The whole matter is confusing. When Bela Zaboly was drawing (but not writing) the Popeye comic strip in the 1950's, he was not only using the name Bluto, he also used the Famous Studios character design! (But in "civilian" clothes.) The Famous Studios character design of Bluto was also used in merchandise like coloring books and the first Popeye Colorforms set from 1957. (But Popeye's nephews were also used in coloring books, so maybe Paramount Cartoon Studios was more lenient about its creations being used in merchandise. At least one Popeye coloring book was drawn by animator Bill Pattengill.) But Bud Sagendorf, who wrote and drew the Popeye comic book from 1948 until 1967, the daily Popeye comic strip from 1958 until 1986, and the Sunday Popeye comic strip from 1958 until his death in 1994, said that he got complaints from Paramount Cartoon Studios about Bluto being their creation. So even though Sagendorf had been E. C. Segar's assistant when Bluto was created in 1932 (for the comic strip storyline "The Eighth Sea"), he didn't use the name Bluto. In a Dell Popeye comic book from the mid-1950's, the Sea Hag calls the bearded bully "that guy who hates Popeye". And a Sagendorf drawing of the Popeye cast (date unknown) labels the bearded bully "Mean Man". Sometime in the early 1960's Sagendorf started using the name Brutus. (But even after that happened, the 1969 Popeye Big Little Book "Danger Ahoy", which I assume was written and drawn by someone else, calls the bearded bully Larder. Sagendorf's successor Hy Eisman, who's been writing and drawing the Sunday Popeye comic strip since Sagendorf's death, also uses the name Brutus. I think the only time the name Bluto has been used in the Popeye comic strip and comic books since the late 1950's has been those two Popeye comic books published by Ocean Comics in 1987 and 1988, and when Bobby London was writing and drawing the Popeye daily comic strip from 1986 until 1992. London wrote a storyline called "The Return of Bluto". ("What kind of a name is Brutus anyway?")
Personally I go with the twin brothers idea dreamed up by writer Bill Pearson, the writer of those two Ocean Comics Popeye comic books, who also was one of the writers for the Popeye comic book from 1969 until Western Publishing quit publishing comic books in 1983. Usually Brutus is more pear-shaped than Bluto, in the Popeye comic strip and comic books as well as the made-for-TV Popeye cartoons from the early 1960's and the Saturday Superstar Movie "Popeye Meets The Man Who Hated Laughter" from the early 1970's. The exception is (not surprisingly) Hanna-Barbera's Popeye and Son, in which Bluto looks more like Bud Sagendorf's Brutus.

P.S. Whew1

Since the 60s cartoon seemed to follow the newspaper strip more closely (with characters like The Sea Hag) and even had "King Features Syndicate" boldly in the credits, I assumed he was originally called Brutus in the strip and it was The Fleischers who called him Bluto because....for whatever reasons!

If Fantagraphics had published their Popeye reprint series in a more bookshelf friendly format, I might have bought a couple of volumes and seen for myself
If "Sonny Boy's" name was Brutus or Bluto!

I'd heard the story about the copyright many times, but I'm confused. Why were the people making the TV show think they were allowed to use the characters of Popeye, Olive, etc., but not Bluto? I would think that by obtaining the rights to the Popeye franchise, the TV people had the rights to use ALL the characters in it. But then again, I'm no lawyer. However, the people making the TV show probably should have had better lawyers.

It's funny. I always heard it was Disney that told the producers they needed to change Bluto's name. It was sounded like they would say Pluto. Mickey's dog, on the cartoon.

Speaking of the TV series, was it the same everywhere or did it differ with different viewing areas? There was a Detroit area station that had two actors hosting the show, one named Captain Jolly (I forget the other's name). The other actor, in my mind, had a strong resemblance to Leo Gorcy. Does anyone know who he is?

Those kind of theories are as half-baked as when DC Comics tried to tie up all of the inconsistencies in the different decade costumed character story lines with Earth I and Earth II ie: Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash...etc.

For example... The Superman of 1938 worked for the Daily Star, Jay Garrick was the Flash and so on. (As some characters were revived after the Golden Age of Comics and given new identitlies, some story gaps existed.)

I consider the 60s Popeyes cartoons in the same category as the Three Stooges with Shemp. When I was a kid watching these episodes on TV I wanted the Paramount Popeye and the Curly Three Stooges. The later versions of Popeye were like the Three Stooges with Joe Besser. Didn’t even bother to watch.

Those Popeye cartoons from the 60's were terrible.

Crazier theory, Popeye and Bluto are half-sibs. Reason why both are sailors and have the same taste in wemen. Poopdeck Pappy never revealed the truth to either brother.

well blow me down i didn't thinks that there was 2 of dam guys....lol

I watched Popeye when there was no Brutus,just that mean old guy Bluto that wanted Olive Oil.
But Popeye ate his Spinach.