# That movie character's name is wrong -- Change it! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2019, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103 "2019-04-27T00:31:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/21 "2019-04-27T14:22:23Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Shouldn’t Indiana Jones at least have been named Oklahoma Jones, if not something like Montana, Wyoming, or Texas Jones? Although the story that George Lucas named Indiana Jones after his dog (and used the dog as sorta the basis of the character _Chewbacca_) is well-known, I’ve long suspected that the science fiction-savvy Lucas was inspired to use that name by the memory of Catherine L. Moore’s character _Northwest Smith_. > **[Northwest Smith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Smith)** > > Northwest Smith is a fictional character, and the hero of a series of stories by science fiction writer C. L. Moore. > Smith is a spaceship pilot and smuggler who lives in an undisclosed future time when humanity has colonized the Solar System. > The stories are set in a milieu common to science fiction stories of the pulp era. All of the planets of the system are able to support life and have their own civilizations. Many of the intelligent races living on the planets have comparatively primitive ... Smith was a science fiction character, and it would’ve made more sense to use the name for, say, Han Solo, but maybe not – Lucas was staying away from names that could be traced back to Earth cultures, and “Smith” would have stood out among all the alien names. > [@](#): > > Northwest Smith is sometimes compared to the Star Wars character Han Solo; both are violent, gun-wielding, rogue smugglers with hearts of gold who travel among planets that are stand-ins for existing Earth cultures ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/22 "2019-04-27T15:18:34Z")
_Goodfellas_ was adapted from a nonfiction book but most of the names were changed for the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/23 "2019-04-27T15:31:46Z")
I’d heard that Banner’s name change was also related to the popularity of Batman, and they didn’t want to get him mixed up with Wayne. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/24 "2019-04-27T16:38:02Z")
The character Margo in the TV series The Magicians was Janet in the books. But the book and TV series also has main character Julia and side characters Josh and Jane, so it was a fairly obvious “wrong” to right. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/25 "2019-04-27T17:06:36Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Kenneth Johnson’s (the producer’s) version is that he hated all of the alliterative names in the comics, like Reed Richards, Matt Murdock, Peter Parker, and yes, Bruce Banner, so he decided to buck the trend by changing Bruce to David. And now I remember that Banner’s middle name in the comics is Bruce, too. In the comics, he was Robert Bruce Banner, and on the TV show he was David Bruce Banner. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/26 "2019-04-27T17:20:23Z")
In the 2016 film adaptation of the children’s book ‘Swallows and Amazons’\* they changed Titty Walker’s name to Tatty. Cowards. \*I remember a classmate when I was about 8 solemnly informing me that the Swallows and Amazons series, featuring Titty, Dick and a brief appearance by a housemaid named Fanny was ‘Porn’. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/27 "2019-04-27T18:25:58Z")
Apparently they changed _gojira_ to Godzilla which is more or less the way it’s pronounced. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/28 "2019-04-27T18:38:20Z")
While not quite what the OP had in mind but I’ve always felt that Harvey Korman’s character in _History of the World: Part I_ is spelled wrong. The joke would work much better as “de Monee” rather than “de Monet”. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/29 "2019-04-27T18:46:40Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > And now I remember that Banner’s middle name in the comics is Bruce, too. In the comics, he was Robert Bruce Banner, and on the TV show he was David Bruce Banner. I think that they made “Bruce” a middle name only to square the comics with the TV show. My recollection from the pre-TV days is that his name was simply “Bruce Banner.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/30 "2019-04-27T18:51:33Z")
Here’s what the Wikipedia entry on “Hulk” has to say: > [@](#): > > Lee gave the Hulk’s alter ego the alliterative name “Bruce Banner” because he found he had less difficulty remembering alliterative names. Despite this, in later stories he misremembered the character’s name and referred to him as “Bob Banner”, an error which readers quickly picked up on.[15] The discrepancy was resolved by giving the character the official full name “Robert Bruce Banner.”[1] So it was originally “Bruce Banner”, but he became “Robert Bruce Banner” to retcon in somebody’s error in calling him “Bob” (Kinda like “John Hamish Watson”) The entry on the TV series adds this: > [@](#): > > Johnson changed the name of the Hulk’s comic book alter ego, Dr. Bruce Banner, to Dr. David Banner for the TV series. This change was made, according to Johnson, because he did not want the series to be perceived as a comic book series, so he wanted to change what he felt was a staple of comic books, and Stan Lee’s comics in particular, that major characters frequently had alliterative names.[9] According to both Stan Lee[8] and Lou Ferrigno, it was also changed because CBS thought the name Bruce sounded “too gay-ish”, a rationale that Ferrigno thought was “the most absurd, ridiculous thing [he had] ever heard”.[10] On the DVD commentary of the pilot, Johnson says that it was a way to honor his son David. “Bruce” ultimately became the TV Banner’s middle name, as it had been in the comics. It is visible on Banner’s tombstone at the end of the pilot movie,[8] and that footage is shown at the beginning of every episode of the series. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2019, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/31 "2019-04-27T20:28:05Z")
In the book _Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH_ the main character is a mouse called Mrs. Frisby. In the movie _The Secret of NIMH_ the main character is a mouse called Mrs. Brisby. The “Mrs. Frisby” name in the novel was changed to “Mrs. Brisby” during production due to trademark concerns with Frisbee discs. Also in the show “The Greatest American Hero” the main character was originally called Ralph Hinkley. It was changed to Ralph Hanley after President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/32 "2019-04-28T00:20:14Z")
There is a well-written, fun kidlit SF novel called _The True Meaning of Smekday_. It was made into a movie called _Home_ by gutting 99% of the novel and replacing it with generic dreck. One of the vast number of changes was to change the name of the main alien character from JLo to Oh. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/33 "2019-04-28T17:54:13Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > In the book _Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH_ the main character is a mouse called Mrs. Frisby. In the movie _The Secret of NIMH_ the main character is a mouse called Mrs. Brisby. The “Mrs. Frisby” name in the novel was changed to “Mrs. Brisby” during production due to trademark concerns with Frisbee discs. > > Also in the show “The Greatest American Hero” the main character was originally called Ralph Hinkley. It was changed to Ralph Hanley after President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. Supposedly they wanted to call the main villain in _Muppet Treasure Island_ “Spa’am” (he’s a pig, get it?) but the company that makes Spam nixed it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/34 "2019-04-28T18:10:07Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Supposedly they wanted to call the main villain in _Muppet Treasure Island_ “Spa’am” (he’s a pig, get it?) but the company that makes Spam nixed it. They should have added a whore named Mel. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/35 "2019-04-28T18:30:33Z")
Anime localizations used to be infamous for replacing Japanese names with English ones. Perhaps the weirdest case I’ve seen was when _Cardcaptor Sakura_ was brought to North America as _Cardcaptors_. The title character kept her Japanese first name, and two Chinese kept their names as well, but the rest of the cast (including Sakura’s family) were given English names. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/36 "2019-04-28T19:40:01Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Anime localizations used to be infamous for replacing Japanese names with English ones. Perhaps the weirdest case I’ve seen was when _Cardcaptor Sakura_ was brought to North America as _Cardcaptors_. The title character kept her Japanese first name, and two Chinese kept their names as well, but the rest of the cast (including Sakura’s family) were given English names. You have a low bar for weird. In the American version of _Journey to the West_ (renamed _Alakazam the Great_) the character Zhu Baije [became](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alakazam_the_Great#Characters) (wait for it…) _ **Sir Quigley Broken Bottom** _! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/37 "2019-04-28T19:48:23Z")
Peter Jackson keeps making noises that he is going to film The Dam Busters remake. For some reason they are talking about changing one of the names. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/38 "2019-04-28T19:52:43Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Also in the show “The Greatest American Hero” the main character was originally called Ralph Hinkley. It was changed to Ralph Hanley after President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. The name change only lasted the remainder of the first season. By the second season, Ralph’s last name was changed back to Hinkley, although he was often referred to as “Mr. H.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/39 "2019-04-28T20:20:41Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > John Jones? The name sounds kind of Martian. > > [Martian Manhunter - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_Manhunter) Yeah, I used to call him “Manhunter” to kid him.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103/40 "2019-04-28T22:20:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 5.) Sounds incorrect – In Harry Bates’ science fiction story **Farewell to the Master** the giant robot is named _Gnut_, which sounds kinda Scandinavian. For the movie **The Day the Earth Stood Still** , he became _Gort_, giving us the classic line “Gort, Klaatu Barada Nikto”. True to form, when they remade the film in 2008, they kept the name _Gort_. Well, of course, in the movie they switched which character was the actual alien and which was the “servant.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-movie-characters-name-is-wrong-change-it/833103.md?page=3)