No, the iconic goth princess wasn't born on a Wednesday. Here's the surprising real story!
Here’s How Wednesday from “The Addams Family” Got Her Name
Published on Jul. 30, 2025
So, you binged Wednesday in one sitting in 2022. You’ve tried to dance, dance, dance with your hands above your head just like your favorite raven-haired teen icon. You may or may not have dabbled in Gothcore style. (Tip: Next time, pair the black leather jacket with a drop-waist dress.) And you certainly know that the breakout Gen Z riff on The Addams Family—starring Jenna Ortega as the titular heroine—has a penchant for all things darkness and death. But what about Wednesday’s birth? Specifically: How did Wednesday Addams get her name?
With the first four episodes of Wednesday‘s hotly anticipated second season finally slated to drop Aug. 6 on Netflix (and the last four scheduled to premiere Sept. 6), it’s time to delve into some deep lore involving this kooky and spooky family. Let’s snap to it!
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How did Wednesday get her name?
The answer can be found in Wednesday‘s very first episode … and episode title. Wednesday’s creepy yet elegant mother, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), explains that the fortune-telling rhyme “Monday’s Child“—which reportedly dates back to the 16th century and was first recorded in A.E. Bray’s Traditions of Devonshire in 1838—served as the source of inspiration for her only daughter’s name. Fittingly, the particular line that stirred Morticia’s interest is the totally foreboding “Wednesday’s child is full of woe.”
What is the full poem?
Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go,
Friday’s child loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath day
Is fair and wise and good in every way
What is Wednesday’s middle name?
TGIF! In that same Wednesday episode, Nevermore Academy Principal Weems (Gwendoline Christie) comments on her student’s moniker and presumes that she was born on a Wednesday. The teen replies that she was born on Friday the 13th. As it turns out, Friday is indeed Wednesday Addams’s middle name.
Does the last name Addams have any significance?
Big yes. The entire franchise—which also includes two popular ’90s movies, the classic 1964–66 ABC sitcom The Addams Family and a 2010–11 Broadway musical—dates back to a series of darkly humorous cartoons about a macabre-obsessed family first published in The New Yorker in 1938. Its creator? New Jersey native Charles Addams. These popular illustrations were featured in the magazine until his death in 1988 at age 74.
Was Wednesday’s name part of the original Addams Family canon?
Not the original. In fact, Addams’s comics in The New Yorker did not include any proper first names. But when The Addams Family was adapted into a TV series, each family member was assigned one. According to a letter from actress and poet Joan Blake published in a 2018 issue of The New Yorker, she was the one who told her friend Charles that the daughter looked like she embodied the famous nursery rhyme line. (“He had no name for the little girl. I said, ‘Wednesday—Wednesday’s child is full of woe.’ And Wednesday became her name.”) Addams himself went on to use this same explanation.
However, the origin of the moniker was not directly addressed in the OG TV show or the subsequent films, which featured a young Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams. (Ricci, of course, played dorm mother Marilyn Thornhill in Season 1 of Wednesday.) Only Wednesday enabled fans to officially solve the name game.
Do any of the other characters’ names have a larger meaning?
No surprise here: Many of the names of the Addams family characters share traits of darkness. In a good way!
- Morticia: Her name is derived from the Latin word mors, which means death. Obviously.
- Gomez: Addams suggested either Repelli (because of “repellant”) or Gomez for the TV series. Actor John Astin was the one who selected Gomez.
- Pugsley: For Wednesday’s teen brother, Addams suggested, ahem, “Pubert.” But ABC network censors found it to be too risqué. Now it’s a version of the word pug, which is an ill-tempered person.
- Uncle Fester: The name means “to rot or decay,” per Merriam-Webster. This fits the bald character’s incorrigible personality.
- Cousin ITT: This seems self-explanatory, but the anonymous and hirsute family member—invented by Addams for the 1960s TV series—takes its name from the ever-indistinguishable it.
- Lurch: The family butler’s towering height and unsteady movements tie his moniker to the French word lourche. It evokes awkwardness and lumbering movements.
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Sources:
- New York Times: “Charles Addams Dead at 76; Found Humor in the Macabre”
- The New Yorker: “Addams Family Values”
- Smithsonian Magazine: “The Culture History of The Addams Family”
