It’s Mickey Mouse’s Bday Week! Meet The Idaho Woman Who Named Him

Monday officially kicked off Mickey Mouse's birthday week throughout the world.

Mickey Mouse is, without a doubt, the most recognizable animated character on the planet. The brainchild of Walt Disney, Mickey has been bringing joy to families for nearly a century.

The famous mouse didn't always go by the name 'Mickey,' and a woman who grew up in northwestern Idaho is credited with naming the adorable, iconic rodent.

'Mickey Mouse' Got His Name From An Idaho Stenographer Who Married Walt Disney In 1925

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Prior to his death on December 15, 1966, Walt Disney had a lot of help creating some of his team's most iconic characters in the thirties, forties, and fifties. Mickey Mouse was a character that was modeled after early sketches of Steamboat Willie, which debuted on November 18, 1928. Walt originally picked out the name 'Mortimer Mouse,' according to Walt Disney Archives.

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The website waltdisney.org, credits Lewiston, Idaho, native Lillian Bounds with offering up the name that would later stick after seeing early sketches made by Walt. The two married at her brother's property 32 miles south of Moscow in 1925. Lillian ('Lily') left Idaho in 1923 and moved to Los Angeles, where she was working as a stenographer when introduced to Walt by a friend.

Lillian passed away 31 years after Walt, in 1997. Her Idaho property is still visited by Disney fans regularly.

Who would have thought that a girl from a small, Idaho town, could have made such an impact on pop culture.

I had the chance to visit the final resting place of both Lillian and Walt in 2023 just outside of Los Angeles.