Reddit is Obsessed with 'Dr. Gay Hitler'

A recent Reddit thread has brought to the forefront a little-known dentist who died some 75 years ago. According to a posting on the archival site Newspapers by Ancestry, an obituary from the Circleville Herald for Dr. Gay Hitler went viral, much to the amusement of Reddit readers.

"Dr. Gay Hitler, son of George Washington Hitler, was a local dentist in Circleville, Ohio, and served the community from 1922 through 1946. Many roads in the area still contain the word 'Hitler' through this family," headlined the posting with a link to his obituary, which led with: "Dr. Gay Ludwig Hitler, 66, widely-known dentist who practiced in Circleville 40 years, died early Thursday following an illness of nearly three years."

He was born in 1882 to equally jarringly named George Washington Hitler. Gay married Belle Long in 1905. Together they had four children.

Another post wrote that the Hitlers were early pioneers of southern Ohio. Another wrote that they were from the area. "It's a rural area with a bunch of small towns, so often roads would be named after the people who lived on them. I don't know this for sure, but it's likely that the roads weren't directly named after Gay Hitler, but rather his family lived on the roads, possibly being the only family living on them, which was the case for more than one road near my parent's house."

According to Pink News, another Reddit user posted that "the family were taunted by people in their town over their last name, which became infamous following the rise of Adolf Hitler to power in Germany in 1933, with the Nazi leader and fascist dictator leading the nation during the Second World War until his suicide in 1945. Despite this, the family chose to keep their name."

Many on Reddit found the name worth comment. One wrote, "Can we just take a moment to appreciate and bask in the fact that there once lived a man called 'Dr. Gay Hitler'?"

Another wrote, "One of this man's sons moved to Illinois where he and his wife were good friends of my grandparents. Despite taunting from people in their town, they chose to keep their name, even during the WWII era. To this day, we have a Christmas ornament on our tree that they gave to my dad in 1943. It says, 'To Tommy. Merry Christmas. Love, The Hitlers.' It's always a story and a laugh every year when we put it up."

Another claimed, "Dr. Gay Hitler would be a hell of a username."