Will The Prince of Dartness topple The Count, or will The Viking slay Wolfie?

That's what darts fans will be asking themselves at Frimley Green, because it seems you haven't arrived on the oche until you have acquired a nickname.

Whatever you think of the suitability of giving darts players nicknames, some of them certainly deserve a prize for originality.

Chris Mason, rated joint fifth favourite this year at 10-1, is the aforementioned Prince, which is a witty enough name, although it does put pressure on him to do fairly well in tournaments or he might find himself re-named The Dunce of Dartness.

Current champion Ted Hankey is The Count, which only starts to make sense when you see him and realise he is the spitting image of traditional Hammer House ideas of what Dracula looked like - a younger version of snooker's Ray Reardon.

Thin-as-a-rake

My personal favourite is The Bronze Adonis - 1996 champion Steve Beaton, who retained the footballers' favourite 1980s haircut, the mullet, longer than anyone I can think of (and may still do - I will be watching avidly to find out).

I think even Beaton himself would admit that the nickname has a lot to do with his appearance relative to the more typical portly figure seen on the oche, and it doesn't really fit, glamour-wise, with his day job as a driving instructor.

Further references to personal appearance include a second Dutchman, Co Stompe, whose thin-as-a-rake look has earned him the nickname Pencil, while at the opposite end there's a Rocky and a Bear, who I presume must not be built at all like Stompe.

Then we have the predictable, including Raymond 'Barney' Barneveld, the two-time champion from Holland and 4-1 favourite, second favourite 'Rocket' Ronnie Baxter (which I seem to have heard somewhere before) and Mervyn 'Merv the Swerve' King (ditto).

Limestone Cowboy

They are at least not as bad as the groan-inducingly awful, which must be topped by kilt-wearing 1997 champion Les Wallace, transformed into McDanger, while Richie Burnett was the Prince of Wales.

It wasn't much better in the past - everyone knows Eric Bristow was the Crafty Cockney, but check out Phil 'The Power' Taylor, Dennis 'The Menace' Priestley (both now defected to Sky), Rod 'Prince of Style' Harrington and, most bizarrely, Bob 'Limestone Cowboy' Anderson - I think a reference to his vaguely country-and-western get-up and his roots.

Whatever you think of the tags, it all adds to the fun, and don't forget it's difficult to win without a nickname.