Kitty Pryde Fact — November 2, 2026

Today's Fact

The X-Men's youngest recruit won her first battle before any fight: the battle over her own name.

KITTY PRYDE REJECTED HER FIRST CODENAME — PROFESSOR X PICKED 'ARIEL,' STORM SAVED HER WITH 'SPRITE'!

The Featured Fact

Katherine Pryde arrived at Xavier's school without a codename, and Charles Xavier moved to fix that in Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #139 (1980) by proposing Ariel, after the airy spirit in Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Kitty disliked the suggestion. Storm stepped in with an alternative drawn from the same family of folklore — Sprite, a word for an ethereal being that suited a girl who drifted through walls — and Kitty accepted it eagerly, wearing the name through her earliest missions.

The rejected name refused to stay rejected. Kitty later dropped Sprite and briefly adopted Ariel after all, before the darker name Shadowcat, earned in Japan, replaced both. Her earliest costume, a riot of primary colours with a pink mask, belongs squarely to the Sprite era.

Why It's Obscure

Two Shakespeare-adjacent spirits, one unimpressed teenager, and a teammate who understood branding.

Uncanny X-Men #139 (1980)

The naming scene itself — Xavier proposes Ariel, Kitty balks, and Storm's counter-offer of Sprite settles the matter in a single conversation.

The Tempest

A literary in-joke — Ariel is literally a sprite in Shakespeare's play, so Storm's suggestion quietly kept Xavier's reference while losing the name Kitty hated.

Uncanny X-Men #168 (1983)

The rejected name returns — growing up and distancing herself from Sprite, Kitty took up Ariel, the very codename she had refused as a newcomer.

Kittyhawk & Sparrowhawk

Names that never shipped — early character pitches floated Kittyhawk and Sparrowhawk before Ariel and Sprite made it into print.

Gallery

Comic art of Kitty Pryde and the figures named in today's fact.

Sprite in the fieldKitty in her bright Sprite costume — pink mask, multicoloured top and yellow leggings — shouting orders beside Storm, Wolverine and Nightcrawler. The costume from the naming era, on full display.

Kitty Pryde in her later blue Excalibur costume — **The later look**Kitty in the blue costume of her Excalibur years, a visual step away from the Sprite design as the codenames kept changing around her.

Storm of the X-Men in comic art — **Storm, mentioned by name**Storm, the teammate whose quick counter-suggestion gave Kitty the name Sprite when Xavier's pick fell flat.

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against at least two independent sources before publication.

Bullpen Bulletins

Katherine Pryde (Earth-616) — Marvel DatabaseAlias history: Xavier proposed Ariel, Storm suggested Sprite in Uncanny X-Men #139, and Kitty later used Ariel.
Things You Never Knew About Kitty Pryde — ScreenRantConfirms Professor X suggested Ariel, Kitty disliked it, and Storm offered Sprite, which she accepted.