What is the name of the little humanoid figure used as player token or resource in some Euro games?

Question

I used to play a lot of games during my childhood and the "player token" had a pattern: A cylinder/cone with a sphere on top of it. Pawn, start token, player token, we used a lot of names to define it. I have never bothered about naming or knowing what the name of this piece was, cause it was only used as player token.

But now, I can see that a number of newer games (post-2000) use this little humanoid figure as player token or as resource on some games:

Carcassone-meeple.jpg from Wikimedia - You must be asking yourself: And what about this filename? Read the spoiler if it bugs you

I was searching using the words that are at the answer, finally found the Meeple term, and searching for "Meeple" at Google Images leads to a lot of images, including this one that is at the Carcassonne Wikipedia and ocasionally is called Carcassonne-meeple (with a better license to use at StackExchange sites). Acessed Carcassonne's wiki and double-checked the Meeple name, found the wikitionary definition, searched for another reference online using that definition, and the HappyMeeple pointed to wikitionary. But before that, I didn't know that it was one of its players that coined the term and since there is an older game called Europa 1945-2030 that have a similar-but-not-equal humanoid figure i couldn't be sure if there was possibly an older game also using Meeple design, of if the Europa humanoid design was also called Meeple or a variant of it and therefore, other older game using Europa's design. Then I have asked and answered at the same time to spread knowledge. But believe me, I was not aware of the term until i wrote this question+answer, and the image used at this question was decided when I was posting :)

Ok, back to the question. Examples:

• Carcassonne: This figure is used as player points counter and a resource that will be turned into 4 different classes(base game) like a pawn;
• Terra Mystica: This figure is a multi-purpose resource(Priest), depending on your race;
• Tiny Little Quest: You have 3 of these figures in your control, but they are not minions neither resources;

My Question: Is there an official or de facto name I can call this little guy on my image? I am specifically interested in what this particular design of token is called.

Answer 1

After some searching, the Meeple term was prominent on lot of online resources (filenames, sites and boardgame spare parts sellers). Searching for "Meeple Origin", this definition was found and helped me to track the origin of the name and what games are using this piece.

At HappyMeeple.com:

Origin of the Meeple word

A meeple is a little wooden character representing the player in many modern board games.

Over time, the meeple has become the symbol of modern board games.

According to Wiktionary, the origin of the term “Meeple” is the following:

“Coined in November of 2000 by Alison Hansel during a game of Carcassonne when she fused "my" and "people" to describe the wooden figures each player uses in that game.

Searching for Meeple Games we have the following list:

• BoardGameGeek - Games featuring "The Meeple"

Interesting Stuff:

• First board game to use 'Meeples' - This is an interesting topic and it goes beyond of what i have posted about Europa 1945-2030 at the question.
• Poll: What exactly is a meeple? - And this thread is a discussion about what could be actually considered a meeple inside all existing variants of these figures.

Answer 2

I'm used to calling simple game pieces "pawns" -- yes, the same word used for the expendable pieces in chess. If you have a piece that isn't a figure of revolution (i.e. can't be created on a lathe), you might call it a "figure" (that's what I'm used to calling American Monopoly pieces, which are tiny castings of a shoe, a hat, a dog, etc.).