# The Hitler surname **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163 "2007-09-05T21:12:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/21 "2007-09-06T18:34:04Z")
[Schicklgruber-\>Hiedler-\>Hitler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alois_Hitler) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/22 "2007-09-06T19:56:12Z")
[QUOTE=Steve Wright] I think you’ll find that was a sketch on _Monty Python’s Flying Circus_. (Not a documentary. At least, I hope not.) [/QUOTE] Wooosh! I thought Michael Palin as Goebbles was a nice touch. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/23 "2007-09-06T20:10:32Z")
[QUOTE=SaintCad] Wooosh! I thought Michael Palin as Goebbles was a nice touch. [/QUOTE] Michael Palin played Bimmler in that sketch, didn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/24 "2007-09-06T20:14:05Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] Maybe if you saw them you would understand. I am a little picky on who I see, since it is often a relationship that lasts the lifetime of the pet. My staff was also uncomfortable with these people. So, yes, I told them I would not see them. Similarly, a few years back, I declined to see a black Labrador Retriever named _Nigger_. Owning your own business is fraught with headaches. If I do not want to associate with certain individuals, dealing with that right up front is one positive aspect of business ownership. [/QUOTE] Now a dog named “Nigger” I’d definitely have a problem with. A cat named “Hitler” doesn’t seem so bad. Maybe because of the whole “Cats Who Look Like Hitler” thing. But if the people scared you or the staff, then okay. I guess I would have given them a chance first though. Although I would NOT give a chance to the people with the Lab. Or I’d tell them flat-out they’d have to give the dog some other name for my records and to use while in my office. Well I hope some vet somewhere agreed to care for the Hitler cat, who didn’t do anything to deserve being stuck with possibly unsavory owners. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/25 "2007-09-06T20:54:53Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] I declined to see a black Labrador Retriever named _Nigger_. [/QUOTE] Watch “The Dam Busters” Apparently in the WWII era it was common, and apparently not necessarily evil to call black labs by that name. Maybe your not-client was an old Brit fly boy. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/26 "2007-09-06T22:58:09Z")
[QUOTE=kitemaker\_chuck] Does anyone anywhere openly go by the surname of Hitler anymore? [/QUOTE] Yes. I used to teach at the University of Toronto, and one of my colleagues had an undergraduate student named Adolf Hitler. I learned of this Hitler initially because students using the timesharing server were complaining on the local newsgroups about seeing someone logged in with the name “Adolf Hitler” when they used the finger command. The computer lab staff had to patiently explain that no, the system hadn’t been hacked, and yes, Adolf Hitler was the real name of the student. I later found out that one of my friends was teaching this guy. I asked about him, and my friend said he was Indian and seemed like a nice guy. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/27 "2007-09-07T00:44:31Z")
Is this thread exempt from Godwin’s law? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/28 "2007-09-07T00:48:29Z")
It should be remembered that the family name was originally spelled _Heidler_ and or _Hiedler_ before Hitler’s father Alois changed it (for reasons uncertain). There were never many and it was mostly a custom alteration. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/29 "2007-09-07T02:08:28Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] Is this thread exempt from Godwin’s law? [/QUOTE] [Yes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law#Corollaries_and_usage) Plus, as an added bonus you’ve _won_ the thread by being the first to invoke the corollary: As an online discussion of Hitler grows longer, the probability of someone mentioning Godwin approaches one. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/30 "2007-09-07T09:50:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Plus, as an added bonus you’ve won the thread by being the first to invoke the corollary: > As an online discussion of Hitler grows longer, the probability of someone mentioning Godwin approaches one. But we invoked Nemo’s Law first: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a Monty Python reference approaches one. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/31 "2007-09-07T13:28:01Z")
[QUOTE=missbunny] I guess I would have given them a chance first though. [/QUOTE] Practically, that is a problem. If I do not want do business with someone, it is easy to tell them that and be OK with the laws and rules under which I work. If I establish a relationship (by accepting money for service) it is then harder to tell them to go away. I am licensed by the state, and there are rules in addition to laws that I must follow. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163/32 "2007-09-07T13:55:17Z")
I know, it’s a tough situation. I don’t think you were wrong for giving them the boot: you have to do what you think is best for you and the employees. When I said I would have given them a chance, I wasn’t thinking of myself as a vet but rather in another line of business. Well I really wasn’t thinking of all the ramifications; just that I felt bad for the kitty. I can see your point that it would be easier to never start a relationship rather than start one and then try to end it. Aside, I am stunned that someone would admit to another random person he named his dog that horrible name. “Hitler” on a mustachioed cat is kind of amusing. (Maybe it shouldn’t be.) The dog’s name is just hateful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hitler-surname/418163.md?page=1)