User blog comment:FossilsDaDaDa/What Ferb is short for/@comment-24023034-20100905075516/@comment-961279-20100905143940

The real-life person that Ferb was inspired by is named Frank and has the nickname of "Ferb". Since the show came out, now people go up to him and say things like "you're named after the character?" He tries to explain it's the other way around.

(From a recent interview, but I don't remember if it was a web article or a video interview.)