WW1 was often referred to as "The Great War", and is still sometimes referred to by this name. In the early writings about WW2 (let's say between 1939 when war began in Europe and 1949 when technical occupation of Germany ended and the modern status quo began), were any alternative names ever proposed or in use?
There have been a number of excessively short answers in this threads along the lines of "Yes, X power called it Y". While these are technically answering OP's question, they fall short of our sub's rule on in-depth answers. A single sentence answer that amounts to "yes" does not satisfy this criteria and so please keep in mind our sub rules when considering whether or not to post an answer in this thread.