Throughout the Tiger Woods scandal, the major papers and news outlets have referred to the golf star as “Tiger Woods.” It makes sense since nobody calls the golfer his birthname, Eldrick Woods. But nobody seems to acknowledge that “Tiger” is a nickname. I recall that people grew accustomed to calling former basketball player Earvin Johnson by his nickname, “Magic.” Yet it did not replace the athlete’s original name, instead included as a middle name to form “Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson.”

But why then doesn’t Tiger Woods’ namet receive the same kind of compromising treatment? My hunch is that it goes beyond the simple fact that people don’t knows of him as “Eldrick ‘Tiger’ Woods.” Because he’s always been “Tiger” to us, nobody is turning to Google or other search engines for the latest information on “Eldrick Woods”; they’re plugging in his nickname. I wonder if, in a media world where search plays such a pivotal role in guiding readers to content, newspapers more than ever rely on and relate the names that the public most looks for and recognizes.

Newspapers should reflect the voice of the people – including their searches. I was curious to see how the New York Times approached reporting about Tiger Woods back when he first started out. He hasn’t always been Tiger, after all. When did the paper drop the “Eldrick” from its news stories?

Setting aside pieces that deal directly with his name and provide decade-ending summaries of past events, the cross over seems to have taken place in the spring on 1997, as Woods was thundering onto the golf scene. Even in the story with the last reference to Eldrick (Tiger) Woods salutes “Tiger” alone in the headline. So pretty much for as long as Tiger’s been a professional golfer, he’s been known primarily by his nickname. What’s interesting in this case, though, is that his name had already graced the pages of the Times for several years, dating back to August 1991:

While Jack Nicklaus was adding another laurel to the greatest career in golf with his victory at the United States Senior Open last weekend, the most precocious golfer in the modern history of the game gained his greatest victory. At the age of 15 years 7 months, Eldrick (Tiger) Woods became the youngest winner in the 44-year history of the United States Junior Amateur championship on Sunday, sweeping through six match-play victories at the Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Fla.

It took Tiger nearly six years to shed the “Eldrick” from his name and, in doing so, establish the “Tiger” brand that would extend beyond golf and beyond sports in general. On top of Woods’ celebrated Masters win, this was a symbolic victory in the spring of 1997 for the then 21-year-old golfer on the verge of building his own empire.

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