Brazilian Name

Is the president of Brasil called Lula in reference to squid or just as a nickname for those whose official name is Luís?

Found this on wikipedia (Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva):

"...he has been known as Lula since childhood; the nickname itself is a hypocoristic for Luís ... In 1982, in order to run for governorship of the state of São Paulo, Lula changed his legal name, adding the nickname Lula by which he was nationally known"

Just to show how far can go nicknames in Brazil.

By the way, who knows the real name of king Pelé?

#9 -- Funny how things come up. Yesterday I saw something about a singer called Ze Renato and I was wondering about the name Ze. (Zeno?) Thanks.

#12 Curiously one of the Brazilian players is named "Ze Roberto". It's amazing what you learn from playing playstation games.

#12 - Zé is a nickname for José.

Pelé's legal name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento

He wishes his name was Diego tho.

El Pibe? That's not a real nickname

Any idea why there are so many Brazilian male first names ending in -son? 'Edson' (above), Gilson, Jackson, Anderson, etc. etc. They always sound like English surnames to me.

"El Pibe" or just "Pibe" is the nickname of Carlos Valderrama, a wonderful colombian football (soccer) player. I don't know how he got that nickname because Pibe is a word used in Argentine slang (lunfardo) that means Kid.

Many other argentine players may be called pibe especially if they are young, but just as anybody being called "kid". But for Valderrama it became his nickname.

His football academy in Colombia is called "Pibe Valderrama". (www.pibevalderrama.com)