Sobriquet: Difference between revisions

== Real Life ==

* The aforementioned Manfred von Richtofen, '''[[Trope Namer|THE]]''' Red Baron. 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'', 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.

* Sir David Striling, the original founder of the SAS, was nicknamed "The Phantom Major" by the German forces. So badass was this nickname, that he wasn't even recognized when captured. Due to the terror that this nickname had inspired, he was assumed to be much bigger and scarier than he was, a surprising achievement when you realise that Stirling was already six foot six.

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

* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: Along very similar lines to Jesus Christ (and even older), "Buddha," loosely translated, means "The Awakened One."

* 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.

* Say Cro Cop on an MMA board and everyone will know who you're talking about Mirko Filipovic.

* The Big O, AKA Oscar Robertson.