Sparky is a common

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

for people and animals. In the British Commonwealth, it can also be used to refer to an

electrician An electrician is a tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance ...

People

Sparky Adams Earl John "Sparky" Adams (August 26, 1894 – February 24, 1989) was a professional Major League Baseball player who played with the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cincinnati Reds. At , Adams was the smallest Major Le ...

(1894–1989), American Major League Baseball player *

Sparky Anderson George Lee "Sparky" Anderson (February 22, 1934 – November 4, 2010) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player, coach, and manager. He managed the National League's Cincinnati Reds to the 1975 and 1976 championships, then added a third t ...

(1934–2010), American Major League Baseball manager *

Sparky McEwen Charles "Sparky" McEwen (born April 28, 1968) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Davenport University. McEwen played professionally as a quarterback for one season with the Grand Rapids Rampage of ...

(born 1968), American football player * H. F. Gierke III (born 1943), North Dakota Supreme Court justice *

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...

(born 1963), former Welsh international football player and manager *

Eddie Lake Edward Erving Lake (March 18, 1916 – June 7, 1995), nicknamed "Sparky," was an American professional baseball player from 1937 through 1956. A shortstop, he appeared in 835 games in the Major Leagues over 11 seasons with the St. Louis Cardina ...

(1916–1995), American Major League Baseball player *

Shelly Liddelow Shelly "Sparky" Liddelow (born 30 June 1984 in Manjimup, Western Australia) plays field hockey for the Australian Women's Hockey Team, the Hockeyroos. She made her debut for Australia in 2007. Her Australian National Hockey League (NHL) team is W ...

(born 1984), Australian field hockey player *

Sparky Lyle Albert Walter "Sparky" Lyle (born July 22, 1944) is an American former left-handed relief pitcher who spent sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1967 through 1982. He was a relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, ...

(born 1944), American Major League Baseball pitcher *

Sparky Marcus Sparky Marcus (born Marcus Issoglio; December 6, 1967) is an American former actor. Early life Marcus was born in Hollywood, California. Career Marcus was well known for playing the role of the precocious child but also worked extensively as a ...

(born Marcus Issoglio in 1967), American child actor *

Mark Matejka Vincent Mark "Sparky" Matejka is an American rock guitarist. He joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2006, replacing Hughie Thomasson who had left to reform Outlaws. He first played with the band on their '' Christmas Time Again'' album in 2000 and was cre ...

, American Southern rock guitarist *

Marv Olson Marvin Clement Olson 'Sparky''(May 28, 1907 – February 5, 1998) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played from through for the Boston Red Sox. Listed at , 160 lb., Olson batted and threw right-handed. A native of Gayvill ...

(1907–1998), American Major League Baseball player *Mark Phillips, vocalist of the British band

Demented Are Go Demented Are Go (DAG aka Demented Are Go!) are a Welsh psychobilly band that was formed around 1982 in Cardiff, Wales. They were one of the earliest in the initial wave of bands to mix punk rock with rockabilly, and as a result, are conside ...

Charles M. Schulz Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', featuring what are probably his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is wi ...

(1922–2000), American cartoonist, creator of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip *

Ronald Speirs Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Charles Speirs (20 April 1920 – 11 April 2007) was a United States Army officer who served in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. He was initially assigned as a p ...

(1920–2007), United States Army officer * Wilbur Stalcup (1910–1972), American college basketball coach *

Melville Vail Melville Arthur "Sparky" Vail (July 5, 1906 in Meaford, Ontario - January 29, 1983) was a professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in t ...

(1906–1983), Canadian hockey player *

Sparky Woods Phillip Perry "Sparky" Woods (born December 20, 1953) is an American football coach. He is a senior adviser for football team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Woods served as the head football coach at Appalachian State Unive ...

(born 1953), American football college football player and coach

Fictional characters

* Sparky the Fire Dog, official mascot of the National Fire Protection Association *Sparky, Richie's

Pikachu is a fictional species in the ''Pokémon'' media franchise. Designed by Atsuko Nishida and Ken Sugimori, Pikachu first appeared in the 1996 Japanese video games ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Green'' created by Game Freak and Nintendo, which were ...

in the ''Pokémon'' anime *Sparky, one of the nicknames given to Rygel XVI by John Crichton in the science fiction television series ''Farscape'' * Sparky, a gay dog on the animated television series ''South Park'' *Sparky, nickname for radio operator Sgt. Pryor on the television series ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. The ...

'' *Sparky, mechanic in the animated television series ''

Speed Racer ''Speed Racer'', also known as , is a Japanese media franchise about Auto racing, automobile racing. ''Mach GoGoGo'' was originally serialized in print in Shueisha's 1966 ''Shōnen Book''. It was released in tankōbon book form by Sun W ...

'' *Sparky, a firefly in the 1970s children's show ''

The Bugaloos ''The Bugaloos'' is an American children's television series, produced by brothers Sid and Marty Krofft, that aired on NBC on Saturday mornings from 1970 to 1972. Reruns of the show aired in daily syndication from 1978 to 1985 as part of the "Krof ...

'' *Sparky, a mechanic in the adventure game ''

Flight of the Amazon Queen ''Flight of the Amazon Queen'' is a graphical point-and-click adventure game by Interactive Binary Illusions, originally released in 1995 for Amiga and MS-DOS. The game was re-released as freeware in 2004 for use with ScummVM. In January 2022, ...

'' *Sparky, an enemy type encountered in ''

Super Mario World ''Super Mario World,'' known in Japan as is a platform game, platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released in Japan in 1990, North America in 1991 and Europe and A ...

'' *Sparky the Wonder Penguin, character from the comic strip ''

This Modern World ''This Modern World'' is a weekly satirical comic strip by cartoonist and political commentator Tom Tomorrow (real name Dan Perkins) that covers current events from a left-wing point of view. Published continuously for more than 30 years, ''Th ...

'' *Sparky, nickname for Clark Wilhelm Griswold, Jr. in the ''

National Lampoon's Vacation ''National Lampoon's Vacation'', sometimes referred to as simply ''Vacation'', is a 1983 American road trip comedy film directed by Harold Ramis starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Imogene Coca, Randy Quaid, John Candy, and Christie Brink ...

'' movies *Sparky, protagonist of the children's audio story ''

Sparky's Magic Piano ''Sparky's Magic Piano'' is the second in a series of children’s audio stories featuring Sparky, an original character created for Capitol Records in 1947. (Sparky also appeared in comic books as a sidekick to Capitol’s other famous creation, ...

'' * Sparky (''Atomic Betty''), an alien starship pilot on the animated television series ''Atomic Betty'' *Sparky, the dog in the 1984 Tim Burton short film '' Frankenweenie'' and its 2012 feature-length stop-motion remake * Sparky (''Lilo & Stitch''), an alien experiment from the ''Lilo & Stitch'' franchise, also known as Experiment 221 * Sparky, super hero from the cartoon ''Static Shock'' * Sparky (''The Fairly OddParents''), a fairy dog featured in season 9 of ''The Fairly OddParents'' *Sparky, the electric siege machine as a legendary card found in the real-time strategy ''

Clash Royale ''Clash Royale'' is a free-to-play real-time strategy video game developed and published by Supercell. The game combines elements from collectible card games, tower defense, and multiplayer online battle arena. The game was released globally ...

'' *Sparky, a translated version of a nickname for

Mikoto Misaka is a fictional character created by Kazuma Kamachi and first illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura. She is a major character in the ''A Certain Magical Index'' light novel series and the main protagonist of its manga spin-off series ''A Certain Sci ...

* Sparky (Marvel Comics), a synthezoid dog in Marvel Comics

Other uses

* Sparky, nickname of a robot dog on ''MythBusters'' *

Sparky the Sun Devil Sparky the Sun Devil is the official mascot of Arizona State University. Originally the ASU athletic teams' mascot was an owl, then became a "Normal" (because ASU was founded as a normal school). It was later changed to a bulldog in an attempt t ...

, Arizona State University mascot * Sparky the Eagle,

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty i ...

's team mascot *

Sparky (comic) ''Sparky'' was a British comic published weekly by DC Thomson, that ran from (issue dates) 23 January 1965 to 9 July 1977 when it merged with '' The Topper'' after 652 issues. From 1965–1980 the comic published an annual entitled ''The Spark ...

, British comic book * "Sparky", a song from ''Images'' (Brotherhood of Man album) (1977) * "Dog-Like Sparky", a song from ''

Sing to God ''Sing to God'' is the fourth studio album by English rock band Cardiacs. Their first album with drummer Bob Leith and their second as a four-piece, it was recorded throughout 1995, breaking a hiatus by the band that had lasted since the ban ...

'' (1996) * Sparky, a performing sea lion at the Como Zoo

People

Fictional characters

Other uses

See also