Super Mario carries the name of Nintendo of America’s landlord.
In the early 1980s, Nintendo’s American staff were arguing over what to call the character in Donkey Kong. As the story goes, their warehouse landlord, Mario Segale, walked in demanding overdue rent, and that settled the debate. Segale, who had been building and developing property around Seattle since the 1950s, always ducked the fame.
Super Mario on Brandseum