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