Character naming in Sanrio's ecosystem is more complex than it appears on the surface.
The Hello Kitty franchise spans decades, dozens of characters, and multiple regional variations that often cause confusion. When you're trying to build a database, create fan content, or license merchandise, you need accurate names in the correct romanization. The original Japanese names use different spelling conventions than the English localized versions, and Sanrio has released retcons over the years that complicate things further. Here is what you actually need to know about getting these names right, based on years of dealing with inconsistent source material. Hello Kitty herself is the anchor point. Her full name is Hello Kitty, but in Japan she is officially Kitty White (), born May 1, 1974, in London. She lives with her mother, father, and twin sister Mimmy. This is basic, but you would be surprised how many people list her birth year incorrectly because they confuse her with other Sanrio characters who share the same birthday convention.
Mimmy is Kitty's twin sister. She wears a yellow bow on her left ear (Kitty's bow is on the right). Born at the same time as Kitty, May 1, 1974. She is often overlooked in merchandise licensing because brands prefer the main character, but she is canonically equally important to the family structure. Dear Daniel () is Kitty's boyfriend. He appears in a limited number of storylines and media. His name comes from the French word for "dear" combined with "Daniel." He was introduced much later than the core characters, which is why older reference materials will not include him. Pompompurin is a golden retriever puppy named after his fondness for pudding. His full designation is just Pompompurin. The character's story involves him getting lost and being found by a hot dog vendor, which explains the brown beret that matches a hot dog bun. Born September 16, 1988.
My Melody () is a white rabbit who wears a red or pink hood. She was born on November 18, 1975. Her real name within the universe is simply My Melody. She lives in the forest of Mariland and has a rival named Chappy, who is a blue rabbit. Kuromi is My Melody's antagonist-turned-antihero. She is a black rabbit who wears a pink skull-themed domino mask. Despite her edgy appearance, her real name is Kuromi and she was created for the Onegai My Melody anime series in 2005. She is now one of Sanrio's highest-grossing characters, which surprises people who think of her as a minor villain. Cinnamoroll () is a white puppy with long ears that function as wings. He works at a café called Café Cinnamon. Born in June, his exact date is not publicly specified in most materials. His design is intentionally based on a cappuccino foam swirl, hence the name.
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Tuxedosam is a tuxedo cat who appears alongside Cinnamoroll. His name references his black-and-white coloring that resembles formal wear. He is a supporting character with limited standalone media appearances. Bad Badtz-maru () is a penguin with a mischievous personality. Born December 8, 1995. His name combines "bad bad" with "maru," a Japanese suffix commonly used for male names. He is the mascot of Sanrio's Ura-Kawaii (, "reverse cute") product line, which targets a slightly older demographic. Pui Pui Molch is a relatively new character, a baby chicken riding a miniature train. The character exploded in popularity around 2022 through short animated clips on social media. His name comes from the sounds of a train ("pui pui") and the word for chick in some dialects ("molch").
Aggretsuko () is an office worker red panda who vents her frustration through death metal karaoke. Created in 2016 for the Sanrio 80th anniversary, she is one of the few characters designed explicitly for adult audiences. Her name reflects her dual nature: Aggretsuko combines "aggressive" with "tsuko," a common female name suffix. When building any reference document, you should cross-check names against the official Sanrio website for each region, because the US and UK branches sometimes use different romanizations. I spent two weeks compiling a character database and discovered that the English Wikipedia article for Hello Kitty listed Goffa as a main character when he is actually a minor Sanrio character who exists primarily in Japanese media. The workaround was to use the Japanese Wikipedia as the primary source and translateromanizations myself rather than relying on any single English-language reference. One thing that trips people up is assuming that all Sanrio characters have elaborate backstories. Many of them, especially the older ones from the 1970s and 80s, were designed purely as visual products with minimal narrative context. Characters like Hangyodon or Sanrio Cube characters exist more as design exercises than as stories. Don't try to force consistency where Sanrio themselves have never provided it.
Another common error is misattributing character origins. Chiikawa () is not a Sanrio character. It is created by Nagano and published by Square Enix. It gets lumped into kawaii discussions constantly, but it belongs to a completely different company and creative universe. Similarly, Kerokerokeroppi is Sanrio, but korokoro spinoffs are not always clearly labeled as such in unofficial sources. If you need downloadable character name sheets, Sanrio does not publish official comprehensive lists. The closest thing to an authoritative resource is the Sanrio character database at sanrio.com, but it is incomplete and often region-locked. Third-party wikis are the main source most people use, and they vary wildly in accuracy. I maintain my own spreadsheet with citations from Japanese press releases and Sanrio's official social media channels, which I update whenever new characters are announced. The most practical approach is to pick one canonical source and stick with it consistently throughout your project. Mixing romanization systems from different eras creates a mess that is nearly impossible to clean up later. Japanese names should use the Hepburn romanization system unless you have a specific reason to use a different convention. Date formats should follow ISO 8601. These are boring choices, but they prevent problems down the line.
Character licensing is another area where name accuracy matters legally. If you are creating merchandise or fan art for commercial use, Sanrio's licensing department will check that character names, spellings, and visual designs match their official records exactly. A character listed as "My Melody" versus "Mymelody" versus "" in your paperwork can cause delays. Always use the officially romanized name as it appears on Sanrio's current product lines. The franchise continues to expand. New characters are announced roughly every one to two years, and existing characters occasionally receive reboots or redesigns that change their canonical details. The Hello Kitty 50th anniversary in 2024, for example, prompted Sanrio to revisit and sometimes contradict earlier established facts about character ages and origins. If you are building a long-term resource, plan for regular updates rather than treating any single version as definitive. For quick reference, the core characters you should know are: Hello Kitty, Mimmy, Dear Daniel, Pompompurin, My Melody, Kuromi, Cinnamoroll, Tuxedosam, Bad Badtz-maru, Aggretsuko, and Pui Pui Molch. Everything beyond that list falls into secondary or regional-only territory, and you can usually skip those unless your project specifically requires them.
The biggest limitation of working with Sanrio character data is the lack of a single authoritative English-language source. Japanese materials are primary, but they require translation skills or access to translation tools. English materials are convenient but frequently inaccurate or outdated. There is no perfect solution here, only the option to be diligent about cross-referencing and citing your sources. If your project allows it, join the Sanrio fan communities on Reddit and Discord. Active contributors there maintain shared spreadsheets and Discord servers with character name databases that are often more current than official sources. I have found errors in Sanrio's own web listings that were corrected first by fan communities, not by the company itself. That is the practical reality of working with this IP. The characters are simple on the surface, but the underlying documentation is messy, inconsistent, and constantly changing. Treat it with the same care you would give to any large-scale character database project, and you will avoid most of the headaches that come with it.
