An early version of Kermit appeared in 1955, in a five-minute puppet show for WRC-TV's Sam and Friends. The prototype Kermit was created from a green ladies' coat that Henson's mother had thrown into a waste bin, and two ping pong balls for eyes.

Initially, Kermit was seen as a lizard-like creature. He subsequently made a number of television appearances before his status as a frog was established, which was shortly before Sesame Street began. His collar was added at the time to make him seem more froglike and to conceal the seam between his head and body.

The chief reason that Jim Henson chose Kermit as his main character was that Kermit, being lightweight, was easier to perform for long periods of time[citation needed]. (In terms of personality, the Muppet Henson most closely identified himself with was Rowlf the Dog[citation needed].)

Kermit's song "The Rainbow Connection" was also a big hit from The Muppet Movie and, for some time[when?], became something of a signature song for The Jim Henson Company[citation needed].

[edit] Naming
On more than one occasion[1][2] the press has stated that Kermit's name was taken from Jim Henson's childhood friend, Kermit Scott, from Leland, Mississippi. While this rumor has persisted over the years, it is not true. The Jim Henson Company has gone on record to deny this claim as declared by Henson himself. Karen Falk, who sits on the Board of Directors for the Jim Henson Legacy and serves as head archivist for the company, published the denial on the company's official website, Henson.com:

While Jim Henson did have a childhood acquaintance named Kermit, it was not an uncommon name at the time, and Jim always said that the Frog was NOT named for this child from his elementary school.[3]
As Sesame Street is localized for some different markets that speak languages other than English, Kermit is often renamed. In Portugal, he's Cocas, o Sapo (sapo means toad). In Latin America, his name is la rana René (René the Frog). In Spain, Kermit is named Gustavo. In France and the Canadian province of Quebec, he is known as Kermit la grenouille. In Brazil, his name is Caco, o Sapo. In the Arabic Middle Eastern version, he's known as Kamel, which is a common Arabic male name that means "perfect". In Hungary he is called Breki. In Turkey, although he's known by his real name, Kermit in The Muppet Show, in Sesame Street he was named as "Kurbağacık" (Little Frog).



According to The Muppet Movie Kermit returned to