‘I Met a Man on London Bridge’ Riddle Answered: Here’s His Name

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A new riddle is trending on social media. It’s a word riddle, without a picture, that asks what a man’s name is who’s referenced in the riddle. There are several versions of the riddle that you may see shared on sites like Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Read on to learn more about the riddle and the answer.

The riddle typically reads in one of several ways. The most common form of the riddle reads like this:

I met a man on the London Bridge. He tipped his hat and drew his name. In this riddle I told you his name.

Or:

I met an old man on London bridge. As the sun set on the ridge, he tipped his hat and drew his name and cheated at the guessing game. What was the man’s name?

Are you ready for the answer to the riddle?

The Answer to the Riddle Is Below

So what is the man’s name?

The man’s name is Andrew. 

No matter which version you’re reading, the answer is still the same: his name is Andrew. It’s hidden in the riddle itself, and it’s a lot trickier to figure out if you’re saying the riddle out loud rather than reading it.

Other versions of the riddle circulate with different locations, but the answer is still the same. A similar riddle asks about meeting a man on the way to St. Ivory. Other versions leave out the name of where the man was met completely. But no matter which version you’re reading, he has the same first name.

His name is right here in the riddle: “he tipped his hat and drew his name.”

Then there’s this version, where it’s a little trickier:

As I was walking across the London Bridge, I met a man who drew his hat and drew his cane, and in this riddle, I said his name. What is it?

The man’s name is Andrew in this version too: “Who drew his hat and drew his cane.” But it really doesn’t make quite as much sense as the other two versions earlier in this story, since “his name” isn’t right after “Andrew.” So it’s better to share one of the first two versions of the riddle if you’re going to pass the riddle on to someone else, unless you want the answer to be a first and last name. In that case, the answer might be that his name is “Andrew Hiscane.”

Some people might try the alternative answer of Drew, which would be “and Drew his name.”

Not everyone’s happy with the riddle’s answer. One person on Facebook wrote: “There is absolutely nothing proper nouny in that entire sentence other than London. ‘a man’ cant be his name cuz the a would be capitalized. And it’s supposed to be ‘anD drew’ otherwise the sentence structure doesn’t make any sense. The whole riddle is riddled with grammar issues ‘an stupid’…see what I did there? Sounds dumb, right?”

Others are guessing that his name is Aman.

Some people are getting tired of seeing all the riddles online and they’re making a joke about this one. One person wrote: “Coming on Twitter now because I am SICK of seeing ‘I met a man on London Bridge…’ No you didn’t, you’re in quarantine and no one cares about your riddle.”

The riddle’s been circulating for a while, but the longer we’re all sheltering at home, the more people are going to end up seeing it online.

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