The studio rejected this original name Charles Addams suggested for Pugsley

Before the show premiered, some members of the Addams family accidentally called Pugsley by yet another name.

For the character of Pugsley on The Addams Family, the child actor Ken Weatherwax had to play him with absolutely no guile. He was the kind of kid who pushed buttons just to see what happened.

But let's rewind. When The Addams Family TV show was making its debut, there was no name set in stone for the Addams son. They knew the type of unnamed boy depicted in Charles Addams' cartoons, they just didn't know what to call him yet. Remember — none of the characters had names in the single-panel comics.

According to The San Bernardino Sun in 1991, the studio asked Addams for name suggestions for the boy. The first name he wanted for Pugsley was rejected outright.

What name was deemed too offensive for Sixties audiences, you might wonder?

Charles wanted to call the Addams boy "Pubert," a play on the word "puberty."

Likely because puberty is a time associated with sexual maturation, our guess is "Pubert" was considered too adult for a family show.

According to Addams, after Pubert was rejected, the studio went with Pugsley and that was that.

However, in a 1964 story featured in The Record, there's a picture of Ken Weatherwax with a caption that claims a completely different name for the character: Pudgely.

The RecordWeatherwax billed as Pudgely in a 1964 edition of The Record.

In the interview, Weatherwax's TV mom Carolyn Jones is even quoted saying, "In one storyline, Pudgely, our little boy, is always being beaten up by a bigger child after school. To avoid these battles, Pudgely considers exchanging his favorite pet, his octopus, with the bully. But will the bully love the octopus as much as Pudgely or will he double his attacks?"

It's unclear whether Jones simply misspoke, or if the journalist misheard, or if this was the second name considered for Pugsley that people rarely hear about.

Whatever the case, the character became iconic as the closely-sounding Pugsley, not Pudgely or Pubert.

For Weatherwax, portraying Pugsley nearly sums up his acting career, as he eventually switched to behind-the-scenes work after the show ended.

While onset, he said his costars ended up teaching him everything he knew about acting, starting with John Astin who played Gomez and was on the receiving end of Pugsley's sometimes violent games. Weatherwax recalled once being asked to do a scene where he beat Astin over the head with a bowling pin.

When the young boy playing Pugsley actually brought the prop pin down on his TV dad's noggin, Astin had to clarify: When acting, you almosthit the other actor, but you never actually do. After that, Weatherwax learned to be more careful, and Pugsley roughed around much less with Gomez.

There were never any hard feelings, though, no matter what mayhem Weatherwax got into as Pugsley. "We were a very tight cast," Weatherwax told The Asbury Park Press in 2006

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12 Comments

Stoney 40 months ago
I graduated high school with someone who was in a garage band called "Evil Pugsley." Let's just say they took their cues from Pearl Jam, Nirvana, etc.
F5Twitster 40 months ago
My hometown of Peekskill, NY, actually has a modest public space downtown called Pugsley Park. The name surely predates the TV show, and is nicely alliterative but, all things considered, it's still an unfortunate name, especially for those of us old enough to have been exposed to "The Addams Family" as children. Peekskill has a far larger, and much nicer park on its periphery, but its name -- Depew Park -- isn't much better. Both parks were probably named for notable citizens or office-holders, but that's, frankly, not good enough.

When one gives anything, especially children, names that they will likely have to live up to or live down, and that need explaining as to the name's origin, or how it's spelled or pronounced, one should always take a deep breath and reconsider and imagine how you'd like to go through life with such a name. Save your creativity for other endeavors.
F5Twitster 40 months ago
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Steve2021 40 months ago
"Puggie" would have sounded better, But I guess the censor's would have shot it down.
dmarkwind 40 months ago
"Pubert" also kinda sounds like "Pervert;" not a great name for a young (or any) character.
TheDavBow3 dmarkwind 40 months ago
Haha definitely agree with you. Plus with that name, the character would need a more curly hair style! 😉😂🤣
dinska 40 months ago
Now I love Pugsley, when I know he has a pet octopus.
Marvnel 40 months ago
Pubert was used for the new baby in Addams Family Values.
Mirramanee Marvnel 40 months ago
I thought about that when I read the story and wonder if the writers knew about it and used that name intentionally. It's not like it's a commonplace kind of name, after all...
Coldnorth 40 months ago
My brother in law used to call me cousin itt cuz I had pretty long hair
Sway 40 months ago
Ya, Pugsley was the better choice and it rolls off the tongue more easily.
cperrynaples 40 months ago
Today, Pudgely would be considered fat-shaming and would never be considered! RIP Ken Weatherwax!
TheSentinel cperrynaples 39 months ago
Or imagine if, instead of using Pugsley as his name, they modified it to "Pigsley"? Sure bet that wouldn't have flown either.
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