# Melissa JOAN Hart, Sarah MICHELLE Gellar. Wassup with 2 names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694 "2004-01-16T00:59:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694/1 "2004-01-16T00:59:37Z")
Jennifer LOVE Hewitt, Rachel LEIGH Cook, Jody LYN O’Keefe. I’m sure there are more, but these just off the top of my head. All seem to be born from mid to late 70’s and go by two first name. as she _really_ Jennifer Love Hewitt in junior high, or just Jenny Hewitt? Why the added 2nd first name? I don’t really know if there’s a coherent question here, it’s just something I’ve noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694/2 "2004-01-16T01:04:24Z")
Wha-- 😕 You’ve never run across anyone with a middle name before? I thought this is, and was, rather common. I’ve got a middle name and all of my ancestors (male and female) back as far as I know have middle names. I’m pretty sure this isn’t a fad … ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694/3 "2004-01-16T01:09:33Z")
I think she just didn’t want to be confused with Jennifer SLUTPUPPY Hewitt. Admittedly, they do have the same chin. ---
**Author:** ![Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Bottle\_of\_Smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bottle_of_Smoke)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694/4 "2004-01-16T01:19:25Z")
I recall seeing an interview with one of the countless twenty-something three-name celebs and he was asked about the same thing. He said that a lot of actors nowadays have to include their middle name (or a made up middle name) to distinguish themselves from other actors in the screen actors guild who have the same name. So say a character actor from the '70s may have been named John Smith, and now there is a hot hip young actor of the '00s also named John Smith. He is forced to call himself John Doe Smith to keep the two seperate. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694/5 "2004-01-16T01:24:16Z")
Of course I’ve met people with a middle name. It’s just that it seems to be something contagious with actresses born '75-'80. There is no other Jennifer Hewitt, Sarah Gellar, Rachel Cook, but one Melissa Hart, apart from Melissa Joan Hart. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694/6 "2004-01-16T02:47:30Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > Of course I’ve met people with a middle name. It’s just that it seems to be something contagious with actresses born '75-'80. > There is no other Jennifer Hewitt, Sarah Gellar, Rachel Cook, but one Melissa Hart, apart from Melissa Joan Hart. You sure about that? A super-obscure Sarah Gellar in the SAG may be what seaprateas Buffy from using her real name. The IMDB may not be as complete. I know I couldn’t enter the SAG using my real name, without adding my middle name. And I’d bet you’ve never heard of the guy who shares my name, either. But some of it may be just adding the middle name to make it stand out more, or seem more sophiticated or euphonious. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694/7 "2004-01-16T02:48:03Z")
What **Bottle of Smoke** said. And I think that’s why there’s a “J” in Micheal J. Fox. Bubba ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694/8 "2004-01-16T03:02:40Z")
And why Mary Tyler Moore’s not just Mary Moore. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694/9 "2004-01-16T03:09:46Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > What **Bottle of Smoke** said. > And I think that’s why there’s a “J” in Micheal J. Fox. > Bubba Indeed it is. In fact his middle name is Andrew, but he didn’t want to be known as “Michael - A Fox”. Some of them have three names from family tradition, or just because it was a girly thing for them to do when they were 11 and now they’re stuck with it. I understand Jennifer Love Hewitt likes to be called ‘Love’ as a nickname, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694/10 "2004-01-16T07:05:37Z")
The world needs balance, and this takes care of celebrities who are known (or at least can be immediately identified) by just one name: Bono, Sting, Madonna, Elvis, Britney… ---
**Author:** ![Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raymond_luxury_yacht/32/4099_2.png) [@Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raymond_Luxury_Yacht)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melissa-joan-hart-sarah-michelle-gellar-wassup-with-2-names/224694/11 "2004-01-16T07:25:24Z")
If anyone can find a link, Gilbert Gottfried’s bit about the land of the three named people is pretty funny. But, while I’m here…Harry Dean Stanton, John Wayne Bobbit, Lisa Marie Presley, and former baseball player Willie Mays Aikens.