# People best known as double-name types **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117 "2014-10-01T19:24:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/1 "2014-10-01T19:24:12Z")
There may be a better word to describe what I’m shooting for but a few examples ought to make it clearer. Not just Cafe Society folks, either. That’s why here. Billy Bob Thornton Joe Don Baker Helena Bonham Carter Mary-Louise Parker Billie Sol Estes David Allan Coe Who all can you add to the list? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/2 "2014-10-01T19:34:13Z")
John Wilkes Booth Catherine Zeta-Jones Alexander Graham Bell ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/3 "2014-10-01T19:36:07Z")
Kristin Scott Thomas Jennifer Jason Leigh Evan Rachel Wood Sarah Jessica Parker ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/4 "2014-10-01T19:47:30Z")
Neil deGrasse Tyson ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/5 "2014-10-01T19:50:14Z")
David Hyde Pierce ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/6 "2014-10-01T19:57:07Z")
Ralph Waldo Emerson Charles Foster Kane ( 😃 ) John Foster Dulles Somebody want to start a new thread on folks known best as initials? Like JFK LBJ GWB And another one for people with the middle name The! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/7 "2014-10-01T20:10:39Z")
Does Charles Emerson Winchester count? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/8 "2014-10-01T20:12:32Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > … > > And another one for people with the middle name The! 😉 Krusty The Clown ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/9 "2014-10-01T20:13:36Z")
John Quincy Adams ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/10 "2014-10-01T20:16:41Z")
John Logie Baird Arthur Leigh Allen Vicki Butler Henderson Tara Palmer Tompkinson Edgar Allan Poe. Rob Roy McGregor Robert Louis Stevenson. George Dubya Bush Barack Hussein Obama ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/11 "2014-10-01T20:38:03Z")
Does Michael J. Fox count? How about Robert Griffin The Third? Neil Patrick Harris ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/12 "2014-10-01T20:45:18Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Does Michael J. Fox count? How about Robert Griffin The Third? > > Neil Patrick Harris I could go either way, so it’s up to the individual what to include as part of the ever-so-vague theme! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/13 "2014-10-01T20:48:15Z")
Lee Harvey Oswald Robert Louis Stevenson Frank Lloyd Wright ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/14 "2014-10-01T20:55:42Z")
Julia Louis-Dreyfus ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/15 "2014-10-01T21:03:29Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > John Wilkes Booth > [@astorian](#): > > Lee Harvey Oswald There’s the theory that assassins and mass murderers often come to be known by their full names (e.g. John Wayne Gacy, a bunch of others I can’t think of now). I once read an explanation for this theory, but that too is escaping me at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/16 "2014-10-01T21:03:34Z")
Helen Mirren’s Tits? As a young man it was always a badge of quality for a movie. “Have you seen The Long Good Friday?” “Oh, yeah” “Any good?” “Of course, it’s got Helen Mirren’s tits in it” ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/17 "2014-10-01T21:10:36Z")
Martin Luther King ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/18 "2014-10-01T21:18:54Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > David Hyde Pierce Who, interestingly, was just David Pierce until the \*Frasier \*showrunners wanted to dress him up a little. Just to concur on another comment above, famous murderers often end up being known by all three names when they may have never been called that way in their lives. LHO was just Lee Oswald until November 22nd, 1963. Florence Foster Jenkins. ---
**Author:** ![Abracadebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Abracadebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abracadebra)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/19 "2014-10-01T21:26:40Z")
Sarah Michelle Gellar ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117/20 "2014-10-01T21:27:29Z")
Something I’ve noticed from Civil War books, they nearly always show the middle initial or middle name: Ulysses S Grant Joseph E Johnston George B McClellan William Tecumseh Sherman Nathan Bedford Forrest George Armstrong Custer J.E.B. Stuart A.P. Hill There are some exceptions, but I don’t think I’ve EVER seen or read “General Robert Lee” Was there an 1860s reason middle initials were common? I notice most are generals, was there an upper-class reason for a prominent middle initial/name? Abraham Lincoln, with humble upbrinings, didn’t have one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-best-known-as-double-name-types/700117.md?page=2)