Famous first names

[superisis]

I'm sorry if this has been discussed before (i did a quick history check).
Any ways, I have pondered apon this for a while. Why are some people remembered for the first names instead of their last?

Also list any famous people you can think ouf that are remembered by their fisrt and not their last names. Here are the ones I can come up with off hand

Jesus
Napoleon
and
Elvis

 

[Kafka2]

Surnames in the modern sense weren't that common in history. Just look at all those kings- how many are known for their surnames?

 

[superisis]

what about artists? How come we know Michelangelo by his first name and Botticelli by his second?

 

[sydhe]

Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael. Donatello is a diminutive of Donato. All those Turtles look alike except for the masks.

Galileo, Dante, Madonna

 

[oagersnap]

Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael. Donatello is a diminutive of Donato. All those Turtles look alike except for the masks.

Galileo, Dante, Madonna

Galileo Galilei isn't really known by his first name.

 

[Colonel]

A list of famouse first names, go read the bible and find a bunch.
Micheal(Bible)
Aaron(Bible)
Abraham(Bible)
Isac(Bible)
Ishmael(Bible)-also I think the Koran
Cain(Bible)
Able(Bible)
Romulus(Roman)
Remius(Roman)
Plato(Greek)
Socrates(Greek)
Aristole(Greek)
Gallieo
The Apostiles(Bible cant name them all)
David and Gilathie(Bible I believe)
and so on

 

[Parque]

Well if you count just first names there are the famous Kings/Queens such as

The Louises (French Kings in case I spelt the feminine version of the name)
Elizabeth
Henry VIII
James
so on and so forth very very many names.

There are those known by first name and a nick name
Henry the Lion Heart
Henry the Navagator
Atila the Hun
so on and so forth

Come to think of it I only know of a few kings and absolute power figures that are remembered with first and last names

Well Napoleon is known first and last
Charles "The Hammer" Martel
Ivan the terrible (somewhat at least and I can't remember his last name)

 

[Louis XXIV]

Wouldn't Ivan be part of the Romanov family?

 

[North King]

Pretty much all royalty from most parts of the world are known by first name, not last. It has something to do with the fact that referring to, say, for an English king, the third of the House of Lancaster is a lot more confusing than Henry the Sixth. Since we don't usually have that kind of dynasty in Republics or pseudo Republics, they go by last.

 

[sydhe]

No, Ivan predated the Romanovs.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Ivan Vasilyevich (Wikipedia can be great )

 

[sabo]

What's even stranger is that George W. Bush is known by his mis-pronounced middle intitial "DUBYA"

 

[Plotinus]

I asked this a while ago but I'm not sure what the answer is. I think that anyone who becomes a king or emperor is generally known by their first name, hence Napoleon rather than Bonaparte. But this doesn't explain Michelangelo, Dante etc. In particular it doesn't explain why we talk about "Michelangelo" but "Botticelli". Are we just more pally with Michelangelo?

Giving a list of people from the Bible is pretty pointless (even if you spell them all correctly) because all those characters only have one name anyway, even the ones that were historical (such as Jesus) as opposed to the mythological ones (such as Cain and Abel - and how many mythological characters have more than one name anyway?). Such people would be "surnamed" either by their place of origin (eg Jesus of Nazareth) or by their father (eg James and John, the sons of Zebedee). Jesus might also have been known as Yeshua Bar Yoseph, that is, Jesus son of Joseph (I have encountered educated people who genuinely believed that "Christ" was Jesus' surname, but I'm sure that no-one here is daft enough to think that!). Michael is an angel, so I don't know why he's been mentioned.

Also, note that "Plato" was a nickname. His real name isn't known.

The lack of a surname goes for most ancient western people, which is why everyone in antiquity and the early Middle Ages is called so and so of such and such a place (Basil of Ancyra, Gregory of Nazianzus, etc). So there's not much point asking why such people aren't referred to by their surnames, as they didn't have any. Some names that we think of as surnames were actually nicknames - for example, "Abelard" - which is why it's interesting that we always call him "Abelard" as if it's a surname, rather than "Peter". The same goes for "Aquinas", which simply refers to his place of origin.

So the question only really applies to modern people, such as the artists mentioned.

 

[cidknee]

I asked this a while ago but I'm not sure what the answer is. I think that anyone who becomes a king or emperor is generally known by their first name, hence Napoleon rather than Bonaparte. But this doesn't explain Michelangelo, Dante etc. In particular it doesn't explain why we talk about "Michelangelo" but "Botticelli". Are we just more pally with Michelangelo?

Giving a list of people from the Bible is pretty pointless (even if you spell them all correctly) because all those characters only have one name anyway, even the ones that were historical (such as Jesus) as opposed to the mythological ones (such as Cain and Abel - and how many mythological characters have more than one name anyway?). Such people would be "surnamed" either by their place of origin (eg Jesus of Nazareth) or by their father (eg James and John, the sons of Zebedee). Jesus might also have been known as Yeshua Bar Yoseph, that is, Jesus son of Joseph (I have encountered educated people who genuinely believed that "Christ" was Jesus' surname, but I'm sure that no-one here is daft enough to think that!). Michael is an angel, so I don't know why he's been mentioned.

Also, note that "Plato" was a nickname. His real name isn't known.

The lack of a surname goes for most ancient western people, which is why everyone in antiquity and the early Middle Ages is called so and so of such and such a place (Basil of Ancyra, Gregory of Nazianzus, etc). So there's not much point asking why such people aren't referred to by their surnames, as they didn't have any. Some names that we think of as surnames were actually nicknames - for example, "Abelard" - which is why it's interesting that we always call him "Abelard" as if it's a surname, rather than "Peter". The same goes for "Aquinas", which simply refers to his place of origin.

So the question only really applies to modern people, such as the artists mentioned.

ya know, I havent read one thing from Plotinus that hasnt made me sit back and contemplate..... this guy is one smart cookie!
And i totally agree...Surnames were based on where u were of what u did werent they? Like John Smith..... well he is named john but hes the blacksmith.... hence John Smith ( or so my English professor once led me to believe)
So alot of ancient ppl might not have had surnames. At least not to the effect that we have today. Please correct me if im wrong.

Mohammmed is supposedly the most popular first name on the planet.

 

[sydhe]

Surnames were based on where u were of what u did werent they?

Also physical descriptions like Eve White, Neil Armstrong, Barnaby Crouch. Also, I assume, Nellie Fox, Virginia Woolf, Dr. Octopus.

 

[Parque]

Well I think about it this way. For certain people who are known by mainly their first name especially in lines of a family (mainly king and queens) to me it wouldn't sound right to make Queen Elizibeth I into Queen Tudor, but I also see it as the King and Queen want their own fame more than their families fame. I could be wrong about it. Just a guess.

 

[Adler17]

In renaissance agaes it was "cool" to be known only by the first names. So many know for instance Raphael with his first name but very few know his last name, Santi.

Adler

 

[mitsho]

The same goes for "Aquinas", which simply refers to his place of origin.

This example actually shows that how a person is known depends also heavily on the culture, e.g. language/country. Because Aquinas is known in German as Thomas of Aquinas (if I got you right and you were in fact referring to Thomas... ), or at least I never heard of him as Aquinas..

mfG mitsho

 

[superisis]

Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael. Donatello is a diminutive of Donato. All those Turtles look alike except for the masks.

Isn't he more famous for his last name da Vinci.

ya know, I havent read one thing from Plotinus that hasnt made me sit back and contemplate..... this guy is one smart cookie!

That's because Plotinus is smart enough not to post unless he knows what he is talking about.

Mohammmed is supposedly the most popular first name on the planet.

It is the most popular name in Malmö (the third largest city in Sweden)

But this doesn't explain Michelangelo, Dante etc. In particular it doesn't explain why we talk about "Michelangelo" but "Botticelli". Are we just more pally with Michelangelo?

In renaissance agaes it was "cool" to be known only by the first names. So many know for instance Raphael with his first name but very few know his last name, Santi.

But why were some known by their last (da Vinci, Botticelli, Brunelleschi, Petrarca) and others by thier first (Michelangelo, Donatello, Dante)

 

[mrtn]

Isn't he more famous for his last name da Vinci.

This is not a surname, it just say that he's from a place called Vinci. He probably didn't have a surname, like most people.