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Watching “The Miraculous Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir,” I thought it was fairly clear that neither Marinette nor Adrien knew the other’s secret identity.

However, when watching a fan-subtitled version of a recent French episode (“La Befana”), I saw this:

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I’m not sure how this will make make it into the official English version, but it sounds like he’s referring to Marinette by a portmanteau of her name and “Ladybug.” Then again, even in this episode, would Adrien have wasted his time bringing Marinette to the Eiffel Tower if he knew?

And then there’s that little fan comment: Are they saying it’s silly, and that he obviously doesn’t know, or that it’s obvious he does know, and they should stop teasing it?

Does Adrien have any idea of Marinette’s identity?

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  • I actually looked this up, and as far as 'Buginette' goes, while it does seem like a portmanteau of her name and identity, it's actually more of a nickname that means 'little bug', the suffix of -'nette' meaning 'small' or 'little' in French. I was also pretty surprised when I saw this for the first time.
    – Chris
    Commented Jul 28, 2020 at 7:41

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No, he almost certainly doesn't know

The English dub has since come out since this question was first asked. The word he uses in it's place is "bug-a-boo". So either the fan translation was bad, the term meant something different, or the creators wanted to avoid the implication (either true or false) that he already knows her identity.

But we actually have more recent and fairly conclusive evidence that he doesn't know. In The Dark Owl (season 2 episode 7), both characters close their eyes as they take off their Miraculouses to give to Dark Owl. Their Kwami see each other and their partner's identities and seem surprised, but refuse to say anything.

Given that we're certain that Adrien also didn't know as far back as Lady Wifi (season 1 episode 7) where he was tempted to see Ladybug detransformed in the closet but closes the door instead, he would have had to have figured it out sometime after, of which there is little indication. All the other implications also point to neither of them knowing (he likes Ladybug, but doesn't pursue Marinette, for example), so it would take much more conclusive proof to believe he knows the two are the same.

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    We also know, directly from the studio (not bothering to look it up now on my phone) that during season two he becomes suspicious, but the big reveal will be in a later season.
    – Dúthomhas
    Commented Apr 18, 2018 at 17:44
  • @Dúthomhas - Intriguing, please look this up?
    – Adamant
    Commented Jun 19, 2018 at 0:50
  • @Dúthomhas Do you have a source for that?
    – Astrid_Redfern
    Commented Apr 18, 2021 at 20:13
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So looking at the latest episode (Troublemaker), he might or might not have seen half of Marinette's face without the mask. Afterwards, at school, he's acting (in my opinion) extremely flirty, or at least a lot more flirty than usual for Adrien. So I think he's suspicious.

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Adrien does not know, and in fact, if he were to find out, it would inadvertently lead to the destruction of the world. He discovers her identity for the first time in S03E21 (the episode you refer to is S02E05), Cat Blanc, and Bunnyx has to travel from the future and help the past Ladybug prevent Adrien from discovering her secret identity and setting off the chain of events that lead to the end of the world. At the end of the episode, Ladybug and Cat Noir are restored to their respective ignorance concerning the other's identity.

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