# Best medieval nickname EVER!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 24, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625 "2005-02-24T01:50:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/1 "2005-02-24T01:50:36Z")
Man, those medieval folks had some prime nicknames. No “Bob” or “Mandy” for them, oh no sir. They put some thought, some effort into their nicknames. And they had some of the most impossibly cool names ever.
My personal favorite? Ulick Burke _Bod-an-Balcuigh_, Lord of Clanricarde. His name, when translated from Irish Gaelic, means _Penis of Power_. There’s got to be a story behind that one.
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### Author:  [@Fanny\_May](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fanny_May)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/2 "2005-02-24T03:05:34Z")
Sometimes the “story” is a misunderstanding.
My favorite Anglo-Saxon king Ethelred the Unready. (King of the English from 978 to 1016).
The term ‘Unready’ is probably a misinterpretation of the word ‘un-raed’ which means ‘lack of council’.
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### Author:  [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/3 "2005-02-24T04:21:07Z")
> [@Fanny May](#):
>
> The term ‘Unready’ is probably a misinterpretation of the word ‘un-raed’ which means ‘lack of council’.
I’ve never figured out if in this case it’s supposed to mean that he’s wise enough that he didn’t need help or that lack of competent help was responsible for what happened to his kingdom.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/4 "2005-02-24T04:28:18Z")
> [@Chairman Pow](#):
>
> I’ve never figured out if in this case it’s supposed to mean that he’s wise enough that he didn’t need help or that lack of competent help was responsible for what happened to his kingdom.
He was generally despised by both the English and the Vikings, so I’m guessing it was speaking to his incompetence. (His wife was the only woman to be wife of two English kings [and mother of two more, though several women have been mother to two or more English monarchs]).
I like Louis the Sluggard, Louis the Fat, William the Bastard, Robert the Devil and Isabella the Wolf-Bitch. (In our family we had Harley the Flatulent but that was in 1980s Alabama so it’s not as impressive.)
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/5 "2005-02-24T04:32:34Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#):
>
> Penis of Power
I’m trying to get a She-Ra joke out of this and I can’t make it work.
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### Author:  [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/6 "2005-02-24T04:46:57Z")
**Sampiro** , usually her nickname is given as Isabella the She-Wolf. I confess to liking Wolf-Bitch better. It gives a better feel for what her enemies were going for, methinks.
Another good one: Erik the Priest-Hater.
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### Author:  [@Keapon\_Laffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keapon_Laffin)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/7 "2005-02-24T05:33:56Z")
> [@Antigen](#):
>
> I’m trying to get a She-Ra joke out of this and I can’t make it work.
By the power of Greyskull…
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/8 "2005-02-24T05:49:43Z")
> [@Keapon Laffin](#):
>
> By the power of Greyskull…
_Honor_ of Greyskull-you’re thinking of He-Man. (Damn, what I nerd I am!)
Ivan the Terrible of Russia sounds so much cooler in the original Russian: _Ivan Grozny_, or Ivan the Dread.
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### Author:  [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/9 "2005-02-24T05:52:57Z")
Help from some of you scholars:
In the novel _Ivanhoe_, reference is made to a knight known as Athlestane(sp?) the Unready. The author goes to some length to explain Athlestane’s failings, which do include a considerable lack of preparedness. He’s one of my all time favorite literary characters.
Is this just a take-off from the above-mentioned Ethelred?
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### Author:  [@Keapon\_Laffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keapon_Laffin)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/10 "2005-02-24T06:19:35Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> _Honor_ of Greyskull-you’re thinking of He-Man. (Damn, what I nerd I am!)
:smack: You are right, of course.
… about you being a nerd, not about the \*honor \* part!
😃
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### Author:  [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/11 "2005-02-24T08:22:19Z")
> [@John Carter of Mars](#):
>
> Help from some of you scholars:
>
> In the novel _Ivanhoe_, reference is made to a knight known as Athlestane(sp?) the Unready. The author goes to some length to explain Athlestane’s failings, which do include a considerable lack of preparedness. He’s one of my all time favorite literary characters.
>
> Is this just a take-off from the above-mentioned Ethelred?
Sounds like it. **Æthelred the Unready** had the rather ignoble distinction of being kicked out of his own country. After he died, the throne of England was fought over by such colorfully named people as **Edmund Ironside** and **Canute** , son of **Sweyn Forkbeard**. Canute married Edmund’s stepmother and spawned **Harthacanute** , who did everyone a favor by croaking. Oh, and **Harold Harefoot** was in there somewhere, too. Then Æthelred’s son **Edward the Confessor** ruled for a while, and then (the nerve of him!) died.
Now England was being fought over by **William the Bastard** , **Harald Hardraada** (Hard Counsel), and Harold, who’s name was pretty boring. That’s why he lost, I think. Anyway, after he became king, William got an upgrade to **William the Conqueror**. Much more impressive.
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### Author:  [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/12 "2005-02-24T08:50:24Z")
I’ve always been partial to **Edward, the Black Prince** (even before he was played by James Purefoy!). Man, I’d love to be able to use that at parties.
“Hi, I’m William the Cooper.”
“Oh, how nice. I’m Edward, the Black Prince.”
And he married **Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent** – dude’s pretty much got it made across the board. 😉
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/13 "2005-02-24T09:29:30Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#):
>
> And he married **Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent** – dude’s pretty much got it made across the board. 😉
It kinda says something about the women of Kent that you could call someone “THE fair maid of Kent,” and everyone knew who you were talking about…
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/14 "2005-02-24T13:35:15Z")
Ethelred’s half-brother and predecessor, Edward the Martyr. Though, of course, he never introduced himself that way. 😉
Then there’s the classic Richard the Lionhearted. It shows that having a cool nickname can make people think you were actually a good king (Richard, like all other King Richards of England, was an military-minded idiot with tyrannical tendencies).
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/15 "2005-02-24T13:41:51Z")
Wasn’t there a French royal named **Pepin the Short**.
It reminds me of the old SNL skit where the drill seargent was trying to come up with insult names for the troops.
“Your name isn’t Johnson. From now on, I’m gonna call you. . .Mr. . .Mr. Feet Attached to Legs.”
“You think that’s funny, PRIVATE??? From now on, your name is Happy Smiling Laughing Guy.”
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/16 "2005-02-24T13:50:42Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Ethelred’s half-brother and predecessor, Edward the Martyr. Though, of course, he never introduced himself that way. 😉
>
> Then there’s the classic Richard the Lionhearted. It shows that having a cool nickname can make people think you were actually a good king (Richard, like all other King Richards of England, was an military-minded idiot with tyrannical tendencies).
Yeah, and his brother, who by all accounts was a relatively decent king (although the bar was set pretty low in those days) was stuck with being Bad Prince John, John Lackland, and John Softsword – and I don’t think that last refers to his military prowess or lack thereof!
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### Author:  [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/17 "2005-02-24T13:51:02Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Ethelred’s half-brother and predecessor, Edward the Martyr. Though, of course, he never introduced himself that way. 😉
I bet they never called him [Charles the Fat](http://www.answers.com/topic/charles-the-fat) to his face either… but then his dad was Louis the German, so anything else had to have been better…
Grim
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### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/18 "2005-02-24T15:39:51Z")
Lots of internet sites list an Eric II, king of Denmark, who died in 1104. They state, “He was known as Eric the Memorable, but no one remembers why.”
I like the nickname of King Bruno the Questionable, from the movie **Jabberwocky**.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/19 "2005-02-24T15:42:14Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#):
>
> After he died, the throne of England was fought over by such colorfully named people as **Edmund Ironside** and **Canute** , son of **Sweyn Forkbeard**.
And Sweyn’s father was **Harold Bluetooth** , so named because after he converted to Christianity he insisted that all of the monks who kept his records be totally wireless.
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### Author:  [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-medieval-nickname-ever/291625/20 "2005-02-24T15:46:15Z")
Ludwig the Stupid is going to take some beating. William of Normandy was universally known as William the Bastard. It does what it says on the tin.
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