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People commonly known by their first names

An open list of 115 words by pterodactyl.

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  • bilby Pelé. Sep 14, 2009

  • pterodactyl I don't think such a list exists, bilby -- want to start one? I'll throw in Lenin to get the party started... Sep 14, 2009

  • bilby Tito was one that brought the issue to mind. Sep 13, 2009

  • Telofy Like Marilyn Manson? Sep 13, 2009

  • bilby Do we have a list of people known commonly by neither their first name nor surname? Sep 13, 2009

  • bilby There's what we could call a companion list, though pre-existing: people commonly known by their last name. Aug 29, 2009

  • fbharjo Botticelli was born Alessandro di Mariano dei Filipepi and besides being known as Sandro Botticelli, he was also known as Il Botticello 'the little barrel'. He straddles the line of first name last name. Technically, you are correct Prolagus, but boundary names are of interest. Dante didn't write in Italian technically either, but that is another issue. Aug 24, 2009

  • Prolagus Fbharjo: Botticelli's first name was actually Sandro.
    madmouth: well, surely not an Italian phenomenon, I'm glad to say. Aug 24, 2009

  • madmouth whoa. is he strictly an American phenomenon, then? Aug 24, 2009

  • Prolagus First time I hear/read about this person!
    Edit: holy qwerty, I googled him. I'm disgusted. Aug 23, 2009

  • dontcry Pro - Fabio Lanzoni, the Italian model -- with the hair... Aug 23, 2009

  • Telofy Ned is a bit of a problem: He's (one of) the main character(s) in Pushing Daisies where only his first name is known. So on the one hand one could argue that he only has one name as the reality of the series is defined by nothing but the information the series provides, however on the other hand it's supposed to be set in our reality—augmented with all the buoyancy of the forensic fairytale—which suggests that his last name in fact does exist in the series and that only it never came up.
    I rather tend towards the latter option because I think it's natural to see our reality as some kind of default state or raw structure upon which and into which (if things are decidedly different) every story is built. Hence I've added the name for now. Aug 23, 2009

  • Telofy Interesting, I knew a "de Oliveira" once, that seems to be a rather common name.

    Now that the list is open to fictional characters I have rather to many ideas... I guess I'll restrict myself to the ones where the difference in populatity is expecially stark. Aug 23, 2009

  • bilby I listed Sócrates the Brazilian footballer. He scored 22 goals in 60 games for his country and is an inductee of the Brazilian Football Hall of Fame. His full name was of course Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira. Which didn't quite fit on the back of his shirt. Aug 23, 2009

  • pterodactyl Bilbo is fine, but I have problems with the other two. "Charo" is not her first name, so we can't say she's "commonly known by her first name". And while "Socrates" is technically the man's first (and last) name, the fact that we call him "Socrates" is neither interesting nor surprising. (What else would we call him?) Aug 23, 2009

  • Prolagus Mollusque, who's Fabio? Aug 23, 2009

  • mollusque How about stage names (Charo), or non-human people (Bilbo), or people who had only one name (Socrates)? Aug 23, 2009

  • pterodactyl As I originally conceived it, the list was restricted to real people, but I hereby cheerfully open it up to fictional people, because why should real people have all the fun? Aug 23, 2009

  • Telofy There are rumors that Emilie Autumn are actually her first and middle name, but they are probably no more than desultory rumors.

    Update: Nope, it’s accurate.

    Different question: Is this list restricted to real people? Aug 23, 2009

  • pterodactyl Help me out, guys... there must be more names we can put on this list! Aug 22, 2009