What’s in a name? If it’s your Twitter handle, quite a lot actually. It’s how people identify you and your brand.

So what were the most popular names on Twitter, and on the web in general, in 2011? You might be surprised by some of the ones on this list.

WhitePages took a look at some of the most popular names on Twitter, search and the web in their infographic “The Year In Names“.

Some of my favorites:

• The most popular cat name was Tiger (and in the top 5 was Tigger).
• The most popular “villain” was Moammar Gadhafi, followed by Osama Bin Laden.
• Rupert Murdoch dominated the scandalous names of the year.
• The most-searched-for name on WhitePages.com was John Smith, followed by Mary Smith.

And, of course, the infographic details the most popular names on Twitter. The top 5 Twitterers probably won’t surprise you if you’re in touch with Twitter pop culture, but it’s interesting to see them all lined up and to compare the number of followers they each have versus the number of tweets.

You can take a look at some of the most popular names from WhitePages.com in the infographic below: