Names like "the Great" or "the Terrible" are most often translated into English, and may not sound so dramatic in their native tongue. "Alfred Magnum" could be literally translated as "Big Alfred", but "Alfred the Great" seems more impressive.

Keeping that in mind, many modern leaders have epithets like that. Andrew Jackson was "Old Hickory" and Zachary Taylor was "Old Fuss and Feathers."

Moving toward the past century, Mustafa Kemal was known as "Ataturk" and Margaret Thatcher was "the Iron Lady". Former California governor Arnold Shwarzegger was "The Governator". Epithets might not be widely used in casual discussion, but have certainly not vanished.