This soccer legend is worldly known as Pele. What is his real name?

Good call, Gera. Interestingly, I understand the error: I have lived in Brazil's western neighbor, Ecuador, and spend part of each year here (I'm here now). 'Edison' is a very popular name here as are 'Washington,' 'Franklin, 'Jefferson,' 'Wilson,' 'Nelson' (the British 'Hero of Trafalgar), 'Lenin,' and (absurdly!), 'Stalin.' Several sources state that Pele was in fact named after Thomas Edison and state his name as, indeed, Edison Arantes do Nascimento, something not unusual when such countries adopt English names. For example, the majority of 'John's I see here are inevitably spelled 'Jhon.' Today, I walked past a men's salon proudly boasting itself in bold letters as a 'BABER SHOP.' A dear friend of mine who is an indigenous member of the Cofane tribe and lives in the upper Amazon basin has named her child after my niece, 'Ashlee Ghislaine Lucitande,' but can barely pronounce the first names. My point is that Pele's 'Edson,' if not 'Edison' is most probably a common misnomer in spite of the parents' intentions. You might find this interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_name#Spelling Cheers!

It's Edson not Edison

I met him in person, he was truly wonderful to speak to Very modest and encouraging

How did he get the name Pele?

Tamela K. Wanless, he was given it because of his pronunciation of the name of his favourite player, local Vasco da Gama goalkeeper Bilé, which he misspoke.

I saw him play. What an amazing, amazing man!

Died not long ago. I've known his real name for decades.

Unfortunately Pele recently passed away at the great age of 82!!

I saw him play at The Meadowlands towards the end of his career when he played with the New York Cosmos. He was still great.

Tamela K. Wanless, If you are still interested and haven't found the answer already, I suggest you click on the (more info) wikipedia article and go down to the section called "Early life". You'll find the explanation for "Pele" about halfway down the first paragraph. Many times answers to questions that arise, like this, can easily be found by scanning the underlying article, and it usually doesn't take much extra time. ;>)

A true football genius …

Alan Waites, Yes they were FIFA World Cups- the first of which was held in 1930. You appear to be simply confusing the name of the competition with the name of the trophy that participating teams played for. From 1930 to 1946 the trophy was known as 'Coupe de Monde' (World Cup) - in 1946 it was renamed in honour of Jules Rimet, the president of FIFA who had organised the 1930 competition. Pele couldn't be pictured holding it - it was stolen in 1970 and never seen again, thought to have been melted down.

Pelé was born in the city of Três Corações (Three Hearts) in the state of Minas Gerais.

Although Pele did win 3 World Cups (58, 62 & 70) They were not FIFA World Cups which was not contested until 1974. Brazil won the Jules Rimet Trophy. So Pele should be holding that trophy. Also, Pele is the only player to win over 3 decades.

Teo Sinclair, Nicely put Teo. It has also been said that Pele's name was misspelt at birth. That is what was said in an interview many years ago.

Anyone who watched soccer know Pele. Good Q ans E.

Lucky guess

The beautiful game. I had the privilege of covering a qualifying.match for the World Cup as an undergraduate college student. I was the only person on the newspaper staff who had played the game. I loved to watch Pele play the game as well as the example he set for sportsmanship and involvement in humanitarian pursuits.

Probably the best player ever