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Since Sesame Street premiered in 1969, millions of fans have grown close to characters like "Ernie," "Bert," "Oscar," "Big Bird," and "Cookie Monster," but it turns out you might not know one of them as well as you think. While most of the characters go by their real names, including "Big Bird," "Cookie Monster" is not the treat-loving blue muppet's actual name. The furry fiend of baked goods tweeted out to his 606,000 followers what his name really is, and in doing so, surprised generations of viewers.
"Cookie" wrote, "Did you know me name is Sid? But me still like to be called Cookie Monster."
Overall, fans seemed to approve, with 39,000 liking the post. Comments included, "I never knew," and, "I did not know this. Sid is a cool name." One person wrote, "I've known you for 45 years and am just learning this today. This is amazing!"
Others were in a disbelief that bordered on denial, saying, "NO WAY!!! I wanna see proof. Show us your birth certificate," and, "I am sorry--I grew up with Cookie Monster. There will be no name changes. Nomming cookies isn't the same with Sid."
One person was apologetic, confessing, "I had no idea your name is Sid. Apologies for most of us not trying to know you better past your cookie eating hobby."
However, the tweet with his true name is not very eye-opening to those who truly know and follow "Cookie Monster." In the 2004 song "The First Time Me Eat Cookie," he sings, "Me was just a mild-mannered little kid. In fact, back then, me think me name was Sid."
Cookie also used the Sesame Street account to tweet in 2010, "Me wasn't born with name 'Cookie Monster.' It just nickname dat stuck. Me don't remember me real name... maybe it was Sidney."
The good news is, we've had his last name correct all these years. In an interview with WIRED, "Cookie" said, "Me real name Sid Monster."
You can stay up to date with other musings from "Sid"/"Cookie Monster" like, "Me need a costume to go trick-or-treating?! Me already a monster," by following his Twitter account.