In 2020, The Gaming Historian uploaded an image to Twitter. It showed a page from the depositions of Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd., a 1983 trademark infringement lawsuit where Universal claimed that Nintendo had copied King Kong and his main plot for their character, Donkey Kong. To prove otherwise, Nintendo provided a list of alternative names they’d come up with before settling on DK.
[…] To Mr. Miyamoto, kong meant a gorilla since the popular name for a gorilla in Japan is kong. At the end of May 1981, Mr. Todori devised the name Donkey Kong for the game after reviewing various suggestions from the Development Department. The various names considered include: Funny Kong, Kong the Kong, Jack Kong, Funky Kong, Bill Kong, Steel Kong, Giant Kong, Big Kong, Kong Down, Kong Dong, Mr. Kong, Custom Kong, Kong Chase, Kong Boy, Kong Man, Kong Fighter, Wild Kong, Rookie Kong, Kong Holiday, and Donkey Kong. The foregoing answers are true and correct to the best of my information and belief.
Firstly, what a roster of potential names. But, more importantly, we were deprived of Kong Dong! Maybe there’s still time if Nintendo fancy being a little spicy with their future DK games. As for the lawsuit, Universal lost (and the verdict was upheld after appeal) as they were found to have acted in bad faith by threatening Nintendo’s licensees and that it had no right over the name King Kong or the characters and story.
