It’s the territory of mega-famous high-achievers to be known globally by just one name, be it a surname or first name: Messi, Marilyn, Sinatra, Elvis, Adele, Caesar. Better still, a nickname: Pele, Bono, Sting, Charlot (Charlie Chaplin), Fergie (the Sir Alex kind).
The fact that one word instantly evokes identity, achievements and cachet indicates you’ve truly excelled. So it is with Monchi.
Aston Villa's newly-appointed president of football operations is, across his industry, never referred to by the names he was given at birth 54 years ago: Ramon Rodriguez Verdejo. It’s just "Monchi".
What does it mean? Well, it’s only a nickname abbreviated, affectionately, from the word "Ramon".
The cachet it signifies is that Villa have just brought on board the man who, arguably, has been the single most stellar navigator of the international transfer market over the last two decades.
You want evidence? When this wiry, fiery, shaven-headed native of Cadiz finished up his career as a goalkeeper 23 years ago his club, Sevilla, had just been relegated to Spain’s second division. Embarrassing and pretty disastrous financially. Down went the club, up went Monchi’s boots - hung up for good.
Sevilla's president (the late Roberto Ales), bereft of resources and optimism, simply said to him: “You take charge of running the football side of things - make it up as you go along."
He had zero experience or knowledge in the business. No staff, no contacts - the madcap idea should have been a total flop.
Two decades later, including a brief spell at Roma, Monchi has earned Sevilla several hundred million in profits - from players’ sale prices versus purchase costs, and from consistently brilliant European performances from the various squads he's constructed.
When he took over on a wing and a prayer in June 2000, Sevilla had won precisely one Spanish League and three Copas Del Rey in what was then their entire 110-year history.
Today, Sevilla can boast a remarkable 11 major trophies won in the 17 years since 2006.
That includes victories in a magnificent seven UEFA Europa League finals, against clubs including Liverpool, Benfica, Inter and Roma. Not bad.
Whilst at Sevilla, Monchi has shown a Midas touch in selecting little-known or under-appreciated Brazilian, Croatian, French, Moroccan, Polish, Serbian and Argentinian players. He has then not only freed them to shine brilliantly on the pitch and win medals, but generated massive profits for Los Rojiblancos. He has also built a renowned youth academy.
Having played European Cup football only once, (as an invited guest in 1957/58), Sevilla have reaped hundreds of millions of Euros from 10 UEFA Champions League qualifications in the last 16 seasons.
Another amazing aspect of this genuinely remarkable, although not infallible, man is that while this level of Blue Riband success should in theory be subject to massive secrecy and huge paranoia to prevent the equivalent of industrial espionage, he’s often willing to explain his work in detail, for the general benefit of football and those who want to put faith in his methods!
Monchi has a huge but carefully-chosen and tremendously astute network of scouts and assessors around the world. How many of those will jump ship with him is an interesting subject.
He measures hundreds of players every six months - sifting them into discard/monitor/follow closely/sign immediately columns.
He rates numerically whether a player he signs is meant to explode with immediate value or will mature and come to the boil - whether a footballer will offer short-term impact or mid-term success and then high-return sale value.
Monchi speaks English, has long been fascinated by the country's football history and culture, and will inject dynamism, knowledge, expertise and outright hunger for victory into Villa’s short and medium term.
The prospect of him and Unai Emery working together again, as they did for three years at Sevilla and winning a trophy per season, is dynamite.
Emery nearly recruited Monchi to join him at Arsenal in 2019, but the Andalusian was too tempted by returning "home". Now Emery has got his man. Villa have signed well. And will continue to do so.
Graham Hunter (@BumperGraham) is a Spanish football writer, producer and broadcaster.