Are you saying that story uses the name "Elvira"? I don't believe so, not the original English version at least. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
I thought the only early story that gives Grandma Duck the name "Elvira" is this one, where the photograph of GD as a baby is labeled "Elviry." Author unknown.
I also think it's wrong, but she was also once mentioned in an Italian story called Elvira. But I think that Barks would put a much used character without a name on it.
It's a common misconception that Al Taliaferro intended Grandma to be Donald's mother, but there is no evidence that this was the case, and plenty of evidence that he intended her as Donald grandmother right from the start (the most obvious sf these being that Donald always refers to her as "Grandma" or "Granny" and never as "Mother" or "Mom", not even when the nephews are not around
I've always had the impression that Karp and Taliaferro initially intended Grandma as Donald's mom. She constantly calls him "son" whenever she appears in the strip, and when talking to the nephews, she occasionally calls herself "your grandma."
True: as you note, Donald himself calls her "Grandma," never Mom, even when the nephews aren't around—but maybe that's not such a surprise in American tradition; my dad got used to calling his mom—my grandmother—"Grandma" when I wasn't around, too; as long as I was in the house somewhere, he did it just in case I overheard. (Later, interestingly, when I grew up, he reverted to calling her "Mother" again, even in my presence.)
I'm not arguing, by the way, that Grandma is Donald's mom in any more modern continuity. She was "Donald's Grandma Duck" in the title of the first story drawn by Barks (1950), and I think this inadvertently made continuity that Western and others have followed ever since.
It's a common misconception that Al Taliaferro intended Grandma to be Donald's mother, but there is no evidence that this was the case, and plenty of evidence that he intended her as Donald grandmother right from the start (the most obvious sf these being that Donald always refers to her as "Grandma" or "Granny" and never as "Mother" or "Mom", not even when the nephews are not around
I've always had the impression that Karp and Taliaferro initially intended Grandma as Donald's mom. She constantly calls him "son" whenever she appears in the strip, and when talking to the nephews, she occasionally calls herself "your grandma."
True: as you note, Donald himself calls her "Grandma," never Mom, even when the nephews aren't around—but maybe that's not such a surprise in American tradition; my dad got used to calling his mom—my grandmother—"Grandma" when I wasn't around, too; as long as I was in the house somewhere, he did it just in case I overheard. (Later, interestingly, when I grew up, he reverted to calling her "Mother" again, even in my presence.)
I'm not arguing, by the way, that Grandma is Donald's mom in any more modern continuity. She was "Donald's Grandma Duck" in the title of the first story drawn by Barks (1950), and I think this inadvertently made continuity that Western and others have followed ever since.
I already responded to those arguments in my previous messages...As I said, Ludwig and Scrooge constantly called Donald "son" in Karp and Taliaferro's strips as well. I already listed a few examples, but I could list a ton more if you want me to. It was/still is very common to call your younger relatives/grandson/nephew, or even a young person who is not related to you "son" or "sonny". It is in no way an indication that Grandma is Donald's mother.
Also, yes there's people (or parents, actually--keep in mind HDL are Donald's nephews, who didn't even live with him in the comic strips) who call their own mother Grandma (but NOT when there out talking a walk, or going to a restaurant, when none of the kids are around, as is the case in plenty of DD comic strips), but why would Taliaferro go out of his way to only identify her as Donald's grandmother, and never simply as his mom? If that was his "hidden intention?" No, it seems like a huge stretch to me that Taliaferro intended her as Donald's mother, but never gave any indication for it, when he could have very, very easily done so. And, as I mentioned plenty of times before, HDL were the sons of "cousin Della"; if she was Donald's mother she'd be HDL's great-aunt, if she was HDL's grandmother she'd be Donald's aunt. Those comic strips were written and drawn by the very same people.
And most important of all (again, I'm repeating myself, but nobody seems to be responding to these arguments): in several of Taliaferro's earliest strips, Grandma was said to have come west in a covered wagon, been around during the civil war, and have no idea how any modern technology worked. She says she "hadn't missed a train in 60 years", while Donald in Taliaferro's strips was "too young to join the army" ( inducks.org/story.php?c=YD+45-03-03 ). The main joke was that she was impossibly old-fashioned. The strips focused on the huge generations gap between Grandma and Donald, who was identified as a minor who is too young to join the army in Taliaferro's strips, certainly not an elderly/middle-aged man, which he would have had to be if he had a mother who came west in a covered wagon and lived through the civil war.
The name Abigail/Abby is used more than once at Western. As far as I know, Elvira is only used once.
(My post originally seemed to say that there were other uses of Elvira, but I meant to write Abigail/Abby, and have since corrected it—I see you quoted my corrected version.)
But rechecking my issue, I find that while Grandma jokingly gives herself the nickname "Ann-tique"—when demonstrating her antique weaving methods at a museum—she doesn't specifically say her actual name is Ann.
Anyway, here's something else worth adding to this topic, a panel from this Grandma Duck story from 1951: inducks.org/story.php?c=W+WDC+130-04 , where Grandma talks about "my grandson, Donald".
I know those family trees from Barks. It is only that Grandma Duck can be another character than Grandma Duck. In a Barks story she is called Elvira. Her real name is Elvira. And you do have a grandmother yourself. That just has to be done. How then can your father and mother be born who have brought you to life. I also think stories are more important than pedigrees.
Can you provide the evidence of that? I've read all of Barks' stories, and I can't remember ANY of his stories that stated (revealed) her given name. I believe that she was named "Elvira' in a non-Barks early 1950s "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories" Grandma Duck story by Frank McSavage.
Since then, Ramapith has clarified that the artist of that early 1950s "Walt Disney Comics and Stories" Grandma Duck story was Riley Thompson, rather than Frank McSavage.
By the way,....... I made a post on this subject on McDrake.NL. But, it seems that you (and now I) are the only people posting, other than Daniël (moderator).