# Name of hero of traditional folk stories or jokes



## Abu Bishr

Hi everybody

When I grew up in South Africa we were always told stories (and jokes) about a certain "*Jan van der Merwe*". He would always be the hero of the story. The opening line of the story would normally go something like this: "Daar was eens op 'n tyd 'n man met die naam van Jan van der Merwe ..." (Once upon a time there was a man called "Jan van der Merwe" ...). Does such a mythical hero or character exist in your language or culture? If so what is he or she called?


----------



## Chazzwozzer

Turkish joke hero is called *Temel *who is from Black Sea Region.


----------



## Frank06

Hi,


Abu Bishr said:


> When I grew up in South Africa we were always told stories (and jokes) about a certain "*Jan van der Merwe*".


In Belgium (Flanders) the name 'Jantje' is used in a lot of _jokes_ (lit. little Jan - John), but that's a sometimes naive, sometimes wise little boy.
For adults, I can't think of one name as your 'Jan van der Merwe'. As far as I know it is just 'een man' or 'een vrouw'.

BTW, any idea why '(Jan) van der Merwe'? Is it a special or very common family name? Where does he, erm, come from? A city, a small village, ...?

[*edit*: similar questions for Chazzwozzer: why Temel, why Black Sea Region?]

Groetjes

Frank


----------



## Etcetera

The typical name for a hero of a Russian folk fairy tale is Ив*а*н / Iv*a*n, the most common Russian name.


----------



## Chazzwozzer

Frank06 said:


> why Temel, why Black Sea Region?


Here.  

He's supposed to look like this.  Note the facial features, it's typical of Black Sea people, of course not that as exaggerated.


----------



## Frank06

Hi


Chazzwozzer said:


> He's supposed to look like this.  Note the facial features, it's typical of Black Sea people, of course not that as exaggerated.


I expected to find a picture of you there, but all I got was "403 forbidden" .
But thanks for the (first) link.

Groetjes,

Frank


----------



## Chazzwozzer

Frank06 said:


> Hi
> 
> I expected to find a picture of you there, but all I got was "403 forbidden" .
> But thanks for the (first) link.
> 
> Groetjes,
> 
> Frank


In fact, I wouldn't like to be Temel.  Try this.


----------



## elroy

You probably already know this, Abu Bishr, but the protagnist of most Arabic jokes and short stories is جحا (_juHa_).


----------



## Abu Bishr

O yes, JuHa, the joker. Yes, he's definitely the hero of Arabic jokes and short stories. What is his story, though? Where does he come from?


----------



## Abu Bishr

Frank06 said:


> Hi,
> 
> BTW, any idea why '(Jan) van der Merwe'? Is it a special or very common family name? Where does he, erm, come from? A city, a small village, ...?
> 
> Groetjes
> 
> Frank


 
Yes, "van der Merwe" is quite a common surname amongst the Afrikaner white population, though. As for "Van der Merwe" himself, I don't really know, we he comes from. All that I know is that if someone started talking about Jan van der Merwe then you know here is a joke coming.


----------



## doman

In Vietnam, the most famous hero in Traditional folk stories names *Thánh Gióng*. Everyone loves him because he was a hero in the age of 3. 
And about Joke we have a person names *Cuội*. He is a Super Liar.

Vietnamese idiom: "Nói dối như Cuội !" - You are a liar as Cuội.


----------



## Whodunit

The protagonist of German jokes is usually _Fritzchen_ (= little Fritz).

There's no special guy in German folk stories, so it begins like in Dutch: "*Es war einmal ein Mann, der .../eine Frau, die ...*" (Once upon a time there was a man who .../woman who ...)


----------



## Abbassupreme

I believe that in Iran, the joke hero is Mullah Nasre Din.


----------



## OldAvatar

In Romania, the hero of all jokes is *Bulă.

*There are also, two old folclore jokes heros: the smart one, *Păcală *and the stupid one,* Tândală*.


----------



## Tolovaj_Mataj

In Slovene there's a smart little boy named *Janezek* (little Janez; John in English) who enjoys to embarrass his parents, grandparents, neighbours and specially his female teacher in school asking them simple questions and when receiving answers making original conclusions... he's pain in the ass.


----------



## Chazzwozzer

Abbassupreme said:


> I believe that in Iran, the joke hero is Mullah Nasre Din.


Does he have anything to do wtih Nasreddin, the Sufi figure?


----------



## cyanista

Etcetera said:


> The typical name for a hero of a Russian folk fairy tale is Ив*а*н / Iv*a*n, the most common Russian name.


You probably mean it _was_ the most common Russian name? It hasn't been very common in the last decades.

Apart from fairy-tales featuring "silly Ivan" ("Ivanushka-durachok"), Russians have lots and lots of jokes about Vovochka (Вовочка) who's usually an ill-behaved pupil.


----------



## floridasnowbird

Whodunit said:


> The protagonist of German jokes is usually _Fritzchen_ (= little Fritz).
> 
> There's no special guy in German folk stories, so it begins like in Dutch: "*Es war einmal ein Mann, der .../eine Frau, die ...*" (Once upon a time there was a man who .../woman who ...)


 
There are also some local characters people tell stories and jokes about in Germany, such as
Klein Erna (little Erna) [in Hamburg]
Tünnes und Scheel [in Cologne]


----------



## Aleco

We have a guy named *Askeladden,* or *Oskeladden* in Norwegian Nynorsk.
He's in several fairy tales, but I don't think he's like an hero... Bur he always wins over the trolls, his mean brothers and so on.


----------



## spakh

Abbassupreme said:


> I believe that in Iran, the joke hero is Mullah Nasre Din.


 

I think he is Nasreddin Hoca (that is Turkish) from Akşehir (a small town in Turkey). I knew he is famous in Middle Asia(in Turkic republics), but I am surprised to know that he is also well-known in Iran. He was a witty hodja at his time and he has lots of tales. Although some of these tales do not belong to Nasreddin, people attribute them to him as he is loved by many people. He is also called just 'Hoca' in stories.

There are some other figures famous in Turkey. Hacı Bektaşi is one of them and he is also a famous religious person just like Hoca.


----------



## OldAvatar

spakh said:


> I think he is Nasreddin Hoca (that is Turkish) from Akşehir (a small town in Turkey). I knew he is famous in Middle Asia(in Turkic republics), but I am surprised to know that he is also well-known in Iran. He was a witty hodja at his time and he has lots of tales. Although some of these tales do not belong to Nasreddin, people attribute them to him as he is loved by many people. He is also called just 'Hoca' in stories.
> 
> There are some other figures famous in Turkey. Hacı Bektaşi is one of them and he is also a famous religious person just like Hoca.




He's also known in Romania, especially among old people, as *Nastratin Hogea*.


----------



## Chazzwozzer

spakh said:


> I think he is Nasreddin Hoca (that is Turkish) from Akşehir (a small town in Turkey). I knew he is famous in Middle Asia(in Turkic republics), but I am surprised to know that he is also well-known in Iran. He was a witty hodja at his time and he has lots of tales. Although some of these tales do not belong to Nasreddin, people attribute them to him as he is loved by many people. He is also called just 'Hoca' in stories.


Not only in Anatolia and Central Asian Turkic Republics, Nasreddin, who is claimed to be as their own by many nations , is a popular figure in jokes and anecdotes around world, more widely in the Near East and some Balkan countries. This is the reason why 1996-1997 was called as "International Nasreddin Hodja Year" by UNESCO. 

As none of the nations have any conclusive evidence, I believe that it is not fair to call him "Turk," "Roman," "Greek," "Arab," "Persian" or something else.


----------



## cherine

I'd like to add that he's the same person as the one known in Arabic as JuHa (GoHa in Egypt) جحا .

In Egypt, there are many jokes attributed to him, even new political ones 
He represents the witty man who overcomes the wikedness of the powerful ones.


----------



## spakh

I am surprised and yet glad to see that Hodja is very famous in many countries. Although his fame expands from Balkans to India, I wonder whether the same famous tales are told about him thoroughout all these lands. 
As I stated before, there are tales and jokes about Bektashis(a Sufi religious order). But they are usually the butt of common jokes and anectodes, mostly because of their lives beyond the rules of institutional Islam. 
Dursun is also famous in jokes as a friend of Temel.
Namık Kemal is another butt of disapproving jokes, though he is a famous Turkish nationalist poet.


----------



## TraductoraPobleSec

Many, many jokes in Spain have a main character who is a boy called *JAIMITO *. Most of the jokes are about him telling his mom things or asking her about things. Most jokes start with: "Mamá, mamá, en el cole..." and then he tells the mom what has happened at school.


----------



## nooij

Frank06 said:


> In Belgium (Flanders) the name 'Jantje' is used in a lot of _jokes_ (lit. little Jan - John), but that's a sometimes naive, sometimes wise little boy.


 
Jantje is also the hero of jokes here in the Netherlands.


----------



## origumi

In Hebrew we have *Khusham*. Also *Herschele* (from Yiddish). Arabic *Jukha* works too.


----------



## apmoy70

In Greek jokes the hero is usually a witty school boy named «Τοτός» (to'tos).
In jokes where the hero does stupid things, or his is stupid, we use the name «Μπόμπος» ('bobos).


Chazzwozzer said:


> Turkish joke hero is called *Temel *who is from Black Sea Region.


Most Greek folk jokes are about two Pontic Greek guys (from the Black Sea region) usually named «Κωστίκας & Γιωρίκας» (ko'stikas & ʝo'rikas) the most common Pontic rendering of the Greek male names Constantine and George (and if I may add, these jokes do not do honour to the Greeks of Black Sea  )


----------



## HUMBERT0

In my country the typical character in jokes is “Pepito” that is “Little Pepe” he’s a very naughty, mischievous boy.


----------

