Hello, Kitty—if that’s even your real name.
Turns out, it isn’t. As Hello Kitty approaches her 50th anniversary—which will officially occur November 1—fans are in a frenzy over lesser-known facts about the Japanese cartoon character created by Yuko Shimizu, including her real name.
In fact, Hello Kitty’s flagship brand Sanrio recently reminded fans that her real name is Kitty White, through a Today show segment July 18. What’s more, Hello Kitty has an entire family—complete with twin sister Mimmy White and parents Mary White and George White.
There’s actually a lot to know about Hello Kitty’s family. For one, although they are twins, Mimmy and Kitty can be distinguished by their bows—as Hello Kitty wears a red bow and Mimmy wears a yellow bow. The girls also have very different personalities. Hello Kitty is described by Sanrio as “friendly, kind-hearted and bright,” while Mimmy is characterized by being “shy” and “quiet.”
Meanwhile, Hello Kitty’s mom is known for being kind and caring—and her famous apple pie, which is coincidentally the iconic cartoon character’s favorite food. An as for Hello Kitty’s father, he has a “hilarious sense of humor and is the backbone of the family,” according to Sanrio’s website.
While she is close to her family, Sanrio notes that “making friends” is one of Hello Kitty’s many likes and hobbies. Her best friend is a small teddy bear named Tiny Chum, who the brand describes as a “little rascal.” Although Tiny Chum is reportedly one of six siblings, he lives with the White family in their suburban London home. He is also always seen wearing a red bow that was gifted to him by Hello Kitty.
Another lesser-known member of Hello Kitty’s life? Her boyfriend Daniel Starr. Indeed, Hello Kitty—who is a perpetual third grader—has had a boyfriend since 1999 when he was first introduced by the brand.
Daniel loves “animal photography,” Sanrio explains on its website, and hopes to one day be a professional cameraman. As far as his other hobbies go, he enjoys dancing and playing the piano.
Hello Kitty’s real name is not the only revelation that is leaving fans bamboozled. During the recent Today segment, Hello Kitty’s species also came into question.
“Hello Kitty is not a cat,” Jill Koch, the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Brand Management at Sanrio, explained. “She’s actually a little girl.”
Naturally, this news has been a lot for Hello Kitty fans to unpack. As one fan joked on X, formerly Twitter, about the revelations, “Not them trying to gaslight us.”
Read on for more surprising facts about your favorite animated characters.
Hello Kitty Isn't a Cat
Many fans were left purrrrrfectly confused after this revelation.
“Hello Kitty is not a cat,” Jill Cook—an executive at Sanrio, the company behind the character—explained to Today in July 2024. “She’s actually a little girl born and raised in the suburbs of London. She has a mom and dad and a twin sister Mimmy who’s also her best friend. She enjoys baking cookies and making new friends.”
While the news may have surprised some, Cook wasn’t the first to share this insight. As a matter of fact, Christine R. Yano—a professor of anthropology who penned the book Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty's Trek Across the Pacific—had also previously confirmed that Hello Kitty isn’t a feline.
“Hello Kitty is not a cat,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2014. “She’s a cartoon character. She is a little girl. She is a friend. But she is not a cat. She’s never depicted on all fours. She walks and sits like a two-legged creature. She does have a pet cat of her own, however, and it’s called Charmmy Kitty.”
Other fun facts about Hello Kitty? According to Sanrio, she is five apples tall, weighs three apples, was born on November 1 (making her a Scorpio) and dreams of being a pianist or poet.
Goofy Isn't a Dog
Gawrsh! Did you know this fact?
Bill Farmer, who's provided the voice of Goofy for decades, explained why the Disney character can talk while Mickey Mouse's pet Pluto can't.
Goofy is "not a dog, but he's a canine," the voice actor said on an August 2024 episode of Popcorn Podcast with Leigh Livingstone and Tim Iffland. "So it's kind of like a wolf is not a dog but it's a canine—same thing. Goofus canis, that's what he is. Or, he's a MOG—he's a man-dog."
However, Pluto, he added, is a "regular dog"—a blood hound as it turns out.
Squidward Isn't a Squid
You'll want to get to the (bikini) bottom of this discovery.
SpongeBob SquarePants' creator Stephen Hillenburg once revealed that Squidward Tentacles is actually an octopus—not a squid.
"This is Squidward the Octopus, SpongeBob's grumpy next-door neighboor," he shared in the 2005 Case Of The Sponge 'Bob' video resurfaced by BuzzFeed. "I like the octopus for this character because they have such a large, bulbous head, and Squidward thinks he's an intellectual so, of course, he's going to have a large, bulbous head."
But if you're wondering how Squidward can be an octopus when he has only six legs instead of eight, Hillenburg had an answer for that, too—noting "it was really just easier for animation to draw him" with fewer tentacles.
Blue From Blue's Clues Was Originally an Orange Cat
Break out your handy dandy notebook and jot this one down.
"One of the things that nobody knows is that Blue was originally a cat," the show's co-creator Angela Santomero said in the 2006 special Behind the Clues: 10 Years With Blue resurfaced by Mental Floss. "First his name was Mr. Orange and then we're like, 'Uh, maybe Mr. Blue.'"
But according to the special, Nickelodeon was already working on a series about a cat—leading animators to toss out the original idea and redesign Blue as a dog.
Doug Was Almost Named Brian
Now this really isn’t funnie, er, funny.
But as it turns out, Doug Funnie from the cartoon series Doug was almost named Brian. As for what led to the change?
"I just thought Brian was too fancy of a name," Doug creator Jim Jinkins told HuffPost TV in 2014, "So, I geared it down, and started calling him Doug. If you think about what that sounds like, it sounds incredibly average, and that’s what I was trying to do: express from that point of view.”
Boo From Monsters, Inc. Isn’t Her Full Name
This fact is so good it’s scary.
In Monsters, Inc.: An Augmented Reality Book, the name of Boo—the little girl who accidentally ends up in Monstropolis and befriends monsters Mike and Sulley—is revealed to be Mary Gibbs, according to BuzzFeed. And if the name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the real-life moniker of the actress who provided the voice of Boo.
Need more proof? In the movie, there’s actually a scene where Boo is sorting through some of her drawings and fans can spot the name “Mary” scribbled at the top of one of the pieces of paper.
Minnie Mouse Has a Longer Moniker
Speaking of names, while Mickey Mouse’s girlfriend is often called Minnie Mouse, according to the BBC, it was revealed in 1942 that her full name is actually Minerva.