Quiz 15

              How did they get those names?

• Many writers, performers and other well-known people are given nicknames or choose pseudonyms themselves. Can you explain how the people in this quiz got the names they used?

• You can find all the answers in the Credo reference online reference books

• Take a look at the answers here!

1. Why was Chico Marx given the nickname 'Chico'?
   Because he was always chasing the 'chicks'.
   Stalin adopted his name from a Russian word meaning what?
    
2. Dame Nellie Melba was an Australian soprano who took her surname in honour of her birthplace, which was what?
    
3. Where did the writer Mark Twain get his name from?
    
4. Comedian Eric Morecambe got his surname from where?
    
5. Writer Rebecca West took her name from the heroine of which play?
    
6. The Siberian monk Rasputin got his nickname from his fellow villagers, and he lived up to his nickname until the end. What did it mean?
    
7. The writer George Orwell took his surname from something in Suffolk. Was it a town, a well or a river?
    
8. The spy Mata Hari got her name from a Malay expression meaning 'eye of the day'. Did it mean the dawn, a daisy or the sun?
    
9. The English novelist and dramatist Clemence Dane took her pen-name from what?

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