Why One Chinese Novel Has Several English Names, and Which One You See

Nobody names a Chinese web novel in English once. A fan translator picks a title, a publisher picks another, a machine translates the Chinese a third way, and the author may rename the book on top of all that. By the time a popular novel reaches you, it can have four or five English names, and all of them are in use somewhere.

This is how that happens, which one DaoSearch shows, and where the rest are kept so a search for any of them still lands on the book.

Where the English names come from

Fan translators. The names English readers know are mostly set by whoever translated the book first. Some translate the meaning, and some keep the pinyin. 元尊 is "Yuan Zun" to most readers, and a literal translation of the same two characters reads quite differently. A third translator may pick a different title altogether, and then there are two fan names for one book.

Machine titles. A book nobody has named in English gets a title from DaoSearch's own translation engine, which works from a glossary of fandom and recurring terms. The result is usually a good description of the book and often not the name anyone calls it. How the glossary works.

Authors renaming the book. The Chinese title changes, and so does the English made from it. Fanqie authors do this constantly, because on a feed the title is the pitch. Why Fanqie titles change so much.

Another platform's name. The same novel can be listed on several platforms, and some of them call it something slightly different. The platform's own alias is a real name for the book.

RandomTranslator's title. RandomTranslator is our sister site, where the novels are actually translated. Its English title for a book is the name its readers see on every chapter.

Which title DaoSearch shows

One rule decides it: the title on the page should be the name you're most likely to have seen elsewhere.

• If RandomTranslator has the novel, the page shows RandomTranslator's title. About 9,800 books are in step with RandomTranslator this way. The match is checked on the Chinese title, so a book whose source has renamed it since keeps the source's current title, and RandomTranslator's name goes in Other names. When RandomTranslator changes its English, the page follows.
• If the novel has a name English readers commonly use, the page shows that. About 4,300 well-known novels now carry their commonly known English title, and the title they used to have on DaoSearch moved to Other names.
• Otherwise, it's our own translation of the current Chinese title, redone whenever the Chinese changes.

None of that changes the Chinese title, which is the source of truth and is always on the page. If a title reads wrong, the Report link at the bottom of a book page offers Bad translation. How reports work.

Other names: what the section lists

Scroll down a book page and you'll find an Other names section, for any book that has some. It lists every other name we know the novel by, with a short line under each saying what it is:

• Former title, until Oct 2026. A title the book had before its source renamed it, with the month the rename replaced it. Newest first.
• Alternate title on Qidian (or Fanqie, JJWXC, Faloo, Qimao, Zongheng). Another name the book's own platform gives it.
• On RandomTranslator. RandomTranslator's name for the novel, in Chinese and in English.
• Earlier English title. The English title the book carried on DaoSearch before it was given the commonly known one.
• On NovelUpdates. The well-known English name the novel goes by.

A few rules keep the list readable. A name that reads the same as the book's current title isn't repeated, and punctuation, spacing, capital letters and bracketed edition tags like (完本) don't make two names different. A name that appears under two labels is shown once. A placeholder that only says the book has no title yet is never listed. The section shows the first four names and puts the rest behind Show all, since a Fanqie book renamed every few weeks can have a long history.

Most books have no other names at all, and the section doesn't appear on them.

Search finds a book by any of its names

You don't need the name on the page to find the book. Typing a name into the header search suggests books whose other names start with it. On a Browse page, a title search that finds nothing looks through the other names for a full match and lists those books instead of saying nothing matches.

That covers all the names above, including former titles. So a title you saved from a Fanqie book last month, before the author renamed it, still leads to the book. It also covers the fan name or the pinyin title, when it's one of the names we hold. If one doesn't work, try the Chinese. The search guide.

Show Chinese: see both at once

When a list shows you a title you don't recognise, the Chinese is the fastest way to tell. Turn on Show Chinese, the last row of the header's More menu (of the menu on a phone). Every list then prints the Chinese title and author beside the English, and your choice is remembered. A ranking board becomes a lookup table, and you can match a book against the Chinese you saw on its platform without opening anything.

How to find the raw of a novel you know in English takes this further: from the English name to the Chinese title, the platform and the status.

What to do when a name is missing

If you know a book by a name that isn't listed, or its title reads wrong, use the Report link at the bottom of its page: it reaches a person on the team. The release notes for these changes are on the changelog.

Explore the catalogue: Qidian (novels, rankings, stats); Fanqie (novels, rankings, stats); JJWXC (novels, rankings, stats); Faloo (novels, rankings, stats); Qimao (novels, rankings, stats); Zongheng (novels, rankings, stats).