Adolph

who's this you ask? Well, it's Adolph Reed Jr. He's a retired American Marxist professor of political science. Born in 1947, no less. I found a happy image of him because using the stoic ones would be a little, confronting? What with the first name. Part of me wonders what was the motivation for the first name by his parents, being born two years after the second world war.

I was going to call this post what's in a name? and actually use an image of Hitler, but that would be too obvious. Or an image of Hitler and the title Adolph; that would have been blatantly obvious. 

The basis of my curiosity was everything surrounding the first name - Adolph. Or the variant Adolf. The first fact I found was rather blunt - a name not popular after 1945. There is a Wikipedia page dedicated to the first name and expands on the blunt statement. The French version, Adolphe—previously a fairly common name in France and the name of a classic French novel—has virtually disappeared, along with Italian Adolfo. They list names of prominent figures throughout history born Adolph, or Adolf; none born after 1945, including the founder of Adidas, actually born Adolf Dassler and Adolf Dymsa (1900-1975), a Polish comic actor. He used a number of pseudonyms throughout his career, focusing on surnames. I wonder how the first name would have been received when he toured the United States and Canada in 1958. 

the very act of searching for the name Adolph on the internet was immediately fascinating. You just knew there was going to be some reference to Hitler - his image popped up straight away. Then the questions; it wasn't too long before they went down the Hitler path.

what does Adolph mean?

is the name Adolph legal?

how do you spell Hitler's first name?

are there any Hitlers left?

the second question was the one that really sparked my interest.

In fact, it is perfectly legal to call a child Adolf in modern Germany, and there are some 46,000 people of that name living in the country, according to a study by the University of Leipzig. Germany has some of the strictest laws in Europe on what you can name a child. First names like Gusset or Seat Belt are, how can you put it? Strictly verboten.

"Gusset, Seat Belt. Hurry up children! Time to go to the park! Girls, quickly!"

I found this website, Baby Names Hub, that had a chart displaying popularity over time for the name Adolf. The chart peaks around 1934 then disappears without a trace, strangely enough. There is one area of the website that has a 92% approval rating - comments about the name Adolf, including comments such as,

"I named my baby son Adolf! although around the second world war, I discovered my little baby Adolf had shot himself! it was heartbreaking to discover, and what made it worse is most people seemed happy about my sons death"

I wonder what was the motivation behind that suicide?

 

"I love this name because it reminds me of sensuality"

how did you arrive at that conclusion?

"I like the name Adolf. It can be a shorthand form of "A Dolfin" and I really like dolphins. I even bought a dolphin once before. Put it in my backyard pool! Unfortunately I think it came broken because it wasn't swimming around like it should. It just kind of laid there at the bottom of the pool."

could that be cited as an atrocity?

 

"I knew a guy named Adolf in basic training. Great guy, although he never could wear a gas mask correctly."

 

"This is a wonderful name, I really hope that my son named Adolf gets into art school later in life!"

we share your hopes but, why art school?

 

"We named a frog in my driveway Adolf today. This was a good day."

"I think it's a wonderful, strong name. I actually plan to name my son this."

"I personally don't mind the name Adolf/Adolph. I bought a parrot a year or 2 ago and named him Adolf."

 

"I can't wait for my daughter to be born so I can call her Adolf."

then there were other comments

"I've named all of my three children Adolf, it seems like my daughter has gotten a better reception from her peers than my sons have. Whenever the next surprise happens will definitely still name the child Adolf"

  

"I was elected a mayor using the name Adolf in 1992."

  

"Your website is very interesting, I've bookmarked it."

then there were absolutely negative comments

"You would never name your child Adolf- what have they done to deserve a name like that? They would be picked on and it is totally inappropriate!"

"Why would you name your baby the same as someone who murdered millions.?" 

I can't really cite the factual accuracy of these statements, but I thought they were worth a mention. 

one search resulted in something I can only define as surreal. A negro gentleman who really doesn't look that old named Dr Adolph Brown - the Third! But wait for it - he's a motivational speaker. Here are some sales pitch entries from his website.

"It’s OK to expect the best and get it!  Dr. Adolph Brown is highly regarded as the leadership speaker and peak performance coach who gets you from where you are to where you want to be!"

"Live. Laugh. Lead."

hmmm... a motivational speaker with the first name Adolph. I don't know, it could be an ironic sales pitch. Must be conscious of his hand gestures whilst motivational speaking. Even a slight resemblance to a certain salute. 

now this post has evolved as a mere introduction to the name Adoph. I really opened a can of worms with this one. Maybe even coming soon - Adolph part 2.

there is a great story that Ricky Gervais tells Jerry Seinfeld that could be another topic of interest - Hitler jokes. Hitler married Eva Braun in the morning then in the afternoon poisoned her, shot himself in the head and arranged for his gardener to burn the bodies. That has to be the worst honeymoon ever.

the name Hitler will forever go down in infamy, but the jokes are going just great.

then a whole other field of interest. The savage competition in the area of shark and Nazi documentaries. David Attenborough could only dream he could get those numbers.