Pele, Ronaldinho, Garrincha -- the names of past Brazilian superstars -- roll off the tongue like a verse of great romance poetry. These monikers are not always formal names but instead are often nicknames adopted for soccer.

据《洛杉矶时报》报道，贝利、罗纳尔迪尼奥、加林查，这些曾经的巴西足坛巨星的名字，让人读起来朗朗上口，押韵地如同罗马诗句。这些名字其实不是他们的本名，而是他们为了足球取的“艺名”。

Pele, widely considered the best soccer player ever, is actually named Edson Arantes do Nascimento, after the American inventor Thomas Edison.

Pele said he got his nickname as a kid when he mispronounced the name of Brazilian goalkeeper Bilé as Pilé. A playmate used the mistake to taunt him, and when he moved to the city of Bauru, the “Pilé!” chants evolved to Pele, the name he used to represent Brazil in four World Cups. “Thanks to that goalie Bilé, and a classmate’s little joke, I became Pele,” he wrote. “Now it’s known across the world.”

贝利被认为是有史以来最伟大的足球运动员，他的本名其实是埃德森·阿兰蒂斯·多·纳西门托（Edson Arantes do Nascimento），源自于美国发明家托马斯·爱迪生（Thomas Edison）。贝利曾说他之所以叫贝利，是因为其孩童时期误把巴西队守门员Bilé叫成 Pilé。朋友用贝利的口误来开他玩笑，当他到了巴鲁（巴西东南部的一城市）， Pilé就变成了 Pele（贝利），而他用这个名字代表巴西队出战了四届世界杯。“感谢守门员Bilé，也感谢我朋友的小玩笑，我成为了贝利，”他写道，“现在全世界都知道了贝利这个名字。”

Hulk, the star forward on the current Brazilian World Cup team, got his nickname because he was obsessed with the comic book character as a child. But physical attributes are often used to peg nicknames and if you take one look at Givanildo Vieira de Souza’s muscular build it’s easy to see why “Hulk” stuck.

浩克（Hulk），本届杯赛巴西阵中一员，司职前锋。他之所以叫浩克，是因为他从小痴迷于漫画人物绿巨人浩克。但是身形体格也是一个原因，当你看到吉万尼尔多·维埃拉·德·索萨（浩克的本名）结实的肌肉之后，浩克这个名字也就说的通了。

Dunga, captain of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup title team, got his nickname from the Brazilian name for Dopey, from Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” film – because of his short stature as a kid.

邓加（Dunga），以队长身份率领巴西夺得1994年世界杯冠军。而Dunga在葡萄牙语中意为Dopey，Dopey是迪士尼动画片白雪公主与七个小矮人中的迷糊鬼，邓加小时候很瘦小，因而有了这个绰号。

Garrincha (for “little bird”), who played for Brazil in three World Cups from 1958 to 1966, was given his nickname because he flew right through defenders with his dribbles.

加林查（葡萄牙语中意为小鸟），从1958年至1966年代表巴西队参战三届世界杯，他在球场上盘带过人，轻盈地如同小鸟，所以有了这个绰号。

A boy named Artur became Arturzico (little Artur), which was then abbreviated again to Zico, the famous Brazilian player of the '70s and '80s.

Arturzico缩减成zico，就是七八十年代著名的巴西球星济科的名字。

Sometimes the diminutive is not a choice. Ronaldinho used his nickname to avoid being confused with his slightly older teammate Ronaldo – they both were on Brazil’s 2002 World Cup winning team.

但有些时候，缩减名字也行不通，小罗就用他的昵称 Ronaldinho 以区别另一稍比他年长的巴西球星罗纳尔多，他们于2002年一起代表巴西队出战韩日世界杯。

（译者 小爱Tiana 编辑 齐磊）