I grew up on the street.  Yep, the mean streets of Sesame.  We all did!  Can you think of another children’s show in history that has had a 53-year run and is still going strong?  I mean Mr. Rogers was pretty epic but those Captain Kangaroo fans were left high and dry.  Bird, Grouch, Bert, and Ernie have always been there for us.  We feel like we know them but do we really?  Do you even know Cookie Monster’s real name?  Yeah, that's what I thought.

Street Renaming To Celebrate The 30th Anniversary Of Sesame Street Live
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Can you really be BFFs with someone if you don’t even know their first name?  I have to break the news to you, "Cookie Monster" is not what is on his birth certificate.  It’s true, he has a real name, and it's rocking our childhood memories to the core.

I loved Sesame Street so much that I wanted to live there.  I used to pretend that I lived in the brownstone next to Bird’s nest, you know so it would be easy to visit. In my 8-year-old Shannon mind, I frequented Mr. Hooper’s store, and Maria and I would go meet Gordon to talk ABCs and eat ice cream on Wednesdays.  It was the first show that had a neighborhood that looked like mine and where people could be friends with actual Muppets and nobody thought that was weird.  I knew all the characters and I imagined they knew me through that Zenith cabinet TV in my living room with the orange shag carpet.

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Cookie had a secret.  He has an actual first name!  He revealed it and it rocked my world.  Brace yourself, maybe take a shot of milk as liquid courage because I’m about to reintroduce you to your old friend.  World, meet Sid.

As far as his last name?  We had it right all along.  In an in-depth, tell-all interview with WIRED, Sid was asked for his full name and he responded, 

“Me real name Sid Monster”

Well, there you have it right from the monster’s mouth, Sid Monster eats cookies so “cookie” became a nickname, which starts with the letter “N”.  

It seems on social media people are cool with the name with the declaration getting over 39K likes…my favorite comment to Sid sums it up perfectly, 

“I’ve known you for 45 years and I’m just learning this today.  This is amazing!”  

In case you were wondering, he does not mind if you call him “Cookie”, it is a term of endearment after all.  To that, I say “nom nom nom”.  

If you have a new baby on the way they will be raised on the street too!  Here is a list of the most popular baby names in New Jersey.

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Every year we find out the top baby names in each state. Here are the top ten names for boys and girls in the state of New Jersey. I don't know about you, but number one, for both, is really good.

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