Italian Names For Walt Disney Characters Quiz

Answer: Topolino

'Topo' is Italian for 'mouse', and 'Topolino' means 'little mouse' ('ino' is a diminutive suffix, added to the end of words to suggest smaller versions). Mickey's girlfriend Minnie is known as 'Topolina' or 'Minni' in Italy.

The poster boy (or mouse) for Disney, Mickey made his debut in 'Steamboat Willie' in 1928. Originally called Mortimer until Walt Disney's wife suggested the name Mickey instead, he was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character originally created for Charles Mintz of Universal Studies. Unlike Oswald, Mickey became a superstar and was the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has since gone on to appear in hundreds of Disney shorts and films, such as 'The Prince and the Pauper' and 'Fantasia' in the sequence for 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice', as well as comics and video games. In the Square Enix game 'Kingdom Hearts', he is the benevolent king of Disney Castle.

Answer: Paperino

'Paperino' means 'little duck'. 'Papero' is a generic term used for young waterfowl and can mean 'goose' or 'duck' in Italian. (If you want to be more specific, a duck is 'anatra' and a goose is 'oca'.)

Donald Duck first appeared in 'The Wise Little Hen' in 1934, where he wears his trademark sailor suit and acts as a foil to Peter Pig. He first appeared alongside Mickey Mouse in 'Orphans' Benefit' in the same year. One of his most notable characteristics is his incomprehensible speech, which sounds more like quacking noises rather than actual words; his original voice actor, Clarence Nash, was hired for his duck impressions. Disney were looking for people to do animal noises and Nash fit the bill (pun intended). During the Second World War, Donald appeared in various propaganda films, including one where he dreams he is a Nazi. Because of this, Donald became an Air Force mascot and several aeroplanes featured pictures of him.

Answer: Qui, Quo and Qua

Rather than rhyming names, Italian translators went for the alliterative trio of 'Qui', 'Quo' and 'Qua'. 'Qua qua' is Italian onomatopoeia for quacking.

The mischievous duckling triplets Huey, Dewey and Louie are Donald Duck's nephews and were originally created as foils to constantly wind him up, they later became breakout characters as the stars of 'DuckTales', along with their great uncle Scrooge McDuck. Like their uncle, they were originally voiced by Clarence Nash, although their speech is clearer than Donald's. They originally appeared in print in the 'Silly Symphonies Featuring Donald Duck' newspaper strip in 1937, and made their screen debuts in 'Donald's Nephews' in 1938.

Although the triplets initially wore the same clothes, they became distinguished by their hats: Huey is the one in the red hat (because red is the brightest hue), Dewey wears a blue hat (because dew is blue like water) and Louie's hat is green (as a reference to leaves being green). They were respectively named after politicians Huey Long and Thomas Dewey, and Disney animator Louis Schmitt. Their mother is Donald Duck's sister Della.

Answer: Paperina

'Paperina' is the feminine version of 'Paperino'.

Originally named Donna, Daisy Duck is Donald's girlfriend and wears a pink outfit to go with his blue one. She appeared in 'Don Donald' as Donna Duck in 1937, and in 'Mr Duck Steps Out' as Daisy Duck in 1940. A separate Donna Duck later appeared in the comics as a rival to Daisy. Although she originally had the same voice actor as Donald, Clarence Nash, she was later voiced by various actresses, such as Gloria Blondell and 'The Simpsons' regular Tress MacNeille, who gave her more human-sounding voices. She has three nieces, April, May and June, who are the female counterparts of Huey, Dewey and Louie.

Answer: Gambadilegno

'Gambadilegno' literally means 'leg of wood'.

Pegleg Pete, or Pete for short, is a cat - although he was originally a bear - and Mickey's arch-nemesis in 'Steamboat Willie'. The bear version first appeared in 'Alice Solves the Puzzle', a live-action animated short in the 'Alice Comedies' series, where he had a wooden leg and was known as Bootleg Pete due to being a whisky drinker in the age of Prohibition. He was also Oswald the Lucky Rabbit's enemy before being repurposed as a cat who captains the ship in 'Steamboat Willie'. Pete went on to appear in the comics as a criminal who teamed up with other Disney baddies such as Sylvester Shyster or the Phantom Blot, and in 'Goof Troop', he was Goofy's neighbour. The Italian comics gave him a girlfriend, Trudy.

Answer: Pippo

'Pippo' is a diminutive form of 'Giuseppe', the Italian equivalent of 'Joseph'.

Mickey's friend and sidekick Goofy is a dog (although an anthropomorphic one, not a pet one like Pluto) of unknown breed. He originally appeared in 'Mickey's Revue' as Dippy Dawg in 1932, along with Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow (who would later become Goofy's girlfriend); there, he was older and had a long white beard. His voice actor, Pinto Colvig, based the Goofy voice on a 'village idiot' in his hometown. Animator Art Babbitt repurposed Goofy into the version we know today, from 'Orphans' Benefit' on wards. 'Goof Troop', a 1990s series starring Goofy, gave him a son, Max. In the Italian comics, Goofy has multiple other relatives such as Indiana Pipps, an explorer based on Indiana Jones (and localised as Arizona Goof).

Answer: Cip e Ciop

'Cip' is the Italian pronunciation of 'Chip', while 'Ciop' sounds like 'Chop'.

Chip and Dale, thought to be named after the furniture designer Thomas Chippendale, are a pair of chipmunks who became breakout characters with the series 'Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers' (which was one of my favourite programmes as a child). They originally appeared in 'Private Pluto' in 1943. Director Jack Hannah then used them in 'Donald Duck' shorts. In 'Rescue Rangers', Chip is generally portrayed as the more sensible of the two and wears a fedora and leather jacket while Dale is a laid-back joker who wears a Hawaiian shirt. Dale was also given a big pink nose and more spaced-out teeth to differentiate him from Chip.

Answer: Romeo il gatto del Colosseo

'Romeo il gatto del Colosseo' means 'Romeo the Colosseum Cat', presumably because 'Romeo' rhymes with 'Colosseo' in the same way that 'O'Malley' rhymes with 'Alley'.

Thomas O'Malley is a ginger alley cat who appears in the 1970 film 'The Aristocats' and is the love interest of the white cat Duchess. His voice actor is Phil Harris, who also played Baloo in 'The Jungle Book' and Little John in 'Robin Hood'. In 'Gli Aristogatti', the Italian dub, he is from Rome, as at the time the film was made, the Colosseum was a popular spot for the local feral cat population. The kittens, Marie (the white female), Toulouse (the ginger male) and Berlioz (the grey male), are named Minou (a generic French name for a cat), Matisse and Bizet, keeping the respective artist and composer references.

Answer: Banda Bassotti

'Banda' means 'gang', and 'Bassotti' is the plural of 'Bassotto', although 'Bassotto' does not mean 'beagle'. (Snoopy would still be 'un beagle' in Italy.) 'Bassotto tedesco' is the Italian name for a dachshund, or sausage/wiener dog, so the 'Dachshund Gang' would be a more literal translation.

The Beagle Boys are a criminal gang who regularly try to rob Scrooge McDuck, and originally appeared in the Disney comic strip 'Terror of the Beagle Boys' in 1951. They were, fittingly, created by Carl Barks and originally were distinguished only by their prison numbers; they all wore the same outfit of a blue cap and trousers, a red sweater and black bandit masks. They are sometimes led by Blackheart Beagle, their grandfather.

In 'DuckTales', they were given more distinct appearances and names; for example, Baggy Beagle wears a baggy sweater, Bankjob Beagle is the tallest and Babyface Beagle the smallest, who wears a propellor hat. Their leader is their mother, Ma Beagle. In the Italian comics, they have a dachshund called Ottoperotto ('eight by eight').

Answer: Lo Stregatto

OK, the Cheshire Cat isn't a Disney original character - he was created by Lewis Carroll - but I couldn't pass the opportunity to include this one, because it's one of my favourites. 'Stregatto' is a portmanteau of 'strega' ('witch') and 'gatto' ('cat'), as well as being a pun on 'stregato' ('bewitched'). He isn't a witch's cat, but he's certainly a magical one!

The Cheshire Cat appears in the 1951 Disney film 'Alice in Wonderland' and is one of the most distinctive characters in the film, with his pink and purple striped coat and enormous toothy grin. He is voiced by Sterling Holloway, who also voiced Roquefort the mouse in 'The Aristocats', Mr Stork in 'Dumbo', Kaa in 'The Jungle Book', and - his most famous role - Winnie the Pooh. He sings the first verse of 'Jabberwocky' before appearing to Alice in the Tulgey Wood.