Dubya

When George W. Bush became the top Republican candidate in the 2000 presidential election, it caused a conundrum the likes of which hadn’t been since the days of John Quincy Adams. Bush’s father, the 41st president, was also George Bush, so what were people supposed to call round two if he were elected?

Rather than going with the likes of George Bush, Jr., the point of differentiation became the younger Bush’s middle initial, W., which stands for Walker. But, thanks to his Texas twang, Bush pronounced W as a folksy, Southern-y dubya as opposed to double-U.

When Bush first got the nickname isn’t exactly clear (he was governor of the Lone Star State from 1995–2000, not to mention spent his entire previous life as a JR). Perhaps he even nicknamed himself, considering his habit of nicknaming others, calling Russian president Vladimir Putin Pootie-Poot and his senior advisor, Karl Rove, Turd Blossom.

When Bush accepted the nomination for the Republican party in 2000, he even poked fun at the nickname while referring to George Washington in his speech, “or, as his friends, called him, George Dubya.”

2000 was indeed when Dubya spread. The nickname appeared on news sites, internet message boards, in books, and on the website Dubya Speaks, which chronicled his many Bushisms, or his amusing speech errors.

And though Bush developed many other nicknames throughout his time in office, both positive (The Decider) and negative (Shrub), nothing stuck like Dubya.