“Little Boy” and “Fat Man” were the code/nicknames given to the first atomic bombs used in combat in the real world. (And originally, it was Fat Man and “Thin Man”—Thin Man was an ultimately rejected bomb design, superseded by Little Boy. The first two names came from “hardboiled” detective movies, though Little Boy was just named for contrast. The More You Know!)
Anyway, back on the bizarre, esoteric subject, I was wondering if anyone knows of, in the works of Science Fiction (and alternate history, especially), other unique nicknames for the first atomic weapons deployed in their worlds?
My Tank is Fight! had a bomb christened “Sigurd,” but that’s all I can call to mind. Surely there have been others (I’d be kinda surprised if no author had ever named one “Gunsel” ).
Hmm. Not quite nicknames, but in Charles Stross’ “Merchant Prince” (alternate history" series), atomic bombs are called “corpuscular petards,” while in Harry Turtledove’s WorldWar series, the term “Explosive metal bombs” is used. In the first case, the term suggests (accurately) that the discovery of atomic energy progressed in a different way than in our world, with considerable French influence, while the term in the Turtledove book is due to aliens trying to get the concept across to humans not yet very familar with atomic energy. I’ll think further - I’m sure there are some examples of precisely what you’re looking for.
Another “not a nickname” submission: the bomb in a couple of The Planet of the Apes movies is named Alpha Omega. I know it appears in Beneath. I think it also appears in Conquest of, but maybe it’s Battle for.
In the early '50s, before anyone had actually detonated a fusion bomb but when it was known to be theoretically possible, the concept was sometimes referred to as a “Hell Bomb”. The two references I can think of are Heinlein’s Between Planets, and a really weird song “When that Hell Bomb falls” by Fred Kirby.
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