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
King ArthurBritish
Ali BabaMiddle Eastern
BeowulfEnglish
Paul BunyanAmerican
CinderellaEuropean
Santa ClausEuropean
Till EulenspiegelGerman
FaustGerman
Jack FrostEnglish
GoldilocksEnglish
GretelGerman
GuinevereBritish
HanselGerman
John HenryAfrican-American
Robin HoodEnglish
Little Jack HornerEnglish
JackEnglish
JackEnglish
Frère JacquesFrench
JillEnglish
Little JohnEnglish
Don JuanSpanish
Maid MarianEnglish
MerlinBritish
Zwarte PietDutch
Peter PiperEnglish
PuckEnglish(Goodfellow)
RapunzelGerman
RolandFrench
Will ScarletEnglish
ScheherazadeMiddle Eastern
SinbadMiddle Eastern
Jack SpratEnglish
Pan TwardowskiPolish