Cartoon Character Original Names

Tweety was not specifically named in the original cartoon, but staff called him Orson.

Mickey Mouse was originally to be named Mortimer by Walt Disney until his wife suggested the friendlier-sounding “Mickey.”

Pluto was originally Minnie’s dog Rover. He then became Pluto a few months after the discovery of Pluto in 1930.

Goofy was originally Dippy Dawg for a few years until 1934, when he became Goofy.

Elmer Fudd was originally Egghead until the 1940 cartoon “Elmer’s Candid Camera.”

Mighty Mouse was Super Mouse until another cartoon character by the same name came out. It was changed to Mighty to avoid confusion.

Betty Boop was originally called "Nancy Lee" or "Nan McGrew" in a few episodes. She was also originally a poodle. In her first official color cartoon, she was actually portrayed as a redhead. Later she was changed back to black hair and a red dress.

Of Mice and Men

The ubiquitous computer mouse is 43 years old. It took six years to develop and was unveiled in December, 1968, although it did not become commercially available until the 1980s, with the advent of the personal computer. Douglas C. Engelbart and a group of 17 researchers working with him in the Augmentation Research Center at Stanford Research Institute came up with the revolutionary way to communicate with computers.

In the fast changing computer world, it is almost unheard of to have one technology last this long. Its demise has been predicted for almost twenty years, but all the great minds have yet to find a way to replace it. Even the trackball, joy stick, and touch pad have not been able to replace the mouse. Touch screen is coming, as is voice control, but it will be a few more years until they find the right technology to unseat the mighty mouse. BTW - Mighty Mouse came along in 1942 and Mickey Mouse has been around a bit longer, since his debut in 1928 and he is still going strong.