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One-Name Historical Figures Quiz #1

These historical figures are often known by a single name. Guess who they are.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Featured Quiz
Last updated: May 14, 2014
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First submittedDecember 28, 2011
Times taken64,017
Average score62.5%
Rating4.18
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Clue
Person
The Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo
Christian messiah
Jesus
Founded the Academy of Athens
Plato
"The Divine Comedy"
Dante
Carthaginian general
Hannibal
Fiddled while Rome burned
Nero
"The Iliad"
Homer
"Candide"
Voltaire
3-time World Cup winner
Pelé
Lewis & Clark guide
Sacagawea
Founder of Islam
Muhammad
Nemesis of the Crusaders
Saladin
Clue
Person
Cried "Eureka!"
Archimedes
Greek writer of fables
Aesop
She saved John Smith
Pocahontas
Japanese emperor during WWII
Hirohito
He built a wall in northern England
Hadrian
Macedonian conqueror of Persia
Alexander
Young pharaoh who was dug up in 1922
Tutankhamun
Roman orator and republican
Cicero
Aztec emperor defeated by Cortes
Moctezuma
Great Frankish King
Charlemagne
Lover of Caesar and Antony
Cleopatra
Nonviolent Indian
Gandhi
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101 Recent Comments
queenmaeree
+1
Level 70
Dec 28, 2011
Just don't use Wikipedia as a source when writing a paper. One of my instructors warned us that if we did, it was an automatic F.
kalbahamut
+9
Level 81
May 22, 2014
Easily remedied if you just copy the bibliography at the bottom of any (good) wikipedia page.
CmdrKeen
+6
Level 32
May 22, 2014
Exactly. Don't necessarily need to trust the body of the Wikipedia articles, but it's a great starting point for finding trusted resources.

Not all contributors to Wikipedia are trolls.

ILikeQuizes
+1
Level 62
Sep 17, 2016
My chemistry professor specifically told us to use Wikipedia when writing lab reports. I disagree with him.
Swanbabe
+6
Level 38
Nov 8, 2016
First let me get out the way: so many of these one named dudes had two names in common usage. Yeah Christ was a later addition to Jesus' name, but what about Mohandas Gandhi? I feel like the quiz over simplified a lot of these people's names. But i really liked the quiz so I'm not going to go on about it too much.

But this rag on Wikipedia business is what annoys me: "meh meh meh, it's not a valid source". Stop regurgitating the rhetoric your teachers have vomited into you. anything is a valid secondary source, provided it utilises pertinent primary sources. The onus is on the individual to check those sources.

Plenty of lectures I've had have pulled the old do as i say not as i do: citing it whilst saying don't use it.

The reason they say that is because they want to encourage you to scratch a bit deeper when doing research, not take things at face value.

Plenty of professionals consult it to double check their knowledge: it's quite evident when info on there has been falsified.

Dimby
+1
Level 78
May 31, 2023
Wikipedia is not a secondary source. It's a tertiary source. It's fantastic to use it as an encyclopedia. Wikipedia, should never be cited in a formal paper, nor should any other encyclopedia.
ozzdome
+7
Level 69
Jun 14, 2017
Wikipedia is, in most cases, a reliable source, specifically if keeping an eye on the references. ... Most incorrect references in Wikipedia pages -- of major topics -- are corrected in short order. ... It is every bit as reliable on those major subjects as any other site.
martay
+1
Level 70
Aug 10, 2020
It's an awesome starting point with a trove of references that any student should at the very least look at.On a related tangent, I hope students are being taught how to use Microsoft Word's features to style and automatically manage things like the table of contents, bibliographies, references, etc. It's night and day from when I was a student.
username729
+1
Level 40
Dec 28, 2011
I love wikipedia and I use it all the time, not for papers though. Teachers don't like it because they think it is unreliable or it is too easy for the students. But anyone can tell when the articles have been edited so I don't understand what the problem is. Don't trust wikipedia if you see that the article has been edited which is rarely, and everything is fine.
dwo
+3
Level 93
Dec 28, 2011
Wikipedia: the most peer reviewed publication on the planet.
tschutzer
+5
Level 91
May 19, 2014
Nobody's questioning the quantity of peers, only the quality.
eric29cocoanuts
+1
Level 76
Dec 28, 2011
Speaking of correct spellings, the quiz gives us "Japanese emperor" and "Aztec emporer". And I don't even need to consult Wikipedia to know which one is correct!
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Dec 28, 2011
Haha, I can never spell that word. Fixed now. Thanks!
TheJettSet27
+1
Level 12
Dec 30, 2011
I only know Moctezuma from a old Cartoon Network show called Time Squad. It was such a ridiculous episode!

"Ladies and Gentleman, Monty Zuma!" Nothing like changing an Aztec emperor from a comedian to an actual emperor.

Nyackjohn
+2
Level 79
Dec 31, 2011
Wikipedia is a great boon to all of us, there is no denying that! I use it constantly. I think however that many teachers are properly cautioning you, especially on more esoteric subjects. In my research I've found a few entries that were either wrong or had a very heavy editorial bent towards a specific viewpoint that might or might not be the accepted view or simply did not reflect known facts at all. One of them for a long time was the entry on the above mentioned emperor, Nero. If you'd read the original wikipedia entry on "Nero" you would have thought he was an all-around great guy who was one of Rome's greatest emperors... the historian who'd written the entry is one of a very few who like to ignore all the contemporary accounts from Nero's own time and create a "kinder gentler Nero". It's been modified some at this point, but it's still off center to a degree. Likewise, when researching some villages and towns in my county that the State of New York had forcibly moved people from in order to create som
CBTemple
+1
Level 81
Feb 10, 2012
The quizmaster is correct about Moctezuma.
typhon
+1
Level 51
Apr 15, 2018
That's what it said in my high school history book. There was also a bar in my town called "Moctezuma's"
happygrrl
+1
Level 14
Feb 28, 2012
I'm surprised no one on here is arguing that Jesus does have a last name. For any future people that will, Christ comes from the latin word Christos, which means messiah. So really "Christ" is Jesus's title, not his name.
kalbahamut
+5
Level 81
May 22, 2014
We all know his middle initial was H, though.
Swanbabe
+1
Level 38
Jun 14, 2017
Hahaha gold
Texio
+1
Level 79
Sep 25, 2023
Which, as we all know, stands for Hoobastank. Because Jesus died for a reason, and the reason is you...
divantilya
+1
Level 36
Nov 29, 2017
Wouldn't Jesus' last name have been "bin yusif?" (son of joseph)
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Oct 28, 2018
bar Yossef probably. What you wrote is closer to Arabic.
PitifulExcuse
+1
Level 62
Aug 17, 2024
didn't Jesus speak Aramaic as his mother tongue?
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Jun 19, 2019
though in all written ancient sources he is never referred to by that title. In one place he is referred to as bin Mariam... which is extremely odd. It's possible that "bin/bar Yossef" references have been destroyed by later Christians who believed it went against their belief that Jesus was the son of a god.
BlackJohn
+1
Level 75
Dec 8, 2020
Christos is greek, not latin and it means the chosen one.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Oct 2, 2021
anointed one... a.k.a. the messiah... from the Hebrew word meaning anointed one, translated into Greek...
Guyinasuit
+1
Level 27
Jun 4, 2012
Thank you Age of Empires for the ancient people...
alohonyai
+5
Level 33
Aug 1, 2012
I missed "Saladin" because I used Salah ad-Din
kalbahamut
+2
Level 81
May 22, 2014
This should be accepted but it never is. It's his proper Arabic name. Salah AlDin should also work. Or Salahuddin.
beka1
+1
Level 22
Nov 19, 2012
can you please accept more spellings of sacagawea and pocahantas?
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
May 14, 2014
Ok
mikeb
+2
Level 66
Jun 14, 2017
Apparently not enough alternate spellings accepted since I could never get all the vowels correctly ordered in "Pocahantas".
Berney
+1
Level 81
Jun 20, 2019
I think you need to accept the alternative spelling of "Sakakawea". Having just returned from Bismarck, North Dakota, that seems to be the standard spelling in that state at least. See Sakakawea statue.
IsleAuHaulte
+5
Level 89
Jan 10, 2019
Please don't accept E-l-i-z-a-b-e-t-h W-a-r-r-e-n.
PitifulExcuse
+1
Level 62
Aug 17, 2024
Donald, is that you?
Jacko77
+2
Level 32
Mar 25, 2014
I tried 'Virgil' for the Greek writer of fables. I guess he was a Roman though...
brandybuck96
+4
Level 83
Dec 12, 2015
And he didn't write fables.
IsleAuHaulte
+3
Level 89
Jan 10, 2019
Actually, they call him MISTER Tibbs!!
kitshef
+3
Level 84
Mar 29, 2014
Must have tried 35 different spellings for Pocahontas. Not lobbying for including incorrect spellings, just expressing angst.
DonTheLamplighter
+5
Level 85
Mar 27, 2017
Pocahontas always makes me smile. For any of you who've ever seen/played the game "Password"....when I was a kid, my parents would play Password with my aunt and uncle. The Password was "dot". My mom is giving the clue to my aunt, and she just knows she's got a slam dunk, first-clue, 10-point winner. So she says, "Polka......" (extending the 2nd syllable to suggest that she wants the word that logically comes next) Without hesitating, my aunt enthusiastically responds, "Hontas!" To which, my mom, in utter disbelief replies, "What's a hontas?!!!" One of those crazy moments that becomes family legend. They're all gone now, but it still brings a smile to my face when I think of it. Such good, fun memories.
howard38
+1
Level 61
Jun 14, 2017
: )
divantilya
+1
Level 36
Nov 4, 2017
How comforting, the precious memories of those who have gone before us. Keep the Faith!
Sifhraven
+1
Level 71
Jul 18, 2019
hontas, sounds like handtas, which means handbag in dutch ;) There are some existing jokes about it, I just cant remember one specifically
trivstar
+1
Level 25
Mar 31, 2014
I'm amazed how little people knew Saladin. Surely they teach the Crusades in American Schools?
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
May 22, 2014
They do and I first learned about Saladin in such a school.
kenpo17
+1
Level 66
Feb 24, 2017
Can't speak for others, but my schooling only gave very basic coverage to the Crusades - more or less when they were and what they were about. We didn't go into anywhere near as much detail as the subject deserves. I blame the fact that world history classes tended to teach the same stuff over and over again, because most of the students didn't retain from year to year.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Jul 11, 2021
I think I first heard about them in Mr. Ahern's 6th grade class when we were studying world history, though not in very much detail. Then in 9th grade World Civilizations GT we learned about them a bit more in-depth and this was the year I think that I learned of Salad ad-Din. And later in 12th grade when I was taking AP European History (an elective) we learned about them even more in-depth including, I recall, the Children's Crusade and Venetian/Crusader sacking of Constantinople.

Reflecting on this just now it occurred to me that I may have first heard of Salah ad-Din playing Genghis Khan 2 on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I remember the Mamluks being in that game. I looked it up and he appears in one scenario but I'm not sure if I played that scenario or not.

Elegia85
+1
Level 47
Apr 10, 2020
We never learned about the Crusades in Ireland
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
May 14, 2014
Updated!
effeietsanders
+4
Level 24
May 22, 2014
"Roman orator and republican"? There were simply too many of those. Please be more specific :)
kalbahamut
+2
Level 81
May 22, 2014
The Sistine Chapel clue was also vague... if you'd said "painter of the Sistine Chapel" I would have got it right away but I think first I guessed Peter (for his basilica) and Paul and then a couple popes before arriving at the painter of the ceiling.
TomatosRaafatos
+2
Level 74
Jun 14, 2017
I also tried countless romans before giving up...the clue could be more useful and add some acheivement that is specific to Cicero.
angrobper14
+3
Level 84
May 22, 2014
Well, just a humble comment from a Mexican guy: The question about the Aztec emperor has the wrong answer. The correct one is Cuauhtémoc.

Moctezuma II was indeed the emperor when Cortés arrived to Tenochtitlán, but he was overthrown by his people, beacuse he defended the Spaniards (believing their were gods).

Then Cuitláhuac ascended to the throne, but he was soon killed by the fearmost weapon the Europeans had brought: Smallpox.

After that, Cuauhtémoc was crowned tlatoani (emperor), and he still fought against the Spaniards. So technically he was the emperor defeated by Cortés, not Moctezuma (who was killed a year before the Spaniard victory).

ander217
+1
Level 75
Feb 24, 2017
Either name should be accepted, since both were Aztec emperors killed during the Cortes expeditions, although Cuauhte'moc was the last emperor in charge when the empire fell.
quizmaster23
+1
Level 58
May 22, 2014
doesn't Gandhi have a first name
ColoHarpare
+1
Level 50
May 23, 2014
Yes, his name was Mohandas Gandhi, though I think use of his title "Mahatma" might be more common than Mohandas. But it says "often known by a single name", and that still applies.
PBirtwistle
+4
Level 71
May 24, 2014
I was thinking American Indian. I kept trying Chief Josef.
kenpo17
+1
Level 66
Feb 24, 2017
I'd say this is a good reason for the term "American Indian" to be phased out. It's really not that descriptive, and can sometimes lead to confusion with just Indian is used. It's not about being PC, just being accurate.
Etanna
+1
Level 71
Jan 1, 2018
haha, me too. I kept trying Winnetou lol
PuzzleDragon
+1
Level 22
May 26, 2014
I really want to know why Saladin is only on 26%... :/
rocamorar
+2
Level 78
Oct 27, 2015
First time I've ever heard of Sacagawea. I don't think she is a rellevant figure outside the US.
McLerristarr
+4
Level 62
Mar 25, 2016
As with much of American culture, I only know about her from The Simpsons. Had a hell of a time trying to spell her name.
Algernon
+1
Level 73
Aug 10, 2016
Glad i'm not the only one!
Arp2600
+4
Level 86
Jun 14, 2017
Lewis and Clark are not well-known outside the US either ;).
joez
+1
Level 74
Dec 5, 2015
for nonviolent indian my first thought was chief joseph

i will fight no more forever

did eventually get gandhi

Djilas
+1
Level 83
Dec 3, 2016
Moliere should be totally included here
VishVarm
+1
Level 63
Feb 1, 2017
Gandhi has a first name, Mohandas but people also call him Mahatma which means "great soul"
Malbaby
+1
Level 70
Feb 1, 2017
The question was "Known As"......... not many people think of Gandhi as 'Mohandas'...... do they?
LyRiKH
+1
Level 51
Feb 24, 2017
''Nonviolent Indian'' and ''The Sistine Chapel'' are very vague clues. ''3-time World Cup winner'' is also vague. Agree with others to define it more accurately. Thanks
ChowPizz
+2
Level 40
Apr 25, 2017
Hannibal had a last name, his full name is Hannibal Barca...
MustardCustard
+1
Level 65
Apr 25, 2017
I hear a lot of people call Gandhi by his full name: Mahatma, Gandhi.
Malbaby
+1
Level 70
Apr 25, 2017
Bully for you!
Baltimorean
+1
Level 67
Jun 14, 2017
Malbaby: you missed the sarcasm. "I hear a lot of people" is a way of poking fun at Trump, who uses that phrase either to present something that the voices on Fox News or Breitbart told him or to disguise the fact that he doesn't know WTF he's talking about. http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/09/politics/donald-trump-conspiracy-many-people-are-saying/index.html. It's like ending an email message with the word "Sad!" as Trump does.
divantilya
+1
Level 36
May 25, 2017
What I appreciate about Wikipedia is that it updates its site almost before the event happens. Hours after Roger Moore's recent death, his bio on wikipedia was already updated... way before the printed media picked up on it.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 81
Jun 14, 2017
as per usual: Salah al Din, Salah ad Din, Saleh al Din, Saleh ad Din, Salahuddin
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Jun 14, 2017
which I guess makes the answer wrong, since these, more accurate, versions of his name show that he did have a a first and last name.. just mashed together and distorted
Malbaby
+1
Level 70
Jun 14, 2017
Known in the English speaking world as 'Saladin' which makes that answer correct.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 81
Oct 28, 2018
Except among English-speakers who actually know what they're talking about.
Swanbabe
+1
Level 38
Jun 14, 2017
I think Salahuddin is more accurate then Saladin...

It's like in the Satanic Verse, Saladin changing his name from Salahuddin to better appeal to western audiences.

kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Jun 19, 2019
He didn't change his name. He's got a first and last name. Westerners who were not familiar with Arabic naming conventions mashed it together in to one name because they didn't understand what they were hearing. The same way small children call the former president "Barakobama"
Jarl5
+1
Level 68
Jun 14, 2017
Lol tried Tecumseh and Squanto for the nonviolent Indian one
WelshWizard
+2
Level 85
Jun 14, 2017
There's more than one "Roman orator and republican" - e.g. Cato.
jeisenberg24
+1
Level 72
Jun 14, 2017
I'm pretty sure Gandhi's first name was Mohandas.
pensta
+2
Level 66
Jun 15, 2017
Great quiz, terrible clues. It's sometimes hard to explain something without the bias of your own country's perspective.
SpartanLlama
+1
Level 69
Jun 15, 2017
Mostly easy, but good quiz.
CupASoup
+1
Level 51
Sep 1, 2017
Macedonia was not a country in Alexander's time...it was a kingdom of Greece.
typhon
+1
Level 51
Apr 15, 2018
Many of these had more than one name - Hannibal Barca, for instance, or An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (Saladin for short).
RobNobody
+2
Level 78
Jan 10, 2019
"These historical figures are often known by a single name." It doesn't mean they didn't HAVE an additional name, just that they are frequently referred to by just the one. People much more frequently talk about Michelangelo than they do Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni.
freon22tec
+1
Level 58
Jul 11, 2018
You should accept Showa emperor
TheBradMeister
+1
Level 15
Apr 12, 2019
I wonder how many Greeks got mad over you saying Alexander the great was Macedonian xD
BlackJohn
+2
Level 75
Dec 8, 2020
None. He was Macedonian, like Leonidas was Spartan, Demosthenes Athenian, Archimedes Syracusian etc etc. All of these entities had greek culture and definitely did not speak slavic though xD
ch00bakka
+3
Level 69
May 15, 2019
ah yes, Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus, Marcus Tullius Cicero, and Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, all people with only one name. (They're definitely /known/ by only one name, I just think it's funny that we always think of Romans as one-name people when they usually had at /least/ three, sometimes up to six or seven if they were emperors.)
gursh
+4
Level 56
Aug 10, 2020
Very strange to see Mohandas Gandhi listed as a famous mononymic person. Great quiz tho
parkave
+2
Level 57
Dec 8, 2020
Surprised so little people got Cicero. They need to watch some Historia Civilis
Koult45
+2
Level 53
Dec 8, 2020
I don't think I'm ever going to be able to remember how to spell "Sacagawea."
Peteylovesgolf
+1
Level 65
Dec 9, 2020
Can it accept Salahuddin, as well as Saladin, which is merely the pronounciation of the name?
iLoveHotDads1
+2
Level 43
Jan 26, 2021
Maybe you could let karl count for “charlemagne” count too, since he was german and that was his name:)
avargas009
+1
Level 45
Jan 8, 2023
"nonviolent indian" is confusing. Should be "nonviolent Indian leader".
arsenal1
+1
Level 53
May 21, 2023
Hannibal absolutely has a last name. It is Hannibal Barca
SpartanLlama
+1
Level 69
May 31, 2023
It's more about what they're known as versus what their official name was. Dante's full name was Dante Alighieri but he is usually referred to as Dante
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