What is Superman's real name?

Superman's real name is Kal-El. He was born on the planet Krypton to Jor-El and Lara, shortly before Krypton was destroyed. His parents placed him in a spacecraft and sent him to Earth, where he was found and raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville, Kansas.

Kal-El is his Kryptonian birth name, while Clark Kent is the human identity given to him by his adoptive parents. Superman is the heroic name he later adopts. In many stories, the Kryptonian naming pattern uses a personal name followed by a family or house name, which is why “El” connects him to the House of El.

A common mix-up is answering Clark Kent. Clark is Superman's adoptive Earth name and public civilian identity, but Kal-El is the answer to a question asking for his real or birth name. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster and first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938.