Cookie Monster's Name

[Foodie]

Hey all,
Someone here may be able to put this to rest. I found this Facebook thingie about the real names of cartoon characters. The first one listed is Cookie Monster and it says his real name is Sid. Is that true?

 

[dwmckim]

In the song "First Time Me Eat Cookie", Cookie recalls back before he tried his first cookie and the song includes the line "In fact, back then, me think me name was Sid."
A similar sentiment was expressed in a Cookie Monster Twitter post where he tweets "Me wasn’t born with name 'Cookie Monster'. It just nickname dat stuck. Me don’t remember me real name... maybe it was Sidney?"

But since in both cases, Cookie "thinks" that might have been his name, by his own admission his memory is faulty and would be considered an "unreliable narrator".

In a season 1 sketch (before the puppet was named Cookie Monster), he makes a phone call to his mommy where he says "This is Tiny!" Though that still leaves open debate as to whether Tiny was an actual name or a nickname/term of endearment.

 

[Foodie]

In the song "First Time Me Eat Cookie", Cookie recalls back before he tried his first cookie and the song includes the line "In fact, back then, me think me name was Sid."
A similar sentiment was expressed in a Cookie Monster Twitter post where he tweets "Me wasn’t born with name 'Cookie Monster'. It just nickname dat stuck. Me don’t remember me real name... maybe it was Sidney?"

But since in both cases, Cookie "thinks" that might have been his name, by his own admission his memory is faulty and would be considered an "unreliable narrator".

In a season 1 sketch (before the puppet was named Cookie Monster), he makes a phone call to his mommy where he says "This is Tiny!" Though that still leaves open debate as to whether Tiny was an actual name or a nickname/term of endearment.

Thanks for the info. I wonder what the Henson folk have to say about it... or Frank Oz.

 

[panmanthe2nd]

I've never thought about his name not being Cookie Monster!

Is Big Bird just a nickname too?

 

[Drtooth]

Thanks for the info. I wonder what the Henson folk have to say about it... or Frank Oz.

Frank Oz performed him in that skit.

It's too much an internet fanbase/continuity addict thing to take some small factoid and debate its existence in canon. A character's real name, unless purposely called back to for specific reasons, is nothing more than a tiny factoid.

Still, I kinda assumed "Cookie" was a nickname anyway. If you think about it, how did they know that Cookie Monster would be addicted to Cookies before he was born? It's best not to think too deeply about these things.

 

[Foodie]

Frank Oz performed him in that skit.

It's too much an internet fanbase/continuity addict thing to take some small factoid and debate its existence in canon. A character's real name, unless purposely called back to for specific reasons, is nothing more than a tiny factoid.

Still, I kinda assumed "Cookie" was a nickname anyway. If you think about it, how did they know that Cookie Monster would be addicted to Cookies before he was born? It's best not to think too deeply about these things.

As far as I... care, his name is Cookie Monster. I was just wondering if this was a fun fact I didn't know about.

 

[Foodie]

I've never thought about his name not being Cookie Monster!

Is Big Bird just a nickname too?

Yeah. Big Bird's real name is William Halloway.

 

[HeyButtahfly]

When I was little, I thought Cookie's first name was Alistair... not realizing that "Monsterpiece Theater" is a parody.