# 'Hitler' as a modern surname... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2005, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341 "2005-04-27T11:28:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/41 "2010-12-30T20:21:23Z")
Then there was nice Mr. Hilter I met at that bed and breakfast in England. He was planning a hike but had accidently procured a map of Stalingrad. He wouldn’t have had much fun there! ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/42 "2010-12-30T20:30:13Z")
Not much fun in Dzhugashviligrad, no… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/43 "2010-12-30T20:51:03Z")
Indeed not: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlmGknvr\_Pg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlmGknvr_Pg) ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/44 "2010-12-30T21:49:39Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Actually his children did use Stalin as a surname. His daughter was born Svetlana Josifovna Stalina. She changed her surname to her mother’s made name, Alliluyeva, after he died. Later after she defected to the US she married for a third time and changed her name to Lana Peters. Yes, this fact makes me within “6 degrees of having dined together” with Hitler, even without Hitler and Stalin ever meeting in person (which I seem to remember as a historical footnote). I have had dinner with my wife… … who has had dinner with a math professor at NYU … … who once had dinner with the Svetlana named above … … who surely had dinner with her father, Josef Stalin … … who probably had a luncheon, if not a state dinner, with Ribbentrop … … who certainly had dinner with Hitler at some point. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/45 "2010-12-30T23:24:03Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Yes, this fact makes me within “6 degrees of having dined together” with Hitler, even without Hitler and Stalin ever meeting in person (which I seem to remember as a historical footnote). > > I have had dinner with my wife… > … who has had dinner with a math professor at NYU … > … who once had dinner with the Svetlana named above … > … who surely had dinner with her father, Josef Stalin … > … who probably had a luncheon, if not a state dinner, with Ribbentrop … > … who certainly had dinner with Hitler at some point. And, from my vantage point, the Dope hereby implodes into a black hole … In the last couple of days we’ve had the following set of events: [ul]This very zombie thread has been bounced, resulting in someone having to note that a new post repeats the point I made in 2005.[/ul] [ul]Another [zombie thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=118545) has seen someone seconding a post I made in 2002.[/ul] [ul] **robardin** ’s “I seem to remember as a historical footnote” presumably derives from [this post](http://boardstest.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6720368&postcount=72) by myself pointing out that indeed Stalin and Hitler hadn’t met.[/ul] [ul]A post in which I pointed out I could shortcut **robardin** ’s above connection with Hitler.[/ul] We thereby seem to have passed the point whereby the content of my past posts, as currently cited, has exceeded my rate of new posts. Nice. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/46 "2010-12-30T23:39:25Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > This may be related, but I clearly recall about 10 years ago reading of a Midwestern man whose surname was Hitler, and he refused to change it, much to the chagrin of his children. Seems the daughters were desperate to get married. I imagine any judge would be very understanding if they or their brothers wanted to change their surname. No reason to wait until marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/47 "2010-12-31T01:55:51Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I imagine any judge would be very understanding if they or their brothers wanted to change their surname. No reason to wait until marriage. I believe some did. But the father was adamant he wouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/48 "2010-12-31T02:10:52Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Girl Hitler? > > So what is Unterbeit really like? Side note, but the first time I saw the episode that introduced Girl Hitler, I misheard her name. When I realized it was GIRL Hitler, I was disappointed, as I thought Her Hitler was a much better joke. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/49 "2010-12-31T02:53:18Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I believe some did. But the father was adamant he wouldn’t. Big deal. It’s not like he can stop them. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/50 "2011-01-01T01:08:09Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > 😕 They were happy with the name Hitler for 40 years after WWII and only decided to change it after they had a daughter in the 1980s? My scientific wild-assed guess is Emily9889 is an adoptee. Her new family changed her name when she was adopted. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/51 "2011-01-01T21:29:05Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Yes, this fact makes me within “6 degrees of having dined together” with Hitler, even without Hitler and Stalin ever meeting in person (which I seem to remember as a historical footnote). > > I have had dinner with my wife… > … who has had dinner with a math professor at NYU … > … who once had dinner with the Svetlana named above … > … who surely had dinner with her father, Josef Stalin … > … who probably had a luncheon, if not a state dinner, with Ribbentrop … > … who certainly had dinner with Hitler at some point. Ooo, I like this. And I think I can do even better: I met President Obama in October… … who met Queen Elizabeth II last year … whose father King George VI reigned during World War II … whose Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, met with Hitler and returned to Great Britain, waving a treaty and proclaiming that it meant “peace in our time.” ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/52 "2011-01-02T00:40:21Z")
Back to the OP – it may never have been a very common name to begin with – the account I’d remembered, and Wiki supports, was that Hitler per se had only recently (as in, during his father’s lifetime) become the family name – Hitler’s father changed his name from “Hiedler” (the grandfather’s name) in middle age (and/or, says Wiki, some clerk misspelled a phonetic hearing of Hiedler when Hitler’s father Alois went to register with some gov’t office). It says various relations used, at various times, Hiedler, Hüttler, Huettler and Hitler (all from a common root meaning . . . well, Wiki can’t make it’s mind up about what the common root might have been and offers several options). > **[Adolf Hitler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler)** > > Adolf Hitler (German: \[ˈaːdɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ\] (listen); 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party,\[a\] becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then taking the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934.\[b\] During his dictatorship, he initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland on 1 September 1939. He was closely involved in military operations througho... ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/53 "2011-01-02T02:10:45Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Ooo, I like this. And I think I can do even better: > > I met President Obama in October… > … who met Queen Elizabeth II last year > … whose father King George VI reigned during World War II > … whose Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, met with Hitler and returned to Great Britain, waving a treaty and proclaiming that it meant “peace in our time.” I’m sure that the Queen met or dined with someone who dined with Hitler. You shouldn’t need two steps in between them. Edit: You can replace George VI and Chamberlain with Lord Halifax. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/54 "2011-01-03T01:44:19Z")
Her uncle the Duke of Windsor springs to mind. Done and done! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Recliner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a88e57/32.png) [@Recliner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recliner)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341/55 "2011-01-03T13:58:36Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Craig Ferguson performed as an obnoxious character named Bing Hitler for several years. For a real person it would be more of a hindrance. How many concert halls or clubs are going to want to book someone named Hitler? Vic Hitler is infinitely more funny, though. 😃 addendum: because “Bing Hitler” is immediately recognized as a spoof, whereas Vic Hitler is not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitler-as-a-modern-surname/301341.md?page=2)