Richard Dawkins speaking at the British Humanist Association Annual Conference

The Happy Human is an icon that has been adopted as an international symbol of secular humanism. Created by Dennis Barrington, the figure was the winning design in a competition arranged by Humanists UK (formerly the British Humanist Association) in 1965. Various forms of it are now used across the world by humanist organisations of all sizes including Humanists UK, Humanists International and The American Humanist Association (AHA). The trademark is still held by Humanists UK, which freely licenses use of the symbol by bona fide Humanist organisations worldwide.

Origins

The Happy Human was created in response to a Humanists UK competition in 1965, after many years of discussion as to what a logo should look like. After some time without progress, radio presenter Margaret Knight backed a popular movement among Humanists UK's membership to commission such a logo, triggering publicity officer Tom Vernon to announce the competition. Of the several hundred designs from a number of countries that were considered, Dennis Barrington's simple design was favoured for its perceived universalism. Within the space of a few years, the logo had emerged as a symbol of Humanism, not just of Humanists UK and was adopted by humanist organisations around the world. Since the 1990s, humanist groups have taken on looser, more figurative versions of the Happy Human logo, such as the logos used by Humanisterna (Sweden),

Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands The Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands (English: ''Humanist Association of Germany'') is an organisation to promote and spread a secular humanist worldview and an advocate for the rights of nonreligious people. It was founded 1993 in Berlin and co ...

(Germany), Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (Italy), and the European Humanist Federation. In 2017, the British Humanist Association, which originated the Happy Human, debuted a new, single line-drawing style Happy Human when it renamed as Humanists UK.

Variations of the Happy Human symbol

File:Happyman.svg, Original Happy Human symbol File:Official AHA logo.jpg, American Humanist Association logo File:EuropeanHumanistFederation.jpg, European Humanist Federation logo File:Wikipedia HC logo.gif, Humanist Canada logo File:Humanistisch Verbond logo.gif, Former Humanistisch Verbond logo File:IHEYO logo.png, IHEYO logo (International Humanist Ethical Youth Organization)

Organisations using the Happy Human

* American Humanist Association (US) * Humanists UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) * Council of Australian Humanist Societies (CAHS) (Australia) * European Humanist Federation *

Romanian Secular-Humanist Association The Romanian Secular-Humanist Association (Romanian: Asociația Secular-Umanistă din România, abbreviated as ASUR) is a non-governmental organization established in March 2010 to promote secular humanist values in Romania. The organization's a ...

(ASUR) (Romania) * LGBT Humanists UK * Humanist Association of Ireland (Ireland) *Humanist Alliance Philippines International (HAPI) * Humanist Canada (Canada) * Humanist Society of New Zealand (New Zealand) *

Humanist Society Scotland Humanist Society Scotland is a Scottish registered charity that promotes humanist views and offers humanist wedding, funeral, and baby-naming ceremonies. It is a member of the European Humanist Federation and Humanists International. In the ...

(Scotland) * Humanistisch Verbond (Netherlands) * Indian Humanist Union (India) *

Mumbai Rationalist Association Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

(India) *

Institute for Humanist Studies The Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS) is a think tank based in Washington, DC, USA, that says it is "committed to information and practices meant to address the sociopolitical, economic and cultural challenges facing communities within the Uni ...

International Humanist and Ethical Union Humanists International (known as the International Humanist and Ethical Union, or IHEU, from 1952–2019) is an international non-governmental organisation championing secularism and human rights, motivated by secular humanist values. Foun ...

Norwegian Humanist Association The Norwegian Humanist Association ( no, Human-Etisk Forbund; HEF) is one of the largest secular humanist associations in the world, with over 130,000 members. Those members constitute 2.3% of the national population of 5.47 million, making HEF b ...

(Norway) *

Primera Iglesia Humanista de Puerto Rico Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

(Puerto Rico) *

Siðmennt The Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association () is a humanist lifestance organization in Iceland, that promotes secularism, offers celebrancy services and contributes to the spreading of humanism in Iceland and abroad. It is a member of the European ...

(Iceland) *

Swedish Humanist Association Humanists Sweden ( sv, Humanisterna) is the largest humanist/ rationalist organisation in Sweden with about 4,500 members. It is a member organisation of Humanists International (HI) and the European Humanist Federation (EHF). Humanists Sw ...

(Sweden) * Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics (Italy)
Cyprus Humanist Association
(Cyprus)

Organisations using similar symbols

Council for Secular Humanism The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a US nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal, as well as to fight the influence of religion in government. History The Center for Inquiry was established in 199 ...

Institute for Humane Studies The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) is a non-profit organization that promotes the teaching and research of classical liberalism in higher education in the United States. IHS offers funding opportunities, programs, and events for faculty and g ...

* Party of Humanists

References

{{Reflist Humanism Pictograms Symbols introduced in 1965