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Famous Nicknames

Famous Nicknames

This page is mainly (but not exclusively) about people whose nicknames are more famous than their real names. It's basically about questions where the answer is a nickname.

What is a nickname? You might think that some of the answers on this page (e.g. Dana) aren't nicknames. All I can say is that they're not the real names of the people in question, and they don't even sound as if they might be. And yes, OK, in some cases they're only here because I can't think of anywhere else to put them.

See also Nicknames (for questions where you're given the nickname and have to give the more correct name) and Real Names.

Q: By what nickname is/was ... (better) known? A:
John George Haigh (English serial killer, 1940s) Click to show or hide the answer
Stuart Goddard Click to show or hide the answer
Adam Tinsley (acid house music producer. a.k.a. Adam Sky) Click to show or hide the answer
Michael Gross (German swimmer, with an arm span of 2.13 metres; won 2 gold and 2 silver medals in Los Angeles 1984, 1 gold and 1 bronze in Seoul 1988) Click to show or hide the answer
William Oliver Wallace (entertainer, 1929–2009; also used the stage name The Sheik of Araby) Click to show or hide the answer
Jonathan Chapman (American nurseryman, 1774–1845) Click to show or hide the answer
Jean Claude Duvalier (president of Haiti 1971–86, son of Papa Doc) Click to show or hide the answer
Lester Joseph Gillis (born Chicago, 1908) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Damon Gough (singer, songwriter, etc.) Click to show or hide the answer
Frederick I (Holy Roman Emperor, 1152–90) Click to show or hide the answer
John Cameron Andrieu Bingham Morton (journalist) Click to show or hide the answer
Pseudonymous author of an award–winning blog, Diary of a London Call Girl (2003–4), published in 2005 as The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl and in 2006 as The Further Adventures ...; adapted by ITV2 (2007–11) as Secret Diary of a Call Girl, starring Billie Piper Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Mark Berry (dancer and "percussionist" with Happy Mondays; won Celebrity Big Brother Series 3, 2005) Click to show or hide the answer
J. P. Richardson (rock 'n' roll musician) Click to show or hide the answer
Shirley Crabtree (wrestler) Click to show or hide the answer
Henry McCarty – a.k.a. William H. Bonney (outlaw, 1859–81) Click to show or hide the answer
Robert Stroud (convict – died, aged 73, on the day before the assassination of John F. Kennedy, after 54 years in prison) Click to show or hide the answer
Colin Vearncombe (Liverpool–born 'new wave' singer–songwriter) Click to show or hide the answer
Edward Teach (British pirate, c. 1680–1718) Click to show or hide the answer
Derek McIntosh Bates (1923–2006; born and died in Crewe) Click to show or hide the answer
Henri Landru (French mass murderer) Click to show or hide the answer
Ellas McDaniel (rock 'n' roll musician) Click to show or hide the answer
Bill Robinson (tap–dancer) Click to show or hide the answer
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris Click to show or hide the answer
Paul Arthurs (Oasis guitarist – left in 1999) Click to show or hide the answer
Charles Edward Stuart, grandson of James II of England – a.k.a. The Young Pretender (cf. The Old Pretender) – died in Rome 1788, aged 67 Click to show or hide the answer
Paul Hewson (singer) Click to show or hide the answer
Albert DeSalvo (convicted murderer) Click to show or hide the answer
Lecil Travis Martin (country singer / songwriter, 1931–99) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Charles Dickens (when a journalist) Click to show or hide the answer
George Joseph Smith (convicted murderer) Click to show or hide the answer
Gilbert M. Anderson (early Western movie star – 1880–1971; the 1980 film starring Clint Eastwood appears to have no direct connection) Click to show or hide the answer
Prince Gautama Siddhartha (religious leader) Click to show or hide the answer
William Frederick Cody (showman) Click to show or hide the answer
Douglas Trendle (30–stone front man of pop group Bad Manners) Click to show or hide the answer
Robert LeRoy Parker (Western outlaw) Click to show or hide the answer
Martha Jane Burke (née Canary) Click to show or hide the answer
Giovanni Antonio Canal (born Venice 1697) Click to show or hide the answer
Don Van Vliet (painter and rock musician, d. 2010) Click to show or hide the answer
Raymond Burns (lead singer of The Damned) Click to show or hide the answer
French model and actress – starred in the 1963 films The Pink Panther and What's New, Pussycat?; professional name (French for "nasturtium") Click to show or hide the answer
Emmanuel Poire (illustrator – d. 1909) Click to show or hide the answer
Ilich Ramirez Sanchez (terrorist leader, arrested 1994) Click to show or hide the answer
William Connor (Daily Mirror columnist – wrote "As I was saying before I was interrupted" in 1946; died in 1967) Click to show or hide the answer
Ali Hassan Al–Majid (Saddam Hussein's cousin and henchman – Minister of Defence 1991–5, Director of the Iraqi Intelligence Service 1995–2003 – hanged in 2010 for (among other things) ordering a gas attack on northern Iraq's Kurdish population in 1988, in which 5,000 people are believed to have died; nickname used in parts of the British media) Click to show or hide the answer
Barry and Paul Elliott (born in Rotherham, in 1944 and 1947 respectively; Barry died in 2018 Click to show or hide the answer
Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (military leader, 1043–99) Click to show or hide the answer
Claude Gelee (painter – c. 1600–1682) Click to show or hide the answer
Nikolai Petrovich Polyakov (a.k.a. Nicolai Poliakoff; children's entertainer, born 1900 in Dvinsk, Latvia; died 1974 in Peterborough) Click to show or hide the answer
Dave Vitty, a long–term associate of the Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles Click to show or hide the answer
Mohammed Saeed al–Sahhaf (Saddam Hussein's Minister of Information before and during the 2003 Iraq war – famous for his grandiose and grossly unrealistic propaganda broadcasts; known in the US as Baghdad Bob) Click to show or hide the answer
Charles Edouard Jenneret (French architect) Click to show or hide the answer
Edmond Dantes (fictional character) Click to show or hide the answer
Rosemary Brown (Irish singer and MEP) Click to show or hide the answer
Brian Joseph Burton (US music producer, born 1977) Click to show or hide the answer
James Buchanan Brady (d. 1917, financier) Click to show or hide the answer
Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong (singer, born 1971) Click to show or hide the answer
Harris Glenn Milstead (US actor, singer and drag queen – died in 1988, aged 42, three weeks after the release of the original Hairspray film in which he starred) Click to show or hide the answer
Dylan Kwabena Mills (pioneer of 'grime' music, born 1984) Click to show or hide the answer
Duane Chapman (eponymous star of an American reality TV series, first broadcast 2004–12, with later spin–offs) Click to show or hide the answer
Mack Rebennack Click to show or hide the answer
Ted Giesel (US writer and illustrator) Click to show or hide the answer
William Henry Hare – Leicester Tigers RUFC's record points scorer; 25 England caps, 1974–84 Click to show or hide the answer
Steven Frayne (magician, born Bradford 1982; star of his own TV series, subtitled Magician Impossible (Watch, 2011–14) Click to show or hide the answer
Michael Edwards (British sportsman) Click to show or hide the answer
Adam Joseph Copeland (Canadian WWE wrestler, 1992–2011) Click to show or hide the answer
David Howell Evans (guitarist in U2: born Essex 1961, raised in Dublin) Click to show or hide the answer
John Merrick (Victorian unfortunate) Click to show or hide the answer
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (recording artist) Click to show or hide the answer
Michael Joseph ('Mike') Pasternak – born 1942, son of Hollywood producer Joe Pasternak Click to show or hide the answer
Eric Moussambani (swimmer from Equatorial Guinea – Sydney 2000) Click to show or hide the answer
Elliot John Gleave (English singer and rapper, born 1982) Click to show or hide the answer
Johann 'Hans' Hölzel (1957–98) – the first Austrian act to score a UK No. 1 hit (1986) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Norman Cook (recording artist – not his real name) Click to show or hide the answer
Curtis James Jackson III (rapper, born New York 1975) Click to show or hide the answer
Derek William Dick (lead singer of Marillion, 1979–88 – first four albums) Click to show or hide the answer
Michael Balzary (bass guitarist in the Red Hot Chili Peppers) Click to show or hide the answer
Olympians Hannes Kolehmainen (1912), Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola (1924), Volmari Iso–Hollo (1932 and 1936), Lasse Virén (1972 and 1976); also Formula 1 drivers Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen, Kimi Räikkönen Click to show or hide the answer
Louisa Rose Allen (singer–songwriter, born Southampton 1989) Click to show or hide the answer
Graham Kerr (TV chef) Click to show or hide the answer
Temijin (c1160–1217; son of a Mongolian chieftain; adopted name means "perfect warrior" Click to show or hide the answer
James J. Corbett (boxer) Click to show or hide the answer
Martin Ruane (wrestler – also known as Luke McMasters) Click to show or hide the answer
Clifford Joseph Price (musician and DJ, born Walsall 1965; a.k.a. the King of Jungle) Click to show or hide the answer
Anna Mary Robertson Moses (US primitive artist, died in 1961 aged 101) Click to show or hide the answer
Doménikos Theotokópoulos (painter, 1541–1614) Click to show or hide the answer
Diana Moran (1970s/80s TV personality) Click to show or hide the answer
Adrien Wettach (1880–1959) Click to show or hide the answer
George Oswald Browning Allen – England cricketer and administrator (1902–89 – nickname originating at Eton) Click to show or hide the answer
Ian Watkins (born in the Rhondda Valley, 8 May 1976) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
(Ras) Tafari Makonnen (Woldemikael) (1892–1975) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Simon King, David Myers (UK TV chefs) Click to show or hide the answer
Stanley Kirk Burrell (recording artiste, most successful in the late 1980s and early 90s) Click to show or hide the answer
Harry Wragg (English jockey, active between the two world wars; then a trainer) Click to show or hide the answer
Georges Remi (Belgian cartoonist, 1907–83) Click to show or hide the answer
Thomas Hearns (US welterweight boxer, 1980s) and Ricky Hatton (British light–welterweight, early 21st century) Click to show or hide the answer
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (b. 65 BC) Click to show or hide the answer
Sir Henry Percy (son of the first Earl of Northumberland; born 1364, killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury, 1403) Click to show or hide the answer
Chester Burnett (singer and songwriter) Click to show or hide the answer
Nickname for a certain British politician, coined in 1976 by the Soviet newspaper Red Star and used as the title of an Oscar–winning 2011 film Click to show or hide the answer
Georges Watin (died Paraguay, 19 Feb 1994) Click to show or hide the answer
Adrian Lewis (darts player – PDC World Champion 2011 and 2012) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Shawn Corey Carter (born New York, 1969) Click to show or hide the answer
Mohammed Emwazi (born Kuwait 1988, family moved to Britain in 1994; reported dead in Syria, 12 November 2015 Click to show or hide the answer
Name under which Katie Price worked as a glamour model from 1996 to 2004, but disowned when she appeared on I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (Brazilian footballer, born 1982 – played over 200 games for Internazionale and 85 for Real Madrid) Click to show or hide the answer
Harry Wayne Casey (born 1951 near Miami, Florida) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Mark Ian Hoyle (blogger, YouTuber, etc. – born in Nottingham, 1987) Click to show or hide the answer
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (pop singer, born New York 1986) Click to show or hide the answer
Alessandro Moreschi (album title) Click to show or hide the answer
Ian Fraser Kilminster (rock singer and guitarist – born Christmas Eve 1945, died in 2015, aged 70 years and 4 days) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Lisa Lopez, of the R & B group TLC, (died in a plane crash in 2002) Click to show or hide the answer
Wladislu Valentino (musician and entertainer) Click to show or hide the answer
Gustav II Adolf, or Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden (1611–1632) Click to show or hide the answer
Richard Penniman (singer) Click to show or hide the answer
Harry Relph (Music Hall artiste, 1867–1928) Click to show or hide the answer
Ella Marija Lani Yelich–O'Connor (singer–songwriter, born Auckland 1996) Click to show or hide the answer
William Joyce (Nazi collaborator and propagandist, 1906–46) Click to show or hide the answer
Aldwyn Roberts (1922–2000) – "the leading calypsonian of his generation" Click to show or hide the answer
Lee Ridley (winner of Britain's Got Talent, 2018) Click to show or hide the answer
Salvatore Lucania (a.k.a. Charles Luciano) (1897–1962) Click to show or hide the answer
Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie (singer, born 1948) Click to show or hide the answer
Title, meaning "guided one", adopted by Mohammed Ahmed, the Sudanese military leader who captured Khartoum in 1885 Click to show or hide the answer
The mysterious prisoner who died in 1703, on an island off the French Riviera, under the name 'Marchioly' Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Joseph Jagger (1873) or Charles Wells (1891) – the song, which was written in 1892, is more likely to have been inspired by Wells Click to show or hide the answer
John "Babbacombe" Lee (convicted murderer, 1864 – c. 1945) Click to show or hide the answer
Major William Martin – non–existent British officer in World War II (in the title of a 1953 book and 1956 film) Click to show or hide the answer
Margaretha Geertruida McLeod (nee Zelle) Click to show or hide the answer
George Lemon (the 'Clown Prince' of the Harlem Globetrotters) Click to show or hide the answer
Margaret Thatcher, when Education secretary (1970 – after she abolished free milk for primary school children) Click to show or hide the answer
Richard Melville Hall (recording artist – a great–great–great nephew of Herman Melville) Click to show or hide the answer
Jean–Baptiste Poquelin (French playwright, 1622–73) Click to show or hide the answer
Nick Freeman (Manchester–based lawyer) Click to show or hide the answer
Derrick Evans (TV personality in the early days of UK breakfast TV) Click to show or hide the answer
Howard Marks (convicted drug smuggler – title of his best–selling 1996 autobiography) Click to show or hide the answer
Anna Mary Robertson (m. Thomas Salmon Moses) Click to show or hide the answer
McKinley Morganfield (blues artiste) Click to show or hide the answer
Margaret Lake (TV personality) Click to show or hide the answer
Stephen Gough (former Royal Marine; jailed on several occasions in Scotland, 2006–8, while his activities are viewed less seriously in his native England) Click to show or hide the answer
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones (US rapper – album Illmatic, 1994) Click to show or hide the answer
Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (US singer and rapper, born 1974) Click to show or hide the answer
The three pagans, three Jews and three Christians who were listed in a late mediaeval narrative poem as personifying the ideals of chivalry established in the Middle Ages Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Oliver Cromwell, Duke of Wellington Click to show or hide the answer
Christopher Wallace: Biggie Smalls or Click to show or hide the answer
Russell Jones (died 2004, aged 35, of an accidental drug overdose) Click to show or hide the answer
James Francis Edward Stuart, son of James II of England and father of Bonnie Prince Charlie (died in Rome in 1766, aged 77) Click to show or hide the answer
Henry Hunt (19th century radical agitator, advocate of parliamentary reform and opponent of the Corn Laws – speaker at the demonstration that resulted in the Peterloo Massacre) Click to show or hide the answer
Francois Duvalier (dictator of Haiti, from 1957 until his death in 1971) Click to show or hide the answer
Henri Charriere (criminal and writer) Click to show or hide the answer
Edson Arantes do Nascimento Click to show or hide the answer
Hablot Knight Browne (Dickens' illustrator) Click to show or hide the answer
Alecia Beth Moore (US pop singer, born 1979) Click to show or hide the answer
Shared by Sir Pelham Francis Warner, cricketer, and P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse Click to show or hide the answer
Charles Floyd (shot by the FBI, 1934) Click to show or hide the answer
Stephen Paul Manderson (British rapper, etc., born 1983) Click to show or hide the answer
Sean Combs (US rap artist) Click to show or hide the answer
Dana Elaine Owens (recording artiste and actress) Click to show or hide the answer
Dr. Charles Hill (1940s) Click to show or hide the answer
Rory Charles Graham (English singer–songwriter, born in 1985) Click to show or hide the answer
Chris Miller (drummer of The Damned) Click to show or hide the answer
Manfred von Richthofen (German WWI fighter pilot) Click to show or hide the answer
William Perry (American football player – Chicago Bears, 1985–93) Click to show or hide the answer
Rowland Walter Fuhrhup (British businessman, 1917–98) Click to show or hide the answer
Hector Hugh (H. H.) Munro (writer) Click to show or hide the answer
Herman Cyril McNeile (writer – creator of Capt. Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond) Click to show or hide the answer
Sir Percy Blakeney (fictional character) Click to show or hide the answer
Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel (singer–songwriter, born London 1963) Click to show or hide the answer
Theodor S. Greisel (children's writer, 1904–91; the surname of his pen name was his mother's maiden name, and what the S stood for in his real name) Click to show or hide the answer
Orville Burrell (recording artiste) Click to show or hide the answer
Richard Reid (would–be terrorist) Click to show or hide the answer
John Simon Ritchie (born Lewisham, Kent, 1957; surname became Beverley after his mother remarried; died New York 1979) Click to show or hide the answer
Charlie Rich (C&W singer), David Taylor (snooker player) Click to show or hide the answer
Jeanne Deckers (Belgian singer, 1933–85) Click to show or hide the answer
Alan Smethurst (1927–2000) Click to show or hide the answer
Susan Dallion (punk singer) Click to show or hide the answer
Deborah Dyer (born London 1967 – singer in Skunk Anansie) Click to show or hide the answer
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. (rapper) Click to show or hide the answer
Liverpudlian charity fundraiser Muchael Cullen, who raised over £800,000 between 2014 and 2023, starting by swimming the English Channel, then by walking around the UK, attending hundreds of football matches, clad (most of the time) only in Everton blue swimming trunks Click to show or hide the answer
Lady Jane Francesca Wilde (poet, d. 1896) Click to show or hide the answer
Johnathan Joseph (Sony Award–winning DJ and radio presenter) Click to show or hide the answer
Sir Leslie Ward (caricaturist – b. 1851) Click to show or hide the answer
Angus Loughran (son of former Halle principal conductor James) Click to show or hide the answer
Marie Henri Beyle (writer) Click to show or hide the answer
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner (singer/songwriter/musician – CBE 2003) Click to show or hide the answer
Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (1130–76) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Graham McPherson (singer) Click to show or hide the answer
Henry Longbaugh (outlaw) Click to show or hide the answer
Daniel Hooper (environmental activist, much in the news c. 1997) Click to show or hide the answer
Henry St. Clair Fredericks (blues musician, born New York 1942) Click to show or hide the answer
Moe Howard, Curly Howard and Larry Fine (collectively) Click to show or hide the answer
Charles Sherwood Stratton (b. 4 Jan 1838) Click to show or hide the answer
Jacopo Robusti (painter) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Tiziano Vecellio (painter) Click to show or hide the answer
Iva Toguri d'Aquino (born in Los Angeles, 1916, to Japanese parents; died in Chicago, 2006) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Wally Fawkes (born Canada, 1924; jazz clarinettist – a founder member of Humphrey Lyttelton's band – but more famous as a cartoonist) Click to show or hide the answer
Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (18th–century politician and agricultural reformer) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Dame Lesley Lawson (née Hornby) – model, singer and actress Click to show or hide the answer
Jennifer Paterson (1928–1999) and Clarissa Dickson Wright (1947–2014) Click to show or hide the answer
Mary Mallon – born in Ireland in 1869, emigrated to the USA in 1884; kept in isolation in New York from 1915 until her death in 1938 Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Frank Tyson (Northants and England fast bowler, 1950s) Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Theodore Kaczynski (jailed for life in the USA, 1998) Click to show or hide the answer
Derek McCullough (BBC radio presenter: Children's Hour 1933–50, Children's Favourites 1954–65) Click to show or hide the answer
Joel Chandler Harris (pen name under which he wrote the Brer Rabbit stories) Click to show or hide the answer
Evangelos Papathanassiou (musician and composer) Click to show or hide the answer
Robert Van Winkle (white US rapper, b. 1967) Click to show or hide the answer
General Joseph Stilwell Click to show or hide the answer
Vladislav III, 15th century ruler of Wallachia – often said to be the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula Click to show or hide the answer
François–Marie Arouet (French writer, 1694–1778) Click to show or hide the answer
Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (b. 1428) Click to show or hide the answer
John Samuel Humble: sentenced to eight years in prison in 2006, for perverting the course of justice (four separate offences, committed in 1978–9) Click to show or hide the answer
William James Adams, Jr. (US singer, etc.) Click to show or hide the answer
Title claimed by Matthew Hopkins, 1645–7 – played in a 1968 film of the same title by Vincent Price Click to show or hide the answer
Geoffrey Anketell Studdert–Kennedy (legendary padre–poet, WWI) Click to show or hide the answer
Peter Sutcliffe (convicted serial killer) Click to show or hide the answer
Internet ID of Zoe Sugg, fashion and beauty blogger and YouTuber Click to show or hide the answer

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23