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WhileCalvin and Hobbeshave become household names , as readers of the popular comic strip link the names with the youngster and his stuffed Panthera tigris , cartoonist Bill Watterson actually name the characters after real - lifespan figure . According to Watterson , Calvin is named after 16th - century theologian John Calvin , while Hobbes is named after the philosopher Thomas Hobbes . However , the names seem to be just nods , with each physical body not necessarily really representingCalvin and Hobbes’personalities or motivations .
Bill Watterson ’s motive for namingCalvin and Hobbeshas been refer on occasionally- most notably in the book , reckon for Calvin and Hobbes : The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip . Watterson was enounce to have named Calvin after John Calvin , the sixteenth - 100 Gallic theologian , and Protestant . Meanwhile , Calvin ’s Quaker Hobbes was named after the philosopher Thomas Hobbes , who had slight organized religion in people and democracy . However , who they were name after does n’t appear to reflect on either character ’s belief . Instead , Watterson said the names reference his former alma mater ’s political science department .
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Bill Watterson Naming Calvin and Hobbes Ties Into His Own History
Bill Watterson’sCalvin and Hobbescomic strips have never shied awayfrom tackling philosophic number as the cartoonist often embedded his stories with important question about life-time , import , and being through the eyes of a six - year - one-time and his scarf out tiger . Considering Watterson majored in political skill and had a passionateness for philosophy , it ’s prosperous to see how themes from those topic have subtly seeped through in his work , as even the reason he named the titular charactersCalvin and Hobbesare rooted in his own Education Department and history .
For those who are or are n’t fans of John Calvin or Thomas Hobbes ' body of work , Watterson ’s logical thinking for namingCalvin and Hobbesafter the two real - life figures was n’t a direct mention to their writings or opinion , but more an acknowledgment of their importance in the space of philosophical system and political scientific discipline . So , for those who read into Hobbes believing the same things as Thomas Hobbes did are probably jumping to conclusion as the references are in name only .
So yes , Calvin and Hobbes’names were exhort by real - lifephilosophical figures , as John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes are the verbatim influences behind the youngster and his stuffed Panthera tigris ’s names . However , Watterson only gave them the names as a nod to his own education , not because he thoughtCalvin and Hobbeswere meant to incarnate the mindsets and school of thought of Thomas Hobbes or John Calvin in the mirthful comic strip .
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Calvin and Hobbes Bill Watterson
