You've Probably Never Heard The Quaker Oats Mascot's Real Name Before

The Quaker Oats mascot isn't as memorable as other breakfast cereal favorites like Tony the Tiger, Count Chocula, or even the now defunct Aunt Jemima. In fact, you probably don't even know that the Quaker Oats guy has a name. He's just the face that's always been there, sort of half-smiling with a funny hat balanced on his head, watching as you make porridge, whip up delicious oat bars, or prepare overnight oats as part of your weekly batch cooking bonanza. Is he judging you? Maybe, but not in a mean way. He just loves oats, and he does, in fact, have a name. It's Larry.

No one's totally sure where the moniker came from, but it seems like, at some point in the last few decades, Quaker insiders began referring to their mascot as Larry. It might have been a way to make talking about him easier as the Quaker team worked on new designs for packaging or new ads. Or, perhaps it was an attempt to clarify exactly who it is on the front of that packaging, as Larry bears a striking resemblance to William Penn, a famous Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania. Still, the Quaker website insists that its mascot is a different guy entirely (although Larry may have been loosely inspired by Penn).

Creating a mascot so successful that he's still around today wasn't the only forward-looking move made by the breakfast boundary breakers at Quaker after the brand launched in 1850. The history of cereal in general is fascinating, but the history of these popular oats is something else. Additionally, Quaker was the first company to print a recipe on their packaging, and it produced one of the earliest convenience foods in the U.S. when Quick Oats was launched, offering Americans sample-sized products before anyone else. Who knew oats could be so exciting? Well, we did actually; that's why we wrote about all the facts you should know about Quaker Oats.

We don't know who decided Larry was, well, Larry, but whoever inside the company chose the unofficial name did the guy a favor. Originally, the Quaker Oats mascot was referred to as simply "man in Quaker garb." This was around the time the company earned the first trademark for a breakfast cereal in the U.S. Obviously, there wasn't the same level of cereal-mascot competition back then as there is today, but we like to think Larry (still officially called "Quaker man") would have made an impression either way. He may not be flashy, but he's dependable.

When he came into being, Larry was probably supposed to be somewhat nondescript, as he was sketched as a Quaker in order to convince the public that they were being sold a quality product at a great price. Apparently, back in the 1800s, the average American didn't think there was any way a Quaker would lie to them. Unfortunately, the average American didn't really like oats, either. They were more a food for horses than people. So, while they might have trusted the brand and its unnamed, bewigged mascot, it wasn't enough to keep the original enterprise afloat. Eventually, founders Henry Seymor and William Heston declared bankruptcy in the early 1880s.

Despite all this, Larry has staying power. He has weathered design changes in 1946, 1956, 1970, 1986, and 2012, all the while always looking like himself. Originally, the logo was zoomed out, showing Larry's entire outfit, which sometimes included a scroll that read 'Pure.' In the '40s, a designer named Jim Nash gave him the close-up he deserved, while Haddon Sundblom (father of Coca-Cola's Santa) added color to Quaker's mascot a decade later. In 2012, he was given a haircut and slimmed down a little. When the world seems uncertain, maybe Larry is the one who helps steady the ship, or at least Quaker Oats.