# why is GW Bush nicknamed dubya? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2006, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928 "2006-11-27T11:57:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/1 "2006-11-27T11:57:49Z")
This probably is a stupid question for those of you well versed in american politics, but why is GW Bush nicknamed dubya (or dubyia)? Kotick ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/2 "2006-11-27T11:59:54Z")
It refers to his middle initial, W, and distinguishes him from his father, George H(erbert) W(alker) Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/3 "2006-11-27T12:10:38Z")
Right… like in how you pronounce the w, I get it now, but it is not that obvious for us foreigners. Thanks 🙂 K ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/4 "2006-11-27T12:32:36Z")
[QUOTE=Kotick] how you pronounce the w [/QUOTE] How do you say it? Doobla-vay? ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/5 "2006-11-27T12:34:51Z")
My sister (amnesty international member and not a fan of Mr Bush) doesn’t like the fact that her intials are DW which gives me a reason to call her Dubya 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/6 "2006-11-27T12:47:56Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] How do you say it? Doobla-vay? [/QUOTE] Nope, more like double-vee. K ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/7 "2006-11-27T12:48:53Z")
Also, “dub-yuh” is considered a sloppy, unsophisticated way of pronouncing the name of the letter, which should be “double-U”, which Bush’s detractors find appropriate in the context. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/8 "2006-11-27T12:50:30Z")
Also, he used the “W” in campaigning, actually using signs that consisted of the single letter W, and saying at times that the “W was for women”. ---
**Author:** ![Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/9 "2006-11-27T12:59:10Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Also, “dub-yuh” is considered a sloppy, unsophisticated way of pronouncing the name of the letter, which should be “double-U”, which Bush’s detractors find appropriate in the context. [/QUOTE] Just like nucular… :dubious: K ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/10 "2006-11-27T13:12:38Z")
I also believe it’s his family name from his parents. He’s ‘Dubya’ to distinguish himself from his father. Dorothy is ‘Doro’. John Ellis Bush is ‘Jeb’. So there’s a family tendency, my guess is from GHWB, to assign nicknames. A tendency GWB seems to share from reports. There’s also brothers Neil and Marvin and a died-in-childhood sister Pauline. But I don’t see much info on naming issues for those three. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/11 "2006-11-27T13:16:06Z")
Personally, I like to think of them as Bush the Elder, Bush the Younger. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/12 "2006-11-27T13:18:16Z")
Eleven posts with no bashing–a new record? ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/13 "2006-11-27T13:22:03Z")
Molly Ivins, a nationally syndicated columnist out of Dallas, started refering to him as “Dubya” in her columns back in 1995 according to [this](http://www.usaweekend.com/01_issues/010422/010422whosnews.html). While she probably wasn’t the first to use the “Texas W” as the basis for a shorthand nickname to differentiate him from the elder Bush, she popularized it. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/14 "2006-11-27T13:25:42Z")
[QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] Eleven posts with no bashing–a new record? [/QUOTE] This entire thread has been a bash, after a fashion. HIs supporters don’t call him Dubyuh. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/15 "2006-11-27T13:35:54Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] This entire thread has been a bash, after a fashion. HIs supporters don’t call him Dubyuh. [/QUOTE] But they don’t deny that people call him ‘Dubya’, do they? Do they deny that that’s his own pronunciation of “W”? Maybe so. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/16 "2006-11-27T13:48:17Z")
So if ER2 was to knight him she’d say “I dub ya dubya” Or summink ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/17 "2006-11-27T13:59:39Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] Also, “dub-yuh” is considered a sloppy, unsophisticated way of pronouncing the name of the letter, which should be “double-U”, which Bush’s detractors find appropriate in the context. [/QUOTE] While precise diction calls for “double-you” as the spoken name of the 23rd letter, the variants on Standard American that I’ve personally encountered use “double-yah” in rapid colloquial speech. “I said Oscar _Wilde_ … double-ya eye ell dee ee!” Apparently some Texian dialects clip “double-yah” to “dubya” and GHWB used this as a pet name for his quasi-namesake son, with friends, then Molly Ivins, and then the left half of the populace following suit. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/18 "2006-11-27T14:03:08Z")
[QUOTE=Kotick] Right… like in how you pronounce the w, I get it now, but it is not that obvious for us foreigners. Thanks 🙂 K [/QUOTE] It was mentioned in passing above but I just want to clarify for you foreigners. This is not how most Americans pronounce the letter w. It is an exaggerated Texas accent W. Most Americans will say double-u. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/19 "2006-11-27T14:04:33Z")
I did type that before Poly replied. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928/20 "2006-11-27T14:52:19Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] It was mentioned in passing above but I just want to clarify for you foreigners. This is not how most Americans pronounce the letter w. It is an exaggerated Texas accent W. Most Americans will say double-u. [/QUOTE] It’s also standard form for many people in the Midwest. Including me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-gw-bush-nicknamed-dubya/381928.md?page=2)