Contrary to popular beliefs, Hello Kitty is actually born in London, England on November 1, 1974. Kitty is a fictional character created by Sanrio, which is a Japanese company. Kitty was supposed to be named as "Kitty White". Kitty White is the name of one of Alice's cats in the Lewis Carroll book, "Through the Looking Glass". But because the British culture was very popular among the Japanese during that time, the company renamed her character to "Hello Kitty".



Sanrio created not just Hello Kitty but her family as well. In fact, Kitty has a twin sister, Mimi. They look pretty much alike - except Mimi wears her ribbon on her right ear. Kitty wears hers on the left. Kitty and Mimi's mom and dad were Mary and George. Anthony is their grandpa and Margaret is their grandma.

In 1999, Hello Kitty introduced her boyfriend to the whole world, Daniel. Daniel was adapted from the 1971 movie entitled "Melody". Soon after, a series of Hello Kitty's other friends and pets were launched. And even if Hello Kitty is a cat herself, she too has a kitten for a pet, called Charmmy Kitty and a hamster named Sugar. Story has it that Charmmy Kitty was given to her by her father and Sugar was a present from Daniel.

Hello Kitty has come a long way from being a fictional character into somebody everybody loves. Hello Kitty merchandise had transitioned from simple stationery and plush toys to fashion jewelry and clothing. And right now, there's a Hello Kitty credit card, a Hello Kitty guitar, and the biggest surprise of all, the Hello Kitty car. Surely, Hello Kitty certainly is not just for kids anymore.

In fact, Hello Kitty collectors are having fun adding big and small items to their collection everyday. To guess where else Hello Kitty would appear next is actually exciting for some. Everybody had seen Hello Kitty in electronic games such as Gameboy, Game Cube, PlayStation, and Xbox. It's fun to see that the Hello Kitty merchandise constantly evolves to be at par with the current times.

It can be recalled that Hello Kitty was once given a TV show of her own, called the "Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theatre". This one was shown in 1987 and was produced by DiC and Sanrio Corporation. It was initially aired in the U.S. over a Spanish-dubbed family station. But in 1991, TV giant CBS took Hello Kitty in and aired her second anime series, "Hello Kitty and Friends".

Without doubt, Hello Kitty is Sanrio's favorite character. She is their bestseller ever since. This cute little cat earns them $500 million each year. That's half of the $1 billion annual revenue the company earns.