So I was thinking that Mr. Howell's name didn't sound right, so I started Googling around a bit. I was right, after I was wrong, that is: it wasn't P. Was it J.? Thurston J. Howell III.? Or just Thurston Howell?
But then I found out that Mrs. Howell's name is Eunice Wentworth. The Skipper was Jonas Grumby. Gilligan was his last name, and his first name was Willie, although--
>>>ATTENTION SPOILER ALERT<<<
in the 1996 movie, A Very Brady Sequel, [screenplay by Sherwood Schwartz, who produced both series], there's a character named Dr. Whitehead [played by John Hillerman (1)] whose son Gilligan was lost at sea.
Gilligan was on a boat with Carol Brady's first husband, Roy. The Professor. [2]
How could this vital piece of information--even though it was a blatant attempt to cash in on 70's-era TV nostalgia--have slipped by me?
Gilligan's Island [wikipedia]
[1] Higgins' full name: Jonathan Quayle Higgins III [3]
[2] except that Brady's husband was Roy Martin, and the Professor was Roy Hinkley. But still.
[3] Not only did Higgins get sideswiped by having the middle name Quayle before Dan Quayle ruined it, In season 2, he had a half-brother, a rodeo cowboy, named Elmo Ziller.
