# Is there anyone popular whose real ID isn't known? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565 "2010-04-18T22:20:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/1 "2010-04-18T22:20:54Z")
By this, I mean someone famous enough to have a Wikipedia article written about him/her. My first thought was Banksy, and Wiki says there are reports of names, but they conflict, and there doesn’t seem to be a consensus. Is there anyone else who has managed to hide his/her real ID? Wasn’t there some singer in the early 80s who used voice filters to do interviews so that even the gender was in doubt? I remember seeing an interview, but I was so pop-culture ignorant at the time that I don’t know anything more. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/2 "2010-04-18T22:53:27Z")
Leon Redbone comes to mind, although I don’t know if he’s still the mystery man he once was. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/3 "2010-04-18T23:01:16Z")
Technically, the identity of [The Residents](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Residents) is unknown, although there doesn’t seem to be much real doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/4 "2010-04-18T23:45:05Z")
Wikipedia, through the Toronto Star, seems pretty confident about Redbone. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/5 "2010-04-18T23:46:06Z")
I don’t know about “popular” but the Zodiac Killer has entries and the identity, sex, and current status (alive?) is unknown. Perhaps you mean celebrities? I also believe the identity of the “Anti-Christ” is unknown but there are alot of speculation currently involving everyone from the President thru Dick Chenny to the Pope. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/6 "2010-04-18T23:54:14Z")
Well, there’s this syndicated columnist who works for the Chicago Reader … ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/7 "2010-04-18T23:59:17Z")
[Tank Guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_man). ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/8 "2010-04-19T00:03:40Z")
DB Cooper? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/9 "2010-04-19T00:43:25Z")
Jack the Ripper ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/10 "2010-04-19T00:55:46Z")
The Stig? > **[The Stig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stig)** > > The Stig is a character from the British motoring television show Top Gear. Created by former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman, the character is a play on the anonymity of racing drivers' full-face helmets, with the running joke that nobody knows who or what is inside the Stig's racing suit. The Stig's primary role is setting lap times for cars tested on the show. Previously, he would also instruct celebrity guests, off-camera, for the show's "Star in a Reasonably Pri... ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/11 "2010-04-19T00:58:18Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Is there anyone else who has managed to hide his/her real ID? Wasn’t there some singer in the early 80s who used voice filters to do interviews so that even the gender was in doubt? I remember seeing an interview, but I was so pop-culture ignorant at the time that I don’t know anything more. Deep Throat kept his identity secret for well over three decades – and it’s not like anyone figured it out, it’s that he simply decided to announce himself back in '05. ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/12 "2010-04-19T01:03:46Z")
sorry, double post. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/13 "2010-04-19T01:39:57Z")
The real identify of B. Traven, who wrote **The Treasure of the Sierra Madre** , is still unknown 80 years after the book came out. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/14 "2010-04-19T01:46:56Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > Jack the Ripper He’s popular? P.S. I came here to post “the Stig”, but was beaten to it by **Anachronism**. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/15 "2010-04-19T01:57:58Z")
> [@Anachronism](#): > > The Stig? I thought it was common knowledge that there are, in fact, several “Stigs” (or rather, drivers who portray The Stig)? ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/16 "2010-04-19T02:09:06Z")
[Jandek](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jandek), a weird folk/new age/blues musician with a modest but fanatical cult following, is thought to be a certain Sterling Richard Smith, but this has never been confirmed. A very interesting character. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/17 "2010-04-19T02:26:32Z")
There is a guitar player named Buckethead (he plays with a KFC bucket over his head, with eye slits cut out of it) who is active in the jamband and heavy metal scenes (two musical genres that usually dont overlap much) who’s real identity is in question. At one point he was supposedly Trey Anastasio’s (the guitarist of Phish) brother or even his alter-ego, (depending on who you talked to and how high they were) but I think that at one point they actually jammed onstage together at the Bonnaroo Music Festival, so that particular rumor faded away… I don’t know if anyone has conclusively claimed to know what exactly the story is with this guy, but by only playing live with his face covered, he has garnered more attention that his mediocre (IMHO) music would otherwise merit. ---
**Author:** ![firstname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@firstname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firstname)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/18 "2010-04-19T02:34:14Z")
Popular might be a stretch but [TISM](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TISM) ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/19 "2010-04-19T03:26:30Z")
The [Katrina beer guy](http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2143y4x&s=3)? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565/20 "2010-04-19T03:50:09Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > The real identify of B. Traven, who wrote **The Treasure of the Sierra Madre** , is still unknown 80 years after the book came out. He would be my [choice.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._Traven) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-popular-whose-real-id-isnt-known/536565.md?page=2)