What false name does Odysseus give Polyphemus?

Odysseus tells Polyphemus that his name is Nobody.

The Greek name is Outis, meaning “nobody” or “no one.” Odysseus uses the disguise while trapped inside the Cyclops’s cave. After getting Polyphemus drunk, he and his men blind the giant with a sharpened stake. When Polyphemus cries out that “Nobody” is attacking him, the other Cyclopes misunderstand the statement and do not come to help.

The trick depends on both language and timing: the name sounds like an ordinary answer, but it turns Polyphemus’s distress into an apparent claim that no person is harming him. A frequent mix-up is to give Outis as though it were a different character’s name. Outis is the Greek form of the alias, while “Nobody” is its standard English translation. Odysseus later boasts from his departing ship and reveals his real identity, provoking Polyphemus to ask Poseidon for revenge.