Lesser Hugos

Pixel-art astronaut Hugo, thumbs — One of these will be his favorite. We just don’t know which yet.

The main timeline could only fit so many Hugos. Below: the lesser Hugos — equally vital to the cultural fabric of this Earth, equally welcome at his birthday party. He may, in fact, like one of these more than any of the famous ones. The data will eventually tell.

A) Hugos who are also fictional

1956

Hugo the Abominable Snowman

cartoon

A character from the Looney Tunes / Bugs Bunny universe. Big, lumbering, terrifying. Picks up Bugs and announces:

“And I will hug him, and squeeze him, and call him George.”

A mistake. The character’s name is Hugo. He chose to call his rabbit George. We respect this. (We will not, however, recommend it.)

1962

Sir Hugo Drax

bond

The villain of Moonraker (the novel, then the 1979 Roger Moore film). His plan: nerve-gas the entire population of Earth from a private space station, then repopulate the planet with a master race he selected by hand. Just a Hugo doing some light eugenicist evil-doing in low-earth orbit.

Foiled by James Bond. Of course.

1969

Hugo Strange

comics

Batman villain. A psychiatrist who, through clinical observation alone, deduces that Bruce Wayne is Batman. He doesn’t tell anyone for content reasons. Carries a real DC Comics rap sheet stretching back decades.

Notably one of the few Batman villains with a doctorate.

2004

Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes

lost

Won the lottery using a cursed sequence of numbers (4-8-15-16-23-42), boarded Oceanic Flight 815, ended up on a magical island, and eventually became its protector. Played by Jorge Garcia. Dude.

If your son ever asks you to explain Lost, just point him here. (You will not be able to explain Lost.)

2009

Hugo Stiglitz

film

Inglourious Basterds. A German army deserter who killed thirteen Gestapo officers with his bare hands. Quentin Tarantino loves naming characters Hugo. We support this.

(Also — there was a real Mexican actor named Hugo Stiglitz, after whom the character was named. The recursion has its own recursion.)

2011

Hugo Cabret

film

A 12-year-old who fixes clocks in a Paris train station and harbors a secret robot. Saves the entire silent-film legacy of Georges Méliès. Brian Selznick wrote the book; Scorsese directed the film.

Picked up 5 Academy Awards. A Hugo whose entire job was keeping the past alive.

B) Hugos in the wild (real, lesser-known)

1848

Hugo de Vries

science

Dutch botanist. Independently rediscovered Mendel’s laws of inheritance in 1900. Coined the term mutation. You owe him roughly half of every high-school biology class.

1934

Hugo Egon Balder

A German TV host whose name appears so frequently in late-night German game shows that not knowing this Hugo, in some parts of Bavaria, is considered impolite.

1968

Hugo Speer

actor

British actor. The Full Monty. One of the six guys.

1973

Hugo the Hippo

animation

A 1973 animated film about a hippopotamus exiled from Tanzania, voiced by, somehow, Burl Ives, Robert Morley, and Jimmy and Marie Osmond. No, we don’t understand it either. It exists. It’s a Hugo. It earned a footnote.

2014

HUGO® man fragrance

commerce

A cologne. The bottle is in your dad’s medicine cabinet right now. We did not ask permission.

2026

Some other guy named Hugo

vibes

There’s a Hugo who lives down the street. We don’t know his last name. He waved at us once. Seemed nice. Still on the list.

C) Things called Hugo that aren’t even people

Hugo (the band) — a Thai-American singer.
Hugo (the SSG) — already covered, but worth re-mentioning here for completeness, because we are nothing if not thorough.
Hurricane Hugo (1989) — Cat 5 — covered in the main timeline.
HUGO (Human Genome Organisation) — sequenced the human genome. Of all the things called HUGO on this list, this one is, no exaggeration, the most important.
HUGO Awards — sci-fi’s Oscars. Already covered.
Hugo’s restaurants — every major American city has one. They are not affiliated.
Hugo Boss — German fashion label. (Note for later: when Hugo asks who Hugo Boss was, it’s complicated. We’ll get to it.)
Hugo Spritz — an Italian cocktail with prosecco, elderflower, mint, and lime. Refreshing. Genuinely good.

D) The most important Hugo on this entire page

You.

Welcome to the universe, Hugo Fawkes Rathbun. The lesser Hugos send their regards.