Sonic The Hedgehog Question

In the Sonic the Hedgehog universe (toys, video games, comic books, cartoons), when and why was Dr. Robotnik’s name changed to Dr. Eggman?

Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.

More than you could possibly want to know on the subject.

Whoops, sorry, thought I posted this in Cafe Society.

Thanks Mr. Blue Sky. That really was more than I wanted to know, and bit anti-climatic.

I like my version better. It involves Sonic going nuts, killing Robotnik and, out of grief and guilt, having him cloned and hatched from an egg so that he can continue to have an arch-nemisis.