James Bond Almost Had A Much Different First Name

Picture, if you will, an older man in your life, maybe a great uncle or your high school history teacher. What was his name? Ernest? Albert? Walton? All of these would work. But would it work if he was also a secret agent spy who loved to secure women while also driving fancy cars? Maybe! What if his name was… Rodney? That also fits the criteria. But would you trust a man named Rodney Bond to either save you from danger or educate you on foreign policy? Maybe! What if he was played by Sean Connery? That almost happened.

According to the upcoming book Ian Flemming: The Complete Man, the original James Bond was named Rodney Bond, after a man who saved Flemming’s brother Peter in 1941. Could you imagine 007’s name being three syllables instead of two? The world would be an entirely different place.

In the past, Flemming has claimed that he got the name from a real-life ornithologist, which is the fancy name for a bird expert. Who are we to believe?! There is really no concrete answer here, but Rod Bond would have been a fun nickname.

Obviously, people on the internet had jokes because that’s what the internet is for these days. But most of them revolved around The Simpsons because that’s also what the internet is for these days: reiterating Simpsons bits over and over until the world collapses. It’s been working so far!