Real names of 23 fictional characters

By Jason English, Mental Floss

• Many famous fictional characters are known only as their nicknames
• Cap'n Crunch's full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch
• Wizard of Oz: Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs
• On Entourage, Turtle's real name is Salvatore Assante

(Mental Floss) -- You know the characters, but you might not know their full names. Store these away for future trivia nights.

 

1. Did you know the Comic Book Guy on "The Simpsons" has a name? It's Jeff Albertson. But that wasn't the decision of creator Matt Groening.

 

"I was out of the room when [the writers] named him," he told MTV in 2007. "In my mind, 'Louis Lane' was his name, and he was obsessed and tormented by Lois Lane."

 

2. Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. (Ken's last name is Carson.)

 

Mental Floss: 10 unexpected places to give birth

 

3. Cap'n Crunch's full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch. His ship is the S.S. Guppy.

 

4. In the Peanuts comic strip, Peppermint Patty's real name is Patricia Reichardt

 

5. Snuffleupagus has a first name -- Aloysius. Want more Snuffleupagus trivia? In a Sesame Street scene that never aired, Snuffy's parents announced they were separating. But in testing, children were too devastated by the news, so the idea was scrapped.

 

Mental Floss: 9 Muppets kicked off Sesame Street

 

6. The Wizard of Oz rolls off the tongue a lot easier than the man behind the curtain's full name, Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs. From Frank Baum's Dorothy And the Wizard in Oz:

 

"It was a dreadfully long name to weigh down a poor innocent child, and one of the hardest lessons I ever learned was to remember my own name. When I grew up I just called myself O.Z., because the other initials were P-I-N-H-E-A-D; and that spelled 'pinhead,' which was a reflection on my intelligence."

 

7. Mr. Clean has a seldom-used first name -- "Veritably." The name came from a "Give Mr. Clean a First Name" promotion in 1962.

 

8. In a deleted scene in the 2006 Curious George movie, The Man With the Yellow Hat's full name was revealed as Ted Shackleford. (Since the scene was deleted, perhaps the last name doesn't count.)

 

9. The real name of Monopoly mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags is Milburn Pennybags.

 

10. The policeman in Monopoly has a name, too. You can thank Officer Edgar Mallory the next time he sends you to jail.

 

Mental Floss: How Monopoly helped free prisoners of war

 

11. On Night Court, Nostradamus Shannon was better known as Bull.

 

12. On Entourage, Turtle's real name is Salvatore Assante.

 

13. Sesame Street's  resident game show host Guy Smiley was using a pseudonym all these years. He was born Bernie Liederkrantz.

 

14. The Michelin Man's name is Bibendum.

 

15. On Gilligan's Island, Jonas Grumby was simply called The Skipper.

 

16. The Professor was Roy Hinkley.

 

Stories behind graduation traditions

 

17. The unkempt Shaggy of Scooby-Doo fame has a rather proper real name -- Norville Rogers.

 

18. The Pillsbury Doughboy's name is Poppin' Fresh. He has a wife, Poppie Fresh, and two kids, Popper and Bun Bun.

 

Mental Floss: 9 very cool outdoor ads

 

19. The patient in the classic game Operation is Cavity Sam.

 

20. The true identity of The Lone Ranger was John Reid.

 

21. MacGyver's first name? Angus.

 

22 & 23. OK, these last two aren't fictional, but just in case it comes up, Bono was born Paul David Hewson, and The Edge's name is David Howell Evans.