Seinfeld’s Cosmo Kramer Originally Had A Different First Name

We know the first and last names of Jerry Seinfeld, George Costanza, and Elaine Benes, but throughout “Seinfeld,” Kramer is just called Kramer. It makes sense that we know little about Kramer’s identity because he is such an oddball. Based on “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David’s eccentric neighbor Kenny Kramer, he’s someone who constantly barges into Jerry’s apartment and has no traditional job outside of his harebrained schemes and get-rich-quick ideas. In the “Seinfeld” pilot, he’s referred to as Kessler, then in season 9, episode 8, “The Betrayal,” Kramer jokingly chalks it off as a mistake on his buzzer.

Little to nothing is revealed about Kramer’s backstory until season 6, episode 11, “The Switch,” where we are introduced to his mother, Babs Kramer. She works as a bathroom attendant at a fancy restaurant. Even though Babs has a strained relationship with her son, George enlists her to spy on his girlfriend, who has an eating disorder, to see if she, as he puts it, is throwing his money down the toilet after meals. It’s Babs who then reveals Kramer’s real, full name to George: Cosmo Kramer. George gleefully reports this back to the rest of the gang, who joke about how they (like the audience) have been trying to learn Kramer’s real name for years. They laugh about how absurd the name is, and Cosmo really is perfect for such a strange character. However, he was originally going to have a very different (and much less funky) name.

in 2014, “Seinfeld” writer and eventual “Borat” director Larry Charles told ScreenCrush that Cosmo Kramer was initially supposed to be Conrad Kramer. The name sounds a bit similar to Cosmo, but Conrad has a more refined quality and is certainly nothing to laugh at. Charles admitted that he was thinking of Conrad Birdie from “Bye Bye Birdie,” a character who equally eats up the spotlight and is responsible for lots of chaos all around him. His name was meant to be revealed in the season 2 episode “The Bet,” which the “Seinfeld” cast and crew ended up refusing to shoot.

Since this controversial “Seinfeld” script has since been leaked, we now know the plot revolved around Elaine wanting to purchase a gun in order to feel safe in the city. At one point, she buys a fake gun to trick Jerry, pointing it at him and saying, “”I’ll blow your brains out,” before Jerry asks if she’ll be giving him the “Kennedy” or the “Lincoln.” The “Seinfeld” characters can be crass and their actions cruel, but this was too much. Charles was disappointed that because the episode “fell by the wayside,” his chosen name for Kramer did, too. But overall, it sounds like everything worked out for the best. Not only was “Seinfeld” able to avoid an episode that involves gunplay in a way that feels very out of character and overly sadistic for the show, but also Kramer ending up with a wonderfully zany name that really suits him.