What year and issue # did Big Ethel, under the name "Ethel", appear?

Not sure if I'm getting what you're asking. In the earliest appearances of both Moose and Ethel, they were consistently referred to as "BIG Moose" and "BIG Ethel", but sometime in the 1970s, they just seemed to drop the "Big" and just started calling her Ethel. Moose followed the same pattern but lagged behind Ethel, with the "Big" nickname persisting for some time after Ethel's had been dropped. As with most changes to the characters, there wasn't some definitive point where it just stopped being used unilaterally in all stories by all writers, or at least I don't think so. I think "Big" was just used with their names inconsistently for a period of time, gradually becoming less frequent until it wasn't used at all any more, or only on rare occasions.

Quote from: Captain Jetpack on March 08, 2017, 07:45:48 AM
What year and issue # did Big Ethel, under the name "Ethel", appear?

Unless I'm also misunderstanding, you want Jughead #84. I think that's 1962, I can't log onto GCD for some reason to confirm.

Quote from: steveinthecity on March 08, 2017, 11:05:28 PM

Quote from: Captain Jetpack on March 08, 2017, 07:45:48 AM
What year and issue # did Big Ethel, under the name "Ethel", appear?

Unless I'm also misunderstanding, you want Jughead #84. I think that's 1962, I can't log onto GCD for some reason to confirm.

I think that's correct, the May 1962 issue. The 6-page story you're referring to is "Electronically Yours" by Samm Schwartz, in which Dilton's new computerized mate selector matches Ethel up with Jughead. IIRC, Ethel's last name isn't actually mentioned in that story, and I'm not sure which story it was that established her last name, or if there was any variance in that before settling on Muggs. An unnamed girl who is clearly now identifiable as Ethel appeared earlier than that, but I'm not sure exactly where. That issue also contains another Schwartz United Girls Against Jughead story ("A-Picknicking We'll Go") which I'm not sure if was the very first of that series, but it's certainly one of the earliest. Writing credits on both stories seem to be uncertain.

Any links to the storey?

It's in ARCHIE'S FAVORITE COMICS FROM THE VAULT (page 218). I knew I'd read it in a TP collection somewhere, but I had to flip through them to find it. As it turns out, it was fortunate I did, because I was also able to answer my own question about the first U.G.A.J. story (also in that same collection on page 211). It's "Between Us Girls" from JUGHEAD #79 (December 1961), in case you're interested.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on March 09, 2017, 03:44:42 AM

Quote from: steveinthecity on March 08, 2017, 11:05:28 PM

Quote from: Captain Jetpack on March 08, 2017, 07:45:48 AM
What year and issue # did Big Ethel, under the name "Ethel", appear?

Unless I'm also misunderstanding, you want Jughead #84. I think that's 1962, I can't log onto GCD for some reason to confirm.

I think that's correct, the May 1962 issue. The 6-page story you're referring to is "Electronically Yours" by Samm Schwartz, in which Dilton's new computerized mate selector matches Ethel up with Jughead. IIRC, Ethel's last name isn't actually mentioned in that story, and I'm not sure which story it was that established her last name, or if there was any variance in that before settling on Muggs. An unnamed girl who is clearly now identifiable as Ethel appeared earlier than that, but I'm not sure exactly where. That issue also contains another Schwartz United Girls Against Jughead story ("A-Picknicking We'll Go") which I'm not sure if was the very first of that series, but it's certainly one of the earliest. Writing credits on both stories seem to be uncertain.

She was Ethel Dinklehof in Jughead #230.  No idea why the name changed.

...When was that story by Tom DeFalco a few years ago that had Ethel getting a superhero identity as " Big E ", or something like that? I always wanted to see that identity used again.
  I recall the cover showing a gigantic " E "...As far as ACO's corporate image goes, of course, we - well, they might not know what to do, exactly, with the slang fact that " E ' has been a slang phrase in the United Kingdom for the " party drug)love drug " MDMA, that is generally called [size=78%]" esctasy "!!!!!!!!!!![/size]   (It tends to be slanguage'd " X ", not " E ", in America.)
  ACIEEEDD Archies! Dilton Doiley, the DJ mastermixer! Moose's with those raver glow sticks and antennae!  The Mad House Glads play Coachella! Betty and Veronica, embracing each other on the dance floor, and saying " I love ya babe! "! Pop Tate's getting busted by the DEA and everybody going to s Supermax federal prison!   It could work.