Just who was Dr. Gay Hitler and why are the gays obsessed?

Dr Gay Hitler, the son of George Washington Hitler — two real people the internet discovered in a decades old obituary. Although the jokes write themselves, that didn’t stop online commenters from trying their hand at a few while puzzling out the mystery of how these names came to be. Or as one reddit user simply put it, “Can we just take a moment to appreciate and bask in the fact that there once lived a man called ‘Dr. Gay Hitler’?”

Dr Gay Hitler, who was definitely a real person, was born in 1882 in Circleville, Ohio and died in 1948. More than half a century later, Dr Gay Hitler had his moment.

A reddit user posted the story in the popular r/todayilearned subreddit, quickly gathering thousands of upvotes and hundreds of comments. “TIL Dr. Gay Hitler, son of George Washington Hitler, was a local dentist in Circleville, Ohio, and served the community from 1922 through 1946,” the post read. “Many roads in the area still contain the word ‘Hitler’ through this family.”

Related:

Is this ‘Inside Out 2’ character gay?

The new trailer for Pixar’s “Inside Out” sequel has queer fan theories flying, and for good reason…

Culture, unfiltered

Twice a week, our newsletter will bring you the pulse of queer culture, from the tastemakers to the groundbreakers.

“That first sentence looks like it came from Mad Libs,” one user responded, taking the words right out of everyone’s mouths.

The name happens to be funny any way you look at it. “Ok so gay used to mean happy,” another user said, “this doesn’t make it any less funny, Dr. Happy Hitler is an amazing name.”

While most users were fixated on the hilariously named dentist, you can’t ignore his dad’s unreal name. “George Washington Hitler would make a great indie band name,” one user pointed out.

Another user, claiming to be a relative, chimed in with more details on the family name, which unsurprisingly stems from Germany. “George Hitler and Susannah Gay Hitler were my 4th great grandparents,” they said. “George’s father was also named George. He was born in Germany and settled in Maryland.

“My cousin is also George Hitler and he lives in Ohio. His dad was in the military and they suggested he changed his last name. He told them to f*ck off.”

Some Circleview residents joined the chat, attesting to the fact that the name “Hitler” is particularly prevalent around the town. According to Intelligencer, these names include “Hitler Road, Hitler-Ludwig Road, Hitler-Ludwig Cemetery, Hitler Park.”

While the last name Hitler is better off languishing in obscurity, there’s always hope that one day some brave soul will resurrect the first name Gay.