A sobriquet (/ˈsoʊbrᵻkeɪ/ SOH-bri-kay) is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. Distinct from a pseudonym that is assumed as a disguise, it usually is a familiar name, familiar enough such that it may be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation. This salient characteristic is of sufficient familiarity that the sobriquet may become more familiar than the original name.
Examples are Emiye Menelik, a nickname of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, who was popularly and affectionately recognized for his kindness ('emiye' means mother in Amharic); Genghis Khan, who now is rarely recognized by his original name, Temüjin; and Mohandas Gandhi, who is better known as Mahatma Gandhi. Well-known places often have sobriquets, such as New York City, often referred to as the Big Apple. Therefore, sobriquet may apply to the nickname for a specific person, group of people, or place.
Two early variants of the term are found, sotbriquet and soubriquet; often, the latter form is still used. The modern French spelling is sobriquet. The first form suggests derivation from sot, foolish, and the second form, briquet, is a French adaptation of Italian brichetto, diminutive of bricco, ass, knave, possibly connected with briccone, rogue, which is supposed to be a derivative of the German brechen, to break; but Skeat considers this spelling to be an example of false etymology. The real origin is to be sought in the form soubriquet.
Littré gives an early fourteenth 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 often are found in music, sports, and politics. Candidates and political figures often are branded with sobriquets, either while living or posthumously. For example, president of the United States Abraham Lincoln came to be known as "Honest Abe". Sobriquets are not necessarily complimentary. 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.
A Dictionary of 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, but opinion on their use varies. Sobriquets remain a common feature of speech today.
The Angel of Death or Der Todesengel – Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal
The Angelic Doctor – Thomas Aquinas
The Antipodes – Australia and New Zealand, close to the Antipodes of Great Britain
The Apple Isle – Tasmania
The Athens of the North – Edinburgh
The Athens of South America – Bogotá
Auld Reekie – Edinburgh, "Old Smokey" in the Scots language
Auntie or Aunty – either the Australian Broadcasting Corporation or the British Broadcasting Corporation
Babe, The Great Bambino, The Sultan of Swat, The Titan of Terror, The Colossus of Clout, The King of Clash – George Herman Ruth, Jr., American baseball player
Baby – Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer
Baby Doc – Jean-Claude Duvalier, the President of Haiti from 1971 until his overthrow in 1986
Baghdad by the Bay—San Francisco
Bangabandhu (Friend of Bengal) – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, 1st president of Bangladesh
Banker to the Poor – Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and managing director of Grameen Bank
The Bard (of Avon) – William Shakespeare
BasedGod – Lil B
The Battleground, Battlefield, or Cock-pit of Europe – Belgium, or the whole area of the former United Netherlands
The Bayou City – Houston, Texas
Beantown – Boston, Massachusetts
Becks – David Beckham English footballer
The Beeb – The British Broadcasting Corporation
Biebs - Canadian singer/songwriter Justin Bieber
The Big Apple – Manhattan, New York City, New York
Big B – Amitabh Bachchan Bollywood actor
The Big Bopper – Jiles Perry "J. P." Richardson, Jr.
Big D – Dallas, Texas
The Big Easy – New Orleans, Louisiana
The Big Fellow – Michael Collins, Irish General, Director of Intelligence, President of the Irish Republican Brotherhood & Politician.
The Big O – Roy Orbison
The Big Smoke – London, UK, and by extension other large industrial cities including Toronto, Canada
The Big Piece – Ryan Howard, Phillies First Baseman
The Big Stick – Theodore Roosevelt's diplomatic policy
The Big Unit – Randy Johnson, baseball pitcher
The Big Yin – Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian
The Body – Elle Macpherson, also Jesse Ventura
Biggest Little City – Reno, Nevada, a small casino city
Biggie Smalls – Christopher Wallace, American hip hop and rap singer
Billy the Kid, William H. Bonney (1859–1881), the notorious Western outlaw
The Bill – The William Webb Ellis Cup – trophy awarded to winners of the Rugby Union World Cup
King Billy – William III of England (1650–1702)
Bird (or Yardbird) – Charlie Parker, jazz musician
The Bird – Mark Fidrych, baseball pitcher
Birdman – Chris Andersen, U.S. basketball player known for his trademark "bird" celebration
Blighty – Great Britain (used by British servicemen abroad and expatriates)
The Black Mamba – Kobe Bryant, American basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers
Blackbeard – Edward Teach, English pirate
Bloody Mary – Queen Mary I of England
Body Beautiful Beale or Little Edie – Edith Bouvier Beale
Bojangles – Bill Robinson, American tap dancer and actor
Bollywood – [Hindi cinema], film industry
Boney – Napoléon Bonaparte, a derogatory nickname used in Britain
Bonnie Prince Charlie – Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie" means handsome in the Scots Language)
Bono (or Bono Vox) – Paul Hewson, singer with U2
Bonzo/The Beast – John Bonham, drummer with Led Zeppelin
Boom Boom Afridi – Shahid Afridi, Pakistani cricketer known for his aggressive batting style
The Boss – Bruce Springsteen, US musician
The Boston Strangler – Albert DeSalvo
Boz – Charles Dickens, Boz Burrell, English musician
Brangelina – Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, a portmanteau name used by news media to refer to the couple
Brat Pack – group of young actors and actresses who starred in teen-oriented coming-of-age films of the '80s (by extension from "The Rat Pack" mentioned below)
Brew City – Milwaukee, Wisconsin, famous for its beer production
Brisvegas – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Broadway Joe – Joe Namath, AFL, NFL, American football player
Bubber – James "Bubber" Miley, American jazz trumpeter
Buddha – Siddhartha Gautama
Buffalo Bill – American frontier showman William Frederick Cody
Capital Hill - United States Capitol, United States of America Legislative branch of Government
Buffalo Jones – Kansas frontiersman Charles "Buffalo" Jones
Calico Jack – John Rackham, English pirate
Caligula – Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
The Celtic Tiger – Republic of Ireland and/or its economy during boom period of mid-1990s – mid-2000s decade
Chemical Ali – Ali Hassan al-Majid, minister in Saddam Hussein's government held responsible for the use of chemical weapons at Halabja
Christ – Jesus of Nazareth
Comical Ali – Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraqi information minister during the 2003 U.S. invasion; also known as Baghdad Bob, who became a minor celebrity in the west for his unflagging optimism and increasingly grandiose announcements
Chosin Few – Survivors of Korean War battle of Chosin Reservoir
The City – the city of London, as central business district of London and by extension the UK financial industry in general
The City (or The City by the Bay) – San Francisco
The City Beautiful – Coral Gables, Florida
The City of Bridges – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; also Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
The City Care Forgot – New Orleans, Louisiana
The City of Angels/L.A. – Los Angeles
The City of Brotherly Love – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The City of Dreaming Spires – Oxford, England
The City of Light – Paris (La Ville-Lumière in French), also Perth, Western Australia, which lit all its streetlights for the passage of astronaut John Glenn in 1962
The City of Medicine – Durham, North Carolina
The City of Palaces – Kolkata, India
The City of Joy – Kolkata, India
The City so Nice They Named It Twice – New York, New York, also attributed to Walla Walla, Washington
The City that Bombed Itself – Philadelphia
The Coat Hanger – Sydney Harbour Bridge, Auckland Harbour Bridge
Coco – Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, French fashion designer
The Collar City – Troy, New York
Columbia – The United States or The Americas, poetic name
The Continent – Continental Europe, generally used by British people
Cootie – Cootie Williams, American jazz trumpeter
Country – Enos Slaughter, American Major League player
Cowtown – The city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, also attributed to Fort Worth, Texas
D.F. – Mexico City, (Distrito Federal)
Daffy – Paul Dean, American Major League pitcher, brother of Dizzy Dean
The Dark Continent – Africa
The Desert Fox – Erwin Rommel, German field marshal of World War II
Devil Dog – member of the United States Marine Corps
Diamond Dave – David Lee Roth, Singer
Digger – Australian soldier
Dixie, Dixieland – (from the Mason–Dixon line of latitude, the northern limit of legal slavery); the eleven Southern states that seceded and fought against the U.S. in the American Civil War: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia; still used affectionately by Southerners
Dizzy – Dizzy Gillespie, American jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader; also Dizzy Dean, American Major Leagur pitcher, brother of Paul "Daffy" Dean; also Jason Gillespie, Australian cricketer
Doc – Oliver Perry, American jazz pianist and bandleader
The Don – Sir Donald Bradman
The Donald – Donald Trump
Donnie Baseball – Don Mattingly
Dr. Death – Jack Kevorkian proponent of assisted suicide
Dr. J – Julius Erving, Hall of Fame NBA player
The Dragon – China (as an economy)
Dubya – George W. Bush
Dullsville – Perth, Western Australia
Duke – Duke Ellington, American jazz pianist, composer and orchestra leader
The Duke – John Wayne
The Edge – David Howell Evans, guitarist in the rock band U2
The Elephant Man – Joseph Merrick
The Edinburgh of the South – Dunedin, New Zealand
The Emerald Isle – Ireland or Puerto Rico
The Emerald City – Seattle, Washington
Emiye Menelik – Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia
The Enchanted Isle – (from 'la isla del encanto') Puerto Rico
The Eternal City – Rome
The Fab Five – 1991 University of Michigan men's basketball team
The Fab Four – The Beatles
The Fastest Girl on Earth – Dorothy Levitt
Fatha – Earl Hines, American jazz pianist and bandleader
Father of his country – George Washington
Fats – Fats Waller, American pianist, composer and singer; also Fats Domino, American pianist and singer-songwriter
The Federal City – Washington, D.C.
The First Lady of Waikiki – Moana Hotel
The Five O'Clock Follies – U.S. Military press briefings during the Vietnam War
Flea – Michael Balzary, bassist for Red Hot Chili Peppers
Foggy Bottom – United States Department of State, named for the Washington, D.C., neighborhood in which it is headquartered
The Fourth Estate – the press
Frisco – San Francisco, California
The Garden City – Christchurch, New Zealand
Garrincha – Manoel Francisco dos Santos
Genghis Khan – Temüjin
The Gherkin – 30 St Mary Axe
The Glimmer Twins – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Rolling Stones original members, they co-wrote most of the hits
The Godfather of Grunge – Neil Young
The Godfather of Soul – James Brown
The Golden Bear – Jack Nicklaus
The Golden State – California
Good Queen Bess – Queen Elizabeth I of England
The Good Road State – North Carolina
GOC or Gods' Own County – Yorkshire
GOP (Grand Old Party) – Republican Party (United States)
Gotham – New York City
The Governator – Arnold Schwarzenegger, 38th governor of California
The Grauniad – The Guardian newspaper, England (because of its formerly frequent typographical errors, such as an edition where the masthead was spelled The Gaurdian)
The Great Communicator – Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States of America
The Great Compromiser – Henry Clay, nineteenth century Kentucky statesman
The Great Emancipator – Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States of America
The Great One – Wayne Gretzky, WHA/NHL hockey player
The Great Orator – Daniel Webster
The Great Triumvirate – Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster
The Great White North – Canada
The Greatest – Muhammad Ali, boxer
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
Grizzly – Grizzly Smith, American pro wrestler, father of Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Grizzly Adams – James Adams, California mountain man
The Gunners – Arsenal Football Club
Gurudev – Rabindranath Tagore
Hanoi Jane – Jane Fonda, for her anti-war stance during the Vietnam War including visiting Hanoi, seen as an act of treason to many Americans
The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business – James Brown
The Haryana Hurricane – Kapil Dev, Indian cricketer known for his fast bowling
Haystack – Haystacks Calhoun, American pro wrestler
Hef – Hugh Hefner
The Hick from French Lick – Larry Bird
His Airness – Michael Jordan
(The) Hoff – David Hasselhoff
Hogtown – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Hollywood North – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Hollywood of the South – Covington, Georgia
The Holy Land – Israel or Palestine
The Home of Cricket – Lord's Cricket Ground
Honest Abe – Abraham Lincoln
The Hub – Boston, Massachusetts
The Humbler - Danny Gatton
The Iron Duke – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
The Iron Lady – Margaret Thatcher
Iz the Wiz – Michael Martin, Graffiti writer
Jock – a Scot, especially a Scottish soldier
Joe the Plumber – Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, an American plumbing contractor who was cited as an example of a middle class American during the 2008 U.S. presidential election season by Republican nominee for president, John McCain
Joltin' Joe – Joe DiMaggio, Baseball player; former husband of Marilyn Monroe
Kaká – Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite
The Keystone State – Pennsylvania
Kid – Kid Ory, American jazz trombonist and bandleader
The Killer – Jerry Lee Lewis
King – King Oliver, American jazz trumpeter
The King Khan – Shahrukh Khan, Bollywood Actor
The King (of baseball) – Félix Hernández
The King (of all Media) – Howard Stern
The King (of golf) – Arnold Palmer
The King (of NASCAR) – Richard Petty
The King (of Rock and Roll) – Elvis Presley
The King of Reggae – Bob Marley
The King (of Rugby League (particularly in Australia)) – Wally Lewis
King James – LeBron James
The King of Pop – Michael Jackson
The King of Spain – Ashley Giles
The King of Spin – Shane Warne
The King of Swing – Benny Goodman, American bandleader and clarinettist
Knick Killer – Reggie Miller
The Lady – Aung San Suu Kyi
Lady Day – Billie Holiday, American jazz singer
The Lady with the Lamp – Florence Nightingale
The Land of a Thousand Lakes – Finland
The Land of the Long White Cloud – New Zealand
Larry Legend – Larry Bird
The Last Emperor – Xuantong Emperor
The Lion – Willie "The Lion" Smith, American jazz pianist
The Lion of the Round Top – Col. Joshua L. Chamberlain, commander of the 20th Maine Regiment, American Civil War
The Little Apple – Manhattan, Kansas, after The Big Apple – Manhattan in New York City
The Little Corporal – Napoléon Bonaparte
Little Richard – Rev. Richard Wayne Penniman, a prominent figure in rock n' roll
The Little General – Ron Lancaster, former quarterback and coach in the Canadian Football League
The Little Fellow – Charlie Chaplin
The Little Master – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Indian cricketer
Little Paris – Bucharest, Romania
The Little Sparrow – Édith Piaf, French singer
The Little Sparrow – Sezen Aksu, Turkish singer
Luckey – Luckey Roberts, American jazz pianist and composer
Macca – Sir Paul McCartney
Mad Dog and The Professor – Greg Maddux – Major League Baseball Player and Hall of Famer
Madge – Madonna
Madiba – Nelson Mandela
Mega Star – Chiranjeevi (Actor), India
Magic – Earvin Johnson
The Magic City – Miami, Florida
The Man from Tennessee – Andrew Jackson
The Man in Black – Johnny Cash
Manitas de Plata – Flamenco guitarist Ricardo Baliardo
The Master – Henry James
The Material Girl – Madonna
The Myth – Bodybuilding great Sergio Oliva
Mahatma Gandhi – Mohandas K. Gandhi
Maynard – James Herbert Keenan
Meat Loaf – Marvin Aday
The Mick – Mickey Mantle
The Mile-High City – Denver, from its elevation above sea level
Ming (the Merciless) – Sir Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia (perhaps from Scots pronunciation of surname, "Mingiss")
Mini-Mick – James Jagger, eldest son of Sir Mick Jagger
Mr. Baseball - Bob Uecker, Major League Baseball Player and Hall of Fame Broadcaster honoree
Mr. Cricket – Michael Hussey, Cricket player who currently plays for Chennai Super Kings of the Indian Premier League
Mr. October – Reggie Jackson, Major League Baseball Player and Hall of Fame honoree
Mr. Hockey – Gordie Howe
Mr. Warmth - Don Rickles, American stand-up comedian and actor
Mother Monster – Lady Gaga
Mother of the World (Umm al-Dunya) (أم الدنيا) – Egypt, for its ancient history
The Motor City – Detroit, from its automotive heritage
Motown – Detroit, from its musical heritage
Mr. MojoRisin – Jim Morrison
Muggsy – Muggsy Spanier, American jazz cornet player; also Tyrone Bogues, NBA Player
Muddy Waters - McKinley Morganfield Singer, songwriter, guitarist, harmonica, bandleader, was an American blues musician who is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues"
Naptown – Indianapolis
Netaji – Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian freedom fighter, the leader of the Provisional Government of Free India and leader of Indian National Army
New York's Finest – New York City Police Department
New York's Best – NYC*EMS, originally run by the Health and Hospitals Corporation, taken over by FDNY in 1996 and is now FDNY EMS
New York's Bravest – New York City Fire Department
New York's Boldest – New York City Department of Correction (who work in the City's jails)
New York's Strongest – New York City Department of Sanitation
Nightingale of India – Sarojini Naidu, poet, writer, social activist
Obamacare – Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, generally derogatory
The Ochre City – Marrakech, Morocco
The Old Bill – South London Metropolitan Police
The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street – the Bank of England
Old Nick – in Christianity, the Devil
Old St. Nick – Santa Claus
The Old Bailey – The Central Criminal Court in England
Ol' Blue Eyes – Frank Sinatra
Old Hickory – Andrew Jackson, 7th president of the United States
Old Kinderhook (OK) – Martin Van Buren, 8th president of the United States
The Old Pretender – James Francis Edward Stuart
Old Rough and Ready – Zachary Taylor
The Ox – John Entwistle
Oxford of the East – University of Dhaka in the early twentieth century
Papa – Ernest Hemingway, American author
Papa Doc – François Duvalier, Haitian president
Para or Paras – British soldier in the Parachute Regiment or the parachute regiment
The Paris of the Baltics – Riga, Latvia
The Paris of the North – Riga, Latvia
The Paris of the North – Tromsø, Norway
The Paris of the West – San Francisco, California
The Paris of the South – São Paulo and Buenos Aires
Pearl of the Danube – Budapest, Hungary
Pearl of the Orient/Pearl of the Orient Seas – the Philippines
Pearl of the Orient – Hong Kong
Pearl of the Orient – Penang, Malaysia
Pelé – Edson Arantes do Nascimento
Pensioneers – Chelsea football club
The Peoples champ – Kevin 'Pigsy' McCann
The People's champ – Manny Pacquiao, former division 8 title holder in boxing
The People's Princess – Diana, Princess of Wales
Perfidious Albion – Great Britain (from French, Albion perfide)
The Philosopher – Aristotle
The Pie Man – Andy Smith (darts player)
Pink (stylized P!nk) – Alecia Moore
Pink City – Jaipur, India
Pink Palace of the Pacific – Royal Hawaiian Hotel, also known as the Pink Lady
Pommy (or Pom) – Australian name for an English person, vaguely affectionate except when "Pommy" is succeeded by "bastard"
Porsche's Quiet Giant – Lake Underwood
Pretty Purdie - Bernard Purdie
Prez – Lester Young
Prince of the Humanists – Desiderius Erasmus
Prince of Kolkata – Saurav Ganguly
Prince of Darkness – Ozzy Osbourne
Professor of politics (Kenya) – Daniel arap Moi
The Queen City – Charlotte, North Carolina
The Queen City of the West – Cincinnati, Ohio Nicknames of Cincinnati
The Queen of the Arabian Sea – Cochin
The Queen of Pop – Madonna
The Queen of Soul – Aretha Franklin
Queen of the Suburbs – The residential area called Ealing in England
The Rat Pack – A group of American singers and entertainers from the late 1950s to the early 1970s
The Rawalpindi Express – Shoaib Akhtar
The Red Arrows – (British) Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team
The Red Baron – Manfred von Richthofen, World War I, German flying ace
The Red Devils – (British) parachute regiment, Manchester United Football Club
The Red Planet – Mars
The Republic – Republic of Ireland or South Africa
The Roadrunner (person) – Yvan Cournoyer
The Rock (person) – Dwayne Johnson
The Rock (place) – Newfoundland, Canada
The Rock (prison) – Alcatraz Prison
The Rock Chameleon – David Bowie
The Rocket – Maurice Richard, Hall of Fame NHL player
Rough Riders – 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry
Rubberlips – Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger
Slim Shady – Eminem
The Safari Capital of the World – Nairobi, Kenya
Saint Jimmy – Billie Joe Armstrong
Saint of the Gutter – Mother Teresa
Sandman – Howard Sims, dancer
Sassenach – Scottish and Irish term for an English person
Satch – Joe Satriani, American rock guitarist
Satchmo – Louis Armstrong
Seven Sisters – North Eastern Region of India inclusive of the seven states namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura
The Say Hey Kid – Willie Mays, American, Major League baseball player and Hall of Fame honoree
The Scottish Play – Macbeth
The Secretary of Defense, Gary Maddox, American, Major League baseball player
Sher-e-Bangla (Tiger of Bengal) – A. K. Fazlul Huq, twentieth century Bengali political leader and statesman
William the Silent – William I of Orange (1533–1584)
Sin City – Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Slash – Saul Hudson, guitarist
Slick Willie – Bill Clinton, Willie Sutton, Willie Brown, W. W. Herenton
Slowhand – Eric Clapton
The Smoke – London
The Snake – the River Thames, especially the Tideway portion; also BBC's EastEnders show, from signature opening satellite image; also, Jake Roberts, American pro wrestler
The Spider – Anderson Silva, MMA legend
Snakehips – Earl Snakehips Tucker, American dancer and entertainer; also Ken Snakehips Johnson, British jazz band leader and dancer, born in British Guiana
Soapy Sam – Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford
The Spaceman – Major League Baseball player Bill Lee
The Splendid Splinter – Baseball player Ted Williams
Stan the Man - Stan Musial, American baseball player
The Steel Butterfly – Imelda Marcos
The Steel City – Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, Pittsburgh, United States
Steeltown – Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Sting – Gordon Sumner
Storyville – Storyville, New Orleans, the city's red-light district from 1897 to 1917; it now lies in Faubourg Tremé
Strays – Billy Strayhorn, American jazz pianist and composer
The Subtle Doctor – John Duns Scotus
The Sultan of Swat – Babe Ruth, Major league Baseball player and Hall of Fame honoree
The Sunshine State – Florida
Swee' Pea – Billy Strayhorn, American jazz pianist and composer
Sweets – Harry Edison, American jazz trumpeter
Teddy Ballgame - Ted Williams, American baseball player
The Teflon Don – mobster John Gotti
The Teflon Taoiseach – Bertie Ahern, former Taoiseach of Ireland
The Tiger of Malaya – Tomoyuki Yamashita, general of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II
The Thin White Duke – David Bowie, Actor, Entertainer
The Thunderer – The Times newspaper, London
Toby – Otto Hardwick, American jazz saxophonist
The Toxic Twins – Aerosmith members Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, due to their massive drug intake during the '70s and '80s
Tree-Town – Ann Arbor, Michigan
The Twin Cities – Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota
The Twin Towers – former World Trade Center, New York City
Tinseltown – Hollywood, California
Trane – John Coltrane
Tricky Dick – Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States
Turd Blossom – name given by George W. Bush to Karl Rove
Twentieth Century Dinosaurs – sculptures of dinosaurs made by Jim Gary out of automobile parts of the twentieth century and the exhibition of them that traveled around the world
Uncle Sam – the U.S. in general or specifically, its government
Variety Vacationland – North Carolina
Venice of the North – Stockholm, Sweden and the City of Cork, Ireland
Venice of the East – Alappuzha, India
The Virgin Queen – Queen Elizabeth I of England
The Voice – Whitney Houston
The Wall – Rahul Dravid; also the Western Wall in Jerusalem
The Walled City – Intramuros, Manila
The War on the Shore – 1991 Ryder Cup
The war to end all wars – World War I
Westminster – the British Parliament
Whitehall – the British government including Parliament but excluding the monarchy, often refers primarily to the British Civil Service
The Windy City – Chicago, Illinois (also various other cities including Wellington, New Zealand and Port Elizabeth, South Africa)
The Wizard (Indian field hockey) – Dhyan Chand
The Wizard (American baseball) – Ozzie Smith
X-22 – backgammon champion Paul Magriel
Yankee – an American of European ancestry not sympathetic to the Southern cause, originally only from the states that fought against the Confederacy in the Civil War, but now from any non-Southern state; used outside the U.S. to mean any American; sometimes derogatory in either usage
Yank (a short form of "Yankee") – originally used derogatorily by Southerners but now often heard outside the U.S.
Yardbird – jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker (also shortened simply to "Bird")
The Young Pretender – Charles Edward Stuart
