Random Characters Whose Real Names You Never Actually Knew (18 items)

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  (#1) Goofy

  • Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Disney's House of Mouse, An Extremely Goofy Movie, Clock Cleaners, Aquamania, Mickey's Trailer, The Reluctant Dragon, Mickey's Birthday Party, On Ice, Saludos Amigos, Orphan's Benefit, Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse, A Goofy Movie, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, Goofy Gymnastics, No Smoking, Goofy and Wilbur, Fun and Fancy Free, Lonesome Ghosts, A Knight for a Day, How to Fish, Disney Learning Adventures: Mickey and the Beanstalk, Polar Trappers, Moose Hunters, Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, Mickey's Revue, A Disney Christmas Gift

  Goofy may be goofy, but he’s not actually "Goofy." Or, at least, he didn’t used to be. Back in the '50s, Walt Disney wanted to reinvent the character, so Goofy started appearing in more domestic cartoons that saw him working ordinary jobs and then coming home to his wife and child. In those days, “Goofy” was more of a nickname, and his paychecks were made out to George Geef - which is apparently his actual name.

  The modern incarnation of the character has dropped the "Geef" motif, and now uses Goof as a surname - as evidenced by his son, Max Goof. It’s unclear if George is still his first name or not, just like it’s unclear what exactly happened to the now mysteriously absent Mrs. Geef.
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  (#2) Cookie Monster

  • Sesame Street, Big Bird in China, Elmo's Christmas Countdown, Cinderelmo, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Don't Eat the Pictures, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Sesame Street

  Even monsters have names. Even... Cookie Monsters. But for decades, no one thought twice about the fact that other Sesame Street stars like Oscar, Bert, and Elmo got regular people names - and Cookie Monster was only ever referred to in terms of his gluttonous appetite.

  It wasn't until 2004 that Cookie Monster first revealed that, before he developed his dietary compulsion, he was named Sid. Six years later, Cookie Monster tweeted the full truth: "Me wasn't born with name 'Cookie Monster.' It just nickname dat stuck. Me don't remember me real name... maybe it was Sidney?"

  It's nice to have confirmation, but the tweet also seems to suggest that Cookie Monster is so lost within the throes of his baked-goods habit that he no longer recalls his own name - and that's pretty tragic by Sesame Street standards.
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  (#3) E.T.’s Real Name Is Zrek

  Everyone in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial refers to the central alien figure as just “E.T.” - that’s even what he calls himself when he infamously insists, "E.T. phone home." But that’s just an acronym for extraterrestrial, which is what he is, and surely he had some other moniker before he made his journey to Earth.

  According to an unused script treatment for an E.T. sequel written by Steven Spielberg, the alien’s actual name is Zrek. That’s something Elliott would have found out when evil albino versions of E.T.’s race came looking for him with ill intentions - so, perhaps he’s better off having never found out.
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  (#4) Sonic the Hedgehog

  • Sonic Underground, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic X, Wreck-It Ralph, Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Sonic Team's Sonic the Hedgehog Universe, SEGA Universe, TMS Entertainment's Sonic X Universe, Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog Universe, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mobius

  Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most recognizable protagonists in all of video games, and his name is a rather self-descriptive one - he is, after all, a hedgehog who travels at sonic speeds. As it turns out, however, "Sonic" is not the moniker he was born with.

  A series of Sonic the Hedgehog adventures published by Archie Comics revealed that Sonic considers his real name embarrassing. His friends were able to discover, via a relative, that the middle portion is "Maurice," but his true first name remains hidden to this day. According to the writer of that series, Ken Penders, it was going to be "Ogilvie."
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  (#5) Thanos

  • Marvel Universe

  To be clear, Thanos's real name is Thanos - and he doesn't really seem like the type to ever accept a nickname other than "The Mad Titan." But that isn't the name his mother originally picked out for him. Sui-San of the Eternals had planned on naming her son "Dione" - but then he came out all purple and wrinkle-chinned, and she went insane, so his dad picked out "Thanos" instead.

  With Thanos having long since wiped out most other members of his race, this isn't exactly public knowledge. It's such a closely guarded secret, in fact, that in the Thanos Wins storyline, a future version of Thanos invoked the name of Dione to convince his younger self he was the real deal.
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  (#6) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

  The big twist in The Wizard of Oz is that the eponymous character is not, in fact, a wizard, but instead a particularly talented con artist from Kansas. But that doesn’t mean his real name is any less fantastical: Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs.

  That lengthy moniker goes all the way back to L. Frank Baum's original stories, but Oscar Diggs's backstory has only rarely been explored - as it was in the 2013 film Oz the Great and Powerful.
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  (#7) Minnie Mouse

  • Disney's House of Mouse, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Mickey's Gala Premier, The Nifty Nineties, Mickey's Birthday Party, On Ice, Steamboat Willie, The Gallopin' Gaucho, Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse, A Disney Christmas Gift, The Barn Dance, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, Runaway Brain, Mickey's Revue, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, The Karnival Kid, Parade of the Award Nominees

  Minnie Mouse is a Disney icon, and she has one of those names that definitely sounds like it’s short for something, yet has become so ubiquitous that most don’t put much thought into it. And, though she’s rarely referred to by it, it is true that Minnie’s full name is Minerva Mouse.

  Her real identity was first mentioned in a 1942 comic strip, and has seen sparing use ever since. It does have the unfortunate side effect of making Minnie sound rather grandmotherly. Then again, the character did make her debut in 1928, so perhaps that's appropriate!
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  (#8) Jabba the Hutt

  • Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars

  Real names, titles, and nicknames can often blur in the Star Wars universe - just look at Darth Vader (real name Anakin Skywalker) or Kylo Ren (real name Ben Solo). But few, if any, ever considered that "Jabba the Hutt" might not be the interstellar crime lord's full name.

  In actuality, Jabba has been referred to in countless Extended Universe novels and comics as Jabba Desilijic Tiure, with "the Hutt" being a title related to organized crime, à la "don" or "godfather." More properly, Jabba’s title should be read, "His Excellency Jabba Desilijic Tiure of Nal Hutta, Eminence of Tatooine" - so it's no real mystery why they felt the need to shorten it.
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  (#9) Pepper Potts

  • Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Iron Man 3, The Invincible Iron Man, The Avengers, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Marvel Universe

  Few CEOs of multibillion-dollar corporations are known by a nickname, but Pepper Potts is an exception to the rule. Whether it's in the pages of Marvel Comics or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pepper is only rarely referred to by her real name of Virginia. "Pepper," as it turns out, was a childhood nickname based on her red hair and freckles.

  And, apparently, Tony Stark makes a habit of hiring the permanently nicknamed. In addition to Pepper, there's also Harold "Happy" Hogan to consider - with Happy being an ironic moniker from his professional wrestling days due to his frequent grumpy behavior.
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  (#10) Jughead Jones

  • Archie's Weird Mysteries, Sesame Street

  One would hope that no parent in their right mind would ever name their child "Jughead," but for years that's the only name by which Archie's best friend was known. The search for Jughead’s legal name was often a plot point in early Archie Comics adventures, with the crown-wearing cut-up going to extreme lengths to hide the truth from his friends until it finally came out: Jughead was born Forsythe Pendleton Jones III.

  The name is obviously a mouthful, but that's never been a problem for Jughead. At one point, he discovered that he inherited the name from an American hero and began to wear it proudly - until he found out that said ancestor had been married nine times, after which the notoriously nonromantic Jughead abandoned it once again.
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  (#11) Shaggy Rogers

  • Scooby-Doo! Mystery, Inc., What's New, Scooby-Doo?, Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!, Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy?, Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo, Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon, Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare, Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur, Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King, Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword, Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire, Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!, Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins, Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster

  Shaggy has been on the air alongside the rest of the Mystery Machine crew since 1969, but his real name didn’t end up being revealed until a 1988 episode of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo - nearly two decades later. Shaggy, as it turns out, was born Norville Rogers, the son of a police officer and descendent of several ancestral Rogerses with various Shag-related nicknames.

  As if that wasn’t a shocking enough revelation, it has since come to light that "Scooby-Doo" is a quite literal pet name, too. The Great Dane is more properly known as Scoobert Doo.
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  (#12) Indiana Jones

  • The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Disaster Movie, The People vs. George Lucas, Indiana Jones franchise

  Indiana Jones's true name is Dr. Henry Walton Jones Jr., but that’s not something audiences found out until Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when they met Henry Walton Jones Sr. - Indy’s father, as portrayed by Sean Connery. And Jones Sr. was even kind enough to inform viewers of the origin of the nickname while he was at it, when he tersely noted, "We named the dog 'Indiana.'"

  The full heartwarming backstory involves young Henry Jr. falling so in love with his pet dog that he ends up taking on its name as a tribute. It's also a nod to the fact that George Lucas named the character after his own dog, an Alaskan malamute - who just so happened to provide the inspiration for Chewbacca's appearance as well.
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  (#13) ALF

  Savvy television viewers have long known that "ALF" was just an acronymized nickname, short for Alien Life Form. Why the Tanner family needed to create a new name for the creature that joined their family is a bit of a mystery, however, because ALF already had a surprisingly regular name when he came to Earth: Gordon Shumway.

  Gordon’s home world of Melmac either picked up some information from earthly radio broadcasts or experienced impossibly parallel cultural development because their society mirrors that of Earth in many ways - not the least of which is naming conventions. ALF’s parents are named Bob and Flo Shumway, and he’s got two younger siblings named Curtis and Augie.
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  (#14) Wolverine

  • X-Men: First Class, Superhero Movie, Hulk Vs, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Wolverine, X-Men, X-Men: The Last Stand, X2, Marvel Universe

  Fans of Marvel Comics can be forgiven if they didn’t know Wolverine’s real name, because for most of his existence, neither did he! When he first joined up with the X-Men, Wolverine went by Logan with no hint of a surname, and it eventually came to be known that “Logan” was just a nickname he adopted after losing most of his century's worth of memories.

  When his true backstory was finally told in the Origin miniseries, so, too, was his birth name. Wolverine was born at the end of the 19th century in Canada as James Howlett, though the tragedy that followed soon inspired him to give up that identity altogether. Having regained his memory in recent years, Wolverine has been slow to accept this past life - though a few select X-teammates now regularly refer to him as James.
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  (#15) Chuck E. Cheese

  • Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000

  The deeper one digs into the origin story of Chuck E. Cheese, the darker it gets. First and foremost among the shocking revelations to be found is that "Chuck E." is just a stylized form of the mouse’s real name: Charles Entertainment Cheese.

  What kind of parents would give a child a name like Charles Entertainment? Well, it turns out Chuck E. Cheese was an orphan who reportedly never got to enjoy a birthday party of his own - which is why he dedicated his adult life to hosting the coolest B-day bashes imaginable. It’s a tale that would almost be inspiring if it weren't already so soul-crushingly sad.
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  (#16) Master Chief

  • Halo Legends

  "Master Chief" might not sound like much of a real name, but that’s not entirely unusual in the realm of video games - after all, Mario’s original name was just "Jumpman." In reality, Master Chief is more of a military title, and it’s one that belongs to an otherwise ordinary man known only as John.

  Born on the colony world of Eridanus II, John was selected for the SPARTAN-II Program and given the additional SPARTAN tag of "117" - leaving him with an official "real name" of John-117. It's a wonder that Halo fans haven’t already taken to holding up signs with "John 1:17" on them at sporting events.
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  (#17) Lex Luthor

  • Smallville, Superman: Brainiac Attacks, Batman vs. Superman, Superman, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Superman: Doomsday, Superman II, Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, Superman Returns, All-Star Superman, The Batman Superman Movie: World's Finest, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, DC Universe

  Lex Luthor, like countless other notable comic book characters, has a name defined by its pleasant alliteration - something he inherited from his father, Lionel Luthor. But Lex had to do some serious shortening in order to achieve that desired effect, because it actually says Alexander Joseph Luthor on his birth certificate.

  Alexander actually went by the nickname of “Albie” as a child, but by the time he was ready to create the LexCorp brand, he was going by “Lex” full time. Other versions of the character from throughout the DC Multiverse occasionally use Alexander, including a more altruistic Alexander Luthor from Earth-Three.
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  (#18) Bucky Barnes

  • Ultimate Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marvel Universe

  Everybody knows Steve Rogers's best friend and sidekick as Bucky Barnes. In fact, the moniker is so ubiquitous that it ends up being used as his codename, too, as in Captain America and Bucky. But it’s quite obviously short for something, and that something is Bucky’s middle name.

  Born as James Buchanan Barnes, Bucky was probably named after the 15th president of the United States. Even as an adult - and even after a half-century of suspended animation - he still goes by his childhood nickname, and only rarely answers to James.

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