English vs Spanish: Names of Old Cartoon Characters


There was a time that if something was to be published in a Spanish-speaking country and that something was in English, all of it had to be translated including the names of cartoon characters. Some of these names were quite silly and have been mercifully replaced with their real versions in English. There are also the others that do not sound so silly and even to this date remain in use. Here are some but not all:



                              English                                 Spanish
                            Mickey Mouse                        El Ratón Miguelito
                 Goofy                                    Tribilín
                 Bugs Bunny                            El Conejo Serapio
                 Daffy Duck                             El Pato Lucas
                 Mighty Mouse                         Super Ratón 
                 Beetle Bailey                           Beto, el Recluta
                 Blondie                                   Pepita
                 Dagwood (Blondie's husband)   Lorenzo
                 Hagar the Horrible                   Olafo el Amargado
                 The Longhorns                        Los Melaza
                 Woody Woodpecker                El Pájaro Loco
                 Flash Gordon                           Roldán, el Temerario

Some superheroes' secret identities did not fare much better:
                              
                  Bruce Wayne (Batman)             Bruno Díaz
                  Dick Grayson (Robin)               Ricardo Tapia
                  Hal Jordan  (Green Lantern)      Raul Jordán
                  Oliver Queen (Green Arrow)     Oliverio Reyna     

Some names definitely sound so much better in Spanish as Lone Ranger's loyal indian companion:
                                 
                   Tonto                                     Toro 
And in other cases the Spanish names sounds so lame that is better to use other options:

                 Wolverine                              Glotón (so they also call him Guepardo)   

The English versions definitely sound so much better in every case with the logical exception of Tonto (it means DUMB in Spanish) of course. They were so wrong to name him that way, or was it done on purpose? We will never know.

















































































































































































































                               























































Comments

Lex Guerrero said…
haha some names simpatice very well in spanish, for example "el pato lucas" o "bruno dias" but other like "el raton miguelito" that sound horrible. I think that the name shouldn´t be change becouse a name is a name, not a simple word and have meaning, so names shouldn´t ve change. Bye "tribilin"
October 10, 2012 at 10:02 PM
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