Sobriquet

A sobriquet (/ˈsoʊbrɪkeɪ/ SOH-bri-kay) or soubriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. Distinct from a pseudonym, it usually is a familiar name used in place of a real name without the need of explanation, often becoming more familiar than the original name.

Examples are Emiye Menelik, a name of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, who was popularly and affectionately recognized for his kindness ('emiye' means mother in Amharic); Genghis Khan, who now is rarely recognized by his original name, Temüjin; and Mohandas Gandhi, who is better known as Mahatma Gandhi. Well-known places often have sobriquets, such as New York City, often referred to as the Big Apple. Hence, sobriquet may apply to the nickname for a specific person, group of people, or place.

Etymology

Two early variants of the term are found, sotbriquet and soubriquet; often, the latter form is still used. The modern French spelling is sobriquet. The first form suggests derivation from sot, foolish, and the second form, briquet, is a French adaptation of Italian brichetto, diminutive of bricco, ass, knave, possibly connected with briccone, rogue, which is supposed to be a derivative of the German brechen, to break; but Skeat considers this spelling to be an example of false etymology. The real origin is to be sought in the form soubriquet.

Littré gives an early-fourteenth-century soubsbriquet as meaning a chuck under the chin, and this would be derived from soubs, mod. sous (Lat. sub), under, and briquet or bruchel, the brisket, or lower part of the throat.

Use

Sobriquets often are found in music, sports, and politics. Candidates and political figures often are branded with sobriquets, either while living or posthumously. For example, president of the United States Abraham Lincoln came to be known as "Honest Abe".

A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) warned, "Now the sobriquet habit is not a thing to be acquired, but a thing to be avoided; & the selection that follows is compiled for the purpose not of assisting but of discouraging it." Fowler included the sobriquet among what he termed the "battered ornaments" of the language, but opinion on their use varies. Sobriquets remain a common feature of speech today.

Examples

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

A–C

• Air Jordan – Michael Jordan, basketball player
• The Angel of Death or Der Todesengel – Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal
• The Angelic Doctor – Thomas Aquinas
• The Antipodes – Australia and New Zealand, close to the Antipodes of Great Britain
• The Apple Isle – Tasmania
• Atatürk – Mustafa Kemal, first president of the Republic of Turkey
• The Athens of the North – Edinburgh
• The Athens of South America – Bogotá
• Auld Reekie – Edinburgh, "Old Smokey" in the Scots language
• Auntie or Aunty – either the Australian Broadcasting Corporation or the British Broadcasting Corporation
• Babe, The Great Bambino, The Sultan of Swat, The Titan of Terror, The Colossus of Clout, The King of Clash – George Herman Ruth, Jr., American baseball player
• Baby – Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer
• Baby Doc – Jean-Claude Duvalier, the President of Haiti from 1971 until his overthrow in 1986
• Baghdad by the Bay—San Francisco
• Bangabandhu (Friend of Bengal) – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, 1st president of Bangladesh
• Banker to the Poor – Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and managing director of Grameen Bank
• The Bard (of Avon) – William Shakespeare
• The Battleground, Battlefield, or Cock-pit of Europe – Belgium, or the whole area of the former United Netherlands
• The Bayou City – Houston
• Beantown – Boston
• Becks – David Beckham English footballer
• The Beeb – The British Broadcasting Corporation
• Biebs - Canadian singer/songwriter Justin Bieber
• The Big Apple – Manhattan
• Big B – Amitabh Bachchan Bollywood actor
• The Big Bopper – Jiles Perry "J. P." Richardson, Jr.
• Big D – Dallas
• The Big Easy – New Orleans
• The Big Fellow – Michael Collins, Irish General, Director of Intelligence, President of the Irish Republican Brotherhood & Politician.
• The Big O – Roy Orbison
• The Big Smoke – London, and by extension other large industrial cities including Toronto
• The Big Piece – Ryan Howard, Phillies First Baseman
• The Big Stick – Theodore Roosevelt's diplomatic policy
• The Big Unit – Randy Johnson, baseball pitcher
• The Big Yin – Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian
• The Body – Elle Macpherson, also Jesse Ventura
• Biggest Little City – Reno, Nevada, a small casino city
• Biggie Smalls – Christopher Wallace, American hip hop and rap singer
• Billy the Kid, William H. Bonney (1859–1881), the notorious Western outlaw
• The Bill – The William Webb Ellis Cup – trophy awarded to winners of the Rugby Union World Cup
• King Billy – William III of England (1650–1702)
• Bird (or Yardbird) – Charlie Parker, jazz musician
• The Bird – Mark Fidrych, baseball pitcher
• Birdman – Chris Andersen, U.S. basketball player known for his trademark "bird" celebration
• Blighty – Great Britain (used by British servicemen abroad and expatriates)
• The Black Mamba – Kobe Bryant, American basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers
• Blackbeard – Edward Teach, English pirate
• Bloody Mary – Queen Mary I of England
• Body Beautiful Beale or Little Edie – Edith Bouvier Beale
• Bojangles – Bill Robinson, American tap dancer and actor
• Bollywood – [Hindi cinema], film industry
• Boney – Napoléon Bonaparte, a derogatory nickname used in Britain
• Bonnie Prince Charlie – Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie" means handsome in the Scots Language)
• Bono (or Bono Vox) – Paul Hewson, singer with U2
• Bonzo/The Beast – John Bonham, drummer with Led Zeppelin
• Boom Boom Afridi – Shahid Afridi, Pakistani cricketer known for his aggressive batting style
• The Boss – Bruce Springsteen, US musician
• The Boston Strangler – Albert DeSalvo
• Boz – Charles Dickens, Boz Burrell, English musician
• Brangelina – Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, a portmanteau name used by news media to refer to the couple
• Brat Pack – group of young actors and actresses who starred in teen-oriented coming-of-age films of the '80s (by extension from "The Rat Pack" mentioned below)
• Brew City – Milwaukee, famous for its beer production
• Brisvegas – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
• Broadway Joe – Joe Namath, AFL, NFL, American football player
• Bubber – James "Bubber" Miley, American jazz trumpeter
• Buddha – Siddhartha Gautama
• Buffalo Bill – American frontier showman William Frederick Cody
• Buffalo Jones – Kansas frontiersman Charles "Buffalo" Jones
• Calico Jack – John Rackham, English pirate
• Caligula – Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
• Capitol Hill - United States Capitol, United States of America Legislative branch of Government
• The Celtic Tiger – Republic of Ireland and/or its economy during boom period of mid-1990s – mid-2000s decade
• Chemical Ali – Ali Hassan al-Majid, minister in Saddam Hussein's government held responsible for the use of chemical weapons at Halabja
• Christ – Jesus of Nazareth
• Comical Ali – Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraqi information minister during the 2003 U.S. invasion; also known as Baghdad Bob, who became a minor celebrity in the west for his unflagging optimism and increasingly grandiose announcements
• Chosin Few – Survivors of Korean War battle of Chosin Reservoir
• The City – the city of London, as central business district of London and by extension the UK financial industry in general
• The City (or The City by the Bay) – San Francisco
• The City Beautiful – Coral Gables, Florida
• The City of Bridges – Pittsburgh; also Saskatoon
• The City Care Forgot – New Orleans
• The City of Angels/L.A. – Los Angeles
• The City of Brotherly Love – Philadelphia
• The City of Dreaming Spires – Oxford
• The City of Light – Paris (La Ville-Lumière in French), also Perth, Western Australia, which lit all its streetlights for the passage of astronaut John Glenn in 1962
• The City of Medicine – Durham, North Carolina
• The City of Palaces – Kolkata
• The City of Joy – Kolkata
• The City of the World's Desire – Constantinople
• The City so Nice They Named It Twice – New York, New York, also attributed to Walla Walla, Washington
• The City that Bombed Itself – Philadelphia
• The Coat Hanger – Sydney Harbour Bridge, Auckland Harbour Bridge
• The Commentator – Averroes, Andalusian scholar
• Coco – Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, French fashion designer
• The Collar City – Troy, New York
• Colosseum - Flavian Amphitheatre (Rome)
• Columbia – The United States or The Americas, poetic name
• The Continent – Continental Europe, generally used by British people
• Cootie – Cootie Williams, American jazz trumpeter
• Country – Enos Slaughter, American Major League player
• Cowtown – The city of Calgary, also attributed to Fort Worth, Texas

D–G

• D.F. – Mexico City, (Distrito Federal)
• Daffy – Paul Dean, American Major League pitcher, brother of Dizzy Dean
• The Dark Continent – Africa
• The Desert Fox – Erwin Rommel, German field marshal of World War II
• Devil Dog – member of the United States Marine Corps
• Diamond Dave – David Lee Roth, Singer
• Digger – Australian soldier
• Dixie, Dixieland – (from the Mason–Dixon line of latitude, the northern limit of legal slavery); the eleven Southern states that seceded and fought against the U.S. in the American Civil War: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia; still used affectionately by Southerners
• Dizzy – Dizzy Gillespie, American jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader; also Dizzy Dean, American Major Leagur pitcher, brother of Paul "Daffy" Dean; also Jason Gillespie, Australian cricketer
• Doc – Oliver Perry, American jazz pianist and bandleader
• The Don – Sir Donald Bradman
• The Donald – Donald Trump
• Donnie Baseball – Don Mattingly
• Dr. Death – Jack Kevorkian proponent of assisted suicide
• Dr. J – Julius Erving, Hall of Fame NBA player
• The Dragon – China (as an economy)
• Dubya – George W. Bush
• Dullsville – Perth, Western Australia
• Duke – Duke Ellington, American jazz pianist, composer and orchestra leader
• The Duke – John Wayne
• The Edge – David Howell Evans, guitarist in the rock band U2
• The Elephant Man – Joseph Merrick
• The Edinburgh of the South – Dunedin, New Zealand
• The Emerald Isle – Ireland or Puerto Rico
• The Emerald City – Seattle
• Emiye Menelik – Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia
• The Enchanted Isle – (from 'la isla del encanto') Puerto Rico
• The Eternal City – Rome
• The Fab Five – 1991 University of Michigan men's basketball team
• The Fab Four – The Beatles
• The Fastest Girl on Earth – Dorothy Levitt
• Fatha – Earl Hines, American jazz pianist and bandleader
• Father of his country – George Washington
• Fats – Fats Waller, American pianist, composer and singer; also Fats Domino, American pianist and singer-songwriter
• The Federal City – Washington, D.C.
• The First Lady of Waikiki – Moana Hotel
• The Five O'Clock Follies – U.S. Military press briefings during the Vietnam War
• Flea – Michael Balzary, bassist for Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Foggy Bottom – United States Department of State, named for the Washington, D.C., neighborhood in which it is headquartered
• The Fourth Estate – the press
• Frisco – San Francisco
• The Garden City – Christchurch, New Zealand
• Garrincha – Manoel Francisco dos Santos
• Gateway to the West - St. Louis
• Genghis Khan – Temüjin
• The Gherkin – 30 St Mary Axe
• The Glimmer Twins – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Rolling Stones original members, they co-wrote most of the hits
• The Glove - Gary Payton, former NBA basketball player
• The Godfather of Grunge – Neil Young
• The Godfather of Soul – James Brown
• The Golden Bear – Jack Nicklaus
• The Golden State – California
• Good Queen Bess – Queen Elizabeth I of England
• The Good Road State – North Carolina
• GOC or Gods' Own County – Yorkshire
• GOP (Grand Old Party) – Republican Party (United States)
• Gorgeous Gussie – Gertude Moran
• Gotham – New York City
• The Governator – Arnold Schwarzenegger, 38th governor of California
• The Grauniad – The Guardian newspaper, England (because of its formerly frequent typographical errors, such as an edition where the masthead was spelled The Gaurdian)
• The Great Communicator – Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States of America
• The Great Compromiser – Henry Clay, nineteenth century Kentucky statesman
• The Great Emancipator – Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States of America
• The Great One – Wayne Gretzky, WHA/NHL hockey player
• The Great Orator – Daniel Webster
• The Great Triumvirate – Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster
• The Great White North – Canada
• The Greatest – Muhammad Ali, boxer
• Grits – a media term for the Liberal Party of Canada
• The Gray Lady – The New York Times
• The Great Commoner – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham ("Pitt the Elder") or William Jennings Bryan
• Grizzly – Grizzly Smith, American pro wrestler, father of Jake "The Snake" Roberts
• Grizzly Adams – James Adams, California mountain man
• The Gunners – Arsenal Football Club
• Gurudev – Rabindranath Tagore

H–M

• Hanoi Jane – Jane Fonda, for her anti-war stance during the Vietnam War including visiting Hanoi, seen as an act of treason to many Americans
• The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business – James Brown
• The Haryana Hurricane – Kapil Dev, Indian cricketer known for his fast bowling
• Haystack – Haystacks Calhoun, American pro wrestler
• Hef – Hugh Hefner
• The Hick from French Lick – Larry Bird
• His Airness – Michael Jordan
• (The) Hoff – David Hasselhoff
• Hogtown – Toronto
• Hollywood North – Vancouver
• Hollywood of the South – Covington, Georgia
• The Holy Land – Israel or Palestine
• The Home of Cricket – Lord's Cricket Ground
• Honest Abe – Abraham Lincoln
• The Hub – Boston
• The Humbler - Danny Gatton
• The Iron Duke – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
• The Iron Lady – Margaret Thatcher
• Iz the Wiz – Michael Martin, Graffiti writer
• Jersey Lily – Lillie Langtry
• Jock – a Scot, especially a Scottish soldier
• Joe Satch – Joe Satriani, American instrumental rock guitarist
• Joe the Plumber – Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, an American plumbing contractor who was cited as an example of a middle class American during the 2008 U.S. presidential election season by Republican nominee for president, John McCain
• Joltin' Joe – Joe DiMaggio, Baseball player; former husband of Marilyn Monroe
• Kaká – Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite
• The Keystone State – Pennsylvania
• Kid – Kid Ory, American jazz trombonist and bandleader
• The Killer – Jerry Lee Lewis
• King – King Oliver, American jazz trumpeter
• The King Khan – Shahrukh Khan, Bollywood Actor
• The King (of baseball) – Félix Hernández
• The King (of all Media) – Howard Stern
• The King (of golf) – Arnold Palmer
• The King (of NASCAR) – Richard Petty
• The King (of Rock and Roll) – Elvis Presley
• The King of Reggae – Bob Marley
• The King (of Rugby league (particularly in Australia)) – Wally Lewis
• King Henrik - Henrik Lundqvist
• King James – LeBron James
• The King of Pop – Michael Jackson
• The King of Spain – Ashley Giles
• The King of Spin – Shane Warne
• The King of Swing – Benny Goodman, American bandleader and clarinettist
• King of Torts - Joe Jamail
• Knick Killer – Reggie Miller
• La Divina – Maria Callas
• The Lady – Aung San Suu Kyi
• Lady Day – Billie Holiday, American jazz singer
• Lady Lindy – Amelia Earhart
• The Lady with the Lamp – Florence Nightingale
• The Land of a Thousand Lakes – Finland
• The Land of the Flying Fish - Barbados
• The Land of the Long White Cloud – New Zealand
• The Land of the Morning Calm - Korean Peninsula
• The Land of the Rising Sun - Japan
• Larry Legend – Larry Bird
• The Last Emperor – Xuantong Emperor
• The Last of the Red Hot Mammas – Sophie Tucker
• The Lion – Willie "The Lion" Smith, American jazz pianist
• The Lion of the Round Top – Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain, commander of the 20th Maine Regiment, American Civil War
• The Little Apple – Manhattan, Kansas, after The Big Apple – Manhattan in New York City
• The Little Corporal – Napoléon Bonaparte
• Little Richard – Rev. Richard Wayne Penniman, a prominent figure in rock n' roll
• The Little General – Ron Lancaster, former quarterback and coach in the Canadian Football League
• The Little Fellow – Charlie Chaplin
• The Little Master – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Indian cricketer
• Little Paris – Bucharest
• The Little Sparrow – Édith Piaf, French singer
• The Little Sparrow – Sezen Aksu, Turkish singer
• The Long Fellow - Éamon de Valera
• Luckey – Luckey Roberts, American jazz pianist and composer
• Macca – Sir Paul McCartney
• Mad Dog and The Professor – Greg Maddux – Major League Baseball Player and Hall of Famer
• Madge – Madonna
• Madiba – Nelson Mandela
• Magic – Earvin Johnson
• The Magic City – Miami
• The Man - Stan Musial
• The Man from Tennessee – Andrew Jackson
• The Man in Black – Johnny Cash
• Manitas de Plata – Flamenco guitarist Ricardo Baliardo
• The Master – Henry James
• The Master of Suspense – Alfred Hitchcock, British filmmaker
• The Material Girl – Madonna
• The Myth – Bodybuilding great Sergio Oliva
• Mahatma Gandhi – Mohandas K. Gandhi
• Maynard – James Herbert Keenan
• Meat Loaf – Marvin Aday
• The Mick – Mickey Mantle
• The Mile-High City – Denver, from its elevation above sea level
• Ming (the Merciless) – Sir Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia (perhaps from Scots pronunciation of surname, "Mingiss")
• Mini-Mick – James Jagger, eldest son of Sir Mick Jagger
• Mr. Baseball - Bob Uecker, Major League Baseball Player and Hall of Fame Broadcaster honoree
• Mr. Cricket – Michael Hussey, Cricket player who currently plays for Chennai Super Kings of the Indian Premier League
• Mr. Loophole - Nick Freeman
• Mr. October – Reggie Jackson, Major League Baseball Player and Hall of Fame honoree
• Mr. Hockey – Gordie Howe
• Mr. Warmth - Don Rickles, American stand-up comedian and actor
• Mr. Mojo Risin – Jim Morrison
• Mother Monster – Lady Gaga
• Mother of the World (Umm al-Dunya) (أم الدنيا) – Egypt, for its ancient history
• The Motor City – Detroit, from its automotive heritage
• Motown – Detroit, from its musical heritage
• The Mozart of Madras - A.R.Rahman, for his widespread acclaim and fusion of Eastern and Western music in Indian Cinema
• Mrs. Brown – Queen Victoria
• Mrs. Bull – Queen Anne
• Muggsy – Muggsy Spanier, American jazz cornet player; also Tyrone Bogues, NBA Player
• Muddy Waters - McKinley Morganfield Singer, songwriter, guitarist, harmonica, bandleader, was an American blues musician who is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues"

N–S

• Naptown – Indianapolis
• Netaji – Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian freedom fighter, the leader of the Provisional Government of Free India and leader of Indian National Army
• New York's Finest – New York City Police Department
• New York's Best – NYC*EMS, originally run by the Health and Hospitals Corporation, taken over by FDNY in 1996 and is now FDNY EMS
• New York's Bravest – New York City Fire Department
• New York's Boldest – New York City Department of Correction (who work in the City's jails)
• New York's Strongest – New York City Department of Sanitation
• Nightingale of India – Sarojini Naidu, poet, writer, social activist
• Obamacare – Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, generally derogatory
• The Ochre City – Marrakech
• The Old Bill – British Police - particularly the Metropolitan Police
• The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street – the Bank of England
• Old Nick – in Christianity, the Devil
• Old St. Nick – Santa Claus
• The Old Bailey – The Central Criminal Court in England
• Ol' Blue Eyes – Frank Sinatra
• Old Hickory – Andrew Jackson, 7th president of the United States
• Old Kinderhook (OK) – Martin Van Buren, 8th president of the United States
• The Old Pretender – James Francis Edward Stuart
• Old Rough and Ready – Zachary Taylor
• The Ox – John Entwistle
• Oxford of the East – University of Dhaka in the early twentieth century
• Papa – Ernest Hemingway, American author
• Papa Doc – François Duvalier, Haitian president
• Para or Paras – British soldier in the Parachute Regiment or the parachute regiment
• The Paris of the Baltics – Riga, Latvia
• The Paris of the North – Riga, Latvia
• The Paris of the North – Tromsø, Norway
• The Paris of the Levant/Orient - Beirut
• The Paris of the West – San Francisco
• The Paris of the South – São Paulo and Buenos Aires
• Pearl of the Danube – Budapest
• Pearl of the Orient/Pearl of the Orient Seas – the Philippines
• Pearl of the Orient – Hong Kong
• Pearl of the Orient – Penang
• Pelé – Edson Arantes do Nascimento
• Pensioneers – Chelsea football club
• The People's champ – Dwayne Johnson, Actor, wrestler, spokesman
• The People's champ – Kevin 'Pigsy' McCann
• The People's champ – Manny Pacquiao, former division 8 title holder in boxing
• The People's Princess – Diana, Princess of Wales
• Perfidious Albion – Great Britain (from French, Albion perfide)
• The Philosopher – Aristotle
• The Pie Man – Andy Smith (darts player)
• Pink (stylized P!nk) – Alecia Moore
• Pink City – Jaipur, India
• Pink Palace of the Pacific – Royal Hawaiian Hotel, also known as the Pink Lady
• Pommy (or Pom) – Australian name for an English person, vaguely affectionate except when "Pommy" is succeeded by "bastard"
• Poor Little Rich Girl – Barbara Hutton
• Porsche's Quiet Giant – Lake Underwood
• Pretty Purdie - Bernard Purdie
• Prez – Lester Young
• Prince of the Humanists – Desiderius Erasmus
• Prince of Kolkata – Saurav Ganguly
• Prince of Darkness – Ozzy Osbourne
• Professor of politics (Kenya) – Daniel arap Moi
• The Queen City – Charlotte, North Carolina
• The Queen City of the West – Cincinnati Nicknames of Cincinnati
• The Queen of the Arabian Sea – Cochin
• The Queen of Pop – Madonna
• The Queen of Soul – Aretha Franklin
• Queen of the Suburbs – The residential area called Ealing in England
• Queen Sarah – Sarah Churchill
• The Rat Pack – A group of American singers and entertainers from the late 1950s to the early 1970s
• The Rawalpindi Express – Shoaib Akhtar
• The Red Arrows – (British) Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team
• The Red Baron – Manfred von Richthofen, World War I, German flying ace
• The Red Devils – (British) parachute regiment, Manchester United Football Club
• The Red Planet – Mars
• The Republic – Republic of Ireland or South Africa
• The Roadrunner (person) – Yvan Cournoyer
• The Rock (person) – Dwayne Johnson
• The Rock (place) – Newfoundland
• The Rock (prison) – Alcatraz Prison
• The Rock Chameleon – David Bowie
• The Rocket – Maurice Richard, Hall of Fame NHL player
• Rough Riders – 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry
• Rubberlips – Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger
• Slim Shady – Eminem
• The Safari Capital of the World – Nairobi
• Saint Jimmy – Billie Joe Armstrong
• Saint of the Gutter – Mother Teresa
• Sandman – Howard Sims, dancer
• Sassenach – Scottish and Irish term for an English person
• Satch – Joe Satriani, American rock guitarist
• Satchmo – Louis Armstrong
• Seven Sisters – North Eastern Region of India inclusive of the seven states namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura
• The Say Hey Kid – Willie Mays, American, Major League baseball player and Hall of Fame honoree
• The Scottish Play – Macbeth
• The Secretary of Defense, Gary Maddox, American, Major League baseball player
• Sher-e-Bangla (Tiger of Bengal) – A. K. Fazlul Huq, twentieth century Bengali political leader and statesman
• William the Silent – William I of Orange (1533–1584)
• Silicon Valley - Santa Clara Valley, which includes the cities of San Jose, Mountain View, Cupertino, and Palo Alto.
• Sin City – Las Vegas
• Slash – Saul Hudson, guitarist
• Slick Willie – Bill Clinton, Willie Sutton, Willie Brown, W. W. Herenton
• Slowhand – Eric Clapton
• The Smoke – London
• The Snake – the River Thames, especially the Tideway portion; also BBC's EastEnders show, from signature opening satellite image; also, Jake Roberts, American pro wrestler
• The Spider – Anderson Silva, MMA legend
• Snakehips – Earl Snakehips Tucker, American dancer and entertainer; also Ken Snakehips Johnson, British jazz band leader and dancer, born in British Guiana
• Soapy Sam – Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford
• The Spaceman – Major League Baseball player Bill Lee
• The Splendid Splinter – Baseball player Ted Williams
• Stan the Man - Stan Musial, American baseball player
• The Steel Butterfly – Imelda Marcos
• The Steel City – Sheffield, Pittsburgh
• Steeltown – Hamilton, Ontario
• The Stephen King of children's literature – R.L. Stine, American author
• Sting – Gordon Sumner
• Storyville – Storyville, New Orleans, the city's red-light district from 1897 to 1917; it now lies in Faubourg Tremé
• Strays – Billy Strayhorn, American jazz pianist and composer
• The Subtle Doctor – John Duns Scotus
• The Sultan of Swat – Babe Ruth, Major league Baseball player and Hall of Fame honoree
• The Sunshine State – Florida or Queensland
• Swee' Pea – Billy Strayhorn, American jazz pianist and composer
• Sweets – Harry Edison, American jazz trumpeter

T–Z

• Teddy Ballgame - Ted Williams, American baseball player
• The Teflon Don – mobster John Gotti
• The Teflon Taoiseach – Bertie Ahern, former Taoiseach of Ireland
• The Texas Rattlesnake – Steve Austin, wrestler, actor, talk show host
• The Tiger of Malaya – Tomoyuki Yamashita, general of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II
• The Thin White Duke – David Bowie, Actor, Entertainer
• The Thunderer – The Times newspaper, London
• Toby – Otto Hardwick, American jazz saxophonist
• The Toxic Twins – Aerosmith members Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, due to their massive drug intake during the '70s and '80s
• Tree-Town – Ann Arbor
• The Twin Cities – Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota
• The Twin Towers – former World Trade Center, New York City
• Tinseltown – Hollywood
• Trane – John Coltrane
• Tricky Dick – Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States
• Turd Blossom – name given by George W. Bush to Karl Rove
• Twentieth Century Dinosaurs – sculptures of dinosaurs made by Jim Gary out of automobile parts of the twentieth century and the exhibition of them that traveled around the world
• Uncle Sam – the U.S. in general or specifically, its government
• Variety Vacationland – North Carolina
• Venice of the North – Amsterdam, Bruges, Stockholm
• Venice of the East – Alappuzha, India
• The Virgin Queen – Queen Elizabeth I of England
• The Voice – Whitney Houston
• The Wall – Rahul Dravid; also the Western Wall in Jerusalem
• The Walled City – Intramuros, Manila
• The War on the Shore – 1991 Ryder Cup
• The war to end all wars – World War I
• Westminster – the British Parliament
• Whitehall – the United Kingdom's central government and its component departments; often refers primarily to the British Civil Service
• The Windy City – Chicago, Illinois (also various other cities including Wellington, New Zealand and Port Elizabeth, South Africa)
• The Wizard (Indian field hockey) – Dhyan Chand
• The Wizard (American baseball) – Ozzie Smith
• X-22 – backgammon champion Paul Magriel
• Yankee – an American of European ancestry not sympathetic to the Southern cause, originally only from the states that fought against the Confederacy in the Civil War, but now from any non-Southern state; used outside the U.S. to mean any American; sometimes derogatory in either usage
• Yank (a short form of "Yankee") – originally used derogatorily by Southerners but now often heard outside the U.S.
• Yardbird – jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker (also shortened simply to "Bird")
• The Young Pretender – Charles Edward Stuart

See also

Related articles

• Antonomasia
• Cognomen
• Epithet
• Honorific
• Metonymy
• Moniker
• Nickname
• Pen name
• Pop icon
• Pseudonym
• Title

Lists

• Lists of nicknames
• Nicknames in European royalty and nobility
• Nicknames in popular music
• Nicknames in sport (category)
• Nicknames of U.S. presidents
• List of metonyms

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sobriquet" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.