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For a few panels, this story almost managed to be more innocent than it looks.

"I may be a shameless woman, but even I don't make porn flicks under my real name."
Asami Matsumoto, AKA Yuri Kousaka, Nana

Everything Sounds Sexier in French, even in the erotic entertainment industry.

Let's say Bertha is getting a job at a strip club as one of the performers. Bertha isn't a massively sexy-sounding name. Amber, on the other hand...

Another reason this trope may be played is that they don't want to be haunted by it when they get out of the industry (also see Porn Creator Going Mainstream). The Internet usually finds a way to make this futile, however.

A raunchier variant of Stage Names. Sometimes overlaps with Punny Name and Double X; very often overlaps with Euphemistic Names. Compare with Parallel Porn Title, for the names of the movies.

As this is a trope related to sex work, No Real Life Examples, Please!


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • Most male voice actors averts this for their voicework in Boys' Love Genre Drama CD, most notably Hiroshi Kamiya and Daisuke Ono in their voice work for Kotonoha no Hana CDs. For some reason though, these very same actors play it straight for erotic Otome CDs, however.
  • Asami Matsumoto from Nana is a pornstar who goes by the name Yuri Kousaka while working, lampshading to her friends that even someone as shameless as her wouldn't use her legal name in pornographic work.
  • In some hentai titles, Japanese voice actors tend to use fake names, like for Urotsukidouji — the voice actors use punny names like Randy Woodcock, Rosy Palmer, and Rick Ballsey.

    Comic Books 
  • Grant Morrison's The Filth features a gonzo film producer based on Max Hardcore named Tex Porneau, as well as a porn star named Anders Klimakks.
  • In Reed Waller's furry animal comic, a young woman named Susan becomes a stripper. Since there are already several dancers named Susan/Sue/Suzie, she takes a map, closes her eyes, points with her finger at random ... and becomes Omaha the Cat Dancer.

    Fan Works 
  • In the Star Trek: Voyager Parody Fic ''Hardcore Entertainment presents "Seven Does Voyager", the Suxfleet vessel USS Voyorgy is crewed by Captain Analway (Janeway), Commander Cumtoday (Chakotay), Sexy of Nine (Seven of Nine), Tom Penis (Tom Paris), Ballbuster Torres (B'Elanna Torres), Ensign Kum (Kim), Bootlix (Neelix) and the Dicktor (Doctor).
  • In i'll take you somewhere even more brilliant, it's mentioned that Homura's name as an AV actress was the alias "Himura Keiko".

    Films — Animation 
  • In Once Upon a Girl, the pornographic animated film by former Hanna-Barbera employees, the voice actors except for Hal Smith (who also appeared on screen as Mother Goose) used fake names; Frank Welker for example used Jack Beanstalk.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Parodied in Austin Powers with names like "Alotta Fagina", "Felicity Shagwell" and "Ivana Humpalot".
  • Uli Kunkel, one of the Nihilists from The Big Lebowski, went by the delightfully stupid moniker of Karl Hungus during his brief career as a pornstar.
  • In Boogie Nights, protagonist Eddie Adams adopts the porn name Dirk Diggler.
  • James Bond: Some Bond girls are among the most famous examples.
    • Pussy Galore from Goldfinger probably takes the cake.
      Pussy: My name is Pussy Galore.
      Bond: [beat] I must be dreaming.
    • Holly Goodhead from Moonraker runs a close second.
  • Mandalay: Tanya is nicknamed "Spot White" at the brothel. She rises to be the new star and even the police know her by this alias.
  • Apparently, in Orgazmo, all you need to be a porn actor is to be called Sancho. Which is kinda true...
  • When Ricky Bobby is in a coma in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, his childhood friend Cal Naughton Jr., reveals he once posed for Playgirl under the name "Mike Honcho".
  • In We're the Millers, Rose notes that working in a strip club means that you should get a nickname to protect your identity. As it turns out, the girl she's talking to already has a nickname: Boner Garage.
  • Inverted in Zack and Miri Make a Porno:
    Zack: What's your name?
    Lester: Lester... Lester the Molester Cockenschtuff.
    Zack: Wow. That's a great porn name.
    Lester: I get to pick a porn name?... Then I want to be called... Pete Jones.

    Literature 
  • Able Team: In "Army of Devils", Carl Lyons meets up with a Friend on the Force from his LAPD days. Able Team is posing as federal agents, so Lyons suggests they use his callsign "Hardman One". The cop laughs as it sounds like something from a porn movie. They decide to use his In-Series Nickname "Ironman" instead.
  • In The Dresden Files novel Blood Rites, Harry is hired as supernatural security for a porn studio. There are many examples mentioned, though the actors don't use them behind the scenes, except for entitled diva Trixie Vixen, born Tricia Scrump ("It's been legally changed!"). One of the new actors is trying to come up with a good porn name, but can't think of anything more original than "Rocko Stone", so a coworker suggests "Gowan Commando". The guy doesn't get the joke, but likes it.
  • The book Strip Tease has the obvious fake name Urbana Sprawl, but also reveals at the end that Erin was the only one using her real name.
  • Terry Pratchett parodied the hell out of this, of course, in Thud!, with one of the co-workers of Nobby's pole-dancer girlfriend Tawneee (real name Betty), who's called Broccolee. She started out calling herself Candee, but changed after learning that broccoli was better for you.

    Live-Action TV 
  • During David Letterman's more ribald years, he did a show in Vegas where he displayed artifacts from the Museum of Las Vegas. One was a Showgirl Name Decoder: put in your name, or the name of a showgirl, and you find out what your showgirl name will be (or what her real name is). Susan, for example, becomes Suzie.
  • In Broad City, Abbi finds out that her boss Trey used to make masturbation videos as Kirk Steele.
  • Troy and Abed attempted to create these for themselves in The Tag of the Community episode "The Art of Discourse". However, their formula for creating them (the name of their grade school plus their favorite soft drink) leaves much to be desired.
    Troy: "George Washington Lemon Fresca"? That's a horrible porn name.
    Abed: I don't make the rules.
    Troy: What's yours?
    Abed: "Henry David Thoreau Diet Squirt".
    Troy: Aw, that's good.
  • Friends: Phoebe is horrified to discover that her twin sister Ursula has been starring in porn under the name "Phoebe Buffay". When confronted, Ursula refuses to stop using the name. Phoebe gets her revenge by going to the studio and picking up "Phoebe"'s paychecks (since they're in her name).
  • How I Met Your Mother:
    • Ted Mosby learns that somebody he saved from bullies once in elementary school is now a porn star using the stage name "Ted Mosby". Ted meets him and tells him that he's an architect now, and that for professional reasons, he doesn't like his name being misused in porn. In an attempt to stop the actor, he tells him that the guy who actually saved him from bullies was called "Lance Hardwood". Shortly thereafter, a new porn video comes out entitled "Lance Hardwood: Sex Architect, starring Ted Mosby".
    • Another example: Barney drags the gang to a strip club, where Ted and a stripper start a conversation.
      Stripper: I'm Amber.
      Ted: I'm Ted.
      Stripper: [whispering] Actually, I'm Tracy.
      Ted: Still Ted.
      Future Ted: And that kids is the true story of how I met your mother.
      Future Kids: WHAT?
      Future Ted: Haha, I'm kidding.
  • In Inspector George Gently this is both used and subverted when Gently and Bacchus are investigating a a casino with "Fox Girls". The murder victim's real name was Audrey Chadwick. However, she was using the name "Blaise" for working purposes. Not Modesty Blaise, as "she doesn't have any modesty". However, Fawn Granger, her best friend was using her real name.
  • In Jessica Jones (2015), Trish suggests that Jessica uses "Jewel" as a superhero alias.
    Jessica Jones: Jewel is a stripper's name. A really slutty stripper. And if I wear that thing you're going to have to call me Cameltoe.
  • Parodied in a Mad TV sketch, where men attempted to register to become pornstars, and were rejected because their names were already taken. Watch it here.
  • In the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, the first name that shows up is "Wanda Cannon"
    Crow: "Wanda Cannon"! Now that's a porno name if I ever heard one! Not that I've... heard one. I don't subscribe to... lots of publications or anything...
  • In one episode of Night Court a pair of porn starlets named "Ginger Lee" and "Amber Waves" appeared in Harry's courtroom (obviously inspired by real-life starlets Ginger Lynn and Amber Lynn, right down to the rivalry between the two).
  • Parks and Recreation has Brandi Maxxx, who runs for city council and also stars in the porn parody of Leslie's bid for office.
  • Played for laughs in QI, during the Season 7 episode "Gothic", when they talk about the painting "American Gothic" by Grant Wood. Sue Perkins said that the name Grant Wood sounded like a porn star.
    Alan: I grant Wood! Whoa!
  • Queer as Folk (US):
    • One episode of the first season has Michael and Ted meet porn star Zack O'Tool.
    • In the second season, Emmett does internet porn under the name Fetch Dixon.
  • Raising Hope: In one episode, Jimmy gets to see what his life would be like if he didn't father Hope. One change is that Sabrina has turned to prostitution to make extra money and goes by the name Sapphire.
  • Invoked in an early 80s Saturday Night Live sketch from an episode hosted by Bernadette Peters, in which Peters' Broadway vehicle of the time, 42nd Street, was re-envisioned set on the contemporary 42nd Street, in an adult theatre rather than a Broadway theatre. The stage manager dubs her character Lotta Hose, and her co-star (played by Eddie Murphy) goes by "Miles Long".
  • In Seinfeld, George says that his porn name would be "Buck Naked".
  • Star Trek: Voyager. In "Author, Author", the EMH writes a holo-novel about a holographic doctor on the starship Vortex, who battles against the anti-hologram prejudice of its crew. Tom Paris gets back at him by rewriting the Doctor as a sleaze giving a Creepy Physical on the Starship Voyeur.
  • In the Two and a Half Men episode "One Nut Johnson", Alan mentions that using the [Name of First Pet] [Name of Street you grew up] combination, his porn name would be Rusty Knob. Walden says his would be Snowball Honeysuckle.
  • In The Unit, when Tiffy does a bit of pole-dancing at a Bikini Bar during her separation from Mack, she is announced as "Monique".
  • In Veronica Mars, an escort site had, among their employees, a lady named "Bambi Gasm".
    Mac: (in posh accent) Of the Boston Gasms?
    Cassidy: One would hope.

    Video Games 
  • In Agents of Mayhem, Hollywood's alias back when he was a porn star was "Gregory Prickington". Ironically his real name Rod Stone sounds even more like a pornstar name.
  • Borderlands has Mad Moxxi, the series' resident Ms. Fanservice and the planet bicycle. However, it seems that really is how her name is spelled. Subverted with General Knoxx, who is simply a general and presumably has the two X's due to Rule of Funny.
  • Fallout:
    • Fallout 2 allows the player to make porn movies to make extra cash. Players can choose from a variety of porn names, such as Jack Shooter and The Polish Hammer.
    • In Fallout: New Vegas with some dialogue options, Cass may mention Long Dick Johnson.
  • Candy Suxxx from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Complete with triple X.
  • The Medium: When Marianne finds the boot cutters, she thinks that Bolt Cutters sounds like a name from a spy film, "or the kind of film where you don't use your real name. Ew. Spy film it is."
  • The Sims 3: The Generations pack includes "party dancers" who can attend bachelor and bachelorette parties. They are typically granted sensual Punny Names like Sugar Free, Jack Hammer, Lex Dance, and Candy Bar.

    Web Comics 
  • Exploitation Now: During a mini-arc where Bimbo goes to a adult film shoot, one of the actresses asks how she came up with the porn name of Bimbo Moneymaker. When Bimbo explains it's her real name, the actresses wonders if Bimbo's parents didn't like her.
  • Ménage à 3 and its Spin-Off Sticky Dilly Buns have Amber-Amber (now reverted to her birth name of Amber Larose, so it wasn't much of a disguise) and her friend, Chanelle Numberfine. This SDB strip mentions Maxx Deep and Humpy Nastee. ("They're really nice!")
  • Alpha Bitch Hilary Locke from Sequential Art in her youth undressed for the cameras under the name Gabrielle Goodtime. She lost a prestigious job at Ann Winter lingerie, presumably because of "Gabrielle's" portfolio.
  • Defied in this xkcd comic, where a parent uses the "[Name of First Pet] [Name of First Street you lived on]" formula to make their kid's hypothetical porn name be Mister Rogers, to discourage them going into porn.

    Web Videos 
  • Mentioned as a joke in Critical Role, when Laura Bailey mistakes the spell Conjure Barrage as "barrage a-cone", only for the other players to note that it sounds like "an Italian porn guy".
  • Used in Where the Bears Are. "Wood Burns" is a pseudonym. Wood is his real first name, short for Woodrow, but he adopted Burns for his porn persona.

    Western Animation 


Alternative Title(s): Stripper Names

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