Aviator call sign An aviator call sign or " callsign " is a nickname given to a military pilot , flight officer , and even some enlisted aviators . This call sign is a substitute for the aviator ' s given name , and is used on flight suit and flight jacket name tags , painted / displayed beneath the officer ' s or enlisted aircrewman ' s name on aircraft fuselages or canopy rails , and in radio conversations . They are most commonly used in tactical jet aircraft communities ( i . e . , fighter and attack ) than in other aircraft communities ( i . e . , airlift , mobility , maritime patrol ) , but their use is not totally exclusive to the former . Many NASA Astronauts with military aviator backgrounds are referred to during spaceflights by their call signs rather than their first names . The origins of aviator call signs are varied . Most call signs play on or reference on the aviator ' s surname . Other inspirations for call signs may include personality traits , references to historical figures , or past exploits during the pilot ' s career . Aviator call signs nearly always must come from a member or members of the aviator ' s squadron , training class , or other coworker . It is considered bad form to try to give oneself a callsign . It is common for aviators to be given a fairly derogatory callsign , and the more they complain about it , the more likely it is to stick . Some stick with the aviator forever , while in other cases an aviator might have a series of call signs throughout his or her career . For example , the late Lieutenant Kara Hultgreen , USN , was originally given the callsign ' Hulk , ' because of her habitual weight training ; later , after a television appearance in which she wore detectable makeup , she received the callsign " Revlon " ( her biography is entitled " Call Sign Revlon " ) . In fiction . Examples from " Top Gun " include : In Tom Clancy ' s novel " Without Remorse , " fictional Vice Admiral Winslow Holland Maxwell , during World War II , received the callsign ' Winnie , ' which he hated ; after a mission in which he shot down three Japanese planes ( all confirmed by gunsight cameras ) , he found a new coffee mug in the wardroom , engraved with the callsign ' Dutch . ' When he later became an admiral , he displayed the mug — no longer used for coffee or pencils — in a place of honor on his desk . In the film version of the Stephen Coonts novel " Flight of the Intruder " , new A - 6 Intruder pilot LTJG Jack Barlow is given the call sign " Razor " because he didn ' t look old enough to shave . It is later changed to " Straight Razor " at the end of the film because he ' d become " a real weapon " in the eyes of his CO . The book ' s principal character Jake Grafton has the call sign " Cool Hand , " presumably derived from " Cool Hand Luke " due to his calm under fire . In the animated television series " " , the main characters Chance Furlong and Jake Clawson have the call signs " T - Bone , " and " Razor , " respectively . Although their call signs are technically their SwatKAT aliases , they frequently refer to each other by their call sign even when not flying . In the show " Battlestar Galactica " , Kara Thrace ' s call sign is Starbuck , Lee Adama ' s call sign is Apollo , Karl Agathon ' s call sign is Helo , Sharon Valerii ' s call sign is Boomer , Sharon Agathon ' s call sign is Athena and William Adama ' s call sign is Husker . Author and former F - 14 Tomcat radar intercept officer , Ward " Mooch " Carroll wrote a trilogy about an F - 14 pilot with the call sign of " Punk " due to his mistake of correcting his CO about how the Beatles were not punk rock musicians . His own RIO has the call sign " Spud " due to a scatological incident at a sex show involving a potato .