I don’t know which country gets the credit but the gods of Norse mythology deserve a mention. Thor, Odin etc. The Marvel films have given them fresh relevance and it doesn’t hurt to have the days of week named after them.
For South Africa, I would have said Jock of the Bushveld but he isn’t really fictional.
Probably Liewe Heksie or Tannie Evita, then.
Not Dame Edna?
I’d like to add Snugglepot and Cuddlepie for Australia. The books were a big part of my childhood though I am not sure if they are known much today. They are adorable though.
I suppose a recent option for Ireland would be Leopold Bloom. But romantics might go for Finn McCool.
The standard cartoon character for a representative German - in Germany - is or used to be the “Deutscher Michel”
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The thought occurs that there’s a lot of tourist promotion (or response to demand) around localities associated with literary characters, at least in the UK: “Herriot country” in North Yorkshire, Poldark in Cornwall, Lorna Doone on Exmoor, and the like. I guess the same happens elsewhere (I believe the village featured in Jacques Tati’s Jour de Fête has celebrations of the movie with people dressing up in character)
We have one of those, we’ll it’s a book with three stories in it. As the reader, I’m not a fan, but my oldest daughter loved it for a while.
If we’re talking about national personifications, then my country’s symbol is the guy right here, in the upper left corner of my post. He goes by Srulik.