# Superman was Kal-El, his Dad was Jor-El, what was his Mom's name?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 18, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253 "2001-10-18T17:33:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Amazing\_Magic-Gro\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazing_Magic-Gro_Monster)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/1 "2001-10-18T17:33:30Z")
And, yes. I Googled it first…
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### Author:  [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/2 "2001-10-18T17:34:57Z")
[Lara.](http://pc59te.dte.uma.es/cdb/series/dc/alara.htm)
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### Author:  [@Amazing\_Magic-Gro\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazing_Magic-Gro_Monster)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/3 "2001-10-18T17:36:50Z")
What? Not even “Laura-El”!?
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### Author:  [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/4 "2001-10-18T17:38:20Z")
Naw those Kyrptonians were pretty darned progressive. Not only could the wife keep her name she didn’t have to take her parents last name either
🙂
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/5 "2001-10-18T18:02:27Z")
So it’s kinda icky that he’s got the hots for a girl named Lana, innit?
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### Author:  [@Amazing\_Magic-Gro\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazing_Magic-Gro_Monster)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/6 "2001-10-18T18:19:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \*
> **So it’s kinda icky that he’s got the hots for a girl named Lana, innit?**
Lana Lang (wasn’t it?), Lois lane, Lara…
Is this some running joke?
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/7 "2001-10-18T18:20:36Z")
After marriage: Mom-El?
Sorry! 🙂 It was there just **screaming** for me to do it!!!
Quasi
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### Author:  [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/8 "2001-10-18T18:43:23Z")
Well, you couldn’t have googled it very hard, **Amazing Magic-Gro Monster**. I just went there and used the search terms “Jor-El” and “mother” and five of the first ten (out of 914 total) have the name Lara just in the link description.
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### Author:  [@Amazing\_Magic-Gro\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazing_Magic-Gro_Monster)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/9 "2001-10-18T18:55:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Fiver \*
> **Well, you couldn’t have googled it very hard, Amazing Magic-Gro Monster. I just went there and used the search terms “Jor-El” and “mother” and five of the first ten (out of 914 total) have the name Lara just in the link description.**
Must have been my search terms 'cuz all I got was references to Mrs. Kent.
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### Author:  [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/10 "2001-10-18T19:05:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Amazing Magic-Gro Monster \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \*
> > \*\*So it’s kinda icky that he’s got the hots for a girl named Lana, innit? \*\*
>
> Lana Lang (wasn’t it?), Lois lane, Lara…
>
> Is this some running joke?\*\*
Yes,it was a conscious thing, but no, it wasn’t a joke …necessarily.
This from [thesupermanmovie.com](http://thesupermanmovie.com)
> [@](#):
>
> The initials L. L. feature very prominently in Superman’s life. Lana Lang was his boyhood girlfriend, Lois Lane is the love of his life, Lyla Lerrol was a super-hottie Kryptonian that he almost married, and of course, Lex Luthor is his worst enemy. There’s one more, but I’ll save that for a future trivia question!
That other one could be Lori Lemaris, a “mermaid from the lost continent of Atlantis.” Clark met her while a senior at the University of Metropolis and actually proposed (she was in a wheelchair with her “legs” covered.) She appeared in the storyline off and on for several years.
Or Lena Luthor, daughter of Lex Luthor and the Contessa.
Story is available [here](http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/who/luthor-lena.html)
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/11 "2001-10-18T21:16:09Z")
Eth-el?
Oh, man, I really crack myself up…
:dead silence:
Er, right, I’ll just be leaving now.
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### Author:  [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/12 "2001-10-18T21:21:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Amazing Magic-Gro Monster \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \*
> > **So it’s kinda icky that he’s got the hots for a girl named Lana, innit?**
>
> Lana Lang (wasn’t it?), Lois lane, Lara…
>
> Is this some running joke?\*\*
All of that alliteration in naming is just plain stupid! Only an idiot would name their kid that way!
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/13 "2001-10-18T21:31:18Z")
It bears mentioning that Superman’s two creators both had the same initials: JS.
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### Author:  [@BuddhaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuddhaDog)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/14 "2001-10-18T21:31:36Z")
Seriously though can someone explain to me the source of Superman’s powers’? In the movie (I think) it was explained that he could fly and have super strength because of the gravity ratio between Krypton and Earth.
However in the comic books is goes on to explain the he gets his _power_ from our yellow sun.
Which one is it?
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/15 "2001-10-18T21:39:57Z")
The comic books have a variety of explainations, depending on which era you read. I believe Burne did the most drastic revamp, making Supes powers come from the psychic realm, didn’t he?
But I think they later went back to the Yellow Sun thing. Heck, in his first appearances he couldn’t fly, so the gravity thing might have made more sense. But once you add flying that goes out the window.
Now, since Supes died and was resurected, who knows where his powers come from.
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### Author:  [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/16 "2001-10-18T22:01:30Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by watsonwil \*
> **All of that alliteration in naming is just plain stupid! Only an idiot would name their kid that way!**
Heh…my grandparents were both L.L.s themselves, and so was my mom (until she got married), her sister, and one of her brothers. I’m not sure how my uncle Dave escaped being named something like Leonard…
(My initials are LLF. If I ever have kids none of them will have names beginning with L… :D)
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### Author:  [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/17 "2001-10-18T22:11:55Z")
Superman’s mom was named Camilla. Sometimes, Jor-El would tease her by calling her “Cam-El”, but she would get mad and super-kick him in the rear, so the whole “Cam-El” thing stopped pretty fast.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/18 "2001-10-18T23:12:21Z")
Well, there was a Phantom Zone villain called Kru-El. They indicated that he wasn’t a relative. For awhile, the letters columns of the magazines were overrun with people sending in various other “relatives” – the puns aren’t worth repeating.
There was also a member of the Legion of the Superheroes called Mon-El. He first showed up in Smallville with amnesia and Supes thought he was his brother; hence the -El. “Mon” was for “Monday,” the day they met. It turned out that Mon-El was vulnerable to lead, so Supes sent him into the Phantom Zone for a thousand years until Braniac 5 concocted an antidote.
Other trivia – at first, Supes’s father was called Jor-L. Later his uncle was introduced: Zor-El. Zor-El’s daughter, who later became Supergirl, was Kara.
The origins of Superman’s powers has changed from time to time. The original concept was that he was just more highly evolved than humans. He also had different powers – he couldn’t fly, but rather jumped from place to place like a giant grasshopper. There were also stories from that era that gave him telepathy and the ability to change his appearance, but they were quietly dropped.
Later the rationale was it was because of Earth’s lower gravity (for flying, super strength) and due to the rays of Earth’s yellow sun (just about everything else). Byrne changed it so that it was entirely due to the yellow sun, and that Supes stored energy over his childhood like a battery; this is what powers him. (In Byrne’s continuity, there was no younger version of Superman – Superboy, Superbaby – because his powers didn’t become apparant until he reached his teens.)
The LL thing was a big deal in 60s Superman continuity. Various villains and friends would show up with those initials, and sometimes with just a couple of L’s somewhere in their name. Lois Lane came first, then Luthor (he originally had bright red hair and no first name). Eventually Lex was tacked on.
Lana Lang came later, when DC started Superboy. They needed a “Lois Lane”-type character, so created Lana as the Smallville equivalent. Later they began to run with the LL thing (that may have been when Luthor got his first name).
As for Supes’s adopted parents, they were Sarah and Jonathan Kent. Sarah’s maiden name was Clark. In the TV George Reeves show, however, their names were given as Sarah and Eben Kent. Original Superboy continuity portrayed them as old and gray-haired and dead from a tropical disease they caught on an around-the-world trip Superman was taking them on. The comics once decided to make them younger, so concocted a plot that people from the future turned them younger to improve demographics. Byrne made them younger and kept them alive.
Any more questions? 🙂
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### Author:  [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/19 "2001-10-18T23:28:16Z")
Not Sarah. Ma and Pa Kent’s names are Jonathan and **Martha** Kent. In the very early stories Ma was called Mary, but there was never a Sarah.
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### Author:  [@Koffing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koffing)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253/20 "2001-10-18T23:50:37Z")
Kryptonian women used their father’s full name as their last name before marriage, and their husband’s full name after marriage. Superman’s mother’s name was Lara Kal-El, and his cousin’s name was Kara Zor-El.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-was-kal-el-his-dad-was-jor-el-what-was-his-moms-name/88253.md?page=2)