# What kind of parents name their child Adolph Hitler? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594 "2008-12-17T17:28:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/1 "2008-12-17T17:28:52Z")
An AP story in today’s newspaper is about a family in PA who named their now 3-year old child Adolph Hitler Campbell. They are upset because a store refused to put the entire name on a birthday cake for him. Their other children are named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell. They insist they are not raciest. That may be, but IMHO they are dithering idiots. Pity the poor kids. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/2 "2008-12-17T17:42:18Z")
Racists, neo-Nazis, white supremacists. That’s about it. They can insist they aren’t racists, but nobody should believe them. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/3 "2008-12-17T18:09:51Z")
Assholes. Specific subspecies doesn’t really matter. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/4 "2008-12-17T18:15:08Z")
I cannot decide if the parents are Grade A Assholes or Attention Whoring. How can you not know that naming your child Adolf or Adolf Hitler will not be a life time of abuse, taunting and jokes. Personally, I think the kids should be removed from the home based on the atrociousness of the names and spelling of names. France, and I think New Zealand, have laws against horribly bad baby names. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/5 "2008-12-17T18:18:22Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > An AP story in today’s newspaper is about a family in PA who named their now 3-year old child Adolph Hitler Campbell. No they didn’t. If they had, we could ridicule them for being poor spellers. But c’mon, doncha think that little mustache would look cute on a three-year-old? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/6 "2008-12-17T19:02:20Z")
This was on the radio this morning, but they said that the second place that they went, Wal-Mart complied happliy with putting whatever they wanted on the cake. Godwin Brand Birthday Cakes, they just taste Reich. Now available at your local Wal-Mart. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/7 "2008-12-17T19:30:00Z")
Yeah, the dad doesn’t feel like changing his own name to Adolf Hitler. But he doesn’t mind saddling his kid with it. Apart from the Nazi thing, it sucks when people use their kids to push (putsch?) their own political views, nutty, evil or not. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/8 "2008-12-17T20:08:14Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Apart from the Nazi thing, it sucks when people use their kids to push (putsch?) their own political views, nutty, evil or not. I recall reading a story around 1970 of a woman who had named her daughter Equal Rights Amendment McCarthy. Wonder what that kid’s doing now, and by what name she goes… ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/9 "2008-12-17T20:15:19Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > This was on the radio this morning, but they said that the second place that they went, Wal-Mart complied happliy with putting whatever they wanted on the cake. Well, then. Kudos to WalMart. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/10 "2008-12-17T22:28:28Z")
I was wondering how stupid they were, and if the kid whose middle name is “Hinler” was supposed to be “Himmler.” And Honzlynn. Hans? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/11 "2008-12-17T22:34:03Z")
There’s already a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=497840) in the Pit about this in case anyone feels like cursing more. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/12 "2008-12-17T22:51:23Z")
I think they just like attention and confrontation. They could have just easily put the name “Adolf” on the cake and it probably wouldn’t have been a problem. But they insisted on his **full** name - who puts their kid’s full name on their birthday cake anyway? Their original thought process when deciding on a name for their child was probably something like, “Let’s name our kid Adolf Hitler and see how much of a stink we can make when people inevitably treat him unfairly.” ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/13 "2008-12-17T22:57:10Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > No they didn’t. > > If they had, we could ridicule them for being poor spellers. > But c’mon, doncha think that little mustache would look cute on a three-year-old? [Are you sure?](http://hi.is/~eos/Myndir/Hitler%20baby.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/14 "2008-12-18T04:41:33Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Their original thought process when deciding on a name for their child was probably something like, “Let’s name our kid Adolf Hitler and see how much of a stink we can make when people inevitably treat him unfairly.” Exactly. They are giant attention whore douchebags who knew people would make a fuss over the name they gave their “very special, unique child.” They want to be able to act all high and mighty that _they_ aren’t offended by the name, and if _you_ are, then _you’re_ the one who’s got a problem and is too busy looking at the past…_man_. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/15 "2018-12-18T15:33:46Z")
Bumped. Another couple who named their kid after _Der Fuhrer_ is going to jail in Great Britain on charges of belonging to a banned neo-Nazi group: [Couple who named their baby after Hitler jailed | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/18/uk/parents-jailed-scli-gbr-intl/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/16 "2018-12-18T17:06:00Z")
I’m not sure if it’s changed - it’s now over 20 years ago - but when I worked for a County Council, the chief Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages told me she was allowed to refuse certain names. And people tried to get around that by using initials. She would ask them if they knew what the initials would spell and often they would be enthusiastically affirmative. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/17 "2018-12-18T23:28:46Z")
Switzerland (where one of my children was born) has laws about forbidden names. They gave the explicit example of Karl Marx, but certainly wouldn’t register this one. They would refuse to register any name that would lead to ridicule for example. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/18 "2018-12-19T01:22:12Z")
In France, too, the Man can nix uncool names (e.g., anything too foreign). To make things simple, you used to have to choose from a list, though I understand the regulations have eased up a bit. Many other countries have naming laws; this will not surprise anyone who has encountered bureaucrats. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/19 "2018-12-19T01:44:10Z")
Of minor fascination to me is that while I can get an individual having whatever screw loose that would send them in this direction - wanting to name their child after Hitler - they seem to be able to attract a like minded mate! That’s the scary part. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594/20 "2018-12-19T02:51:18Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > In France, too, the Man can nix uncool names (e.g., anything too foreign). To make things simple, you used to have to choose from a list, though I understand the regulations have eased up a bit. Many other countries have naming laws; this will not surprise anyone who has encountered bureaucrats. Including traditional names from regional minority languages: [URL=][https://www.thelocal.fr/20170515/comment-tu-tappelles-french-authorities-ban-traditional-breton-name](https://www.thelocal.fr/20170515/comment-tu-tappelles-french-authorities-ban-traditional-breton-name) (I think in the end they let the name through, but there’s a longstanding practice of forcing Basques, Bretons, etc. to give their children French rather than Basque, Breton, etc. names.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-parents-name-their-child-adolph-hitler/477594.md?page=2)