What is Wile E. Coyote's middle name?

Friar Tuck

Wile E. Coyote is a pun, a take on the word 'wily', which means tricky, or cunning. Naming him Wile E. Coyote just seemed like a clever way to call him wily. There was never a full middle name given for him, although in the cartoon 'Operation: Rabbit,' where the name was introduced, he shows and reads his business card to Bugs Bunny. It reads: 'Wile E. Coyote, Genius'. http://toolooney.toonzone.net/trivia.htm http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wily Apr 28 03, 10:47 PM

kerry8888

You may be right, Friar Tuck, but this site suggests his middle name was Ethelbert. http://www.searchforsales.com/trivia/answers/encyclopedia-e.html Apr 28 03, 10:51 PM

Senior Moments

There are only a few web sites that give Ethelbert as the answer but the following extract disputes that: Some on Earth may insist that Honey Bunny is not a real Looney Tunes character, because her existence came about though the comic book medium, which consists of stories and events that are, by definition, fictional. This statement is completely valid. A comic book story has as much a chance of being true as Wile E. Coyote's middle name is 'Ethelbert' - there is none at all. To most toons, Earth comics are likened to tabloid magazines, full of malformed facts and buzz news, not worthy of serious consideration, but always good for a laugh. Honey Bunny, however, is more than a comic book character. She has been officially recognized by Warner Brothers, legally licensed by them, and she had appeared publicly with Bugs for a good two decades before Lola came. Her past may be a mite sorted (sic), but her mutual love with Bugs cannot be contested. http://www1.minn.net/~landru/book/N/ch20.html Apr 28 03, 10:52 PM

Friar Tuck

Out of 27,700 sites on Google that contain ' Wile E. Coyote' there are only two sites that make that statement. The one Kerry888 highlighted is one of them. This looks a bit suspect as I would expect more sites to have that fact if it was true. Apr 28 03, 10:58 PM

ffocsv

Ethelbert, per Jeopardy! final answer 1/18/07. On Jan. 18, 2007, the final question on the game show Jeopardy was... A: The middle initial E. of this character introduced in 1949 stands for Ethelbert. Q: Who is Wile E. Coyote? Ever wonder where the heck this "fact" came from? It wasn't from a cartoon or anything revealed by Chuck Jones later in life. No, it came from a single 1973 Looney Tunes comic book story. I really doubt this was ever intended to be the character's "official" middle name but thanks to Jeopardy, I am sure this "fact" will be popping up for years to come. http://toolooney.blogspot.com/2007/02/dirt-on-ethelbert.html We all love Wile E. Coyote, the long-suffering Road Runner chaser. But, uh, what does the "E" stand for? I guess I don't know. I mean, none of the cartoons directed by Charles "Chuck" Jones and written by Michael Maltese ever said. Only a couple of them ever even said his name was Wile E. Coyote. But it has just been brought to my attention that more than a thousand websites say the Coyote's middle name is Ethelbert. The source for this is a 1973 story that appeared in the comic book, Beep Beep the Road Runner, published by Western Publishing Company under its Gold Key imprint. In the story, which was called "The Greatest of E's," Wile E. Coyote realizes he doesn't know and gathers together some of his relatives to answer the question. One is an uncle named Kraft E. Coyote who informs him and the world that the "E" stands for Ethelbert. That is, as far as I know, the only piece of fiction licensed or otherwise blessed by the Warner Brothers company that ever said such a thing. http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_02_20.html#012965 [Added references - McG] Jan 18 07, 9:32 PM