# Entertainers/ Singers,Actors/Actresses who don't use their real/given names. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592 "2003-03-06T22:40:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Intaglio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/1 "2003-03-06T22:40:09Z")
Do singers people like Sting, Pink, Shania Twain have Driver’s Licenses, Credit Cards, etc with their real/given name. Same thing with Actors/Actresses like Kevin Spacey, Tom Cruise, Meg Ryan, Barbara Eden have Driver’s Licenses, Credit Cards, etc. with their real/given names. Just curious/wondering. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/2 "2003-03-06T23:46:59Z")
I believe Meatloaf’s name change is official. Pretty sure Behind the Music told me that. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/3 "2003-03-06T23:52:33Z")
Some change their names legally and get ID under the new names; others keep their birth name. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/4 "2003-03-07T00:40:29Z")
Well, “Sting” is a just a nickname he’s had since he was a child. I’m pretty sure he’s still legally Gordon Sumner. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/5 "2003-03-07T01:34:04Z")
Michael Caine was knighted as Sir Maurice Mickelwhite, as he never bothered to legally change his name. ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/6 "2003-03-07T01:41:50Z")
I remember reading somewhere that Whoopi Goldberg’s driver’s license reads “Caryn Johnson.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/7 "2003-03-07T02:22:29Z")
Did The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Prince get that symbol thingy on his driver’s license? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/8 "2003-03-07T03:29:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zsofia \* > \*\*I believe Meatloaf’s name change is official. Pretty sure Behind the Music told me that. \*\* Meat Loaf’s birth name was Marvin Lee Aday. Meat Loaf is his stage name - but he did legally change his name a few years ago - to Michael Lee Aday. I remember seeing Dyan Cannon on the Tonight Show many years ago. She and Johnny Carson started talking about stage names, and he mentioned that Cary Grant’s real name was Archibald Leach. Cannon said, rather dryly, “Yes, I know. I used to be married to him.” ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/9 "2003-03-07T05:32:41Z")
You can get- for $50 I believe- a DBA (doing business as) so that, if Gordon Sumner wanted to have his songs copywrited to Sting (does he?) and have the royality checks made out to Sting, he can do that, without changing his name legally. I’m betting a lot of them (Sting? I mean Gordon?) do that. That gives their stage name enough legal standing for what they’d probably want to do with it. Not to say you can’t change you name to Pink, if you felt like it. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/10 "2003-03-07T05:44:55Z")
SnugTheJoiner writes: \> I remember reading somewhere that Whoopi Goldberg’s \> driver’s license reads “Caryn Johnson.” I believe, in fact, that all of her friends and relatives call her “Caryn”. “Whoopi Goldberg” is strictly a stage name. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/11 "2003-03-07T05:49:20Z")
Shania Twain’s real name is Eileen Lange and she uses this in her real life. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/12 "2003-03-07T06:16:36Z")
You can get- for $50 I believe- a DBA (doing business as) so that, if Gordon Sumner wanted to have his songs copywrited to Sting (does he?) and have the royality checks made out to Sting, he can do that, without changing his name legally. I’m betting a lot of them (Sting? I mean Gordon?) do that. That gives their stage name enough legal standing for what they’d probably want to do with it. Not to say you can’t change you name to Pink, if you felt like it. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainers-singers-actors-actresses-who-dont-use-their-real-given-names/159592/13 "2003-03-07T13:44:58Z")
Official documents such as driving licenses and Social Security cards and important private documents will be under the performer’s legal name. I once saw Teller’s (of Penn and…) health-insurance card, and it had his full legal name on it. Business-related documents including credit cards can be under a “business name”. Professional actors and writers, also, have their stage/pen names and/or their _preferred usage_ of their legal names officially registered with their guilds and the publishing-house associations for purposes of routing the royalty checks.