MovieChat Forums > Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Discussion > Was Indy's given name always written as ...

Was Indy's given name always written as Henry Jones Jr? In Raiders and Temple,was it said that Indiana is a nickname?

posted 3 years ago by JackalopeCash57 (92)
4 replies | jump to latest

This is one aspect of the series that has always been unclear to me - in both Raiders and Temple, he is always referred to/introduced as being Indiana Jones and/or Dr. Jones (at least from what I remember).

Yet the first time I clearly recall Indy being referred to by his given name was at the end of Last Crusade when his father points out that he refers to Indy as Junior because he is his namesake.

Thoughts on this?

[–] strntz (11291) 3 years ago

Odd. I always thought he was Dr. Henry Jones in all three, but now you've got me wondering. How did Brody introduce Indiana to the federales when they were looking for Abner Ravenwood?

[–] JackalopeCash57 (92) 3 years ago

Re-watched that scene after seeing your response: the feds simply refer to him as "Dr. Jones."

When Indy and Marcus chat in the previous scene, Marcus calls him "Indiana" when he is venting about Belloq taking the golden idol from him. It leads me to wonder if Indy legally changed his name from "Henry" to "Indiana" and then re-changed it after he reconnected with Henry Sr?

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 3 years ago

His name wasn’t revealed to be Henry until last crapade. But it was always obvious Indiana was a nickname

[–] Karl Aksel (1471) 2 years ago

His name was "Indiana" all the way until Last Crusade, where they decided that this name actually came from Henry Sr.'s dog.

His original name was "Indiana Smith", but Lucas later changed the surname to Jones. Lucas had already decided on "Indiana", though - after his dog.