http://www.usasoda.com/images/ccsimba.JPG
The above picture is of a can of carbonated soda manufactured (or distributed?) by Duncan Foods starting in 1968.
I remember seeing cans of this stuff in a soft drink vending machine at the Santa Monica, California YMCA in the mid- to late-1970s.
So, it looks like maybe Disney had other inspirations besides Kimba, The White Lion for the Lion King!
I think Simba means lion in Swahili. Not much of a leap.
Huh.
I’ll be darned.
According to my Swahili/English dictionary, Simba really does mean “a lion”.
Hmmm … then why didn’t Cecil Adams mention this little important factoid in http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a991224.html?
Just don’t ask me how I knew that. I have no idea.
I challenge anyone to watch the Disney film Bambi and then watch The Lion King and not come to the conclusion that the latter is based on the former.
The hero has two friends. One is funny and energetic and the other is lethargic and smells bad.
Is that Bambi or Simba?
The film starts with the birth of the new prince and all the animals gather around to adore it.
Bambi or Lion King?
The film ends with the birth of the main charcters offspring and a repeat of the opening scene and the hero replaces his father as king of the_____.
Bambi or Lion King?
The main character has a close relationship with one parent and practically no relationship with the other one. The one the hero is close to is murdered.
Bambi or Lion King?
The main character goes for ‘child’ to ‘young man’ in the film.
Bambi or Lion King?
The main character gets Wisdom from another animal who is a sort of offical.
The Owl or Rafiki?
There is a ‘sex’ scene after they reach adulthood and are reunited with childhood girlfriend.
Bambi or Lion King.
The two films are so similar it is almost funny.
Of course Bambi is based on a book that I’ve never read and I can’t recall the name of it right now but I’m really sick of the “The Lion King is based on Kimba the White Lion” meme.
I can see why the name of the book would cause you trouble. The book’s titled “Bambi”. 
I recall as a kid (it was around 1973) going to now-defunct Lion Country Safari, which was memorializing its great lion that (IIRC) lived to be 90 years old (could be cat years).
His name was Simba.
I went to high school with a girl from Kenya (Elizabeth Mumba? I don’t think that’s right but it’s the surname coming to mind) and I remember talking to her one day about The Lion King (it was only a couple years old at that point) and she told me that simba, pumba, and maybe even timon were all names of animals.
Simba, of course, means lion, pumba means warthog, and, if I am remembering right, timon means meer cat or just cat or whatever.
ever watch any old Tarzan movies as a youngster (or later)? odds are, you heard one of the “natives” babbling warnings of the attacking “simba” at one time or another. the inference was pretty obvious, in context.