Peter Benchley's rejected titles for JAWS

JAWS. Just hearing the word evokes mental images of teeth, sharks and blood but its also the greatest movie ever made. However, JAWS wasn’t always called JAWS. The title of the source novel by Peter Benchley was undecided just 20 minutes before the final manuscript hit the printers.

Here are a few rejected titles that were considered:

"Leviathan Rising" - This title was proposed by author Peter Benchley, who wrote the novel on which the film is based.
"Silent Fall" - This was another suggestion made by Benchley, but it was ultimately rejected.
"The Stillness in the Water" - This was a title that director Steven Spielberg reportedly considered, but ultimately decided against.
"The Jaws of Death" - This was a working title used during production, but it was ultimately changed to simply "Jaws."
"The Summer of the Shark" - This was a title that was briefly considered but ultimately rejected.

In the end, the simple and memorable title "Jaws" was chosen, and it has become an iconic part of film history.

The full list is below:

GREAT WHITE
WHITE NIGHT
Shimmo Night
Death in Shimmo
A Night in Shimmo
Death in Squam
Shimmo Bay
THE BEACH AT SHIMMO
Shimmo Cove
Dark Water
The Shark of Shimmo
The Grinning Fish
The Visitor to Shimmo
Polpin Rock
Dark White WHITE DARK
Shimmo Rock
The Beast of Shimmo
Squam Head
The Fish of Shimmo
Moon’s Neck
Shimmo White
Esau,
HOOPER/CLASPER
NAME CHANGE, MORE HIST?
ADRENALIN
Peter Ginkel
Letter on Mundus
Leviathan Rising
Throwback
The Coming
Horror
Haunt
The Fish
Phosphorescence
Looming
Clam Bay
Spectre
The Edge of Gloom
Maw
Endurance
Tumult
Shadow
The Survivor
The Unexplained
Penance
Hunger
Survival
Messenger
Dues
Ripple
Death From the Sea
Apparition
What have we done?
Squam
Stranger Summer
One Summer
Desserts (sp)
Tiburon (find Prtng?)
The White
Fluke
Monimoy
Requin (pron. RAH-KEEN)
White
Why?
QUIDNET
Off the Beach
Instinct
SHIMMO
Arrival
Early Summer
MOON (Town name)
Ravage
Warning
Despair
Shadows of Despair
Alarm
Beware
Giant
Portent
Menace
Scourge
Devastation
The Great Fish
Great White
A Question of Evil
Anthropophagus
OMNIVORE
HAVOC
White Evil
White Menace
Jaws of Despair Terror
Anguish
The Fish
In the
A Time of
Out of
In with stillness
Town
“ ”
Amity
Hiram
In the stillness
“ ” presence
Requiem White
Dread
Fury
Chill
Harpoon
A Dreadful Stillness
A Question of Evil
An elegant (splendid) presence
“ ” evil
Man Eater
Out of the Stillness
An Awful Stillness
Leviathan (Linnaues-Jonah)
The image of evil
“ presence of evil
Presence
Primeval
Infinite evil
Primordial
Evil infinite
Survival
Sacrifice
Vision
Brute White
Vengeance
A Question of Vengeance
Amity
Rollie
The Scourge of Amity
Dreadful Silence
JAWS OVER AMITY
The Fish at Amity
PISCES REDUX
PAST