# Jiminy Cricket...Jiminy Glick...Does the personal name Jiminy actually exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 2, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jiminy-cricket-jiminy-glick-does-the-personal-name-jiminy-actually-exist/70963 "2001-07-02T15:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jiminy-cricket-jiminy-glick-does-the-personal-name-jiminy-actually-exist/70963/1 "2001-07-02T15:06:37Z")
For that matter, I’ve always wondered where the name _Jiminy Cricket_ came from. I always thought that _Jiminy_ would be just awful, as a name to go through life with. Does anyone know anything more about this name? I did check a couple of name databases but came up empty. ---
**Author:** ![labradorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@labradorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labradorian)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jiminy-cricket-jiminy-glick-does-the-personal-name-jiminy-actually-exist/70963/2 "2001-07-02T16:31:36Z")
Jiminy is an anglicization of Gemini, which is itself probably a corruption of the Latin “Jesu Domine” (Lord Jesus); all of which is a way of swearing on J\_s\_s Chr\_st without actually swearing on H\_m. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jiminy-cricket-jiminy-glick-does-the-personal-name-jiminy-actually-exist/70963/3 "2001-07-02T16:39:59Z")
_ **J** iminy **C** ricket_, like [Judas Priest](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_150.html), is a euphemism for _ **J** esus_\* C\*\*hrist\*. The Disney character was named after the euphemism, and I’m sure Martin Short took the name because it sounded funnier to him than “Jimmy Glick”. I don’t think “Jiminy” is used as a name in any other context. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jiminy-cricket-jiminy-glick-does-the-personal-name-jiminy-actually-exist/70963/4 "2001-07-03T13:24:49Z")
Well, there was Jumpin’ Jiminy… … the famous kangeroo that was a Jesus look-alike. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jiminy-cricket-jiminy-glick-does-the-personal-name-jiminy-actually-exist/70963/5 "2001-07-03T14:17:13Z")
From [The Wordwizard Clubhouse: Pronunciation of criminy](http://www.wordwizard.com/clubhouse/founddiscuss.asp?Num=1293) > [@](#): > > A similar euphemism is jiminy, as in Jiminy Criminy or Jiminy Cricket (which did not originate with Walt Disney), also meaning ‘Jesus Christ’. Scholars speculate that jiminy, which has been spelled gemony, geeminy, jimini and gemini, derived through Low German from gemini, which was a corruption of the Latin Jesu Domine ‘Jesus Lord’. This also goes back to the 17th century. Dryden in 1672 wrote “O Gemini! is it you, sir?” Byron played with the words in 1816: “Crimini, jimini! Did you ever hear such a nimminy pimminy Story as Leigh Hunt’s Rimini?” And we find the following in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876): “‘Oh, geeminy, it’s him,’ exclaimed both boys in a breath.” Also our friendly poster Ukulele Ike should have some good information on the subject (can you guess why?) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jiminy-cricket-jiminy-glick-does-the-personal-name-jiminy-actually-exist/70963/6 "2001-07-03T21:58:22Z")
He’s a famous singing cricket? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2001, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jiminy-cricket-jiminy-glick-does-the-personal-name-jiminy-actually-exist/70963/7 "2001-07-03T23:09:55Z")
So “Gemini” in this sense is completely independent of “gemini” meaning “twins”?