What is Donald Duck’s Middle Name?

While the Walt Disney Company has created literally thousands of memorable characters over its 100 years in business, there are few quite as beloved as Donald Duck — and that arguably includes the “big cheese” himself.

In fact, Donald has appeared in more Disney short films — 197 — than any other Disney character, including Mickey Mouse. However, despite that popularity, there are still numerous facts even longtime fans don’t know about the character, like Donald Duck’s middle name.

Donald Duck made his film debut in 1934’s The Wise Little Hen, one of Disney’s Silly Symphony shorts, though his part was small. The character next appeared in the Mickey Mouse short Orphan’s Benefit later that year. That cartoon featured Donald reciting the poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb” for a group of heckling orphans. Said heckling leads Donald to fly into massive fits of squawking anger, the origin of the characterization that would define Donald to this day. 

Over the rest of the 1930s, Donald became a sensation, appearing in more shorts, a heavily read comic strip, and merchandise. By the turn of the decade, Donald was unquestionably Disney’s most popular character of the time, which explains why the United States Government soon came calling. 

When the United States officially entered World War II following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Disney cast Donald in a series of animated propaganda shorts that had the tacit approval of the U.S. Army. The most famous of these was 1943’s Der Fuehrer’s Face, but our focus today is 1942’s Donald Gets Drafted, the first in a series of 6 shorts that tell an interconnected story of Donald joining the Army. 

Early on in the short, Donald’s draft notice flashes on screen, revealing Donald’s middle name. According to a piece Disney historian Paul Anderson wrote for the Walt Disney Museum, the issue of the character’s middle name was a topic of conversation during the short’s creation. 

In 2011, Anderson wrote: “I recently came across a story transcript from the film Donald Gets Drafted from April 9, 1941. In attendance at this meeting were Walt Disney and a handful of storymen. Early on in the discussion Walt comes up with the idea of zooming in on Donald’s draft notice and showing the particulars.  Walt declares: ‘Could we come down on this draft paper and it says …’ And now, here, for the first time, we hear Walt’s idea for Donald’s middle name … (drum roll please), it is ‘something funny.’ Okay, I know, that’s not funny. It’s not a name, but Walt throwing out a suggestion to his storymen. Storyman Harry Reeves states that it should be ‘Donald Swansdown Duck,’ to which Walt replies, ‘it ought to be some dopey, silly name.’ And there it is left. So now you know, the very first ever incarnation of Donald’s middle name is: Swansdown! It is just one more, small piece of Donald S. Duck’s celebrated history.”

For all that discussion however, Donald’s middle name isn’t Swansdown. Instead, the final released version of Donald Gets Drafted rivals that Donald’s canonical middle name is Fauntleroy. That’s right, Donald Fauntleroy Duck. 

So, we can hear you asking, what does Fauntleroy actually mean? Well, Anderson had an explanation for that as well, writing “It has always been suggested that the name had its origins from the 1886 book Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett. A Fauntelroy garment often consisted of a sailor suit and hat, and Little Lord Fauntleroy himself was a well-known spoiled brat (does this sound like somebody we know?).”

So there you have it. Were you aware that Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy, or was that an obscure piece of Disney trivia that had escaped your knowledge? Let us know in the comments below. 

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