You see, it is time already for nine more stories about how the games characters got their names, and one story about a protein. That's not even a joke.
When brought to the West by Midway, the name was changed to "Pac" - to avoid filthy-minded vandals changing the "P" to an "F". Even though Fac-Man has its own certain appeal.
Wisely, it was argued that releasing a game with an unpronounceable name might not make commercial sense. Hubert was suggested at a desperate staff meeting - which was then combined with "cubes" to become "Cubert". The company's art director Richard Tracy then tweaked that to Q*Bert.
Tracy - ha ha, girl's name - has since gone on record lamenting the asterisk in the game's title, meaning it would never become the answer in a crossword puzzle. He needs to get over that.
However, get this: he actually has a human protein named after him - the Sonic Hedgehog - which is partially responsible for limb growth and brain organisation. A potential inhibitor of the protein's signalling pathway has even been dubbed "Robotnikinin", in honour of Sonic's arch-enemy Dr Robotnik.
Digitiser: come for the video game naming trivia... stay for the protein facts.
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto chose the name because the real Zelda was - like the Princess - a "famous and beautiful woman". Link was originally named Christo, after Miyamoto's godfather, or something. Link was ultimately settled upon, as he represents a "link" between the player and the game.
When Eidos boss Ian Livingstone declared he wanted the character to be a member of the British aristocracy, with massive pointy boobs, they went through a telephone directory until they found the suitably British-sounding Lara Croft.
Probably just as well that they hadn't changed it to a W.
More esoterically, the game's protagonist Samus Aran was named after the footballer Pelé - whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento. That's a stupid name.