History Main / StageNames

* 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 [[CanadaEh Canadian "Eh?" jokes]]), as well as in tribute to actor Michael J. Pollard.

** 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 next example).

* 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 for 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.

* 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.

* Music/PicaPica: Belén Guijarro, Emiliano Müller, and Ignacio Repetto respectively become Belén Pelo de Oro, Emi Bombón, and Nacho Bombín—clownish personas crafted to entertain and educate children.

* Music/BlueOysterCult was originally planned to all have stage names devised by manager Sandy Pearlman. Donald Roeser (Buck Dharma) was the only one who committed.

** Rhythm guitarist Joan Larkin changed her last name to [[Music/JoanJett Jett]] because it sounded like [[AwesomeMcCoolname a good name for a rock star]].
** Drummer Sandy West's real name was Sandra Sue Pendejevo.

* 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) — he recently began recording music 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".

* Music/EngelbertHumperdinck's real name is Arnold Dorsey.

* ''Literature/BrideOfTheRatGod'', set in UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood, features Chrysanda Flamande -- real name Christine Flint.

* The TV Series ''Series/{{Tracker}}'' had Troy Montana, the actor Cole took his human appearance from. He was originally Percy Greenstein apparently.

* Music/EltonJohn is something of an exception, as he legally changed his name from Reginald Dwight to Elton Hercules John (in homage to both Elton Dean and Creator/LongJohnBaldry, the latter of whom he played with) before he became famous.

** 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.

* 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)

* Considering that ''Series/DoctorWho'' has been on for over fifty years, many of the cast members have chosen stage names for a variety of reasons.

** Louis Feinberg, Moses Harry Horwitz and Jerome Lester Horwitz - a/k/a [[Film/TheThreeStooges Larry Fine and Moe & Curly Howard]].

* 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.
* 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.

* 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.]]
* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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 (who differentiates people with Roman algarisms), he became David H. Lawrence XVII.

* 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.

** His Batman co-star Creator/BurtWard was born Bert Gervis, Jr.

* 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.
** 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''.
* Tige Andrews, best-known as Captain Adam Greer on Series/TheModSquad, was born Tiger Andraous.
* 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.
* 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.

* John Joseph Patrick Ryan, Jr. changed his name to Creator/JackLord.
* 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.

* 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 Shannen Doherty and David Cassidy[[/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".

* 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.

* 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.

** The band often has appearances of a "Papa Gates" - Synyster Gates' real-life dad Brian Elwin Haner Sr.

* 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.

** Dan Stevens joined in 2004, initially using his real name - on the album ''Pretty Music For Pretty People'' he's credited as Dandrew Stevens.

* 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.

** 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.

* Kevin Tighe 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.

* Steven Hill, 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).
* 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 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]]

* Actress/screenwriter Michaela Coel was born Michaela-Moses Ewuraba O Boakye-Collinson.

* 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 for him an old guitar played by Lead Belly. Presumably Geffen decided he'd already sufficiently compensated Cobain for ''Music/{{Nevermind}}''[='=]s 25 million copies, and declined to spend $500,000 on the proposed gift.

* Music/BobDylan's original last name was Zimmerman, but he legally changed his name to Bob Dylan (first "Dillon", after Sheriff Dillon from ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}''; the current spelling is inspired by Dylan Thomas) many years ago. Referenced in ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', where fighting with the frat boys in the Mysterious Island War can lead to you fighting [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Zim Merman]].

** 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!).

* 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) -- he recently began recording music 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".

* Music/PinkFloyd: ex-frontman [[Music/SydBarrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett]] used a nickname and ex-bassist George Music/RogerWaters [[MiddleNameBasis dropped his first name]].

* 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.

* 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.

** 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.

** Music/HenryRollins was born Henry Garfield - "Rollins" was a fake surname he and [[Music/MinorThreat Ian MacKaye]] would use on occasion.

* Music/HankWilliams birth name was Hiram King Williams.

** Earvin Johnson Jr. became Magic Johnson.

** 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).

* 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 Knox.

* 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.

* 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 Debi Derryberry's use of "Marie Cabbit" for her work voicing the hybrid cat-rabbit critter Ryo-Ohki.

* The Donnas all used stage names, inverting the naming scheme of Music/TheRamones (most of whom used their 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.

* 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 New York Dolls, but briefly went by the stage name Buster Poindexter as a cheesy, jokey [[SpringtimeForHitler '80s lounge singer]].

* Laurence Tureaud’s birth name didn’t really suit a tough guy, so he became Creator/MrT.

* Music/{{Rush|Band}}: Geddy Lee was born Gary Lee Weinrib ("Geddy" comes from his mother's heavy accent), and 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.

* 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'', 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).

* 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 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/{{Baseball}} Major League Baseball]] for nearly a decade under the name Pete [=LaCock=].[[/note]]