With a name like that he must have been ickle. Despite having founded France's Carolingian dynasty, Pepin lost out in the battle of nicknames, having always been overshadowed by his dad Charles Martel ('The Hammer'), who stopped the advance of Arab power in   Europe at Tours in 732, and his son Charlemagne ('The Great'), the founder of the Holy Roman Empire and everyone's favourite Carolingian (742 - 814). With family like that, he was never going to be a household name. Even worse, the English version of his name is Pippin, which makes him sound like a big girly. They didn't have image consultants in those days. RB

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