This may come as a shock to some Americans, but Waldo from the Where’s Waldo? books has different names throughout the world. In France he’s called Charlie. In Norway, he’s Willy. Germany? Walter. And in Britain, the home of the illustrator Martin Hanford and the original books, he’s called Wally.
Since the first Where’s Wally? books appeared in the UK in 1987, over 58 million books have been sold. Variations of Where’s Wally? have appeared in 38 different languages and 30 different countries. Nearly every country has its own name for Wally/Waldo.
Below, a list of what Wally/Waldo goes by in different languages and various countries:
Afrikaans: Willie
Arabic: Fodhouli (فضولي)
Bulgarian: Уоли (Uoli)
Catalan: Wally
Croatian: Jura
Czech: Valdík
Danish: Holger
Dutch: Wally
English (North American): Waldo
English (UK, Australia): Wally
Estonian: Volli
Lithuanian: Jonas
Finnish: Vallu
French: Charlie
German: Walter
Greek: Γουόλι (Wally)
Hebrew: אפי (Efi)
Hindi: Hetti
Hungarian: Vili
Icelandic: Valli
Italian: Ubaldo, Wally
Japanese: ウォーリー (Wōrī)
Korean: 월리 (Wolli)
Mandarin Chinese: 威利 (Wēilì)
Norwegian: Willy
Polish: Wally
Portuguese: Wally
Russian: Уолли (Uolli)
Serbian: Gile
Spanish: Wally
Swedish: Valle, Hugo
Turkish: Ali
Vietnamese: Văn Lang
Clearly, Denmark wins. Ostensibly, Wally was given names in each country that were more suitable for that country. But to be honest, I’ve never met an American named Waldo. Have you?
Images: American and British via Amazon; Norwegian Where’s Willy? via CDON.com; French Where’s Charlie via 411; Unnamed fan dressed as Waldo at a 2012 Oregon vs Arizona college football game via Getty
