# "Bruce" A gay name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933 "2011-09-28T22:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/21 "2011-09-29T00:49:28Z")
Huh. I just think of “Bruce” as the stereotypical Australian male name (along with “Sheila” for women.) I’m not exactly sure where I got that from, but checking the net confirms I’m not the only one. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/22 "2011-09-29T00:52:26Z")
I remember Bruce being a gay name when I was a kid in the 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/23 "2011-09-29T00:53:07Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > Lou Ferrigno claimed CBS changed the name of The Hulk from the comic book Bruce Banner to David Banner for this very reason. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > When **Mad** did their spoof of the TV show _The Incredible Hulk_ they played on this. > > Woman: Mother, I’d like you to meet my friend David Banner. > > Mother: David? He looks more like a Bruce! > > Banner: I am, in the comic book version. But the TV people thought it didn’t sound _manly_ enough. > …and in the backkground , on the TV the announcer is saying : “Jenner wins again! Bruce is the World’s Greatest Athlete!” And in a [thread on the very same topic](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=308654&highlight=bruce) from 2005, I said: > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > MAD Magazine took off on this with their parody of the Hulk TV show. David is asked why he isn’t named “Bruce” and he replies that the producers thought it wasn’t manly enough. Behind him, the TV is broadcasting the Olympics and the announcer is screaming: “He’s done it! Bruce has done it! Bruce Jenner is the world’s greatest athelete!!” > > Well done. There is truly nothing new under the sun. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/24 "2011-09-29T01:16:34Z")
Yes, it’s a stereotype that was popular in the 60s and 70s, and I don’t think anybody really knows why. Probably for the same reason all soldiers were named “Tex”. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/25 "2011-09-29T01:29:35Z")
I blame Bruce Vilanch. ---
**Author:** ![Buckeye\_NW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@Buckeye\_NW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckeye_NW)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/26 "2011-09-29T01:34:18Z")
I used to think Bruce was gay until I saw this .[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_f\_p0CgPeyA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f_p0CgPeyA) No pooftahs! ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/27 "2011-09-29T01:43:19Z")
Wasn’t this brought up in _Steel Magnolias_? I think the names they considered gay were Bruce, Mark and Lance, but it’s been awhile since I’ve watched it. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/28 "2011-09-29T01:51:35Z")
**Exapno Mapcase** suggested [in the 2003 version of this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=195276) that the connotation might have started with Bruce Wayne. In his 1954 diatribe against comics, _Seduction of the Innocent_, Fredric Wertham claimed that Batman and Robin represented a gay fantasy. Given the amount of fuss Wertham’s book generated–along with related Congressional inquiry, censorship movements, and the establishment of the Comics Code Authority–it seems plausible that it could have planted the seeds of the connotation. It’s also possible that the association already existed, and the book helped spread and reinforce it. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/29 "2011-09-29T01:56:21Z")
> [@missred](#): > > Wasn’t this brought up in _Steel Magnolias_? I think the names they considered gay were Bruce, Mark and Lance, but it’s been awhile since I’ve watched it. Rick, Mark, and Steve. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/30 "2011-09-29T02:36:00Z")
When I was a kid in the early 1970s, and beginning to lose my primary teeth (and put them under my pillow for the Tooth Fairy to collect), my parents told me that the Tooth Fairy’s name was Bruce, that he was from San Francisco, and that he also had a day job, as an interior decorator. This seem to amuse them tremendously at the time, and I had no idea why. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/31 "2011-09-29T02:47:21Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > Rick, Mark, and Steve. Really? The stereotype those give me is “generic white guy.” It’s like if I meet a girl named Jessica/Jennifer, my initial impression is “I’m gonna forget her name in an hour.” ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/32 "2011-09-29T02:52:20Z")
Family Guy uses the stereotype with the Bruce character. Oh noooo. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/33 "2011-09-29T03:38:18Z")
I have always associated the name “Bruce” as a gay name. Although I do not know any “Bruces” that are gay. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/34 "2011-09-29T03:52:10Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Too bad we weren’t back in the 50s, when men were men and had manly names like Rock Hudson to chase the gay away. I thought Bruce _was_ supposed to be stereotypically manly, and therefore gay by some sort of backhanded association. Down Under, isn’t “Bruce” an analogue for our “Dude?” ETA: Am I the only one picturing any “Bruce” – gay or straight – as having a mustache? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/35 "2011-09-29T03:52:23Z")
Jaws is gay? Weird. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/36 "2011-09-29T04:19:56Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Jaws is gay? > Weird. I’m pretty sure that naming the robot that was a joke because of that stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/37 "2011-09-29T04:58:13Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Yep. they’re secretly married. That doesn’t mean they’re gay! :mad: It’s a marriage for tax purposes. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/38 "2011-09-29T09:24:25Z")
Of course, though, you’ve all heard those rumors about Bruce Wayne and his youthful ward, Dick Grayson. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/39 "2011-09-29T10:27:14Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Down Under, isn’t “Bruce” an analogue for our “Dude?” Assuming you’re not attempting a whoosh here, no. You’re thinking of the Monty Python sketch alluded to way back in post 5. ETA: ..and linked to in post 26. In _actual_ Australia, as opposed to the Monty Python version, **mate** is our analogue of dude. I can only think of one guy called Bruce that I’ve personally known, and he isn’t gay. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933/40 "2011-09-29T11:06:03Z")
The one “Bruce” that I knew growing up changed his name to his middle name while in college. It’s not so much that people think the person is gay, but that name itself just begs kids to put a lisp on it: “Bruth, you kill me.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-a-gay-name/597933.md?page=3)