I love that idea, Return of the King! I actually like that better than Lewis' original idea of "Drawn into Narnia" - that's like one chapter, if that. But really, I think Prince Caspian works. The story really does revolve around him; his fascination with what Narnia was like before the Telmarines took over, his escape, and all his adventures before he takes his rightful place on the throne. I have a few ideas on other names that would be decent, but IMO Prince Caspian is better.

Great topic! While Prince Caspian is a relatively boring title, I'd like to say that I'm glad Lewis didn't use "The Return to Narnia." None of the other books mention Narnia in the title so I feel this shouldn't either.

Many of the titles mention an important prop in the story, such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair. So something like The Queen's Horn might work. But that would give away that Susan's horn is going to be important. (I guess that's the problem with all titles.)

How do people feel about The Second Battle of Beruna as a title?

I don't dislike Prince Caspian as a title. I mean, it's not the most interesting or eye-catching title, but it's not bad.

As for alternate titles, I can't really think of anything. Not a big fan of The Return of The King just cause it's taken. I do kind of like the sound The Queen's Horn though.

This is sort of off topic, but I find it interesting that while Lewis never actually put "Narnia" in the title of any of the books, he always seemed consider titles with "Narnia" in them. Narnia and The North for HHB, The Last King of Narnia and Night Falls on Narnia for LB, and Gnomes Under Narnia for SC (he also apparently considered The Wild Waste Lands for SC, witch I actually really like.) Ultimately I'm glad he never did put Narnia in any of the titles, I like it just being in the name of the series way better.

What an interesting topic! I'd honestly never thought of the title. It does ring a bit hollow, but I always liked it.

I suppose if it were to be renamed, I'd like it to follow along the title of LWW... Something like:

"The Prince, The Horn, and The Return to Narnia."

I suppose it's okay to have one book named after the leading human character?

How about The Rebel Prince? Or perhaps The Return of the Lion?
The Lion Rises ?:D
The Fall of Telmar?
A Sword in the Forest?

OK I'll stop now before the tomatoes start flying.

I should clarify that I don't dislike the title Prince Caspian, it's just my least favorite. While one does wonder who this new character is, I think it's easily the least wondrous of the titles.

Interesting to ponder everyone's ideas and what might have been! I wonder if Prince Caspian having a different title would have had some sort of butterfly effect on history?

The Return of the Lion crossed my mind as well, Cleander — it's a bit of a spoiler, but out of all the chapter titles, I think it stands out as the most suitable, with maybe Narnia in Danger as another possibility.

I do like the idea of a title involving Queen Susan's horn, especially since Lewis's original title was focused on the children being drawn back into Narnia and the horn was the catalyst. The Enchanted/Magic/Ancient Horn, or some other variation, might have worked for what he was going for. Thinking about your suggestion, DiGs, I rather like The Prince and the Magic Horn — it borrows a bit of LWW's cadence without sticking to a formula.

This is sort of off topic, but I find it interesting that while Lewis never actually put "Narnia" in the title of any of the books, he always seemed consider titles with "Narnia" in them.

I hadn't made that observation! That's really interesting. I also prefer having Narnia appear only in The Chronicles of Narnia and not the titles; I think it makes the tales more intriguing and myth-like.

As for alternate titles, I can't really think of anything. Not a big fan of The Return of The King just cause it's taken. I do kind of like the sound The Queen's Horn though.

Actually you are right about the Queen's Horn, though. LWW describes the three most important elements of that book. A side issue in that story is Father Christmas giving three of the Pevensies Christmas presents, & explaining what those presents do. VDT explains a journey, LB is self-explanatory, as is HHB, whilst MN, whilst it does have a sneaky resemblance to the Magician's Apprentice, a Disney work, also fits. The Silver Chair title is a bit of a McGuffin, more of a symbol of Prince Rilian's captivity than anything else. The same might be said of Queen Susan's horn. Was it ever even used in LWW? The Christmas presents Lucy & Peter got were instantaneously useful in LWW, though I'm not sure that Susan used her bow & arrows. What of the Christmas presents in PC? Susan's horn, which, it seems went missing at the end of LWW, practically drives the action in Prince Caspian. Or does it?

The trouble is that I would want to reference the idea of lost magic because I think that would reflect the tone of the book the best, but then when I start to think about titles e.g. The Sleeping Forest they all sound sleepy and kind of boring. Not the sort of thing that is going to make the book fly off of the shelves.

Of the suggestions, I like The Queen's Horn quite a bit. The Prince and the Horn is good too. I think a reference to Susan's horn would have been a good idea.

As I've said previously on another thread, I don't like the subtitle "The Return To Narnia" because it gives the game away that the world the children travel to is Narnia, when Lewis spent the first few chapters creating some sense of mystery as to where they were. This was only the second book in the series to be published and for all anyone knew, Lewis could have been writing "The Pevensie Chronicles" rather than the Narnia Chronicles, with the children travelling to a different world each time and encountering Aslan in a different form each time.

Prince Caspian was the first book I read. I'm actually quite happy with the title, but if you want an alternative The Prince and the Horn sounds quite good. Actually that sounds a bit like an E. Nesbit title.

I kind of like that, hermit. It's a bit subtler than "the Queen's Horn" or "Drawn into Narnia", but it does point to that symbolism that plays an important role in the story. It also reminds me of the other books (HHB, SC, even LWW); as someone else said, the main characters and iconic "props" seem to find their way into the titles a lot. So that would be a bit more consistent with the rest of the series than "Prince Caspian" without downplaying Caspian's important role in the book.

I always liked the title of  Prince Caspian, it just seemed to get you intrigued into what was happening next in Narnia.  Though, I agree it is a bit bland considering it is just the main character's name. If I were to suggest some names, I think I would go with: 

The Call of the Horn and Times have changed 

These are just a few considering it all started with Susan's horn and that many years have passed in Narnia. I was also thinking...

The New King, considering that he is kind of taking place of the Pevensies in Narnia 

Posted by: @kingedthejust

If I were to suggest some names, I think I would go with: 

The Call of the Horn and Times have changed

I think those titles are great as titles but Times Have Changed doesn't really mesh with the titles of the  other Narnian books, being a statement rather than a noun or a list of nouns. The Call of the Horn sounds pretty Narnian though.

Posted by: @reepicheep775

The trouble is that I would want to reference the idea of lost magic because I think that would reflect the tone of the book the best, but then when I start to think about titles e.g. The Sleeping Forest they all sound sleepy and kind of boring. Not the sort of thing that is going to make the book fly off of the shelves.

How about The Forest Awakens? 😉