A name that people give someone, which is not their real name and not an official title, but which sticks — a nickname, especially a well-known and rather grand one. The difference between 'nickname' and 'sobriquet' is mostly feeling. A nickname can be anything, including something a child's friends made up in the playground. A sobriquet sounds literary and a bit ceremonial, and it usually belongs to a famous person, place, or thing: New York's sobriquet 'the Big Apple', Elvis Presley's sobriquet 'the King'. Cities and sports teams collect them. This is a formal, written word. You will find it in newspapers, biographies, and museum labels, and almost never in speech. If a friend calls you 'Xiao Ming', that is a nickname, not a sobriquet. Using it in ordinary conversation would sound like you were reading aloud from a book — which is sometimes funny on purpose, but do not do it by accident. The spelling and sound stay French: say it roughly SOH-bri-kay, with a silent t. It is also sometimes spelled 'soubriquet', which is the older form.

外號、綽號、雅號（尤指廣為人知的那種，如「大蘋果」之於紐約）。比 nickname 正式、書面，帶點文雅味；台灣媒體常寫成「素有『…』之稱」。