# If Bambi is male... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870 "2011-03-16T02:53:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/1 "2011-03-16T02:53:47Z")
why is the name usually with females, at least in the U.S? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/2 "2011-03-16T03:45:56Z")
Because [Bambi](http://images.wikia.com/disney/images/d/d5/32248bambi2_1.jpg) is a fawn through most of the picture, with huge cute eyes and a high-pitched voice. Although male, he seems feminine. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/3 "2011-03-16T03:49:55Z")
It’s the ‘i’…names that end in ‘i’ are taken as girl’s names. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/4 "2011-03-16T03:52:52Z")
I liked the sequel: _Bambi Goes Crazy Ape Bonkers with his Drill and Sex_ ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/5 "2011-03-16T04:03:04Z")
According to the IMDb trivia section for Disney’s movie, "Austrian writer Felix Salten (real name Siegmund Salzmann) - an insurance clerk who began to write out of boredom - got the inspiration for his novel during a trip to Italy when he became fascinated with the Italian word _bambino_. No cite, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/6 "2011-03-16T04:11:07Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Although male, he seems feminine. I’d do him. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/7 "2011-03-16T04:23:24Z")
So, for various reasons just hearing the name “Bambi” it seems feminine in English. Is that at all the case in German? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/8 "2011-03-16T04:29:55Z")
For the same reason Sandy Duncan, Mary Martin and Cathy Rigby played Peter Pan. Though Robin Williams played Peter Pan in one movie he soon reverted to playing a woman in Mrs Doubtfire. And let’s not even get started with Tinker Bell 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/9 "2011-03-16T12:36:56Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > So, for various reasons just hearing the name “Bambi” it seems feminine in English. Is that at all the case in German? I’m German, and I’d say yes, but that’s my personal opinion. Having never seen the movie or read the book, but being nonetheless kind of familiar with the character, I’ve always thought, up to opening this thread, that Bambi was female. And although the ‘i’ ending in German names isn’t exclusive to female names (see Willi, Toni, Henri), ‘Bambi’ definitely sounds like a girl’s name to me. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/10 "2011-03-16T12:57:19Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I liked the sequel: _Bambi Goes Crazy Ape Bonkers with his Drill and Sex_ I preferred [this sequel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-wUdetAAlY). ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/11 "2011-03-16T13:11:35Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I liked the sequel: _Bambi Goes Crazy Ape Bonkers with his Drill and Sex_ Is that true, Bambi? Did you do a Disney nasty? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/12 "2011-03-16T13:20:00Z")
I thought it was kind of gender neutral leaving it as Bambi rather than Bambino or Bambina. Not sure why females take shortened form more often than men. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/13 "2011-03-16T13:21:40Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I’m German, and I’d say yes, but that’s my personal opinion. Having never seen the movie or read the book, but being nonetheless kind of familiar with the character, I’ve always thought, up to opening this thread, that Bambi was female. And although the ‘i’ ending in German names isn’t exclusive to female names (see Willi, Toni, Henri), ‘Bambi’ definitely sounds like a girl’s name to me. It was originally [written in German](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bambi,_A_Life_in_the_Woods) by an Austrian too. I theorise that it’s short for the masculine Italian “bambino”, child; the docking of its tail by a non-Italian speaker renders it inadvertently feminine. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/14 "2011-03-16T13:24:18Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > It was originally [written in German](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bambi,_A_Life_in_the_Woods) by an Austrian too. G’Day, Mate! Throw another shrimp on the barbi for ya? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/15 "2011-03-16T13:30:24Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I preferred [this sequel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-wUdetAAlY). Heh…the reason I even came into this thread, so of course someone else already did it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/16 "2011-03-16T13:48:02Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > G’Day, Mate! Throw another shrimp on the barbi for ya? This is just a _hunch_, but there is the smallest outside chance you may have misread what I wrote (or the whooshing sound is that of the boomerang division of the Luftwaffe). ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/17 "2011-03-16T13:49:54Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I preferred [this sequel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-wUdetAAlY). Please please be _Bambi Meets Gojira_! ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/18 "2011-03-16T14:53:30Z")
who will want to name their boy after a hornless deer? deers without antlers are girls, deers with antlers are boys, cats are girls, dogs are boys and all ladybugs are girls. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/19 "2011-03-16T15:14:40Z")
Heh, last night on **Jeopardy!** Alex Trebek referred to Bambi as “she.” ---
**Author:** ![wonder\_lust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@wonder\_lust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder_lust)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870/20 "2011-03-16T16:23:03Z")
Couldn’t Bambi, the woman’s (okay, stripper’s…) name, simply be short for _bambina_? I don’t know Italian, but I’m guessing that the word also has a feminine form. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-bambi-is-male/574870.md?page=2)