# 1. Bufford Pusser: 2. Chesty Puller **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 17, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546 "2020-01-17T03:55:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/1 "2020-01-17T03:55:17Z")
I caught Walking tall today. Which made me think there are lots of badasses with badass names and epithets, but how many real life\* badass Motherfuckers have snickerable names? \*[sub]Biggus Dickus will require a very good cite for “real life”[/sub]. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/2 "2020-01-17T04:37:43Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/3 "2020-01-17T05:48:03Z")
Merriwether Lewis was pretty badass, and his first name was later used for David Alan Grier’s gay film critic in [Men on Film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_on...). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/4 "2020-01-17T11:08:46Z")
Dick Butkus? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/5 "2020-01-17T11:14:45Z")
Dick Trickle? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/6 "2020-01-17T13:51:30Z")
I once met a woman named Astrida Penis, pronounced exactly like “astride a penis.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/7 "2020-01-17T13:53:50Z")
The OP took the one case that sprang immediately to mind with “Chesty” Puller. **John Wayne** was born **Marion Robert Morrison** , if that’s any help. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/8 "2020-01-17T14:51:50Z")
If any of my schoolmates had been named Ernest or Theodore, they would have taken a lot of flak on the schoolyard. Ernest Hemingway, Theodore Roosevelt. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/9 "2020-01-17T14:57:33Z")
Arthur MacArthur, Jr. (army general) Arthur MacArthur, III (navy captain) ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/10 "2020-01-17T15:01:05Z")
[Command Sergeant Major Basil Plumley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_L._Plumley). In WWII he was 82nd Airborne, participated in D-Day and Operation Market Garden. Was a pivotal figure in the battle of Ia Drang when in the 7th Cavalry in Vietnam. He was played by Sam Eliot in the movie “We Were Soldiers”. Recipient of the Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars, 2 Purple Hearts. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/11 "2020-01-17T15:21:36Z")
[Percy Harrison Fawcett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Fawcett): geographer, artillery officer, cartographer, archaeologist, and explorer of South America. He was the subject of the book and movie “Lost City of Z”. The man was nearly indestructible, seemingly impervious to jungle diseases that kill most men. At age 50 he won the DSO in action at Flanders in WWI. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/12 "2020-01-17T17:18:14Z")
Virgil Ivan Grissom, given his time and profession. Good thing he had that nickname handy. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/13 "2020-01-17T17:19:26Z")
[Richard Bong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bong) – Army Air Force pilot during WWII, Medal of Honor recipient, and one of the U.S.'s top aces during the war, having shot down 40 enemy aircraft. He was from Wisconsin, and there is now the Bong State Recreation Area in southeastern Wisconsin (on land which had once been designated to become Bong Air Force Base). As one can imagine, the signs for the recreation area get stolen a lot. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/14 "2020-01-17T17:49:21Z")
Civil War Confederate Army general [Bushrod Johnson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushrod_Johnson). If that doesn’t sound like a porn star name, I don’t know what does. Maybe not a bad-ass, but a competent general. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/15 "2020-01-17T17:55:57Z")
Actors used to routinely change their names. Something short and easy to remember. A masculine sounding name was a bonus. Rock Hudson, Cary Grant,Tab Hunter, John Wayne,Gary Cooper etc. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/16 "2020-01-17T18:24:39Z")
[Mungo Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mungo_Park_(explorer)), a Scottish explorer who attempted to chart the Niger River in West Africa. The Wiki link says, in part: > [@](#): > > On 21 June 1795, he reached the Gambia River and ascended it 200 miles (300 km) to a British trading station named Pisania. On 2 December, accompanied by two local guides, he started for the unknown interior.[12] He chose the route crossing the upper Senegal basin and through the semi-desert region of Kaarta. The journey was full of difficulties, and at Ludamar he was imprisoned by a Moorish chief for four months. On 1 July 1796, he escaped, alone and with nothing but his horse and a pocket compass, and on the 21st reached the long-sought Niger River at Ségou, being the first European to do so. In his second attempt at exploring the river, by the time he reached the Niger, only eleven of his 40+ contingent were still alive. In the end, after being hounded by hostile locals as he and the now four survivors journeyed down the river, Park and the others drowned when they jumped into the river to avoid being killed by natives. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/17 "2020-01-17T18:25:08Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > [Percy Harrison Fawcett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Fawcett): geographer, artillery officer, cartographer, archaeologist, and explorer of South America. He was the subject of the book and movie “Lost City of Z”. The man was nearly indestructible, seemingly impervious to jungle diseases that kill most men. At age 50 he won the DSO in action at Flanders in WWI. I feel like British people are also cheating somewhat. You can be some amazing general named Nigel. > [@aceplace57](#): > > Actors used to routinely change their names. Something short and easy to remember. A masculine sounding name was a bonus. > > Rock Hudson, Cary Grant,Tab Hunter, John Wayne,Gary Cooper etc. …Max Power. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/18 "2020-01-17T18:34:58Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Actors used to routinely change their names. Something short and easy to remember. A masculine sounding name was a bonus. > > Rock Hudson, Cary Grant,Tab Hunter, John Wayne,Gary Cooper etc. Gary Cooper’s real name was Frank Cooper, which doesn’t seem to lack masculinity. He switched it to the less common Gary when he started acting because there were already some other actors named Frank Cooper. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/19 "2020-01-17T18:39:08Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Actors used to routinely change their names. Something short and easy to remember. A masculine sounding name was a bonus. > > Rock Hudson, Cary Grant,Tab Hunter, John Wayne,Gary Cooper etc. Dash Riprock. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546/20 "2020-01-17T18:44:45Z")
[Smedley Butler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler) United States Marine Corps officer, Mexican Revolution, World War I, police chief of Philadelphia during prohibition. The last defeated him, but he gave it a good try. Which is why he got fired. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-bufford-pusser-2-chesty-puller/846546.md?page=2)