Vladimir the Bold was born Vladimir Andreyevich or Владимир Андреевич Храбрый in Russian on July 15, 1353 and was the most famous prince of Serpukhov. His moniker alludes to his military exploits committed in the wars waged by his cousin, Dmitri Donskoi of Moscow.

I have no idea what any of that means, nor do I care. All I know is that he has one gnarly nickname. “The Bold”. You know you’ve done something right in life when your peers nickname you “the bold”. Good job Vladimir and happy birthday.

To honour Vladimir and his birthday today, I thought I would list the top 5 ‘the’ nicknames not named ‘bold’. When I was younger during my baseball years, I was nicknamed ‘the chief’ because I had won an essay writing contest to become police chief for a day in Hamilton. (There’s a little nugget of information people probably didn’t know about me). But as my baseball career came to a halting end, so did the nickname. It was buried in the dirt behind the plate where I spent years.

So here are my top 5 ‘the’ nicknames.

5. The Duke

This one was a no-brainer. Born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26th 1907, better known as The Duke, better known as John Wayne, was an amazing actor, director and producer. This is definitely one cowboy you didn’t want to upset. His gun slinging skills were the best in the land. John ‘The Duke’ Wayne is most notably known for starring in films such as; The Searchers, Rio Bravo, The Quiet Man, True Grit and many more.
 
 

4. Wilt The Stilt

This man may only need an introduction to those males who don’t follow sports. I’m pretty sure anyone who follows sports knows of him and most females KNOW of him. Wilton Norman Chamberlain was a professional basketball player in the NBA playing for Philadelphia/San Francisco and the Los Angeles Lakers. Standing at 7ft 1in, Wilt ‘The Stilt’ is best known for scoring 100 points in 1 game.. or his ladies. (google it)
 
 

3. The Plumbed Knight

When searching google for awesome ‘the’ nicknames, I came across James G. Blaine. I had never heard of him, nor was I too interested to find out until I saw his nickname. ‘The Plumbed Knight’. Amazing! Anyone named The Plumbed Knight is cool in my books. It turns out that James G. Blaine was a U.S. Representative, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Maine, two-time Secretary of State and was nominated for president in 1884, but lost to Grover Cleveland. So after reading all that boring political stuff, he was basically a politician with an amazing nickname. The nickname came from a speech titled “Plumbed Knight Speech”, which was a nominating speech made famous by Robert Ingersoll on behalf of James G. Blaine. Again, boring stuff.. but try and call one of your buddies The Plumbed Knight without laughing.
 

2. Billy The Kid

The youngest of today’s entries, William Henry McCarty was allegedly born November 23 1859 though there aren’t any records to prove it. He was a 19th-century American frontier outlaw and gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War. According to legends, he killed 21 men. His 5ft 8in build, blue eyes and smooth complexion are partly what attributed to his nickname as ‘the kid’. If you haven’t at least heard of Billy The Kid, then that means you must have been born in the mountains, raised by gorillas, and haven’t left the confines of your mud hut.
 

1. The Pelvis

Which scouring the interwebs for other names, I found The Pelvis, and upon further investigation, it was the second nickname that I didn’t know he held. I was always going to put him at #1 since thinking of doing this post anyways but it was a nice surprise to see a second name. If you don’t know who The Pelvis is what about The King? That’s right, the number one spot goes to Elvis Presley. This music icon makes a well deserved appearance on todays Top Five Fridays for being such a legend in the music industry and now the nickname industry. I wonder how LeBron James feels for stealing ‘the king’ nickname. What a loser.
 

Honorable Mentions
The LIttle Tramp – Charlie Chaplin
The Iron Mask/The Iron Horse – Lou Gehrig
The Swedish Nightingale – Jenny Lind

Again, these are just my opinions and I would love to hear some that you think I may have missed.

Thanks to Wikipedia for providing all the information.