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.
I remember Bruce being a gay name when I was a kid in the 70’s.
And in a thread on the very same topic from 2005, I said:
There is truly nothing new under the sun.
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”.
I blame Bruce Vilanch.
I used to think Bruce was gay until I saw this
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f_p0CgPeyA
No pooftahs!
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.
Exapno Mapcase suggested in the 2003 version of this thread 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.
Rick, Mark, and Steve.
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. 
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.”
Family Guy uses the stereotype with the Bruce character. Oh noooo.
I have always associated the name “Bruce” as a gay name. Although I do not know any “Bruces” that are gay.
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?
Jaws is gay?
Weird.
I’m pretty sure that naming the robot that was a joke because of that stereotype.
That doesn’t mean they’re gay! :mad: It’s a marriage for tax purposes.
Of course, though, you’ve all heard those rumors about Bruce Wayne and his youthful ward, Dick Grayson.
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.
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.”