Stupid question about Iraq

[Jason Zanon]

I don't want to freight this question with any baggage about correct
politics or anything like that; it's an honest query:  why is it that
the ruler of Iraq is referred to in common parlance, even in the press,
as "Saddam" when it would be SOP to call a high-profile individual by
their last name in most any other situation?  I seem to recall that this
moniker was bequeathed as a derogatory by Bush the Elder and minions in
some weak attempt to slur him simultaneously in English and Arabic.
Anyone that can shed a bit of light on this?

Jason