What does Odysseus tell the Cyclops Polyphemus his name is?

Odysseus tells the Cyclops Polyphemus that his name is Nobody in The Odyssey. He gives this false name while Polyphemus is drunk on the strong wine Odysseus has offered him. After Polyphemus falls asleep, Odysseus and his men drive a sharpened stake into the Cyclops’s eye. When the other Cyclopes hear Polyphemus screaming and ask who is hurting him, his answer makes it sound as if no one is attacking him, so they leave.

The trick lets Odysseus defeat a much stronger enemy through cunning rather than force. It is one of the clearest examples in The Odyssey of Odysseus surviving through disguise, quick thinking, and self-restraint.