MovieChat Forums > The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953) Discussion > Is Dobie short for something?

Is Dobie short for something?

posted 14 years ago by skiddoo
5 replies | jump to latest

What does it mean? Where does it come from? I haven't been able to find it anywhere but connected to this character.

[–] drickey 12 years ago

I believe one episode of the TV show explains the origin of the name. Its the name of a professor or scientist who influenced or was admired by Dobie's mother. Sorry, can't recall the exact episode.

[–] b-touch 10 years ago

The episode is called "Names My Mother Called Me" (Season 3, Episode 24, original airdate 3/27/1962). Dobie learns, when his latest girlfriend is pressuring him to change his name, that his mother named him after Dr. D.W. (Dobie Willis) Klein, who in the show is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist and philosopher. The name isn't short for anything.

Since Max Shulman co-wrote the episode, we can presume it to be a canonical explanation for where the name came from.

[–] will7370 11 years ago

I think it's short for "Doberman", as in the dog.

[–] Mad_Monkey 9 years ago

Yes, his mother named him after a breed of dog.

[–] hammer4 9 years ago

I've never heard of ANYONE (with two exceptions) real or fictional male or female named Dobie, whether as a given name or nickname.

The two exceptions are of course the fictional character Dobie Gillis created by Max Shulman. The other is the late singer Dobie Gray. However, according to Wickipedia this wasn't his given name and in fact the "Dobie" part was inspired by the then current television sitcom "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (or "Max Shulman's Dobie Gillis").

I'm curious as to whether anyone can come up with anyone else.