Inspired by the “rock & roll pseudonyms” thread. It was mentioned there that “Prince” was not in fact a pseudonym. I mentioned one other – Thelonious Monk.
So who else has a name that you think must be fake but it really is the name they were born with? I’ll list a couple others:
Gurf Morlix (at least I can’t find anything saying it’s not his real name)
Blossom Dearie
Wolf Blitzer- about whom they said on Wayne’s World “he obviously just made that name up for the war”.
Texas socialite/acting first lady [for her father]/philanthropist Ima Hogg; not only was it her real name but it was her birth name.
Madonna is another famous example of this.
Full name Thelonious Sphere Monk. Thelonious is a very uncommon name, but his parents didn’t make it up. Sphere is kind of a jaw-dropper. In any case it’s a fantastic name.
The best part is that he’s a guitar player. Or, after reading his bio, that’s one of the things he does. I have a Lucinda Williams CD that features “more licks.” Gurf, on the other hand, sounds like a Muppet name.
Chord Overstreet from GLEE. His father’s a musician and named several of his kids after musical terms.
I have a friend, who, well, calling him “famous” is pushing it, but he was the guitarist for the reasonably well-known 90s goth band Switchblade Symphony, and has been involved in a number of other projects. His name is George Earth, which I’d assumed was a made-up rock name, but is, apparently, his real birth certificate name.
Author Harry Turtledove. He actually started writing under a pen name – Eric G. Iverson – because his publisher thought no one would believe his real name.
Joan of Arc. Most people think that “of Arc” was some sort of title (like Leonardo da Vinci), but it’s an English translation of her actual family name in French: “d’Arc.”
I wouldn’t call da Vinci a title at all. It just indicates where he was from: the town of Vinci.
ISTR reading that he gave himself the middle name “Sphere” as a reflection of the fact that he was not square.
I’ve long felt this way about Magnus ver Magnusson. Seriously, how bad ass of a name is that for and Icelandic strongman?
Heh. I hadn’t heard that, but it makes sense.
Madonna.
Plaxico Burress
Local NYC weatherman Storm Fields. Son of local NYC weatherman Frank Fields.
.
Chip Z’Nuff from the shitty hair metal band Enuff Z’Nuff, although the apostrophe was added just for effect; he’s not a dark elf.
Prince is sort of a pseudonym: it was his father’s (also a musician) stage name, and his mother liked it so much they named Prince that too.
Which means it’s not his – the younger Prince’s – pseudonym.
That’s actually Field, not Fields.
Chris Rock. And his grandfather Allen was the Reverend Rock, which is a great show business name.
Albert Brooks would fall into this category, if he hadn’t changed his birth name to avoid confusion.
No mention of Armand Hammer?
Or his great-grandson Armie Hammer?
There was a Isreali tennis player: Anna Smashnova.
Similarly, Mark Slaughter of his eponymous band.
The guy who plays Silas Adams on Deadwood is named Titus Welliver. For real. If his character on Deadwood was Titus Welliver I’d have rolled my eyes at how obviously fakey-fake 19th century it was.