Talk:Stage name/Archive 1

Prince discussion
We need to keep Prince's birth name here. Yes, Prince is now his 'real' name -- no one is disputing that. But the focus of this article is not whether a name is 'real' -- it is whether the name has been changed from a birth name for professional reasons. Prince certainly meets that criteria and his entry should remain. by Paul Klenk


 * I agree, the list should be inclusive and that includes small name changes. I was thinking that a useful addition would be to add if the person is an actor/actress, musician (including what instruments they play or not). I've never been a fan of lists with nothing but reems of names and nothing else. How this is formatted we need to discuss. Iam 10:06, Mar 24, 2004 (UTC)


 * See my addition for Poly Styrene - looks like this:
 * Poly Styrene - Marion Elliot (Singer with UK punk band X-Ray Spex)
 * This seems the easiest format without getting into tables, etc. We already have a similar entry for Mrs Bland.
 * I guess the problem comes when there's already some comments in brackets. Perhaps comments about the name could be in italics, and the comments about the person's profession could be in regular text? --Bwmodular 12:28, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * PS I've started to add such comments to all my recent entries, even though I realise that we may decide to change the format - seems to make more sense to add the info now and reformat it, rather than leave the info out and have to add it once we've decided a format --Bwmodular 12:51, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * (Hope no one minds I reduced the levels of indentation above)
 * I've been thinking about this, due to the recent rapid expansion of this list, and I wonder if maybe it should be split into three or four sections by occupation, something like "musicians", dramatic "actors", "comedians", and "other". There would be some overlap between the actors and comedians, but I think that would cover just about everyone, with very few in the "other" category. --Arteitle 17:56, Mar 24, 2004 (UTC)


 * Yes, probably a good idea. I wonder if just splitting between musicians and actors would be enough?--Bwmodular 16:43, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * Probably not. The musicians would probably have to be split into two with a list especially for Rappers and Hip Hoppers. They seem to dominate modern music with their inventive stage names


 * (I changed around the indentation again... keeping each person at their own level of indentation makes it easier to tell them apart.)
 * You're right, it seems like about half are rappers. So maybe "Rappers and Hip Hoppers", "Musicians and Singers" (not that Rappers aren't; maybe it should be "Non-Rappers"), and "Actors and Comedians". Or it could be rephrased: "Rap and Hip Hop", "Music and Song", "Drama and Comedy". Only a handful of names (athletes, particularly) wouldn't fit. --Arteitle 16:30, Mar 26, 2004 (UTC)

Merge
This page previously carried a request to merge with List of pseudonyms. However this page is already at the length limit. Perhaps we should just make sure that any names on the stage name section of that page are included in this more comprhensive one. Rmhermen 14:22, Jul 1, 2004 (UTC)


 * Maybe it would be a good idea to split the list into separate articles along lines such as those described above: actors, rappers, musicians, etc. --Arteitle 18:55, Jul 3, 2004 (UTC)

A lot of these stage names aren't really stage names, they're just initials or incidences of people going by their middle name. That doesn't make for a stage name--my dad goes by "H.L. Welch" or "Lew Welch", but that's not some pseudonym he made up for himself, it's his actual name. Therefore, I propose removing certain entries (such as "O.J. Simpson") due to that. Philwelch 02:37, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)


 * I noticed the same thing looking at the list--for instance, "Missy Elliott" was listed as a stage name for "Melissa Elliott," which seems inappropriate to me, as "Missy" is a common abbreviation of "Melissa." We don't need a list of every famous Robert who goes by Rob, etc.  I'd remove those, as well as those who go by middle names.


 * Perhaps this list could be broken down. I see three main categories here: 1. Stage names that are presented as full names, like Demi Moore or Chuck Norris.  2. Stage names that are abbreviations of the full name, like Cher or Ron Jeremy.  3. Stage names that are obviously not legal names, like Johnny Rotten or Terminator X.  Is there an elegant way to name these, perhaps to split this into three lists?  Thirdreel 15:43, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Trimming
Okay, I did some trimming to this to make it more manageable and to keep a standard of stage names. I left in those who have changed or completely dropped their surnames--however, I took out some of those who only used part of an extended surname-- for instance, Julio Iglesias de la Cueva.

I took out those who go by middle names: Benny Andersson, Lance Bass, Billy Bragg, Sean Connery, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Drew Pinsky, Trent Reznor, Brad Spitz, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Tiger Woods

I took out those who go by a reasonable abbreviation for their first name or middle name, such as "Woody" for "Woodrow": Desi Arnaz, Chuck Berry, Sonny Bono, Ali Campbell, Shawn Colvin, Perry Como, Marlene Dietrich, Ani DiFranco, Missy Elliott, Duke Erikson, Glenn Ford, Chrissie Boy Foreman, Boon Gould, Eddy Grant, Woody Guthrie, P.J. Harvey, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Jimi Hendrix, Tito Jackson, Casey Kasem, Jay Kay, R. Kelly, k.d. lang, Stevie Nicks, Tony Orlando, Roland Orzabal, Teddy Pendergrass, Kelly Rowland, O. J. Simpson, Toby Smith, Ike Turner, Tina Weymouth, Hank Williams, "Weird Al" Yankovic

I removed Gloria Estefan because that was her legal married name; I removed Maude Adams because that was, I think, her maiden name. (comment: it wasn't her maiden name, rather she adopted her mother's birth surname for the stage - 04:48, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)) I removed Neneh Cherry and Tupac Shakur because those seem to be the names they used since childhood--not adopted for a performing career.

I removed all five of the Spice Girls because they were never credited by their "spice-names"--all were generally credited by their legal names. Ali G and Pee-Wee Herman are the characters their creators are most famous for, but those are the names of the characters, not the actors. "M" and "K.C." were the names of bands, not the professional names of the performers.

Phew. Thirdreel 19:01, 1 Aug 2004 (UTC)


 * good work, but I have to say that clowns in particular are generally known by their character's name, I would say Pee-wee Herman and any other clowns that are removed from this list could well be added to the list at clown (don't be shy, it's an inclusive list, as it is being edited, of people considered by professional clowns to be clowns: (it includes Ernest Borgnine because he performed in parades as a clown and Lucy Ricardo because Lucy is Lucille Ball's clown character, but the preference on that list is to list the clown by clown name when it is known.)


 * I'm massaging the clown and juggling and circus etc. pages into a more thorough treatment of these areas, with the view of eventually cross referencing the whole universe of clown related material.  If you feel disinclined to add them yourself, just toss the discarded clowns on my talk page and I'll see they get a good home.  If you'd be so kind.  again, nice job.-Pedant(not at home)

I did some more trimming, to get rid of the red links. The information in the article is insignificant if the people listed aren't well-known enough to have articles, and useless if the information is given without a link. If you think a name removed is significant enough to include, you should probably write an article for that name, at least a stub, then put the name back on the list. Removed names are listed under Talk:Stage name/Removed. Thirdreel 00:48, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Obviously some of the old problems resolved in the past have re-occurred. eg where a person's "stage name" is merely a contraction of the person's real name. Mike Love of the Beach Boys whose "real name" is Michael Love - clearly does not belong on this list. Likewise where someone simply drops a first name and uses his/her middle name. eg Paul McCartney's full name is "James Paul McCartney". On any reasonable basis "Paul McCartney" is not a stage name - it is merely a minor contraction of his full name. I have removed those and other similar names from the list. Davidpatrick 02:36, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

I wonder if all the rappers and r'n'b artist (and some other musicians) names are truly stage names? A lot of them seem to be either gang names or other nicknames, and they are often referred to as "aka" - indeed, some artists use a different name depending on what they are doing, but are also known by their "real" name; Eminem is known to be Marshall Mathers III who refers to himself in the third person as Slim Shady. Should there be a distinction between the "aka"'s and those who are legally known by their assumed name?LessHeard vanU 20:47, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Paul McCartney
This name keeps getting put in and then taken out, so I've created his own talk subheader. I will cut and paste earlier comments to here to keep it in context (LessHeard vanU 23:51, 30 April 2006 (UTC));

Obviously some of the old problems resolved in the past have re-occurred. eg where a person's "stage name" is merely a contraction of the person's real name. Mike Love of the Beach Boys whose "real name" is Michael Love - clearly does not belong on this list. Likewise where someone simply drops a first name and uses his/her middle name. eg Paul McCartney's full name is "James Paul McCartney". On any reasonable basis "Paul McCartney" is not a stage name - it is merely a minor contraction of his full name. I have removed those and other similar names from the list. Davidpatrick 02:36, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
 * As at this comment, Paul McCartney is back in (but not by me). I would suggest keeping him, since I have just included his brother Mike McGear in both the listing and the main part of the article - and McGear also uses his second given name. Also, Paul himself chose to use his second name from an early age since he did not want to be known by his fathers name.LessHeard vanU 20:47, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Upon consideration, he should go. Paul is the name by which he has been known (indeed, it is now "Sir Paul") since before joining The Beatles and he clearly did not change it for stage purposes. The Mike McGear example is well enough explained not to warrant Macca's inclusion on that basis.LessHeard vanU 23:51, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

List of one-word stage names
I don't believe that the above list should be merged into this one. Perhaps renamed, but the list should stand on its own. Doc 14:00, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

William Kenneth Hale III
William Kenneth Hale III

The real man of men.This is what Willy has been refered to.Willy is so cool he loves himself and humanity just as equally. Did i mention he played rugby ?? yes Willy was a prop and a fine prop was he.

Here's an Article about picking a Stage Name
Hello...    Here's a good article to post as an external link on how to choose a stage name. How to Become Famous - Here's an article about How to Become Famous by Choosing a Good Stage Name.

Professional wrestling
Shouldn't there be a section of the article about professional wrestlers who use stage names? Don't all of them do so? DandyDan2007 23:59, 6 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Not necessarily. In many cases, the name would not refer to the actual wrestler but to the character of the wrestler. In addition, a wrestling promotion often (usually?) owns or licenses the name of the character - the only ones they cannot touch are the wrestlers' actual names. There is potential for controversy in the wrestling arena regarding Rob Van Dam, for example - the wrestler claims that it's his stage name, but the WWE claims ownership as a trademarked character name. 147.70.242.40 20:45, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Esther Morrison
My comment concerns two articles: Stage name and Bambi Woods. The name Esther Morrison was added to Stage name in a possible act of vandalism, and also added to a sidebar of the article Bambi Woods. In this respect the sidebar directly contradicts the article body. I made inquiries with Google but found no independent confirmation of a link between Esther Morrison and Bambi Woods. I do not have the experience necessary to straighten this out myself. Metaed 23:57, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Married names?
What consensus is there over married names of women with stage names? I've noticed at least one - Pat Benatar - whose stage name was her legal married name at the time she began her career. -- Charlene 08:53, 21 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Sounds like a bit of a grey area:
 * You could argue that an actress who becomes famous under one legal name and who then legally drops that name in place of another, but continues to perform under her previous name, is now using a stage name, because her performing name is not her legal name.


 * However, the reason that her legal name has changed is probably because she wants to follow the tradition of adopting her husband's name, something quite common in many countries, and she would have likely done that whether she possessed a stage name or not. But, taking a stage name (a name to be known by - different from your legal name) is not something commonly done.  So, referring to her "previously legal" and well known-by name, as a stage name, because it differs from the legal name she took upon marriage, just doesn't fit the spirit of what a stage name is.  --Steggall 20:35 01 June 2007 (UTC)

I also question whether Omar Chaparro is really a stage name for Omar Rafael Chaparro Alvidrez. Alvidrez isn't his surname - Chaparro is. And Tommy Chong is definitely incorrect - the Kin in his name is one of his Chinese personal names, not his surname. -- Charlene 09:03, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Proposal: split this page up
This page is currently serving two purposes: explaining in detail what a "stage name" is, and presenting a long list of stage names. The latter dwarfs the former, although I find the former much more interesting. I think it would be better to have two articles each with one purpose. What do you guys think? - furrykef (Talk at me) 12:13, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Go for it. I think the explanation should be a sub-page of the list, since I would think it is the latter that draws the casual reader. LessHeard vanU 21:21, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism
Hey, I just edited the text under 'POV Rationale and motivation' from something along the lines of "50 cent is a cock", even though I agree with the statement I doubted that it should be in the article. Could somebody edit that area to make more sense than my patch-job? ShatterMantis 08:35, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

David Bowie?
David Bowie was born David Robert Jones, and changed his name so he wasn't known as Davy Jones, the guy from The Monkees.

Not to mention that Bowie has also been known as Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, The Thin White Duke, to name (I believe) a few.

Shouldn't there be a section on him, or a mention of him? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.204.153.26 (talk) 01:09, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

Varg Vikernes
Varg was mentioned as his stage name/pseudonymn. That's his actual name, his stage name/pseudonymn is Count Grishnackh. I changed that in the article to make it accurate.--Iconoclastithon (talk) 23:47, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

What about the Blues?
I don't really know enough about it to add it to the article (though I will gladly have a shot if no one else wants to), but it might be worth a mention that a number of famous Blues musicians use distinctive stages names. Afterall, it is mentioned that certain other genres of music are commonly associated with stage names. As an example: B.B. King,  T-Bone Walker,  Howlin' Wolf,  Magic Slim,  Taj Mahal and  Lightnin' Hopkins. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.69.66.211 (talk) 00:00, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Ringo Starr ???
Sorry for what I'm about to say, but WHERE THE HELL IS RINGO STARR ??? He was one of the first major commercially successful artists to use a stage name, as we all know that his real name is Richard Starkey ! (Clausgroi (talk) 00:53, 7 February 2012 (UTC))

Neeraj video
Neeraj video — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.38.21.5 (talk) 07:50, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Merge Discussion
The article at Ring name is not sourced, and would look for some of the information to be merged with this one. Please discuss at the discussion link provided.  Lee Vilenski (talk • contribs) 15:11, 26 July 2018 (UTC)

proposal:
Remove every example that does not have a source. Weeb Dingle (talk) 04:22, 4 September 2019 (UTC)


 * To elucidate: scan Motivation to use a stage name. Repeatedly, after giving a (supposed, because unsourced) reason, the reader is then inundated with example after example. This pretty much defines the term fancruft. Seeing as the Original Research flag is dated 2013, nobody has stepped up to correct any of this, so pretty much all of the examples are marked for death. Weeb Dingle (talk) 04:30, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

Conflicting Michael Keaton surname origin info
This wiki page says that Michael J Douglas (Michael Keaton) changed his name from Douglas to Keaton as a tribute to Buster Keaton, but Michael Keaton's wiki page states the opposite: "In response to questions as to whether he selected his new surname due to an attraction to actress Diane Keaton, or in homage to silent film actor Buster Keaton, he has responded by saying "it had nothing to do with that."  Keaton has said in several interviews that he searched a phone book under "K," saw "Keaton" and decided to stop looking. "

I can't access the source given on this wiki page to confirm which is correct. Should I just assume the newer info is correct and replace the old info? Clark Westerfeld (talk) 02:56, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

"nom-de-Hollywood"
Frank’s nom-de-Hollywood is “Oz,” but his legal name remains Oznowicz.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/13/arts/design/frank-oz-father-puppet.html

Interesting synonym used in the New York Times that should perhaps be added to this article.

PK-WIKI (talk) 18:05, 13 July 2022 (UTC)

real-life
Christopher Cogan played by Christopher Chris Sullivan le broc born in Houston, Texas, USA born in January  1   1971 109.76.62.136 (talk) 16:50, 25 September 2022 (UTC)