Guinea pig characters – And the most popular name is….

I collect English-language guinea pig fiction and one element of the listing is a compilation of the names of the guinea pig(s) from the stories. 

Gertie and Molly are the most popular names at the moment. They appear each in 5 different stories, by five different writers. 

Gertie appears in - My very own guinea pig (2006), Dirty Gertie (2009), Gertie and Gus the guinea pigs (1997), Gertie: a guinea pig's tail (2009), and, Gertie saves the day (2010).

Molly appears in the books - The Jenius (2004), The Three little pigs (1997), Billie B Brown: The cutest pet ever (2012), The guinea pigs Twiggy and Molly : little runaways (2012), Super Pig 2 (2011). 

There are lots of sweet and funny names in books. Names like Josie Gigglepip, Honey Rose, Dandelion, Flash, Eduardo Julio Antonio del Monte, Sasspants, Zeus and Fluffy.

Sometimes, when translated into another language, the characters have had their names changed. 

For example,

Michael Bond's, Olga da Polga = Charlotte Parlotte (French)

Heather Eyle's, Herbert saves the day = Hubert gewinnt einen Preis (German)

Kate McMullan's, Fluffy, the snow pig = Bonhomme Caramel  (French)

Rosemary Well's, Felix gets better = Anton geht's besser (German)

Then, there is Anne Liersch's story, about a girl and a guinea pig, originally written in German, Nele & Wuschel : eine Geschichte, in English they became, Nell & Fluffy, in Slovenian, Neli & Ščetinko, in Dutch, Julia & Happy, and in Italian, Sara & Briciola. (With thanks to WorldCat.org)

My favourite guinea pig name? Maybe it's Christopher Nibbles. He's Charlotte Middleton's character from a series that began with Christopher Nibble in a tale of dandelion derring-do!, followed by Christopher's bicycle! : a tale of cycling and recycling, and, Christopher's caterpillars : a tale of minibeasts and mystery! They were published by Oxford University Press in England and by Marshall Cavendish Books in the United States. 

I'm not sure if they're still in print. Check if you can find these and other guinea pig story books at your local library, or bookstore. I often check to see what's new using websites like Amazon and if books are out of print I look for them on websites like Abebooks.

Enjoy!

Early appearances of Guinea pigs in nineteenth century fiction

Konrad Gesner included the guinea pig in his 1550s compilation, Historiae animalium.

There's a nice description of the multi-volume publication by Cambridge University Library, Rare Books, http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/rarebooks/gesner.html, with references for further reading.

So the question is, when did the guinea pig first make appearances in books, fact or fiction, for children?

It's fascinating tracing the appearances of guinea pigs in nineteenth century story books in the United Kingdom and the United States.

I've collected a couple of miniature, instructive books, about beasts (1844) and pets (late 1860s), which include a page or so on the guinea pig with an accompanying picture.

Thomas Nelson published in Edinburgh, 1844, Stories of Natural History : Beasts, and included on pages 107-111, The Guinea pig. (Note: Page 10 is blank)

In the mid to late 1860s, Leavitt & Allen, New York published The Boy and his pony, and Other Stories, and included on page 4, The Guinea pig.

The earliest fiction story (c.1840s) I know about to-date, which features a guinea pig, is Chapter IV, The Guinea-pig, from:

Mamma's stories | about | the old dolls ; distinctions ; | the half-crown ; guinea-pig ; mother's return ; | new doll ; cautions ; transgression and penitence ; | nursing ; the visit ; children's wishes ; |conclusion. | Embellished with plates. | London : | T.H. Munday. | 9, Fore Street, Cripplegate. Printed by J. May, Cannon Street, Dover.

 A contemporary inscription on the front free endpaper includes a date for 1843.