"This message has been brought to you by The Society of People Who Think That Names Should Mean Something."

— CGP Grey, "History Lesson for the History Channel"

Have you ever noticed how sometimes, pickles are really salty?

That's the sort of thing this article would be about if it were a Self-Demonstrating Article. But it isn't. That would be silly.

A birthday cake is a cake you eat on your birthday. That makes sense. But a butterfly is not a fly (and it's definitely not made of butter), a ten-gallon hat can't even hold one gallon, and a peanut is neither a pea nor a nut — and don't even get us started on peanut butter. Words or combinations of words like this whose meaning has nothing to do with their name are known as misnomers.

Mostly for historical reasons the misnomer sticks and nobody—or almost nobody—bats an eyelid when it is used, since it is well accepted and people know what it means; this particular variant is a common result of calling Smeerps "rabbits". A Cloudcuckoolander character and punster tropers are likely to hang a lampshade on these from time to time, complain that contents of the tin differ from the label (or that the tin itself is not made of tin), and that there's no baby in baby food.

When the name once fit but no longer does, see Artifact Name. If the name is itself an element of deliberate deception, it may be Doublespeak or a Super-Fun Happy Thing of Doom.

For works with nonindicative names, see Word Salad Title (where the work's title is a bizarre statement that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the work's content) and Never Trust a Title (where the work's title outright lies about what happens in the story). For songs, see Non-Appearing Title (where a song's title isn't mentioned in the lyrics at all). A Dog Named "Cat" (where an animal is named a species it clearly isn't), Fluffy the Terrible (a dangerous villain or monster has a name that sounds cute, silly or otherwise non-threatening), Deathbringer the Adorable (a harmless pet with a name that sounds menacing or threatening), Ironic Name (a character's name alludes to a description or trait they lack), Ironic Nickname (a character's nickname alludes to a description or trait they lack), One Extra Member (a team's name has a specific number in it but the team has more members than their group's name indicates) and Sarcastic Title (the work's title is such a mismatch for the work that it's as if the title is intended to be read in a sarcastic tone) are subtropes of this. Compare Un-Installment (when the numbering of a series skips a number or two to create the impression of series installments that don't actually exist). See In Name Only when this trope applies to the title of a derivative work. When something with the Numbered Sequels is off, than see Sequel Number Snarl.

Looking to have fun with misleading names? See I Thought It Meant, for misleading trope names and I Thought That Was for misleading work names.

Examples:

• Advertising
• Anime & Manga
• Comic Books
• Fan Works
• Films — Animation
• Films — Live-Action
• Literature
• Live-Action TV
• Myths & Religion
• Music
• Tabletop Games
• Video Games
• Webcomics
• Web Original
• Western Animation
• Other Media
• Real Life
  • Real Life – Living Things