The Adventures of Tintin conjunction with Casterman, Tintin's publishers, and starts by describing Tintin as "a French boy". Snowy was called by his French name "Milou". The process of translating Tintin into British English was then commissioned in 1958 by Methuen, Hergé's British publishers. It was a joint operation, headed by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner, working closely with Hergé to attain an accurate translation as true as possible to the original work. Due in part to the large amount of language-specific word play (such as punning) in the series, especially the jokes which played on Professor Calculus' partial deafness, it was always the
Tintin (character) uncomplicated as the story line". Hergé never explained why he chose Tintin as the character's name. He had previously made use of alliteration with the name of his previous character, Totor. Michael Farr speculated that Hergé had adopted it from Rabier's "Tintin le lutin", although Hergé insisted that he did not learn of this book until 1970. Farr commented that "Tintin" was probably the character's surname, as other characters, such as his landlady, occasionally refer to him as Mr. Tintin (as printed on his doorbell). Conversely, Assouline asserted that it could not be his surname, because he lacked a family.