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20 Rejected Names For Legendary Characters

By:: Adam Bumas

April 18, 2021

20 Rejected Names For Legendary Characters

As a rule of thumb, nothing great started out that way. Everyone has to get their mistakes out of the way before they get to the good stuff, and it's easy to make mistakes in the tiniest, most invisible areas. For example, it would have been a huge mistake if any of the people creating these famous characters kept their first ideas for the character names…

20

SHREDDER CRAGKED The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain was inspired by looking at a cheese grater, and his creators called him The Grater until he was given a marginally less silly name. — Source: Kevin Eastman via AICN

19

POWERPUFF GIRLS GRAGKED The trio first appeared in a student animation project where they were called the Whoopass Girls. Unfortunately, you aren't allowed to say that on a children's show. — Source: IMDb

18

OOMPA- LOOMPAS CRACKED Roald Dahl's first idea for the workers in willy Wonka's factory had them elves called Whipple- Scrumpets. Of course, his next idea was the same thing as before, but more racist this time! — Source: The Guardian

17

MICKEY MOUSE GRAGKEID Walt Disney's wife convinced him to change the name of his cartoon character Mortimer Mouse not that he needed much convincing to use a less Jewish name. — Source: Oh My Disney

16

BUGS BUNNY CRACKED According to Mel Blanc, the name Happy Rabbit was considered for the character that he... would definitely NOT have played for 50 years if that name was kept. — Source: The Magic Behind The Voices

15

THE SCOOBY GANG GRACKED O6 Fred began as Geoff, Daphne as Kelly, Velma as Linda, Shaggy as w.w. and Scooby-Do as Too Much. Does that mean Scrappy-Do would have been called Not Enough? — Source: Joe Ruby and Ken Spears via Stu's Show

14

LUKE SKYWALKER CRACKED In George Lucas' earliest draft of Star Wars, the hero is Chiuee Two C2 Thorpe. Is it much weirder than separate characters named Chewie and R2? — Source: The Making of Star Wars

13

DARTH VADER CRACKED Another early version of Star Wars includes Prince Valorum, Black Knight of the Sith. George Lucas reused the name for the prequels, as a sign he was back on his bullshit. — Source: The Making of Star Wars

12

MISS PIGGY CRACKED The superstar began as a minor Muppet named Piggy Lee as a reference to singer Peggy Lee, changed to avoid offense (though who'd be offended by inspiring her?) — Source: Time

11

FRODO BAGGINS CIRACKED Lord of the Rings began as an even sillier sequel to The Hobbit about Bilbo Baggins' nephew. Imagine a thousand-page novel about Bingo Bolger-Baggins! — Source: J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography

10

LARA CROFT CRACKED The developers of Tomb Raider wanted to stand out from the pack with a female player character, but calling her Laura Cruise felt too American for the UK-based team. — Source: Time

9

EBENEZER SCROOGE CRACKED Dickens' first book includes the story of Gabriel Grub, a bitter old man who's visited by goblins on Christmas Eve, proving it's possible to steal from yourself. — Source: Pickwick Papers

8

GORDON FREEMAN CRAGKED Half-Life's hero began as Dyson Poincare, after physicists Freeman Dyson and Jules Poincare. Valve kicked Poincare to the curb and went with Dyson's much cooler first name. — Source: Half-Life 2: Raising The Bar

7

DRACULA CRACKED Bram Stoker's vampire was going to be called Count Wampyr until he remembered it was supposed to be a twist Wampyr was a vampyr...u uh, that is, a vampire. — Source: Dracula Critical Edition

6

BUZZ LIGHTYEAR SPACE RANCER LIGHIYTEDE CRACKED Woody's name came quickly, but Pixar called his co-star Lunar Larry or Tempus from Morph for a while, before they sent those names back...wherever Morph is. — Source: Craig Good via Quora

5

CAPTAIN KIRK CRACKED Gene Roddenberry's pitch for Star Trek called its lead Robert April, captain of the USS Yorktown, named for the American Revolution battle because space is basically America. — Source: “Star Trek is…”

4

TOM AND JERRY GRACKED The earliest versions of the cat and mouse were called Jasper and Jinx respectively, which sounds a lot more like the name of some forgotten YA fantasy series than two cartoon animals. — Source: BBC

3

DR. HOUSE GRAGKED Hugh Laurie's medical mystery show was going to be called Sherlock Holmes, M.D. The resemblance between Holmes and House isn't especially subtle. — Source: Seattle Times

2

HERMIONE GRANGER CRACKED J.K. Rowling thought that Hermione Puckle was too silly of a name for Harry Potter's friend - which didn't seem to occur to her with the names Cornelius Fudge or Draco Malfoy. — Source: jkrowling.com

1

HOLMES & WATSON CRAGKED Conan Doyle's stories originally featured Sherringford Holmes solving crimes with his sidekick Ormond Sacker. One clearly changed more than the other. — Source: New York Times

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