Why is Wednesday Addams of the Netflix series Wednesday, called so?  

You must have watched the popular horror comedy Netflix series Wednesday (2022). It is based on a comic series around a fictional family named The Addams Family, created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. The comics, which started getting published in The New Yorker from 1938, have witnessed many TV and film adaptations so far.  However, the recent most adaptation on Netflix became a huge hit by reaching 1.02 billion hours of viewing within 21 days.  

The protagonist of Wednesday is Wednesday Addams of The Addams Family, played by famous American actress Jenna Ortega. This young girl is a little different from other kids. She likes creepy and spooky things. She always wears a black dress and may look a little bit scary. But she is a kind person and fiercely loyal to her family. Her family is just as eccentric as she is, and they go on fascinating adventures together. There is an interesting story behind its conception and how the characters got their iconic names! Let us find out how Charles Addams gave birth to Wednesday Addams and her journey through the ages. 

Charles Addams and the creation of The Addams Family   
Charles Addams is widely regarded as the father of macabre humour, a type of humour based on death and sinister events. Charles Addams began working as a freelance cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine in 1935 and remained there for the next 53 years. His macabre humour was a hit with people of all ages, and the sale of his magazine skyrocketed. His cartoon of a downhill skier, in particular, impressed the magazine so much that they offered him a full-time job. As a full-time artist, Charles Addams began to work on his next project, The Addams Family, in 1938. Interestingly, the inspiration behind one of the first characters of The Addams Family, Morticia Addams, Wednesday's mother, was Charles’ wife.  

The naming of Wednesday Addams 
Wednesday Addams' name is inspired by the poem Monday's Child. The poem's author is unknown but is believed to have been one of Charles Addams's favourites. One line in the poem goes like this: “Wednesday's child is full of woe”, which perfectly mirrors Wednesday's morbid character. Hence, Charles Addams named his heroine Wednesday. His macabre sense of humour doesn't end here. The name Morticia Addams was taken from the word mortician, which refers to a person whose job is to prepare dead people to be buried! However, the characters in the comic strip of The Addams Family published in the New Yorker did not have names. When the television series The Addams Family began in 1964, each character received names and distinct personalities. Since then, Wednesday has gone on to star in many movies, television series and even in a musical.  

Many adaptions of Wednesday 
The Addams Family as a TV series, captured the hearts of millions when it first appeared in 1964. The show ran until 1966 and focussed on the family's sinister and goofy antics. Wednesday and her family even appeared in an episode of The New Scooby Doo Movies TV series in the 70s. In the 1990s, two film adaptations were made of The Addams Family which received nominations for various prestigious awards including Academy Awards and the Hugo Awards among others. Animations were also made in 1992, 2019 and 2021. You'll be surprised to learn that Wednesday has a musical adaptation too! Could you picture Wednesday singing, dancing and smiling? She did so in the 2011 Broadway musical! There, she was a love-struck teen struggling to introduce her boyfriend to her family. That sounds very unlike her, doesn't it? However, the show was a huge success, running up to 500 performances! The most recent addition to the Addams family universe is the raging Netflix show Wednesday. This series has revived her signature pigtails, white-collared black dress and dance moves! The buzz surrounding Wednesday Addams doesn't appear to be dying anytime soon.