How did President Eisenhower get the name “Ike”? Is it a variation on Eisenhower? I know he was born David Dwight Eisenhower. Where did “Ike” come from?
Ike was an affectation slapped upon him by his West Point cronies.
He was named Dwight David Eisenhower.
As an aside, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) is nicknamed the IKE (all caps).
I beg to differ, Chief Scott. According to *Facts about the Presidents, * by Joseph Nathan Kane, Eisenhower’s original given names–as on his birth certificate–were David Dwight. He later changed the order. 
Mi scusi.
In all the Ike rubbish I have about the office, I’ve not run across that factoid.
I stand corrected.
Confusion has set in for this non-American poster, ChiefScott. According to an Encarta site I’ve found, President Eisenhower was called “Little Ike” by his parents, with all the Eisenhower sons being called Ike. Could this be anything to do with a Germanic-American background?
True.
Due to his near-constant playing of Cliff Edwards records on the dormitory Victorola, while dancing around naked.
O-o-o-kay, Ukelele Ike – so how come you’re gifted with the famous “Ike”, hmm? Or shouldn’t I ask that?