Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2016 April 22

= April 22 =

Was Prince's name change a legal name change or just a stage name (re: the unpronounceable symbol, the "Love Symbol")?
Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol (File:Prince logo.svg, also known as the "Love Symbol"). Was this a legal name change? Or just a stage name? Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 01:09, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * It was just an element in his dispute with his record company. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:02, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Yes. He changed his name due to a dispute with his record company.  I am asking if he legally changed his name; or he simply changed his stage name.  Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 04:08, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * There's no indication that he legally changed his name. Both "Prince" and that symbol were merely "stage names". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 04:52, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * "Prince" was his legal first name from birth, much like "Madonna". StuRat (talk) 05:22, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * True, but using just your first name amounts to a stage name. It's not unusual in the entertainment world: Dagmar, Fabian, Ann-Margret, Dion, Adele - a few others that come to mind. Sometimes pop stars become identifiable by just their first names, even if they normally use their full names. Elvis, for one. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:17, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * "The artist formerly thought to be sane" is now "the artist formerly known as alive". StuRat (talk) 03:21, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * PS: Does anyone know if having a crazy character in the title will mess up archiving ? StuRat (talk) 03:23, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * It's a picture file, not a character, so the question is whether a picture file will be pulled into the archive. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:25, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * This article claims that he didn't legally change his name. -- BenRG (talk) 18:21, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

So, this brings me to my follow-up question. Which is: Can a person legally change their name to a symbol, or perhaps a letter, or a number, or a punctuation mark, or something odd like that? Is this allowed? (In the United States, but elsewhere would also be of interest.) Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 21:02, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * They can try, but it doesn't mean they'll succeed. In general, in the US you can call yourself anything you want to, as long as there's no fraud involved. But legally changing your name is another matter. Marilyn Monroe was her stage name, but she retained her real first and middle names, Norma Jean, on legal documents. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:12, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Only her first and middle names? Her surname was never Monroe by birth or marriage. --69.159.61.172 (talk) 02:45, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Well, her surname changed every time she married. Norma Jean DiMaggo, for example. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 04:43, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
 * In Sweden there is the famous case of Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116. Staecker (talk) 01:32, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
 * It would be interesting in particular to know if people in China (or Taiwan or Japan) are allowed to change their name and invent a new character for it. --69.159.61.172 (talk) 02:45, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
 * In Japan, only the roughly 3,000 kanji in the jōyō and jinmeiyō lists are allowed in names, so you can't just invent a kanji for yourself. I don't know the policy on names in foreign scripts. -- BenRG (talk) 05:56, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
 * This article notes that a California man successfully changed his legal name to "Darren QX Bean!", but that a petition to be named "III" was denied. The California legal code seems to place no restrictions on what your name can be. Apparently the same is true in Pennsylvania. -- BenRG (talk) 06:09, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Within the past year I read that the Latin letter "C" was legally disallowed in Chinese personal names. —Tamfang (talk) 01:55, 2 July 2016 (UTC)


 * In 197x I heard of someone trying to change his name to 1069 (pronounced One Zero Six Nine; "One Zero" to his friends). A judge (of some United State) rejected his petition as incompatible with human dignity. —Tamfang (talk) 01:55, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Thanks. As I was reading the above responses, it dawned on me that my question was ill-worded. Maybe I was not so much concerned with changing your name, but rather giving the name to a newborn instead (if that's even a distinction). So, can parents name their kid with a letter or number or the odd punctuation sign, etc.? That was the better question, really. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:50, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 04:30, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

Was the TV show Hardcore Pawn cancelled?
Does anyone know anything about the Hardcore Pawn TV show? Is it still on? I can never seem to find it? I mean new episodes, not old repeats. But I can't even find the old repeats, either. The Wikipedia article states that it is still presently running. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:01, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Looks like Ashley Gold has left the show, which hasn't aired since last April. So, while they haven't officially cancelled the show, it's on hiatus at the very least: . StuRat (talk) 17:13, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Haven't some of the guys from that show gotten into legal trouble recently? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:36, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * No, that was the other Pawn Shop show (which is called Pawn Stars). This guy's page (Chumlee) details some of his legal issues.  I believe, domestic violence?  Maybe drugs?   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:56, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, all. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 04:30, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

What year did CD's surpass vinyl record sales?
What year did CD's outsell vinyl records? --Augustous (talk) 22:51, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Several Internet sources (just google for "cds outsold vinyl") say it was 1988. --69.159.61.172 (talk) 02:48, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Timeline of audio formats has some further context. Just to note that, by the time CDs started outselling vinyl, compact cassettes had already surpassed vinyl sales (by 1983). CDs seem to have become the most popular media for music by 1988 or 1989, but they presumably must have surpassed vinyl before that. Here is a really good overview. Matt Deres (talk) 20:02, 24 April 2016 (UTC)