​There have been few nicknames in recent times to catch the imagination of Leicester Tigers fans as much as Billy Twelvetrees’ “36”.

It was allegedly, injured skipper Geordan Murphy who christened the young Tigers starlet ‘36’ because, (with an Irish accent) 12 trees (3s) make 36.

Genius.

From my lofty perch in the press box at Welford Road, I have seen several replica jerseys with the number 36 on the back and the name “Billy” or “Twelvetrees” above it.

(For the record, Billy is expected to be out for another fortnight with an ankle injury he picked up in training three weeks ago).

The best nicknames are always the ones that aren’t so obvious.

Not “Smithy” or “Johnno” or “Westy” but things like my mate “Choc”, called so because he used to take a chocolate bar to school in his packed lunch every day. Even his mum and dad call him Choc. He’s 37 now.

Another mate I play five-a-side football with is called “Billy”. I knew him for three years before finding out that his actual name was Chris Hill. His nickname came from “Hill-Billy”. Geddit?

My sister-in-law has a friend who answers to “Sidetrack” all the time simply because, at school, she could never finish talking about one thing before going onto something else.

As a result, I have seen if I could unearth any other gems from within the Tigers squad.

New signing Lucas Amorosino is called “Speedy”. Not for his natural pace but because his middle name is Gonzales.

George Chuter apparently answers to Gonzo, a character from the Muppets, because of his (alleged) big nose.

Jordan Crane is known as “Rod” because his hairstyle has a resemblance to that of pop icon Rod Stewart, while 5ft 9ib scrum-half James Grindal is called after the vertically-challenge James Bond baddie “Odd-job”.

I would love to hear if you know of any others nicknames worth a mention from past or present Leicester Tigers.

Actually, I would love to hear if you have any friends with good nicknames too.

Post here or email me at martincrowson@leicestermercury.co.uk.