# Is there a fictional character more popular than Sherlock Holmes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211 "2014-08-22T15:59:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/61 "2014-09-02T00:34:22Z")
I’ve no idea what you’re thinking of, but Tintin has been in print since 1929. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/62 "2014-09-02T00:39:12Z")
If you asked me to name fictional characters off the top of my head, I’m not even sure I would remember to mention Holmes. I’m very surprised he rates as highly as he does on the lists linked. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/63 "2014-09-02T00:39:11Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’ve no idea what you’re thinking of, Dick Tracy. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/64 "2014-09-02T00:43:42Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’ve no idea what you’re thinking of, but Tintin has been in print since 1929. But not continuously - you can still buy reprints, of course, but no new Tintin stories have been published since Herge died more than twenty years ago. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/65 "2014-09-02T00:47:37Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > But not continuously - you can still buy reprints, of course, but no new Tintin stories have been published since Herge died more than twenty years ago. I think Tintin HAS been in print, somewhere in the world, continuously since he first appeared. Whether they’re doing new ones is a separate question. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/66 "2014-09-02T00:52:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I think Tintin HAS been in print, somewhere in the world, continuously since he first appeared. Whether they’re doing new ones is a separate question. Didn’t i just say that? ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/67 "2014-09-02T01:35:05Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Counting the numbers of different media where the character may have appeared, and the number of individual actors that may have portrayed him/her, and the span of time where the same character has been in popular culture, is there anybody even close to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation? > > Who are at least some candidates to consider? Those are interesting objective measurements, though they don’t sound like popularity to me. Maybe I’m just outside the demographic, or I’m ignorant somehow, but I bet most Americans wouldn’t list him in their top 20 popular characters, if he even came to mind. You’d get mostly characters from highly rated American shows from the past 10-20 years, comic book/sci-fi/fantasy characters, sitcom chars, and so on. I’d think the main things people might know about Sherlock is his stories are like a hundred years old, “Elementary, my dear Watson!”, and maybe they’d know Dr. Moriarty. Now I’m curious if more Americans would know Sherlock or Dr. Who. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/68 "2014-09-02T01:43:45Z")
This strip I think is the great-granddaddy of them all; yes, it apparently is still being published with new material: > **[The Katzenjammer Kids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Katzenjammer_Kids)** > > The Katzenjammer Kids is an American comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks in 1897 and later drawn by Harold Knerr for 35 years (1914 to 1949). It debuted December 12, 1897, in the American Humorist, the Sunday supplement of William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The comic strip was turned into a stage play in 1903. It inspired several animated cartoons and was one of 20 strips included in the Comic Strip Classics series of U.S. commemorative postage stamps. > After a series of legal battles... ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/69 "2014-09-02T01:44:55Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Those are interesting objective measurements, though they don’t sound like popularity to me. Maybe I’m just outside the demographic, or I’m ignorant somehow, but I bet most Americans wouldn’t list him in their top 20 popular characters, if he even came to mind. You’d get mostly characters from highly rated American shows from the past 10-20 years, comic book/sci-fi/fantasy characters, sitcom chars, and so on. I’d think the main things people might know about Sherlock is his stories are like a hundred years old, “Elementary, my dear Watson!”, and maybe they’d know Dr. Moriarty. In fairness, he currently has his own primetime television series here in the US, not to be confused with the British one that was the biggest winner at the latest Emmys, not to be confused with the big-screen franchise being helmed by Robert Downey Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/70 "2014-09-02T02:46:29Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > Those are interesting objective measurements, though they don’t sound like popularity to me. Maybe I’m just outside the demographic, or I’m ignorant somehow, but I bet most Americans wouldn’t list him in their top 20 popular characters, if he even came to mind. You’d get mostly characters from highly rated American shows from the past 10-20 years, comic book/sci-fi/fantasy characters, sitcom chars, and so on. I’d think the main things people might know about Sherlock is his stories are like a hundred years old, “Elementary, my dear Watson!”, and maybe they’d know Dr. Moriarty. “Professor” Moriarty, and I think you’re wildly underestimating the popularity of the character. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/71 "2014-09-02T03:32:29Z")
Bugs Bunny! ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/72 "2014-09-02T05:31:02Z")
Snoopy. ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/73 "2014-09-02T06:01:47Z")
Super Mario. ---
**Author:** ![Zyanthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Zyanthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyanthia)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/74 "2014-09-02T11:45:44Z")
Pikachu ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/75 "2014-09-02T17:34:42Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Who put this list together?!? Not only are there a number of names I don’t even recognize, there are some I _do_ know whose presence baffles me! :dubious: 😕 The list is enormously skewed toward scifi/fantasy characters. (No Dickens??) ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/76 "2014-09-02T18:20:48Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > The list is enormously skewed toward scifi/fantasy characters. (No Dickens??) Yeah, seriously. C’mon–Buffy Summers ahead of Sherlock Holmes and The Doctor? (I know The Doctor is fantasy, but the point still stands.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211/77 "2014-09-02T21:19:19Z")
Gilligan The Skipper Thurston Howell III Eunice “Lovey” Howell Ginger Grant The Professor and Mary Ann [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-fictional-character-more-popular-than-sherlock-holmes/696211.md?page=3)