Jul 21, 2009  •  In Video Games

The Etymologies of Video Game Characters

Ever wonder how Mario and Luigi got their names? Now you can find out thanks to Back of the Cereal Box‘s aptly-titled piece, It’s a Secret to Everybody.

My favorite part had to be the Koopalings (Bowser’s ill-behaved children) and their similarities to the famous musicians to which they were named after:


Iggy, Morton, Lemmy, Ludwig, Roy, Wendy, Larry, and Bowser

And after reading the section about Malboro, a recurring monster in the Final Fantasy series, you can’t help but wonder if Philip Morris intentionally named their most popular brand of cigarettes “bad breath” (Latin mal meaning “bad,” and boros, allegedly meaning “breath” in Latin or Greek).

It’s a bit of a long read, but if you have the time (and like me, can remember when Princess Peach was called “Princess Toadstool”) and a genuine interest in video games as well as etymology, I highly recommend you check out this article.

Via the mental_floss Blog.

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5 Responses to “The Etymologies of Video Game Characters”

  1. annie says:

    ahahah i love beethoven!!!!!

  2. Hubby says:

    information overload……..

  3. Ludwig says:

    What is the name of every artist?. I know Ludwig van Bethoven, Larry King, Iggy Pop but who are the others?

  4. alicia says:

    Cool post..
    I am also crazy about video games especially racing games so I am glad to get this post over here about the video game characters. Thanks for sharing this interesting post with us.

  5. suzanne says:

    Nice one..
    I have been playing video games from my childhood and this is really interesting article about the same. Now this time I am searching for some newly launched Tower Defence games games.

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