Looking for a word to describe someone who is famous to a small group of people
I'm looking for a word to describe someone who is famous to a small group of people.
For example I play a competitive card game and there are several people who are famous within the gaming community, but outside of that community they are just your average people. Most people wouldn't recognize them as celebrities.
Solution 1:
Cult Hero - a writer, musician, artist, or other public figure who is greatly admired by a relatively small audience or is influential despite limited commercial success. OED
Solution 2:
You could use the idiom "a big fish in a small pond" to describe the person.
a big fish in a small pond: one of the most important people in a small group or organization, who would have much less power and importance if they were part of a larger group or organization (Free Dictionary).
http://www.azquotes.com/quote/21985
Solution 3:
A word of arguable authority (apparently absent from major dictionaries, although used by mainstream publications), is demicelebrity.
demicelebrity
- uncountable Minor fame
- countable A minor celebrity; a person of restricted fame
Example of use from Newsweek:
Is the life of a demicelebrity like Schwartz worth reading about? Absolutely.
Example of use from Boston Magazine:
What does it mean for such a demi-celebrity to tell a reporter that their very silly project—one completely unrelated to the thing for which he is famous...
Use in the book The Star of Istanbul:
And so a famous mother could be helpful, given Selene's apparent obliviousness to my own wide demicelebrity among Chicago cabdrivers and shoe shine boys and shop owners...all of whom knew my name pretty well.