# Why are rabbits called bunnies? Who started that? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634 "2010-04-01T20:06:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/1 "2010-04-01T20:06:42Z")
I was having this conversation with a co-worker and we can’t figure out why rabbits decided to be called bunnies. Surely it doesn’t have to do with Playboy right? Or Do I need to do some research? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/2 "2010-04-01T20:12:27Z")
Apparently “bun” is an old Scottish word for rabbit, and bunny comes from that. I always wondered if it was related to the English word coney, which rhymes with bunny. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/3 "2010-04-01T20:13:06Z")
If you just want the etymology of the word, here’s what [etymonline](http://www.etymonline.com) has to say: > [@](#): > > bunny Look up bunny at [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) > 1680s, dim. of Scottish dialectal bun, pet name for “rabbit,” previously (1580s) for “squirrel,” and also a term of endearment for a young attractive woman or child (c.1600). Ultimately it could be from Scottish bun “tail of a hare” (1530s), or from Fr. bon, or from a Scandinavian source. The Playboy Club hostess sense is from 1960. The Bunny Hug (1912), along with the foxtrot and the Wilson glide, were among the popular/scandalous dances of the ragtime era. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/4 "2010-04-02T05:54:59Z")
Follow up question…What’s the difference between a “rabbit” and a “hare” ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/5 "2010-04-02T06:11:55Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Follow up question…What’s the difference between a “rabbit” and a “hare” Hares are in general larger, hsve precocial young (newborn rabbits are altricial), tend to move fast by leaps and bounds (as opposed to rabbit-style hops) ordinarily have longer ears, and are cooked differently when used for food. Hares are all (AFAIK; the Wikipedia article confirms my memory) in genus _Lepus_. Rabbits are mostly smaller, don’t ordinarily leave the ground in moving (walk, run, hop, not leap or bound), in general have smaller ears, and belong to a wide number of other genera, mostly of the form _Prefix-i-lagus_, in the Family Leporidae (yes, the family is named after the hares), Order Lagomorpha. While the single-word common names do reflect a “real” difference – a set of several dichotomous characters – the common names of several species “cross the line”: The ‘varying hare’ is a rabbit, the jackrabbit and snowshoe rabbits are hares by the characters above. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/6 "2010-04-02T15:47:22Z")
The better question is “Bugs Bunny” a rabbit or a hare? He’s films bill him as sometimes as a rabbit as in “Rabbit Rebel” and sometimes as in “From Hare to Eternity” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/7 "2010-04-02T15:55:59Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Apparently “bun” is an old Scottish word for rabbit, and bunny comes from that. I always wondered if it was related to\*\* the English word coney, which rhymes with bunny\*\*. It does? I have long been under the impression that the name of Coney Island came from it’s rabbit/coney population and it does not rhyme with bunny there. Not arguing, just surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/8 "2010-04-02T17:10:59Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > It does? I have long been under the impression that the name of Coney Island came from it’s rabbit/coney population and it does not rhyme with bunny there. Not arguing, just surprised. “Coney”, originally from Latin _cuniculus_ (“rabbit”), did indeed **used** to rhyme with “bunny” in English. The Online Etymology Dictionary has a nice [salacious explanation](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=coney) of why it doesn’t anymore. > [@](#): > > Rabbit arose 14c. to mean the young of the species, but gradually pushed out the older word 19c., after British slang picked up coney as a synonym for “cunt” (cf. connyfogle “to deceive in order to win a woman’s sexual favors”). The word was in the King James Bible [Prov. xxx.26, etc.], however, so it couldn’t be entirely dropped, and the solution was to change the pronunciation of the original short vowel (rhyming with honey, money) to rhyme with boney. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/9 "2010-04-02T17:25:35Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Hares are in general larger, hsve precocial young (newborn rabbits are altricial), tend to move fast by leaps and bounds (as opposed to rabbit-style hops) ordinarily have longer ears, and are cooked differently when used for food. Hares are all (AFAIK; the Wikipedia article confirms my memory) in genus _Lepus_. > > Rabbits are mostly smaller, don’t ordinarily leave the ground in moving (walk, run, hop, not leap or bound), in general have smaller ears, and belong to a wide number of other genera, mostly of the form _Prefix-i-lagus_, in the Family Leporidae (yes, the family is named after the hares), Order Lagomorpha. > > While the single-word common names do reflect a “real” difference – a set of several dichotomous characters – the common names of several species “cross the line”: The ‘varying hare’ is a rabbit, the jackrabbit and snowshoe rabbits are hares by the characters above. So the movie Night of the Lepus was inaccurate because those were actually killer rabbits, not hares? I am frankly shocked that such a great movie would make a mistake but I guess Night of the Lagomorph just wouldn’t have the same terrifying ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/10 "2010-04-02T17:33:38Z")
Gee, whoever would have thought Hollywood would lie to us? Seriously, hares are pretty much untameable whereas rabbits have about as much intelligence as a cat and can be trained somewhat for movie work. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/11 "2010-04-02T18:31:54Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > “Coney”, originally from Latin _cuniculus_ (“rabbit”), did indeed **used** to rhyme with “bunny” in English. The Online Etymology Dictionary has a nice [salacious explanation](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=coney) of why it doesn’t anymore. So you’re saying that **Ed** doesn’t want anybody calling someone else a coney in the Pit (or anywhere else)? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/12 "2010-04-02T20:35:37Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > The better question is “Bugs Bunny” a rabbit or a hare? > > He’s films bill him as sometimes as a rabbit as in “Rabbit Rebel” and sometimes as in “From Hare to Eternity” > > 🙂 All I know is that I am going to call him George… ---
**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:** [April 2, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/13 "2010-04-02T20:39:21Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > The better question is “Bugs Bunny” a rabbit or a hare? Whichever is funnier at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/14 "2010-04-02T20:55:49Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > So you’re saying that **Ed** doesn’t want anybody calling someone else a coney in the Pit (or anywhere else)? As long as you make sure to pronounce it so it rhymes with “boney” and not “bunny”, I think you’re safe. Personally, I’m a little surprised that the verb “connyfogle” (or “cunnyfogle”) isn’t more widely used on the boards. It just seems like the sort of word we Teeming Millions would like. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/15 "2010-04-02T20:59:38Z")
> [@simster](#): > > All I know is that I am going to call him George… And you will hug him and squeeze him and stroke him and pet him and… ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-rabbits-called-bunnies-who-started-that/534634/16 "2010-04-02T21:49:53Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Personally, I’m a little surprised that the verb “connyfogle” (or “cunnyfogle”) isn’t more widely used on the boards. It just seems like the sort of word we Teeming Millions would like. I was just about to say: I think I have a new favorite word. Not that I’ll get an excuse to use it very often.