The creator of ‘Mario’ was, as it turns out, Nintendo’s ‘landlord’.

Last Updated on 05/12/2023 by てんしょく飯

Japan’s world-famous and popular character Mario. The name that everyone knows was given to the character by a very unexpected person!

Mario was originally called Jumpman.

The Super Mario Brothers Movie” has been a huge hit in Japan, grossing 6.5 billion yen in its first 10 days of release. Worldwide, it has surpassed 150 billion yen, and all eyes are on how far the record will go.

Mario now has fans all over the world, but he first appeared in the action game Donkey Kong, which appeared in arcades in 1981. In fact, at the time, he did not have a name and was commonly known as “Jumpman” or “Mr. Video Game”.

He then appeared under the name ‘Mario’ in Donkey Kong JR. released in 1982. What was the story behind the naming of the world’s most famous character?

Who is ‘Mr Mario Segal’, from whom Mario’s name was derived?

Mario’s name was derived from an Italian-American businessman named Mario Segal. He owned a construction company and a real estate business, and at the time leased a warehouse to Nintendo of America (NOA), a US subsidiary of Nintendo that was looking to expand its business in North America.

Mr Segal’s warehouse was used as NOA’s headquarters, and one day, when NOA staff were struggling with the name of the main character in Donkey Kong, Mr Segal, the landlord, appeared to complain about non-payment of rent. The staff came up with the idea of using Mr Segal’s name for the game character, and Miyamoto adopted the name as it suited his image.

In an interview on Nintendo UK’s official YouTube channel, Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s Representative Director and Fellow, known as the creator of Mario, also admitted that the name ‘Mario’ came from Mr Segal.

Mr Segal died in 2018. He had little to say about the origin of Mario’s name during his lifetime, but once, in an interview with The Seattle Times in 1993, he reportedly jokingly replied, “I’m still waiting for my royalty cheque to arrive”.

Other characters’ origins are too interesting.

Luigi (similar) because he looks like Mario? Luigi’s name was also named by NOA staff because it is common among Italian men and has a good ring to it.

The name of the mushroom character Krivoh, which is often thought to be a chestnut, was also thought to be a chestnut by the staff, who called it Krivoh and used it as the character’s name.

Mario’s good buddy Yoshi was also named after the staff member who designed him. The names of the characters in Super Mario Bros. show how much fun it was to create the characters loved around the world, right from the development stage.