waldoandcarmensandiego
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  • Steve

    Anyone know why the name was changed from Wally (as it was in the original UK books) to Waldo in the US? Does Wally have some meaning I don’t know of?

  • Riccras

    Nothing I know about anything being offensive in the name “Wally.” In fact, outside of the books, I have never heard of an instance where someone was named Waldo.

  • David

    It’s slang for loser. :x

  • Amy

    At least in the US they kept a similar name…in France, they changed his name to Charlie.

  • James

    It is in the UK too… you could easily call someone a wally.

    It’s the same with the name ‘Dick’, perfectly valid name (Short for Richard), but we all know what the alternative is.

    I just think its American paranoia.

  • http://www.wikimixx.com/ Top Ten

    lol, a super date

  • resresd

    yes, wally is a slang term, more for a fool than a loser in my opinion, but (having lived in both america and the uk, and with a parent from each)its slang in england, where the name wally was kept, which kind of brings us back to confusing square 1….

  • John

    ‘Wally’ used to be used in the UK as a light insult, kind of like saying someone was a bit thick.
    “Jake you wally, don’t do that!”

    Might be why they changed it to Waldo for the US version?

  • David

    In my opinion, “Waldo” sounds more retarded than “Wally”.

    Wally FTW.

  • Dudley D

    “Wally” may have been avoided simply because many folks may already associate the name with Wally from the old TV show “Leave it to Beaver”. Not a bad character, in fact he was a pretty good guy, the older brother of the main character. Just an already familiar name that might be a bit of distraction. Just my guess.

    “Slang for loser”? Really?

  • Phil E. Drifter

    Kinda like what Dudley D said but the first ‘Vacation’ movie with Chevy Chase, Clark W. Griswold (Chevy Chase’s character) drives his family from Chicago to California to visit a fictional theme park, Wally World. The movie came out around 1983 so they may have changed it to prevent people from associating it with him or the movie studio which produced the movies.

    Like the translation from Japanese to English should have made ‘Puck-Man’ but the switched it to ‘Pac-Man’ because a certain profanity that starts with F rhymes with ‘puck.’

  • Terri

    Both Wally and Waldo are surfer slang for a loser (ie. someone who is surfing outside of their own turf).

  • najjjjalalala

    Personally I kind of like charlie. Besides he looks french anyway. I mean…look at that hat.

  • najjjjalalala

    And the shirt too…he’s totally french. Or thinks its always christmas.

  • i0milesniper

    The little kid’s name in Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher” is Waldo. David Lee Roth says it when he get’s on the bus… “Sit down, Waldo!”

  • IWIN

    He is Fremch and thus the reason for calling Wally or Waldo (which is slag for fool). :P