Bubba

In American usage, "Bubba" is a term of endearment formed from "brother" and mainly given to boys.

The linguist Ian Hancock has described similarities between the African language Krio and Gullah, the creole language of blacks in the isolated Sea Islands of South Carolina, and points out that the Krio expression bohboh ("boy") appears in Gullah as buhbuh, which may account for the "Bubba" of the American South.

Robert Ferguson notes in his book English Surnames that "Bubba" corresponds with the German Bube, "boy". This matches Saxon and Hibernian tradition.

Because of its association with the southern part of the United States, "Bubba" is also often used outside the South as a pejorative to mean a person of low economic status and limited education. "Bubba" may also be taken to mean one who is a "good ol' boy". In the US Army and Marines, "Bubba" can mean a lay soldier, similar to "grunt", but with connotations of endearment instead of derision (e.g., "Can you make that device easier to work with, because every Bubba is going to have to use it?").

At times, it may be used as a term of endearment (or in an insulting sense) for a person, especially to a man, who is either overweight or has a seemingly powerful large body frame.

In gun culture, "Bubba" is a term used for a person who permanently alters or modifies historic firearms, with no regard for its historical value.

The word exists in other languages and carries similar meanings. "Bubba" is common in Australia and New Zealand as a noun to refer affectionately to a baby.

(In Yiddish, the word Bobe [with a vowel similar to a shortened version of the vowel of caught + beh] means "grandmother" and as a form of address, is often rendered by English speakers as "Bubba" or "Bubbie".)

People

Nickname

• Bubba Brooks (1922-2002), American jazz tenor saxophonist
• Charles "Bubba" Chaney (born 1946), Louisiana politician
• Bubba Church (1924–2001), former Major League Baseball player
• Bill Clinton (born 1946), 42nd President of the United States
• Bubba Crosby (born 1976), Major League Baseball outfielder
• Bubba Dickerson (born 1981), PGA Tour golfer
• Tommy Facenda (born 1939), rockabilly singer and dancer
• Bubba Franks (born 1978), National Football League player
• Bubba Green (1957–2019), American football player
• Merald "Bubba" Knight (born 1942), soul singer, member of Gladys Knight & the Pips
• Bubba Marriott (born 1938), American football player
• Bubba Paris (born 1960), former National Football League player
• Bubba Phillips (1928–1993), Major League Baseball player
• Bubba Shobert (born 1961), former motorcycle racer
• Bubba Smith (1945–2011), National Football League player and actor
• Clinton "Bubba" Smith (born 19??), star on A&E's reality television show Storage Wars: Texas
• James Stewart Jr. (born 1985), professional motocross rider
• Darrell Wallace, Jr. (born 1993), racing driver
• Bubba Watson (born 1978), PGA Tour golfer
• Bubba Wells (born 1974), former basketball player

Middle name

• Bubba Trammell (born 1971), former Major League Baseball player

Stage name

• Bubba Ray Dudley, an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment
• Bubba Sparxxx (born 1977), Southern rapper
• Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, radio talk show host
• Bubba SuXX DJ on vape radio with his own coffee brand

Fictional characters

Films and television

• Bubba the Caveduck from The Walt Disney Company's series DuckTales
• Bubba the Chimp, a character on Quigley's Village
• Bubba Bexley, a recurring character in the situation comedy Sanford and Son
• Bubba Bixby, a character from the 2007 television film, Shredderman Rules, a film based on the books
• Bubba Bo Bob Brain, Brain's fictitious country music star persona from a Pinky and the Brain segment on the U.S. cartoon series Animaniacs
• Plumber Bubba, a fictional comedian based on Larry the Cable Guy and idolized by Rusty and Early Cuyler on the Adult Swim animated series Squidbillies
• Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue, in the 1994 film Forrest Gump
• Landry Clarke, played by Jesse Plemons in the television series Friday Night Lights
• Bubba Hendershot, a leading antagonistic-character from the Stephen King directorial debut film Maximum Overdrive; he is portrayed by Pat Hingle
• Bubba Higgins, in the situation comedy Mama's Family
• Bubba Ho-tep, a name given to a reanimated Egyptian mummy by Elvis Presley in Joe R. Lansdale's novella and film of the same name
• Bubba J, a puppet of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham
• Bubba Ritter, played by Larry Drake in the movie Dark Night of the Scarecrow
• Leatherface, or Bubba Sawyer, from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• Bubba Skinner, a leading character from the television series In the Heat of the Night
• Bubba Zanetti, in the 1979 film Mad Max

Games

• Bubba, one of the protagonists in the Amiga computer game Bubba 'n' Stix
• Bubba, a character in Jagged Alliance 2
• Bubba, a zombie in an event of Killing Floor
• Bubba, a monster from Rampage: Total Destruction
• Bubba, one of the protagonists of Redneck Rampage
• Bubba, a giant fish in Super Mario 64

Literature

• Bubba, a minor character in A Drink Before the War
• Bubba, a character in Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series and a "codename" for Elvis, who is now a vampire in this series
• Alvin "Bubba" Bixby, the bully in Wendelin Van Draanen's Shredderman series.
• Bubba Kelly, a character in Carson McCullers' novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

Other uses

• Bubba (fish) (d. 2006), the first fish known to have undergone chemotherapy
• Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, a restaurant chain created after the 1994 film Forrest Gump