Ok, ive wondered since REmake.... what idiot came up with the name resident evil? it sorta made sense with the first one, as, Resident dead wouldnt suffice. (paperwork term in postal service) But Biohazard works better all throughout.... what with, T, G, Plaga, Uruboros, T-V, T-W, it makes more sense. your thoughts? im done ranting, now to lurk for another 3-4 months.

Resident Evil works for me too. Resident evil - resident evil, simple enough. Zombies are evil, we dont like them. Headshot.

I.. never really thought about it that way, but of course, I've grown accustomed to the title and I like it. :]

But I do agree with you, Biohazard fits better, but in my opinion, it sounds too.. corny or cliche to be a zombie game // movie title. But that's just me.

the title works for me but I have given it thought on why the series has this name

I love the name Resident Evil... I was very fitting for the first game as it takes place in a residence hahaha.
From what I have read, they changed the name in other markets because biohazard would be damn near impossible to copyright, market, etc... in America.

It couldn't be named Biohazard in America because there was a band of the same name with the name copyrighted already. As for Resident Evil, I believe it has to do with the game that the series is rumored to be based on. Sweet Home or something like that...

certain regions of the world like different titles for their games too

I thought about this a long time ago too.

Both Biohazard and Resident Evil would work well, but Biohazard would describe the series as a whole better.

Resident Evil = A resident of a certain place of residing is evil, aka Evil Resident
YES RE0 has residents (of the Training Facility) that are evil
YES RE1 has residents (of the Mansion) that are evil
YES RE2 has residents (of Racoon City and Umbrella Facility) that are evil
YES RE3 has residents (of Racoon City) that are evil
NO RE Dead Aim takes place on a cruise ship which doesn't have residents but travelers, later on in game you meet the evil residents of an umbrella facility tho
YES RE Survivor has residents (of Sheena island) that are evil
YES RE Outbreak 1 + 2 has residents (of Racoon City) that are evil
NO RE Gaiden takes place on a cruise ship that has travelers, not residents
YES RE Code Veronica has residents (workers, prisoners on the island) that are evil
YES RE4 has residents (of the spanish village) that are evil
YES RE5 has residents (of Kijuju) that are evil
YES RE Umbrella Chronicles has residents (of Racoon City) that are evil
YES RE Dark Side Chronicles has residents (of Racoon City) that are evil
NO RE Degenerated has airport visitors that are evil but they are not residents

BioHazard = A biological hazard or biohazard is an organism, or substance derived from an organism, that poses a threat to (primarily) human health. ...
YES RE0 features biohazards
YES RE1 features biohazards
YES RE2 features biohazards
YES RE3 features biohazards
YES RE Dead Aim features biohazards
YES RE Survivor features biohazards
YES RE Outbreak 1 + 2 features biohazards
YES RE Gaiden features biohazards
YES RE Code Veronica features biohazards
YES RE4 features parasites that are biohazards
YES RE5 features parasites that are biohazards
YES RE Umbrella Chronicles features biohazards
YES RE Dark Side Chronicles features biohazards
YES RE Degenerated features biohazards

So I'd say "Biohazard" would best describe the series over "Resident Evil" even thought I'm used to the name Resident Evil more. Since Biohazard was already a band name Capcom should of just spelled it differently like Biohaxard or something, then again that might have been seen as lame so they chose Resident Evil, which is fine.

If there are residents that are evil, doesn't necessarily mean everything is evil. Hell, I have evil neighbors and I don't need to resist the evil. There are always evil residents. I mean they did create the "evil", but again zombies are bigger evil than residents. They didn't mean "Our game has evil residents". They meant survive evil. As for Biohazard, it would work, but they are bringing to much terrorism acts into it. Its just few man ideals, not whole damn platoon or w/e.

I've actually been wondering the same thing about the name. A Finn as I am I've been trying to translate it into Finnish but it just sounds stupid in our language as it doesn't make any real sense when directly translated. Anyway, I've grown to know it as 'Resident Evil' so I'll just ignore the whole thing.

Just look at it as "Evil occupies this place" and it will make perfect sense. I have always taken it to mean, evil at your front door, terror close to home, blah blah blah...

Even if topic is old I wanted to speak out on this issue. I also thought about it quite a lot of time. I completely agree! Biohazard fits way better. Pity they had to change it to another title. The game is about biological hazard, about viruses which kills/mutate everyone even plants, animals, everything that moves etc. About virus(biological weapon) that escaped, conspiracy, spies, corruption, evil gigantic biotech military corporation, politics and of course zombies (infected people), monsters and other results of biological experiments, it feels more like sci-fi and more closer to real life. Quite apparent and straightforward. When I hear "Resident Evil" I have associations about some kind of eternal evil, something demonic, unnatural, etc.. Biohazard is more sci-fi, it fits better, my vote for biohazard.