Dumpy, Flabby, Gabby, Gaspy, Gloomy...

Snow White and the Fifty Dwarfs

Welcome to the fourth issue of the Lists of Note newsletter: each Sunday, a fascinating list from history. If you haven’t already, sign up.

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Walt Disney, 1942. Photo: Getty.

In 1812, German storytellers the Brothers Grimm published Snow White, one of the most famous fairy tales in history and the basis for a wildly successful big-screen adaptation by Walt Disney Productions in 1937. In 1934, as they began work on the animated version, the writing team at Disney compiled the following wonderful list of potential names for a group of characters whom the Brothers Grimm had chosen to leave nameless: the seven dwarfs. As we now know, Bashful, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy and Sneezy were picked from this shortlist; Dopey and the name of their leader, Doc, were chosen at a later date.

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1. Awful 

2. Bashful 

3. Biggo-Ego 

4. Biggy 

5. Biggy-Wiggy 

6. Blabby

7. Busy

8. Chesty 

9. Crabby 

10. Cranky 

11. Daffy 

12. Dippy 

13. Dirty 

14. Dizzy 

15. Doleful 

16. Dumpy 

17. Flabby 

18. Gabby 

19. Gaspy 

20. Gloomy 

21. Goopy 

22. Graveful 

23. Grumpy

24. Happy

25. Helpful

26. Hoppy

27. Hotsy

28. Hungry

29. Jaunty

30. Jumpy

31. Lazy

32. Neurtsy

33. Nifty

34. Puffy

35. Sappy

36. Scrappy

37. Shifty

38. Silly

39. Sleepy

40. Snappy

41. Sneezy 

42. Sneezy-Wheezy 

43. Snoopy

44. Soulful 

45. Strutty 

46. Tearful 

47. Thrifty 

48. Weepy

49. Wistful 

50. Woeful

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The above list is one of 125 that feature in the Lists of Note book. It’s now out of print, but I’m selling the last remaining copies of its gorgeous special edition here.