What is the real name of the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist?

The real name of the Artful Dodger in Oliver Twist is Jack Dawkins. He is one of Charles Dickens’s most memorable child criminals, known for his clever pickpocketing and confident, streetwise manner.

The Dodger leads Oliver into Fagin’s gang of thieves in the London underworld. Although he is still a child, Dickens presents him as theatrically adult: he dresses in oversized grown-up clothes, uses slang, and behaves like an experienced professional. His nickname, “Artful Dodger,” refers to his skill at deception and evading capture.

Jack is closely associated with Charley Bates, another young pickpocket, but they are separate characters. Fagin is the gang’s older organizer, not the Dodger’s real name, while Noah Claypole belongs to a different part of Oliver’s story. The Dodger is eventually arrested after being caught with a stolen silver snuffbox and is sentenced to transportation, reportedly to Australia.