The character that would evolve into Bugs Bunny appeared in four cartoon shorts before his first official appearance in Tex Avery's A Wild Hare.[1] While this early version is commonly referred to as "Happy Rabbit", animation historian David Gerstein disputes this, saying that the only usage of the term was from Mel Blanc himself; the name "Bugs Bunny" was used as early as April 1938, from a model sheet made by Charles Thorson which was used for the short Hare-um Scare-um.[2] Bugs was also mentioned by name from an August 1939 review of the short in the Motion Picture Herald.[3]
Several published first person accounts, encyclopedic references, and Warner Bros.' own published material describe the inception of the name and of the character. A model sheet by Charlie Thorson describes this prototype character as "Bug's Bunny" (note the apostrophe) but in most of the cartoons the character is unnamed.
Virgil Ross, the animator for A Wild Hare describes how the character came to be named in the interview published by Animato! magazine #19.[4] Mel Blanc often told the story of the creation of the character and its name. He suggested that the character be named after the character's initial director, Ben "Bugs" Hardaway.[5] Blanc's own book, That's Not All Folks published by Warner Books in 1988, describes the "tough little stinker" that was the eventual version of the redesigned character as directed by Avery.
Warner Brothers' own published descriptions of the creation of the character's name can be found in Animation Magazine published in 1990.[6] Therein it is described that the Hardaway unit's model sheet came to be known by fellow animators as "Bug's Bunny".