Nicknames are applied based on many reasons - including TV programmes.
There was a officer cadet intake where some of the cadets were given nicknames based on the names of the firemen in Trumpton (kids programme), namely Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub.
Dibble's stuck and that's still how is he named and called over 40 years later. Similarly "Gorky" Park was nicknamed after the book and still is known by that name - (in fact I had to sit here for a couple of minutes trying to remember their real first names).