Famous Names and Nicknames

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.

Mae West was called "Peaches" as a young girl by the young boys in Brooklyn.

President Benjamin Harrison was known as "Kid Gloves." He was prone to skin infection and wore kid gloves to protect his hands.

Jerry Lewis' nickname in high school was "Id" (short for "Idiot").

George Herman "Babe" Ruth was "The Babe" to millions of baseball fans, but his closest friends called him "Jidge" which is a slang way of saying George.

John Lennon often called his wife Yoko Ono "Mother."

Marilyn Monroe affectionately referred to her husband Joe DiMaggio as her "Slugger."

Former model Lauren Bacall was known as "The Windmill" and "The Pinwheel." Of course, her husband, Humphrey Bogart always called her "Baby."

Adolf Hitler had a lifelong fascination with wolves. He loved the nickname "Wolf" and liked the pseudonym "Herr Wolf." He had residences he dubbed "The Wolves Lair" and "The Wolves Den."

Classic sharpshooter Annie Oakley was originally given the nickname "Watanya Cicilla" by her friend and fellow performer Sitting Bull. This translated to "Little Sure Shot." It later evolved into "Little Miss Sure Shot."

Sally Struthers was a rather chubby young girl. Her sister called her "Packy," short for "Pachyderm."

Brad Pitt was known by the nickname "Pitt-Bull."

She was born Carole Penelope Marsciarelli. As a young girl, she once saved pennies to buy a horse. She soon became known as "Penny" Marshall.

President Ulysses S. Grant was dubbed "The Galena Tanner," because he once ran a tannery.

Clerow Wilson was given the name "Flip" while he was serving in the U.S. Air Force. "He flippeth his lid," one of the guys in the barracks once said. The name stuck.

Two of Elvis Presley's favorite "undercover" names he used when he checked into hotels on the road were "Dr. John Carpenter" and "Jon Burrows." Dr. John Carpenter was his character's name in one of his last movies.

As a young girl, Madonna was known as "Little Nonnie."

Al Capone was "Scarface" …but no one ever called him that to his face! Capone got his facial scar when he was working as a bouncer at a nightclub in Brooklyn. He inadvertently insulted a girl, which provoked a fight with her brother, Frank Gallucio. Gallucio cut three slash marks across Capone's face with a knife. But, believe it or not, Capone's closest friends called him "Snorky."

Joan Crawford called Spencer Tracy "Slug." She called her onetime husband Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. "Dodo."

Jennifer Garner's childhood nickname was "Puppy." "I was kind of a tail-waggin' kid," she explained.

President Andrew Johnson was dubbed "The Tennessee Tailor" because that was his pre-presidential profession.

Richard Burton's affectionate nickname for wife Elizabeth Taylor was "Fatty." (I bet she loved that!)