Calvin and Hobbes Were Named After Historical Figures

Calvin and Hobbes were both named afterheavyweight historical figures. Calvin was named after John Calvin, the 16th-century theologian and Protestant reformer who was a principal proponent of the idea of predestination. Hobbes, meanwhile, got his name from Thomas Hobbes, a 17th-century philosopher who didn’t have the highest regard for human beings — he famously describedhuman life without governance as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Watterson was very deliberate in naming his two protagonists, with both monikers reflecting the more complex and philosophical side of Calvin and Hobbes.