Donquixote Doflamingo is named after Don Quixote, which is a novel with a main character of the same name.
I've never met a One Piece consumer aside from myself who had no idea what Don Quixote was. The first time I saw Doflamingo's name, I thought it was something really random Oda made up. I didn't pronounce it right either. I pronounced it "don quicks oat". But everyone I've heard pronounce it has done so correctly.
Is Don Quixote really that known, and if so, how did I go so long without knowing about it? Is this one of those stereotypical assigned high school books that we never read in my classes, like The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Catcher in the Rye? Or is it more of a pop culture thing like Star Wars? And does anyone else here only know about Don Quixote because of One Piece?