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Sobriquet

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A sobriquet is a nickname or a fancy name, usually a familiar name given by others as distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation. This salient characteristic, that is, of sufficient familiarity, is most easily noted in cases where the sobriquet becomes more familiar than the original name for which it was formed as an alternative. For example, Genghis Khan, who is rarely recognized now by his original name "Temüjin"; and the British Whig party, which acquired its sobriquet from the British Tory Party as an insult. Two early variants are found, sotbriquet and soubriquet; the latter form is still often used, though the correct modern French spelling is sobriquet. The first form suggests a derivation from sot, foolish, and briquet, a French adaptation of Ital. brichetto, diminutive of bricco, ass, knave, possibly connected with briccone, rogue, which is supposed to be a derivative of Ger. brechen, to break; but Skeat considers this spelling to be due to popular etymology, and the real origin is to be sought in the form soubriquet. Littré gives an early 14th 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. Sobriquets are often found in politics. Candidates and political figures are often branded with sobriquets, either contemporarily or historically. For example, American President Abraham Lincoln came to be known as Honest Abe. Sobriquets are not always used to highlight virtuous qualities, either. A banking tycoon and politician from Knoxville, Tennessee named Jake Butcher was known as "Jake the Snake" after being indicted and subsequently convicted for bank fraud. Fowler's 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.

1 Well-known examples of sobriquets
- 1.1 A-C
- 1.2 D-G
- 1.3 H-M
- 1.4 N-S
- 1.5 T-Z
2 See also
3 Notes
4 References

Well-known examples of sobriquets

A-C

Albion – Great Britain
Alma Mater – (One's own) University
the Antipodes - Australia and New Zealand
Aunty – the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
the Bard - William Shakespeare
Blighty – Great Britain (used by British servicemen abroad and expatriates)
Bonnie Prince Charlie - Charles Edward Stuart
Brillo Pad – Andrew Neil
Brummie – a person from Birmingham
Buddha – Siddhartha Gautama
Caligula– Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
Canuck – a Canadian
Cockney – an East Londoner
Columbia – The United States or The Americas

D-G

Digger - Australian soldier
Dubya – George W. Bush
Erin - Ireland
The Federal City - Washington D.C.
Foggy Bottom– the United States State Department
The Fourth Estate – the press
Garrincha – Manoel Francisco dos Santos
The General - Irish Criminal Martin Cahill
Genghis Khan – Temüjin
Geordie – a person from Newcastle-upon-Tyne
God's Own Country – Kerala, New Zealand, Rhodesia or Yorkshire
Godfather of Soul – James Brown
GOP (Grand Old Party)– Republican Party (United States)
Gotham – New York City
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

H-M

John Bull – England, or an English person
The King of all Media – Howard Stern
The King (i.e. of Rock and Roll) – Elvis Presley
The King of Pop – Michael Jackson
Limey; a national epithet for the English
The Lucky Country^[1] – Australia
Mackem – a person from Sunderland
Manitas de Plata – Flamenco guitarist Ricardo Baliardo
The Material Girl – Madonna
The Myth – Bodybuilding great Sergio Oliva.
Mahatma Gandhi – Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Murasaki Shikibu – author of The Tale of Genji, whose real name is unknown.

N-S

The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street – the Bank of England
Old Nick - Satan
The Old Pretender - James Francis Edward Stuart
Pelé – Edson Arantes do Nascimento
Perfidious Albion – Great Britain
Peripatetics - Aristotelian philosophers
The Queen of the Arabian Sea – Cochin
Rats of Tobruk - the garrison of Tobruk during the Siege of Tobruk in World War II
Rivaldo – Vítor Borba Ferreira
Ronaldinho – Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
Sassenach – a Lowland Scot (used by Highland Scots)
Satchmo – Louis Armstrong
Scouser – a Liverpudlian
Slick Willy – U.S. President Bill Clinton
Slowhand – Eric Clapton
Soapy Sam - Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford

T-Z

The Target chains of stores in both the U.S. and Australia are often intentionally mispronounced as [tʰa:ˈʒeɪ] to sound French.
Tommy Atkins - a British soldier
Tory – a member or supporter of the British or Canadian Conservative Party
Teflon Don – mobster John Gotti
Tricky Dick – President Richard Nixon
Turd Blossom – George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove
Uncle Sam – the U.S.A. or sometimes the government
Dubya[1] From the Texan pronunciation of 'W', a nickname of U.S. President George W. Bush
Weegie – a person from Glasgow
Westminster – the British Parliament
Westminster Abbey – The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster
Whig – a member of the late 17th to mid 19th Century British "Country Party"
Whitehall – the British government including Parliament but excluding the monarchy
X-22 – backgammon champion Paul Magriel.
Yankee – (derogatory in some contexts, esp. the variation "yank") a person from the United States (usual usage outside the US) or from the Northeast or New England (in American usage).
The Young Pretender - Charles Edward Stuart