# How did Hitler spell his first name?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 23, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023 "2000-10-23T21:28:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/1 "2000-10-23T21:28:10Z")
Sometimes, I see Hitler’s first name as “Adolf.” Other times, “Adolph.” Sometimes, both.
My question is: What did Hitler himself use? I use “Adolf,” personally, but I wonder if Hitler himself used Adolf, Adolph, or both.
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### Author:  [@Dan\_Tana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Tana)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2000, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/2 "2000-10-23T21:30:25Z")
I think he went by his nickname…" Buddy "
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### Author:  [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2000, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/3 "2000-10-23T21:34:56Z")
I believe the correct English spelling is:
**"Sh!thead"**
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2000, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/4 "2000-10-23T21:35:27Z")
Did everyone who had the last name Hitler change it after WWII?
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2000, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/5 "2000-10-23T21:38:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by adam yax \*
> \*\*Did everyone who had the last name Hitler change it after WWII? \*\*
I don’t think so. I remember reading something about a person who’s still living with the name Adolf Hitler.
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### Author:  [@TampaFlyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TampaFlyer)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2000, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/6 "2000-10-23T21:53:39Z")
Actually he usually went by his middle name, Kevin.
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### Author:  [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2000, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/7 "2000-10-23T22:17:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I use “Adolf,” personally, but I wonder if Hitler himself used Adolf, Adolph, or both.
I didn’t know your name was Adolf. You might wanna think about changing it. It’s lost a lot of its charm since 1936 or so.
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### Author:  [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2000, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/8 "2000-10-23T22:25:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by adam yax \*
> \*\*Did everyone who had the last name Hitler change it after WWII? \*\*
According to [whowhere](http://phone.whowhere.lycos.com/telephone.psrch?f-name=&name=hitler) there are a few left in the US.
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2000, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/9 "2000-10-23T22:45:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by DAVEW0071 \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > I use “Adolf,” personally, but I wonder if Hitler himself used Adolf, Adolph, or both.
>
> I didn’t know your name was Adolf. You might wanna think about changing it. It’s lost a lot of its charm since 1936 or so. \*\*
My grandfather’s name was Adolf, and he kept all his life. (He died in 1984.) Not only was he Jewish, but he was a concentration camp survivor.
Ed
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### Author:  [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2000, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/10 "2000-10-23T22:53:58Z")
Hey, just don’t mess with 'Dolf Lungren guys.
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### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2000, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/11 "2000-10-23T23:07:39Z")
I’ve seen it listed as an error (for example, here at [Movie-Mistakes.com](http://www.films.movie-mistakes.com/letters/i/indiana_jones.htm#crusade)) when, in _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_, Hitler autographs Indy’s book using “Adolf” rather than the properly-German “Adolph”. Lend that what credence you may.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2000, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/12 "2000-10-24T01:13:08Z")
Isn’t Adolf a rather common name though in German speaking countries and the like? Hell, wasn’t there King Gustav Adolf of Sweden?
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### Author:  [@Scribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribe)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2000, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/13 "2000-10-24T02:39:40Z")
John Toland’s bio of Hitler has his birth certificate, which calls him “Adolfus”. It’s apparently issued by a parish priest, so Adolf is correct. FWIW, I’ve pretty well always seen it spelled with an f.
Apparently, he used Adolf throughout his life, and his signature of his first name ended with a line with a crossstroke, presumably forming a f.
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### Author:  [@jcarbon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcarbon)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2000, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/14 "2000-10-24T03:09:58Z")
He was dyslexic.
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### Author:  [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2000, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/15 "2000-10-24T04:32:16Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \*
> \*\*Isn’t Adolf a rather common name though in German speaking countries and the like? Hell, wasn’t there King Gustav Adolf of Sweden?
> \*\*
Yes, Gustavus Adoplhus was a participant in the Thirty Years’ War and was looked to as a savior among Protestants:
[http://www.sihope.com/~loric/clann/gars.html](http://www.sihope.com/~loric/clann/gars.html)
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### Author:  [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2000, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/16 "2000-10-24T11:58:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by DRY \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \*
> > \*\*Isn’t Adolf a rather common name though in German speaking countries and the like? Hell, wasn’t there King Gustav Adolf of Sweden?
> > \*\*
>
> Yes, Gustavus Adoplhus was a participant in the Thirty Years’ War and was looked to as a savior among Protestants:
> \*\*
We’ve had two kings called Gustav Adolf (and another four called just Gustav/Gustaf), none of them called Gustavus _Adoplhus_. The older of them, Gustav II Adolf, is called Gustavus Adolphus by foreigners, though. Don’t ask me why (on the other hand we tend to swedisize names of foreign regents, so I assume it’s just fair).
In case you wonder about the numbering of Swedish kings we always put the number after the first name if they have more than one. Thus you get Carl XII, Carl XIV Johan (Jean Baptiste Bernadotte) and Carl XVI Gustaf (also called ‘Cal Gustf’ or ‘knugen’ (ie ‘the knig’ in English) because of his dyslexia).
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2000, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/17 "2000-10-24T12:23:18Z")
Just to answer the OP, Hitler’s first name was spelled “Adolf” according to Webster’s. It lists no alternate spelling.
> [@](#):
>
> I’ve seen it listed as an error (for example, here at [Movie-Mistakes.com](http://Movie-Mistakes.com)) when, in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Hitler autographs Indy’s book using “Adolf” rather than the properly-German “Adolph”. Lend that what credence you may.
Unless the dictionary is wrong, I’d say the movie mistake listing is in error. I took 3 years of German in high school, and I don’t remember seeing any German words that ended in “ph”. Of course, that was a long time ago.
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### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2000, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/18 "2000-10-24T12:23:59Z")
The IMDb says it’s [Adolf Hitler](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Hitler,+Adolf), but that he’s sometimes credited as Adolph Hitler.
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### Author:  [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2000, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/19 "2000-10-25T03:18:50Z")
[QUOTE]
\*Originally posted by Floater \*
\*\*
> [@](#):
>
> We’ve had two kings called Gustav Adolf (and another four called just Gustav/Gustaf), none of them called Gustavus _Adoplhus_.
> \*\*
Mea culpa.
Note to self: It is REALLY bad form to make a typo when clarifying the **spelling** of someone’s name. :eek:
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2000, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-hitler-spell-his-first-name/38023/20 "2000-10-25T03:32:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by adam yax \*
> \*\*Did everyone who had the last name Hitler change it after WWII? \*\*
I looked it up and yes, some people do use the name. It loses a lot of its impact, at least to me, if it isn’t paired with “Adolf.”
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