Archie Bunker lived in an Archie Bunker

August 22, 2008 2:13 PM

Did the term "Archie Bunkers" for the detached houses in Queens, NY come from "All in the Family," or did Norman Lear name the character after the term?
posted by SansPoint to grab bag (5 answers total)

This NY Times story says the houses are named after the character. Unless you can find a citation before 1971 where the houses are called Archie Bunkers, I'd say it's pretty definitive the character came first. Via "advanced search" the NY Times shows zero results for "Archie Bunker" or "Archie Bunkers" prior to 1971.
posted by beagle at 2:46 PM on August 22, 2008

I'm almost positive that Norman Lear didn't name the character after anything. The original name of the Bunkers in the pilot was "Justice."
posted by nedpwolf at 2:48 PM on August 22, 2008

My wife grew up in a single home in Flushing, well before 1971, and she said she never heard this term. So I'm guessing the show came first.
posted by fixedgear at 2:53 PM on August 22, 2008

Yep, the family's name was originally Justice. I heard Norman Lear say in a lecture that he changed the last name to "Bunker" because he felt that Archie had a "bunker mentality." I don't know if that was retconning on his part, though.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:14 PM on August 22, 2008

Fun fact: All in the Family was based on a British comedy.
posted by Daddy-O at 4:10 PM on August 22, 2008