10 Famous Historical Figures Who Changed Their Name

3. Pelé

Arguably the greatest footballer ever to play the beautiful game, Pelé won the World Cup three times (1958, 1962, 1970) and is estimated to have scored more than 1,000 goals throughout his glorious career. Brazil's leading all-time goalscorer with 77 strikes in 92 games, he was actually named Edson Arantes do Nascimento - supposedly after the American inventor Thomas Edisonm but with the "i" removed, although his name was incorrectly spelt as "Edison" on his birth certificate. Originally nicknamed "Dico" by his family after his Uncle Jorge decided to call him it, he then became known as "Gasolina" after a Brazilian singer, before finally being nicknamed "Pelé" - the one he adopted. Although there have been claims that it is Gaelic for football, or that a Turkish immigrant called him it as a derogatory term, he was actually given the name "Pelé" during his schooldays after he mispronounced the name of his favourite Vasco de Gama star, goalkeeper Bilé. Pelé may be Hebrew for "miracle", but in Portuguese it had no meaning until Edson Arantes do Nascimento mispronounced the name of a footballer - and now it means arguably the greatest player to have ever ever graced a football pitch...