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.
| Q: By what nickname is/was ... (better) known? |
|
A: |
| John George Haigh (English serial killer, 1940s) |
 |
Acid Bath Murderer |
| Stuart Goddard |
|
Adam Ant |
| Adam Tinsley (acid house music producer. a.k.a. Adam Sky) |
|
Adamski |
| 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) |
|
The Albatross |
| William Oliver Wallace (entertainer, 1929–2009; also used the stage name The Sheik of Araby) |
|
Ali Bongo |
| Jonathan Chapman (American nurseryman, 1774–1845) |
|
Johnny Appleseed |
| Jean Claude Duvalier (president of Haiti 1971–86, son of Papa Doc) |
|
Baby Doc |
| Lester Joseph Gillis (born Chicago, 1908) |
|
Baby Face Nelson |
| Damon Gough (singer, songwriter, etc.) |
|
Badly Drawn Boy |
| Frederick I (Holy Roman Emperor, 1152–90) |
|
Barbarossa |
| John Cameron Andrieu Bingham Morton (journalist) |
|
Beachcomber |
| 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 |
|
Belle de Jour |
| Mark Berry (dancer and "percussionist" with Happy Mondays; won Celebrity Big Brother
Series 3, 2005) |
|
Bez |
| J. P. Richardson (rock 'n' roll musician) |
|
The Big Bopper |
| Shirley Crabtree (wrestler) |
|
Big Daddy |
| Henry McCarty – a.k.a. William H. Bonney (outlaw, 1859–81) |
|
Billy the Kid |
| Robert Stroud (convict – died, aged 73, on the day before the assassination of John F. Kennedy, after 54
years in prison) |
|
Birdman of Alcatraz |
| Colin Vearncombe (Liverpool–born 'new wave' singer–songwriter) |
|
Black |
| Edward Teach (British pirate, c. 1680–1718) |
|
Blackbeard |
| Derek McIntosh Bates (1923–2006; born and died in Crewe) |
|
Blaster Bates |
| Henri Landru (French mass murderer) |
|
Bluebeard |
| Ellas McDaniel (rock 'n' roll musician) |
|
Bo Diddley |
| Bill Robinson (tap–dancer) |
|
Mr. Bojangles |
| Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris |
|
Bomber Harris |
| Paul Arthurs (Oasis guitarist – left in 1999) |
|
Bonehead |
| 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 |
|
Bonnie Prince Charlie |
| Paul Hewson (singer) |
|
Bono |
| Albert DeSalvo (convicted murderer) |
|
Boston Strangler |
| Lecil Travis Martin (country singer / songwriter, 1931–99)
|
|
Boxcar Willie |
| Charles Dickens (when a journalist) |
|
Boz |
| George Joseph Smith (convicted murderer) |
|
Brides in the Bath Murderer |
| Gilbert M. Anderson (early Western movie star – 1880–1971; the 1980 film starring
Clint Eastwood appears to have no direct connection) |
|
Broncho Billy |
| Prince Gautama Siddhartha (religious leader) |
|
Buddha |
| William Frederick Cody (showman) |
|
Buffalo Bill |
| Douglas Trendle (30–stone front man of pop group Bad Manners) |
|
Buster Bloodvessel |
| Robert LeRoy Parker (Western outlaw) |
|
Butch Cassidy |
| Martha Jane Burke (née Canary) |
|
Calamity Jane |
| Giovanni Antonio Canal (born Venice 1697) |
|
Canaletto |
| Don Van Vliet (painter and rock musician, d. 2010) |
|
Captain Beefheart |
| Raymond Burns (lead singer of The Damned) |
|
Captain Sensible |
| French model and actress – starred in the 1963 films The Pink Panther and
What's New, Pussycat?; professional name (French for "nasturtium") |
|
Capucine |
| Emmanuel Poire (illustrator – d. 1909) |
|
Caran d'Ache |
| Ilich Ramirez Sanchez (terrorist leader, arrested 1994) |
|
Carlos the Jackal |
| William Connor (Daily Mirror columnist – wrote "As I was saying before I was interrupted"
in 1946; died in 1967) |
|
Cassandra |
| 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) |
|
Chemical Ali |
| Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (military leader, 1043–99) |
|
El Cid Campeador |
| Claude Gelee (painter – c. 1600–1682) |
|
Claude (of) Lorraine |
| Nikolai Petrovich Polyakov (a.k.a. Nicolai Poliakoff; children's entertainer, born 1900 in Dvinsk, Latvia;
died 1974 in Peterborough) |
|
Coco the Clown |
| Dave Vitty, a long–term associate of the Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles |
|
Comedy Dave |
| 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) |
|
Comical Ali |
| Charles Edouard Jenneret (French architect) |
|
Le Corbusier |
| Edmond Dantes (fictional character) |
|
Count of Monte Cristo |
| Rosemary Brown (Irish singer and MEP) |
|
Dana |
| Brian Joseph Burton (US music producer, born 1977) |
|
Danger Mouse |
| James Buchanan Brady (d. 1917, financier) |
|
Diamond Jim |
| Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong (singer, born 1971) |
|
Dido |
| 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) |
|
Divine |
| Dylan Kwabena Mills (pioneer of 'grime' music, born 1984) |
|
Dizzee Rascal |
| Duane Chapman (eponymous star of an American reality TV series, first broadcast 2004–12, with later spin–offs) |
|
Dog the Bounty Hunter |
| Mack Rebennack |
|
Dr. John (the Night Tripper) |
| Ted Giesel (US writer and illustrator) |
|
Dr. Seuss |
| William Henry Hare – Leicester Tigers RUFC's record points scorer; 25 England caps,
1974–84 |
|
Dusty |
| Steven Frayne (magician, born Bradford 1982; star of his own TV series, subtitled
Magician Impossible (Watch, 2011–14) |
|
Dynamo |
| Michael Edwards (British sportsman) |
|
Eddie the Eagle |
| Adam Joseph Copeland (Canadian WWE wrestler, 1992–2011) |
|
Edge |
| David Howell Evans (guitarist in U2: born Essex 1961, raised in Dublin) |
|
The Edge |
| John Merrick (Victorian unfortunate) |
|
Elephant Man |
| Marshall Bruce Mathers III (recording artist) |
|
Eminem |
| Michael Joseph ('Mike') Pasternak – born 1942, son of Hollywood producer Joe Pasternak |
|
Emperor Rosko |
| Eric Moussambani (swimmer from Equatorial Guinea – Sydney 2000) |
|
Eric the Eel |
| Elliot John Gleave (English singer and rapper, born 1982) |
|
Example |
| Johann 'Hans' Hölzel (1957–98) – the first Austrian act to score a UK No. 1 hit (1986)
|
|
Falco |
| Norman Cook (recording artist – not his real name) |
|
Fatboy Slim |
| Curtis James Jackson III (rapper, born New York 1975) |
|
50 Cent |
| Derek William Dick (lead singer of Marillion, 1979–88 – first four albums) |
|
Fish |
| Michael Balzary (bass guitarist in the Red Hot Chili Peppers) |
|
Flea |
| 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 |
|
Flying Finn |
| Louisa Rose Allen (singer–songwriter, born Southampton 1989) |
|
Foxes |
| Graham Kerr (TV chef) |
|
Galloping Gourmet |
| Temijin (c1160–1217; son of a Mongolian chieftain; adopted name means "perfect warrior" |
|
Genghis Khan |
| James J. Corbett (boxer) |
|
Gentleman Jim |
| Martin Ruane (wrestler – also known as Luke McMasters) |
|
Giant Haystacks |
| Clifford Joseph Price (musician and DJ, born Walsall 1965; a.k.a. the King of Jungle) |
|
Goldie |
| Anna Mary Robertson Moses (US primitive artist, died in 1961 aged 101) |
|
Grandma Moses |
| Doménikos Theotokópoulos (painter, 1541–1614) |
|
El Greco |
| Diana Moran (1970s/80s TV personality) |
|
Green Goddess |
| Adrien Wettach (1880–1959) |
|
Grock (the Clown) |
| George Oswald Browning Allen – England cricketer and administrator (1902–89 –
nickname originating at Eton) |
|
Gubby |
| Ian Watkins (born in the Rhondda Valley, 8 May 1976) |
|
H (from Steps) |
| (Ras) Tafari Makonnen (Woldemikael) (1892–1975) |
|
Emperor Haile Selassie |
| Simon King, David Myers (UK TV chefs) |
|
Hairy Bikers |
| Stanley Kirk Burrell (recording artiste, most successful in the late 1980s and early 90s) |
|
MC Hammer |
| Harry Wragg (English jockey, active between the two world wars;
then a trainer) |
|
Head Waiter |
| Georges Remi (Belgian cartoonist, 1907–83) |
|
Hergé |
| Thomas Hearns (US welterweight boxer, 1980s) and Ricky Hatton (British light–welterweight, early 21st century) |
|
The Hitman |
| Quintus Horatius Flaccus (b. 65 BC) |
|
Horace |
| Sir Henry Percy (son of the first Earl of Northumberland; born 1364, killed at the
Battle of Shrewsbury, 1403) |
|
(Harry) Hotspur |
| Chester Burnett (singer and songwriter) |
|
Howlin' Wolf |
| 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 |
|
The Iron Lady |
| Georges Watin (died Paraguay, 19 Feb 1994) |
|
The Jackal |
| Adrian Lewis (darts player – PDC World Champion 2011 and 2012)
|
|
Jackpot |
| Shawn Corey Carter (born New York, 1969) |
|
Jay–Z |
| Mohammed Emwazi (born Kuwait 1988, family moved to Britain in 1994; reported dead in Syria, 12 November 2015 |
|
Jihadi John |
| 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! |
|
Jordan |
| Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (Brazilian footballer, born 1982 – played over 200 games for
Internazionale and 85 for Real Madrid) |
|
Kaka |
| Harry Wayne Casey (born 1951 near Miami, Florida) |
|
KC |
| Mark Ian Hoyle (blogger, YouTuber, etc. – born in Nottingham, 1987) |
|
LadBaby |
| Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (pop singer, born New York 1986) |
|
Lady Gaga |
| Alessandro Moreschi (album title) |
|
The Last Castrato |
| Ian Fraser Kilminster (rock singer and guitarist – born Christmas Eve 1945, died in 2015, aged 70 years and
4 days) |
|
Lemmy |
| Lisa Lopez, of the R & B group TLC, (died in a plane crash in 2002) |
|
Left–Eye |
| Wladislu Valentino (musician and entertainer) |
|
Liberace |
| Gustav II Adolf, or Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden (1611–1632) |
|
Lion of the North |
| Richard Penniman (singer) |
|
Little Richard |
| Harry Relph (Music Hall artiste, 1867–1928) |
|
Little Tich |
| Ella Marija Lani Yelich–O'Connor (singer–songwriter, born Auckland 1996) |
|
Lorde |
| William Joyce (Nazi collaborator and propagandist, 1906–46) |
|
Lord Haw Haw |
| Aldwyn Roberts (1922–2000) – "the leading calypsonian of his generation" |
|
Lord Kitchener |
| Lee Ridley (winner of Britain's Got Talent, 2018) |
|
Lost Voice Guy |
| Salvatore Lucania (a.k.a. Charles Luciano) (1897–1962) |
|
Lucky Luciano |
| Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie (singer, born 1948) |
|
Lulu |
| Title, meaning "guided one", adopted by Mohammed Ahmed, the Sudanese military leader who
captured Khartoum in 1885 |
|
The Mahdi |
| The mysterious prisoner who died in 1703, on an island off the French Riviera, under the name
'Marchioly' |
|
The Man in the Iron Mask |
| Joseph Jagger (1873) or Charles Wells (1891) – the song, which was written in 1892, is more
likely to have been inspired by Wells |
|
The Man that Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo |
| John "Babbacombe" Lee (convicted murderer, 1864 – c. 1945) |
|
The Man they Couldn't Hang |
| Major William Martin – non–existent British officer in World War II (in the title of a
1953 book and 1956 film) |
|
The Man who never was |
| Margaretha Geertruida McLeod (nee Zelle) |
|
Mata Hari |
| George Lemon (the 'Clown Prince' of the Harlem Globetrotters) |
|
Meadowlark |
| Margaret Thatcher, when Education secretary (1970 – after she abolished free milk for primary school
children) |
|
Milk Snatcher |
| Richard Melville Hall (recording artist – a great–great–great nephew of Herman Melville) |
|
Moby |
| Jean–Baptiste Poquelin (French playwright, 1622–73) |
|
Molière |
| Nick Freeman (Manchester–based lawyer) |
|
Mr. Loophole |
| Derrick Evans (TV personality in the early days of UK breakfast TV) |
|
Mr. Motivator |
| Howard Marks (convicted drug smuggler – title of his best–selling 1996 autobiography) |
|
Mr. Nice |
| Anna Mary Robertson (m. Thomas Salmon Moses) |
|
Grandma Moses |
| McKinley Morganfield (blues artiste) |
|
Muddy Waters |
| Margaret Lake (TV personality) |
|
Mystic Meg |
| Stephen Gough (former Royal Marine; jailed on several occasions in Scotland, 2006–8, while his
activities are viewed less seriously in his native England) |
|
The Naked Rambler |
| Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones (US rapper – album Illmatic, 1994) |
|
Nas |
| Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (US singer and rapper, born 1974) |
|
Nelly |
| 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 |
|
The Nine Worthies |
| Oliver Cromwell, Duke of Wellington |
|
Nosey |
| Christopher Wallace: Biggie Smalls or |
|
Notorious B. I. G. |
| Russell Jones (died 2004, aged 35, of an accidental drug overdose) |
|
Ol' Dirty Bastard |
| James Francis Edward Stuart, son of James II of England and father of Bonnie Prince Charlie
(died in Rome in 1766, aged 77) |
|
The Old Pretender |
| 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) |
|
Orator Hunt |
| Francois Duvalier (dictator of Haiti, from 1957 until his death in 1971) |
|
Papa Doc |
| Henri Charriere (criminal and writer) |
|
Papillon |
| Edson Arantes do Nascimento |
|
Pelé pele |
| Hablot Knight Browne (Dickens' illustrator) |
|
Phiz |
| Alecia Beth Moore (US pop singer, born 1979) |
|
P!nk (Pink) |
| Shared by Sir Pelham Francis Warner, cricketer, and P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse |
|
Plum |
| Charles Floyd (shot by the FBI, 1934) |
|
Pretty Boy Floyd |
| Stephen Paul Manderson (British rapper, etc., born 1983) |
|
Professor Green |
| Sean Combs (US rap artist) |
|
Puff Daddy or (P.) Diddy |
| Dana Elaine Owens (recording artiste and actress) |
|
Queen Latifah |
| Dr. Charles Hill (1940s) |
|
The Radio Doctor |
| Rory Charles Graham (English singer–songwriter, born in 1985) |
|
Rag'n'Bone Man |
| Chris Miller (drummer of The Damned) |
|
Rat Scabies |
| Manfred von Richthofen (German WWI fighter pilot) |
|
Red Baron |
| William Perry (American football player – Chicago Bears, 1985–93) |
|
Refrigerator (Fridge) |
| Rowland Walter Fuhrhup (British businessman, 1917–98) |
|
Tiny Rowland |
| Hector Hugh (H. H.) Munro (writer) |
|
Saki |
| Herman Cyril McNeile (writer – creator of Capt. Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond) |
|
Sapper |
| Sir Percy Blakeney (fictional character) |
|
Scarlet Pimpernel |
| Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel (singer–songwriter, born London 1963) |
|
Seal |
| 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) |
|
Dr. Seuss |
| Orville Burrell (recording artiste) |
|
Shaggy |
| Richard Reid (would–be terrorist) |
|
Shoe bomber |
| John Simon Ritchie (born Lewisham, Kent, 1957; surname became Beverley after his mother remarried;
died New York 1979) |
|
Sid Vicious |
| Charlie Rich (C&W singer), David Taylor (snooker player) |
|
Silver Fox |
| Jeanne Deckers (Belgian singer, 1933–85) |
|
Singing Nun (Soeur Sourire) |
| Alan Smethurst (1927–2000) |
|
Singing Postman |
| Susan Dallion (punk singer) |
|
Siouxsie Sioux |
| Deborah Dyer (born London 1967 – singer in Skunk Anansie) |
|
Skin |
| Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. (rapper) |
|
Snoop (Doggy) Dogg |
| 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 |
|
Speedo Mick |
| Lady Jane Francesca Wilde (poet, d. 1896) |
|
Speranza |
| Johnathan Joseph (Sony Award–winning DJ and radio presenter) |
|
DJ Spoony |
| Sir Leslie Ward (caricaturist – b. 1851) |
|
Spy |
| Angus Loughran (son of former Halle principal conductor James) |
|
Statto |
| Marie Henri Beyle (writer) |
|
Stendahl |
| Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner (singer/songwriter/musician – CBE 2003) |
|
Sting |
| Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (1130–76) |
|
Strongbow |
| Graham McPherson (singer) |
|
Suggs |
| Henry Longbaugh (outlaw) |
|
Sundance Kid |
| Daniel Hooper (environmental activist, much in the news c. 1997) |
|
Swampy |
| Henry St. Clair Fredericks (blues musician, born New York 1942) |
|
Taj Mahal |
| Moe Howard, Curly Howard and Larry Fine (collectively) |
|
The Three Stooges |
| Charles Sherwood Stratton (b. 4 Jan 1838) |
|
General Tom Thumb |
| Jacopo Robusti (painter) |
|
Tintoretto |
| Tiziano Vecellio (painter) |
|
Titian |
| Iva Toguri d'Aquino (born in Los Angeles, 1916, to Japanese parents; died in Chicago, 2006)
|
|
Tokyo Rose |
| Wally Fawkes (born Canada, 1924; jazz clarinettist – a founder member of Humphrey Lyttelton's
band – but more famous as a cartoonist) |
|
Trog |
| Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (18th–century politician and agricultural reformer)
|
|
Turnip Townshend |
| Dame Lesley Lawson (née Hornby) – model, singer and actress |
|
Twiggy |
| Jennifer Paterson (1928–1999) and Clarissa Dickson Wright (1947–2014) |
|
Two Fat Ladies |
| 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 |
|
Typhoid Mary |
| Frank Tyson (Northants and England fast bowler, 1950s) |
|
Typhoon Tyson |
| Theodore Kaczynski (jailed for life in the USA, 1998) |
|
Unabomber |
| Derek McCullough (BBC radio presenter: Children's Hour 1933–50, Children's
Favourites 1954–65) |
|
Uncle Mac |
| Joel Chandler Harris (pen name under which he wrote the Brer Rabbit stories) |
|
Uncle Remus |
| Evangelos Papathanassiou (musician and composer) |
|
Vangelis |
| Robert Van Winkle (white US rapper, b. 1967) |
|
Vanilla Ice |
| General Joseph Stilwell |
|
Vinegar Joe |
| Vladislav III, 15th century ruler of Wallachia – often said to be the inspiration for
Bram Stoker's Dracula |
|
Vlad the Impaler |
| François–Marie Arouet (French writer, 1694–1778) |
|
Voltaire |
| Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (b. 1428) |
|
Warwick the Kingmaker |
| John Samuel Humble: sentenced to eight years in prison in 2006, for perverting the course of justice
(four separate offences, committed in 1978–9) |
|
Wearside Jack |
| William James Adams, Jr. (US singer, etc.) |
|
will.i.am |
| Title claimed by Matthew Hopkins, 1645–7 – played in a 1968 film of the same title by
Vincent Price |
|
Witch Finder General |
| Geoffrey Anketell Studdert–Kennedy (legendary padre–poet, WWI) |
|
Woodbine Willie |
| Peter Sutcliffe (convicted serial killer) |
|
Yorkshire Ripper |
| Internet ID of Zoe Sugg, fashion and beauty blogger and YouTuber |
|
Zoella |
