| 1 | %% NOTE - site policy for drag queens is that we don't list real/legal names unless the performer is credited under that name, or uses it professionally in some other context (e.g. on a talk show appearance). If not, we ONLY list the performer's drag/stage name. |
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| 3 | %% Per this ATT: |
| 4 | %% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/query.php?parent_id=114200&type=att |
| 5 | %% |
| 6 | |
| 7 | ->''"It isn't just actors that get their names fixed. Anybody here ever heard of a guy called Sam Goldfish? Of course not. You know why? Imagine. [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer Metro-Goldfish-Mayer]] sounds silly, especially with a lion roaring out of the titles."'' |
| 8 | -->-- '''Tommy Anders''' (real name Giuseppe Androsepitone), ''Literature/TheExecutioner'', "Vegas Vendetta" |
| 9 | |
| 10 | AKA Screen Names. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | When someone goes into the public sphere image becomes everything, and even how you pronounce your name becomes important. You want to go by Jim, Jimmy, Jamie or James? A stage name is when someone chooses a public name that is technically not their legal or original name. The reasons vary, but the common examples are: |
| 13 | * Their own [[TheGenericGuy isn't exciting or exotic enough]]. |
| 14 | * It may be [[UnfortunateNames embarrassing]], [[TheUnpronounceable difficult to read]] or a bit of a TongueTwister. |
| 15 | * Their own is "too foreign" or they want to minimize their ethnic background (5 syllables tend to be [[OverlyLongName catchier than 15]] and some may not look like the ethnicity their name implies). |
| 16 | * Someone in the local actors' union or someone very famous outside the union [[RenamedToAvoidAssociation already has]] that name. |
| 17 | * To distance themselves from [[BuryYourArt a problematic past]] or downplay their involvement in the work (compare AlanSmithee and UncreditedRole). |
| 18 | * To avoid union fines by working in a non-union production or otherwise keep their regular moniker separate due to the content (anime dub actors often use fake names for when they do hentai, so young fans won't look up their real name and find anime porn). |
| 19 | * To keep their [[CelebrityIsOverrated personal lives private]]. |
| 20 | * Their legal name has changed (such as when women get married) and they continue with a name known to the public or profession even though they legally have a different name now. |
| 21 | * Names that were supposed to be [[PermanentPlaceholder temporary yet stuck]]. |
| 22 | * An entire character was created and they are [[{{Kayfabe}} trying to play it as a real person]]. |
| 23 | * They want to give themselves an AwesomeMcCoolName appropriate for the form of entertainment (especially prevalent in the music industry, but particularly HipHop). |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Performers can go a lot of ways when choosing a new name. Some add a middle name, some add an initial somewhere, some add their mother's maiden name or the name of someone they respect, while others just choose a name at random. Carole Lombard chose her professional surname [[LineOfSightName from a shop sign]], for instance. In [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood the old days]], a lot of actors had their professional names chosen for them by the studio they were signed to, and others were given a list of approved names to pick from. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Picking one name can [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18613_6-insane-true-stories-behind-stage-names-celebrities_p2.html turn into weird coincidences.]] |
| 28 | |
| 29 | A common choice is one's mother's maiden name; see NomDeMom. Also compare TheMaidenNameDebate. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | See also PornNames for a particular variant of this. |
| 32 | |
| 33 | '''Authors''' have their own equivalent of this, the PenName, which is treated as a separate trope. See also NomDeGuerre. Sometimes may be a form of MeaningfulRename. |
| 34 | |
| 35 | ---- |
| 36 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | !!RealLife examples: |
| 39 | |
| 40 | [[folder:Actors]] |
| 41 | * Terry Quinn became Creator/TerryOQuinn because there was already a Terrance Quinn registered with the actors' guild. |
| 42 | * Susan Antonia Williams Stockard combined her last name with that of her husband at the time and became Creator/StockardChanning. |
| 43 | * Michael Andrew Fox became Creator/MichaelJFox upon joining the Screen Actors Guild[[note]]now merged into SAG-AFTRA[[/note]] because there was a very busy character actor called Michael Fox who was already a member. He chose the fake middle initial "J." so no one could make "Michael, A Fox" jokes (or [[MooseAndMapleSyrup Canadian "Eh?" jokes]]), as well as in tribute to actor Michael J. Pollard. |
| 44 | * Creator/DoveCameron, who revealed her birth name as Chloe Celeste Hosterman in late 2013. |
| 45 | * Creator/BenKingsley's birth name is Krishna Bhanji. He changed it after it was mispronounced as 'Kristina Blange' during an audition for a high-school play. |
| 46 | * Creator/LeaMichele's real last name is Sarfati, which she shortened to just her middle name when she became famous. |
| 47 | * Josiane Balašković francized and shortened her Croatian name to "[[Creator/JosianeBalasko Balasko]]". |
| 48 | * Creator/PierreRichard simply took his double first name. His full name is Pierre-Richard Maurice Charles Léopold Defays. |
| 49 | * Creator/BeatriceRosen shortened her birthname, Rosenblatt. |
| 50 | * Creator/JacquesVilleret was born Jacky Boufroura (the latter is an Algerian surname). |
| 51 | * Heidi Creator/HyndenWalch (Starfire on ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'') goes by her middle name. |
| 52 | * Creator/DianeKeaton's name is Diane Hall but she uses her mom's maiden name since there was a "Diane Hall" already registered with SAG. The titular character from ''Film/AnnieHall'' is actually named after her since "Annie" was what she went by as a child. |
| 53 | * Creator/TimAllen was born Timothy Allen Dick (no relation to Andy Dick, who was born Andrew Thomlinson). He dropped his last name mostly because he didn't think anybody would believe he didn't make it up for a cheap laugh. |
| 54 | * Susan Alexandra Weaver took "Creator/{{Sigourney|Weaver}}" from a character in ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby''. |
| 55 | * Creator/DonAdams' birth name was Donald James Yarmy. He was once married to an actress with the stage name Adelaide Adams. He became Don Adams because auditions were frequently in alphabetical order. |
| 56 | ** The liner notes to Adams' comedy album ''Get Smart'' (featuring routines based on the series) says that 'Adams' is the closest American translation to Yarmy. Bill Dana, who wrote the liner notes, was born William Szathmary, and said in the same notes that 'Dana' was the closest American translation to his own Hungarian last name. |
| 57 | ** The name 'Yarmy' may not have been suitable for Don, but his younger brother Dick, a comedian and actor in his own right, had no trouble using the family's real last name. |
| 58 | * Creator/JohnWayne's birth name was Marion Robert Morrison,[[note]]After he became famous as John Wayne, studio publicists erroneously gave his birth name as Marion ''Michael'' Morrison. Wayne went along with it because he liked the name Michael. Virtually every biography of Wayne before 1995 replicated this error.[[/note]] although as it turns out he was called "Duke" (which was the name of a dog) long before he became "John Wayne". |
| 59 | * Creator/DonKnotts was an example of MiddleNameBasis, his full name being Jesse Donald Knotts. |
| 60 | * As revealed in ''Film/{{Ray}}'', Music/RayCharles was born Ray Charles Robinson, but dropped his surname due to the famous boxer "Sugar" Ray Robinson (which itself was the StageName of Walker Smith Jr.). |
| 61 | * Thomas Cruise Mapother IV dropped his last name, because "Creator/TomCruise" just sounds much cooler than "Tom Mapother". (His cousin, [[Creator/WilliamMapother William Reibert Mapother Jr.]], didn't do the same thing when becoming an actor.) |
| 62 | * James Scott Bumgarner dropped the first syllable of his last name to become Creator/JamesGarner. |
| 63 | * Nicolas Coppola didn't want to ride on [[Creator/FrancisFordCoppola his director uncle's]] fame, so he took the last name of SuperHero ComicBook/LukeCage to become Creator/NicolasCage. |
| 64 | * Considering that ''Series/DoctorWho'' has been on for over 50 years, many of the cast members have chosen stage names for a variety of reasons. |
| 65 | ** Creator/DavidTennant is actually David [=MacDonald=], but Equity already had someone with that name, so he named himself after Neil Tennant of the Music/PetShopBoys. |
| 66 | ** Creator/PeterDavison is actually Peter Moffett, this name change being to avoid confusion with director Peter Moffat (who worked with him on ''Series/DoctorWho''). This doesn't extend to the rest of his family, as his daughter Creator/GeorgiaMoffett used her birth name up until marrying David Tennant. |
| 67 | ** Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith took the stage name "[[Creator/SylvesterMcCoy Sylveste McCoy]]" while touring with Ken Campbell, and later added an R to the first name. According to one account, it was originally a joke ''about'' stage names -- "Sylveste [=McCoy=] is only my stage name, of course, my real name is... Sylvest''er'' [=McCoy=]" -- that he decided to run with after a theatre critic failed to get it and thought Sylvester [=McCoy=] actually was his real name. |
| 68 | ** Creator/JonPertwee's real name was Jean Roland Devon de Perthuis (he was of French and Austrian descent). People in his family use Pertwee as a phonetic spelling. He also went by the anglicised John, before a playbill misspelt his name. |
| 69 | ** It extends to companions too. Creator/LallaWard's real first name is Sarah, Lalla being a childhood nickname. |
| 70 | ** Creator/BilliePiper's real name is Leian Piper, but chose the stage name "Billie" for her music career. When she switched to acting she then changed it again to Billie Piper. |
| 71 | ** The original Master, Creator/RogerDelgado, was born [[OverlyLongName Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto]]. He just used the "Delgado" for his acting work. |
| 72 | * Film actor Stewart Granger's real name was James Stewart, and in fact changed it before Creator/JimmyStewart came into Hollywood. |
| 73 | * Creator/NataliePortman’s name is Neta-Lee Hershlag. Portman is her paternal grandmother’s maiden name. Since she got her start as a child, her parents wanted to keep her real name private for her sake as well as for the sake of her Israeli father’s medical practice / academic work. |
| 74 | * Creator/KimNovak's first name is actually Marilyn, but was changed when she signed her contract with Columbia to avoid confusion with Creator/MarilynMonroe. Of course, "Marilyn Monroe" was itself a stage name, her real name being Norma Jeane Mortenson.[[note]]She was born a Mortenson because her mother, born Gladys ''Monroe'', was separated from her husband, one Martin Mortenson, at the time of her birth. The future Marilyn Monroe more often used the surname "Baker", from Gladys' first husband.[[/note]] Many bombshells and sex symbols of old-time Hollywood have real names that are depressingly prosaic in comparison to their better-known stage names. |
| 75 | * Creator/JoanFontaine's real name is Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (she's the sister of Creator/OliviaDeHavilland). Fontaine had been their mother's stage name. |
| 76 | * Creator/ShirleyMacLaine was originally Shirley [=MacLean=] Beaty. Her brother simply added a second "t" to their last name, becoming Creator/WarrenBeatty. |
| 77 | * Catherine Dorleac chose her mother's maiden name [[Creator/CatherineDeneuve Deneuve]] as her stage surname, to differentiate herself fron her (initially) more famous sister [[Creator/FrancoiseDorleac Françoise]]. |
| 78 | * Colette Dacheville became Creator/StephaneAudran, while Marie-France Ogier dropped her first name after becoming generally known by the nickname "Bulle" ("Bubble"). |
| 79 | * Creator/CydCharisse was born Tula Ellice Finklea. "Sid" was a childhood nickname. Nico Charisse was her first husband. |
| 80 | * Creator/YvonneDeCarlo's real name is Margaret Yvonne "Peggy" Middleton. (In her pre-''Series/TheMunsters'' career, De Carlo generally played exotic beauty roles; "Peggy Middleton" just wouldn't have cut it for an actress playing such roles. See remarks on Cyd Charisse above.) Her mother's name was Marie De Carlo. |
| 81 | * Creator/ClaudetteColbert was born as Émilie Chauchoin. |
| 82 | * Conrad Robert Falk dropped his last name and reversed his given names to become Creator/RobertConrad. |
| 83 | ** His Series/WildWildWest sidekick, Creator/RossMartin, was born Martin Rosenblatt. |
| 84 | * Italian actor and screenwriter Creator/GeorgeEastman was born Luigi Montefiori. |
| 85 | * Creator/JudyGarland's real name was Frances Ethel Gumm. It's hard to blame her for not using her birth name. |
| 86 | * Creator/HenryGibson, born James Bateman, got his stage name from Creator/JonVoight when the two of them were toying with the idea of working up a comedy act together. Voight chose it in tribute to Creator/HenrikIbsen. |
| 87 | * Creator/DianaDors' real name was the unfortunate Diana Fluck. As she said: "They asked me to change my name. I suppose they were afraid that if my real name Diana Fluck was in lights and one of the lights blew..." |
| 88 | * Triple or quadruple the "wouldn't cut it" comment for Archibald Leach, who went on to play Creator/CaryGrant in the movies. (Interviewer: "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant." Cary Grant: "So would I.") |
| 89 | * Italian TV and film actors Creator/TerenceHill and Creator/BudSpencer were born Mario Girotti and Carlo Pedersoli. |
| 90 | * SpaghettiWestern actor Giuliano Gemma is credited in some movies with anglophone name "Montgomery Wood". |
| 91 | * Child actress Parker [=McKenna=] Posey uses her middle name so as not to confuse her with older actress Creator/ParkerPosey. |
| 92 | * Actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier also uses her middle name so as not to confuse her with her father, Creator/SidneyPoitier. |
| 93 | * Creator/GingerRogers' real name was Virginia Katherine [=McMath=]. Ginger is a standard nickname for Virginia; Rogers was her stepfather. |
| 94 | * Creator/IdinaMenzel's last name is really "Mentzel". She eventually dropped the 't' to better reflect the pronounciation it gained in America. |
| 95 | * A famous fake real name story: Creator/WalterMatthau was once famously credited for a cameo under the alias "Walter Matuschanskayasky"; fan folklore then turned this pseudonym into his supposed real name, which he allegedly changed to sound less ethnic. In reality, his ''real'' real name was Walter Matthow, which he changed to Matthau because it was the usual American spelling. He only used Matuschanskayasky as a stage name once, in the movie ''Film/{{Earthquake}}'', when he agreed to play a cameo role only if his real name wasn't used. |
| 96 | * Creator/BernadettePeters' real name is Bernadette Lazzara; her father's first name was '''Peter'''. |
| 97 | * Creator/LeeJCobb's real name was Leo Jacob. |
| 98 | * Alan Konigsberg changed his name to Creator/WoodyAllen. |
| 99 | * Jake Cohen used the stage name Jack Roy before he changed it to Creator/RodneyDangerfield. |
| 100 | * Film/TheThreeStooges: |
| 101 | ** Louis Feinberg, Moses Harry Horwitz and Jerome Lester Horwitz — a/k/a [[Film/TheThreeStooges Larry Fine and Moe & Curly Howard]]. |
| 102 | ** Samuel Horwitz = Shemp Howard (though this was due to a speech impediment on his Lithuanian-born mother's part, where "Sam" came out "Shemp"). |
| 103 | ** Joseph Wardell = (Curley-)Joe [=DeRita=]. |
| 104 | * Melvin Kaminsky became Creator/MelBrooks (Brooks being a take on his mother's last name, '''Brook'''man). |
| 105 | * Ramón Estevez wanted his name to sound less ethnic, so he changed it to Creator/MartinSheen. His son, Carlos, chose to follow in his footsteps and became Creator/CharlieSheen (although this is only his stage name; when some court documents related to one of his myriad arrests were leaked, they showed his legal name is still Carlos Estevez), some of the family (his brother, and some sons) switch between, while his daughter and one son kept their original names — most notably Creator/EmilioEstevez. |
| 106 | * The story goes that Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger's first US agent told him he'd never be successful in Hollywood for three reasons: he was too muscular, his accent was too thick and no one could pronounce his name. So he used a different surname in ''Film/HerculesInNewYork'', Arnold Strong — a pun on both his physique and co-star Arnold Stang — with his voice redubbed. |
| 107 | * Bernard Schwartz changed his name to Creator/TonyCurtis. |
| 108 | * Frederick Austerlitz became Creator/FredAstaire. He started using the name "Astaire" as a kid, when he appeared in vaudeville acts. |
| 109 | * Creator/NatalieWood was born as Natalia Zakharenko. Her name was changed to Gurdin, then, when she started to appear in movies, Wood. |
| 110 | ** Her sister Creator/LanaWood was born Svetlana Lisa Gurdin. |
| 111 | * Creator/LaurenBacall was born as Betty Joan Perske. |
| 112 | * Creator/PhoebeCates's original name is Phoebe Belle Katz. (This is likely a phonetic spelling, since "Katz" is sometimes pronounced "Cates".) |
| 113 | * Creator/DorisDay's real name is Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff. |
| 114 | * Creator/JackPalance was born Volodymyr Palahniuk. |
| 115 | * Creator/CharlesBronson was born Charles Buchinsky, which was the Latinized version of either Karolis Bučinskis, Casimir Businskis, or Karol Buczyński. He changed the name on the suggestion of his agent (reputedly randomly choosing a street name near the Paramount lot), who was concerned that someone with an Eastern European last name would wind up getting in trouble due to the [[UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy McCarthy]] hearings going down in the 50s. |
| 116 | * Margarita Carmen Cansino underwent extensive follicle removal to become the famous Creator/RitaHayworth. Hayworth was her mother's maiden name, though. |
| 117 | * Creator/HedyLamarr was born as Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler. |
| 118 | * Creator/YvonneStrahovski's actual last name is Strzechowski. Josh Schwartz asked her to change it to a phonetic spelling so people would actually know how to pronounce it. |
| 119 | * Izabella Miko's actual last name is Mikołajczak. Most probably it was too long to pronounce. |
| 120 | * Creator/MiaSara, whose actual last name is Sarapocciello. |
| 121 | * Barbara Bain was originally named Millicent Fogel. |
| 122 | * ''Meet Millie'' writer Francis Allen Goldstucker changed his name to Frank Galen. |
| 123 | * David S. Cohen was credited as David X. Cohen in the opening credits of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' because the WGA already had a completely different David S. Cohen on the books. [[XtremeKoolLetterz He chose X because it sounded "sci-fi-ish".]] |
| 124 | * Aaron Johnson and Samantha Taylor-Wood, after working in ''Film/NowhereBoy'', became a couple and decided to share a surname. Now they're Creator/{{Aaron|Taylor Johnson}} and Sam Taylor-Johnson. |
| 125 | * Similarly, Creator/AlexaVega and Carlos Pena changed their surnames after marriage to [=PenaVega=]. |
| 126 | * Reportedly, Creator/JonVoight gave his children middle names that could act as last names, so they wouldn't be hooked to their famous father. James Haven isn't that well-known, but Creator/AngelinaJolie certainly has made a name for herself. Jon Voight's brother, James Voight, is better known as the musician Chip Taylor, who wrote the song "Wild Thing", performed by the Troggs. |
| 127 | * Creator/RichardEGrant (Richard Grant Esterhuysen) used a twist on the dropping-your-last-name technique: the middle initial in his stage name is the first letter of his real surname. |
| 128 | * Creator/EdwardGRobinson, formerly Emanuel Goldenberg. |
| 129 | * Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz dropped his last name because of issues with his father. Now he's just Creator/JonStewart. |
| 130 | * Jim Moir took the name Vic Reeves from his two favourite singers, Vic Damone and Jim Reeves. |
| 131 | * Creator/MichaelKeaton (''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'', ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'', etc.) was born Michael John Douglas. He needed a stage name because ''the'' Creator/MichaelDouglas (''Series/TheStreetsOfSanFrancisco'', ''Film/FatalAttraction'', ''Film/WallStreet'', ''Film/TheChinaSyndrome,'' etc.) had established a prior claim, and he may have been influenced by Creator/BusterKeaton and Creator/DianeKeaton. As it turns out, Buster Keaton's real first name was Joseph, while Diane Keaton was born Diane Hall and ''also'' had to change her name because it was already being used (Keaton was her mother's maiden name). |
| 132 | * Michael Douglas' father, Creator/KirkDouglas, was born as Issur Danielovitch, and went by Izzy Demsky growing up. He legally became Kirk Douglas before enlisting in the Navy in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. |
| 133 | * Creator/RobinWilliams was often credited under assumed names (if he's credited at all) when he did a cameo: "Ray D. Tutto" for ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'', "Sudy Nim" for ''WesternAnimation/AWishForWingsThatWork'', "Marty Fromage" for ''Film/ShakesTheClown'', "George Spelvin" in ''TheSecretAgent''. George Spelvin, in fact, was rather long-running one. According to ''{{Playbill}}'', back in the early 1900s people were unaccustomed to actors playing more than one part, and so Spelvin was credited with roles taken by an actor credited for a different one already. He became a long-running tradition but was eventually dropped in the late 1980s when audiences became more okay with the idea. |
| 134 | * Albert L. Einstein changed his name to Creator/AlbertBrooks when he started performing comedy to distinguish himself from ''the'' UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein. The inspiration for the surname is homage to Creator/MelBrooks. His brother Creator/BobEinstein—actually a case of MiddleNameBasis (given names Stewart Robert)—created the "Super Dave Osborne" character, which became so well-known that many fans ''thought'' it was his stage name. After retiring the Super Dave character, Bob played significant recurring roles in ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'' and ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', credited under his real name. |
| 135 | * Another "the name was taken": when Joseph Lane went to register for Actors Equity, he discovered there was already a member by that name. So he took the first name of ''Theatre/GuysAndDolls'' character Nathan Detroit, becoming Creator/NathanLane. (Appropriately enough, it was a turn as Nathan Detroit in a Broadway revival of the show that proved to be his star-making role.) |
| 136 | * A female case of name taken is Creator/ElizabethBanks, given she couldn't go with birth name Creator/ElizabethMitchell. Creator/LilyJames also made a surname out of her father's name after finding out about an already existing Lily Thomson. |
| 137 | * Creator/VinDiesel was born Mark Sinclair. Vincent is his stepfather’s name and he picked up the 'diesel' part from his friends, due his 'non-stop energy'. Ironic, considering [[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious what movie he's famous for]]. |
| 138 | * Jerome Silberman changed his name while studying acting in New York as he felt it would look/sound odd on a marquee if he played Macbeth. He created a new name from his mother's first (Jean) and playwright Creator/ThorntonWilder's last. Though he did serious roles early in his stage career, Creator/GeneWilder became famous for film comedies. |
| 139 | * Richard Henry Sellers was the second child born to his parents. The first died very, very young, and his name — Peter — became a nickname for the second, used so often that Richard Henry ultimately [[Creator/PeterSellers changed his name permanently.]] |
| 140 | * Creator/WhoopiGoldberg's birth name was Caryn Elaine Johnson. Not exactly an attention-grabber. Reportedly, she was originally going to call herself "Whoopi Coushin", after the gag gift, but her parents convinced her that — even as a comedian — the name would prevent anyone from taking her seriously. Also, her mother told her that her name "wasn't Jewish enough" to make her a star. |
| 141 | * Sir Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr. is better known as Sir Creator/MichaelCaine. Originally, he wanted his stage name to be Michael Scott, but that was taken. Pressed for a new one, he looked at a nearby cinema billboard and saw ''Film/TheCaineMutiny''. And the rest, as they say, is history. He jokes that if he had looked the other way, he would be Sir Michael One Hundred and One Dalmatians. |
| 142 | * Theda Bara, the original [[TheVamp vamp]], was born Theodosia Goodman. Her screen name combined a childhood nickname and a variation on a family surname -- and, conveniently enough, was an anagram for "Arab death". |
| 143 | * William Henry Pratt took the stage name Creator/BorisKarloff, possibly because he felt his surname had unwanted humorous connotations. He never legally changed his name, however. |
| 144 | * Greg Pead changed his name in 1980 to Yahoo Serious (of ''Film/YoungEinstein'' fame). |
| 145 | * Creator/AlexanderSiddig (Dr. Julian Bashir from ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' and Doran Martel from ''Series/GameOfThrones'') was originally credited under his real name - Siddig El Fadil, which itself is just an abbreviation of his full real name, for obvious reasons: Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi. He still used Siddig El Fadil as a directing credit for one episode of ''[=DS9=]'' after the name change. |
| 146 | * John Garman Hertzler, a recurring actor on [=DS9=] best known as the Klingon general Martok, typically went by his intials J.G. (taking a cue from J.T. Walsh), but when he played the Vulcan captain of the ''Saratoga'' in "Emissary", he was credited as "John ''Noah'' Hertzler" (as he hadn't established himself yet), and for his role as the changeling Laas in "Chimera", he was credited under his middle name as "Garman Hertzler". |
| 147 | * Very common among Asian actors whose fame transcends the continent[[note]]keep in mind that in Chinese and Korean convention the surname always goes ''before'' the first name, not the other way around[[/note]]. |
| 148 | ** Bruce Lee was born Lee Jun-fan. |
| 149 | ** Creator/JackieChan is really Chan Kong Sang. He picked up the nickname Jackie working in Australia as a teenager and had an older friend named Jack. |
| 150 | ** Creator/JetLi is really Li Lianjie. |
| 151 | ** Ever hear of Saedo Maeda? That's Creator/SonnyChiba's real name. |
| 152 | ** Like [[Creator/PatMorita Noriyuki "Pat" Morita]]. |
| 153 | * An inversion: Gedde Watanabe is actually ''Gary'' Watanabe. |
| 154 | * Creator/KalPenn's real name is Kalpen Modi. Obviously, he just took his first name and divided it in two (and added an extra N). The late Italian actress Pier Angeli did something similar, only with her surname (Pierangeli). |
| 155 | * Heather Renée Sweet became Creator/DitaVonTeese. |
| 156 | * Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keefe changed his name to Creator/JonathanRhysMeyers. |
| 157 | * Creator/BrieLarson's real last name is Desaulniers but uses a stage name as it's hard to pronounce. She picked "Larson" because it was the name of her favorite Literature/{{American Girl|sCollection}} character that just happened to be one of her great grandmother's maiden name. (Plus, her first name is short for Brianne) |
| 158 | * Laszlo Loewenstein — "Lazzy" to his friends — was a struggling stage actor in Vienna when his mentor suggested he use a catchy new name. Combining a friend's name with the German word for parrot, the actor was redubbed Creator/PeterLorre. |
| 159 | * Creator/JeanHarlow's original name was Harlean Carpanter, a combination of the last and first name of her mother, Jean Harlow. When Harlean went into acting, she adopted her mother's name. |
| 160 | * Alphonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto d'Abruzzo took the first two letters of his first and last names as his surname and an Anglicised version of one of his middle names to come up with the name Robert Alda. When his sons (by different wives) Alphonso and Antonio followed their father into acting, they took his stage surname and Anglicised their first names (approximately in Alphonso's case) to create the names Creator/AlanAlda and Antony Alda. |
| 161 | * Japanese actress/[[JapanesePopMusic J-pop singer]] Meisa Kuroki's real name is Satsuki Shimabukuro. |
| 162 | * Armenian pop star Music/{{Sirusho}}'s real name is Siranush Harutyunyan. |
| 163 | * If the Playbills for the premiere performance for the play ''Theatre/MButterfly'' had listed one of its stars' names as "Brad Wong", it would have spoiled the show's big twist -- so he became "Creator/BDWong". |
| 164 | * The Creator/MarxBrothers (who were actually brothers, surnamed Marx): Groucho (Julius Henry), Harpo (Adolph, changed to Arthur in 1911, before Hitler[[note]][[WordOfGod Word of Harpo]] is that he just plain hated the name, and before changing it, preferred to be called "Ahdie"[[/note]]), Chico (Leonard), Zeppo (Herbert Manfred) and Gummo (Milton). There are multiple stories about where their stage names derive from. In an aversion of the ethnicity camouflage motivation, while the family ''was'' Jewish, their real names were passably not. Groucho's iconic StraightMan, the refined and elegant matron Margaret Dumont, was also born with the far more prosaic name of Daisy Baker. |
| 165 | * Rose Louise Hovick was a vaudeville performer, movie actress, and novelist. She's better known as [[Theatre/{{Gypsy}} Gypsy Rose Lee]]. Her sister appeared in Broadway shows under the name June Havoc. |
| 166 | * Creator/JayneMansfield kept using her first husband's surname professionally, even after divorcing and remarrying. Additionally, Jayne was her middle name: her first name was Vera. |
| 167 | * Creator/LeeMack (real name Lee Gordon [=McKillop=]) takes his stage name from his great-grandfather, vaudeville performer Big Billy Mack. |
| 168 | * Creator/OliviaWilde's original surname was the rather unfortunate "Cockburn" (pronounced "co-burn", but we can't really blame her for not wanting to spend her whole life correcting people on that). She took her stage name from Creator/OscarWilde. |
| 169 | * Born to vaudevillian parents, 7-year-old Joseph Yule Jr. landed a role as Mickey [=McGuire=] in a series of film shorts, and became identified with that name, even legally adopting it for a short period during legal wrangles over the series. Prohibited from using the name when touring as a comedy act, he chose a similar one, modifying his mother’s suggestion of "Mickey Looney", and becoming Creator/MickeyRooney. |
| 170 | * Harris Glenn Milstead was better known as the outrageous drag diva Divine. |
| 171 | * Laurence Tureaud’s birth name didn’t really suit a tough guy, so he became Creator/MrT. |
| 172 | ** Another story has it that he changed his name to "Mr. T" after having gotten fed up with people continually call his older brother, a Vietnam veteran, "boy". According to this account, he changed his name so that people would be [[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs forced to call him "mister"]]. |
| 173 | * Creator/AdrianPaul Hewitt, of ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' fame, dropped his last name. He takes advantage of using his real last name when traveling, to keep a lower profile. |
| 174 | * Creator/AnthonyHead had to alter his name when he began working in the USA, due to someone else already being registered with his name. That's why in the US he's billed as Anthony Stewart Head, but often just Anthony Head in the UK. |
| 175 | * Nicholas Brendan dropped his last name, as did his brother, to avoid confusion. |
| 176 | * Stand-up comedian Creator/JimJefferies adopted a shortened version of his middle name as a first name and a lengthened, pluralized, and Americanized (spelling-wise) version of his first name as a surname. His legal name is Geoff James Nugent. |
| 177 | * Played with, and ultimately averted with Creator/JamesRodayRodriguez of ''Series/{{Psych}}'' fame. He was born James David Rodriguez to a Latino father and a white mother, and could easily pass for white. Since there was already someone with the name "James Rodriguez" in the Screen Actors Guild, he had to either use a middle initial (which he wasn't too thrilled about) or choose a different last name. Apparently, when he got his first job out of college, a TV exec suggested he change his name so they wouldn't get flack for trying to pass off a white guy as Latino for diversity reasons, hence the more Anglo-sounding "James Roday", named after the character Roday in ''The Three Sisters.'' In July 2020, James announced that he would go by his full name, "James Roday Rodriguez" (he legally changed his middle name to "Roday" years earlier) going forward to reflect his pride in his Mexican heritage, with ''Psych 2: Lassie Come Home'' being the first project to credit him as such. |
| 178 | * Music/DeanMartin was born Dino Paul Crocetti. He used the stage name Dino Martini (a ShoutOut to Italian tenor Nino Martini) when he began performing as a singer in local bands, and then anglicized it. |
| 179 | * Back when he was starting out, Creator/KeanuReeves used the name Casey Reeves for auditions. He eventually started using his given name and the rest is history. |
| 180 | * Stan Jefferson was told by his wife that his name was unlucky because it contained thirteen letters. Searching for something that would symbolise success, he hit upon the Roman emblem of victory, changed his last name to 'Laurel', and [[Creator/LaurelAndHardy became immortal]]. |
| 181 | * Well-upholstered comedian Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle disliked being referred to and billed under his lifelong nickname "Creator/{{Fatty|Arbuckle}}", but accepted it as inevitable. In a straighter example, when he was barred from acting following legal accusations, he directed a number of comedies under the name William Goodrich. |
| 182 | * When Jason Geiger came to a talent agency in California, they thought his name wasn't strong enough for an actor and created with him another inspired by [[Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan Steve Austin]]: Austin St. John. And the rationale became HilariousInHindsight given the breakout role St. John got was [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Red Ranger]] [[TheDanza Jason Lee Scott]]. Especially since the character was originally named Victor and changed to Jason inspired by him. The stage name also helped avoid confusion with Jason David Frank, who played Tommy the Green Ranger. |
| 183 | * Randolph Severn Parker III is better known to audiences as Creator/{{Trey Parker|AndMattStone}}, with "Trey" based off a nickname from being the third Randolph in line in his family. He also used the alias "Juan Schwartz" for ''Cannibal! The Musical'', and for his work in the unaired pilot of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' (an extended version of "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe"). |
| 184 | * Anne-Sophie Lennerfors, an actress in Japan known for her mixed heritage (Japanese-Swedish), is usually simply credited as "[=LiLiCo=]" or "LILIKO" for her film and voice acting work. In the case you don't know her significance as far as her acting goes, she was most prominently known as the (first) Japanese dub voice of '''[[Characters/SouthParkTheBoys Eric Cartman]]'''. |
| 185 | * One of the child actresses who played ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' in the 1930s, Dawn Evelyeen Paris, adopted her character's name (Anne Shirley) as her stage moniker; previously she was billed as "Dawn O'Day". |
| 186 | * Creator/MindyKaling was born Vera Chokalingam. However she has always been referred to as Mindy, after the character from ''Series/MorkAndMindy'', because her parents thought it was a "cute American name". |
| 187 | * Christian Camargo, better known as [[spoiler:the Ice Truck Killer]] from ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', was born Christian Minnick, but he changed his surname to his maternal grandfather's out of pride in his Mexican-American heritage. Ironically, his grandfather—Ralph (born Rafael) Camargo, who was also an actor—urged his daughters to change their last name to something more Anglicized to avoid being locked out of roles in the acting world because of their heritage. |
| 188 | * Christian's mother is former soap actress Victoria Wyndham, originally Victoria Camargo. You'd never guess she was Mexican, and apparently, the same goes for her son. |
| 189 | * David Harvard Lawrence wanted to make himself stand out from the other David Lawrences in the SAG database. Seeing he was the seventeenth guy with that name on Website/IMDb (which differentiates people with Roman algarisms), he became David H. Lawrence XVII. |
| 190 | * Tony Malanowski, director of the infamous ''Night of Horror'' (and its remake ''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20090519085114/http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/The_Curse_of_the_Screaming_Dead_1982.aspx Curse of the Cannibal Confederates]]''), is billed among the cast and writers of that movie as [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] ("[[https://web.archive.org/web/20090519085114/http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Night_of_Horror_1981.aspx I believe he came up with this "original story idea" during the same six-month bender back in the 80's that found him wandering around town in an alcoholic haze and a dirty tuxedo."]]) |
| 191 | * Creator/KevinTighe was born Kevin Fishburne. One has to wonder if he would have still been advised today to change or not, given that Creator/LaurenceFishburne made it big with the same last name. |
| 192 | * Randolph Mantooth had a bit of a misunderstanding in his case. He was advised to pick a new last name for the stage, and thought they meant first name. He was born Randy Mantooth and opted to become Randolph onscreen. |
| 193 | * Creator/RoyRogers and Dale Evans both did this. Rogers was born Leonard Slye, and Evans was born Francis Octavia Smith. |
| 194 | * Eugene Rubessa was best known as ''Series/MatchGame'' host Gene Rayburn. |
| 195 | * Creator/StevenHill, best known for his roles in ''Series/LawAndOrder'' and ''Series/MissionImpossible'', was born Solomon Krakovsky. After retiring he went by the name Shlomo Hill (Shlomo being the Hebrew equivalent of Solomon). |
| 196 | * The [=LaCock=] show business family, originally from West Virginia, achieved no fame under that name. However, two of its members did eventually achieve major success. Joan Letitia became noted actress Creator/Joanne Dru, and Ralph Pierre went on to even greater fame as "the master of ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares''", Peter Marshall (he was also "the master of the Blitz Board" in the 1985 ABC game show ''Series/AllStarBlitz'').[[note]]Peter, however, legally remains a [=LaCock=] to this day; he had a son who played in UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball for nearly a decade under the name Pete [=LaCock=].[[/note]] |
| 197 | * Actress Creator/ChloeBennet was born Chloe Wang and chose an Anglo-Saxon surname when it became apparent that Hollywood has a problem with Asians. |
| 198 | * Actress/screenwriter Creator/MichaelaCoel was born Michaela-Moses Ewuraba O Boakye-Collinson. |
| 199 | * Bobby Calloway's legal name is Rory Leonard but he had been nicknamed Bobby since he was a teenager. He picked 'Calloway' as a last name when he became a wrestler, and kept the stage name when he went into acting. Also counts as a pen name, as he wrote for ''Lethal WOW'' under the same name too. |
| 200 | * Canadian-American actress Creator/CreeSummer Francks dropped her last name, inherited from American actor Creator/DonFrancks. |
| 201 | * Creator/StevenYeun's real name is Yeun Sang-yeop, given that he was born in South Korea before his family moved to America when he was a child and his parents changed his first name to Steven after they met a doctor by that name. |
| 202 | * A subtle example: Creator/CatherineZetaJones was born Catherine Zeta Jones, with no hyphen – "Zeta" was her middle name and "Jones" her surname. |
| 203 | * Creator/EmmaStone was born Emily Jean Stone. There was already an Emily Stone in the union and Emma had been a nickname for her anyway. |
| 204 | * Creator/MerylStreep's first name is actually Mary Louise, and it was a family tradition to name the daughters 'Mary something'. Meryl was a nickname for her as a child that she initially hated. She also joked that she would have loved to change 'Streep' to 'Street'. Her first daughter followed tradition, named Mary Willa but chose the stage name Mamie. |
| 205 | * ''Film/BattleCry1955'' featured actor Justus [=McQueen=] in his film debut as Pvt. L.Q. Jones. As it turned out, [=McQueen=] liked the character's name, and adopted L.Q. Jones as his stage name from there on out. |
| 206 | * When she was starting out as an actress, Alison Schermerhorn got tired of having to explain how her last name was pronounced, so she dropped it and used her middle name in its place. That's why she's currently known as Creator/AlisonBrie. |
| 207 | * Arlene Francis, an actress best known as a game show panelist, most notably on ''What's My Line?'', dropped her family name and tweaked the spelling of her first name. She was born ''Arline'' Francis Kazanjian. |
| 208 | * When starting out as a singer in the late 1940s, Delloreese Patricia Early decided to convert her first name into a stage name—Della Reese. She would go on to significant success in music and even greater success as an actress, most notably in ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel''. |
| 209 | * Vaudeville violinist Benjamin Kubelsky changed his name to Ben K. Bennie to avoid confusion with violinist Jan Kubelik. One decade later, Bennie, now a monologist, had to change his name again because Ben Bernie had a similar "patter-and-violin" routine. And thus, the name Jack Benny came into being. |
| 210 | * Sadye Marks, Benny's wife both onstage and in real life, became known professionally as Mary Livingstone. |
| 211 | * Creator/GeorgeBurns' birth name was Nathaniel Birnbaum. |
| 212 | * John [[EmbarrassingMiddleName Florence]] Sullivan became known as Fred Allen. |
| 213 | * Actor Timothy Carlton Congdon Cumberbatch simply used the first half of his name professionally. His son Creator/{{Benedict|Cumberbatch}} decided not to go his father's route, and kept his birth surname. |
| 214 | * Creator/KevinJames' name at birth was Kevin George Knipfing, and chose the last name "James" as a homage to his favorite teacher. His brother Gary Knipfing adopted his father's middle name as his surname and became Gary Valentine. |
| 215 | * Sofia Villani Scicolone (roughly pronounced ''She-ko-lo-nay'') first went by "Sofia Lazzaro" before settling for the foreign-sounding Creator/SophiaLoren, reportedly inspired by Swedish actress Märta Torén. |
| 216 | * Creator/JamieFoxx was born Eric Bishop. During he start in stand-up comedy clubs he found out female comedians were often chosen first to perform, hence the gender-neutral name Jamie. "Foxx" was after comedian Redd Foxx. |
| 217 | * Redd Foxx was also a stage name for John Elroy Sanford. His iconic role as Fred G. Sanford in ''Series/SanfordAndSon'' was named and modeled after his real-life brother. |
| 218 | * Creator/PedroPascal's full name is José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal. He shortened it to Pedro Balmaceda for his earliest gigs, confounding casting directors who found him too pale for a "Pedro", and/or couldn't pronounce "Balmaceda". He attempted to overcome these obstacles with the alias "Alexander Pascal", pairing a ''Film/FannyAndAlexander'' nod with [[NomDeMom his mother's maiden name]]. His guilt over rechristening himself so drastically prompted him to switch back from "Alexander" to "Pedro" after a year. |
| 219 | * Creator/JaimieAlexander's surname is actually Tarbush. |
| 220 | * Creator/DanneelAckles dropped her maiden name of Graul and went by Harris prior to getting married. |
| 221 | * Creator/JesMacallan's real name is Jessica Lee Liszewski. |
| 222 | * Portuguese-German comedian Hermann Joseph von Krippahl dropped the second N from his first name and romanised his middle name to its Portuguese variation, hence becoming Herman José. |
| 223 | * Creator/MicheleMorgan's real name was Simone-Renée Roussel. |
| 224 | * Creator/AnnaMayWong was born Wong Liu Tsong and chose to anglicize her name when she became an actress. |
| 225 | * Creator/JacksonLennon subverted this. Initially when starting out as a [=YouTuber=], he went by 'Alfie' and then Jackson Miloh. Getting annoyed at friends and family constantly asking where Miloh came from, he ended up reverting to his legal name and is credited under that these days. He briefly went by Jackson Ellis in the web series ''Teen Life'' in 2019. |
| 226 | * Two Irish actresses in the same class at drama school discovered they were both called Rebecca Flynn, and so added in their middle names to create stage names; Rebecca Rose Flynn (of ''WebVideo/TheGumdrops'' and ''Spears''), and Rebecca Christina Flynn - who on [=YouTube=] also goes by [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOffBlfFMS-7ri4vN7--Iig Sassy Rebecca]]. |
| 227 | * Creator/DeborahKerr's last name was actually Trimmer, but Kerr was a family name that her grandfather's grandmother had. Because of ViewerPronunciationConfusion, MGM promoted her with the slogan "Kerr rhymes with star!" |
| 228 | * Creator/ThandiweNewton was born Melanie Thandiwe Newton Parker. For the first 30 years of her career, she went by Thandie Newton; the "w" was mistakenly dropped in her first acting credit and it stuck. As of 2021 she reclaimed the original spelling of her name. |
| 229 | * Creator/ChrisBarrie's last name is actually Brown but he adopted the stage name of "Barrie" when it was discovered that there was already a Chris Brown on the Equity UK lists. |
| 230 | * Prolific Austrian character actor Creator/ReggieNalder's real name was Alfred Reginald Natzler. |
| 231 | * Thomas Richard [=McMillen=] eventually took his stepfather's surname Quesada. When people were having trouble pronouncing it, he used two surnames from other relatives to become Creator/ThomasHadenChurch. |
| 232 | * Another example of an actor dropping his last name: Creator/ZacharyLevi Pugh. |
| 233 | * Aahoo Jahansouzshahi is known by the much less ethnic Creator/SarahShahi, with the name taken from a song to replace the Persian one [[EmbarrassingFirstName that other children tormented her about]]. |
| 234 | * Brazilian acting legend and Academy Award nominee Fernanda Montenegro was born Arlette Pinheiro Esteves da Silva. Her last two surnames were changed to Monteiro Torres after marriage, and the Torres part went on to be used (in real life as well) by actress daughter Fernanda and director son Cláudio. |
| 235 | * Creator/MyleneDemongeot was born Marie-Hélène Demongeot. |
| 236 | * Creator/GretaGarbo was born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson. |
| 237 | * Charisse Whitfield-Elkins uses only her nickname, [[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1484234/ Reesey]]. |
| 238 | * French actress Creator/MathildaMay was born Karin Haïm. |
| 239 | * Creator/EveBest's birth name is Emily Best. |
| 240 | * The late, great game show host (and actor at times) Tom Kennedy was born James Edward Narz in 1927 in Louisville, KY (he was the little brother of John Lawrence "Jack" Narz Jr., also born there); he took the stage name Tom Kennedy in the 50s to avoid confusion with his big brother. |
| 241 | * Another great, late game show host, Jim Perry, known for ''Series/CardSharks'' and ''Series/SaleOfTheCentury'', was born James Edward Dooley in Camden, NJ in 1933. |
| 242 | * And yet another, Pat Sajak of ''Wheel of Fortune'', was born Patrick Leonard Sajdak in Chicago in 1946; he changed his last name to Sajak and shortened his first name to Pat when he got married. |
| 243 | * Also, the star of ''Series/TheStreetsOfSanFrancisco'', Creator/KarlMalden, was born in Chicago in 1912 as Mladen George Sekulovich, changing it at 22 (in 1934) to Karl Malden. [[https://walkoffame.com/karl-malden/ This page about Malden explains how he did it, among other things.]] |
| 244 | * Creator/AdamWest of ''Series/{{Batman|1966}}'' fame was born William West Anderson. |
| 245 | ** His Batman co-star Creator/BurtWard was born Bert Gervis Jr. |
| 246 | * Creator/YvesMontand, real name Ivo Livi, Italian-born French actor. "Yves" is simply the French spelling of "Ivo". The "Montand" part of his name comes from his childhood, when he played in the streets with his friends and his mother yelled "Ivo, monta!" ("Ivo, get back up here!") from a window to order him to come back to their apartment. |
| 247 | * Creator/OscarIsaac's full name is Oscar Isaac Hernández Estrada, and he had this to say as an opening monologue when hosting ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. |
| 248 | --> "I said to Hollywood 'you can pick two names' and guess what they went with? The white ones." |
| 249 | * Irish actor Brian Matthews Murphy had to add in another name because of another Brian Murphy on the ''Spotlight'' database. Matthew is actually his middle name rather than a second surname. |
| 250 | * Alex Howarth is an actor who goes by Alex Neil on the ''Spotlight'' database, but uses his own name for [=YouTube=] and Twitch streaming. |
| 251 | * Creator/KeHuyQuan was credited as Jonathan Quan in some of his films as his manager suggested using an American-sounding name to better his chances of getting hired. |
| 252 | --> "When I decided to get back into acting, the very first thing that I wanted to do was to go back to my birth-given name." |
| 253 | * Creator/MikeConnors was born Krekor Ohanian. When the producers of ''Series/{{Mannix}}'' needed to give the main character a nationality (for an episode where he traveled back to his birthplace), Connors suggested that they make him an Armenian, like him. |
| 254 | ** Interestingly enough, Connors played a private detective named Krekor Ohanian a year after ''Series/{{Mannix}}'' went off the air, in the unsold pilot ''The Killer That Wouldn't Die''. |
| 255 | * Tige Andrews, best-known as Captain Adam Greer on ''Series/TheModSquad'', was born Tiger Andraous. |
| 256 | * Robert Lansing, who starred in ''12 O'Clock High'' and later co-starred in ''Series/{{Automan}}'', was born Robert Brown, but had to change his name due to the Scottish actor of the same name. He blindfolded himself, pointed to a map of the United States, and he pointed to Lansing, Michigan... hence Robert Lansing. |
| 257 | * William Reynolds, best-known as the co-star of ''Series/TheFBI'', was born William Regnolds, of Norwegian descent. The 'gn' sounded close enough to a 'y' sound, so it was fairly easy for him to change his name to Reynolds. |
| 258 | * David Harold Meyer changed his name to Creator/DavidJanssen. Janssen was the name of his stepfather. |
| 259 | * John Joseph Patrick Ryan Jr. changed his name to Creator/JackLord. |
| 260 | * Hans Gudegast acted for several years under his real name, including a regular role on ''Series/TheRatPatrol''. Over a year later, he was cast by Universal in Film/ColossusTheForbinProject, but was ordered by the studio to change his name, which he did...to Creator/EricBraeden. |
| 261 | * Stefanie Powers was born Zofia Federkiewicz. |
| 262 | * Edward Albert Heimberger dropped his last name and became Eddie Albert. |
| 263 | * Creator/JamesArness was born James Aurness. He dropped the 'u' early on because people kept mispronouncing it as 'Ourness'. |
| 264 | ** His brother Peter simply took their mother's maiden name and became Creator/PeterGraves. |
| 265 | * Spanish actress María Isabel Verdú Rollán is better known as Creator/MaribelVerdu. |
| 266 | * Korean actor Kim Ji Ah (Gia Kim in English), [[https://www.koreaboo.com/news/xo-kitty-siblings-gia-kim-sangheon-lee-different-last-name-reason/ whose real name is not known publicly]]. |
| 267 | * Russell Porter, who is best known for playing Tim Whistler in ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'', was actually born Russell Deathridge, but adopted the surname of “Porter” for his acting roles upon getting his Equity card. |
| 268 | * French actor Creator/PierreMondy was born Pierre Cuq. |
| 269 | * Actor and director Creator/GerardOury, real name Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum. |
| 270 | * Spanish actress and singer Creator/SoledadMiranda was born Soledad Rendón Bueno. |
| 271 | * Creator/JulianneMoore was born Julie Anne Smith. By the time she became an actress, that name had already been taken, so she combined her first and middle names, and used her father's middle name as a last name. |
| 272 | * [[Creator/GerardLanvin Gérard Lanvain]] prefers spelling his name as "Lanvin". |
| 273 | [[/folder]] |
| 274 | |
| 275 | [[folder:Voice Actors]] |
| 276 | * Anime example: The original North American dubs of ''Anime/TenchiMuyoRyoOhki'' were all done outside union agreements, every cast member uses an assumed name aside from Jay Hopper, who used his real name for playing Katsuhito and Nobuyuki Masaki. These are very specific to the show and sometimes in-jokes as well, such as Creator/DebiDerryberry's use of "Marie Cabbit" for her work voicing the hybrid cat-rabbit critter Ryo-Ohki. |
| 277 | ** This is a fairly common practice in voiceover acting. The cast of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' all appeared under their standard pseudonyms because of uncertainty over the union situation. Of the main cast, only Doug Stone and (production staff member) Scott Dolph used their real names from the outset, while David Hayter was able to get the all-clear from the union between the printing of the game's manual and production of the disks. Later games ditched the pseudonyms completely. |
| 278 | *** Stage name adopted by David Hayter for the ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' dub, "Sean Barker", comes from the character he played in the live-action ''Manga/{{Guyver}}'' movie. |
| 279 | *** Creator/CamClarke's alias, "Jimmy Flinders", was taken from the name of a character he played in the '70s Mormon musical "Saturday's Warrior". He had also used the name for his work in ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'', as well as other '80s dubs of anime. |
| 280 | * A few other voice actors with multiple stage names: |
| 281 | ** Creator/SteveBlum (who has performed under the names Daniel Andrews, Roger Canfield, Richard Cardona, Steven Jay Blum [which is his birth name], David Lucas, and Andrew Watto) |
| 282 | ** Peter Doyle (Jim Taggert, Peter Day, Peter Reilly, Bill Tracker, Tad Lightner, Laddy [=McFarren=], and Phil Wright) |
| 283 | ** Creator/MelissaFahn (Tina Dixon, Melissa Charles and Heather Lee Joelson). |
| 284 | ** Creator/DorothyEliasFahn ([[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Dorothy Elias, Dorothy Fahn]], Midge Mayes, Dorothy Melendez, Dorothy Melendrez, Jacky Morris, Annie Pastrano, and Johanna Luis). |
| 285 | ** Creator/StephanieSheh (Jennifer Sekiguchi, Tiffany Hsieh, Lulu Chiang, and Laura Chyu) |
| 286 | ** Both Creator/DanGreen and Creator/WayneGrayson appear in ''Literature/{{Slayers}} NEXT'' (among other anime) as James Snider and Vinnie Penna, respectively. Green's real name actually is James "Jay" Snyder, but he often prefers to use the more familiar stage name in dubbing. |
| 287 | ** Creator/BarbaraGoodson (Betty Gustafson, Barbara Larsen, Bertha Greene, and Shirley Roberts) |
| 288 | ** Brianne Siddall (Jetta E. Bumpy, Brianne Brozey, Ian Hawk, Noah Fergie, and Murray Blue) |
| 289 | ** Creator/MichelleRuff used her mother's name "Georgette Rose" in a lot of her early work. |
| 290 | *** This is a common practice for SAG members because most voice work is actually non-SAG... but they still want paychecks. |
| 291 | * It's more-or-less standard in the dubs of {{Hentai}} anime for ''everyone'' to use an assumed name -- usually the funniest [[{{Filth}} porn-actor names]] that the voice actors can think of. |
| 292 | ** The ghost of the school librarian in ''VideoGame/{{Ghosthunter}}'' is voiced by an ''actual'' pornstar using a pseudonym. |
| 293 | ** In the dub of ''Anime/PuniPuniPoemi'', one of the Aasu sisters (Mutsumi) was voiced by an unknown voice actress under the pseudonym, "Yu Haul", a pun on U-Haul and related to the character's enormous bosom. |
| 294 | * In ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheSecretRings'', ''VideoGame/SonicRidersZeroGravity'', and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', Sonic the Hedgehog's then voice actor, Creator/JasonGriffith, used "Adam Caroleson", even though his real name is used in every other game. The dubs of ''Anime/SonicX'', ''Manga/OnePiece'', and ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' also credit him as "J. Griff". |
| 295 | * In Creator/DouglasAdams' video game ''Starship Titanic'', Creator/JohnCleese voiced the "Mega Scuttler" (a bomb) under the name "Kim Bread". The role mostly consisted of counting down from 1000 to zero. As a meta addendum, John's family name was actually "Cheese" - his father changed it when he joined the army, 25 years before John was born. |
| 296 | * Voice actor Jan Rabson used the name Stanley Gurd Jr. when dubbing for anime. Ironically, these are pretty much the only times he plays major characters aside from ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry''. Most notably, he voiced Tetsuo in the original dub of ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' and Yang Su in ''Anime/StreetFighterIIV'' under this name. |
| 297 | * ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' had a few cases of actors that initially used aliases: |
| 298 | ** Erica Schroeder was usually credited as "Bella Hudson" (along with her work in other 4kids dubs), although her later roles were credited under her birth name. |
| 299 | ** Roxanne Beck originally went by "Annie Pondel"/"Annie Pandel" for the first two seasons. |
| 300 | ** Jay Goede voiced Mewtwo in the [[Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie original movie]] but is credited as Philip Bartlett. |
| 301 | * Creator/MaryKayBergman used the stage name "Shannen Cassidy" for the first season of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', as well as part of the second season.[[note]]According to her own interviews, the alias was derived from the names of Creator/ShannenDoherty and Creator/DavidCassidy.[[/note]] This was due to the fact that she was Disneyland's official voice of Snow White at the time, and had worried about her name being associated with adult animation. She dropped the alias around the time of the episode "Clubhouses". |
| 302 | ** Eliza Schneider was credited as "Blue Girl" in a few season 4 episodes, with it being an alias that she used as a performance artist. |
| 303 | ** April Stewart initially used the name "Gracie Lazar" in order to work on the show, due to the fact that it was a non-union project (a union and salary dispute had previously lead to Eliza Schneider quitting). She dropped the alias around season 9. |
| 304 | ** Jessica Makinson was sometimes credited under her actual name, although more current seasons have credited her under "Jessie Thomas"/"Jessie Jo Thomas". |
| 305 | ** Elisa Gabrielli has gone under the alias "Elise Gabriel" for her occasional guest spots in the show. |
| 306 | ** An actress with the pseudonym "Laylo Incognegro" [[note]]A pun on "lay low" and "incognito"+"negro" for the role she played[[/note]] was credited for the role of Nichole in the episode "Cartman Finds Love". It is unknown who actually provided the voice, although the usage of the alias may have been due to the show being a non-union project, or done for the sake of a gag. |
| 307 | ** Creator/ColleenOShaughnessey was credited under her actual name for her work in the ''Stick of Truth'' video game but has been credited under the alias "Millie Oliver" for her work in season 18. She is also known as Colleen Villard, her married name. |
| 308 | * Cheryl Chase used the alias "Carole Wilder" for her work on some non-union dubs of anime in the late '80s (including Harmony Gold's version of Dragonball). |
| 309 | * A bit of a convoluted case happened with ''Anime/BattleOfThePlanets'': The voice actor Alan Dinehart was actually the son of an elder Alan Dinehart, but opted to drop any "Junior" title. ''His'' own son, the third Dinehart in line, was instead credited with "Jr.", causing much confusion for a time. |
| 310 | * Sally Donovan was initially credited under the alias "Elizabeth Mann" for her work in the third episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}'', though later episodes began crediting her under her actual name. |
| 311 | * Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson [[http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/not_comics_my_brother_whit_interviews_voice_actor_kevin_michael_richardson/ always wanted to voice the character of]] ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}. He had filled in for Khary Payton (when the latter was unavailable for one of the ''New Teen Titans'' segments), but he has used the character's real name, "Victor Stone", as an alias when he voiced ComicBook/{{Spawn}} and ''Franchise/{{Tekken}}''[='=]s Heihachi Mishima in ''VideoGame/{{Soul|Series}}Calibur II''. |
| 312 | * Spanish-speaking voice actors have an interesting twist on this: Unless stated otherwise, most of them use their second first name and their first (maternal) or second (paternal) name of their last name. As an example, Mexican voice actor Luis Eduardo Garza Escudero ([[Manga/DragonBall Krillin]] and [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]]) goes credited as only Creator/EduardoGarza. Unlike Japanese and American voice actors, they rarely use stage names for hiding their identities in non-union or risky works ([[ValuesDissonance as it's considered a rather stupid thing there, since everyone will end up recognizing your voice anyways]])[[note]]Just to get an idea how much this trope doesn't always apply when dubbing erotic or outright porn stuff, Mexican and many Latin American voice actors had no problem on dubbing stuff on their real names, or stage ones when applicable, that would put an American or Japanese voice actor into serious problems with either their fans, their agencies or their own unions, like ''The Qwaser of Stigmata'', ''Bible Black'' and ''Eternity: Shin'ya no Nure Koi-chan Neru'', the latter two are both outright {{Hentai}}, and by first one is a TV series which no voice acting studio in either the States or ''any'' western country wants to touch.[[/note]] and and when they do, it's mostly because they like to use that name for other reasons unrelated with their work or maybe because their fans and friends prefer to call them by those names instead: |
| 313 | ** Gabriela Schietter Castañon goes credited as Gaby Willer or Gabriela Willert ([[Manga/CardCaptorSakura Li Meiling]] and [[Franchise/GhostInTheShell Motoko Kusanagi]]). Her mother, Liza Willert, was born as Elizabeth Margot Schreiter Castañón. |
| 314 | ** Alfredo Gabriel Basurto ([[Manga/InuYasha Sesshoumaru]]) is either credited under his first name, or under his middle name. This caused many fans to think both names referred to two unrelated voice actors with the same last name. |
| 315 | ** The late Maria Hiromi Hayakawa Salas ([[WesternAnimation/MonsterHigh Draculaura]]) went only as ''Hiromi Hayakawa'', causing many fans to think she is a native Japanese voice actress (She was Japanese-Mexican born in Japan, but raised in Mexico). Later she went with the name of ''Hiromi'' exclusively, especially when working outside of the voice acting industry. |
| 316 | ** Another Japanese-Mexican voice actress, whose real name is Noriko Takaya Satori, goes with the more simpler name of ''Noriko'' as her stage name. |
| 317 | ** The late Guillermo Romano's (who voiced Series/{{Batman|1966}}, WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget, [[Manga/MagicKnightRayearth Rayearth]], among others) real name was Carlos Stevenson, who also used that name in few other works, causing some confusion at first among his fans when trying to identify his previous early roles. |
| 318 | ** Azul Valadez ([[Webcomic/OnePunchMan Tatsumaki]] and [[ComicBook/ChillingAdventuresOfSabrina Sabrina Spellman]]): Her real name is Azucena Valadez. She goes with that name because "Azul" (blue) is her favorite color. |
| 319 | * Much like Spanish-speaking dubbers, Brazilian and Portuguese voice actors often have two given names and two surnames. They often go by two first names, or one first name and one surname. |
| 320 | ** Creator/GuilhermeBriggs frequently claims he was born Guilerme Brito, but seems to be a case of TrollingCreator. |
| 321 | ** Helena Samara was born as Lia Kalme. |
| 322 | ** Ida Gomes was born in Poland as Ida Szafran. |
| 323 | ** Carol Kapfer was born as Caroline Pinho Ferreira. |
| 324 | ** Carmen Sheila was born as Sheila da Silva e Souza. |
| 325 | ** Manolo Rey was born Manoel Velo Ameijeiras. |
| 326 | ** A few go around contracting: Lacarv (Luiz Alexandre de Carvalho), Aline Guioli (''Gui''marães ''Oli''veira), Luiz Antônio Lobue (''Lo''pes ''Bue''no), Dayse Richffer (''Ri''beiro ''C''outin''h''o ''Ferr''eira)... |
| 327 | ** Maurício Berger is actually Bergqvist, changed on his first radio gig because his boss thought it was hard to say. |
| 328 | ** Leticia Quinto gave daughter Bruna her other surname, Rodrigues. And when Bruna followed the family business (Leticia's mother, stepfather, stepbrother and stepsister are also dubbers!), she decided not to waste the connection and is credited as Bruna Quinto. |
| 329 | ** Telmo de Avelar was born as Telmo Perle Munch. |
| 330 | ** Ronaldo Artinic does a SdrawkcabName on surname Cintra (but usually spelled with an extra "i"). |
| 331 | ** Fernanda Fernandes (Saddy) used to go by the first surname (her sister used the second, Flávia Saddy), until she found out another actress with that RepetitiveName, hence taking [[NomDeMom her grandma's surname]] and becoming Fernanda Baronne. |
| 332 | ** Vivian Frenchel is known as Vii Zedek - the former is partly because she was tired of being called the wrong name, while [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzadik the latter]] is [[YiddishAsASecondLanguage Hebrew for justice]]. |
| 333 | * French voice actors: |
| 334 | ** Richard Guimond, better known as Creator/RichardDarbois. |
| 335 | ** Boris Trouillard is better known by his stage name "Creator/BorisRehlinger". "Trouillard" means "coward/wimp/chicken in the face of fear", so it's understandable why he would use a stage name. His son, Kylian, is also known by both last names. |
| 336 | ** Creator/RogerCarel was born as Roger Bencharel. |
| 337 | ** Marie Martine was born as Marie Vergracht. |
| 338 | ** Kaycie Chase was born as Kaycie Teitscheid. |
| 339 | ** Earlier in his career, Creator/PhilippeValmont was credited as Jean-Philippe Bouton. |
| 340 | ** At the French dubbing studio AC5, voice actors are usually credited under stage names because the dub is non-union. |
| 341 | * Most, if not all, modern Japanese voice actors use stage names due to Japanese culture and laws valuing privacy and being fairly strict about it; it also doesn't help that most voice actors these days are held to IdolSinger status and are big celebrities in their own right. In addition to their normal stage names, they also adopt aliases when working in risky works like {{Hentai}}. Sometimes their stage names are also their ''real names'', except written with a different alphabet, due of the way how Japanese language works: |
| 342 | ** Creator/NanaMizuki's real name is Nana Kondou, while her younger sister Mika Kondou performs under the name [=MiKA=]. |
| 343 | ** Creator/{{Yukana}}: Real name is Yukana Nogami, and she was credited as such in older 90's works |
| 344 | ** Creator/NobutoshiCanna: Real name is Nobutoshi Hayashi, and like the previous case, he's credited as such in older works. |
| 345 | ** Creator/DaisukeKishio is one of the cases when his StageName is his real-life one: his given name is written in hiragana, rather than kanji like his real-life one. |
| 346 | ** Creator/HisakoKanemoto: Real name is Juri Aikawa, and oddly enough she uses her real name in ''VideoGame/KoumajouDensetsu'' as Flandre Scarlet,[[note]]Albeit only in the original Japanese. In the English translation, she is credited under her stage name instead.[[/note]] despite not being an h-game and also the rest of the cast uses both their real and stage names as well. |
| 347 | ** Nozomi Sasaki, who voiced [[Manga/LuckyStar Patricia Martin]], has an interesting twist on this: Both her real and stage name are the same, but her stage one is ''always'' written in hiragana, while her real name is written in kanji. This was done to avoid confusion because her real name in kanji shares the ''same'' characters with her fellow veteran voice actor Creator/NozomuSasaki. |
| 348 | ** Creator/BanjoGinga: Real name is Takashi Tanaka. |
| 349 | * [[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime Jeremy]] [[WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender Shada]]'s first name is actually Jaden. |
| 350 | * Creator/JoshKeaton's real name is Joshua Luis Wiener, given the fact that his mother is Peruvian and his father is Ashkenazi Jewish. |
| 351 | * Erin Grey Van Oosbree goes by her middle name Grey and married Christopher [=DeLisle=] in 1992 before divorcing him a year later, prior to starting her voice acting as Creator/GreyDeLisle by taking her first married name. While she's frequently credited by her first married name, in recent productions, she's been credited as Grey Griffin (or Grey [=DeLisle=]-Griffin) after marrying Jared Griffin in 2012. |
| 352 | * After marrying Craig Strong in 2000, Tara Charendoff began being credited by her married name Creator/TaraStrong. |
| 353 | * Venezuelan voice actress María Teresa Guedes Medina dropped her second family name and merged her first and second name together to become Maythe Guedes. |
| 354 | * Renzo Jiménez, a Venezuelan voice actor best known for dubbing [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Squidward]], is legally Alberto Figeroa. |
| 355 | * ''WesternAnimation/WordWorld'': Notable Creator/{{Muppet performers}} Tyler Bunch and Peter Linz were credited as "HD Quinn" and "George Bailey" when voicing on the show. The show was recorded in NYC (as shown by the 4kids talent who were on the show, as 4kids anime dubs were also recorded in NYC), where there is no union. |
| 356 | [[/folder]] |
| 357 | |
| 358 | [[folder:Musicians]] |
| 359 | * Almost every rapper in the history of HipHop. This largely comes from gangs, and frequently, a rapper's stage name is also their gang name. It's much, MUCH easier to name all the aversions: Music/KanyeWest, Music/LaurynHill, Music/MissyElliott, Music/ChrisBrown, Music/WyclefJean, Music/TheophilusLondon, Music/KeithMurray, Music/VinceStaples, Music/JoeBudden, Music/MikeJones, Music/KevinMcCall, Music/BrysonTiller and Music/ObieTrice (who actually has a song about not having a stage name). Music/TalibKweli, and Music/KendrickLamar use their first and middle names, but this counts as more of a mononym than a proper aversion (Kendrick's real last name, embarrassingly enough, is Duckworth). [[http://genius.com/Rap-genius-rap-names-explained-lyrics Here's a full list of rappers' real names and the explanations behind their gang names.]] |
| 360 | ** France had the Music/SupremeNTM members, Bruno Lopes aka Kool Shen and Didier Morville aka Creator/JoeyStarr. |
| 361 | * Fairly common in the world of {{E|lectronicdancemusic}}DM and related genres, though maybe not ''quite'' as much as rap: |
| 362 | ** Music/{{Avicii}}: Tim Bergling |
| 363 | ** Music/{{Darude}}: Toni-Ville Henrik Virtanen |
| 364 | ** Robert Miles: Roberto Concina |
| 365 | ** Music/FatboySlim: Born Quentin Leo Cook, later changed to Norman Quentin Cook |
| 366 | ** Music/CalvinHarris: Adam Richard Wiles |
| 367 | ** Music/SwedishHouseMafia: Axwell is really Axel Christofer Hedfors, and Steve Angello is really Steven Patrik Josefsson Fragogiannis. Averted with Sebastian Ingrosso, who uses his real name. |
| 368 | ** Music/{{Pendulum|Band}} and Music/KnifeParty: Rob Swire's actual name is is Robert Swire Thompson. The reason he goes by his middle name is because Robert Thompson is also the name of a high profile murderer in the UK. |
| 369 | * Music/{{Rihanna}} [[MiddleNameBasis goes by her middle name]], her full name being Robyn Rihanna Fenty. |
| 370 | * Music/BobDylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman, but he decided to adopt a new name for his performing career. After toying with the idea of calling himself Bob Allyn, he switched it to Bob Dillon (inspired by Sheriff Matt Dillon from ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}''), but after becoming familiar with Creator/DylanThomas, he liked the XtremeKoolLetterz effect of Thomas' first name and adopted that spelling. He eventually decided to change his legal name to Robert Dylan. Referenced in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', where fighting with the frat boys in the Mysterious Island War can lead to you fighting [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Zim Merman]]. |
| 371 | * Music/{{Kiss}} has plenty. |
| 372 | ** Among the original lineup, Chaim Witz became Eugene Klein then finally Gene Simmons, Stanley Harvey Eisen = Paul Stanley, George Peter John Criscuola = Peter Criss, and Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley. |
| 373 | ** Among the replacements, Paul Caravello = Eric Carr, Vinnie Cusano = Vinnie Vincent, Mark Norton = Mark St. John. |
| 374 | * In the world of music, David Jones adopted the name Music/DavidBowie (inspired by the Bowie knife but with a different pronunciation) to distinguish himself from Davy Jones of Music/TheMonkees. |
| 375 | * Music/EltonJohn had performed as Reginald Dwight (his birth name) before coming up with the name "Elton John", in homage to both Elton Dean and Creator/LongJohnBaldry, both of whom he played with in various groups. He was already world famous under his stage name when he finally, legally changed his name to Elton Hercules John. |
| 376 | * Music/{{Lights}} had her name legally changed to such. It was the only way she could use the name, as there was already a signed band called "Lights". |
| 377 | * Music/BlackSabbath's first lineup was a subversion of this. "Music/{{Ozzy|Osbourne}}" and "Geezer" are actually the substantially less cool John and Terry, but they were given the nicknames in school and they stuck. |
| 378 | * Music/RonnieJamesDio was actually Ronald James Padavona, but he assumed a stage name modeled after Mafia boss Johnny Dio. Though he'd already adopted his stage name at this point, the SelfTitledAlbum by Elf credits him as Ronald Padavona — he wanted his parents to see the family name printed on an album sleeve at least once. |
| 379 | * Similarly, the late Bon Scott of Music/{{ACDC}} was born Ronald Scott (his mother still refers to him as "Ron" in the Creator/VH1 ''Behind the Music'' episode featuring AC/DC), but, as he was from Scotland, his classmates nicknamed him "The Bon Scott", or Bon for short. |
| 380 | * Music/FreddieMercury of the band Music/{{Queen|Band}} was born Farrokh Bulsara. Although he had been nicknamed Freddie since he was a schoolboy. |
| 381 | * Sabrina Bryan, one of Film/TheCheetahGirls, is best known by her full name of Reba Sabrina Hinojos (as director Oz Scott puts her on one of his made for TV feature films on the ''Creator/DisneyChannel'' in 2003). |
| 382 | * Music/DirEnGrey: Both the vocalist, Music/{{Kyo}}, and the bassist, Toshiya, are guilty of this. Toshiya's full name is Toshimasa Hara, and while Kyo's real name is debated by most fans, most sites credit him as either "Tooru Niimura" or "Toru Nishimura". The Tooru Niimura/Nishimura thing is a bit of a joke that international fans [[LostInTranslation took seriously]]. Tooru Niimura is the name of a famous Japanese pornography director, and Kyo signed his name as Tooru Niimura on several of his written works as a joke. Nishimura is a mistranslation of Niimura. No one knows for certain what Kyo's birth name is, especially since he is a SelfProclaimedLiar. |
| 383 | * Michael [[Music/NineInchNails Trent Reznor]] goes by his middle name. As he has explained, "My father is Michael Reznor." |
| 384 | * Music/MarilynManson (the first lineup, at least) all took their names from the juxtaposition of an iconic beauty and a serial killer. In the case of the titular frontman (born Brian Hugh Warner), Creator/MarilynMonroe and UsefulNotes/CharlesManson. |
| 385 | * Vincent Furnier took a feminine first name and named himself and his band after that name: Music/AliceCooper. |
| 386 | * William Michael Albert Broad got a "William is idle" comment on a report card, so he took the stage name Music/BillyIdol. |
| 387 | * Music/{{Buckethead}}, a guitarist who doesn't only have a stage name (almost everybody only knows his first name, "Brian"), but also a stage ''identity'' (which consists of a rather creepy man from a chicken farm, who wears a KFC bucket on his head and a mask to hid his allegedly mangled face). He will never wear anything else when performing. |
| 388 | * Music/TheBeatles: |
| 389 | ** Music/RingoStarr was originally, and still is legally, Richard Starkey. The cowboy-based nickname partially emerges from his ringed fingers. |
| 390 | ** James Music/PaulMcCartney goes by his middle name, because his father was also named James. He has also been credited under a number of unusual names - some notable ones include The Fireman, Apollo C. Vermouth, Percy 'Thrills' Thrillington (who had a self-titled album) and Paul Ramon, whose name was taken by all of The Ramones (see their entry). |
| 391 | ** Music/JohnLennon was fond of the pseudonym 'Dr Winston O'Boogie' (Winston was his middle name, after Winston Churchill). |
| 392 | ** Music/GeorgeHarrison did some guest guitarist spots hidden under the pseudonym [[GratuitousItalian L'Angelo Misterioso]] (The Mysterious Angel). |
| 393 | ** Mike [=McGear=], of fellow Liverpool group The Scaffold, was, in reality, Peter Michael [=McCartney=], brother of Paul. He invented the new surname ("gear" being a synonym for "fab" at the time) to avoid accusations of leeching off his brother's fame (and other unwelcome comparisons). |
| 394 | * Beatallica has stage names combining the Fab Four, Music/{{Metallica}} and XtremeKoolLetterz: Jaymz Lennfield, Krk [=McBurtney=], Grg Hammetson, and Ringo Larz. |
| 395 | * Music/TheRamones: Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Colvin), Johnny Ramone (John Cummings), Joey Ramone (Jeffry Hyman), Tommy Ramone (Thomas Erdelyi), Marky Ramone (Marc Bell), Richie Ramone (Richard Reinhardt), Elvis Ramone (Clem Burke) and C. J. Ramone (Christopher Joseph Ward). The surname came from the fact that Music/PaulMcCartney hid his identity in hotels by registering under Paul Ramon. |
| 396 | * Also Beatles-inspired: Buster Bloodvessel (Douglas William Trendle), the hefty, skinheaded frontman of UK ska group Bad Manners. Buster Bloodvessel was the name of Ivor Cutler's character in the ''Film/MagicalMysteryTour'' film. |
| 397 | * Each member of the band Music/MaliceMizer go under stage names, many of which have hidden their actual identity. |
| 398 | * Music/{{Miyavi}} (formerly of Dué le Quartz, now a solo artist) doesn't seem to much care -- it's pretty widely known that his real name is Takamasa Ishihara. Things like his Facebook page are generally under the name Miyavi Ishihara, however, because it entertains him more. |
| 399 | * Music/ManWithAMission, whose members are named Tokyo Tanaka, Kamikaze Boy, Jean-Ken Johnny, DJ Santa Monica and Spear Rib. Their real names (or faces for that matter, since they always wear masks) are unknown. |
| 400 | * Kevin James [=LaBrie=] of Music/DreamTheater [[MiddleNameBasis dropped his first name]] because there were already two Johns in the band (John Petrucci on guitars and John Myung on bass) and they didn't want another name match with keyboardist Kevin Moore. |
| 401 | * Music/{{WASP|Band}} frontman Blackie Lawless is a good example. Everyone knows him as Blackie, mainly because Stephen Duren is a somewhat boring name for someone that wore a circular saw codpiece. |
| 402 | * Pick a black metal musician. Any black metal musician. They come in four flavors: nods to other bands or songs (Hellhammer, Euronymous, etc.), references to violence or other taboo subjects (Necrobutcher, Nocturno Culto, etc.), references to fantasy or paganism/the occult (Fenriz, Count Grishnackh, etc.), or [[BlackSpeech "evil" sounding gibberish]] (Ihsahn, Samoth, Gaahl, Abbath, Horgh, Zingultus, etc., etc.). Like most everything about black metal, it is [[{{Narm}} completely ridiculous and silly]], yet fans take it [[SeriousBusiness very seriously]] and get offended when people remind them that it is ridiculous and silly. All of the aforementioned stage names are real musicians. |
| 403 | * Prior to becoming famous, the musician Declan [=MacManus=] changed his name to Music/ElvisCostello. However, in the mid-80s, Costello legally changed his name ''back'' to Declan [=MacManus=]. Although he continued to record and perform as Elvis Costello, his songs started being credited to [=MacManus=]. This began around the same time he co-wrote several songs with Music/PaulMcCartney, and he's said that part of the reason for the change back was just because he thought "[=McCartney=] / [=MacManus=]" would look cool. |
| 404 | * Music/{{Sting}} was born Gordon Matthew Sumner and got his nickname from a yellow and black striped sweater that he liked to wear on stage. Even his family call him Sting today. |
| 405 | ** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie'' numerous times, with Barry mentioning his real name in front of everyone (to their surprise) and deriding his alias as a "prance-about stage name". |
| 406 | * German singer Freddy Quinn, best known for schlager/shanty-type songs in Germany, was born Franz Eugen Nidl-Petz. And he's actually Austrian. |
| 407 | * Music/LedZeppelin bassist John Paul Jones was born John Baldwin. |
| 408 | * Music/MileyCyrus was born "Destiny Hope Cyrus". The "Miley" came from "smiley", due to [[GenkiGirl her upbeat nature as a young child]]. She legally changed her name though. Series/HannahMontana, however, is still a stage name, {{defictionaliz|ation}}ed from her TV character on a television show. After her 2018 marriage, her name is legally Miley Ray Hemsworth but she still uses Cyrus professionally. |
| 409 | * While reading the original cast list of ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', it's easy to assume no one is actually born with a name as pretty as Music/SarahBrightman. However, that ''is'' her real name - but her costar Michael Crawford was born Michael Dumble-Smith. |
| 410 | * Spanish singer and actress Charo is really [[OverlyLongName María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Moquiere de les Esperades Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Najosa Rasten]]. |
| 411 | * Nicholas James Bates became Nick Rhodes for "aesthetic reasons". His Music/DuranDuran bandmate Nigel John Taylor goes by his middle name. |
| 412 | * A rare Japanese example: Masato Shimon, who changed his name from Masaharu Fujikawa, has gone under several names, including Akira Tani, Kouichi Fuji and Ryou Kisao. |
| 413 | * Alecia Beth Moore decided to use the stage name Music/{{Pink}} (either with an I or the [[LuckyCharmsTitle exclamation]]). She's said in interviews she got it as a nickname in high school from Mr. Pink in ''Film/ReservoirDogs''. |
| 414 | * HairMetal bands: |
| 415 | ** Every member of Music/MotleyCrue; the lead singer shortened from Vincent Neil Wharton to Vince Neil, the drummer shortened from Thomas Lee Bass to Tommy Lee, the guitarist's real name is Robert Alan Deal but he uses the cooler stage name Mick Mars, and bassist Frank Carlton Serafino Ferrana Jr. legally changed his name to Nikki Sixx when he was eighteen, before Mötley Crüe had even formed. |
| 416 | ** Everyone from Music/{{Poison}}'s classic lineup. Vocalist Bret Michael Sychak shortened his name to Bret Michaels, bassist Robert Kuykendall shortened to Bobby Dall, and drummer Richard Ream changed his name to Rikki Rockett. Original lead guitarist Matt Smith, the only original member who used his real name, was replaced by Bruce "C.C. [=DeVille=]" Johanneson. C.C. was then replaced by Richie Kotzen (his real name), and Kotzen by Blues Saraceno (surprise, surprise — his real name as well!). |
| 417 | ** [[Music/TheBeatles Beatle-esque]] glam rockers Enuff Z'nuff featured men named Donald Vandervelde, Gregory Rybarski, and Victor Cerny. To fans, they're vocalist Donnie Vie, guitarist and band namesake Chip Z'nuff, and drummer Vikk Foxx respectively. |
| 418 | ** Most of Music/{{Warrant}}'s members went by their real names, but the unfortunately-named John Kennedy Oswald (later changed legally to John Patrick Oswald) went by the more glam-friendly name Jani Lane. |
| 419 | ** Likewise, everyone in Faster Pussycat used their real names, save for their vocalist, Gustave "Gus" Molvik, a.k.a. Taime Downe. |
| 420 | ** Bulletboys singer Mark Maytorena's real name is a bit of a mouthful, so he tweaked the spelling of his first name and shortened his last name, becoming Marq Torien. |
| 421 | ** Music/TwistedSister: Daniel "Dee" Snider, John "Jay Jay" French Segall, Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda, Mark Glickman = Mark "The Animal" Mendoza and Anthony Jude "A. J." Pero. In Pero's case, he usually went by Tony, but partly due to the OneSteveLimit, had to go by his initials since the band had just recently had another drummer named Tony. His new nickname stuck till his death in 2015. |
| 422 | ** While better known in the hair metal scene as a club owner and eventually Creator/{{MTV}} VJ, Riki Rachtman wasn't born as Richard as one may expect, but as David Alan Rachtman. |
| 423 | ** L.A. Guns guitarist and band namesake (and half the namesake of Music/GunsNRoses) Tracii Guns was born Tracy Richard Irving Ulrich. |
| 424 | ** Finnish band Hanoi Rocks mostly opted for Western-sounding pseudonyms: Matti Fagerholm became Michael Monroe, Antti Hulkko became Andy [=McCoy=], Jan-Markus Stenfors became Nasty Suicide, and Sami Takamaki became Sami Yaffa. English drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley mostly went by his real name. |
| 425 | ** Music/SkidRow's Sebastian Bach is actually Sebastian Bierk. You've also got bassist Rachel Bolan, who is male -- his birth name is James Richard Southworth, and his stage name partly a tribute to T-Rex singer Music/MarcBolan. |
| 426 | ** Music/{{Europe}} is all over the place when it comes to stage names. Lead singer and only constant member Joey Tempest was born, and legally remains, Rolf Magnus Joakim Larsson. On the other hand, all three of the band's bassists used their real names—Peter Olsson (original), Marcel Jacob (briefly in 1981), and John Levén, who has performed on all of the band's studio albums. Original and current lead guitarist John Norum uses his real name, but Kee Marcello (who took over when Norum left in 1986, but didn't come back when the band ended a hiatus in 2003) was born Kjell Hilding Lövbom. Original drummer Tony Niemistö became Tony Reno. His successor on drums, Jan-Håkan Haugland, performs as Ian Haugland. Longtime keyboardist Gunnar Mathias Michaeli performs as Mic Michaeli. |
| 427 | * Music/{{U2}}'s Paul Hewson is better known as Bono (from his early stage name "[[GratuitousLatin Bono Vox]] — ''good voice'' — of O'Connell Street"; Brazil still adds a "Vox" as his surname) and his bandmate David Evans is The Edge. |
| 428 | * George Ryan Ross, [[CreativeDifferences formerly of]] Music/PanicAtTheDisco and now of The Young Veins, goes by his middle name. |
| 429 | * Music/FallOutBoy has two instances - Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III is now known as Pete Wentz, while Patrick Martin Stumph went from Patrick Stump to Patrick Vaughn Stump. |
| 430 | * Music/{{Rush|Band}}: Geddy Lee was born Gershon Eliezer Weinrib, but originally went by an anglicized version: Gary Lee Weinrib. "Geddy" comes from his mother's heavy accent. He later legally changed his first name to Geddy. Alex Lifeson is really Aleksandar Živojinović ("Lifeson" is a literal English translation). Neil Peart was really Neil Peart. |
| 431 | * Music/MuddyWaters was born [=McKinley=] Morganfield. |
| 432 | * Music/HowlinWolf's real name was Chester Arthur Burnett. |
| 433 | * [[Music/BBKing B.B. (Blues Boy) King]] was born Riley B. King. |
| 434 | * Music/AvengedSevenfold: M. Shadows= Matthew Charles Sanders, Zacky Vengeance= Zachary James Baker, The Reverend Tholomew Plague(The Rev)= James Owen Sullivan, Synyster Gates= Brian Elwin Haner Jr, Jonny Christ= Jonathan Lewis Seward. After The Rev died, the replacement drummers have gone by their real names. |
| 435 | ** The band often has appearances of a "Papa Gates" — Synyster Gates' real-life dad Brian Elwin Haner Sr. |
| 436 | * Steven Georgiou went by the stage name Music/CatStevens, apparently inspired by a girlfriend telling him he had eyes like a cat. After converting to Islam he legally changed his name to Yusuf Islam ("Yusuf" being the Arabic form of "Joseph", a name he'd always liked). Following a long hiatus he began recording music again, under the single name "Yusuf" – in his words, "because 'Islam' doesn't have to be sloganised". His very latest solo albums credit him as "Yusuf/Cat Stevens". |
| 437 | * Peter "Music/VanceJoy" Keogh has a story behind his: "I was going through a Peter Carey phase and reading a lot of his books. There's a book called ''Bliss''. The main character's name is Harry Joy and his grandfather is Vance Joy. He's the storyteller and a crazy old man. Plus, I thought it was a cool name." |
| 438 | * Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck became Music/YngwieMalmsteen. The name change partially came about when he was a boy. When his parents divorced, his mother resumed her maiden name of Malmsteen and gave the same surname to their children. |
| 439 | * Music/RunningWild: Rolf Kasparek a.k.a. Rock'N'Rolf. The name came to be when one bandmember's little brother came up with it. |
| 440 | * Music/IronMaiden: Michael Henry "Nicko" [=McBrain=]. "Nicky" was one of his favourite puppets, and once a bandmate drunkenly introduced him as "Neeko", he liked the sound of it. Lead singer Music/BruceDickinson's proper first name is Paul. And, back when he was with Samson, he went by the name Bruce Bruce, which he took from Creator/MontyPython's Bruces sketch. |
| 441 | * Music/{{Pantera}}: "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott - He was credited as "Diamond" Darrell on their CanonDiscontinuity eighties albums, in keeping with the band's more GlamMetal image of the time. Also Vince "Vinnie Paul" Abbott, his brother. |
| 442 | * Music/{{Motorhead}}: Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilminster [[AppropriatedAppellation got his nickname]] (as did a number of people) in Music/{{Hawkwind}}, [[note]]itself named after saxophonist Nik Turner's habits of farting and clearing his throat loudly[[/note]] his first band, [[note]]where he was a volunteer roadie and hanger-on until someone told him he was playing bass[[/note]] where he was known for borrowing money from everyone: "Lem'me (lend me) a quid..." etc. His last bandmates prior to his 2015 death were Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou aka "Mikkey Dee", and Philip "Phil" Campbell, aka "Wizzö". (The best known formation was Lemmy, "Fast Eddie"[[note]]not [[Tropers/FastEddie OURS]], if you're asking that[[/note]] Clarke, and Phil "Philty Animal" Taylor. Also, from 1984 to 1995, the band had two guitarists, with Campbell joined by Michael Burston, who performed as "Würzel".) |
| 443 | * Steve "Fuzz" Kmak, former bass player for Music/{{Disturbed}}. No one ever asked him what "Fuzz" meant. |
| 444 | * Vancouver Sea Shanty Punk band the Dreadnoughts are full of this trope: Uncle Touchy (sometimes The Fang) (vocals), Squid Vicious (bass), Seamus O'Flanahan (fiddle), The Dread Pirate Druzil (mandolin), Stupid Swedish Bastard (Drums). Formerly, the Wicked Wench of the West (bass), before she left. |
| 445 | * Music/KatyPerry's last name is actually Hudson, but she uses [[NomDeMom her mom’s maiden name]] to avoid confusion with Creator/KateHudson. |
| 446 | * All the members of Music/{{ABBA}} had slightly altered names when they started their respective careers in the 1960s. Anni-Frid Lyngstad started calling herself Frida while performing in a jazz band, Göran Andersson called himself Benny while performing in a rock band, and Music/AgnethaFaltskog added the H to her name to distinguish herself from another Agneta in a band she sang in. Björn's a slightly different case since his father was the one who changed his surname to Ulvaeus, because he felt Andersson was too common. (The elder Ulvaeus certainly had a point, because otherwise all the credited composers in ABBA songs would be "S. Anderson, B. Andersson, and B. Andersson", and [[strike:chaos]] {{hilarity|Ensues}} would have ensued.) |
| 447 | * Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}}: |
| 448 | ** "Bill Wyman" was originally William George Perks, and he went by ''Lee'' Wyman for a period before joining the Stones. The surname came from a friend and comrade in the RAF during his national service. |
| 449 | ** Music/BrianJones billed himself as "Elmo Lewis" prior to forming the band. |
| 450 | ** For several years Music/KeithRichards dropped the "s" from his name and billed himself as "Keith Richard" at the suggestion of band manager Andrew Loog Oldham (who felt the shortened surname looked and sounded more appropriate for a pop star... perhaps by analogy with Cliff Richard?). |
| 451 | ** Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have produced all their albums since the mid-'70s using the name "The Glimmer Twins". |
| 452 | ** The band also credit the stage name Nanker Phelge for songs they've written collectively. |
| 453 | * Music/CliffRichard was born Harry Roger Webb. |
| 454 | * [=cEvin=] Key (Kevin Crompton) and Nivek Ogre (Kevin Ogilvie) of Music/SkinnyPuppy. |
| 455 | * The Damned has always been rife with this. Past and present members include Dave Vanian (David Lett), Captain Sensible (Raymond Burns), Rat Scabies (Christopher Millar), Brian James (Brian Robertson), Monty Oxy Moron (Montgomery Gillan), Pinch (Andrew Pinching), Lu (Robert Edmunds), Moose Harris (Jason James Harris) and Algy Ward (Alasdair Mackie Ward). Furthermore, Lemmy (Ian Fraser Kilminster - see Motorhead example) filled in on bass for a period in the '70s while they were between bassists, and Sid Vicious (John Simon Ritchie) was going to try for lead singer, but failed to turn up for the audition. |
| 456 | * Music/SidVicious (John Simon Ritchie) eventually joined the Music/TheSexPistols, performing alongside Johnny Rotten (Music/JohnLydon). They would sometimes be joined on stage by punk model and general hanger-on Jordan (Pamela Rooke). |
| 457 | * Music/SiouxsieAndTheBanshees: Siouxsie Sioux (Susan Janet Ballion), Steven Severin (Steven John Bailey) - who took his name from the character in ''Venus in Furs'', and Budgie (Peter Edward Clarke). |
| 458 | * Music/{{Mudhoney}}: Frontman Mark Arm was born Mark Thomas [=McLaughlin=]. The stage name came from some sort of in-joke about using body parts as insults. |
| 459 | * Music/JohnLegend’s name is actually John Stephens. It was a nickname a friend from high school called him that grew into his stage name. He felt like his real name wasn’t marketable because both “John” and “Stephens” are very common names. |
| 460 | * Music/StVincent’s name is Annie Clark but uses a stage name because there is a Canadian actress by the same name. |
| 461 | * From the band Music/{{X|USBand}}, we have Exene Cervenka, nee Christine Lee Cervenka. (She replaced the "Christ" in her name with "X", just like with "Xmas." X-ene. ''Get it?'') Guitarist Billy Zoom was born Tyson Kindell; John Doe's real name is John Nommensen Duchac. Drummer D.J. Bonebrake, meanwhile, was born...Donald J. Bonebrake. Yes, he's the only one in the band without a stage name. |
| 462 | * Music/EngelbertHumperdinck's real name is Arnold George Dorsey. Early in his career, he went by the stage name Gerry Dorsey. |
| 463 | * Music/MeatLoaf was born Marvin Lee Aday. The stage name was originally a childhood nickname given to him by his parents, because, for the opening months of his life, his skin was the colour of raw meatloaf. Plus, he changed his legal name to ''Michael'' Lee Aday in 2001. |
| 464 | * Music/{{Prince}}, while he did make an example of himself as [[TheTropeFormerlyKnownAsX an unpronounceable symbol]] from 1993–2000, in fact spent most of his career as an aversion of this. His birth name was Prince Rogers Nelson. |
| 465 | * Many one-named musicians who appear to be examples but are actually aversions: Music/{{Madonna}} (born Madonna Louise Ciccone), Music/{{Beyonce}} (Beyoncé Giselle Knowles), Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch), [[Music/{{Oliver}} Oliver (William Oliver Swofford)]], Music/{{Seal}} (born Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel), Taco (full name Taco Ockerse), Music/{{Usher}} (full name Usher Raymond IV), and Music/{{Bjork}} (full name Björk Guðmundsdóttir).[[note]]Björk's use of her first name is rooted in her native Icelandic culture. The country's standard naming system does not have family names, instead using one or more given names plus a patronymic (or sometimes a matronymic).[[/note]] Music/{{Cher}}, on the other hand, is short for Cherilyn. %% Using this construction to keep the exclamation point out of Oliver. |
| 466 | * Music/ManfredMann, keyboardist of the band of the same name and later on, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, was born Manfred Lubowitz. And while record executives did like how [[RuleOfCool distinctive his stage name sounded]], hence his eponymous '60s band, Mann actually chose his stage name as a tribute to American jazz drummer Shelly Manne. |
| 467 | * Music/TinaTurner was born Anna Mae Bullock. Her marriage to Ike Turner doesn't really subvert this — she had already been performing with him under her stage name for around two years before they actually got hitched. |
| 468 | * Music/LadyGaga's legal name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. She chose the name from the song "Radio Gaga" by Queen, given to her by her producer for her theatrical approach to music. Contrary to what some sources say, Gaga had been quoted many times saying that she makes "absolutely no distinction between Stefani and Gaga." She calls this her "favorite question". |
| 469 | * Music/IggyPop was born James Newell Osterberg. The "Iggy" part came about as a nickname, as he used to play drums for a group named The Iguanas. Apparently still goes by "Jim" among friends. |
| 470 | * [[Music/MayNakabayashi May'n]] is a short form of May Nakabayashi, and also for being a homophone of the English "Main" to express her desire to become a mainstream artist. |
| 471 | * Music/GreenDay has Michael "Mike Dirnt" Pritchard (the surname is how he imitates a bass' sound) and Tré Cool (as if Frank Edwin Wright III is not awesome enough). Yet Billie Joe Armstrong is the singer's actual name. That said, the side project the Foxboro Hot Tubs lists its members as Michael Pritchard, Frank Edwin Wright III, and the Reverend Strychnine Twitch. (And Green Day's [[SixthRanger tour guitarist]] Jason White is Frosco Lee.) |
| 472 | * Like the Music/EltonJohn example above, Music/ToriAmos (born Myra Ellen Amos) changed her name before she got famous. |
| 473 | * Music/BoDiddley was born Ellas Otha Bates. His name was then changed to Ellas [=McDaniel=] during his childhood. |
| 474 | * Music/GeorgeMichael was born Georgios Kyriakos Panayiotou. |
| 475 | * Music/PicaPica: Belén Guijarro, Emiliano Müller, and Ignacio Repetto respectively become Belén Pelo de Oro (Belén Goldilocks), Emi Bombón (Emi Bonbon), and Nacho Bombín (Nacho Bowler Hat)—clownish personas crafted to entertain and educate children. |
| 476 | * Music/PinkFloyd: Ex-frontman [[Music/SydBarrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett]] used a nickname and ex-bassist George Music/RogerWaters [[MiddleNameBasis dropped his first name]]. |
| 477 | * Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich started off performing under their nicknames, spotlighted this by naming the band after them, then racked up three [[TheOtherDarrin Other Darrins]] as replacement band members [[LegacyCharacter adopted their predecessors’ nicknames]]. Those names in full: lead vocalist and frontman David John “Dave Dee” Harman, bassist Trevor Leonard “Dozy” Ward-Davies, founding rhythm guitarist John “Beaky” Dymond and successors Paul “Beaky” Bennett and Anthony Stephen “Beaky” Carpenter, founding drummer Michael “Mick” Wilson and successor John “Mick” Hatchman, and lead guitarist Ian Frederick Stephen “Tich” Amey. |
| 478 | * Superhero-themed ska-punk/rock band Music/TheAquabats all go by super hero names while in-character. Their line-up as-of the album ''Hi-Five Soup!'' consists of The MC Bat Commander (Christian Jacobs, vocals), Crash [=McLarson=] (Chad Larson, bass), Jimmy the Robot (James Briggs, keyboard/sax), Eaglebones Falconhawk (Ian Fowles, guitar), and Ricky Fitness (Rick Falomir, drums). |
| 479 | * Swedish AlternativeRock band Music/TheHives all have dangerous-sounding stage names: Howlin' Pelle Almqvist (vocals), Nicholaus Arson (guitar/keyboard), Vigilante Carlstroem (guitar), Dr. Matt Destruction (bass), and Chris Dangerous (drums). |
| 480 | * Perry Farrell of Music/JanesAddiction was born Peretz Bernstein. His stage name is meant to be a [[PunnyName play on]] "peripheral". |
| 481 | * Michael Balzary is better known as [[Music/RedHotChiliPeppers Flea]]. During his pre-RHCP stint playing bass for Fear, he apparently went by ''[[SpellMyNameWithAThe The]]'' Flea, if captions on promo photos are to be believed. |
| 482 | * Music/MyChemicalRomance's Ray Toro was born Raymond Toro Ortiz. |
| 483 | * Veteran rock and roller Shakin' Stevens was born Michael Barratt. He [[AppropriatedAppellation picked up]] the nickname "Shaky" at school - it referred to his batting pose when playing cricket. |
| 484 | * Music/RayStevens was born, and legally still is, Harold Ray Ragsdale. |
| 485 | * French singer, songwriter, actress and cultural icon Music/EdithPiaf was born Édith Giovanna Gassion. Piaf is a colloquial French term for "sparrow". |
| 486 | * One of the earliest and greatest bluesmen, Music/LeadBelly (an orthography he repeatedly insisted upon to no avail, as "Leadbelly" still remains more common) Huddie Ledbetter spent much of his life in prison yet changed American music forever. His most recognizable song today is "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" because of the Music/{{Nirvana}} cover on MTV Unplugged. Music/KurtCobain asked [[Creator/GeffenRecords David Geffen]] if he'd buy him an old guitar played by Lead Belly. Presumably Geffen decided he'd already sufficiently compensated Cobain for ''Music/{{Nevermind|Album}}''[='=]s 25 million copies, and declined to spend $500,000 on the proposed gift. |
| 487 | * After forming the band Music/{{Japan}}, David Alan Batt borrowed a new last name from a Music/DavidBowie song: "Drive-In Saturday" from ''Music/AladdinSane'', with the line, "He's crashing out with Sylvian." He's long since given up his most-obvious vocal resemblances to Bowie (and Bryan Ferry, which could be regarded as indirectly ripping off Bowie, anyway). But Music/DavidSylvian continues to record and perform with the name most recognizable to his audience, however [[BrokenBase increasingly alienated]]--or [[CreatorBreakdown unable to recognize what he's doing]]--they might have become: particularly from the release of ''[[HellIsThatNoise Blemish]]'' onward. |
| 488 | * [[Music/{{Angelspit}} Karl Learmont and Amelia Tan]] became [=ZooG=] and [=DestroyX=] (although [=DestroyX=] is also known as [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Amelia Arsenic]]. |
| 489 | * Walden Robert Perciville Cassotto, "Bobby" to his family and friends, became Music/BobbyDarin (possibly taking the surname from a Chinese restaurant sign - i.e. Man'''darin''' Duck). |
| 490 | * Music/{{Kanjani8}} member, You Yokoyama, was born as Kimitaka Yokoyama. His jimusho felt the kanji used in Kimitaka (侯隆) was far too complicated to catch on so changed it to the much easier to say and spell "You". Fans usually just call him Yoko anyway. |
| 491 | * Music/BlackVeilBrides' guitarist, Jinxx (whose real name is Jeremy Ferguson). The singer started out with the stage name of Andy Sixx, shortened it to Andy Six, then scrapped the stage name altogether for his real name, Andy Biersack. |
| 492 | * All members of Music/MindlessSelfIndulgence: |
| 493 | ** Jimmy Urine (James Euringer) |
| 494 | ** Steve, Righ? (Steven Montano) |
| 495 | ** Lyn-Z (Lindsey Way) |
| 496 | ** Kitty (Jennifer Dunn) |
| 497 | * Music/KaizersOrchestra: |
| 498 | ** Janove Ottesen - Sjakalen/The Jackal |
| 499 | ** Music/GeirZahl - Hellraizer Kaizer |
| 500 | ** Terje Winterstø Røthing (born Terje Vinterstø) - Killmaster Kaizer |
| 501 | ** Helge Risa - Omen Kaizer |
| 502 | ** Rune Solheim - Mink Kaizer |
| 503 | ** Øyvind Storesund - Thunder Kaizer |
| 504 | * When working with [=fIREHOSE=], Ed Crawford was billed as Ed Fromohio (or "ed [=fROMOHIO=]", in line with the band's idiosyncratic use of capitalization). The name stemmed both from his being the only member of the band from Ohio instead of California, and from how he signed [[PromotedFanBoy the fan letter that eventually led to him being in the band in the first place.]] |
| 505 | * R&B singer Ginuwine's real name is [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous Elgin Baylor]] Lumpkin. |
| 506 | * John Francis Bongiovi Jr. used his name as originally spelled very early in his career, but didn't hit it big until he Anglicized it to Jon Music/BonJovi. |
| 507 | * Music/UriahHeep's original vocalist, David Byron, was born David Garrick. He probably took the name from poet and author Lord Byron, and perhaps did so partly to avoid sharing a name with David Garrick, pioneering 18th century actor and theatre manager. |
| 508 | * Anna Shurochkina is the real name of Russian R&B singer Нюша (Nyusha) |
| 509 | * Brothers Robert Bartleh Cummings and Michael David Cummings are better known as Music/RobZombie and [[Music/{{Powerman5000}} Spider One]] (whose band is filled with those as well). |
| 510 | * Music/TheOffspring is Bryan "Dexter" Holland, Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman (the nickname comes from noodling his guitar), Greg K(riesel) and the more conventionally-nicknamed Peter "Pete" Parada (whose predecessors include Ronald "Ron" Welty and Adam "Atom" Willard). Greg K was later replaced by Todd Morse (which is his real name). |
| 511 | * Like Elton John and Tori Amos, Edward Louis Severson III became [[Music/PearlJam Eddie Vedder]] before he got famous (Vedder is his mother's maiden name). |
| 512 | ** While Eddie's guitarist ''is'' named Stone Gossard, their guest keyboardist is Kenneth "Boom" Gaspar. |
| 513 | * Music/GunsNRoses: William Rose Bailey = W. Axl Rose, Saul Hudson = Music/{{Slash|Musician}}, Michael Andrew "Duff" [=McKagan=], Jeffrey Dean Isbell = Izzy Stradlin', Darren Arthur "Dizzy" Reed. (In AerithAndBob style, the drummers and Stradlin's replacement Gilby Clarke went at most with a contraction on their name.) In the years before Slash and Duff returned, only a few also fit the trope, such as Ronald Jay Blumenthal = Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (though he's also simply referred to as "Bumblefoot") and Daren Jay "DJ" Ashba. |
| 514 | ** The funny thing is that one of the bands William Bailey (born William Bruce Rose Jr., before his mom remarried) was in before GNR was called A.X.L. That band broke up and William Bailey used the name for himself. |
| 515 | * Onika Tanya Maraj became Music/NickiMinaj when she pursued her musical career. |
| 516 | * Daryl Frank Dragon, dubbed "Captain Keyboard" when he played with Music/TheBeachBoys, was better known as "Captain" for the rest of his life — one half of [[Music/CaptainAndTennille the well-known duo]] with Cathryn Antoinette "Toni" Tennille. |
| 517 | * Mario Lanza was born Alfred Arnold Cocozza. He adopted a masculine form of ''Maria'' Lanza, his mother's maiden name. |
| 518 | * Canadian singer/songwriter Music/JoniMitchell was born Roberta Joan Anderson. |
| 519 | * Music/CaptainBeefheart was born Don Van Vliet. |
| 520 | * Practically every [[KoreanPopMusic KPop]] singer. If they don't choose a cool stage name, they will go by their given name only. In Korean you are NEVER called by your given name, unless your are foreign or possibly by your close family. So, 'Hong Gil Dong' would be called as 'Hong Gil Dong', but if he was a singer he would just be 'Gil Dong' unless he chose a different stage name. |
| 521 | * Subverted with Goth musician Music/{{Voltaire}} (now going by the name Aurelio Voltaire). His real, full name is Aurelio Voltaire Hernandez. |
| 522 | * Australian singer Kandiah Kamalesvaran uses the stage name Kamahl (originally spelt 'Kamal' but apparently people kept mispronouncing it as 'camel'). |
| 523 | * British singer Christopher Hamill dropped his first name and rearranged the letters of his last name to become Limahl. His former band, Kajagoogoo, were mostly aversions; all used their real names except Jez Strode, and even he used his real family name and a nickname (real first name Jeremy). |
| 524 | * Jack Hues, lead vocalist and guitarist for Music/WangChung, was born (and legally remains) Jeremy Allan Ryder. |
| 525 | * From Music/EinsturzendeNeubauten: |
| 526 | ** Blixa Bargeld (birth name Christian Emmerich) |
| 527 | ** F.M. Eineit (Frank-Martin Strauß) |
| 528 | ** Alexander Hacke (Alexander von Borsig) |
| 529 | ** N.U. Unruh (Andrew Chudy) |
| 530 | ** Godrun Gut (Gudrun Bredemann) |
| 531 | * Kid Congo Powers (former member of the Gun Club, the Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) has the birth name Brian Tristan. |
| 532 | * Music/TheCramps CreatorCouple Erick Purkhiser and Kristy Wallace spent their whole careers as Lux Interior and Poison Ivy Rorschach. |
| 533 | * Cass Elliot, AKA [[Music/TheMamasAndThePapas Mama Cass]], born Ellen Naomi Cohen. She adopted the "Cass" in high school, apparently, after actress Peggy Cass, and the "Elliot" came some time later, after a friend who had died. The "Mama" part, however, is a straight example — she picked it while the newly-formed band were trying to find a suitable name, and ended up naming the band. |
| 534 | * Damon Gough, AKA Badly Drawn Boy. |
| 535 | * NeoSoul artist Maxwell goes by his middle name, however he keeps his real name under wraps to protect his family's privacy. |
| 536 | * Music/TheHorrors, during their early days, chose slightly gothic names to go with their goth garage punk sound (upon going under a GenreShift to shoegazing on subsequent albums, they reverted to their real names): |
| 537 | ** Faris Rotter (Faris Badwan) |
| 538 | ** Joshua von Grimm (later changed his stage name to Joshua Third) (Joshua Hayward) |
| 539 | ** Spider Webb (Rhys Webb) |
| 540 | ** Coffin Joe (Joe Spurgeon) |
| 541 | ** Tomethy Furse (Tom Cowan, although it's technically a {{subver|tedTrope}}sion, as his birth name is Tomethy Furse Cowan) |
| 542 | * The original lineup of Music/TheDeadMilkmen: |
| 543 | ** Rodney Anonymous (Rodney Linderman) |
| 544 | ** Joe Jack Talcum (Joe Genaro) |
| 545 | ** Dean Clean (Dean Sabatino) |
| 546 | ** Dave Blood (Dave Schulthise) |
| 547 | ** For the album ''Soul Rotation'', Rodney Linderman was credited as "[[Creator/HPLovecraft HP]] [[PunnyName Hovercraft]]" while Joe Genaro became "Butterfly Fairweather" — Genaro would later combine his two Milkmen stage names and call a side project Butterfly Joe. |
| 548 | ** Dan Stevens joined in 2004, initially using his real name — on the album ''Pretty Music For Pretty People'' he's credited as Dandrew Stevens. |
| 549 | * Music/SnoopDogg, aka [[IHaveManyNames Snoop Doggy Dogg, Snoop, Uncle Snoop, Snoop Eastwood, Snoop Lion]] -- real name Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. |
| 550 | * Brazilian musician Marcos Valadão Rodolfo was nicknamed "Nazi" for his punk wardrobe. [[NoSwastikas For obvious reasons]], he changed the spelling to "Nasi" when he became the frontman for Ira! |
| 551 | * Bryan David "Butch" Vig. His Music/{{Garbage}} bandmate Duke Erikson (Douglas Elwin Erickson) too. |
| 552 | * Elizabeth Woolridge Grant did her first record under the nickname Lizzy Grant, but only took off under the name Music/LanaDelRey. |
| 553 | * Chaka Khan (born Yvette Marie Stevens). |
| 554 | * Lulu (born Marie [=McDonald=] [=McLaughlin=] Lawrie). |
| 555 | * Music/BillieHoliday (born Eleanora Fagan). |
| 556 | * PostPunk duo The Swell Maps were brothers Nikki Sudden (Adrian Nicholas Godfrey) and Epic Soundtracks (Kevin Paul Godfrey). Both continued to use their stage names after the group broke up, and Epic Soundtracks is the reason Creator/EpicRecords' soundtrack division had to call itself [[XtremeKoolLetterz Epic Soundtrax]]. |
| 557 | * Music/AdamAndTheAnts founder Music/AdamAnt (Stuart Leslie Goddard). |
| 558 | * Music/CultureClub founder Boy George (George O'Dowd). |
| 559 | * Music/{{Korn}} has Brian "Head" Welch (for his big head), Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu (for his big cheeks, he was "gopher", then ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}, then the current, short for [[PunnyName "Fieldy Snuts"]]) and James "Munky" Shaffer (for his ability to grip things with his toes like a monkey). |
| 560 | * Rock drummer Cozy Powell, born Colin Flooks. The "Cozy" part [[ShoutOut came from]] jazz drummer Cozy Cole. |
| 561 | * Music/DoctorSteel's real name has never been revealed, although there have been several speculations over the years. Steel prefers to keep his real identity secret, to avoid crazed stalkers. |
| 562 | * Music/MichaelBolton's real name is Michael Bolotin, making this a rather mild example. |
| 563 | * Steven Tallarico made his name less foreign with [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Steven Tyler]]. |
| 564 | * Lou Gramm, lead singer on most of Music/{{Foreigner}}'s hits, was born as, and still legally is, Louis Andrew Grammatico. |
| 565 | * Aubrey Graham did use his real first name when he played Jimmy on ''Series/{{Degrassi|TheNextGeneration}}'', but he is far more famous as a rap superstar under his real middle name of Music/{{Drake}} than he ever was for his acting career. |
| 566 | * Music/GGAllin, the notorious hardcore punk rocker, was born Jesus Christ Allin[[note]]His father Merle, reportedly mentally ill, gave him the name[[/note]]. When his parents' marriage broke up, his mother renamed him Kevin Michael Allin. His stage name derived from his brother Merle's inability to pronounce "Jesus" -- "Jeje" became GG. |
| 567 | * Music/IggyAzalea, born Amethyst Amelia Kelly, took "Iggy" from her childhood dog and "Azalea" from the street she grew up on, where her family lives to this day. |
| 568 | * Music/{{Ariana Grande}}-Butera dropped the "Butera" for her stage name. |
| 569 | * Music/CharliXCX is actually Charlotte Emma Aitchison. |
| 570 | * Alaina Marie Beaton once gave the impression of being more than one person with the stage name Porcelain and the Tramps. She is now known as Porcelain Black. |
| 571 | * [=LiSA=]'s stage name is doubly apt, reflecting both her old band '''L'''ove '''i'''s '''S'''ame '''A'''ll, and her real name, Risa. |
| 572 | * Randy California, singer and guitarist for the psychedelic rock band Spirit, was born Randy Craig Wolfe. The stage name originated earlier in his career, when he became the newest addition to the group Jimmy James and The Blue Flames, fronted by a then-unknown Music/JimiHendrix: The band [[OneSteveLimit already had a member named Randy]], bassist Randy Palmer, so Hendrix came up with differentiating them by their home states - Palmer became Randy Texas and Wolfe became Randy California. |
| 573 | * John Hernandez took the stage name "Johnny Vatos" a little before joining Music/OingoBoingo. |
| 574 | * Nicky Wire of the Music/ManicStreetPreachers is Nicholas Allen Jones. Lead singer James Dean Bradfield however is actually using his real name, as his parents were keen to name him after an actor (with Clint Eastwood being their other choice). |
| 575 | ** Richey Edwards of the band was commonly referred to in the early 90s as Richey James, but his disappearance made Edwards the more frequent use. Richey James Edwards sometimes occurs too. |
| 576 | * Morris Albert of "Feelings" fame is Mauricio Alberto Kaisermann, using a phonetic translation of his first and middle names. |
| 577 | * PostPunk musician Lydia Lunch was born Lydia Anne Koch: "Lunch" was originally a nickname she picked up for her habit of stealing food for the members of The Dead Boys. |
| 578 | * Courtney Lee Harrison became Music/CourtneyLove during her stripper career. Her mother says she might have had an influence in that by calling her daughter "[[VerbalTic Courtney, love]]". |
| 579 | * Australian country singer Slim Dusty was born David Gordon Kirkpatrick. |
| 580 | * A small change: Patti Scialfa's full name is Vivienne Patricia Scialfa, making her closer to MiddleNameBasis. |
| 581 | * Music/CradleOfFilth has several examples across different lineups - Dani Filth (Daniel Davey), Robin Graves (Robin Eaglestone), Gian Pyres (Gianpiero Piras), Damien Gregori (Gregory Moffitt), Ashley Ellyllon (Ashley Jurgenmeyer), Sarah Jezebel Deva (Sarah Jane Ferridge), and [[TheOtherDarrin several men who used the stage name Jared Demeter]], none of whom were actually named Jared. Additionally, ex-members Martin Powell, Dave Pybus, and James [=McIlroy=] normally used their real names, but were, on occasion, known as "Martin Foul," "Dave Pubis," and "James [=McKillboy=]," keeping with what was then the trend of gory-sounding plays on the members' actual names. |
| 582 | * The Dead Boys: Stiv Bators (Steven Bator), Cheetah Chrome (Eugene O'Connor), Jimmy Zero (William Wilden), Jeff Magnum (Jeffrey Halmagy), and Johnny Blitz (John Madansky). |
| 583 | * The New York Dolls: Johnny Thunders (John Anthony Genzale Jr.) and Sylvain Sylvain (Sylvain Mizrahi). Singer David Johansen uses his real name as part of the Dolls, but briefly went by the stage name Buster Poindexter as a cheesy, jokey [[SpringtimeForHitler '80s lounge singer]]. |
| 584 | * As an 11-year-old boy, Louis Marullo used his real name as singer/guitarist of a pre-teen band called The Kids, who had a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSbt-eofG5A British Invasion-inspired single]] released in his home state of New York. About 15 years later, he was a father to Eric and Adam, whose names he combined when he became lead singer Eric Adams of power metal pioneers Music/{{Manowar}}. |
| 585 | * Music/TheAlarm's original guitarist Dave Sharp (David Kitchingman) and original drummer Nigel Twist (Nigel Buckle). |
| 586 | * US-based Australian contemporary Christian musician Rebecca Smallbone records as Rebecca St. James. Averted by her younger brothers Joel and Luke, the contemporary Christian duo For King & Country, who use their real family name. |
| 587 | * Common among the many iterations of Music/BlackFlag: |
| 588 | ** Music/HenryRollins was born Henry Garfield — "Rollins" was a fake surname he and [[Music/MinorThreat Ian MacKaye]] would use on occasion. |
| 589 | ** Chuck Dukowski was born Gary [=McDaniel=]. His stage name was inspired by a Zippo lighter he found with "Chuck The Duke" engraved on it; "The duke" became "Dukowski" because he thought "Chuck The Duke" would sound too "macho", and because he wanted to take on a Polish-sounding name as a form of protest against Polish jokes. He's also been credited under his real name and the slight variation "Charles Dukowski". |
| 590 | ** Robo is Julio Roberto Valverde Valencia. |
| 591 | ** Chuck Biscuits is Charles Montgomery. |
| 592 | ** Ron Reyes was credited as "Chavo Pederast" on the ''Jealous Again'' EP as a TakeThat from the rest of the band after he quit. |
| 593 | ** Raymond Ginn, brother of founding member Greg Ginn, was a member of a very early lineup of the band, but is much better known for designing album covers, fliers, and other artwork for the group under the name Raymond Pettibon. The last name Pettibon came from a nickname given to him by his father, "petit bon", meaning "good little one". It's been speculated by others that he originally wanted to avoid using his birth name because "Ray Ginn" sounded too much like "[[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Reagan]]", who wasn't exactly popular with most punk rockers at the time. |
| 594 | ** Greg Ginn was credited in the liner notes to Black Flag's ''My War'' under both his own name and "Dale Nixon", as an attempt to downplay the fact that the group was without a bassist and Ginn had to record those parts himself. The name has subsequently been used as a ShoutOut by other groups, sometimes just as a fun in-joke, sometimes to signify that someone in the band played multiple instruments or that the real musician couldn't be credited for contractual reasons: For instance Music/DaveGrohl was credited as Dale Nixon for his work on {{Music/Melvins}}' ''King Buzzo'' EP. Black Flag's 2013 album ''What The...'' again credited Dale Nixon on bass. |
| 595 | * Apollo Smile (who was a dancer/musician and then got roles in voice acting - most notably, [[VideoGame/SpaceChannel5 Ulala]] - and as a "live action [[MagicalGirl Anime Girl]]") was born Paula Anne Scharf, before legally changing to her stage name in 1991. Someone misheard her saying "Hi, I'm Paula" and went on a diatribe about the Myth/ClassicalMythology name, she took "Apollo". Then a producer felt she needed a surname to complete the AwesomeMcCoolName, and so her oft-complimented smile it was. |
| 596 | * In Music/TheRadiatorsUS, Ed Volker often adopts the name (and persona) of Professor Zeke. He also does solo projects under the name Zeke Fishhead. |
| 597 | * Marc Almond's real first name is Peter; he adopted one of his middle names, Mark, for professional purposes, but changed the spelling to Marc in homage to Music/MarcBolan, having been a fan as a teenager. However, Almond is his actual surname. |
| 598 | * Music/Sum41 |
| 599 | ** Deryck Whibley- Bizzy D (although he goes by his real name now) |
| 600 | ** Jason [=McCaslin=]- [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Cone]] |
| 601 | ** Dave Baksh- [=Brownsound=] |
| 602 | ** Steve Jocz- [=Stevo32=] |
| 603 | ** Tom Thacker- [=BrownTom=] |
| 604 | * Patricia Andrejewski became Music/PatBenatar before she started recording. However, this was for more traditional reasons: she got married to a man named Dennis Benatar, but they divorced before her music career started. She had already established herself by the time she married her guitarist/manager Neil Giraldo, so no professional name change there. |
| 605 | * John Michael Stipe dropped his first name when he and Peter Buck formed Music/{{REM}} with Mike Mills. |
| 606 | * Montenegro-born Serbian singer-songwriter Antonije Pušić performs as Rambo Amadeus. |
| 607 | * German singer Lou Bega, best known for "Mambo No. 5", was born David [[SueDonym Lubega]]. |
| 608 | * Late French pop-rock legend Jean-Philippe Léo Smet achieved his fame as Creator/JohnnyHallyday. |
| 609 | * Music/PaulRevereAndTheRaiders: The band's founder and namesake, born Paul Revere Dick, dropped his last name. |
| 610 | * Music/StrayCats have one aversion and two straight examples. Frontman Brian Setzer uses his real name, but double bassist Leon Drucker is Lee Rocker and drummer James [=McDonnell=] is Slim Jim Phantom. |
| 611 | * Charles Wiggins picked the stage name Raphael Wiggins on the spur of the moment when auditioning for Sheila E's backup band (who were about to go on tour with {{Music/Prince}}) - when he got the job, he had to quickly learn to answer to "Raphael". He continued to be billed as Raphael Wiggins as part of the group Tony! Toni! Toné!, but for the group's final album and his subsequent solo career, he became Raphael Saadiq. Because "Saadiq" is Arabic for "man of his word", there were rumors he had converted to Islam: He'd later clarify that he had not - he wanted to change his surname to differentiate himself from his brother, Dwayne Wiggins (who had also been in Tony! Toni! Toné!), and just thought "Saadiq" sounded cool. |
| 612 | * RecordProducer Mark Ellis goes by the professional name Flood. The stage name supposedly stems from his days as a studio runner at Morgan Studios, where his duties included [[YouGetMeCoffee bringing tea and other refreshments to recording artists and staff]]: It was noted that he kept up with these requests, in contrast to another runner who never seemed to be around when needed... So, Ellis was nicknamed "Flood", while the other runner was nicknamed "Drought". |
| 613 | * Every member of the {{doujin|shi}} music circle Music/{{Butaotome}}: |
| 614 | ** Ranko is named after a ''[[Manga/TotsugekiPapparaTai Totsugeki! Pappara-tai]]'' character. |
| 615 | ** Ranko no Ane is Ranko's older sister. |
| 616 | ** Comp's name comes from "compressor" because he loves it. |
| 617 | ** The origin of Paprika's stage name is unknown, but she ''doesn't'' like paprika. |
| 618 | * Music/TheMonkees: Peter Tork was originally, and legally, Peter Thorkelson. The other three Monkees used their real surnames and either an actual given name[[note]]Robert Music/MichaelNesmith[[/note]] or a nickname quite obviously derived from it.[[note]]George Michael "Micky" Dolenz and David Thomas "Davy" Jones[[/note]] |
| 619 | * Music/JohnMellencamp had this forced on him when he was starting out. He was looking at some promotional material for one of his concerts and was shocked to discover his manager had dubbed him Johnny Cougar without his knowledge or approval. As his career went on, he changed it to John Cougar, John Cougar Mellencamp, and eventually back to John Mellencamp. |
| 620 | * Music/TheRunaways: |
| 621 | ** Rhythm guitarist Joan Larkin changed her last name to [[Music/JoanJett Jett]] because it sounded like [[AwesomeMcCoolname a good name for a rock star]]. It became her legal name after the band broke up. |
| 622 | ** Drummer Sandy West's real name was Sandra Sue Pesavento. |
| 623 | ** A more downplayed example was bassist Jacqueline Fuchs, who chose to perform as Jackie Fox; "Fuchs" is German for "fox".[[labelnote:Postscript]]She went back to her birth name after the band broke up, and is now an entertainment attorney.[[/labelnote]] |
| 624 | * Singer Ella O'Connor is better known as Music/{{Lorde}}. She chose the name because of her infatuation with nobility [[note]] hinted at by the title of her first release, "Royals" [[/note]] and added the "e" to make it more feminine. |
| 625 | * Maynard James Keenan of Music/{{Tool}}, Music/APerfectCircle and Puscifer was born James Herbert Keenan. He adopted the alias Maynard on a whim in ROTC, naming himself after a character in a story he'd written. |
| 626 | * Melissa Jefferson is better known as {{Music/Lizzo}}: in early performances she went by Lissa, which quickly changed to Lizzo as a play on the Music/JayZ song "Izzo". |
| 627 | * Brazilian {{jazz}} guitarist Djalma de Andrade went by the name Bola Sete, which is Portuguese for "ball seven". Early in his career he was the only black member of an otherwise all-white combo, and this reminded the band of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinuca_brasileira Brazilian]] [[CueTheBilliardShot snooker]], where the 7 ball is the only black ball on the table (as opposed to the 8 ball in most other variations of the game). |
| 628 | * Also from Brazil, Jorge Duílio Lima Meneses already took [[NomDeMom one of mom's surnames]] to become Jorge Ben, and then in the 80s he expanded to Music/JorgeBenJor (one speculated cause is to avoid confusion with George Benson). |
| 629 | * Russian singer-songwriter Elvira Sergeyevna Tugusheva goes by Elvira T. |
| 630 | * Nigerien musician Omara "Bombino" Moctar, whose name is a corruption of the Italian "bambino". |
| 631 | * Music/AnetteOlzon, real last name Olsson, who went to XtremeKoolLetterz to avoid confusion with a former bandmate with the same surname. |
| 632 | * Brittney Slayes, frontwoman of metal band Music/UnleashTheArchers. Her real last name is Hayes. |
| 633 | * Music/WasNotWas is two of those, David Was (Weiss) and Don Was (Fagenson), the latter of whom also became a prolific producer. |
| 634 | * Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. changed his first name to the [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname diminutive of said name]] and slightly altered the spelling of his surname. You probably know him as Creator/HarryBelafonte. |
| 635 | * [[Music/FredericChopin Frédéric François Chopin]] is a very early (though downplayed) example of this. It's the French version of his original Polish name, Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin. |
| 636 | * Jordan Lennon initially released a couple of songs and music videos under his legal name, but later adopted the stage name 'Jay-El'. In acting and filmmaking, he goes by Jordan Lennon to distinguish the two. |
| 637 | * Dublin musician Cian Carey did a variation on simply using his initials when creating a stage name; he goes by Dubal C in reference to his AlliterativeName. |
| 638 | * Irish rapper Mistah B in the 2000s recalls telling someone his legal name - Byron Hayes - and then getting asked why he was going by a bland stage name when he had [[AwesomeMcCoolName such an interesting name naturally]]. |
| 639 | * Another Irish rapper Corey Dunne goes by C.O.T. |
| 640 | * Norwegian singer-songwriter Marie Ulven first started releasing music online in Norwegian under the name Lydia X. Once she started writing songs in English, she switched to Girl In Red, after a text message she sent to a friend while they were trying to find each other in a crowd. |
| 641 | * The singer-songwriter who wrote [[Music/ElvisPresley "Suspicious Minds"]], among other songs, had the arguably awesome name Francis Rodney Zambon at birth, but changed it to the more humdrum Mark James in his performing career. |
| 642 | * Salsa bandleader Joe Cuba was born Gilberto Calderón in New York to Puerto Rican parents. His StageName intersects with BlandNameProduct: he'd been a conga drummer for bandleader Joe Panama, but Panama fired his whole band, who then reorganized under the leadership of Calderón. A club owner suggested the name [[StealthPun Joe Cuba]] as a way to allude to their work with Panama. |
| 643 | * Diana Ellen Judd took the opportunity to revert to her maiden name following a divorce to change her given name to a biblical one, Naomi. Daughter Christina Claire Ciminella followed her, dropping the stepfather surname for hers (hence both being Music/TheJudds) and a name based on the city of Winona - taken from "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" - to become Music/WynonnaJudd. Her other daughter, an actress, also dropped the Ciminella of her father for Naomi's surname and is Creator/AshleyJudd. |
| 644 | * Music/JunkieXL, who in his film composing career often goes by birth name Tom Holkenborg. The stage name is occasionally {{bowdlerise}}d to JXL, which is how he was credited for a remix of Music/ElvisPresley's "A Little Less Conversation". |
| 645 | * RecordProducer Garth Richardson is often credited as [=GGGarth=], a nickname based on his mild stutter. |
| 646 | * Kisean Paul Anderson lived three years in Kingston, Jamaica, during his childhood and later adopted the name Sean Kingston as a singer. |
| 647 | ** His grandfather was the noted Jamaican reggae producer Lawrence Lindo, who worked under the stage name Jack Ruby. |
| 648 | * Music/BlueOysterCult was originally planned to all have stage names devised by manager Sandy Pearlman. Donald Roeser was the only one who committed, taking on the stage name, Buck Dharma. |
| 649 | * The real name of Eric Lévi, Music/{{Era}}'s founder and composer for the films ''Film/LOperationCornedBeef'', ''Film/LesVisiteurs'' and ''Guardian Angels'', is Éric Jacques Levisalles. He is not Jewish, he simply shortened his surname and added the acute accent. |
| 650 | * Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin goes by Music/{{Enya}}, which is a phonetic spelling of her name (which fully anglicized is Enya Patricia Brennan). |
| 651 | * The 1970s duo England Dan and John Ford Coley were also examples. After the duo split, the former went on to an even more successful career as a country solo artist under his real name of Music/DanSeals. The latter was a downplayed example, having been born John Edward ''Colley'' (notice the extra "L"). |
| 652 | * Another downplayed example is Music/{{INXS}} bassist Garry Gary Beers. Garry is his real first name, but his real middle name is William. |
| 653 | * Gus G, one of Firewind's guitarists and formerly of Music/OzzyOsbourne's band, was born Kostas Karamitroudis. |
| 654 | * Music/RichardCheese was born Mark Jonathan Davis. His stage name is a pun on "dick cheese", a slang for smegma. |
| 655 | ** Every member of his band Lounge Against the Machine assumes a stage name that includes a type of cheese: Bobby Ricotta (piano/keyboards), Frank Feta (drums/percussion), and Billy Bleu (bass/upright bass). Additionally, the band's two first drummers used the name Buddy Gouda.[[note]]The members can change, but the names do not, as they are actually character names. According to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cheese#Band_members Wikipedia]]: "The role of pianist and musical director Bobby Ricotta is currently played by Noel Melanio. The band's first drummer Buddy Gouda was played by Todd [=LaValley=], and then by Charles Byler. Byler left the band in 2004; he was replaced by Brian Fishler and the drummer's stage name was changed to Frank Feta. The current bass player, Billy Bleu, is portrayed by Ron Belcher".[[/note]] |
| 656 | * Almost every member of Music/PatricioReyYSusRedonditosDeRicota. Note that no one of them actually calls themselves Patricio Rey: |
| 657 | ** Vocalist and lyricist Carlos Solari: [[Music/IndioSolari "Indio"]] |
| 658 | ** Guitarist Eduardo Beilinson: [[Music/SkayBeilinson "Skay"]] (nicknamed that way by his friend, plastic artist Marta Minujin) |
| 659 | ** Bassist Daniel Bucciarelli: "Semilla" |
| 660 | ** Cover artist Ricardo Cohen: "Rocambole" |
| 661 | ** Manager Carmen Policastro: "La Negra Poly" |
| 662 | ** Former drummer Daniel Ávalos: "Piojo" |
| 663 | ** Former guitarist Gabriel Jolivet: "Conejo" |
| 664 | * All the members of German PowerMetal band Music/{{Powerwolf}} except drummer Roel van Helden use stage names. Lead vocalist Karsten Brill is billed as "Attila Dorn", lead guitarist Benjamin Buss is "Matthew Greywolf", bassist and rhythm guitarist David Vogt is "Charles Greywolf" (the two are said to be brothers onstage), and keyboardist Christian Jost is "Falk Maria Schlegel". |
| 665 | * Russian independent heavy metal artist Oleg Abramov began releasing Russian-language covers of Western rock and metal songs under the name Music/RadioTapok in the late 2010s. |
| 666 | * Mexican singer María de Jesús Terán, famous for performing many songs for anime series, is better known in the fandom by her stage name Music/{{Jade}}. |
| 667 | * Everyone in Music/TheDwarves uses a stage name [[RevolvingDoorBand while they're part of the band]]. Of the two primary members, Blag Dahlia uses his real name (Paul Carafo) when offstage, but [=HeWhoCannotBeNamed=] (who performs under a lucha mask) has kept his secret. |
| 668 | * All four members of seminal San Francisco-area punk band Music/DeadKennedys went by stage names: |
| 669 | ** Singer Jello Biafra was born Eric Reed Boucher. |
| 670 | ** Guitar player East Bay Ray was born Raymond Pepperall. |
| 671 | ** Bass player Klaus Flouride was born Geoffery Lyall. |
| 672 | ** Drummer [[OnlyOneName Ted]] was born Bruce Slesinger. |
| 673 | * The Donnas all used stage names, inverting the naming scheme of Music/TheRamones (most of whom used variations of their real first names with the last name Ramone) as a gag, calling themselves all "Donna" plus the initial of their last names. |
| 674 | ** Singer Brett Anderson was Donna A. |
| 675 | ** Guitarist Alison Roberston became Donna R. |
| 676 | ** Bassist Maya Ford was Donna F. |
| 677 | ** Drummer Torry Castellano became Donna C. |
| 678 | * Music/HankWilliams' birth name was Hiram Williams. |
| 679 | * Music/{{Halsey}} was born Ashley Nicolette Frangipane. She chose "Halsey" both because it's an anagram of "Ashley" and because she lived on Halsey Street for much of her childhood. |
| 680 | * Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks creator Ross Bagdasarian began his music career performing under his real name, but after realizing that people had trouble pronouncing his Armenian surname, he decided to start crediting himself as David Seville, "Seville" coming from his favorite city from when he was stationed in Spain during his years in the US Army, and "David" just being a name he liked. |
| 681 | * Members of Killer Dwarfs used the last name Dwarf. The band still includes original singer, Russ Graham, and Drummer Darrell Millar — or rather Russ Dwarf and Darrell Dwarf. |
| 682 | [[/folder]] |
| 683 | |
| 684 | [[folder:Sports -- Basketball]] |
| 685 | * Many players use nicknames instead of first names. For example: |
| 686 | ** Earvin Johnson Jr. became UsefulNotes/MagicJohnson. |
| 687 | ** Tyrone Curtis "Muggsy" Bogues and Anthony Jerome "Spud" Webb, the two shortest players in NBA history. |
| 688 | ** Wardell Stephen "Dell" Curry.[[note]]Not to be confused with his son Wardell UsefulNotes/StephenCurry II, who uses the middle name to better differentiate from him.[[/note]] |
| 689 | ** Ronald Jerome "Popeye" Jones. |
| 690 | ** Coach and former player Glenn Anton "Doc" Rivers. |
| 691 | ** Chavano Rainer "Buddy" Hield. |
| 692 | ** Edrice Femi "Bam" Adebayo. |
| 693 | ** Temetrius Jamel "Ja" Morant. |
| 694 | ** Nah'Shon Lee "Bones" Hyland. |
| 695 | * Some players just contract their names. For example: |
| 696 | ** José Juan Barea Mora = JJ Barea. |
| 697 | ** Fabricio Paulino de Melo = Fab Melo. |
| 698 | ** Ogugua Anunoby Jr. = OG Anunoby. |
| 699 | ** Jerdarrian Devontae Davison = JD Davison. |
| 700 | ** Anthony Leon Tucker Jr. = PJ Tucker. |
| 701 | ** Anthony Warren Jr. = TJ Warren. |
| 702 | * Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. used the name Lew Alcindor before legally changing his name to Creator/KareemAbdulJabbar after his conversion to Islam. |
| 703 | * Former star guard Lloyd Bernard Free legally changed his name to World B. Free in 1981 at the height of his career, not because he wanted the world to be free, but rather because of having been given the nickname "World" by a friend on the Brooklyn playgrounds because of his ability to hit shots from various distances on the court ("around the world"). |
| 704 | ** On the other hand, Enes Kanter legally changed his name ''actually'' because he wants the world to be free — and as part of its activism against his native Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. After acquiring American citizenship in 2021, he became Enes Kanter Freedom (using Enes Freedom as player name so the word "Freedom" is shown on the back of the jersey). |
| 705 | * Ronald William Artest Jr. used the name Ron Artest before legally changing his name to Metta World Peace in 2011 -- in part because of some religious awakening, but mostly to distance himself from his bad reputation that started back when he played for Indiana during the Malice at the Palace. During that time, World Peace was shown at the back of his jersey. A couple of years after he retired from play, he changed it again to Metta Sandiford-Artest after [[TookTheWifesName marrying his second wife]]. |
| 706 | [[/folder]] |
| 707 | |
| 708 | [[folder:Sports -- Professional Wrestling]] |
| 709 | * Most [[ProfessionalWrestling pro wrestlers]] operate under a stage name. Some are easy to pick out, while others are subtle. |
| 710 | ** An aversion when you consider the few who go by their real names, oftentimes second- or third-generation stars like brothers Wrestling/{{Bret|Hart}} and Wrestling/OwenHart, Wrestling/JeffJarrett, and father-and-son [[Wrestling/BobOrtonJr "Cowboy" Bob]] and Wrestling/RandyOrton. Another second-generation star, [[Wrestling/MrPerfect Curt Hennig]], was commonly known by his real name even if he mostly wrestled as Mr. Perfect. |
| 711 | * Before adopting the name of Lexis King in WWE NXT, Brian Pillman Jr. wasn't a 100% aversion. While he used his real name, the "Jr." part is kayfabed—[[Wrestling/BrianPillman his late father]] was Brian William, while he's Brian Zachary. |
| 712 | ** Wrestlers who were stars in other sports often use their real names in pro wrestling, such as MMA fighters Wrestling/KenShamrock, Wrestling/DanSevern and Creator/{{Ronda|Rousey}} [[Wrestling/RondaRousey Rousey]], Olympic powerlifter Wrestling/MarkHenry, and Olympic wrestler Wrestling/KurtAngle. |
| 713 | ** Because WWE regularly trademarks its performers' ring names, it's not unheard of for former WWE performers to use their real names in other promotions. For example, Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}} uses his real name of Adam Copeland in AEW. Even the co-TropeNamer for DoNotCallMePaul, Wrestling/BigShow, goes by his real name of Paul Wight as an AEW commentator and occasional wrestler. (The other co-TropeNamer has mostly been going by Paul "Wrestling/TripleH" Levesque since taking over [=WWE's=] creative in 2022.) |
| 714 | ** Wrestling/{{WWE}} did a rather fun storyline on this, with ''Tough Enough'' season 3 winner John Hennigan being completely unable to decide on a stage name, and thus changing his name each and every week. He went through Johnny Blaze, Johnny Spade, Johnny Onyx, and Johnny Superstar before finally settling on Johnny Nitro -- which was intended to be a kiss-ass maneuver towards Eric Bischoff, the former architect of ''Wrestling/{{WCW}} Monday Nitro'' and then-current general manager of the Raw brand. Now, in his new gimmick as the second coming of Jim Morrison (lead singer of Music/TheDoors, whom Hennigan looks remarkably like), he's taken the name Wrestling/JohnMorrison. |
| 715 | ** Wrestling/HulkHogan was born Terrence Eugene Bollea. (What, not intimidating enough...?) |
| 716 | *** He started out wrestling as Terry Boulder, then added "Hulk" as a nickname to that, before dropping the first name and changing the last name to Hogan. |
| 717 | *** The name "Hulk Hogan" was suggested by Vince [=McMahon=] Sr., and Hogan went along, despite feeling that the idea of an orange-skinned blonde-haired Irishman was kind of silly (Vince Sr. wanted him to dye his hair red, but Hogan was already going bald and felt the dye would make his hair fall out even faster). He got way more over under the new name than anybody expected, but there was a slight hitch -- Vince's penchant for billing him as "The Incredible" Hulk Hogan caught the attention of Creator/MarvelComics, and they sued and won, taking the trademark for the name until Hogan bought it back more than two decades later. |
| 718 | *** He started out under a mask as Super Destroyer. Also went by Sterling Golden before Hulk. |
| 719 | ** Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin was born Steve Anderson and later known as Steve Williams, but changed it to differentiate himself from already-established wrestler Wrestling/DrDeathSteveWilliams. He would later legally adopt Steve Austin (without the "Stone Cold" part). |
| 720 | ** Wrestling/ShawnMichaels was born Michael Shawn Hickenbottom, a name which just doesn't fit a man who was billed as the "Sexiest Man Alive". |
| 721 | *** Referenced on a 2009 ''Raw'', when Michaels worked as a chef and tried to avoid recognition by using the "fake name" Hickenbottom. |
| 722 | ** As he transitioned the wrestling world to Hollywood, [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] gradually dropped his stage name, going from "The Rock" to "Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson", and is now making films under his given name, Creator/DwayneJohnson. "The Rock" is trademarked by the WWE, so he had to stop using it when he stopped wrestling. Or when they felt like saying "no". |
| 723 | *** Of course, Johnson's original ring name, "Rocky Maivia", was taken from his father Wrestling/RockyJohnson and his maternal grandfather Peter Maivia. Rocky Johnson was born Wayde Douglas Bowles but legally changed his name to his ring moniker in 1964. |
| 724 | ** Legendary nutcase [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior The Ultimate Warrior]] legally changed his name to "Warrior" ("Ultimate Warrior" is trademarked by the WWE). His birth name? ''Jim Hellwig''. |
| 725 | ** Ditto for another wrestler who famously spiraled out of control, Wrestling/{{Chyna}} (born Joanie Marie Laurer). Until WWE's trademark on the name expired she [[WritingAroundTrademarks got around it]] by being billed as 'Chynna Doll'. |
| 726 | ** Ask a non-{{smark}} if they've ever heard of James Janos. More likely than not you'll get a "huh?" or somesuch in reply. Until you mention that he's more famous as Wrestling/JesseVentura, a name he adopted to shield his family from [[FanDumb nutcase fans]]. |
| 727 | ** Brian Lawler went by Brian Christopher when he entered wrestling, to distance himself from his famous father, Memphis wrestling legend and longtime Wrestling/{{WWE}} commentator [[Wrestling/JerryLawler Jerry "The King" Lawler]]. It didn't work very well for a number of reasons (not the least of which is an extremely strong family resemblance), and Brian Christopher's lineage soon became the single worst-kept secret in wrestling history (and keep in mind, this is the "sport" that spent the better part of a century badly hiding the fact that it was all a show). |
| 728 | ** Virgil Riley Runnels? Not a wrestling name. Wrestling/DustyRhodes? Better. |
| 729 | *** His sons have continued the tradition. Dustin Runnels, better known as "Wrestling/{{Goldust}}", wrestled as "Dustin Rhodes" in the early part of his career, and [[Wrestling/CodyRhodes Cody Runnels]] also uses the "Rhodes" surname. In fact, Cody hasn't legally been "Cody Runnels" since his late teens—he's Cody Runnels Rhodes. |
| 730 | *** It's actually quite common for second-generation wrestlers to use their fathers' {{kayfabe}} surname, such as the Wrestling/VonErichFamily, whose real last name was and is Adkisson. The three third-generation Adkissons who went into the business (Kerry's daughter Lacey, now retired, and Kevin's sons Marshall and Ross) also use the Von Erich name. |
| 731 | * Wrestling/RandySavage was born Randy Poffo. Funny enough, his brother Wrestling/{{Lanny|Poffo}} also went into wrestling but kept the Poffo surname. |
| 732 | * Wrestling/TrishStratus was born Patricia Anne Stratigeas and adopted 'Stratus' when she became a model. She did, however, keep the name intact when she became a wrestler - probably because she had something of a pre-existing fanbase with it. |
| 733 | * Inverted by a girl who used the ring name Alexis Laree in TNA and on the independent circuit. When she was signed to WWE, she competed under her real name - Wrestling/MickieJames. Thus making her one of the few WWE female performers to become a star using her real name. |
| 734 | * Wrestling/BeckyLynch has always competed under her first name (or a nickname derived from it) but has rotated through differing surnames. In fact, her first ring name was just Becky. She achieved fame on the indies as Rebecca Knox but changed to Lynch when she was signed to WWE. She also considered Daly for wordplay potential. And as for her birth name? Rebecca Quin. |
| 735 | * Wrestling/AlexaBliss was renamed from Lexi Kauffman. According to her, the runner-up name was Lexie Kaye but she opted for Alexa Bliss because the former was too similar to her real name. |
| 736 | * Wrestling/{{Aliyah}} is interesting because she went by her indies ring name while in developmental before getting her official WWE name. Talent usually just go by their legal name in that interim process, but she (legal name Nhooph Al-Areebi) went by Jasmin, part of the name she went by on the indies (Jasmin Areebi). |
| 737 | * Wrestling/{{Paige}} has an especially interesting story; her legal name Saraya—which she now uses as her AEW ring name—is actually her ''mother'''s ring name (and ''her'' legal name is Julia), and she only got it from mishearing 'Slayer' at a concert in the 80s while high. On the indies, she went by Britani Knight, which her mother also picked, as Britani was an anagram of Britain. She herself hated it though, and was happy to change it to Paige in WWE, naming herself after Creator/RoseMcGowan's character in ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}''. Notably the film ''Film/FightingWithMyFamily'' never mentions her Britani Knight indies name. |
| 738 | [[/folder]] |
| 739 | |
| 740 | [[folder:Sports -- Other]] |
| 741 | * Everyone involved in roller derby -- the players, the referees, even the medics -- takes a stage name, usually some kind of play on words that references their playing style. Examples include Tanya Hyde, Cherry Rockette, Belle de Brawl, Hot Legs Hooligan, Vin Dictive, etc. |
| 742 | * As an unsurprising result of their origins, [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming esports players]] are almost always referred to by their [[ScreenName in-game aliases]]. This even extends to other relevant talent like casters, analysts, coaches, and hosts, who -- even if they don't have a relevant username for their respective game -- still tend to go by [[OnlineAlias online aliases]]. |
| 743 | * Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé. He acquired the nickname at school, from circumstances since forgotten (it's mostly considered to be a mispronunciation of "Bilé", a local goalkeeper). |
| 744 | ** Single-name names are quite popular in soccer, especially in Pelé's homeland of Brazil. |
| 745 | * Baseball legend George Herman [[Creator/BabeRuth "Babe" Ruth]] Jr. |
| 746 | * Record-breaking decathlete Francis Morgan Ayodélé "Daley" Thompson. |
| 747 | * UsefulNotes/FormulaOne driver Lance Strulovitch, aka Lance "Stroll". |
| 748 | * Do you know how Vincent Edward Jackson is better known as? "Creator/{{Bo|Jackson}}" Knows (short for "boar hog", as he was a rowdy kid when he was little). |
| 749 | [[/folder]] |
| 750 | |
| 751 | [[folder:Other]] |
| 752 | * Common with online personalities, as sharing your full (especially last) name on the Internet isn't recommended for privacy reasons. For instance, Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg is better known as LetsPlay/PewDiePie. |
| 753 | * ''Noms de guerre'' were common among the leaders of the Bolshevik Revolution. UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov) took his alias from the Lena River in Siberia. UsefulNotes/JosefStalin (Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, or Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili in his native Georgian) took his from the Russian for steel. Molotov (Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Skriabin) took his from the Russian for hammer. And, apparently, UsefulNotes/LeonTrotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein) took the name of one of his jailers from when he was held in Odessa. |
| 754 | ** Mass-murdering Cambodian leader Pol Pot (born Saloth Sar) supposedly took his ''nom de guerre'' from "'''pol'''itique '''pot'''entielle" (= potential politician), a French rendering of a phrase that the Chinese communist leaders used to describe him. |
| 755 | ** North Vietnamese communist leader Hồ Chí Minh (born Nguyễn Sinh Cung) constructed his final ''nom de guerre'' from the common Vietnamese surname "Hồ" with the given name "Chí Minh" (= enlightened will). Prior to that, he went under the ''nom de guerre'' Nguyễn Ái Quốc (= Nguyễn the Patriot). |
| 756 | ** Argentina-born revolutionary and poster icon [[UsefulNotes/CheGuevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara]] acquired his ''nom de guerre'' during his revelatory 1951 motorbike trip. He and his travelling companion stopped off at a rural fire station in Chile and volunteered to go and fight a fire with them. The Argentine dialect appears to other Latinos to be peppered with [[VerbalTic "che" sounds]], so that's what the firemen called them - Ernesto was "Little Che" and his companion "Big Che". |
| 757 | ** The mayor of Berlin and later Chancellor of then-West Germany Willy Brandt was born Herbert Ernst Carl Frahm. He took up his ''nom de guerre'' when going into exile to escape the Nazis. |
| 758 | * Media impresario Janet Street-Porter is a para-example of maiden name retention. She was born Janet Bull. Her first husband was Tim Street-Porter, and she took his surname in the traditional manner. Then she began her career in the media and has hung on to her distinctive name through all of her subsequent marriages and divorces. |
| 759 | * Ján Ludvík Hoch, a Czechoslovakian Jew, arrived in Britain in 1940 as a refugee from the Nazis. Having joined the army, helped liberate Europe, and received an officer’s commission and promotion to captain, he was made to adopt a new name: Ian Robert Maxwell. Robert Maxwell, as he later styled himself, went on to achieve fame and infamy with the rise and fall of his media empire, and his eventual death by drowning. (His daughter Ghislaine would achieve infamy on her own, being involved in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal.) |
| 760 | * Motorcyclist and daredevil [[UsefulNotes/EvelKnievel Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel.]] |
| 761 | * Fashion designer agnès b (Agnès Andrée Marguerite Troublé). |
| 762 | * Creator/StanLee was born Stanley Lieber, and used "Stan Lee" as a pen name for a few years before legally adopting it as his name. Notably, his younger brother Larry remains Larry Lieber. His former creative partner Creator/JackKirby was likewise born Jacob Kurtzberg but legally changed it to his pen name at some unknown point. |
| 763 | * Brazilian artists who worked for Marvel or DC use "Americanized" versions of their names. It started when an editor at Malibu Comics thought Deodato Taumaturgo Borges Filho was too Latino to get accepted, so it became Mike Deodato Jr. (at times he drops the Jr., alluding to how "Filho" = son). Then Eduardo Barros became phonetic with Eddy Barrows, and José Edilbenes Bezerra built Ed Benes out of his middle name; and Benedito José Nascimento inverted and twisted a bit to become Joe Bennett. |
| 764 | * Creator/JaimeKing used the name James King during her modelling career because there was already a model named Jaime in her agency. |
| 765 | * The short-lived 1950s Creator/{{CBS}} variety series ''The Real [=McKay=]'' was a footnote in TV history, but had one lasting legacy. The show's host had to change his on-air name to match the series title. While his legal name remained James Kenneth [=McManus=] for the rest of his life, he decided he liked his new on-air name. [=McManus=] went on to become a sportscasting legend, most notably on ''Series/WideWorldOfSports'', as Jim [=McKay=]. |
| 766 | * Longtime TV and radio host Creator/LarryKing was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger. He took his on-air name minutes before going on air for the first time on local Miami radio in 1957, with the last name coming from a newspaper ad for King's Wholesale Liquor. He legally changed his name to "Larry King" within two years. |
| 767 | * Mel Allen, a baseball broadcasting icon—first with the New York Yankees from the 1940s to early 1960s, then as host of the syndicated highlights show ''This Week in Baseball'' from 1977 until his death in 1996—was born Melvin Allen Israel. He dropped his last name on-air when he joined CBS Radio in 1937, and dropped it legally in 1943. |
| 768 | * Another baseball broadcasting icon, Harry Caray, was born Harry Christopher Carabina. Before he began his MLB broadcast career with the St. Louis Cardinals,[[note]]where he spent 25 seasons—nearly a decade longer than his most iconic gig with the Chicago Cubs[[/note]] a station manager in Illinois suggested he change his on-air name to Caray. He did so, and legally adopted it not long after. |
| 769 | * Right-wing talk radio firebrand Radio/MichaelSavage is legally Michael Alan Weiner. (He's written books under both names.) |
| 770 | * Don Francisco, a Chilean TV host who moved to the US, has been an iconic figure among Latin Americans and US Hispanics as host of the long-running ''Sábado Gigante''. Real name: Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld. |
| 771 | * Silvio Santos, perhaps even more iconic in Brazil as the host of ''Programa Silvio Santos'', which he has hosted since it first aired in June 1963 (not to mention being the founder of the SBT television network), is legally Senor Abravanel. |
| 772 | * Val Valentino, known as the controversial Masked Magician, was born Leonard Montano. |
| 773 | * Murray Langston has acted under his real name, but is better known as The Unknown Comic, who regularly appeared on ''Series/TheGongShow'' with a paper bag over his head. |
| 774 | * Famed news anchor Jim Gardner of WPVI 6ABC ''Action News'' in Philadelphia (ABC O&O there), now retired, was born James Goldman on May 17, 1948 in New York City. |
| 775 | * The late, great weatherman Ed Brandon of KTRK ABC13 ''Eyewitness News'' in Houston, TX was born Winham Edward Branstetter in 1942 in Texarkana, TX. |
| 776 | [[/folder]] |
| 777 | |
| 778 | !!Fictional examples: |
| 779 | |
| 780 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 781 | * ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'' has a spoilerrific couple of examples: [[spoiler:Akari Yukimura used the stage name "Haruna Mase" as an actress, in order to avoid getting too much unwarranted attention. When she went on her misguided vendetta against Koro-sensei, she instead used another stage name from a character she played in the past: ''Kaede Kayano''. She infiltrated Class 3-E under that name for the better part of the school year so she could get close enough to kill Koro-sensei, but when the truth was cleared, [[ArtifactAlias she insisted her friends continue calling her Kayano as a nickname]], since she came to like it.]] |
| 782 | * In ''Anime/BangDream'', the members of Raise A Suilen are known onstage as LAYER (Rei Wakana), LOCK (Rokka Asahi), MASKING (Masuki Satou), PAREO (Reona Nyubara), and [=CHU2=] (Chiyu Tamade). The stage names were all created by [=CHU2=], and Rokka gaining hers is symbolic of her finally becoming a full-fledged member of the band. |
| 783 | * In ''Manga/CastleTownDandelion'', Hikari becomes an IdolSinger under the stage name of "Light Sakuraba." This is justified as she's royalty ''and'' underage. (She uses her RoyaltySuperpower to perform an OvernightAgeUp for this purpose.) |
| 784 | * ''Anime/DokiDokiPrecure'': Makoto Kenzaki is more known by her stage name "[=MakoPi=]" than by her actual human name. This is not present in ''Anime/GlitterForceDokiDoki'', where she is consistently called Mackenzie Mack by everyone, implying that it is indeed her real name. |
| 785 | * ''Franchise/DragonBall'': Several fighters have used stage names or aliases for themselves: |
| 786 | ** Mister Satan is a name he has earned after becoming world champion, now being named after his dojo Satan Castle. His real name is Mark, which is a pun of "akuma" ("devil"). |
| 787 | ** Piccolo uses the alias Ma Junior whenever he enters the Tenkaichi Budokai to hide his true identity as the reincarnation of the Great Demon King Piccolo. The "Ma" (マ) in "Ma Junior" is a pun of "Ma" (魔) which means "demon", making it sound like "Demon Junior". |
| 788 | ** While it is unknown whether the name of human God possessed to enter the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai is actually named Shen or not, the name does serve as an alias for God. "Shen" (シェン) is a pun of "Shen" (神) from Shenlong, which uses the same kanji for "god". That alias serves as a hint for Son Goku to figure out who Shen really is. |
| 789 | ** Subverted with Shin. When he enters the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai, he uses the name Shin (シン). Like in the case of Shen, it's a pun on "Shin" (神), which is part of the title called "Kaioshin". However, it is revealed much later during the run ''Super'' (over 20 years after his debut) that "Shin" (シン) is in fact his real name. |
| 790 | * Ichigo Moesaki from ''Manga/SeiyusLife'' always goes by her stage name. The only reason we know that isn't her real name is because of supplementary material (which doesn't give her real name anyway). |
| 791 | * ''Manga/ShouwaGenrokuRakugoShinjuu'' has Yotaro Yurakutei, which is the name he received as a rakugo student (and symbolically important, as he used to be in prison) and his stage name, as his real name is Kyoji. |
| 792 | * ''Manga/SixHalf'' has Shiori decide to use a stage name when she decides to do some modelling on the side. Her agency gives her the name 'Ayumu Kurata'. |
| 793 | * Several of the characters in ''Manga/SkipBeat'' have stage names. Being a series about show business, this is bound to happen: |
| 794 | ** Most notably we see this with Ren Tsuruga, who uses a stage name [[spoiler:both to distance himself from his famous parents and to avoid facing his [[DarkAndTroubledPast Dark and Troubled Past]] until he's ready]]. |
| 795 | ** Kuu Hiizuri apparently takes this very seriously, [[spoiler:a trait Ren probably inherited from him]], going so far as to have had an elaborate funeral for his stage name after he went back to using his real one. |
| 796 | ** To a lesser extent, Kyoko goes the Only One Name route with her stage name, not wanting to let Sho know who she was right off the bat. |
| 797 | * The titular zombies of ''Anime/ZombielandSaga'' go by names that translate as Number One, Number Two, etc. Lily (Number Six) is an interesting case in that Lily Hoshikawa was originally a StageName too, before she changed it from her birth name, [[spoiler:[[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} Masao Go]]]]. |
| 798 | [[/folder]] |
| 799 | |
| 800 | [[folder:Comics]] |
| 801 | * At the end of the ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' "Dark Age" story arc, it is revealed that "Charles and Royal Williams" are not the characters' real names; instead, they're picked by an author who is writing a book based on their experiences, and he is using aliases to protect their real identities. |
| 802 | * ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': Bruce Wayne's original LoveInterest was actress Julie Madison. When it became obvious that she was going to become a star, a studio publicist changed her name to the more exotic 'Portia Storme'. |
| 803 | * In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}},'' Sally Jupiter, the first Silk Spectre, changed her name from Juspeczyk so people wouldn't know she was Polish. |
| 804 | [[/folder]] |
| 805 | |
| 806 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 807 | * The ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' one-shot ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/2848019 Elsie Mae]]'' has Jessica's original name having been Elsie Mae Crumholtz. Jessica ended up taking her mother's maiden name as her given name because her original name wasn't flashy enough. |
| 808 | * ''Fanfic/SomeThingsNeverChange'' reveals that [[RichBitch Squilliam Fancyson III’s]] real name was [[PunnyName Otto Mantelmeyer]] and that like many real-life celebrities, he adopted a more sensational name after his big break. |
| 809 | [[/folder]] |
| 810 | |
| 811 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 812 | * ''Film/Babylon2022'': Actress Nellie [=LaRoy=]'s real name is Nellie Roy, but she adds the La for an extra bit of French class. |
| 813 | * In ''Literature/TheCaineMutiny'', singer Marie Minotti uses the stage name May Wynn. Donna Lee Hickey, the actress who played her in the film also used this stage name. |
| 814 | * In ''Film/DoctorInDistress1963'', movie magnate Mr. "Luther" Heilbronn's real first name is "Harry". |
| 815 | * ''Film/{{Fall}}:'' Becky's best friend Hunter is an influencer who goes by the name "Danger D." Becky prefers her as Hunter. |
| 816 | * In ''Film/GoingMyWay'', Father O'Malley's old girlfriend Jenny Tuffel has hit it big as an opera singer under the name Genevieve Linden. |
| 817 | * ''Franchise/IndianaJones:'' Henry Jones, Jr., only goes by Indiana, after the family dog. In reality, his nickname actually came from Creator/GeorgeLucas' dog. |
| 818 | * Delysia Lafosse from ''Film/MissPettigrewLivesForADay,'' a glamourous American club singer and aspiring actress, whose real name is Sarah Grubb, of the Pittsburg Grubbs. |
| 819 | * In ''Film/{{Rags}}'', Charlie goes by "Rags" while performing at the Masquerade Ball. It was chosen by Diego and Martha, so that when Charlie got big, he'd always "remember where he came from". |
| 820 | * ''Film/Scream3'': Maureen Roberts (later Prescott) worked as an actress in Hollywood under the name "Rina Reynolds". |
| 821 | * In ''Film/ShallWeDance'' (1937), "Petrov" and "Linda Keene" are actually Peter P. Peters and Linda Thompson. This becomes useful when they want to marry secretly [[ItMakesSenseInContext so that they can have an immediate public divorce.]] |
| 822 | * ''Film/ShowPeople'': When Peggy Pepper escapes the ComedyGhetto and hits it big as a dramatic actress, she changes her name to Patricia Pepoire. |
| 823 | * In ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'', singer Sugar Kane (Creator/MarilynMonroe) says that her original name is Sugar Kowalczyk. |
| 824 | * Esther Blodgett is given the stage name "Vicki Lester" in ''Film/AStarIsBorn1937'' and ''Film/AStarIsBorn1954'' because the executives don't think her real name sounds good for an actress. She doesn't like it at first but quickly takes to it. In the 1937 film, Norman Maine's real name is Alfred Hinkle; in the 1954 one it's Ernest Gubbins. |
| 825 | * In ''Film/MyFavoriteYear'', actor Alan Swann's real name is Clarence Duffy. |
| 826 | * ''Film/Angel1984'': Kit Carson is a stage name, [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous taken from the famous frontiersman]]. The lawyer for his estate addresses him by his original name once, but Kit no longer answers to it. |
| 827 | * In ''Film/TheWrestler'', Robin Ramzinski is the real name of wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Creator/MickeyRourke). |
| 828 | * ''Film/RockOfAges'': |
| 829 | ** Stacee Jaxx (Creator/TomCruise) was born Steven Jackson. |
| 830 | ** Drew Boley (Creator/DiegoBoneta) briefly adopts the stage name Wolfgang von Colt. |
| 831 | * ''Film/Pinocchio2022Disney'': When Honest John convinces Pinocchio to become an actor but has trouble spelling his name, he plays around with a few wood-based stage names like Slab Oakley, Chad Log and Creator/ChrisPine, before saying [[ItWillNeverCatchOn it'll never work]]. |
| 832 | * PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/WeirdTheAlYankovicStory''. When they first meet, Dr. Demento advises Al that "Al Yankovic" is too clumsy of a moniker for a musician. Instead, he suggests that Al go with... "'''Weird''' Al Yankovic". |
| 833 | * ''Film/{{Tar}}'' has the reveal that protagonist Lydia Tár is actually Linda Tarr. |
| 834 | [[/folder]] |
| 835 | |
| 836 | [[folder:Literature (including Light Novels)]] |
| 837 | * In ''Literature/No6'' one of the main characters goes by "Nezumi" ("Rat" in English). The other protagonist, Shion, doesn't know if this is his real name or not so when they meet someone who calls him "[[GenderBlenderName Eve]]" he asks if this is his real name. In fact, no, Eve is his stage name. Shion later finds out that the reason he goes by "Eve" is because he plays women on stage. |
| 838 | * In ''Literature/DateALive'' Miku Izayoi used to use the stage name "Tsukino Yoimachi" in her previous stint as an IdolSinger. In the present, she uses her real name instead. |
| 839 | * There is a character in the short story "Blood Sacrifice" by Creator/DorothyLSayers, a successful actor-manager called Garrick Drury; the 'lemony narrator' remarks that his birth certificate reads "Obediah Potts", but you can't be a successful actor-manager with a name like Obediah Potts. |
| 840 | * ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'': |
| 841 | ** In book #12 (''The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal''), Hilary [=VanBrook=] goes by this name for professional purposes. After his death, his real name is revealed as William Smurple. |
| 842 | ** Regular character Joe Bunker is Moose County's local weatherman, who goes by Weatherby Goode on-air and to pretty much everyone but his close friends. |
| 843 | * ''Literature/BrideOfTheRatGod'', set in MediaNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood, features Chrysanda Flamande -- real name Christine Flint. |
| 844 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 845 | ** Victor Tugelbend and Theda "Ginger" Withel, better known to ''Literature/MovingPictures'' fans as Victor Maraschino and Dolores De Syn. In the same book, the troll actor Galena considers the name Flint before deciding on Rock. |
| 846 | ** In ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'', everyone loves to hear opera singer "Enrico Basilica" ... but no one would pay to listen to Henry Slugg. |
| 847 | *** Agnes Nitt also chooses the stage name Perdita X. Nitt, where Perdita is the name of someone who's exciting, dark, moody, and most importantly ''thin''. The X stands for 'a mysterious name which is all the cooler because it doesn't stand for anything.' [[MeaningfulName Names have meaning]] on the Disc, though, so she still winds up stuck with the Nitt. |
| 848 | ** In ''Literature/SoulMusic'', Imp y Celyn and Lias Bluestone (another troll) decide that their names aren't "right" for the new music and become Buddy and Cliff. |
| 849 | * In his book ''Literature/IAmAmericaAndSoCanYou'', Creator/StephenColbert claims that Creator/JoanCrawford was born as Shprintzel Anatevkawitz and Creator/CaryGrant was born as Balgok-Uth, Devourer of Souls. |
| 850 | * ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': Syal Antilles, famous actress, went by the name Wynissa Starflare. "Antilles" is said to be a ''very'' common name, but she's the sister and only surviving kin of the very prominent Rebel and AcePilot [[Literature/XWingSeries Wedge Antilles]], and she doesn't want people finding out. |
| 851 | * In ''Literature/TimeScout'', ''Wagers of Sin'', it's doubtful Lupus Mortiferus was his given name. But for a stage name in the Roman Arena, the Killing Wolf isn't bad. |
| 852 | * In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/DoubleStar'', the protagonist Lorenzo Smythe, when caught out by the Emperor, gives his real name of Lawrence Smith. |
| 853 | * In ''Literature/EachLittleUniverse'', aspiring rockstar Benjamin Miles Parekh goes exclusively by stage name Marty Rook, and the rest of his band the Inciting Incident have all taken stage names too. Marty even insists that his parents go by Rook so as to keep up the illusion. |
| 854 | * ''Literature/StrangerThanFanfiction'': While everyone is revealing there deepest secrets around a fire in [[AbandonedPlayground High Tydes]], Cash Carter reveals that his real name is actually [[spoiler:Thomas Anthony Hanks. He had to go with a stage name [[Creator/TomHanks for obvious reasons]]]]. His stage name is a {{Portmanteau}} of Music/JohnnyCash and Music/JuneCarter. |
| 855 | * ''Literature/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'' has Elza Kanzaki, a famous singer, [[spoiler:also known as Pitohui in Gun Gale Online]], whose name turns out to be a stage name. Her real name is never disclosed. |
| 856 | * The main character of ''Literature/HeartShapedBox'' is a heavy metal singer who is introduced as Judas Coyne - it turns out his real name is Justin Cowzynski, with Judas Coyne being a pun on the coins Judas was given to betray Jesus in Literature/TheBible. Interestingly, this ends up being a MeaningfulName for him instead of just the sacrilegious PunnyName it initially comes off as. |
| 857 | [[/folder]] |
| 858 | |
| 859 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 860 | * In the ''Series/{{Friends}}'' episode "The One with the Fake Monica", Joey Tribbiani wants to change his name to something less ethnic. Chandler jokingly suggests UsefulNotes/JosephStalin; Joey, being TheDitz, doesn't know how infamous this name is, and tries to use it. In the final scene of the episode he goes to a casting to use the name Holden [=McGroin=]. |
| 861 | ** The gang eventually discover that Phoebe's twin sister Ursula has been starring in porn movies using Phoebe's name instead of her own. Phoebe gets revenge by going to the production company and giving them the "correct" address to send "Phoebe's" paychecks to. |
| 862 | * ''Series/{{Queens|2021}}'': |
| 863 | ** Brianna Robinson as "Prof. Sex". |
| 864 | ** Naomi Harris-Jones as "Xplicit Lyrics". |
| 865 | ** Jill Sumpter as "Da Thriller". |
| 866 | ** Valeria Mendez as "Butter Pecan". |
| 867 | * The TV Series ''Series/Tracker2001'' had Troy Montana, the actor Cole took his human appearance from. He was originally Percy Greenstein apparently. |
| 868 | * In the ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "Blue Bamboo", the detectives are investigating the murder of a nightclub owner and sifting through the singers he was planning to meet with that day. They have to go back over the entire list when they realize that nearly all of the names given are examples of this trope. |
| 869 | * The ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode "Magnificent Light" featured Harold Kerwin, a motivational speaker better known under his stage name Barry Flynn. |
| 870 | * ''Series/{{Wiseguy}}''. Record company owner Winston Newquay was born Samuel Fishbein. One of his performers hired a private eye to dig into Newquay's past; on finding out this fact, 'Newquay' was willing to pay anything to keep it quiet. |
| 871 | * ''Series/{{Barry}}'': Barry Berkman uses Barry Block as his stage name as he pursues a career in acting. |
| 872 | * In the ''Series/HarryO'' episode "Double Jeopardy", Creator/KurtRussell played Todd Conway, an actor accused of murder who hired Harry to clear him. At the end of the episode, he reveals his real name to Harry...Theodore Kleinschmidt. |
| 873 | * In the first season of ''Series/{{ER}}'', Creator/MingNaWen played medical student Deb Chen. She quit med school after nearly killing a patient, but is later revealed to have resumed her studies. When the character returned as a full doctor five years later, she had begun going by her original, non-Anglicized name Jing-Mei (though Carter still often called her "Deb" early on). |
| 874 | [[/folder]] |
| 875 | |
| 876 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 877 | * In ''Theatre/TheAddingMachine'', Mrs. Zero tells this anecdote about the movie actress: |
| 878 | -->"Mrs. Seven was tellin' me her brother-in-law has a friend that used to go to school with Grace Darling. He says her name ain't Grace Darling at all. Her right name is Elizabeth Dugan, he says, an' all them stories about her gettin' five thousand a week is the bunk, he says." |
| 879 | * Several of the seventeen main cast members of ''Theatre/AChorusLine'' have changed their names for professional reasons, while others either claim to have stage names as a joke or acknowledge that they may need to adopt them (which contrasts with Diana Morales saying she kept her real name because "I figured ethnic was 'in'"): |
| 880 | ** Mike Costafalone has trimmed his name down to the more manageable Mike Costa. |
| 881 | ** Sidney Kenneth Beckenstein, or, to use his Hebrew name, Rochmel Lev ben Yokov Meyer Beckenstein, goes by the more marquee-friendly Gregory Gardner. |
| 882 | ** Judy Turner jokes that she changed her name from Creator/LanaTurner, but then admits that her name has always been Judy Turner. |
| 883 | ** Sara Rosemary Bryant hates her given name, so she goes by Sheila Bryant instead. |
| 884 | ** Bebe Benzenheimer says she knows she'll need to change her name to something shorter if her career gets going. |
| 885 | ** Margaret Mary Houlihan may have been so named by her mother, but she loathes the name and instead goes by Valerie Clark. |
| 886 | ** The newly-married Kristine [=DeLuca=] still goes by her maiden name of Kristine Urich professionally. |
| 887 | ** Mark Philip Lawrence Tabori goes by the more attention-grabbing Mark Anthony. |
| 888 | ** Ephrain Ramirez, after a lifetime of being told he didn't look Puerto Rican, has chosen the Italian-flavoured stage name Paul San Marco. |
| 889 | * In ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'' Matron Mama Morton mentions that Velma Kelly is actually her stage name (and presumably the same goes fort her sister Veronica). Nonetheless, she never goes by any other name in the show. |
| 890 | [[/folder]] |
| 891 | |
| 892 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 893 | * In the English-language version of ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'', the villager Totakeke had his name changed to K.K. Slider. What keeps this from being a straight DubNameChange is that, if you talk to him, he'll sometimes admit that his real name is Totakeke and K.K. Slider is just the name he goes by professionally. |
| 894 | * [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname None]] of the characters in ''VideoGame/{{Arms}}'' have known names. They're all boxers with stage names (barring non-human ones who presumably used their real names): Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Master Mummy, Min Min, Mechanica, Ninjara, Twintelle, Kid Cobra, Max Brass, Lola Pop, Misango, and Dr. Coyle. |
| 895 | * In ''VideoGame/CoffeeTalk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly'', Rachel goes by "Nekochel" as her stage name for her experimental music collaboration with Aremy Jendrew. |
| 896 | * ''VideoGame/NamuAmidaButsuUtena'': The Eight Offering Bodhisattvas, being styled as a performing troupe, are all known as their stage names instead of their {{overly long|Name}} real names. |
| 897 | * ''VideoGame/NoStraightRoads'': |
| 898 | ** [[spoiler: The semi-final boss Eve whose real name is Nadia, Zuke's ex-girlfriend]]. |
| 899 | ** And later on, it has [[spoiler:the final boss, Tatiana Qwartz. Turns out that she used to be a musician, using the name "Kul Fyra"]]. |
| 900 | * In Chapter 3 of ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', Mario is given the stage name "The Great Gonzales" by the manager of the Glitz Pit. The Yoshi who hatches from an egg and joins Mario's party halfway through the chapter calls him "Gonzales" for the rest of the game. |
| 901 | * Almost all of the boxers in ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' use stage names, though some such as Glass Joe reference their real names while others like Bob Charlie seem to literally be their names. |
| 902 | * Former professional wrestler "Killbane, the Walking Apocalypse" is the leader of the [[MaskedLuchador Luchadores]] gang in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird''. His real name is Eddie Pryor, but [[DoNotCallMePaul please don't call him that if you enjoy being alive]]. |
| 903 | [[/folder]] |
| 904 | |
| 905 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 906 | * ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': |
| 907 | ** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'' gives us Maximillian Galactica, magician extraordinaire!... whose real name is Billy Bob Johns. He even has the accent to go with it when he gets nervous. (In Japanese, his real name is Kohei Yamada; in both cases, the name intentionally screams "country boy".) Also in the Berry Big Circus are [[Film/TheThreeStooges the clown Lawrence Curls, who goes by Moe]] (Matsu Tomida, alias Tommy, in Japan - Tommy and Matsu were a famous Japanese comedy duo, so it's a similar implication), and the acrobat brothers Ken and Sean Dingling, who go by Acro and Bat. |
| 908 | ** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' introduces the magicians Trope Gramarye. While their founder Magnifi Gramarye and his daughter Thalassa presumably go by their real names, the rest use stage names: Zak Gramarye is actually named Shadi Enigmar, and Valant Gramarye's real name is unknown. |
| 909 | ** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'' reveals there was once a fifth Gramarye member called the Great Mr. Reus, whose real name is [[PunnyName Manov Mistree]]. [[spoiler:He's [[LegacyCharacter the second person to play the role]]; the original Reus's real name was Roger Retinz, and Mistree was a fan who took on the stage name after being trained by the first Mr. Reus.]] |
| 910 | *** Later on, it is revealed that Apollo's biological father had the stage name of "Jangly Justice". [[spoiler:This caused problems in the investigation of his death, as the locals of Khura'in only knew him by his stage name, and their spirit mediums need [[IKnowYourTrueName the victim's true name]] in order to call his spirit.]] |
| 911 | * ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': One of the female students is very persistent on telling everyone that her real name is [[AwesomeMcCoolname Celestia Ludenberg]] and that [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname she prefers to be adressed as "Celeste" ("Celes" in the original Japanese)]], to the point where even the game's interface simply uses "Celeste" where it would otherwise display a character's full name. Some of the students have their doubts about this [[ConsummateLiar given her nature as a skilled liar due to her title as the Ultimate Gambler]], and that she absolutely ''[[BerserkButton hates]]'' [[BerserkButton being questioned about whether or not that is actually her true name]]. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that her real name is Taeko Yasuhiro.]] |
| 912 | ** Two Danganronpa fanfics actually see "Celeste" resume being Taeko: ''Fanfic/TheUltimateHope'' sees her do so willingly vis having learned to [[BeYourself be herself]] so her and Hifumi's daughter could become the new Celestia while ''Fanfic/NeverSayNever'' forces her to do so as punishment for what she did during the events of Act 3 (everything that made her Celestia is destroyed before her eyes, particularly by a vengeful Aoi Asahina following Taeko's betrayal). |
| 913 | * In ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', Akira pegs immediately that "Rosé Mulan" is too exotic to be her real name, and she clarifies that it's her stage name for her performances as a magician. |
| 914 | [[/folder]] |
| 915 | |
| 916 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 917 | * The majority of characters in the webcomic ''Webcomic/BandVsBand'' go by stage names that have some relation to their real names -- for instance, Turpentine's civilian name is Clementine. |
| 918 | * Fashion designer Dyna Cuff of ''Webcomic/HeroineChic'' is really named Dyan Rosenzweig. Even Dyna's husband calls her Dyna (when they're not using sickeningly sweet pet names for each other). Her rival/ frenemy Umbra Langoustine is the only person to ever call her "Dyan." |
| 919 | * When ''Webcomic/MenageA3'' has a plot about professional wrestling, some of the wrestlers turn out to be using (mostly fairly obvious) "ring names". |
| 920 | [[/folder]] |
| 921 | |
| 922 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 923 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}} and the Holograms'': |
| 924 | ** Raya is the only Hologram who goes by a StageName. Her name is Carmen Alonso but "Raya" is a childhood nickname from her father. Jem uses a full-on SecretIdentity--she's secretly Jerrica Benton, the manager of the band, but no one knows this outside of a few select individuals (mostly the band itself). |
| 925 | ** The Misfits are made up of: Phyllis Gabor, aka "Pizzazz". Roxanne Pellegrini, aka "Roxy". Mary Phillips, aka "Stormer". Sheila Burns, aka "Jetta". Pizzazz [[DoNotCallMePaul absolutely detests]] anyone but her father using her real name and Roxy also doesn't seem to like her full name. Both Jetta and Stormer don't let their family use their given names around band-members. Constance Montgomery, aka "Clash", is The Misfits' resident groupie who wishes she could join the band (despite having no musical abilities and being HollywoodToneDeaf). The [[ComicBook/JemAndTheHologramsIDW comic reboot]] introduces Clash's best friend Leah Dwyer, aka "Blaze", who like Clash uses a nickname despite not needing to. She's a Misfits fangirl [[spoiler:who ends up joining the band]]. |
| 926 | ** The Stingers consists of: Rory Llewelyn as "Riot", Phoebe Ashe as "Rapture", and Ingrid Kruger as "Minx". Unlike The Misfits, they don't complain about their names, but then again Riot is the only name mentioned in the actual cartoon (and only his parents call him that). |
| 927 | ** Several non-musicians have stage names too. Vivien Montgomery, an up-and-coming director, goes by "Video". The ballerina Danse's real name is "Giselle Dvorak". Musical journalist Lindsey Pierce goes by "Lin-Z". The magician Maeve Eldritch goes by "Astral". |
| 928 | * Recurring eco-goth band "The Hex Girls" from ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' goes entirely by stage names. They are Thorn, Dusk, and Luna. We only currently know Thorn's name, which is Sally [=McKnight=]. |
| 929 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', when Apu Nahasapeemapetilon was in Homer's barbershop quartet the B Sharps, he was told his last name would never fit on a marquee. He became known as Apu Du Beaumarchais. |
| 930 | * Ember from ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' is a ghost musician. Her real name is never given, though {{fanon}} usually has her as "Amber". |
| 931 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'' episode "The Audition", Ice Bear chooses Alsono Tigerheart as his stage name. |
| 932 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Steven's dad Greg wasn't always called "Greg Universe", it was "Greg [[spoiler:[=DeMayo=]]]". He changed his name when he tried to become a rock star. He never told extended family of his name change; his cousin didn't know until the episode "Gem Harvest". |
| 933 | * In ''WesternAnimation/DudeThatsMyGhost'', deceased rockstar Billy Joe Cobra's birth name was Baruch Cohen. |
| 934 | * In ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', 80's action star Lou Jitsu turns out to be have been using an alias. His real name? [[spoiler:[[CanonCharacterAllAlong Hamato Yoshi]]... better known as [[TheMentor Splinter]].]] |
| 935 | * [[WordOfGod According to]] Creator/WaltDisney, [[https://d23.com/did-you-know-8-genius-facts-about-ludwig-von-drake/ given]] Westernanimation/DonaldDuck was supposed to be the nephew of Ludwig Von Drake by his father's side, he ditched the ethnic surname for his mother's surname. (this of course outdated by the canon started in [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse the comics]], where Donald's father is "Duck" while his mother is "[=McDuck=]", and Ludwig's exact place in the Duck family tree is unclear) |
| 936 | [[/folder]] |
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