Littlefoot's real name

[Petrie]

Tyrannosaur22:

If you will recall, Bron (in LBT10) says that he was called Littlefoot when he was little too. "Called"? Well, wouldn't that mean that "Littlefoot" isn't really Littlefoot's name, but more of a nickname? Because it would be odd for a fully grown Apatosaur called Littlefoot.

Any thoughts on this idea?

[Petrie]

I think that Ty had a point here with this topic.  Might Littlefoot have gotten a new name when he got older (as Bron did since he obviously no longer little feet :)

Since we hardly hear in LBT 10, Pat's name, might Littlefoot be a future Pat himself?

[Littlefoot1616]

I always thought that when Bron said he as called Littlefoot when he was young...perhaps this was just a nickname for him. As the real Littlefoot came about, they just used Bron's nickname as Littlefoot's name. That's the way I've always seen it...

[Malte279]

Maybe dinosaurs go through several names during their lifetime (same as it was and is the case in some indian tribes). It may be that cute names such as Littlefoot or Ducky are replaced by more grownup names later on, while some grownup names may not exactly fit to a cute hatchling. Maybe dinosaurs don't care as much about names as we do (which is why Littlefoot's grandparents are just "grandpa", "(Mr.) longneck", "the old longneck" etc.).

[Nick22]

Littefoot very well might rename himself as he gets older, perhaps Littlefoot is merely a nickname in his family.
Nick

[Threehorn]

Maybe the procducers never thought about the names for the parents. THinking Mr Threehorn, Grandpa, Swimmer or Flyer.
Each LBT do foucs on the gang mostly so maybe that why they have names and most of the adults don't.

-Threehorn

[Malte279]

Strangely Cera's dad was frequently refered to as "Daddy Tops" in the closing credits, while the name was never uttered in the movies. Apparently he is called "Topsy" in LBT 11 which makes it likely that "Tops" is his actual name. In general however, you are certainly right that they simply didn't bother to think of names for the comperatively unimportant grownup characters who could easily be circumscribed.

[Petrie]

Well, the producers also didn't make this film and expect it to turn into a sequel franchise where the characters would need names.  For this one film, it worked out fine if you had a name or not.

[JojotheIncredible]

I think it is a family tradition.

[Malte279]

Hi!
For all I read the original idea was to name Littlefoot Thunderfoot (with Brontosaurus meaning Thunderfoot lizard). However, the name apparently was considered too intimidating and not exactly cute, so they decided for the Littlefoot variant.
The movie itselfs doesn't tell anything about the origin of the name, yet there is one LBT book printed in Germany which gives a little story about how Littlefoot got his name.
According to that book Littlefoot's grandfather placed his huge foot beside Littlefoot's tiny foot right after Littlefoot hatched and said: "Look how small his feet are! One of my toes is bigger than one of his feet!"
So Littlefoot's mother decided to call her son Littlefoot. I do not know if there was any such idea from the moviemakers, or if it was just an idea of the author of that book. But either way I think it's a nice and plausible story.

[F-14 Ace]

Here is what I think.  I think Littlefoot's mothe named him that in honor of Bron's old nickname.  That is probably what it is.

[Littlefoot Fan]

Maybe they'll just name him after Bron since they had the same nickname   Don't really know  

But who wouldn't want to keep the name Littlefoot? That name rocks in my opinion    

[Dash The Longneck]

I have no idea what they'd call him when he's older. Littlefoot is a real cool name but if he wanted too when he's older everyone can just call him Bigfoot.  I'm sorry I had too get that joke out of my system.

[buba]

I dont want Littlefoot to change name.

[Dash The Longneck]

Don't worry I don't think he will they'll probably have them all as kids for the whole series. I don't think they're gonna have them as adults.

[Malte279]

Don't worry I don't think he will they'll probably have them all as kids for the whole series. I don't think they're gonna have them as adults.

I agree. However, I could imagine that this would make for an interesting element in a land before time story. We've heard Cera mocking Littlefoot with his name in LBT 11. We know that Littlefoot is not exactly fond of being little. Perhaps his intention to chose another name and the other's reaction might make for some interesting elements. In the end he would probably return to his real name.
A cousin of mine decided to change his name when he was about 10 or 11 years old. It caused quite some confusion and I think meanwhile (he is a month older than I am) he is back to his original name.

[Dash The Longneck]

That might be a good idea if only for one movie. He change his name but then by the end he changes his name back too Littlefoot. That could work

[WeirdRaptor]

I think you guys are looking into it too much. In the minds of the original movie's makers, Spielberg, Lucas, Bluth, and the writers, Littlefoot is Littlefoot's real name.

[action9000]

In the minds of the original movie's makers, Spielberg, Lucas, Bluth, and the writers, Littlefoot is Littlefoot's real name.

FOr the sake of the original characters, this is very true.  

I just can't help but picture an adult longneck named Littlefoot, and snicker a bit

An interesting point though, is most other children in the series have reasonable adult names.

Here's a list of young characters' names that seem most acceptable as adult names in my mind:

Cera - Nothing wrong with this as an adult name
Petrie - Sounds reasonable enough
Spike - why not?
Mo (I presume he isn't a grownup) - Fine name for an adult
Dana / Dinah - Reasonable names
Ali - Very reasonable
Hyp - Alright, not so bad
Nod - Possible
Mutt - Again, possible.  This name wouldn't have the same connotations to dogs as it does nowadays.

A list of young characters' names that appear to possibly be unsuitable for an adult creature:

Tippy - hmmm...debateable
Ducky - Ok, a little cute but I can see it possibly existing at the time
Chomper - A little cutesy, but remember, the Gang named him when they were little kids.
Shorty - Ok, this may or may not, depending on how you view the name
Littlefoot - An adult apatosaurus named Littlefoot?  I don't know... Interesting idea, but I just can't visualize this to be especially logical.
Skitter - Possible I suppose, but doesn't seem especially suitable in my opinion.

Some creatures seem to have names that fit them well into adulthood, yet some of them don't.  There doesn't appear to be a trend for some species of dinosaur to use certain naming systems (Littlefoot, Shorty and Ali are all of the similar basic species).  I wonder, why are some children named with full, Adult names, and some are named with more "childish nicknames" for lack of a better description?

My theory?  It's simply based on the family's choice.  Both methods are common, and no one thinks anything of it (except Cera when she teases Littlefoot in LBT 11, but this is an odd situation).  Some families choose to give their children their full, adult name when they are born, and others may prefer to give the child a temporary nickname until either
1) The family gives them their adult name after a certain age
or
2) The child reaches an age where he or she may choose his own adult name.

[Malte279]

I think you guys are looking into it too much. In the minds of the original movie's makers, Spielberg, Lucas, Bluth, and the writers, Littlefoot is Littlefoot's real name.

We certainly do and no doubt about it
I'm sure nobody involved in the creation of the original movies ever thought of Littlefoot as anything but the final name of that longneck whom they planned to call thunderfoot at first. However, there are many things that were changed by the sequels. In some cases the stuff the sequels present requires some "patching up" to make it fit to the original. As the producers of the sequels don't seem to care too much about making the sequels in absolute accordance with the original movie it is up to us to do that patching up business. There is no real point in this other than the fun we have debating these matters which the movie makers apparently didn't spend an awful lot of thought on. So let that fun be our point  
And who knows, maybe some of the makers of the movies are reading our discussions, possibly laughing about how much fuss we make about it. Yet if indeed they read this (if I had ever made a movie I would certainly check out the internet for some feedback) they may perhaps do more than laugh but take some things we write into account when making the next movie. Things which may be more serious than the matter of Littlefoot's name.

There doesn't appear to be a trend for some species of dinosaur to use certain naming systems

But don't forget that the majority of LBT characters is named with some reference to their kind. Littlefoot is an exception in this case and the first version of his name, "thunderfoot" would have been a reference (translation) to the obsolete species name "Brontosaurus". Here are the names which have some kind of reference to the species.
Cera - TriCERAtops
Ducky - While her exact species is still a matter of debate she definitely belongs to the family of the Hadroids, the DUCKbilled dinosaurs.
Petries - most likely supposed to (very vaguely) resemble Pterodactylus.
Spike - SPIKEtail. No refrerence to the scientific name, but obviously to the species.
Pterano - Certainly refers to Pteranodon (which caused the speculations about Petrie's species as unlike him Pterano looks like a Pteranodon).
Hyp - Probably a reference to Hypsilophodon
Nod - Probably a reference to Nodosaurus
Mutt - Probably a reference to Muttaburrasaurus
Mo - Might well refer to OpthalMOsaurus
Mr. Thicknose - is a Pachyrhinosaurus, which means "thick-nosed lizard"

There are more examples (concerning Rinkus, Sierra, Elzy, Sue etc.), but they are a bit more far fetched though not too far to be just discarded as coincidences.