billy the kid

[dswadsworth]

who named billy the kid?

[surreyman]

I am not sure if you can pin down the very first person to call him Billy the Kid. Lots of young outlaws at the time had the nickname of The Kid and William H.Bonney was known under different names by various  law enforcement agencies, among them Billy Bonney & Kid Antrim. It was Pat Garrett his ex-friend and eventual killer who made him very famous when he co-wrote a book called "The Authentic Life of Billy The Kid" which made him out to be the most evil,murderous outlaw in the history of the west,which was probably quite a long way from  the truth.Sorry i cannot give you a definitive answer but it was definitely Pat Garrett who brought Billy the Kid to the attention of the world.  

[Sludge]

William Henry McCarty was born around 1860 or 1861 in New York City, the exact date and year are unknown. In 1873 his mother (who came from Ireland) married William Antrim, and to avoid 2 Billies in the house changed his name to Henry McCarty Antrim, and he was then generally known as and called Henry. In 1877 Henry went into partnership with a saddle-stealing thief called John Mackie and at the same time changed his name to William Bonney, and from thereon his friends called him "Kid". Billy the Kid was shot dead by Pat Garrett  at midnight on July 14, 1881. He was either 19 or 20 years old when he died. During a period of 4 or 5 years Billy the Kid had single handedly shot and killed four men and participated in five other shootings.

[Yeah Bee]

He may not have died. In the 50:s a man came in to the guvenor of New Mexico and said he wanted that pardon offered to him many years ago. The evidence were inconclusive so he left for the desert and nobudy has seen him since 

[Foxybox]

The man Yeah Bee refers to was known as Brushy Billy Roberts. Personaly I think he was a crank but its worth reserching. There's lots of stuff on the net.

As for Billy himself. He was never really called 'Billy the Kid' in his lifetime.It was more of a name that the media of the day gave him after his death. I believe he was mostly refered to as Kid Antrim in his lifetime but he had many aliases.