It was a carefully guarded secret for much of New Girl, so what is Schmidt’s actual first name? New Girl was a star vehicle for Zooey Deschanel (500 Days Of Summer) and arrived on Fox in 2011. The premise found Deschanel’s teacher Jess moving into a loft with all-male roommates following a bad breakup, and the series followed her growing friendships with each of them. Rather than being just another generic sitcom, New Girl quickly developed a devoted following due to its sharp writing and comic performances.
New Girl also provided actors like Jake Johnson (Jurassic World) and Max Greenfield with breakthrough roles. Johnson played Nick, who gradually became Jess’ love interest - and eventual husband - on the show, though their love story was anything was smooth. New Girl came to an end in 2018 with its seventh season, with the finale providing to be a fittingly emotional goodbye as Jess, Nick and company say goodbye to the loft.
Max Greenfield’s Schmidt began New Girl as intensely douchy but oddly endearing at the same time. Schmidt sees himself as something of a ladies man and super cool - which often isn’t how he comes across to the rest of the world. The show later reveals Schmidt’s overcompensation comes from being obese for much of his early life, which left an impact on his self-confidence. He eventually settles down and marries CeCe, Jess’s best friend.
Schmidt’s full name was kept a secret for the first six seasons of New Girl, until the episode “San Diego.” It’s here that Schmidt reveals to Winston (Lamorne Morris, Game Night) that he plans to start using his first name again, which is - Winston Schmidt. Obviously, it’s confusing to have two Winstons running around so everyone just keeps referring to him as Schmidt anyway. It typical for sitcoms to have long-running mysteries that are never fully revealed - such as the appearance of Maris on Frasier - but the reveal of Schmidt’s first name was quite perfect.
Schmidt was one of the comic highlights of New Girl and it was nice to see him evolve from a douchey would-be ladies man to a happily married father over the course of the show. Knowing that his full name is Winston St Marie Schmidt is just icing on the cake. Since New Girl ended Max Greenfield has moved on to sitcom The Neighbourhood and the fourth season of Veronica Mars, reprising the role of Leo D’Amato.
Next: What Happened To Jess After New Girl Ended
