Famous historical figures known by their first names

[dhkendall]

@cjepson

I might also include Leonardo and Tycho, although nowadays they are often referred to by both of their names (but rarely by their last name alone).

Nit: “da Vinci” wasn’t Leonardo’s last name, his first name was Leonardo, and he was from the town of Vinci. Apparently, per Wikipedia, it wasn’t common back then to have a surname, as it was just Leonardo, son of [whoever], of Vinci.

@RealityChuck

Though they used their last names, everyone knew who Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo were.

As a Marxist (tendance Groucho), I have to take issue with this one as well. everyone may have known who they were, but “Groucho”, “Chico”, etc, were nicknames (and thus not acceptable), their real first names were Julius, Leonard, Adolph (later Arthur), and Herbert, respectively. However, practically no one called them by their first names either, the brothers used their stage names amongst themselves, their families called them by their stage names, as did their mother. About the only instance I know of of a brother being routinely called by their given name after they reached fame with their nicknames is frequent costar Margaret Dumont, who often called Groucho “Julie” off camera.

[palindromemordnilap]

Hannibal was part of the Barca family. It’s not clear that they used last names.

Leonardo di Ser Piero is the birth name of a guy whose family hailed from Vinci.

Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone was named after John the Baptist, but when his dad returned to Assisi he started calling the kid Francesco. The “Saint” part was added posthumously.

[Svejk_1]

Lenin was often affectionately referred to by his patronymic (i.e. his father’s name) Il’yich.

[Chronos]

I know you said pre-1950, but I think it’s worth mentioning Arnold Schwarzenegger since he is pretty well known as just “Arnold” (I think most people would probably think of him if they just heard that name, alone,) and he did not deliberately set out to make himself known by his first name like Prince or Beyonce did. He’s just SO larger-than-life, and has such an uncommon first name, that it was easy for him to just become known as “Arnold.”

I don’t know that people would instantly recognize “Arnold”, but rather “Ahnold”. It’s not the name itself that’s distinctive, it’s the combination of the name and the accent.

On the other hand, in the same category (post-1950, but never set out to go by one name), there’s Elvis. Sure, everyone knows his last name, but the first name is enough.