Tintin Forums

I read in The Pocket Essential Tintin (Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, 2002) that Hergé could have taken the name "Tintin" from the protagonist of an earlier pulp novel series 'Les Voyages Aeriens D'Un Petit Parisien A Travers le Monde' by Marcel Priollet, who was also called Tintin.

What are your views on the name Tintin?

Before obtaining a copy of The Pocket Essentials, I had a theory that the name Tintin may have originated from the Chinese.

I had a friend who was dating the daughter of the owner of a Chinese resturant which was called "Tin Tin".
I asked the young lady what Tin Tin translated into English as, and she told me it meant "Every-day".

On this I assumed that Tintin was called so because of his every-day appearance in the Petit Vingtième. I know Hergé had an interest in the Far-East.

Would anyone else like to share their views????

Welcome to our forums, rastapopoulos.

According to Benoît Peeters' Tintin and the World of Hergé, the name Tintin came from 'Totor' - Tintin's predecessor and the main character of Herge's first proper series.

rastapopoulos: I had a theory that the name Tintin may of originated from the Chinese. I had a friend who was dating the daughter of the owner of a Chinese resturant, Which was called Tin Tin. I asked the young lady what Tin Tin translated into English and she told me it meant 'Every-day'.

Hergé did not know much about the Orient until he met Chang Chong-chen in 1932, by which time Tintin had already been named.

'tin tin' is Cantonese for 'every day', in Mandarin (the official language of China), 'every day' is pronounced 'tien tien'.

- Irene

There is also a theory that the name may have been subconsciously recalled from a picture strip by Rabier and Isly (c. 1900) featuring a character called Tintin-Lutin, a character who had bequiffed fair hair, knee-length tousers, and even a little white dog.

Hi Irene! Thank you for welcoming me to such a worthwhile site. I was aware of the influence of Tortor but I was referring to the exact wording of the name Tintin. You made a good point that Herge did not know much about the Orient until the meeting with Chang, I have read this on numerous occasions.
Tybaltstone! Great info I have not come across that info, and I have tried searching the web for more information on Rabier and Isley. Do you know of any ENGLISH speaking websites that offer information? By the way your comic book sounds great and I will purchase very soon.

There is an entry on Rabier in Lambiek's Comiclopedia.

Cheers marsbar for the info! I have been to the Lambiek Bookshop in Amsterdam, where i bought an amazing book (all in dutch though) of a 1986 art exhibtion in Barcelona. The exhibition was a collection of paintings and prints which paid hommage to Herge and his creation Tintin.

For more discussions on Tintin's name - see "Is Tintin a nickname" thread.