I had the same issue on a pi3 using lr-fbalpha.
Brand new install, updated all to latest OS and packages, installed Attractmode from Retropie menus, copied scanned romset to pi, and all was fine under emulationstation.
Launched attractmode, went to FBA emulator, generated romlist, but FBA display did not show friendly game names:
1941;1941;Final Burn Alpha;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
1941j;1941j;Final Burn Alpha;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
No good, so i deleted it:
rm /opt/retropie/configs/all/attractmode/romlists/"Final Burn Alpha.txt"
Searched the pi and found a couple files i could use:
1) added this line to ~/.attract/emulators/"Final Burn Alpha.cfg"
import_extras /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mame2003/metadata/catver.ini
2) renamed .dat file to .xml , imported xml and regenerated romlist
cp /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-fbalpha/dats/"FB Alpha v0.2.97.43 (ClrMame Pro XML).dat" ~/FBA019743.xml
attract --import-romlist FBA019743.xml "Final Burn Alpha"
Launch Attract, go to FBA, and Bingo! there are the friendly game names
romlist looks better:
1941;1941 - Counter Attack (900227 World);Final Burn Alpha;;1990;Capcom;Shooter / Flying Vertical;;;;;0;;;;;
1941j;1941 - Counter Attack (Japan);Final Burn Alpha;1941;1990;Capcom;Shooter / Flying Vertical;;;;;0;;1941;;;
After some sleep, I'll add the nplayers and controls files to import_extras and see if the romlist populates with more info