The name’s Secretan, James Secretan. James Bond’s Original Name Just Might Have Been the Death of Him
It’s arguably the greatest introduction by a movie character. “The name’s Bond. James Bond” was first uttered by Sean Connery in Dr. No. There’s something effortlessly cool about Connery’s casual delivery. But would even Connery be able to convince audiences he was a suave ladies man if he tried the same line with the name Ian Fleming originally intended for the British spy.
An early draft of the first Bond novel Casino Royale reveals Fleming originally wanted to call 007 James Secretan, which would be his cover name. It seems rather ludicrous to believe that someone can be a secret agent with a last name that so obviously refers to the word “secret”. Nor does it sound particularly cool. In fact it sounds downright terrible. James Secretan would have been lucky to make it past book number one, let alone be turned into a movie series.
In 2023, an extract from the 1952 draft was made public to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the book’s release in 1953.
In the manuscript, a CIA man introduces himself to 007 at the Hotel Splendide casino by saying: “My name’s Felix Leiter. Glad to meet you.” Bond replies: “Mine’s Secretan. James Secretan.” The word “Secretan” is scribbled out in blue ink, with “Bond” written in its place.
Another name change in the manuscript was for Miss Moneypenny, who was first named Miss Pettavel.
“Ian must have realised it would cause confusion if he had Bond known as Bond to his friends and the security services in London,” Fleming’s niece, Kate Grimold told The Sunday Times of London in 2023. “[B]ut as Secretan for his cover name to strangers or people he didn’t want to know he was a spy.”
The clarification also helps debunk that idea that “James Bond” is a codename. No, Grimold tells us it was always intended as his real name.
Grimold seems to think that the name “Secretan” was inspired by the 19th century Swiss philosopher Charles Secrétan, but admits she has “no proof but I do know Ian was interested in philosophy. He also chose names from people he knew or had heard of—sometimes an amalgam of more than one person.”
“Goldfinger” and “Blofeld” were stolen from people he knew. Architect Erno Goldfinger was none-too-happy about the connection, and Fleming apparently named his villain after Goldfinger because he hated that he demolished Victorian terraces to make way for his “ugly” brutalist buildings.
Fleming of course came to his senses, dropping the cover name, and sticking with James Bond when Casino Royale was published in 1953.
Fleming famously picked up the book, “Birds of the West Indies” and saw that it was written by a man named James Bond. He thought to himself, “That’s a rather flat sounding name” which was the type of name he wanted and the rest is history.
James Bond today is the epitome of cool and couldn’t be further away from the “flat sounding name” Fleming first envisaged.
While Bond’s suave, cool charm made the name James Bond iconic in people’s minds, it’s doubtful that the same could have been achieved with the name James Secretan. And thankfully we’ll never have to find out.
