# Charlie, Ivan, and the U.S. Army

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-ivan-and-the-u-s-army/34208>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 22, 2000, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-ivan-and-the-u-s-army/34208 "2000-09-22T22:26:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-ivan-and-the-u-s-army/34208/1 "2000-09-22T22:26:37Z")

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Americans have often come up with a generic name for the troops in foreign army (or foreigners in general.)  
For example, in Vietnam there’s Charlie, and in Russia there’s Ivan.

What slang names do foreign armies call U.S. troops? I’m sure “Yank(ee)s” is very common, but what else? Are there any first names used to symbolically represent the Americans, like Charlie and Ivan?

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**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-ivan-and-the-u-s-army/34208/2 "2000-09-22T22:55:39Z")

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[Hey, Joe!](http://www.salisburypost.com/november99/111199b.htm)

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2000, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-ivan-and-the-u-s-army/34208/3 "2000-09-23T00:21:04Z")

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Charlie comes from Victor Charlie, or VC, which of course stands for Viet Cong.

Dunno about what them ferriners use, though.

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**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2000, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-ivan-and-the-u-s-army/34208/4 "2000-09-23T00:45:24Z")

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Ivan is Russian for “John”, and Charlie has already been explained.

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**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2000, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-ivan-and-the-u-s-army/34208/5 "2000-09-23T05:02:57Z")

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Yeah, I guess Joe makes sense…

And thanks for the explanations of Charlie and Ivan.