You never know what will trend on the internet on any given day. Case in point: it seems that fans are absolutely convinced that the actual full name of the cartoon mouse Jerry from Tom and Jerry isn’t real.
This all seems to stem from a vial tweet from user @konmars_, who shared a screenshot of a Google search for the character where it appeared that an excerpt from the open source (and not necessarily always reliable) encyclopedia Wikipedia stated his full name to be “Jerome ‘Jerry’ Mouse.”
Understandably perplexed, the Twitter user captioned the screen capture simply, “JEROME?!”
People were quick to point out their shock and disbelief at the revelation, with one user breaking out all the cry emojis in shock.
It didn’t take long for mischievous wiki editors to wreak havoc on the cartoon mouse’s page, with pranksters changing it from “Jerome” to “Jamarcus” and then again to “Jeromathy.”
Apparently due to all the unwanted editing activity on the page, references to Jerry being called “Jerome” have since been scrubbed from the Wikipedia site, with the lead sentence of the article now citing “Jerry Mouse” as his official full name. Tom’s page wasn’t as well-monitored, however, since as of press time his name on Wikipedia is currently listed as “Tyrone,” a moniker that doesn’t seem to be authentic based on what we can tell.
Trolling aside, is there any legitimacy to the claim that Jerry is short for “Jerome?” The answer, as it turns out, is a bit complicated and depends on which piece of media you are looking at.
The confusion over the name likely stemmed from the fact that in the 2021 Tom and Jerry movie, the cartoon mouse is listed as “Jerome A. Mouse” in the end credits. Previously, the character’s first appearances in a couple of 1940s cartoon shorts also referred to the mouse as “Jinx” or “Gerald.”
His longtime arch nemesis, Tom, was also given the name “Thomas D. Cat” in the 2021 movie and has previously been named “Jasper” in early shorts.
According to the official website of the upcoming WB Smash Bros.-clone video game brawler Multiversus⏤in which the duo are slated to appear⏤their official full names are “Thomas Jasper ‘Tom’ Cat, Sr.” and “Gerald Jinx ‘Jerry’ Mouse.” There you have it.