Bungie hated Combat Evolved

If it had been Bungie's decision the first Halo game would have been called Halo simply, but Halo designer Jamie Griesemer told EDGE (via CVG) Microsoft insisted on adding "Combat Evolved" as a subtitle.

"Oh, man... the subtitle," Halo designer Jaime Griesemer told Edge Magazine. "At the time, Microsoft marketing thought Halo was not a good name for a video game brand. It wasn't descriptive like all the military games we were competing with."

"The compromise was they could add a subtitle. Everyone at Bungie hated it. But it turned out to be a very sticky label and has now entered the gaming lexicon to the point where articles that have nothing to do with Halo get titles like 'Skateboarding Evolved'. So I guess in hindsight it was a good compromise."