# Um... didn't all of Western Civilization agree to stop using variations on the name Adolf? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 2, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201 "2014-10-02T18:37:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/21 "2014-10-03T04:08:55Z")
I think just saying “Hey, I was wrong about how much this association is made for every possible permutation of the name and for all audiences” would probably improve your thread. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/22 "2014-10-03T04:10:58Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > I think the mustache is more extinct than the name. Except for Michael Jordan. ---
**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:** [October 3, 2014, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/23 "2014-10-03T06:08:30Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > There’s no rule that says your business has to be named after yourself and this is a name that people generally associate with one particular Adolf who happened to be a bit of a dick. It seems to be only you who associates Adolfo with Adolf Hitler. > [@](#): > > The entire first page of Google results for “Adolf” is filled almost exclusively with results for Adolf Hitler. The one single exception is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s page for [Adolf Eichmann](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007412)- hardly a saving grace. Okay… but the restaurant’s name is **Adolfo’s** , so… > [@](#): > > There’s not a single one of you who thinks it’s outlandish to suggest that Adolf Hitler is _by far_ the most common association for the name Adolf. The restaurant is called Adolfo’s. > [@](#): > > Anybody _truly_ think it is outlandish for me to suggest that most people would directly associate the name with Adolf Hitler? If so, wanna point out to me just how much more popular the name is than I think it is? The restaurant is called Adolfo’s. > [@bienville](#): > > Um, no, I am _surprised_ that American business owners whose entire possible pool of customers are Americans, a people who had generally unfavorable opinions of Adolf Hitler’s foreign and domestic policy, wouldn’t make extra super sure that their business would not evoke any remote association with Adolf Hitler. The restaurant is called Adolfo’s. ---
**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:** [October 3, 2014, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/24 "2014-10-03T07:03:39Z")
[Not familiar with the Rocky movies?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolph_Lundgren) And he CHANGED IT to that. (And yes, it is the same name, as much as Adolfo is.) ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/25 "2014-10-03T07:45:38Z")
That’s not how you associate the name of Adolf Hitler with a restaurant, this is how you associate the name of Adolf Hitler with a restaurant: [KFC Is Not Amused by ‘Hitler’ Fried Chicken](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/07/08/kfc-is-not-amused-by-hitler-fried-chicken/) ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/26 "2014-10-03T08:18:48Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > The entire first page of Google results for “Adolf” is filled almost exclusively with results for Adolf Hitler. The one single exception is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum When I google Adolfo I get a full page of some Spanish fashion designer. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/27 "2014-10-03T08:38:29Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > When I google Adolfo I get a full page of some Spanish fashion designer. Top Google image for Adolfo is a Roman Catholic priest, [Adolfo Nicolás](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Adolfo_Nicolas,_Sup._G%C3%A9n.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/28 "2014-10-03T10:42:43Z")
Adolfo is a common name in Mexico. Hence, Adolfo, the Mexican restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/29 "2014-10-03T10:43:29Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > I’m sure the many millions of Johns and Joes and Williams are glad that their names are so popular that they can’t be ruined by just one single bad apple. It’s different with Adolf because it was not a particularly common name when Hitler rose to fame, therefore it’s much more likely that the name will be associated with Hitler than it is that Joseph would be associated with Stalin. Could a case not be made for reclaiming the A-name – refusing to let it thus be ruined? One might concentrate on the enormous number of benign or harmless Adolfs / Adolfos / Adolphuses who have lived, or are now living… ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/30 "2014-10-03T11:16:31Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Um, no, I am _surprised_ that American business owners whose entire possible pool of customers are Americans, a people who had generally unfavorable opinions of Adolf Hitler’s foreign and domestic policy, wouldn’t make extra super sure that their business would not evoke any remote association with Adolf Hitler. > > A mundane pointless observation. > > And you called me out for saying “all of Western Civilization” when I already admitted it was hyperbole. Yeah I’m not getting that. Adolpho does not equal Adolf. It certainly doesn’t make me think of Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/31 "2014-10-03T12:39:08Z")
Adolfo’s is a restaurant on Frenchmen in New Orleans. Been there about 20 years and I’ve never given it a Nazi thought. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/32 "2014-10-03T13:06:02Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > “All of Western Civilization” was hyperbole, That wasn’t extremely obvious, especially as you said it in the title and the text. > [@](#): > > but the disbelief expressed by Dopers in this Thread is purely the old tradition of Dopers being contrary just for the sake of being contrary. I don’t think so. > [@](#): > > There’s not a single one of you who thinks it’s outlandish to suggest that Adolf Hitler is _by far_ the most common association for the name Adolf. Nobody is claiming they’ve never heard of Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/33 "2014-10-03T13:06:21Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > A mundane pointless observation. Based on a mundane and pointless impression of how widespread is the association. Fair enough. As others pointed out, in any case Adolf would not necessarily register the same way as Adolfo’s or Adolphe or Adolphus. BTW, all that aside I would not be surprised (though I would be annoyed) if a large number of currently-living Americans below a certain age, if asked “What was Hitler’s given name?” would go _“Um… Heil? Henrick… no wait, that’s Himmler, you mean that’s a different guy? With an A you say? Er, Albert? Arthur? Arminius?..”_, save for WW2 buffs, actual Neos, and people who watched a lot of the History Channel in the 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/34 "2014-10-03T13:12:23Z")
Anyone remember [Osama’s Place](http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/28/national/28REST.html)? (Note the date of the article…) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/35 "2014-10-03T13:19:35Z")
When the previous pope picked his name did you think of Mussolini? When you hear about the current Vice President do you think about Stalin? Does [this](http://local5marketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ff4b99a0-1b9a-4f54-af9c-4d9cf46cfa51.jpg) make you think of Stalin? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/36 "2014-10-03T15:31:29Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > When the previous pope picked his name did you think of Mussolini? > When you hear about the current Vice President do you think about Stalin? > Does [this](http://local5marketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ff4b99a0-1b9a-4f54-af9c-4d9cf46cfa51.jpg) make you think of Stalin? To be fair to the OP, I think seeing the name Adolf probably does quite significantly link (in my mind) to Hitler than any of the above, BUT my reaction would be more “Oh, OK - so that name’s shaking off any historic taboo it might have” than “OMG! Hitler! I can’t believe it!” ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/37 "2014-10-03T15:39:47Z")
There’s a reporter on my local NPR station named Adolfo Guzman Lopez, and he always says his name with a fairly thick accent. I used to think it was endearing, but now I realize he’s just trying to hide his _true_ heritage from us. Thanks for alerting me. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/38 "2014-10-03T16:30:05Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > I think the mustache is more extinct than the name. The last name is probably closer to being extinct than the first name. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/39 "2014-10-03T16:50:35Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > The entire first page of Google results for “Adolf” is filled almost exclusively with results for Adolf Hitler. The one single exception is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s page for [Adolf Eichmann](http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007412)- hardly a saving grace. I was always under the impression that the -ph spelling variant was more common than the -f one. And if you Google “Adolph” you wind up with [all kinds of people](https://www.google.com/search?q=adolph&oq=adolph&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0l5.14471j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8). When I was typing in the search term, as soon as I hit the p, the autocomplete suggestions gave me Adolph Rupp, Adolph Coors, and the Adolphus hotel in Dallas. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201/40 "2014-10-03T18:05:45Z")
Just so the OP doesn’t think he’s living in crazy-land all alone. A couple of years ago I was visiting my sister. Her daughter (my niece) was, I believe, in 1st or 2nd grade, and they had an assignment to write a knock-knock joke. My sister, knowing my love of childish humor, asked if I wanted to help. Eventually we came up with one I thought was pretty good: Knock, knock Who’s there? Adolph Adolph who? A dolphin took my beach ball! My sister called me a few days later to tell me that her teacher had rejected the joke as “age-inappropriate” because it had the name “Adolph” in it! 😕:smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-didnt-all-of-western-civilization-agree-to-stop-using-variations-on-the-name-adolf/700201.md?page=3)