Seinfeld: Before Kramer's first name was made known

Cafe Society
1

Disclaimer: I only started watching Seinfeld only after it went into syndication.

I recently saw the episode (again) when George found out Kramers first name from Babs.

Upon seeing Jerry and Elaine, they each make a big deal about the first name, its uniqueness and the fact that they never knew it before.

I think I have seen most every episode of Seinfeld, (if not all of them) and I don’t remember any prior episode when Jerry, George and Elaine were dwelling on the fact that they don’t know Kramer’s first name. In fact, I don’t ever remember it being mentioned excpe
Did the trio ever ask Kramer what his first name or was it just a ratings ploy from TPTB. IMDB indicates the episode was aired in January so it was not during a Sweeps month. Season 6, Episode 11

2

I don’t even think it was made clear that Kramer was his last name rather than his first apart from the occasional “Mr. Kramer”, which I guess does make it obvious for those paying attention but it was never a plot point or a topic of conversation.

3

The only time I can recall it coming up was in episode where Elaine made up a story to her psychiatrist boyfriend about sleeping with someone else and said that his name was Kramer. The boyfriend then asked if that was his first name or last name, but she just brushed the question aside.

4

I believe that Babs is Kramer’s mother’s name not his name.

5

It was never a big deal among the characters before that episode, if it was mentioned at all, but it was hyped as a big event.

6

As far as I remember, until the “Cosmo” episode Kramer had never introduced himself using anything beyond his surname… not an initial, not an honorific; except for (and only if this was before that episode – i forget) H.E. Pennypacker and/or {mumblemumble} Nordstrom as pseudonyms.
I can personally relate to this situation, as I once spent nearly 3 years believing I was dealing with my supervisor on a first-name basis, only to learn on his leaving that Jackson was in fact his surname.

7

Morty Seinfeld would always address him as “Mr. Kramer.” This started in the first season when a different actor was playing Jerry’s dad.

8

When I first noticed that, I thought it was a Mr. Spock type thing. Some people just like to put Mr. in front of names.

Then again, I grew up where someone could be Miss Jane instead of Ms. Doe.

9

I’m sure you all know that in the pilot episode, he’s called “Kessler”, not Kramer? I don’t think they ever referred to that again…

10

I believe they had a joke about that in the backwards episode, where Jerry is moving in and says his nameplate in the lobby reads “Kessler.”

11

That was because of the potential lawsuit from the real Kramer, who did not agree to let his name be used by Larry David, his real-life acquaintance. The creators decided to just say ‘screw it’ and go with Kramer for the series.