Napoleon

[meglet]

Why is it that military leaders are always known by their surname (or nickname if they particularly ballsed something up) except for Napoleon Bonaparte?

[WoWo]

Because Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of France and gave himself the title Napoleon I.

Same as the English and most other monarchies they use the first name as the identifier.

[meglet]

Oh that makes sense. Thans very much WoWo.

[Octavius]

Who are you thinking of?

Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Genghis (or Kublai) Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar, Frederick the Great, Erwin Rommel, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk Horatio Nelson, Oliver Cromwell, Attila the Hun or Bernard Montgomery?

If we refer to them simply as Attila, Genghis, Cromwell, Nelson or even Rommel, I would say that this is an affirmation of their uniquely infamous achievements, rather than for any �ballsing� up. Although it could be that their surnames are more synonymous with their fame than their first name, but if I said Horatio or Napoleon, one would expect you would know exactly who I was referring to as their names are quite rare.

[BillySugger]

You mean Boney?