Muppet Wiki:Article Naming

Our policy is to not make up a character name for own purposes whenever possible.

Unnamed Characters
There are many characters that exist in Muppetdom that don't have official names or titles. Some of the official names for characters are more titles then traditional names, such as The Swedish Chef, The Newsman and even Grouch Cop. Those titles have sources (such as on film, production credits and publications). We want to prevent non-official unsourced names from being adopted by the fan community, especially when it involves a certain subjectivity or arbitrariness. A character such as Palace Guard may as well have been named "Royal Guardsman", "The Guard" or "Guardsman." When a character's official name is unknown, a discussion should take place on Name That Puppet before the page is created – this could uncover an official title, lead to a page already for that character, or create a title that is unbiased and not misleading. Character pages with names that in essence we created should include the "Unnamed Characters" category tag in order to flag the name as "unofficial".

Err on the side of being conservative yet accurate. An unnamed purple monster who plays a librarian should hold a name such as "librarian" or, if needed, "librarian (monster)" rather than "Monster Librarian", "Purple Librarian Monster", "Ugly Librarian" or even "The Librarian". Avoid unneeded descriptors in the title or the use of the prefix "The", as these tend to skew the title towards being interpreted as a proper or official name, rather then a self prescribed title applied by us (the exceptions to the "The" rule include band names, nobility and other official titles used in other sources).

It is also important to note in the article that the character's was unnamed, as to not encourage the thought that Messenger is their real name.
 * Example: An unnamed Anything Muppet played the role the messenger in the story, "The King and His Problem...

Name Descriptors and Titles
Take for example the name of Kermit the Frog (which is the official title and name of Kermit, and has been used in many official works). However simply attaching "the Frog" to Bill, calling him "Bill the Frog" because he is a frog, changes the uses "the Frog" as mere descriptor rather than its original use as part of a character's actual name. In Bill's case, his "real name" could be "Bill the Frog" (like Kermit) but it could also be "Bill Frog" (similar to Fozzie Bear), or it could be "Bill Finkelstein", or just plain "Bill". Since there are no sources his full name being "Bill the Frog" we shouldn't assume things and change the character's name to fit our needs. The character should be titled "Bill" (the fact that he is a frog can be discussed in the article itself). We would rename characters to "Beaker the Lab Assistant" or "Fozzie Bear the Bear", we should not rename minor characters based on their roles, jobs, species or physical appearances.

If another character exists with the same name, a disambiguation label can be placed in parenthesis, such as Seymour (turtle) rather than renaming the character "Seymour the Turtle" or "Seymour Turtle". Our goal is to not rename or misrepresent a character's name.

It is better to titled a character "Fred (the king)" rather than create the name "Fred the King" or "King Fred" if there are no sources to back up those labels.

Relationships
Many Muppet relatives don't have. We give relatives names based on their relation to others (i.e. Fozzie's Uncle where he's only referred to as "my uncle" by Fozzie or "your uncle" by Kermit). For a character such as Oscar's Mom (could be called "Mrs. Grouch", "Oscar's Ma", "Oscar's Mother", "Oscar's Mommy", "Mother Grouch"…). Unless there is official documentation for their name (such as Emily Bear, Grover's Mommy, or Daddy Snuffle) then we use the naming convention of being so-and-so's whatever (like Elmo's Mom, Cookie Monster's Sister or Fozzie's Uncle). Our current naming conventions use the full (and more formal) Mother, Father, Brother, Aunt, Grandmother, Dog... (unless we have proof of the character being Mommy, Pa, Bro, Auntie, Grandma, Doggy or whatever).

Caricatures
There have been several Muppets created as specific Muppet caricatures of individuals people (such as Juliet Prowes). Many times these characters are unnamed, or referred to by the name of their real-world counterpart. Our current naming conventions allow us to name them "Person Caricaturized Muppet" (such as Tim Curry Muppet or Paul Williams Muppets). This only applies to true caricaturized Muppets and should not be used for characters that coincidentally looks similar to someone or for non-caricaturized parodies based on a person.