I cannot agree with you Sheila. Tonto was a terrific friend to the Lone Ranger, and appreciated, or so I always thought. He was a good man, a friend in deed, honorable never two-faced or with any bad traits at all, really. And he was definitely intelligent!

As for his name, if it were real, it would be an Indian name, not a Spanish one. I don't know which tribe Tonto belonged but Indian names often had a meaning. Maybe he was "fleet of foot" ...or "decent guy one would always like t have around"!!

More likely - the name was just invented by his creator Information about Tonto in Wikipedia

"El Indio Bobo" --- 'El que más sabe." --"Kemo Sabe."

Yes, Tonto was certainly not a bad/fall guy. He was supposed to be the faithful companion and sidekick. If memory serves, he was also supposed to have nursed the Lone Ranger back to health after some big shootout that killed all of the other "rangers" and left the Lone Ranger seriously wounded.

Hollywood has a long tradition of muddled/confused depictions of peoples/cultures/languages that are not "main-stream" American. In all likelihood, the choice of the name "Tonto" was done in ignorance of the word's meaning in Spanish (probably nothing more than it sounds like it might be a name in some Indian language and it's easy for English speakers to pronounce).

I don't think Tonto was ever supposed to be flattering.

Tonto was the "fall guy" in a 1960's TV programme.

If you think back to the 50's and 60's - and even later in some cases, the fall guy or the baddie in a lot of these programmes tended to be of non-white or ethnic origin. It probably isn't possible to quote examples with falling deeply into the realms of political incorrectness, but certainly their names, and their characters weren't conceived with any idea other than to make the hero look good by comparison.

So poor Tonto's name was probably supposed to mean exactly what it does.

Tonto was Native American not Mexican. In some Spanish speaking countries he was called Torro.

Actually, Tonto wasn't a fall guy. In many segments, the Native American Tonto showed far more courage and "smarts" than did the Lone Ranger.

I doubt that his name has anything to do with the Spanish word tonto. (Unless it was using irony to show he was anything but a stupid man?)

By the way, Wikipedia has a long and interesting history of The Lone Ranger.

Jonny Depp has been signed to portray Tonto in a Disney version about to be put into production.

I'm looking forward to that one!