Strange Nicknames from History
Published in
2 min readAug 28, 2020
Many historical figures had bizarre nicknames that sound totally ridiculous to us today.
Contemporaries gave Presidents of the United States, generals, warlords, and members of the British Royal Family among others crazy nicknames. Such nicknames confuse and amuse us today but they made perfect sense to those who used them.
Bizarre Nicknames from History Include:
- “William the Bastard” That was the nickname contemporaries gave to William the Conqueror the leader of the Norman Conquest of England. To elaborate, they called William a bastard because of suspicions of an illegitimate birth.
- “Billy the Butcher.” This name isn’t just a character in the Boyz Amazon series or comic books. Billy the Butcher was a popular nick for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, the third son of King George II of Great Britain. Critics called the Prince Billy the Butcher because of the slaughter of Scottish Rebels at the Battle of Culloden. William oversaw the butchery in his day job as commander of the British Army.
- “Old Hickory.” U.S. President and General Andrew or Andy Jackson (D-Tennessee) won this nickname for his emotionless behavior on the battlefield. Jackson stood in the middle of the battlefield as straight and strong as a tree.
- “Old Tippecanoe” U.S…
