Fictional Characters from Traditional Tales

This list is comprised of characters from folklore, fairy tales and nursery rhymes. This list emphasizes oral tradition, as opposed to famous characters from books. There is potential overlap with the various lists of mythological characters, since the difference between folklore and mythology is somewhat subtle. In general, folklore takes place on a smaller scale than the grand stories of mythology.
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NameTraditionOther Names
AladdinMiddle Eastern
Ali BabaMiddle Eastern
King ArthurBritish
BeowulfEnglish
CinderellaEuropean
Santa ClausEuropean(Nicholas, Nick, Nikolaos, Sinterklaas)
FaustGerman
GoldilocksEnglish
GretelGerman
GuinevereBritish
HanselGerman
JackEnglish
JackEnglish
Jack FrostEnglish
Little Jack HornerEnglish
Jack SpratEnglish
Frère JacquesFrench
JillEnglish(Gill)
Little JohnEnglish
John HenryAfrican-American
Don JuanSpanish(Giovanni)
Maid MarianEnglish
MerlinBritish
Paul BunyanAmerican
Peter PiperEnglish
Zwarte PietDutch(Peter)
PuckEnglish(Robin)
RapunzelGerman
Robin HoodEnglish
RolandFrench
ScheherazadeMiddle Eastern(Shahrazad)
SinbadMiddle Eastern
Till EulenspiegelGerman
Pan TwardowskiPolish
Will ScarletEnglish