Your favorite names for characters

[Matilda]

Scroogerello says that there were several stories where Grandma Duck's first name was given as "Abigail"--I only remember one, which I believe is Fallberg's "Ridin' the Rails", is that right? Were there in fact other stories that named her "Abigail"?

[Scroogerello]

Mar 29, 2020 2:42:36 GMT Matilda said:

Scroogerello says that there were several stories where Grandma Duck's first name was given as "Abigail"--I only remember one, which I believe is Fallberg's "Ridin' the Rails", is that right? Were there in fact other stories that named her "Abigail"?

There’s at least two stories where she’s called “Abigail”, namely this unnamed story inducks.org/story.php?c=W+CP++++5-06 and “Ridin’ the Rails”. But there may very well be other instances that I don’t know of—I’ve read only a few Fallberg stories.

[Matilda]

Mar 29, 2020 12:20:07 GMT Scroogerello said:

Mar 29, 2020 2:42:36 GMT Matilda said:

Scroogerello says that there were several stories where Grandma Duck's first name was given as "Abigail"--I only remember one, which I believe is Fallberg's "Ridin' the Rails", is that right? Were there in fact other stories that named her "Abigail"?

There’s at least two stories where she’s called “Abigail”, namely this unnamed story inducks.org/story.php?c=W+CP++++5-06 and “Ridin’ the Rails”. But there may very well be other instances that I don’t know of—I’ve read only a few Fallberg stories.

Thanks! Going to that page on INDUCKS, I see there was an Elvira or Abigail? article, and that in turn lists three stories by Fallberg which are referred to in the article. They're all by Fallberg, and presumably all call GD "Abigail." The third, in addition to the two you mention, is this unnamed one.

Though I respect Fallberg for caring enough to do some filling in of characters' histories and other matters (e.g. Cornelia Coot), the stories here are too far from my own Rosa-influenced idea of GD's life to feel real to me. For one thing, the Mice are not real in my mental Duckworld! So that doesn't incline me to consider the name seriously. But again, Rosa might have chosen that name if he had been familiar with these stories. As you say, there are several stories (by an important writer), which would theoretically have deserved more weight than the one story with the photo labeled "Elviry." I do have the vague memory that Rosa said somewhere that he hadn't been aware of the Fallberg stories. I may be mistaken on that, though.

[LP]

Mar 24, 2020 14:16:46 GMT LP said:

For Scrooge's butler, I think I prefer "Albert Baptiste" as his full name. Albert is his Swedish name, but it works in English too (and it sounds like a "parody" of Alfred from Batman). And I guess Baptiste just sounds fitting to my ears. He looks like a "Baptiste" to me somehow.

I've been thinking about Scrooge's butler recently. I realized that in Christmas on Bear Mountain, Scrooge has a butler named Edgerton. That's a very butler-y name, yet it's not generic, like Jeeves or James. This butler's design looks very much like a proto-Quackmore, what with him being a bald beagle with sideburns. I can see the two being the same character. I like "Edgerton" better than "Baptiste", so I guess Scrooge's butler is named "Albert Edgerton" in my head-canon now.

[Matilda]

Sept 20, 2020 10:17:38 GMT LP said:

Mar 24, 2020 14:16:46 GMT LP said:

For Scrooge's butler, I think I prefer "Albert Baptiste" as his full name. Albert is his Swedish name, but it works in English too (and it sounds like a "parody" of Alfred from Batman). And I guess Baptiste just sounds fitting to my ears. He looks like a "Baptiste" to me somehow.

I've been thinking about Scrooge's butler recently. I realized that in Christmas on Bear Mountain, Scrooge has a butler named Edgerton. That's a very butler-y name, yet it's not generic, like Jeeves or James. This butler's design looks very much like a proto-Quackmore, what with him being a bald beagle with sideburns. I can see the two being the same character. I like "Edgerton" better than "Baptiste", so I guess Scrooge's butler is named "Albert Edgerton" in my head-canon now.

Yes, I'll go with that, too! <headcanon set>

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Mar 23, 2020 13:20:37 GMT That Duckfan said:

His Italian name is one of my all-time favorites: Gambadilegno. I don't know what it means, it sounds like shrimp to me, but it has a wonderful cadence.

Well, google translate is your friend!



 

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Mar 23, 2020 16:10:10 GMT Matilda said:

On the other hand, Webby is better named in virtually every language other than English, as far as I'm concerned. The German "Nicky" is fine; I like the French "Zaza," distinguishable from the female triplet Zizi!

In Italian Webby is called Gaia. Which is a (rarely used) female first name, and an adjective: gay in female form. 

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Mar 23, 2020 16:10:10 GMT Matilda said:

Huey, Dewey and Louie's names in French are Riri, Fifi and Loulou, which sounds pretty hilarious to an English-speaker, since Fifi is the default name for a rich lady's French poodle, while Loulou sounds like English Lulu, as in "Little Lulu."

Riri, Fifi and Loulou sound like dog names even in Italian. I am not sure, but it may happen that they sound like that even in French, which would be quite absurd.  

In Italian they are called Qui, Quo and Qua, pronounced respectively ku-i, ku-o and ku-a. Qui and Qua both mean 'here', while Quo means nothing.

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Mar 23, 2020 18:42:55 GMT That Duckfan said:

I always have trouble with Scrooge's Italian butler. His original name is Battista, which is how he's known in most of (Romance) Europe. But in Germanic countries, Baptist isn't a common given name, and they've had to get creative. The Dutch name is Bertus, which is unusual enough to be memorable and retains that initial B. It was probably taken from the Danish Albert, which I find awfully generic.

Battista - although very rare nowadays - can be a given name in Italian too. I guess that it is also a family name. In the end John the Baptiste was one of the most famous character in the Bible.

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Mar 24, 2020 14:53:58 GMT Scroogerello said:

Outside of the Dutch translations, I also really like Scrooge’s name in the Italian translations: “Paperone”/“Paperon de’ Paperoni”. I know the “Paper” pun has been over-used in Italy, but Scrooge’s Italian name is particularly clever, as it’s a play on “Paper” (duck) and “Pantalone”/“Pantalon de’ Bisognosi”, a Scrooge-like character from Italy’s 16th century commedia dell’arte. I just love the fact that the Italians managed to successfully translate “Scrooge”, by using the name of a character from their own native literature with a similar characterization to the Dickens character.

The problem is that that character is so obscure that no single Italian really knows this. 
I myself discover this theory right now from you, I have never heard of it. But knowing the the name was most probably introduced by Guido Martina, this is possible.

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Sept 20, 2020 10:17:38 GMT LP said:

Mar 24, 2020 14:16:46 GMT LP said:

I've been thinking about Scrooge's butler recently. I realized that in Christmas on Bear Mountain, Scrooge has a butler named Edgerton.  

In Sport Goofy in Soccermania Scrooge's butler looked like this, only slightly aged. If I remember correctly Scrooge even call him by name in a scene, but I do not remember which name right now...

[LP]

Sept 20, 2020 20:09:03 GMT Monkey_Feyerabend said:

In Sport Goofy in Soccermania Scrooge's butler looked like this, only slightly aged. If I remember correctly Scrooge even call him by name in a scene, but I do not remember which name right now...

Jeeves, apparently.

[Marshmarigoldie]

Hallo everyone, first time posting!   I thought I could use this thread to introduce myself since my user name is directly tied to one of my favorite name translations. 

Brigitta is called Kaczencja in Poland; it's a play on the Polish word for the marsh marigold flower. The flower is called "kaczeniec", which is a male gendered word, and "kaczencja" is a transformation of that word into a female gendered form. And the flower does kinda look like Brigitta - yellow like her hair, and its shape is like that of her dress! 



And there's even more to that: Kaczencja contains "Kacz-" which is a core part of the Polish word for a duck ("kaczka"). And I just think it sounds really elegant! So my user name is me translating her PL name back to English. 

I also really like our names for Donald's nephews: Hyzio, Dyzio & Zyzio. Dyzio is a kid's name from a very popular children's poem, "Dyzio Marzyciel" ("Dyzio the dreamer") by Julian Tuwim. It's not an actual name given to children in our country though, at least not anymore (there was once a very old-timey name Dyzma which could be shortened to Dyzio). Hyzio and Zyzio are completely made up names to match Dyzio, I think. They sound super cute! 

But my favorite might be Scrooge and his uncle in the context of them being Scottish! Scrooge is Sknerus in Polish, which literally means miser/skinflint, his father is left as Fergus, same as originally, his uncle is also left as Angus, but then his other uncle Jacob is translated as Nerwus - which is our word for a very nervous person (a hot-shot in English, I guess?). So not only all of them have the Scottish name ending "-us" in Poland, but Scrooge and Jacob also get to have funny names with meanings. Oh, and McDuck is translated as McKwacz, which can be translated back to English as McQuack.

Fun fact: in many Polish pocket books with crosswords, you can find the puzzle clue "one of Disney characters" and the expected answer is almost always... Sknerus. Not Donald, not Mickey, not Goofy, but ol' Scroogey. Probably to not make it too easy, but also not too hard!

[Marshmarigoldie]

Mar 24, 2020 12:02:01 GMT Scroogerello said:

Barks was the master of inventive character names, but he really dropped the ball with “Rockerduck”—he should have been named “Rockefeather” or “Duckefeller”!! 

Rokerduck actually is called almost just that in Poland lol! His name is Kwakerfeller, so Quackerfeller.

I was kinda disappointed to learn his original name, it doesn't sound as neat to me in English. I don't know, I just feel Kwakerfeller sounds closer to Rockefeller than Rockerduck does to Rockefeller. Also "kwak" is one of the sounds the ducks make in Polish comics, since it comes from kwakać/=to quack. Also also "kwaker" and "feller" parts of his name kinda rhyme, while "rocker" and "duck" do not.

[Matilda]

May 27, 2021 16:41:11 GMT Marshmarigoldie said:

Mar 24, 2020 12:02:01 GMT Scroogerello said:

Barks was the master of inventive character names, but he really dropped the ball with “Rockerduck”—he should have been named “Rockefeather” or “Duckefeller”!! 

Rokerduck actually is called almost just that in Poland lol! His name is Kwakerfeller, so Quackerfeller.

I was kinda disappointed to learn his original name, it doesn't sound as neat to me in English. I don't know, I just feel Kwakerfeller sounds closer to Rockefeller than Rockerduck does to Rockefeller. Also "kwak" is one of the sounds the ducks make in Polish comics, since it comes from kwakać/=to quack. Also also "kwaker" and "feller" parts of his name kinda rhyme, while "rocker" and "duck" do not.

Yes, "Kwakerfeller" is quite good! In my English-speaking headcanon, I think of him as "John D. Rockefeather."