It's sometimes thought that Fozzie Bear was named after his performer, Frank Oz. Other sources generally say he was named in honor of master puppet-builder Faz Fazakas. Frank Oz has claimed the name Fozzie Bear is a variant off of "fuzzy bear". Other sources claim that Fozzie was originally going to be called "Ozzie Bear"; however when there were potential legal problems with the name "Ozzie," it was changed to Fozzie. The true origins of Fozzie's name are unknown.