Donald Duck has been popular in Norway for decades… Photo from the Møllehaugen playground May 17th National Day Parade, Trondheim, 1955. (Photo courtesy of the Municipal Archives of Trondheim at Flickr, CC License.)

Har du sett den nye Star Wars-filmen? (Have you seen the new SW movie?) Ever since nyttår (New Year) I’ve been wanting to do a post for all the Star Wars fans out there! But I hate to say it – besides lyssabel (light sabre) and Må kraften være med deg! (May the force be with you!) there isn’t a lot of Star Wars vocabulary in Norwegian: the Jedi is jedien, Princess Leia is prinsesse Leia, Luke Skywalker is … Luke Skywalker.

The good thing is: Lots of names from American (and English) popular culture have got a Norwegian makeover! (Makes the world a bit more interesting, doesn’t it?) Below you can see some of the most important ones – feel free to add comments if I’ve forgotten anything! 🙂 Ever since WW2 or so Norwegian children have been growing up with Disney – as you can see by the number of Disney-related names. (Of course Transparent Language is not affiliated with Disney or any other concern!) Fun fact: While lots of Americans love Mikke Mus (Mickey Mouse), Donald Duck (yes, just like that) is the popular one in Norway! 🙂

Ole Brum – Winnie-the-Pooh (brum is the sound a bear makes)
Pusur – Garfield (the cat; pus means puss)
Tommy og Tigern (”Tommy and th’ Tiger”) – Calvin and Hobbes
Lynvingen (”Lightning Wing”) – Batman (in the new films he’s just called Batman, though!)

Andeby – Duckburg
Donald Duck
Dolly Duck – Daisy Duck
Onkel Skrue – Uncle Scrooge
Ole, Dole og Doffen – Huey, Dewey and Louie
Fetter Anton (”Cousin Anton”) – Gladstone Gander
Petter Smart – Gyro Gearloose
Magica fra Tryll (”M. from Conjure!”) – Magica De Spell
b-gjengen [beh YENGen] (”the B gang”) – Beagle Boys

Mikke Mus – Mickey Mouse
Minni Mus – Minnie Mouse
Pluto
Snipp og Snapp – Chip’n Dale
Langbein (”Longbone”) – Goofy

Ringenes Herre – The Lord of the Rings
Gandalv – Gandalf
Bilbo Lommelun (B. ”Pocketsnug”) – Bilbo Baggins
Hobittun (”Hobbit Farmyard”) – The Shire

And finally, to show that Norwegians aren’t exclusively influenced by the English-speaking world, a couple of Swedish children’s heroes… 😉

Emil fra Lønneberg – Emil i Lönneberga = Emil of Lönneberga
Pippi Langstrømpe – Pippi Långstrump = Pippi Longstocking