50 Fun Facts About First Names

What is the real first name of Shaggy, the always-hungry best friend of the Great Dane Scooby-Doo?

Norville Rogers is the name Shaggy hides behind his nickname. Casey Kasem voiced him for 28 years and persuaded the producers to make the character a vegetarian.

Sir Paul McCartney goes by his middle name; which first name, shared with his father, was he given at birth?

James Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool in 1942. His father, a jazz player, was a James too and went by Jim.

Oprah Winfrey's first name was meant to be Orpah, a woman from which book of the Bible?

Ruth is the book in which Orpah appears, as the heroine's sister-in-law. The spelling on Winfrey's birth certificate was mispronounced so often that Oprah stuck.

Which Italian city, her birthplace in 1820, gave the nurse known as the Lady with the Lamp her first name?

Florence was where the Nightingales were touring when she was born. Her older sister Parthenope was named the same way, after the Greek settlement on the site of Naples.

What is the first name of Kramer, Jerry's eccentric neighbor in Seinfeld, kept secret until the sixth season?

Cosmo slipped out in the episode The Switch, when Kramer's estranged mother Babs said it aloud. An early script that was never filmed would have named him Conrad.

What is the real first name of Wendy Thomas, whose childhood nickname her father Dave gave to his burger chain?

Melinda Lou Thomas became Wendy because her siblings could not pronounce her name and called her Wenda, which is how a fourth child ended up on the restaurant sign.

What is the actual first name of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, as given at his 1984 christening?

Henry is the name the prince was christened with at Windsor Castle. Harry began as the Middle English form of that name and only later became a pet name.

What is the first name of Mr Darcy, the proud hero who marries Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice?

Fitzwilliam was his mother's maiden name: Lady Anne Darcy was born a Fitzwilliam, which is also why his cousin, an earl's younger son, is Colonel Fitzwilliam.

Which two-time heavyweight boxing champion gave all five of his sons his own first name?

George Foreman said he gave every son his own name so that they would always have something in common. Nicknames such as Monk, Big Wheel and Red tell them apart.

What is the first name of Cap'n Crunch, the cereal mascot who captains a ship called the Guppy?

Horatio Magellan Crunch is the mascot's full name. He has often been drawn with one, two or three sleeve bars rather than the four an American naval captain wears.

Which first name does the J stand for in J. K. Rowling, the pen name on the Harry Potter books?

Joanne Rowling has no middle name at all. Her publisher wanted initials so that boys would not shy from a woman's book, and she borrowed the K from her grandmother Kathleen.

What is the real first name of Lady Gaga, the singer born in Manhattan with the surname Germanotta?

Stefani Germanotta performs under a stage name derived from the Queen song Radio Ga Ga, a hit released in 1984, two years before she was born.

What is the real first name of golfer Tiger Woods, whose nickname honors a soldier friend of his father?

Eldrick was his mother's invention: it starts with E for his father, Earl, and ends with K for her own name, Kultida.

Which first name was the Brazilian footballer Pelé given at birth in 1940 and called by his family?

Edson Arantes do Nascimento was named after the American inventor Edison, and at home his family called him Edson or Dico rather than Pelé.

What was the given first name of Gandhi, the Indian independence leader better known by the honorific Mahatma?

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became known as Mahatma, a Sanskrit honorific meaning great-souled. Many Indians knew him simply as Bapu, an endearment meaning father.

What is the legal first name of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, the same as her character's in the drama Suits?

Rachel Meghan Markle goes by her middle name, yet she spent seven seasons of the legal drama playing a character called Rachel Zane.

What was the real first name of Mark Twain, the pen name of a former Mississippi riverboat pilot?

Samuel Langhorne Clemens took Mark Twain from the leadsman's cry for two fathoms of water, the depth that was safe for a steamboat.

What is the real first name of Sting, the Police frontman nicknamed for a wasp-like striped sweater?

Gordon Sumner got the nickname in a jazz band, when the bandleader said his habitual black-and-yellow striped jumper made him look like a wasp.

What was the original first name of astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the Moon?

Edwin Aldrin became Buzz because a sister mispronounced brother as buzzer. He made the nickname his legal first name in 1988.

Which Michigan-born pop star's stage name is a real first name, inherited from a mother who was an X-ray technician?

Madonna Louise Ciccone was named after her mother, so relatives called the future star Little Nonnie. She added Veronica as a confirmation name in 1966.

Which first name was Queen Victoria baptised with, in honor of her godfather, the Tsar of Russia?

Alexandrina appeared on the documents drawn up on the first day of her reign, but the new queen had the name withdrawn at her own wish and never used it again.

Which first name did the stammering British monarch portrayed in The King's Speech use before taking the throne in 1936?

Albert, or Bertie to his family, was named after Queen Victoria's late husband. On becoming king he chose to reign under the last of his four given names instead.

Which first name was Civil War general and US president Ulysses S. Grant actually given at birth?

Hiram Ulysses Grant lost his first name when the congressman who nominated him to West Point altered it. His new initials, U.S., got him nicknamed Sam, for Uncle Sam.

Which first name was future US president Gerald Ford given at birth, before he took his stepfather's name?

Leslie Lynch King Jr. was born in Omaha in 1913. After his mother remarried he was called Gerald Ford Jr., though the change was not made formal until 1935.

The author of The Great Gatsby was named after which distant cousin, who wrote the words of the US national anthem?

Francis Scott Key wrote the anthem's words in 1814, and the novelist was christened Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. He signed his books with only the initial F.

Which first name was Western film star John Wayne given at birth in Iowa in 1907?

Marion Morrison preferred to be called Duke, a nickname he picked up as a boy because he went everywhere with his Airedale Terrier of that name.

What first name was Sir Elton John given at birth in Pinner, Middlesex, in 1947?

Reginald Dwight built his stage name from two bandmates in Bluesology, saxophonist Elton Dean and singer Long John Baldry, and made it legal in 1972.

What is the real first name of Magic Johnson, the Lakers point guard given his nickname at fifteen by a sportswriter?

Earvin Johnson Jr. was dubbed Magic after a triple-double in a high school game, though his devout mother thought the nickname sacrilegious.

Which US president, who loathed the nickname, gave the teddy bear its name after a 1902 hunting trip?

Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a black bear that his hunting party had tied to a willow tree, and a Washington Post cartoon of the episode ran that same month.

What is the first name of Inspector Morse, the Oxford detective created by novelist Colin Dexter?

Endeavour was the ship of the explorer Captain Cook, whom Morse's father admired, and his Quaker mother's tradition of virtue names did the rest. The novels hid it until Death Is Now My Neighbour.

What is the first name of MacGyver, the improvising TV hero, which stayed a mystery until the seventh season?

Angus MacGyver simply went by Mac for most of the show's run. Whenever anyone asked, he said he disliked his first name and changed the subject.

What is the legal first name of the Dude, the Los Angeles slacker and bowler in The Big Lebowski?

Jeffrey Lebowski shares his name with a millionaire, the mix-up that starts the plot. The Coen brothers based him on a film producer who really was known as the Dude.

What is the first name of Frankenstein, the young scientist who builds the creature in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel?

Victor was also a pen name of Percy Shelley, the author's husband, who used it for an 1810 poetry collection written with his sister.

Which first name did Walt Disney originally plan for Mickey Mouse before his wife, Lillian, talked him out of it?

Mortimer Mouse was dropped at Lillian Disney's urging, but the name was not wasted: it later went to Minnie's uncle in the comic strip.

Which Nintendo hero was named after the landlord of the company's American warehouse during a dispute over rent?

Mario owes his name, in the widely told story, to Mario Segale, who turned up demanding back rent. Until then the Donkey Kong character had been known as Jumpman.

What is the real first name of Fonzie, the leather-jacketed, motorcycle-riding greaser of the sitcom Happy Days?

Arthur Fonzarelli almost lost his look: the network thought black leather suggested criminality, so he wore a cloth windbreaker for much of the first season.

What first name does the nanny Mrs. Doubtfire give herself in the 1993 Robin Williams comedy?

Euphegenia Doubtfire is invented on the spot. The father behind the disguise lifts the surname from a newspaper headline while he is on the phone applying for the job.

Which first name, never spoken aloud, appears on the police ID of TV's raincoat-wearing Lieutenant Columbo?

Frank is legible on Columbo's identification in a few episodes. A trivia-book author once planted Philip as a fake answer to catch copycats, and the board game Trivial Pursuit repeated it.

What is the first name of Scrooge, the cold-hearted miser of Charles Dickens's novella A Christmas Carol?

Ebenezer is a Hebrew name meaning stone of help, but the miser of the 1843 novella has given it a negative ring ever since.

The first Mercedes car of 1901 was named after Mercédès Jellinek, who was what relation to the entrepreneur behind it?

His daughter lent her name twice over: Emil Jellinek had already raced at Nice in 1899 under the pseudonym Monsieur Mercédès, and he registered the trademark in 1902.

Which first name of a Gunpowder Plot conspirator became an everyday English word for any man?

Guy Fawkes's effigy was burned every 5 November, so by the 19th century a guy meant an oddly dressed person, and later the word lost its sting and meant any male.

Which first name did Bill and Hillary Clinton give their only child, inspired by a Joni Mitchell song title?

Chelsea Morning was the song, heard in a 1969 Judy Collins recording. Hillary Clinton recalled her husband saying that if they ever had a girl, that should be her name.

Which NBA star was named by his father after a variety of beef seen on a restaurant menu?

Kobe Bryant got his first name from Japan's Kobe beef and his middle name, Bean, from his father's own nickname, Jellybean.

Which first name, counting its many spellings, is believed to be the most common given name in the world?

Muhammad, spelled in more than a dozen ways from Mohammed to Mehmet and Mamadou, was estimated in 2014 to be the name of about 150 million men and boys.

Hermione Granger's first name was borrowed from a wronged queen in which Shakespeare play?

The Winter's Tale has Queen Hermione accused of an affair by her jealous husband, Leontes. Rowling has said the two characters have little else in common.

Which first name did the novelist who wrote Brideshead Revisited share with the woman he married in 1928?

Evelyn Waugh married Evelyn Gardner, and their friends quickly took to calling the pair He-Evelyn and She-Evelyn.

Which Latin term did ancient Romans use for a first name such as Gaius, chosen by a child's parents?

Praenomen means forename, because it was recited first. By the first century BC only about eighteen were in use, so writers routinely cut them to an initial or two.

Which novelist's 1849 book Shirley took a name then rarely given to girls and made it popular for women?

Charlotte Brontë gave her heroine the family name her parents had been saving for a son. The book's popularity then made Shirley a first name for women.

The word tawdry comes from lace sold at fairs honoring an Anglo-Saxon saint with which first name?

Audrey is the everyday form of Æthelthryth, a queen who became Abbess of Ely. Saint Audrey lace was sold at her fair, and when it fell out of fashion the slurred name came to mean cheap.

The Akan first name Kofi, as borne by UN chief Kofi Annan, marks a child born on which day of the week?

Friday is the day Annan was born. In the Akan tradition many children are named for their birth day, and his middle name, Atta, means twin.