Nicknames have been given to the famous Indian personalities for their work and contribution towards the nation – as a freedom fighter, change-maker, or anything significant. Many famous personalities are known more by their nicknames than their original names.
For example – Mahatma Gandhi is known as Bapu as well as The Father of the Nation due to his contribution during the freedom struggle from the British. let us learn more about Famous Indian Personalities and their nicknames.
Nicknames of Famous Indian Personalities
Let us see some of the Famous Indian Personalities and their nicknames.
1. Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected as the first President of India by the Constituent Assembly. He was a lawyer, scholar, and activist during India’s freedom struggle. He had joined the Indian National Congress during the freedom struggle.
In 1946, he was the Minister of Food and Agriculture in the central government. He rose as a prominent figure in Bihar during the Indian Independence Movement. He was arrested during the Salt Satyagraha and the Quit India Movement by the British.
2. Mahatma Gandhi
Famous world-wide as a symbol of non-violence, he is known as the Father of the Nation and Bapu. He resorted to non-violent methods during the Indian Independence movement. A lawyer by profession, he led the Indian National Congress in 1921.
His work strived towards abolishing poverty, removing untouchability, enhancing ethnic and religious harmony. He promoted Hindu Swaraj – which promoted goods and commodities produced by the Indian community itself. He was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on 30th January 1948.
3. Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore was the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize. He had won the Nobel Prize for Literature and believed that “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
He inspired the citizens of India through his work and disowned the knighthood by the Queen as a tribute to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Also, He promoted peace and harmony and traveled across the world in order to do so.
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He composed the Indian National Anthem – Jana Gana Mana which talks of the beauty of the motherland – India.
4. Tipu Sultan
He was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was also a pioneer at rocket artillery. Tipu Sultan initiated the beginning of Mysore silk resulting in the expansion of an industry. He sought an alliance with Napoleon Bonaparte. With his new reform, he led Mysore towards great economic development.
Tipu remained an enemy of the British East India Company which led to the conflict of the Travancore attack in 1989. In the Fourth-Anglo-Mysore war, Tipu was defeated and killed by the British. His personality and resistance towards the British earned him the name – Tiger of Mysore.
5. Jawaharlal Nehru
India’s first Prime Minister, he is to date the longest PM to remain in office. He was extremely fond of children. Hence his birthday is celebrated as Children’s Day” in India. He was a significant leader and activist in the Indian independence movement.
He was the Congress President in 1929 and called for complete independence from the British. Jawaharlal Nehru is the father of Indira Gandhi, a dynamic woman who later became the only woman Prime Minister of India.
6. Subhas Chandra Bose
A prominent Indian leader during the struggle of Independence, he was inclined towards radicalism ideas. He became the President of the Indian National Congress in 1938 and 1939. He joined forces with Imperial Japan and Adolf Hitler and visited Benito Mussolini as well.
Due to this, in certain places, he is considered a controversial figure. There is controversy based on his death. But he inspired the youth which led them to fight seamlessly towards the independence of India. He was truly a defiant patriot and a hero in his own specs.
7. Sarojini Naidu
An Indian political activist and poet, she is also known as “The Nightingale of India.” She became a follower of Gandhi and his Swaraj principles.
She was appointed as the President of the Indian National Congress in 1925 and became the Governor of the United Provinces in 1947 – she was the first female to hold this position. She composed “In the Bazaars of Hyderabad” – a poem that exuberantly showed the vivid culture of India.
8. Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Born as Keshav Gangadhar Tilak, he was an Indian Nationalist. He was one of the members of the trio “Lal Bal Pal”. The Trio is known to be famous for its strive towards Indian independence. Tilak was the first leader of the Indian Independence movement.
He was the first and the firmest believer of “swaraj” – self-rule, this word awakened people across the nation. He is known for the quote “Swaraj is my birth-right and I shall have it.”
9. Bipin Chandra Pal
One of the members in the trio is Pal. He was an Indian Nationalist, writer, orator, social reformer, and Indian Independence activist. He was one of the main architects of the Swadeshi movement who took a stand against the Partition of Bengal.
Aurobindo Ghosh and Pal were considered as the key individuals who believed in regaining India’ Independence via boycott, national education, Purna Swaraj, and Swadeshi.
10. Lala Lajpat Rai
He was one of the members of the Trio “Lal Bal Pal”. He was an author, freedom fighter and politician. Also, He was also associated with activities of Punjab National Bank and Laxmi Insurance Company in the early stages.
He was a key participant against the Simon Commission. He was severely beaten and soon succumbed to death.
11. Indira Gandhi
The first and only (as of 2020) Prime Minister of India, she was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. She is known for the centralization of power. Even though she went through controversies during her period, she was extremely dynamic.
She helped East Pakistan (now – Bangladesh) gain its freedom from West Pakistan (now – Pakistan) by deploying Indian soldiers to East Pakistan. She was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguard after her controversial order to search the Golden Temple in Amritsar for arms and ammunition.
12. Milkha Singh
Recipient of the Padma Shri, Honorary Captain Milkha Singh is a former track and field sprinter. He has won the athletics gold medal in the Commonwealth Games. He has also won the gold medals in the 1958 and 1962 Asian Games.
In 1960, he came fourth in position for the 400-meter race. Milkha Singh is known as “the Flying Sikh.”
13. Chanakya
He was an ancient teacher, philosopher, economist, and royal advisor. Chanakya was the author of “Arthashastra” which talks about military, economic strategies.
He assisted the first Mauryan Empire – Chandragupta Maurya and was the chief advisor of Bindusara as well. He is known for his diplomatic ways and ways of great thinking.
14. Sardar Vallabhai Patel
He was an Indian political activist who served as the first deputy Prime Minister of India. He also served as the Home Minister as well during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1947.
Sardar Patel was appointed as the 49th President of the Indian National Congress and was an integral part of framing the “All India Services” – which is the “Steel Frame” which maintains the administration of the nation.
15. Bhagat Singh
He was a socialist revolutionary and was a radicalized. Along with his friend, he shot a 21- year Police Officer in Lahore. His dramatic form of rebellion sorts him a name in the book of Indian Freedom struggle.
He became a legacy after his death at the age of 23. Nehru acknowledged his strive for freedom and did not mark it as an act of terrorism but as an act to seek revenge for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.
16. Samudragupta
He was a ruler of the Gupta Empire and was a son of Chandragupta I. He had extensive military conquests and marched as far as the Pallava Kingdom. His empire annexed several kingdoms and tribal oligarchies.
His empire stretched from the Ravi river in the west to the Brahmaputra river in the east. He performed the Ashvamedha sacrifice to prove his imperial sovereignty.
17. C N Annadurai
He was an Indian politician who served as the first chief minister of Tamil Nadu for 20 days in 1969 and the fifth and last Chief Minister of the Madras state. Then the Madras State was named Tamil Nadu.
He was the first member of the Dravidian party to hold either post. He is known to be a famous orator and has splendid writing skills in the Tamil language.
18. Chandra Shekhar
He served as the 8th PM of India who headed a minority government out of Janata Dal. He was the PM of India for 7 months, shortest after Charan Singh. Also He handled the portfolios of Defense and Home Affairs during this period.
19. Kalidasa
He was a Classical Sanskrit writer. His plays are primarily based on Vedas. His plays are Ramayana, Mahabharata, and the Puranas. He composed Shakuntala and Meghdut. It is said that he used to live near the Himalayas and he had a love for Ujjain (in Madhya Pradesh) which led him to write Meghdut.
20. Mother Teresa
Although she was born in Serbia, she moved to India at the age of 19 and dedicated her life to serve and uplift the needy and the poor. She trained and taught in Darjeeling.
In 1948 she started working through the organization “Missionaries of Charity.” Her strife to end poverty won her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
Nicknames of Famous Indian Personalities
| Nicknames | Name of the Person |
| Deshpriya | Yatindra Mohan Sengupta |
| Grand Old man of Britain | William E. Gladstone |
| Bard of Avon | William Shakespeare |
| Adi Kavi | Valmeeki |
| Sardar | Vallabhbhai Patel |
| Man of Iron | Vallabhai Patel |
| Grand old man of Indian Journalism | Tushar Kanti Ghosh |
| Tiger of Mysore | Tipu Sultan |
| Mysore Tiger | Tippu Sultan |
| Little Master | Sunil Gavaskar |
| Patriot of Patriots | Subhash Chandra Bose |
| Neta Ji | Subhash Chandra Bose |
| Light of Asia | Sreebuddha |
| Banga bandhu | Sheikh Mujibut Rahman |
| Master da | Surya Sen |
| Sher-e-Kashmir | Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah |
| Lion of Kashmir | Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah |
| Prince of Builders | Shahjahan |
| King Maker of Indian History | Sayyid Bandhu |
| Prince of Kolkata | Saurav Ganguly |
| Nightingale of India | Smt Sarojini Naidu |
| Sage of Kanchi | Sankaracharya |
| Napoleon of India | Samudra Gupta |
| Bird man of India | Salim Ali |
| The Little Master | Sachin Tendulkar |
| Father of Gujarat | Ravi Shankar Maharaj |
| Morning Star of India Renaissance | Raja Ram Mohan Roy |
| Vishwa Kavi | Rabindranath Tagore |
| Kaviguru | Rabindranath Tagore |
| Gurudev | Rabindranath Tagore |
| Maiden Queen | Queen Elizabeth I |
| Rajarshee | Purushottam Das Tandon |
| Mahamana | Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya |
| Prince of Beggars | Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya |
| Li-Kwan | Pearl Buck |
| Udanpari | P.T. Usha (Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha) |
| Payyoli Express | P. T. Usha |
| Man of Blood and Iron | Otto Van Bismark |
| Netaji | Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose |
| Little Corporal | Napoleon Bonaparte |
| Man of Destiny | Napoleon Bonaparte |
| Indian Einstein | Nagarjuna |
| Prince of Money Makers | Muhammad bin Tughlaq |
| Saint of the Gutters | Mother Teresa |
| Saint of Sabarmati | Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi |
| Mother | Mother Teresa |
| Flying Sikh | Milkha Singh |
| Quaid-i-Azam | Md. Ali Jinnah |
| Sparrow | Major General Rajinder Singh |
| Mahatma | Mahatma Gandhi |
| Father of the Nation | Mahatma Gandhi |
| Bapu | Mahatma Gandhi |
| Shakespeare of India | Mahakavi Kalidas |
| Guruji | M.S. Golvalkar |
| Father of the Local Self-Government | Lord Rippon |
| Enlightened One | Lord Buddha |
| Swar Kokila | Lata Mangeshkar |
| Lal, Bal, Pal | Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal |
| Punjab Kesari | Lala Lajpat Rai |
| Man of Peace | Lal Bahadur Shastri |
| Frontier Gandhi, Badshah Khan | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan |
| Jana Nayak | Karpuri Thakur |
| Haryana Hurricane, Kapil Dev | Kapil Dev |
| Kuvempu | K.V. Puttappa |
| Maid of Orleans | Joan of Arc |
| Loknayak | Jayaprakash Narayan |
| Pandit ji | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Chacha | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Babuji | Jagjeevan Ram |
| Iron Lady of India | Indira Gandhi |
| Uncle Ho | Ho Chi Minh |
| Prince of Pilgrims | Hiuen Tsang |
| Father of Medicine | Hippocrates |
| G.B.S | George Bernard Shaw |
| Father of English Poetry | Geoffery Chaucer |
| Desert Fox | Gen Ervin Rommel |
| Lady with the lamp | Florence Nightingale |
| Poet’s Poet | Edmund Spencer |
| King Maker | Earl of Warwick |
| Bihar Kesari | Dr. Srikrishna Singh |
| Desh Ratna | Dr. Rajendra Prasad |
| Bihar Vibhuti | Dr. Anugrah Narayan Singh |
| Magician of Hockey | Dhyanchand |
| Hockey Wizard | Dhyan Chand |
| Grandfather of Indian Films | Dhundiraj Govind Phalke |
| Martin Luther of India | Dayanand Saraswati |
| Grand Old man of India | Dadabhai Naoroji |
| Deshbandhu | Chitta Ranjan Das |
| Scourge of God | Chengiz khan |
| Young Turk | Chandra Shekhar |
| Tau | Chaudhury Devi Lal |
| Deenbandhu | Charles Freer Andrews |
| Machiavelli of India | Chanakya |
| Rajaji/C.R.(Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari) | Chakravarti Rajagopalachari |
| Anna | C.N. Annadurai |
| Deen bandhu | C.F. Andrews |
| Sahid-e-Azam | Bhagat Singh |
| Prince of Martyr | Bhagat Singh |
| II Duce | Benito Mussolini |
| Bengali Tiger | Bal Gangadhar Tilak |
| Lokmanya | Bal Gangadhar Tilak |
| Lion of Maratha | Bal Gangadhar Tilak |
| Prince of Autobiography | Babur |
| Bengal Kesari | Ashutosh Mukherji |
| Tota-e-Hind | Amir Khushro |
| Parrot of India | Amir Khushro |
| Quaid-i-Azam | Ali Jinnah |
| Fuehrer | Adolf Hitler |
| Desh Ratna | Rajendra Prasad |
| King Maker of Indian History | ayyed Bandhu |
| Bihar Vibhuti | Dr. Anugrah Narayan Singh |
| Ajatshatru | Dr. Rajendra Prasad |
| Bihar Kesari | Dr. Srikrishna Singh |
| Sparrow Major | General Rajinder Singh |
| Akbar of Kashmir | Jainul Abdin |
| Shakespeare of India | Kalidas |
| Andhra Kesari | T. Prakasam |
Conclusion
So we have seen nicknames of Famous Indian Personalities. These names are interrelated with the work these famous Indian personalities have done all throughout their lives.
The names speak of their strength, values, and virtues of what they stand by. Throughout the world, they are also known with these nicknames.