Sobriquet: Difference between revisions

Compare [[The Magnificent]], [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]], and [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]. [[I Have Many Names]] can be when they have more than one. [[They Call Him "Sword"]] is a sub-trope, when he's called after some kind of weapon. This may also be a sign that you're dealing with [[The Dreaded]]. While some fall into [[Code Name]] or [[Only Known by Their Nickname]], most of these characters regularly use their real names. Also compare [[Nom-de-guerre]], where they ''have'' the nickname, but they might not be particularly known or feared for it. Also also compare [[Superhero Sobriquets]] where the writer and thus the audience know the sobriquet, but it's unknown [[In-Universe]]. See also [[In-Series Nickname]].

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In ''[[Baccano!]]'', Claire Stanfield's most well-known title is Vino, [[The Butcher|in reference to the wine-like stains on the floor he inevitably turns his opponents into.]]

* In ''[[Claymore]]'', several of the main characters have nicknames that belie their badassedness, including "Teresa of the Faint Smile" who can kill Yoma without ever having to use her extra powers.

* In the second season of ''[[Code Geass]]'', Suzaku has earned the nickname "White [[Shinigami|Reaper]]"; his Knights of the Round teammate Luciano Bradley is "[[Blood Knight|the Vampire of Britannia.]]" Before the name of the pilot of the Lancelot was know, the Black Knights referred to Suzaku as the White Helmet (or something similar, depending on translation). Lelouch's mother was known as Marianne the Flash.

** One random pilot refers to Kallen as "The Ace of the Elevens", but it's unclear if this is an actual nickname or merely a statement of fact. Her codename in Lelouch's cell phone is [[Chess Motifs|Q1]]. [[Fan Nickname|Fans tend to call her]] "Crimson Lotus", which is the translation of her [[Super Prototype]]'s name, Guren.

** And Lelouch, or more accurately, Zero, is "the Man Of Miracles".

*** Even Princess Euphemia gets a nickname. {{spoiler|After she orders (and personally partakes in) the murder of thousands of Japanese people after being accidentally Geassed into doing so by Lelouch, she comes to be derisively known as "Princess Massacre."}} [[Fan Nickname|As for the fans]], she's known as {{spoiler|"the Euphinator"}} as a result of this incident.

* In ''[[The Record of a Fallen Vampire]]'', the protagonist and {{spoiler|one of the}} titular fallen vampire is Akabara "Red Rose" Strauss. Meanwhile, {{spoiler|his queen, Adelheid, became known as the ''Moonlight of Corrosion'' because of a tragic and bloody incident in the past where she almost annihilated all vampires.}} We also have his Dhampire subordinate, Leticia who garners the nicknames "Lety" and "Mountain Cat", ''and'' there's Strauss's mortal enemy, whose known only by her moniker, "The Black Swan."

* Subverted in ''[[Cromartie High School]]'' when Akira Maeda decides on a new nickname for himself: "The Dragon of Razors". Unfortunately, due to his [[Butt Monkey]] status, no one seems to call him by that name.

** There's also the rock star guy the students call [[Queen|Freddie]], since he's a mute and no one seems to know his real origins.

* ''[[Darker than Black]]'' gives us [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Black Reaper]], Hei. Notable in that ''[[Only Known by Their Nickname|the only name we know him by]]'' is also a [[Badass Nickname|Badass]] [[Code Name]]; "Hei" is Chinese for "Black."

* Kenshiro of ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' is known as the "Man with the Seven Scars" or the "Savior of Century's End", while his [[Aloof Big Brother]] Raoh is known as "Ken-oh" (the "King of Fist") or the "Conqueror of Century's End".

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' is a remarkable example, going so far as to having the Amestris government actually issue every State Alchemist a similar moniker. The series occasionally [[Satire, Parody, Pastiche|spoofs]] the problems of this trope, with the people [[Expecting Someone Taller|being more familiar with the fearsome alias than the person behind it]] - resulting in them frequently mistaking Edward Elric's walking armor brother, Alphonse, for the eponymous [[Fullmetal Alchemist]].

** In the manga, Roy Mustang is referred to as the "Hero of Ishbal" while Riza Hawkeye is the "Eye of the Hawk".

** The same series parodies the trope when a former [[Serial Killer]] refers to himself by alias only, stating that his ''real'' name would make his opponent piss his pants in fear. When his name is revealed, the opponent is not impressed and has never even heard of him, irking the serial killer greatly. To be fair, he was famous; Al is just from a small rural town.

** And there's also Scar, whose real name is never known in the anime and has not been revealed in the manga, called as such after the eponymous disfigurement on his forehead, who the ''entire military'' has been trying to hunt down.

*** He accepts the moniker the others have given him after having given up his original name.

* All of the [[Ace Pilot]]s in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' have this, the most famous being the legendary Char "The Red Comet" Aznable, who was clearly based off of Richtofen.

** What's interesting to note is that despite the chromatic similarities, Char's canonical fighting style, at least in the original series, is actually the polar opposite of Richthofen's. While The Red Baron was an average pilot at best whose real talent was his superior marksmanship and knack for picking targets who wouldn't see him coming, The Red Comet used a combination of high-speed, in-your-face assaults and enough acrobatic skill to avoid taking hits in what would otherwise be suicidal maneuvers. In truth, his style is probably closer to Manfred's brother Lothar, who, while not as famous, garnered a reputation as one of the most aggressive, reckless pilots of WWI.

** Spoofed by Johnny Ridden being known as the "Crimson Lightning", which causes him grief since he's constantly being mistaken for Char. It's so bad that his [[Catch Phrase]] is practically "I'm the Crimson Lightning, dammit!", said immediately after someone mistakes him for Char.

** Also from Zeon, Ramba Ral is known as "Blue Giant". And team of Gaia, Mash and Ortega known as "Black Tri-Stars".

** Series protagonist Amuro Ray is known as the "White Devil" by Zeon forces, primarily for the RX-78-2's white parade colors, as well as his incredible skill at piloting. During the events of [[Chars Counterattack]], he is known as the "White Unicorn".

** ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam]]'' should be noticed specially here, for it given us an ace pilot so Badass that his given name is never stated due to world potentially imploding due to awesome overload. We simply know him as Undefeated of the East, Master Asia.

*** A manga of debatable officialness gives his name as Shuji Kurosu.

** [[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing|Zechs Merquise]] earns the nickname "Lightning Baron" because of a battle where he took out rebel pilots with incredible speed; after kicking butt during OZ's coup d'etat and receiving a two-rank promotion, it's upgraded to "Lightning Count".

** Also, Duo Maxwell refers to himself as the "Shinigami" or "God of Death" ([[Never Say "Die"|"The Great Destroyer"]] in the edited version).

** In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED]]'', Mu La Flaga is known as the "Hawk of Endymion" while Andrew "The Desert Tiger" Waltfeld is probably a [[Shout-Out]] to Erwin Rommel below.

*** Model kits series add several Red Barons to CE era. All of these characters later appear in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray]]'':

**** Earth Alliance has Edward Harrelson "Ed the Ripper", Rena Imelia "Sakura Burst", Jane Houston "White Whale" and Morgan Chevalier "Mad Dog of the Moonlight". The South America arc in ''Destiny Astray'' was set to pit Ed in duel against other three.

**** ZAFT has Mikhail Coast "Doctor". Gundam SEED Astray also reveal that Miguel Aiman had the nickname "Magic Bullet of Dusk" and add Gud Vair "ZAFT Hero".

**** Finally, Orb has Barry Ho "God Hand" and Jean Carrey "Glittering Star J" (who, amusingly, at different times [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|fought for all three sides in the war]]).

** In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' Sergei Smirnov is known as the "Wild Bear of Russia", spoofed with Patrick Colasour being known as the "Immortal Colasour", a reference to how he miraculously survives repeated beatings by Gundams. Graham Aker later becomes known solely as "Mr. Bushido" in the second season.

** The other red baron in the UC continuity is Anavel Gato of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory|Gundam 0083]]''. He's called the "Nightmare of Solomon", having presumably racked up a large number of kills during the battle of Solomon and then A Boa Qu.

** Weird enough, the Zeon ace with highest kill count is Brenev Auggs "One Shot Killer". Never heard of him? That's because [[All There in the Manual|he's only mentioned in supplement material of model kits]].

* Van from ''[[Gun X Sword]]'' has dozens of nicknames, to the point where even he has trouble keeping track of them.

** There is one name, Van the Nice Guy, that recurs due to the fact that Joshua keeps calling him that and even wrote it down somewhere.

** It should be noted that Van is ''horrible'' with names, including his own nicknames. He took several episodes just to get his sidekick's name right. The only nickname he can remember with any consistency is "Van of the Dawn."

** A longer list stolen from [[Wikipedia|The Other Wiki]]: "Van the Unemployed", "Van the Freeloader", "Hangover Van", "Steel Van", "Invincible Van", "Pretty Van from the Garbage Dump", "Van the Unsung Hero who Gives It All He's Got", "Daybreak Van", "Nice Guy Van", "Van that Weird Guy who Helped Out", "Van of a Thousand Conquests", "Van of a Thousand Naps", "Van, The Devil in The Poisoned Tuxedo", and "Van the Devil's Swallowtail Suit".

* Just about every master in ''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple|Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple]]'' has at least one of these. The most impressive one is Hayato Fuurinji's "The Invincible Superman", alternatively translated as "Man Without Enemies" (The term "Without Enemies" is equivalent to "Invincible" in kanji), because there's seriously no one alive who poses a great threat to him.

* The ''[[Little Busters!]]'' [[Yonkoma]] side-stories spoof this, with the titular characters thinking up such nicknames for themselves so they can become more familiar. No one is happy with theirs, all ending up with things like "The Man with the Golden Sphincter".

* ''[[Lyrical Nanoha|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' earns the title "Ace of Aces" to her military peers mid-way through the series. And let's not forget her [[Fan Nickname]] "White Devil"...

** Subaru eventually gains her own nickname in the post-StrikerS [[Time Skip]]: Silver Ace.

** Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate's [[Evil Twin]]s from the ''Battle of Aces'' game are called, respectively, the Starlight Destroyer, the Thunderblade Assailant, and the Ruler of Darkness.

* Evangeline A.K. Mcdowell of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has many of these including ''Maga Nosferatu'', ''Feared Queen of the Night'', and ''Apostle of Destruction''. Her least favorite is "Kitty".

** Jack Rakan has his own collection of nicknames: "The Thousand Blades", "The Man Who Cannot Die", "The Immortal Fool", [[Overly Long Name|"That Damn Guy Who You Can Stab With Swords All You Like And It Won't Do A Thing, Dammit!"]]

** ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is full of these; there's "Death Glasses" [[Stoic Spectacles|Takamichi]], Nagi the "Thousand Master", etc.

*** Recently Negi himself gained title of "Lightning God", quite appropriate for someone who is not only able to use lightning magic to great effect but also turn his whole body into it.

* The highest-ranked Otome in ''[[Mai-Otome]]'' have nicknames that match that of their GEMs. For instance, Shizuru is known as the "Bewitching Smile Amethyst", and her [[The Rival|rival]] Haruka holds the secondary title of "Continental Orb Topaz". Some of these tend toward the "odd" end of the [[Word Salad Title]] scale.

* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': the machine itself is more than once called "The Invincible Tower of Black Iron". Mazinkaiser carries on the tradition of being called the "Demon God of Justice".

* ''[[Metal Armor Dragonar]]''<nowiki></nowiki>'s [[Char Clone]], Maiyo Plato is known as the 'Blue Eagle of Giganos'.

* ''[[Naruto]]'': The Yellow Flash of Konoha,<ref>Minato Namikaze</ref> The White Fang of Konoha,<ref>Sakumo Hatake</ref> The Demon of the Hidden Mist,<ref>Zabuza Momochi</ref> The God of Shinobi,<ref>Hiruzen Sarutobi '''or''' The Sage of Six Paths</ref> The Legendary Sannin (The Toad Sage,<ref>Jiraiya</ref> The Slug Princess/[[Unfortunate Names|The Legendary Sucker]],<ref>Tsunade</ref> and The White Snake<ref>Orochimaru</ref>), the Zombie Combo,<ref>Hidan and Kakuzu</ref> The Copy Ninja<ref>Kakashi Hatake</ref>...

** {{spoiler|The Bloody Habanero/Red Hot-blooded Habanero and The Orange Hokage for Kushina Uzumaki and Naruto Uzumaki, respectively.}}

* ''[[Overman King Gainer]]'' has Gain, who is known as the Black Southern Cross.

* Parodied with Kuno in ''[[Ranma ½]]'' who keeps giving himself nicknames that no one else recognizes, starting with "Blue Thunder of Furinkan High".

* Kenshin from ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' was known as the Hitokiri Battousai (or Battosai the Manslayer, for those who are into english dubs) during the Bakumatsu, as a reference to his profession (assassin) and his sword fighting style.

* The Flame Haze of ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'' have... interesting [[Word Salad Title|titles]], to which they are always referred to by, except by close friends. These include: The Arbiter of Reverse Reasoning, The Master Throne, The Specialist of Everything, and The Interpreter of Condolences.

** And going even further, Shana doesn't actually have a name besides her title, The Red-Hot Eyed Flame Haired Hunter, until Yuji gives her one.

* ''[[Slayers]]'': Lina Inverse, the Bandit Killer, the Doramata (Dragon Spooker), the Enemy of All Who Live. She's not too fond of the last two but will cheerfully use the first. (She's even less fond of "[[Pettanko|Flat-Chested]]".)

** Not a typical example, but how about The Lord of Nightmares? She's so feared so that the [[Big Bad]] of ''Slayers Next'' all but craps his pants on meeting her. She is that universe's version of God, after all.

* ''[[The Sky Crawlers]]'' has a feared ace known simply as [[The Dreaded|'The Teacher']].

* Marie Angel of ''[[Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross]]'' is nicknamed the "Cosmo Amazon".

* ''[[Tenchi Muyo! GXP|Tenchi Muyo GXP]]'': The protagonist gains the nickname "Lorelei" Seina, because his weaponized bad luck, like the German siren's song, lures ([[Space Pirate]]) ships to their doom.

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': Simon The Digger.

* Manjyome "Thunder" of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'' - he even has a [[Badass]] [[Catch Phrase]] to go with it, using a play on words... in Japanese, of course, which is why both were cut from the English dub. Then there's "Hell Kaiser" Ryo.

* The future selves of the main characters of ''[[Zettai Karen Children]]'' each get one of these nicknames. Kaoru is the "Queen of Catastrophe", Aoi is the "Lightspeed Goddess", and Shiho is the "Untouchable Empress". In what we can only assume is a [[Stable Time Loop]], the [[Big Bad]] who's seen the future through [[Psychic Powers|precognition]] refers to them by these names in the present and gets his entire organization to as well... which means that they're named after themselves.

* The titular ''[[Murder Princess]]'', Falis, who didn't actually get that nickname in-universe 'till right at the end of the anime. She's mostly called that by enemies of her kingdom... but not when she's within earshot. Mostly because, if you're an enemy of her kingdom and within earshot of her, you're most likely already dead.

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* [[The Phantom (comic strip)|The Phantom]] is usually called "The Ghost Who Walks", but has also been called "The Man Who Cannot Die"; each scion of the Walker family has donned the garb upon the death of his predecessor, resulting in [[Legacy Immortality]].

* Depending on the continuity, [[Batman]] is referred to as either the Caped Crusader or the Dark Knight. {{spoiler|which came from Darknight Detective.}}

** And occasionally, usually by Ra's al-Ghul, The Detective.

*** On a related note, Batman holds the title of "World's Greatest Detective" in [[The DCU]].

*** Some of Batman's foes also have nicknames; [[The Joker]] is occasionally referred to as "the Clown Prince of Crime" and Bane, as the man who delivered the most brutal beating Batman ever experienced, is known as "The Man Who Broke the Bat."

* [[Wolverine]] of [[X-Men (Comic Book)|the X-Men]] used to be just "Wolverine". Then we learned his name was Logan. And ''then'' we learned his ''real'' name was James Howlett.

* Arguably, all superhero codenames count as this. Only if the owner of the name is respected, though.

* [[Spider-Man]] is referred to as either the Web-slinger or Wall-Crawler, based on his two main methods of transportation. A less common name is "The Arach-Knight", as a pun on Batman's "The Dark Knight".

** Similarly to the first two, Spidey's [[Captain Ersatz]] The Fury from [[Alan Moore|Alan Moore's]] ''[[1963]]'' is known as the Roof-Runner.

* [[Superman]], The Man of Steel, the Man of Tomorrow, The Last Son of Krypton, and the [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Big Blue Boy Scout]].

* One character in the [[Marvel Universe]] is referred to by [[Mooks]] as "The Anti-Life" and "The Slayer of all that Breathes". That character is, of course, [[Squirrel Girl]].

[[Deadpool]]: [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|Oh, c'mon, those stories can't actually count in continuity]]. }}

* Speaking of which, everybody give a great big hello to the Merc with the Mouth, the Regeneratin' Degenerate, the Crimson Comedian, iiiiiiiiiiit's...[[Deadpool]]!!!

* ''[[Ace Combat: The Equestrian War]]'': The main heroines, [[Amazon Brigade|Mirage squadron]], are dubbed "Angels of Equestria" by Cheerilee and the fillies. There's also {{spoiler|[[Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies|Mobius]]}}, whom Echo calls ''"Heavenly Ribbon"''.

* Douglas Sangnoir of ''[[Drunkard's Walk]]'' appears to be picking up [[I Have Many Names|a collection of sobriquets]] as he makes his way across the universes. In chapter 4 of ''Drunkard's Walk VIII'', for example, a [[Harry Potter|House-Elf]] tells him, "You is the Crazy Songs, and the Rider Between the Worlds, and the Wizard of War."

** Creed's inspiration, Cassius Clay/[[Muhammad Ali]], was apparently so impressed that he regretted never having called himself The Master of Disaster. Instead, he was known as "The Greatest".

* Il Duce, the aged assassin {{spoiler|and father of Connor and Murphy}} from ''[[The Boondock Saints]]''. So [[Badass]] that he can trick an FBI agent into thinking he's six guys with a gun apiece instead of one guy with six guns.

* Will Stoneman, the dogsled-racing title character in ''[[Iron Will]]''.

* [[Blade (film)|Blade]] is known and feared as The Daywalker.

* In ''[[Smokin Aces]]'', everyone assumes that The Swede must be an incredibly badass [[Career Killer]], because he goes only by "The Swede." {{spoiler|Subverted, in that it turns out he's a heart surgeon, not an assassin.}}

* [[Antonio Banderas]]' character in the ''[[El Mariachi]]'' franchise is simply known as 'EL' which means 'the.'

** Also 'him," which sounds more meaningful and intimidating.

*** Amusingly enough though, it's clarified within the films that it's ''El. As in "The"''. Might have been meant as a bit of a [[Bilingual Bonus|bilingual pun]] by the [[Robert Rodriguez|director]].

* ''[[O Brother, Where Art Thou?]]'' has the main characters meet George "Babyface" Nelson, an actual historical gangster and bank robber. He doesn't [[Berserk Button|like]] his nickname.

* [[Honor Harrington]] is nicknamed "the Salamander" by news organizations on her home planet, as in her military exploits she has a knack for always being found "where the fire is hottest" - and always making it out again. (In ancient and medieval European lore, salamanders were supposed to be able to endure even the hottest flames.)

** Havenite Citizen Admiral Esther McQueen is nicknamed "Citizen Admiral Cluster Bomb".

* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' has a bunch of these some flattering, some not. We have the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Kingslayer]], the Imp, the Hound, the Mountain That Rides, Whoresbane, Turncloak, [[Agent Peacock|Knight of Flowers]], Strongboar, the Gallant, the Red Viper of Dorne, the Dragon Knight, Blackfish...

* The ''[[Second Apocalypse]]'' series has Seswatha, Grandmaster of a sorcerous School and one of the No-God's most determined enemies. The No-God's minions call him Chigra (the Slaying Light).

** Coithus Athjeari, who leads the scouts of the Holy War, becomes known as "The Wind With Teeth" to the Kianene.

* Vanyel Ashkevron started out the weedy, oversensitive, and [[Yaoi Guys|none-too-interested-in-the-wenches]] misfit son of a provincial Valdemaran noble. He ended up known as 'Demonsbane', 'Shadow-Stalker', 'The Hero of Stony Tor', and ({{spoiler|posthumously}}) '[[Heralds of Valdemar|The Last Herald-Mage]]'.

** Herald Lavan Chitward had his last name replaced by "Firestarter" when his [[Psychic Powers|Gift]] of [[Playing with Fire|pyrokinesis]] became well-known, then upgraded to "Firestorm" when, well, he caused one.

* Aside from Darth Vader, there were a few other [[Ace Pilot|really good pilots]] in [[The Empire]], according to the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]. [[X-wing Rogue Squadron|Baron Soontir Fel]] drew from a lot of inspirations including the Red Baron (really, reminding people of von Richthofen was the only reason Fel was a Baron at all). The novel ''[[Death Star]]'' has a pilot mention another excellent pilot, an instructor who had a name, but was referred to as The Shooter.

* From [[David Gemmell]]'s ''Legend'' the bad guys address Druss simply as [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Deathwalker]].

* [[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]: 'the Boy Who Lived' and 'He Who Must Not Be Named', aka [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|The Dark Lord]].

** Later on {{spoiler|Harry}} is also branded "Undesirable No. 1" {{spoiler|by the Ministry of Magic.}}

* [[The Witcher]] Geralt goes with White Wolf.

* Jared Kincaid of ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' is "The [[Hell Hound]]." [[Sociopathic Hero|It fits]].

* In the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' novel "Dragons of Spring Dawning" as the elven princess Laurana leads the Whitestone Armies to a series of incredible victories over the [[The Empire|Dragonarmies]], her long blonde hair and radiant nature earn her the nickname 'the Golden General'.

* [[Gentleman Bastard Sequence|The Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequel Red Seas Under Red Skies]] have [[Magnificent Bastard|Locke]], whose nickname is "The Thorn of Camorr," though the only people who call him that don't know who he is. Rather apropos, considering the fact that he frequently robs them blind.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* [[Doctor Who|"Do you know what they call me in the ancient legend of the Dalek homeworld? The Oncoming Storm."]] - and considering what the Doctor's capable of, that might be a ''mild'' name.

** The Face of Boe calls him ''The Lonely'' '''''GOD''''', so there is that.

** The [[Monster of the Week|Monsters Of The Week]] in the 2007 episode ''Blink'' have no known name, but in some places they're known as the "Lonely Assassins" or "Weeping Angels".

** The Classic Series provides "Ka Faraq Gatri" Dalek for "The Destroyer of the Worlds" or "Bringer of Darkness", and "The Evil One". And from the [[Expanded Universe]] we have some like "the Champion of Life and Time" and "The Sandman"

* [[Top Gear|All we know is, He's called The Stig.]]

* [[Heroes (TV series)|René]] was a lot more threatening back when he was only known as "The Haitian."

* [[F Troop|Captain Wilton Parmenter led the final charge in the Battle of Appomattox earning him the moniker "Scourge of the West"]]

* ''[[Space: Above and Beyond]]'' had a Chig ace who habitually [[Curb Stomp Battle|shredded]] entire human squadrons in single engagements, using his [[Ace Custom|prototype interceptor]]. On one occasion, the humans found out where he was going to be, and sent [[No Kill Like Overkill|fifteen squadrons]] out with the sole mission of finding him and ending him. [[Downer Ending|Thirteen squadrons came back]], and they only managed to [[Senseless Sacrifice|ward him off temporarily]]. His nickname? [[Shout-Out|Chiggy Von Richtofen]].

** And all they had to do was send one fighter piloted by McQueen. Well, and piss him off first. The result: the best dogfight in the series.

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' had a Cylon ace nicknamed [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Scar]], named for the battle damage that covered his [[Living Weapon|ship/armor]]. He was the scourge of [[The Battlestar|Galactica and Pegasus]]'s fighter wings for a short time, and was reputed to ''really'' have it in for Starbuck, who, due to the Cylon habit of cloning backup copies, had defeated and killed him several times in battle.

** It's heavily implied that Scar is, in fact, the Raider that Starbuck had shot down, {{spoiler|cut open, and flown by poking its insides.}}

== [[Music]] ==

== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==

* Professional wrestlers in addition to their stage names will also sometimes use nicknames, the best known is probably [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] being called "The Texas Rattlesnake". As if "Stone Cold" wasn't a [[Badass]] ''enough'' nickname.

** [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]]: The People's Champ; The Most Electrifying Man In [All Of/Sports] Entertainment; The Brahma Bull; The Great One.

** [[Ric Flair]]: The Nature Boy; The Dirtiest Player in the Game; Slick Ric; The ''Real'' World's Champion

** [[Bret Hart]]: The Hitman; The Excellence Of Execution; The Best There Is, The Best There Was, and The Best There Ever Will Be.

** [[Shawn Michaels]]: The Heartbreak Kid; The Main Event; The Showstopper; The Icon; Mr. [[Wrestlemania]].

** [[The Undertaker]]: The Dead Man; The Phenom; Big Evil Red Devil; [The Demon Of/From] Death Valley, The Last Outlaw.

** [[Triple H]]: The Game; The Cerebral Assassin; The King of Kings.

** [[Edge]]: The "Rated R" Superstar; The Ultimate Opportunist.

** [[Kane (wrestling)|Kane]]: The Big Red Machine; The Big Red Monster; The Devil Favorite Demon

** [[Rob Van Dam]]: Mr. Pay-Per-View; Mr. [Monday/Thursday] Night; The Whole [Damn/F'n] Show

** [[Mark Henry]]: The World's Strongest Man

** Rhino: The Man Beast; The War Machine

** [[Brock Lesnar]]: The Next Big Thing; The Beast

** [[Randy Orton]]: The Legend Killer; The Viper; The Apex Predator

** [[Chris Jericho]]: The Human Highlight Reel; the Highlight of the Night; the King of the World; the Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rollah, The Best in the World at What he Does, Y2J

** [[Chris Benoit]]: [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|The Rabid Wolverine]]; The Crippler

** [[Samoa Joe]]: The Samoan Submission Machine

** [[Evan Bourne]]: Air Bourne

** Greg Valentine: The Hammer

** [[Hulk Hogan]]: The Immortal; Hollywood; Incredible

** [[Kevin Nash]]: Big Daddy Cool (as Diesel); Big Sexy

** [[Curt Hennig]]: Mr. Perfect (which then became his stage name)

** Brutus Beefcake: The Barber

** Jim Neidhart: The Anvil

** Jimmy Hart: Mouth of the South

** [[Bobby Heenan]]: The Brain

** Ricky Steamboat: The Dragon

** [[Scott Hall]]: The Bad Guy (as Razor Ramon); Big (in [[AWA]])

** Umaga: The Samoan Bulldozer

** [[Cody Rhodes]]: Dashing

** Tommy Dreamer: The Innovator of Violence, The Heart Of ECW

** Dean Malenko: The Ice Man; Man of 1000 Holds

** Sabu: The Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal, Death Defying Maniac (and [[Joey Styles]] somehow managed to get all that out in one breath on ECW TV shows)

** [[AJ Styles]]: The Phenomenal One; Mr TNA; The Face that Runs [[WWE Smackdown|the Place]]; The Champ that Runs the Camp

** [[Christopher Daniels]]: The Fallen Angel

** Sid Vicious: The Millenium Man; The Master of the Powerbomb; The Man Who Rules The World; Sycho

** [[Jeff Jarrett]]: Double J; [[The Chosen One]]; The King of the Mountain, The Founder of TNA

** [[Sting (wrestling)|Sting]]: The Man Called Sting; The Icon; The Vigilante (in [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]])

** [[Scott Steiner]]: Big Poppa Pump; The Big Bad Booty Daddy; White Thunder; The Genetic Freak; Freakzilla and many more

** Shane Douglas: The Franchise

** Chris Kanyon: The Innovator of Offense

** [[Christian]] (Cage): Captain Charisma; The Instant Classic

** Monty Brown: The Alpha Male

** [[Andre the Giant]]: The Eighth Wonder of the World

** [[Chyna]]: The Ninth Wonder of the World

** Alex Wright: Das Wunderkind; The German Wrestling Machine

** La Parka: The [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Chairman]] of [[WCW]].

** [[Mick Foley]]: The Senior Asskicker (title given to him by [[The Daily Show|Jon Stewart]]); The Hardcore Legend; Mr. Bang-Bang (as Cactus Jack)

** Chris Hero: That Young Knockout Kid

** Claudia Castagnoli: The Most Money-Making Man; Swiss Superman (as Cesaro); The King of Swing (as Cesaro); Swiss Cyborg (as Cesaro)

** [[Bryan Danielson]]: The American Dragon; The Best in the World

** [[CM Punk]]: The [[Straight Edge]] Superstar/Savior; The Second City Saint/Savior; The Best in the World; The Voice Of The Voiceless

** Homicide: The Notorious 187

* MMA also lends itself to fighters getting nicknames that give you an idea of how awesome they are.

** Fedor Emelianenko, probably the single best fighter in the world, is nicknamed :The Last Russian Emperor."

** Ken Shamrock: The World's Most Dangerous Man.

** Wanderlei Silva: The AX Murderer.

** Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.

** Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski.

** Kazuchi Sakuraba: The Gracie Killer (Ouch!)

** Randy Couture: The Natural, [[Captain America (comics)]].

** Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: Minotauro (Minotaur)

** Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: Minitoro (Little Bull)

** Dan "The Beast" Severn.

** BJ "The Prodigy" Penn

** Georges "Rush" St. Pierre

** "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine

** Anderson "The Spider" Silva

Are their '''gentlest''' sobriquets; }}

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Tommy Vercetti from ''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City]]'' earned the nickname "The Harwood Butcher" after a particularly nasty incident in Liberty City in 1971. Tommy was quickly gaining power in the city so his boss, Sonny Forelli, sent him to "kill a man" in the Harwood district of Liberty. Turns out, that man was actually 11 hitmen who were sent to kill Tommy. Long story short, Tommy kills each and every one of those hitmen, earning him the nickname "The Harwood Butcher" and 15 years in jail.

* Subverted in ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]] 2'' where Ibis Douglas has the [[Badass]] nickname "Shooting Star"; this is actually an insult as she is a terrible pilot, and the nickname is a reference to the fact that she is constantly crashing her giant robot (in other words, like a shooting star, she's always plummeting to the Earth!). In a parody, her Rival, Sleigh Prestly gains the nickname "The Scarlet Comet" as a joke on Char(partialy because Shooting Star is one of Amuro's Nickname).

** But Ibis [[Took a Level in Badass|proves herself worthy]] of such a cool name as the game goes on.

** Alternate universe Kyouske is known as the "Steel Beowulf", partially cause he leads the Beowulfs and is so damn strong.

* Agronak gro-Malog, the reigning Arena Grand Champion in ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' is better known by his nickname The Gray Prince.

** And if you become the champion, you get to choose a title from a small list of options. This is likely mainly to make it easier to avoid using the character's name in voiced dialogue.

* Typically, about halfway through ''[[Ace Combat]]'' games, the villains and heroes, beginning to respect your legendary status, begin to give you a nickname.

** ''Ace Combat 04'': The (Blue) Ribbon (Fighter) (Referring to the Mobius Squadron logo, a mobius strip), ''Ace Combat 5'': The Four Wings of Sand Island (4-pilot squadron), Demons/Ghosts of Razgriz (Referring to your pilot's status regarding a myth), '''Ace Combat Zero''': The Demon Lord of the Round Table, ''Ace Combat X'': Nemesis or the Southern Cross, ''Ace Combat'' 6: Angels (A blanket term for all allied aircraft).

** Then comes all the enemy squadron names, which are all badass in just the way they sound, even if it just means yellow/green/red in German (although their are many other languages and themes used), although just being named "Yellow Squadron" seems to make every solider on the opposing army call an all-out retreat with verified results in the amount of kills they take, not to mention being the most famous in the series.

* In ''[[Fallout 3]]'', you get a title that changes depending on your level and alignment - a low-level Good character might be called The Vault Martyr, while a high level Evil character might be called The Ravager. To contrast, a high level Good character may be called The Wasteland Savior, and will be depicted in your Pip-Boy as a kind of Messianic figure. Typically, this only comes up when Three Dog is reporting your exploits.

* ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'' ties this to your [[Karma Meter]], giving the main character Vyse different titles as his fame increases; the best title a player can earn is "Vyse the Legend".

* [[Game Breaker|Orlandu]] of ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' received the nickname "Thunder God Cid" (or T.G. Cid for short).

* Samus Aran is merely referred to as "[[The Hunter]]" by the Space Pirates in ''[[Metroid Prime]]''.

** To the Chozo, however, she is known simply as "The Hatchling". Doesn't sound awesome, but in ''Prime'', it has this way of making Samus sound like a figure of myth and legend.

* The Covenant refer to the Master Chief from ''[[Halo (series)|Halo]]'' almost exclusively as The Demon. The name Master Chief itself may count, seeing as how it's shorthand for his full name and rank, Master Chief Petty Officer [[Demolition Man|John, SPARTAN]]-117. His last name is hinted at, but is not released in canon.

** In the EU, all the Spartans are known as "demons". The current Arbiter will also be called by that; we don't even know the name of the game Arbiter until ''The Cole Protocol'' was published.

** Dutch is called "Death's Helmet" by some.

* ''[[Fable (video game series)|Fable]]'' and its sequel allow you to pick your own terrifying nickname. You can be Avenger, Reaper, Deathbringer... [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Chickenchaser]]...

* Two of [[Killzone]]'s bosses, Colonel Cobar and Colonel Radec have the names [[Shout-Out|"White Death"]] and [[Animal Motifs|"Hound of Visari"]], respectively. Cobar, due to his having a high kill count, and Radec, because he's head of Visari's personal guard unit, loyal and singular to a fault, and he's an [[Bad Boss|extreme disciplinarian.]]

** Especially about uniforms.

* After killing the dark god ruling their entire organization, the Cabal from ''[[Blood]]'' refers to Caleb almost exclusively as "The Great Betrayer".

* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' has quite a few of these, such as Karel "The Sword Demon", Raven {{spoiler|Raymond of Cornwell}}, and the entire Black Fang organization (Lloyd the White Wolf, Linus the Mad Dog, Ursula the Blue Crow, Jaffar the Angel of Death, Legault the Hurricane, Uhai the Soaring Hawk, Aion the Owl, Teodor the Shrike), and even ''weapons'' get their own nicknames, (like Durandal, the Blazing Sword, and Armads, the Thunder Axe). Pretty much, if you're anyone at all in the game, you've got a nickname.

** It's worth mentioning that this is a tradition in ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' that often goes hand in hand with their use of [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]. From time to time, those are made out of elite generals of a side and they usually have corresponding titles, the six generals of Grado in the eighth game for example are all named after gemstones.

* In ''[[.hack]]'', this pops up twice. Two of the top players, Orca and Balmung, are known as the Azure Sea and Azure Sky, respectively. {{spoiler|After the events of the first quadrilogy of games, Kite becomes known as the Azure Flame.}} Also, each of the Eight Phases has a title in addition to their name. Some (like The Terror of Death and The Mirage of Deceit) work better than others (The Propagation and The Temptress aren't quite as impressive in comparison).

** It pops up a third time. Haseo, in a prophetic coincidence, is nicknamed the Terror of Death by other players. It's later found out he has the Avatar of Skeith the phase who held this title. The other Epitatah useers are also referred to by their Phases titles.

*** The Temptress title during is also held by a Bishonen Male Character. Though it's appropriate considering who the player is. Kaoru Ichinose, the player behind Elk, who was best friends with Mia, another form of the Phase Macha: The Temptress.

* A good deal of the cast of ''[[Sengoku Basara]]''. To wit: the One-Eyed Dragon of Oshu (Masamune), the Dragon's Right Eye (Kojyuuro), the Tiger of Kai (Shingen), the Young Tiger (Yukimura), the War-God of Echigo (Kenshin), the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven (Nobunaga), the <s> Strongest in the Warring States</s> Mighty Samurai (Tadakatsu), Shimazu the Beast (Yoshihiro), the Sea Devil of the West (Motochika), the Fox of Ushu (Yoshiaki) and the Dark King (Mitsunari).

* In certain games in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' series, when Link proves himself worthy of bearing a title, it is usually "the Hero of X," where X is the element most associated with the installment. For instance, in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'' and ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'', his title is "Hero of Time" and "Hero of Winds," respectively.

** Bosses are usually introduced with a title in front of their names; sometimes these titles follow a theme in each game. All of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'''s bosses are "The Twilit X", for example. [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Ganon]] is an aversion; his name stands on its own.

* In ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]]'', the Kilrathi Aces have a lot of these, not limited to: Bhurak Starkiller, Khajja the Fang/The Machine, Dahkhath (translates to 'Deathstroke') Bahktosh Redclaw, Kur Human-Killer, Bhuk Bloodmist, Kramm Deathfang, Naijji Fireclaw, and Marjakh Stalker. Many of them double as [[Luke Nounverber]].

** The Kilrathi call the player character "The Heart of the Tiger" and see him as the [[Worthy Opponent]] to end all Worthy Opponents.

* In the DS localization, the Four Elemental Archfiends of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' each have a special title referring to their element, and their status as a "lord" of the elements.

** The Blighted Despot, Scarmiglione.

** The Drowned King, Cagnazzo.

** The Empress of Winds, Barbariccia.

** The Autarch of Flames, Rubicante.

*** His title is interesting in that autarchism is about ''self'' rule, with no government whatsoever. True to form, he's different from the other archfiends, being a [[Noble Demon]] who recognizes strength and prefers to [[Let's Fight Like Gentlemen|fight like gentlemen]].

* ''[[Touhou]]'' has [[Our Vampires Are Different|Remilia Scarlet]], otherwise known as [[The Butcher|"The Scarlet Devil"]] because her once pure white dress is now dyed red due to her... eating habits.

* Two game-breakingly powerful glitch strategies from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' gave us two [[Fan Nickname]]s with these connotations. "Wind-God" Gau, and "Psycho" Cyan.

* The Red Cyclone, [[Street Fighter|Zangief]]. Later on, we'd get the [[Double Agent]] Crimson Viper.

* Iron Tager from ''[[BlazBlue]]'' is known to some as the Red Devil, though he's not proud of it.

** Ragna the Bloodedge, also known as The Grim Reaper and {{spoiler|his brother}} Major Jin Kisaragi, the Hero of Ikaruga.

* ''[[Tekken]]'' has Sergei Dragunov, "The White Angel of Death" - possibly a nod towards [[wikipedia:Alfredo Astiz|Alfredo Astiz]], "The Blonde Angel of Death."

* Kamui Tokinomiya of ''[[Arcana Heart]]'', also known as the "[[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|Thousand Years Protector]]".

* [[God of War (series)|Kratos]], the Ghost Of Sparta.

* In most Bioware and Obsidian roleplaying games they resort to this trope to avoid having to voice the player's customizable name, mostly using "our leader" or "the Captain" in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' and the ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' games, and 'you' in ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' and ''[[Jade Empire]]''.

* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', [[Vigilante Man|Garrus]] earns himself the nickname Archangel in Omega.

* Gordon Freeman of ''[[Half-Life (series)|Half-Life]]'', known by labels such as "The One Free Man" or "The Opener of the Way" after his actions during the Black Mesa incident.

** The Combine views such labels as examples of dangerous and primitive thinking, but that doesn't stop the Overwatch calling him "[[Newspeak|Anticitizen One.]]"

** They call Alyx "Vance Subprime". That might count.

* In the ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' series, Sun Jian is known as the "Tiger of Jiang Dong"

* In ''[[Iji]]'', no matter if you take a path of absolute peace or overwhelming violence, the titular character is known to the aliens simply as the ''"Human Anomaly"''. Doesn't sound quite awesome? The logs you find prove that it's enough to strike all manner of fear into the Tasen...

* The ''[[Unreal Tournament]]'' verse has dozens of competitors fighting under aliases, especially in the first game. Example: the backstory of one of the competitors - Jesse Davis - explains that he's a "'deep freeze' cold world combat specialist", capable of surviving on melted ice for weeks. Hence the name "Ice Weasel".

* Creator example: ''[[Doom (series)|Doom]]'' co-creator Romero was nicknamed "The Surgeon" for his proficiency in FPS deathmatch.

* [[Ace Attorney|Miles Edgeworth]] picked up the nickname "Demon Prosecutor" for his [[Amoral Attorney|ruthless actions in court]]. He's never called this after he's finished his [[Heel Face Turn]], however.

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' gives us the Organization XIII members, all of whom sport [[Meaningful Name|unique monikers]] ranging from Badass to [[Narm]] and anywhere in between. To whit, we have: Xemnas "The Superior of the In-Between," Xigbar "The Freeshooter," Xaldin "The Whirlwind Lancer," Vexen "The Chilly Academic," Lexaeus "The Silent Hero," Zexion "The Cloaked Schemer," Saïx "The Luna Diviner," Axel "The Flurry of Dancing Flames," Demyx "The Melodious Nocturne," Luxord "The Gambler of Fate," Marluxia "The Graceful Assassin," Larxene "The Savage Nymph," and Roxas "The Key of Destiny." {{spoiler|Xion, the fourteenth member, is the only one not given a title.}}

== [[Web ComicsOriginal]] ==

*** This is probably twofold; in the Fire Nation {{spoiler|any Firebender who slays a dragon is given the title of dragon}}. His also being known as "Dragon" among the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe would be because of his formidable combat prowess and [[Breath Weapon]] (the Fire Nation might have a lot of dragons, but Iroh is ''The'' Dragon).

* In an example very close to the [[Trope Namer]]: "The Dark Ace" from ''[[Storm Hawks]]''.

* Manfred von Richtofen, the [[Red Baron]] - famous enough that his sobriquet was the former Trope Namer. Those who actually knew the man would recount how approachable he was to those in the squadron he led, commenting that he was quite friendly and would joke around with his fellow pilots. Still, it says a lot that his sworn enemies gave the man a burial with full military honors, [[Worthy Opponent|out of sheer respect for his prowess and valor as a fellow Sky Warrior]]. It is even rumored that tears were shed at the funeral by those who lost friends to his red triplane's gunfire. The fact that Richtofen was only in his early twenties during his career and airplane technology was relatively new and yet he still managed to shoot down ''80 freaking planes'' (a pilot is considered a "Flying Ace" if he shoots down ''five'' or more in his career), it's no surprise why everyone in the war respected the guy. Which also makes his death somewhat ironic - he wasn't killed by an enemy pilot, but by a lucky shot from a machine gunner on the ground (after being chased down there by an enemy pilot; while the circumstances are sketchy, the lethal rounds were confirmed to be infantry-grade). He managed to make a controlled landing right before he bled out.

* Another German example: Erwin "The Desert Fox" Rommel. In fact this trope could just as easily have been called The Desert Fox, [[Magnificent Bastard|if Rommel didn't already have a trope named after him.]] Rommel's son Manfred said that he was glad of the compliment because he knew the British had learned to appreciate foxes from hunting them. But he would have liked lion even more then fox.

* Vlad Dracula was also known as Vlad Tepes, Tepes meaning "[[The Butcher|Impaler]]" cause, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|well, that is what he did]]. The Turks were very frightened of him, [[Dead Guy on Display|and mounted his head on the walls of Istanbul, to assure people that he was really dead.]] Consider the fact this man basically saw the Turks invading his land, turned to the Turkish prisoners and said 'Well, they aren't doing anything', and created a forest of roughly 30,000 impaled Turkish soldiers.

** In addition, the name 'Dracula' is derived from ''dracul'', the old Romanian word for dragon. Vlad's father was a knight of the Order of the Dragon, and so Vlad's name means 'son of the dragon'. That's so awesome that if it wasn't true, someone would've had to make it up. ''Dracul'' can also mean devil, which also makes it appropriate for anyone who could scare away the Turkish army—and for the demonic imagery [[Bram Stoker]] used in [[Dracula (novel)|his novel]] several centuries later.

* From the American West was John Johnson, also known as Liver Eatin' Johnson, also known as the Dapiek Absaroka, meaning the Crow-Killer, note: the Crow as in the Tribe of Indians, not the Corvid.

* A Finnish example: Simo Häyhä, the sniper or [[One-Man Army|the single greatest killing machine in human history]]. He achieved over 700 kills in less than 100 days during the Winter War, also known as the "White Death". The cutest thing about the name is that "the white death" also means sugar.

* Harry Järv, a Finno-Swedish officer during the Winter War, who due to his many successful behind-the-lines missions was given the nickname "Järven" (The Wolverine). Remind you of [[X-Men (Comic Book)|someone?]] His name is nearly a pun in itself since "Djärv" (pronounced identically) means "Bold"...

* Henri I, duc de Guise, was called ''le balafré'', meaning Scarface.

* A lot of medieval Vikings had fantastic nicknames: Erik Bloodaxe, Ivar the Boneless, Erik the Priest-hater, Sigurd the Crusader, Sweyn Forkbeard, etc. Thought these were made up by English historians who needed an easy way to separate historical vikings from each other. It didn't end with the end of the Viking Age though. During the later middle-ages we still have names like Erik Lisp and Lame, Valdemar the Victorious, Magnus Barefoot...

* Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, was known as ''the Iron Duke'', One of many 'Iron' titles popular at the time

** Which, while badass, may be a subversion in context. To quote [[Wikipedia|The Other Wiki]]: "An opponent of parliamentary reform, he was given the epithet the "Iron Duke" because of the iron shutters he had fixed to his windows to stop the pro-reform mob from breaking them."

** [[Otto von Bismarck]] was known as the "Iron Chancellor". True, he wasn't a soldier, but he was such a supreme political genius that the moniker was well earned. Bismark also gave a very important speech which convinced the Prussian <s> Reichstag</s> ''Abgeordnetenhaus'' (House of Deputies) to make their military stronger, eventually leading to the unification of the German states. It was called the 'Blood and Iron' speech. On 30 September 1862, when he said "The great issues of the day are not decided by speeches and majority decisions - that was the error of 1848 and 1849 - but by iron and blood." However, the massive expansion of the Prussian Army was at that point already going on for two years.

** [[Margaret Thatcher]] gained the title "The Iron Lady" after a strong anti-Communist speech. ''Red Star'' (the newspaper of the [[Reds With Rockets]]) gave her that name, and it wasn't intended as a compliment. She was not yet PM at this point.

** Golda Meir, first female Prime Minister of Israel, also got the "Iron Lady" title.

* [[wikipedia:El Cid|El Cid Campeador]], the national hero of Spain. "El Cid" is the Spanified version of Arabian Al-Sidi, which means "Lord" and Campeador comes from the Latin "campi doctus," "expert in battle." ''The Lord Master of Battles'' is so [[Badass]] it hurts...

** His equivalent in Al-Andalus was Muhammad Ibn Abi Aamir, who is still known in Spain as [[wikipedia:Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir|Almanzor]], from Al-Mansur, "The Victorious One".

* [[The Caligula|Caligula]] was not that emperor's actual name, which was Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus (with Augustus thrown in there after becoming emperor). The nickname comes from his being raised in an army camp and wearing miniature soldiers' boots. Lots of Romans are known by their ''cognomina,'' which were official 'nicknames' of sorts (Caesar, Cicero, Augustus, Germanicus, and so on).

** Cicero actually means "chick-pea" and the poor guy (not Marcus Tullius Cicero but one of his ancestors) got stuck with it because his nose apparently looked like a chick-pea. Whether this was actually the case, or just slander that was going around in his day, is uncertain.

** ''Cognomina'' might not quite fall under this trope as many were attached to family lines instead of individuals. Cicero, Caesar, Torquatus, and Brutus are examples of such inherited nicknames.

** Perhaps the best known (at the time anyway) Roman example of this trope was Scipio Africanus. He was born Publius Cornelius Scipio and the Africanus was added after he kicked ungodly amounts of Carthaginian ass in the Second Punic War, including defeating Hannibal (who had already crushed the better part of a dozen Roman armies, usually when badly outnumbered) with more or less even odds at the battle of Zama.

* Charles "[[Drop the Hammer|The Hammer]]" Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne. To the point where ''Martel'' eventually became a word meaning ''hammer'' in French. Interestingly, in Dutch the word "martel" means "torture". (The verb, so: "ik martel" translates to "I torture", "hij martelt" to "he tortures", and so on.) The emphasis is off, but it's probably telling that the Dutch generally feel no need to add the hammer part to his name.

** That is because "Martel" already means "hammer". It is short for "Martellus" (Charles Martel is called "Karl Martell" in German and ''Carolus Martellus'' in Latin), a name derived from ''martellum'' (a variant of ''marculus''), "little hammer". ("Martellus" in later centuries was also used as a Latinized form of German surnames ''Hammer'' and ''Klopfer'' ("knocker, thumper")).

* Charlemagne himself. The name literally means 'Charles the Great'. He was actually named after his grandfather.

* Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa, literally meaning Red Beard. Not a terribly badass nickname, but he's still considered one of Germany's great heroes.

* King Henry V of England (the one Shakespeare wrote [[Henry V|a play about]]) was called 'The Butcher of Agincourt'... though not by the English.

** [[wikipedia:Edward, the Black Prince|Edward, Prince of Wales]], "the Black Prince".

** The French General Thomas Dumas (the father of Alexandre) was know as the "Black Devil": the irony is, while he gained this name thanks to [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|his black skin]] and his very [[Four-Star Badass|authentic badassery]] ([[You Shall Not Pass|holding a bridge]] [[One-Man Army|against the Austrian army]] while being [[Made of Iron|shot six times]] and emerging [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|alive and victorious]]), he was perhaps the [[Officer and a Gentleman|most honourable general]] of the French Revolution (refusing to participate in [[Rape, Pillage and Burn|pillage]], denouncing the [[Moral Event Horizon|slaughters in Vendée]], remaining [[The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified|faithful to the ideals of the Revolution]]).

** On a related note, famed Spanish guerilla leader Juan Martin Diaz (1775-1823) was better known as ''el Empecinado'', the "pitch-man", because of the black earth of his home. In 1814 a royal decree gave him permission to use Empecinado as his name instead of Diaz.

** General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing got his nickname from his tenure as commander of the 10th US Cavalry, a unit of African-American soldiers.

** Another example of a menacing nicknamed flying ace is the highest scoring ace of all time, [[wikipedia:Erich Hartmann|Erich Hartmann]], the 'Black Devil', who flew for the German Luftwaffe during [[World War II]] and had a staggering ''352'' victories. Nearly all of these were against Soviet pilots on the Eastern Front, however, so he never gained much notice amongst the Americans and British. He got the name from the black tulip painted on the front of his plane, which he eventually had to remove because all his potential targets tended to run once they saw it.

* From the American Revolutionary war we have Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion, who is considered one of the fathers of modern guerilla warfare. He was given this name by Col. Banastre Tarleton, who had been ordered to kill him but was never able to because of Marion's use of the South Carolina swamp lanes.

* From [[The American Civil War]]: General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson supposedly gained his nickname from his unflinching resolve in the face of enemy fire (or his refusal to move his men in support of another regiment, depending on which story you believe.)

** "There stands Jackson like a stone wall" is generally accepted as the quote that caused the name.

* Imperial General Matthias Gallas was known as "The army destroyer". Unfortunately, they weren't talking about the armies of his ''enemies''...

* Many of the bynames that monarchs tends to acquire fit into this. Everything from the standard "the Great" to ones like "plowpenny".

** [[Richard the Lion Hearted]].

** Special note should perhaps be given to the Mughal sultans: The names they are usually remembered under (Babur, Akbar, Aurungzib, Shah Jahan...) weren't their actual names but more like descriptions. Akbar is especially funny as he is in western sources often called "Akbar the Great", which is redundant because Akbar * already* means "The Greater" (the comparative form of the Arabic adjective "kabir" = "great"). Shah Jahan means "emperor of the world". Babur means "the tiger".

* Sanada Yukimura from the [[Jidai Geki|Sengoku period]]. After an impressive display of valor and one mighty [[Foe-Tossing Charge]], Shogun [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], who was his target, honored him with the title "Japan's Number One Soldier".

* Chinggis Khan is an excellent example, as the name he is best known by is a title taken after he united Mongolia, not his birth name, which was Temujin. The exact meaning of his title is unknown, with numerous translations proposed, from 'Oceanic Ruler', to 'Ruler of All People Who Live in Felt Tents'. The other style of this trope, similar to the Norse and Medieval examples, was (and still is) common in Mongolia, with most people's 'last' names being monikers like 'the Brave', 'the Wrestler', and so on.

* One that's so common it's often overlooked, Mohandas Gandhi is commonly known as "Mahatma" Gandhi, an honorific meaning "great soul" in Sankrit. Ask about "Mohandas" Gandhi, and most people will just give you a blank stare. (In everyday speech in modern India, he is referred to as Gandhiji, i.e. "honourable Gandhi".)

* Ask about T. E. Lawrence, and most people have no idea what you mean, but everyone has heard of "Lawrence of Arabia."

* President [[Andrew Jackson|Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson]], who earned his name during the War of 1812, for standing as "tough as old hickory" wood on the battlefield. Later, when President, Jackson beat off an attempted assassin with a cane. Whether the cane was hickory or not is unknown.

** The Creek Indians (whom he slaughtered) called him ''Jacksa Chuya Haryo'', "Jackson, Old and Fierce". And this was ''fifteen years'' before he became President.

* Carlos Hathcock, legendary American sniper of the Vietnam War, best known for performing a real life example of a [[Scope Snipe]]. Known amongst the Viet Cong and N.V.A. as Lông Tr?ng, "White Feather", due to the white feather he kept in a band on his bush hat.

* Another Vietnam War example, the entire Australian SASR were known to the Viet Cong as "The Phantoms of The Jungle" due to them using the same guerrilla tactics as the Viet Cong, as well as achieving an average kill ratio of 500 to 1.

* [[Four-Star Badass|Russian general]] [[wikipedia:Mikhail Skobelev|Mikhail Skobelev]] was known as the "White General" (and by the Turks as the "White Pasha").

* [[wikipedia:Timur|Timur]], founder of the Timurid Empire, possible descendant of Genghis Khan, "Tamerlane" to some, "The Scourge of God" to everyone else.

* [[wikipedia:Alfredo Astiz|Alfredo Astiz]], El Angel Rubio de la Muerte (The Blond Angel of Death). This moniker may or may not have stood as inspiration for [[Tekken|Dragunov's]] (The White Angel of Death).

* Another English example: [[Braveheart|King Edward 'Hammer of the Scots' the I]]. Needless to say, the Scots weren't very fond of him. At 6'2", Edward was extremely tall for his era, earning him another [[Badass]] nickname, Longshanks.

** "You, Scot! [[Memetic Mutation|Hammertime!]]"

* The most common name for a famous religious figure: "Christ" comes from the Greek word "Christos", meaning "Anointed."

* Jesus had two disciples called Simon, one was called Simon the Zealot, the other "the Rock", in Greek ''Petros'', which became the popular Christian name "Peter". In French Peter is ''Pierre'', while "rock, stone" is ''pierre''.

* Jesus also had three disciples called Judah or Judas, one of whom was referred to as Thomas (via Greek ''Didymos'' from the Aramaic for "twin") and another, later also known as Jude, as Thaddeus (meaning disputed, could come from a Hebrew word meaning "valiant" or "wise", but could also be a variant of "Theodore"). Both Thomas and Thaddeus became first names in their own right.

* Giovanni Bernardone was nicknamed ''Francesco'' (Latin: Franciscus), "Frenchman", by his father, an Assisi merchant trading with France. Nobody calls St. Francis of Assisi Giovanni anymore.

* Basketball Players especially in the 70's all had nicknames like this. In a subversion, Wilt Chamberlain was called the uncool "The Stilt"; he preferred [[Double Entendre|"The Big Dipper."]]

* Magic Johnson. If you just say "Magic", you know exactly who everyone is talking about, and it's not the team in Orlando. Incidentally, his real name is Earvin.

* [[Michael Jordan|His Airness.]] In NBA message boards, he's just known as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).

* Hardly anyone needs to ask who 'The Great One' is, but for the record, it's the Ambassador of Hockey, Wayne Gretzky.

* Babe Ruth of baseball fame probably holds the record for most nicknames like "The Babe," "The Sultan of Swat," "The King of Swing," and "The Great Bambino". He is almost never referred to by his real name, George Herman Ruth, Junior.

* Massively famous Japanese karateka Gogen Yamaguchi was known as "the Cat", most likely because of his grace of movement and his small size. An unfortunately apocryphal story asserts that he acquired this name when he ''strangled a tiger'' while locked in a cage with it in a Russian (or sometimes Chinese) POW camp, which just goes to shows how much awe people held for him.

* Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, during his baseball career, was hardly ever referred to by his real name.

* A ''billiards player'' has one of these. Billiards Congress of America Hall of Fame member Lou Butera was known as "Machine Gun Lou" for his rapid-fire style of play, a moniker earned due to a match in 1973 where he reached a score of 150 in ''21 minutes''.

** Add to that Jamie "Shotgun" Cope, Ronnie "The Rocket" O'Sullivan, Ding "Enter the Dragon" Junhui, John "Wizard of Wishaw" Higgins ...