Inspired by his father to be physical because he wasn’t smart, Rocky Balboa grew up idolizing boxers, and took his nickname Rocky from the famous Rocky Marciano. While Rocky’s name is never revealed on screen, the boxer’s real first name is revealed in an early draft of the Rocky II script. 
Born as Roberto Balboa, Rocky spent years fighting both in the ring as an amateur and professionally as a loan collector. It wasn’t until Apollo Creed’s open call for a wild card contender to fight for the championship, that Roberto got his first shot at a big fight.Lucky for us they chose to stick with the nickname because we probably wouldn’t have seen six Roberto movies.
