Today, I read a post about Sarah Bernhardt, the French actress, and it referred to her as the Queen of the Pose and the Princess of the Gesture. Now that is a great nickname. It made me curious about some other big names of the era.

The absolute worst nickname I came across wasn’t from our era, but I’ll tell you anyway because it’s interesting. It was Atila the Hun, also known as the Scourge of God. Ouch!

Possibly the least plausible nickname goes to Thomas Edison, who was called Al–a shortened version of his middle name Alva.

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was nicknamed the Mad Monk!

William Jennings Bryan, the American orator and politician, was called the Great Commoner.

George Herman Ruth, better known as Babe Ruth, got his nickname when he was 19 and signed with the Baltimore Orioles. The team’s owner, Jack Dunn, became his legal guardian. He was called “Dunn’s Babe” which soon got shortened to “Babe.” But he was also called the Bambino and the Sultan of Swat.

Friend of the site William F. Cody, was nicknamed Buffalo Bill. We have a post on his ill-fated divorce . (In his case, there was such a thing!)

Old Spirituals’ favorite president, Theodore Roosevelt, is often called Teddy today but he never liked that nickname. When he was little he called himself Teedie, and was most often called TR as he signed most of his messages this way.  I forget which of his sons it was, but when TR died, he sent a telegram to one of his siblings that said, “The Old Lion is dead.”  We have many posts on TR, including a bully photograph of him operating a steam shovel, submitted by our very own Nicola Di Crescenzo.

Joséphine Baker was known as Black Venus and La Baker.

Robert E. Lee was called Granny, the Marble Model, and the Marble Man, The marble nicknames originate from the General’s West Point days. Lee’s great ability to strategize was initially attributed to timidity in the early days of the Civil War, leading to the derisive nickname Granny Lee.

Mary Mallon probably got the most enduring nickname of all: Typhoid Mary (a nickname she understandably hated). We have a post on Mary’s remarkable medical issues and rather unique personality! 

Evelyn Nesbit was the Girl in the Red Velvet Swing.  We’ve got lots of posts of her and what was called the Crime of the Century too.

Huey Long, Louisiana politician and presidential candidate, was the Kingfish. Huey’s a little outside our realm on Old Spirituals,  but what a fascinating fellow he was!

Ernest Hemingway loved his nickname Papa, but I found he also was called Hemingstein. I initially imagined this was a Frankenstein reference, but it actually referred to his friend and fellow expatriate Gertrude Stein, whose style influenced his. I read A Moveable Feast and recalling what he said about Stein then, I doubt he would’ve liked this nickname!  Then again, I’ve also read his biography A Life Without Consequences, which didn’t put him in a good light.  I guess he’ll have to take whatever nickname he gets.