Why did Full House change Uncle Jesse’s name twice? John Stamos is popularly known as the suave Jesse Katsopolis in the hit sitcom from the late ’80s/early ’90s. He moved in with his brother-in-law, Danny Tanner’s (Bob Saget) family to help raise his three nieces – DJ (Candace Cameron), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and Michelle (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen). With the makings of a stereotypical ladies’ man, Jesse eventually softened up to the girls, developing a special bond with them, particularly with Michelle.
Stamos played the part as Uncle Jesse for all eight seasons of Full House and an additional five for Fuller House, where he also serves as a producer. While he’s had an extensive career outside the show, it’s easy to see why he’s mostly associated with the role of Uncle Jesse. Known for some fun quirks like his undying love for Elvis Presley and his obsession with his hair and aging, he also popularized the term “have mercy.” While both Full House and its Netflix spin-off sequel have been pretty consistent with his characterization, the original show made a significant change to the character that a lot of fans may not have noticed or don’t know at all.
Full Housechanged the character’s name twice in the show. Originally, he was Adam Cochran during production, however, the actor didn’t like the first name so it became Jesse as per the actor’s request, so when sitcom debuted on ABC, he was referred to as Jesse Cochran. Obviously, the changes didn’t stop there. The producers belatedly changed his surname from Cochran to Katsopolis at the request of Stamos again. This was to reflect his heritage as a Greek American. This effectively brought fans several episodes of Full House centering on his heritage. That includes the introduction of Stavros – the womanizer con-artist cousin of Uncle Jesse (who’s also played by Stamos) and the visitation of his grandfather Irogos Katsopolis (Jack Kruschen) also known as Papouli who taught the kids some Greek traditions.
Aside from these production changes, it’s also worth noting that Uncle Jesse also changed his name in-universe. As revealed in Full House season 5 episode 6 titled “The Legend of Ranger Joe” while he and wife Rebecca (Lori Loughlin) were choosing names for their twins, DJ discovered Jesse’s birth name was actually Hermes. Apparently, he was teased mercilessly in kindergarten so he begged his parents to rename him. The girls made fun of him later in the same episode, and while he’s initially embarrassed to admit it, he took great pride in the notion that he was named after the Greek god of swiftness. Apparently, Hermes was also his great-grandfather’s name who saved his whole town from total destruction from a nearby volcano by outrunning the lava flow (although he points out they may have spotted it on their own, too).
Stamos will reprise the role of Uncle Jesse in the final few episodes of Fuller House set to debut in June. While spin-off show primarily focuses on the families of DJ, Stephanie, and Kimmy (Andrea Barber), he’s still expected to factor in the remaining episodes. The question is, how will they handle the fact that Aunt Becky won’t be around after Loughlin was fired after being involved in the college admission scandal. In any case, fans can just relive some of their best moments on Full House, and maybe even revisit the episodes where Stamos’ character was still named differently.
