In the car this weekend, my family and I were discussing some very important topics, led by my four-year-old, who has a new-found interest in princesses, superheroes, pirates and fairy tales. He’s increasingly interested in the characters of these tales – and where he does not know the details, he fills in with his imagination. He has never seen any shows or movies with Batman or Superman, for example, but he can talk about them for hours. As someone passionate about stories and the characters that inhabit them, I love that he’s reached this stage of life and hope he never outgrows it.

As part of this conversation, hubs and I were trying to recall (without aid) all of the Disney princesses — can you do it? I got ten out of eleven — and the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White.  Poor Dopey, I always seem to forget him.

When we finally broke down and referred to the internet, we learned some fascinating Dwarf Trivia. Before the Disney Film, the dwarfs had different names, given to them by a 1912 playwright. And in the original Grimm fairy tale, they had no names at all! Do you realize that means you or I have just as much right as Walt Disney did to name the dwarfs? Well, my four-year old did just that, without being prompted. He just started reciting names from the backseat, which at first I thought were just random and silly, but he actually kept track and repeated them until he sold me on them.

I may be a bit biased, but I think Monkey’s dwarf names are Tolkien-esque and pretty damn great. Here they are:

1. Magus
2. Biggun
3. Gimmi
4. Zooma
5. Voomie
6. Daguk
7. Gommick

Magus is the leader, Monkey says. Zooma and Voomie are the fast ones, obviously. I love that, other than Magus, he seems to have created them in pairs.

Here are the names from the 1912 play:

1. Blick
2. Flick
3. Glick
4. Snick
5. Plick
6. Whick
7. Quee

And here are the Disney Seven, in case you’ve forgotten a dwarf or two.

1. Bashful
2. Doc
3. Dopey
4. Grumpy
5. Happy
6. Sleepy
7. Sneezy

You can also find a comprehensive listing of various iterations of the dwarfs’ names here. Apparently my child is not the only one who felt they could use some creative renaming.

I posted this because — well, okay, yes, sometimes I can’t resist sharing cute stuff my kid says — but also because I think it speaks to the role of character in a story. Even secondary characters or those who function as a group are more interesting and realistic when they have their own identities. In the original tale wherein they are not named, the dwarfs are interchangeable. They function only as a group, and only to serve the real star of the story, Snow White. But in the Disney version (and the version in my head being created around Monkey’s names), those little guys practically steal the show.

MJ Pullen

M.J. Pullen is a distracted writer and the mom of two boys in Roswell, Georgia, where she is absolutely late for something important right now. Her books include quirky romantic comedies and playful women's fiction. She blogs erratically with writing advice, random observations, and reflections on raising very loud kids and dogs. Join her Distracted Readers newsletter list for updates, free content, giveaways and more.