "The Arthur Dent", after the character from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy. Not everyone got the reference, and many who did associated him with other tropes.
Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway used to be "But Sir, It's Not Yet Ready". It was mistaken for a Stock Phrase, and the "sir" bit suggested a specific kind of master-servant relationship (or perhaps waiter-diner), which made it seem narrower than it was. Accordingly, it suffered from underuse.
Ungrateful Townsfolk used to be "What the Hell, Townspeople?" It was renamed because What the Hell, Hero? and its snowclones are for Audience Reactions, and this one was an In-Universe reaction.
Unique Enemy used to be "The Red Snifit", after an example from Super Mario Bros. 2. Not only did it require familiarity with a specific work, it wasn't the clearest example; while there's only one red Snifit in that game, all Snifits are red in later Super Mario Bros. games.
Uniqueness Decay used to be "Novelty Decay"; it was renamed because "novelty" is quite subjective, it attracted too much complaining, and "uniqueness" fits the trope better anyway. Before then, it was "Everyone Has a Power Ring"; that one was renamed as a gratuitous reference to Green Lantern.
Uniqueness Value used to be "What Measure Is a Non-Unique?". Seems like a lateral move, but it's not exactly aligned with the What Measure Is an Index? trope, and it was more awkward than the rest of them to boot.
Universal-Adaptor Cast used to be "Commedia dell'Arte Troupe", after Commedia dell'Arte, a specific genre from the Italian Renaissance that relied heavily on the trope. Not everyone was familiar with the genre, and those who were mistook it to refer to the genre itself rather than to the specific trope, which is not unique to it anyway.
Universally Beloved Leader used to be "100% Adoration Rating", but the name didn't clearly get across the fact that it's specifically about widely loved leaders, leading to confusion with Loved by All.
Unkempt Beauty used to be "The Benson", after Amber Benson, who played Tara Maclay on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not only was it an obscure reference, it appeared to be a character trope when it was actually a reference to the actress who played her, which even back then was not our style.
Unknown Relative used to be "Relative Unknown". It was renamed within two weeks of its creation, out of fear that the name would be confusing and prone to misuse.
Unnaturally Blue Lighting used to be "Bad Blue Lighting". It was renamed to make it sound more objective and less negative.
Unseen Evil used to be "Ultimate Evil". It was renamed to clarify the "unseen" part; without that, it was frequently misused as "the Big Bad, but more so".
Unseen Pen Pal used to be "Mailer Daemon", a reference to an obscure computing term. It was renamed partly because the reference was impenetrable, and partly to expand the trope beyond electronic messages.
Unsettling Gender-Reveal used to be "Dropped a Bridget on Him", a reference to Guilty Gear and a snowclone of the otherwise unrelated trope Dropped a Bridge on Him. Many didn't get the reference, assuming it had something to do with bridge-dropping. Many who did mistook it for the broader Gender Reveal supertrope (which didn't exist yet) or other related tropes; the "unsettling" bit helped narrow the definition. (Long after the trope was renamed, the eponymous Bridget came out as a trans woman in Guilty Gear -STRIVE-.)
Unspecified Role Credit used to be "Now Which One Was That Voice?". It was renamed for clarity's sake.
Unsportsmanlike Gloating used to be "Victory Gloating". It was misused for gloating in general, whereas the rename clarified that it had to relate to a competition of some sort.
Unwanted Assistance used to be "Stop Helping Me!". It was unclear whether it was an In-Universe reaction or a YMMV trope and collected examples of both. The rename made it an In-Universe trope, whereas the YMMV tropes were split into the new trope Annoying Video Game Helper.
Unwanted Gift Plot used to be "The Zotz", after Zotz, an obscure William Castle film. Nobody understood the name or how it related to the trope, which isn't even really an example. It needed a rename badly.
Unwinnable Training Simulation used to be "The Kobayashi Maru", after a prominent example from Star Trek (first introduced in The Wrath of Khan). Not everyone got the reference, and it wasn't very easy to spell, to boot.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom used to be "Swiss Messenger". While it might seem like a reference to the former "Swiss Moment" (since renamed to Late to the Punchline), it's actually a reference to an obscure character from the Sherlock Holmes story The Final Problem. Accordingly, no one got it, and the trope suffered from underuse.
Urban Legend of Zelda used to be "Schala Lives", after an example concerning Chrono Trigger. Few got the reference, even those familiar with other examples of the trope, hence the rename.
Urgent Medical Alert used to be "Grey's Anatomy Emergency Medical Response". It was renamed as too long and awkward to use; it was also named after Grey's Anatomy but unclear as to how the show related to the trope.
The Usual Adversaries used to be "Goddamn Orks", after the race from Warhammer 40,000. Although it didn't rely as much on the Trope Namer as it did its similarity to tropes like Goddamned Bats, it still suffered from underuse and was mostly used as a Verbal Tic among tropers who got the reference.

Vampire Dance used to be "Blood on the Dance Floor". It was renamed to clarify that it had to do with vampires (and not necessarily blood), with the added advantage of avoiding collisions with the page for the musical duo with the same name.
Vanilla Protagonist used to be "Designated Protagonist Syndrome". It was renamed because "syndrome" made it sound too negative and "designated" made it sound like you wouldn't even be able to tell this character's the protagonist unless you were told, which isn't quite what the trope means.
Vanishing Village used to be "Brigadoon", after the musical of the same name. In addition to requiring knowledge of a specific work, the name also led to collisions with the work's page.
Verbal Tic used to be "Spoon Speaker", after a Character Catchphrase from The Tick. In addition to requiring knowledge of a specific work, the work wasn't even an example itself.
[Verb] This! used to be "Dodge This", after a line from The Matrix. Tropers mistook it to be about dodging rather than the specific "___ this!" sentence construction.
Vertical Mecha Fins used to be "Eva Fins", after Neon Genesis Evangelion. Not everyone got the reference, especially as it required you to understand "Eva" as a shorthand for this work and not something else. Those who did get that it had to do with Humongous Mecha misused it for all mecha fins and not specifically vertical ones like Evangelion had.
Vetinari Job Security used to be "Vetinari Paradox". Oddly enough, the Trope Namer survived (Patrician Havelock Vetinari from Discworld); the rename clarifies which aspect of his character relates to the trope. In any event, it's not that paradoxical if you think about it; it's just hard to pull off at the start.
V-Formation Team Shot used to be "Justice League Shot", after the Justice League of America. It was renamed for being opaque and requiring familiarity with a specific work.
Victor Gains Loser's Powers used to be "Your Defeat Means I Obtain Your Powers". It was renamed to make it more concise and clarify that the powers go to the one responsible for the victim's defeat.
Villain Forgot to Level Grind used to be "The Viral", after a character from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Not everyone got the reference, or indeed figured out that it was a character, thinking it instead had to do with The Virus or other uses of the word "viral". Accordingly, it was opaque and needed a rename.
Villain in a White Suit used to be "Man in White". It was misused to be far more broad, referring to any man wearing white, regardless of whether or not they were a villain or the outfit was a suit.
Villain Over for Dinner used to be "Did Mom Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?" It was renamed because it didn't really belong with the Did You Just Index Cthulhu? tropes; it doesn't require a powerful being, just a villain. The new name also had the advantage of sounding less like a line of dialogue.
Villains Blend in Better used to be "Antagonists Assimilate", apparently a line from Transformers that was never actually used. Not only was it opaque, it didn't have anything to do with assimilation, leading to misuse to mean The Assimilator or similar tropes.
Villain's Dying Grace used to be "My Revenge Is Mercy". It suffered from underuse and was renamed to clarify that (a) it's a villain's revenge and (b) they give it when they die.
Virginity Makes You Stupid used to be "Innocence Virgin on Stupidity". It was renamed because not everyone got the Pun ("verging" turned into "virgin") and thought the title was misspelled or a string of random words.
Visions of Another Self used to be "Flashback Echo". It was mistaken for a flashback version of an Ironic Echo or Meaningful Echo, when it's both broader (it doesn't have to be an echo or a flashback) and narrower (it has to be one's other self). Flashback Echo was repurposed for all the former examples.
Vulgar Humor used to be "Refuge in Vulgarity", in parallel with Refuge in Audacity and similar tropes. For whatever reason, tropers used it to complain about works which used it; the rename cut down on the complaining.

Wackyland used to be "Magicant", after an area from EarthBound (1994). Most tropers didn't get the reference, and for those who did, it implied a trope narrower than it actually was; Magicant is a Mental World in addition to being surreal.
Wake Up Fighting used to be "Rude Awakening". Tropers took the idiomatic meaning directly and didn't figure out the gist of the trope, leading to underuse and misuse.
Waking Up Elsewhere used to be "Waking Up in Vegas". It was renamed because "elsewhere" by no means has to be Las Vegas (although it happens often enough). It appears to have been named after The Hangover, which isn't even an example because they were in Las Vegas to begin with.
Wants a Prize for Basic Decency used to be "Virtue Is Its Own Reward". It was mistaken for its literal meaning and as a positive trope, akin to Think Nothing of It.
War Crime Subverts Heroism used to be "Obligatory War Crime Scene". It was kind of confusing, because even in War Movies and the like, war crime scenes aren't really "obligatory". Indeed, the "obligatory" part suggests that it's for villains who commit war crimes, which might be obligatory if you're aiming for Black-and-White Morality and need the villain to Kick the Dog; but this trope is actually for heroes who commit war crimes so as to show that War Is Hell and it's Evil Versus Evil. The rename makes that much clearer.
Watch It for the Meme used to be "Must Seek Leek", after the Loituma Girl meme from Bleach. Even as memes go, it was pretty damn obscure, and in any event, the Trope Namer is not really an example, because the meme isn't the reason most people have heard of Bleach. The rename made it much clearer.
Watch It Stoned used to be "Everything's Better on Drugs". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone family, and it didn't even fit into that family anyway.
The Watson was formed from the merger of "The Sarah Jane" and "The Rick". Both were character-named tropes in dire need of a rename; "The Sarah Jane" came from Doctor Who, and "The Rick" came from Magnum, P.I.. "The Rick" was particularly obtuse; while "Sarah Jane" isn't too uncommon a name (especially if you're familiar with The Sarah Jane Adventures, which being a spinoff of a badly Trope Overdosed show will pop up on the wiki every now and then), "Rick" could be from anywhere. Once the rename process started, it was discovered that there wasn't much distinction between the two, and they were merged together. Curiously, The Watson is still a character-named trope, but Dr. Watson from Sherlock Holmes is a well-known character archetype.
Waxing Lyrical used to be "Don't Sing Along If You Don't Know the Words". In addition to being very long and unwieldy, it didn't describe the trope; it's about characters reciting song lyrics (not necessarily singing them), whereas it gave the impression of singing — and getting the lyrics wrong. Misuse to mean the latter was a meaner version of either Refrain from Assuming or Something Something Leonard Bernstein.
Way Past the Expiration Date used to be "Best Before Decade". The new name got across the gist of the old one in a much less awkward and meaningless way. The old name wasn't even the name its draft had in the Trope Launch Pad.
Weather Manipulation used to be "Power of the Storm". It was renamed to clarify that it's about a superpower, not generally about destructive weather.
Webcomic Time was merged together with "That Night Felt Like Months". The latter gave the impression that it was about time compression shenanigans, like I Fell for Hours or Year Inside, Hour Outside. In the rename process, it was found to be indistinguishable from Webcomic Time and merged into it.
What Were They Selling Again? used to be "Distracted by the Shiny". It was misused for characters being distracted by shiny things, which is totally different from what the trope is about. The "distraction" angle was repurposed for the trope Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!.
When You Coming Home, Dad? used to be "Cat's in the Cradle", after the song by Harry Chapin. The new name gets the sense of the trope across much better, but it retains the Trope Namer, as it's a lyric from the song.
White Bread and Black Brotha used to be "Salt and Pepper". It was renamed to emphasize the White half as straight-laced and by-the-book and the Black half as street-wise and loud-mouthed, as it was misued to include any White-Black pair, running risk of People Sit on Chairs.
White Hair, Black Heart used to be "White-Haired Pretty Boy". It was renamed in the cleanup of the Personal Appearance Tropes; while Pretty Boy is a longstanding character trope (avoiding the usual problems of tropers just adding every character with a certain hair color), this isn't actually a character trope and is more about traits.
White Magician Girl used to be "Staff Chick". It was mistaken for a skill trope rather than a character trope; rather than characters who matched a specific archetype, tropers were adding characters who did what chicks do with a staff: healing. This led to serious overlap with such tropes as Healing Hands, The Medic, and White Mage. The rename clarified that it's a character trope and that it doesn't strictly require a staff. The new name also matches the trope's Black Mage counterpart, Black Magician Girl.
Wick Cleaning Projects used to be "TRS Wick Cleaning". It was renamed because "TRS" implied that the projects all came from the Trope Repair Shop, when they could come from other places as well.
Wicked Weasel used to be "Everything's Better with Weasels". It was renamed in the cleanup of the deprecated "Everything's Better with X" snowclone. As if to illustrate the problem, the trope amounted to a list of weasels in fiction, regardless of portrayal.
Wife Husbandry used to be "Hikaru Genji plan", after The Tale of Genji. It was renamed for relying too much on a relatively obscure work of literature.
Wimp Fight used to be "Zero Chops". "Chops" is a not-terribly-obscure term meaning "skills", but usually only makes sense in context ("working their acting chops"); here, where "zero" was the only word with it, it was meaningless. Perhaps it was also an oblique description of the technique involved in a Wimp Fight.
Windows of the Soul used to be "She Then Saw the Glint of Triumph in His Eyes". It was renamed for being long, unwieldy, and a line of dialogue. It doesn't even appear to have a Trope Namer, and the new name is a common idiomatic expression for the concept, which makes one wonder where the heck the old name even came from.
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility used to be "Comes Great Responsibility". Both come from the same line from Spider-Man; the old name was trying to be concise, but the truncated version failed to convey the full meaning of the trope.
Word Salad Title used to be "Super Punk Octo Pudding Gas Mark Seven". The idea was for the name to be self-referential, and it did so magnificently — so much so that no one could actually remember the name or easily use it in a sentence. We gave up on the self-reference and renamed it to its more mundane and descriptive redirect.
World of Pun used to be "A Worldwide Punomenon". In addition to being a Pothole Magnet and mistaken for the other pun-related tropes, it gave the impression that it applied to a single character rather than an entire setting. The name change also allowed the definition to be clarified and tightened.
World of Weirdness used to be "Planet Eris", after the Greek goddess of strife and discord, but more specifically after her incarnation as the goddess of chaos in Principia Discordia. The rename made it much clearer.
The World's Breast Tropes used to be "Keep Abreast of This Index". It was cut after The Second Google Incident by admin fiat for lewdness. Eight years later, it was suggested on the Trope Launch Pad by a troper who was unaware of the old index; the community was, but decided that enough time had passed that it was safe to create (although it was locked upon launch). In the process, it got a new name from the troper unfamiliar with the old one.
Writing Pitfall Index used to be "Bad Writing Index"; it was renamed for attracting Complaining About Shows You Don't Like and recast as a sort of how-to guide rather than an indictment-fest. Before then, it was just "Bad Writing", but it was renamed to clarify that it was an index. Interestingly, the first rename led to worse complaining, as tropers started arguing about which tropes qualified.

The X of Y used to be "The Noun of Adjective". It was renamed for clarity and to align it with our other uses of "X" and "Y" as placeholders.

Yarling used to be "Nose Yodeling". It's actually more obtuse if you're not familiar with it, but it's an accepted term off-wiki and thus a technical term, so we use that one.
YMMV (short for "Your Mileage May Vary") used to be "Subjective Tropes". It was decided that tropes are not subjective at all, by definition; it was briefly renamed "Subjectives" as a way of showing that they're not tropes at all, but this wasn't really true, either. The rename to "YMMV" was easy to remember, having already used for the page that became Love It or Hate It. It also made debates easier to stomach; "it's subjective" is more inflammatory than "it's YMMV", which sounds more like a technical term and had long been preferred in wiki parlance anyway.
You Are Too Late used to be "Thirty-Five Minutes Ago", after a line from Watchmen. If you weren't familiar with it, the name made no sense; if you were, it was a major Spoiler.
You Just Told Me used to be "Rumplestiltskin Ploy". First, it relied on knowledge of the Trope Namer (although being a story by The Brothers Grimm, it's not too obscure); second, the Trope Namer was spelled incorrectly (it's Rumpelstiltskin, spelled the German way... 'cuz he's German); and third, the Trope Namer is not an example.
Youkai used to be "Yokai". It was renamed to match the accepted standard for Japanese Romanization. While "Yokai" is a longstanding spelling, it's been relegated to redirect status.
You Know Who Said That? used to be "And Now You Know the Rest of the Story". It was renamed for being long, awkward, and difficult to use in a sentence. It also had an obscure Trope Namer, being a catchphrase of American radio personality Paul Harvey, whose use of it wasn't even an example of the trope.
Young Conqueror used to be "The Alexander", a reference to Alexander the Great. Not everyone got the reference, thinking it referred to a fictional character named "Alexander". And even if you did know it was about Alexander the Great, the first thing most people know about him is that he conquered a large part of the world as known to his contemporaries; fewer people know that he started out his conquests as a teenager.
Your Mom used to be "Yo Momma's a Trope". It was renamed for using "trope" as a placeholder; it was deprecated site-wide, but this might have been its ugliest use. It also avoided the racial connotations of the specific formulation "yo momma" (as well as ambiguity as to how to spell it).
You Shouldn't Know This Already used to be "Ocarina Playlist", a reference to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Even among those familiar with the reference, it was unclear what exactly it meant, especially as encountering the trope required you to have played the game more than once and done things with the Ocarina that most players wouldn't try.
You Will Know What to Do used to be "When the Time Comes, You Will Know What to Do". It was determined that the "When the Time Comes" bit was unnecessary for understanding the trope, and it was renamed to be more concise.
Yuri Fan used to be "Yuri Fanboy", as it was originally defined as a gender-flipped counterpart to Yaoi Fangirl. It was renamed to make it more gender-inclusive. Indeed, to make it more sensical; the old name suggested that the fan had to be male, when the majority of examples were female (to say nothing of the former Troper Tales entries). The original title was kept as a redirect for compatibility with the longstanding term Fanboy.

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