# People who have dropped their first names **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 12, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658 "2014-06-12T21:53:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/61 "2014-06-13T18:44:20Z")
J. R. (Bob) Dobbs And my brother R. Owen 74westy. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/62 "2014-06-13T19:19:32Z")
James Hubert “Eubie” Blake James Gordon Brown James Timothy “Tim” Daly James Mercer Langston Hughes James Hugh Calum Laurie James Timothy “Tim” McCarver James David Graham Niven James Danforth “Dan” Quayle James Strom Thurmond James Paul McCartney was already mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/63 "2014-06-13T19:34:17Z")
Lewis Paul Bremer III Mary Flannery O’Connor J. Paul Getty ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/64 "2014-06-15T18:23:57Z")
Bumping this thread to see if there are more candidates. This has been an unexpectedly fruitful vein and I appreciate it enormously. How about lesser politicians - Governors, Senators, Reps, MPs, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/65 "2014-06-15T18:56:42Z")
Presidents: Hiram Ulysses Grant --\> Ulysses Simpson Grant Stephen Grover Cleveland --\> Grover Cleveland Thomas Woodrow Wilson --\> Woodrow Wilson John Calvin Coolidge --\> Calvin Coolidge David Dwight Eisenhower --\> Dwight David Eisenhower Leslie Lynch King Jr. --\> Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/66 "2014-06-15T19:03:34Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > When did he change his name? Being “the Lynch King” during the Civil Rights era would be … interesting. Ford’s birth father was abusive and his mother left him within weeks of Ford’s birth and they were divorced within months. When Ford was 3 years old, his mother married Gerald Rudolff Ford (note spelling) and they started calling him Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr., although he was never formally adopted by the elder Ford. He formally changed his name to “Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr.” after finishing college. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/67 "2014-06-15T19:08:25Z")
Geddy Lee. ---
**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:** [June 15, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/68 "2014-06-15T19:21:44Z")
Elizabeth Alice MacGraw ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/69 "2014-06-15T19:41:18Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Presidents: > > Hiram Ulysses Grant –\> Ulysses Simpson Grant > Stephen Grover Cleveland –\> Grover Cleveland > Thomas Woodrow Wilson –\> Woodrow Wilson > John Calvin Coolidge –\> Calvin Coolidge > David Dwight Eisenhower –\> Dwight David Eisenhower > Leslie Lynch King Jr. –\> Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. Which, as I’m discovering, ain’t a patch on the name-dropping of UK Prime Ministers. It’s hard to find one who served under his given first name. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/70 "2014-06-15T20:22:35Z")
General J.E.B. (James Ewell Brown) Stuart John Ellis “Jeb” Bush H. (Henry) Rider Haggard ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/71 "2014-06-15T21:07:01Z")
Architect I. M. (Ieoh Ming) Pei Blues composer W.C. (William Christopher) Handy B.B. (Riley B.) King (although “B.B.” probably counts as a nickname, standing for “Blues Boy”). [J. Fred Muggs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Fred_Muggs), for some definitions of “people.” ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/72 "2014-06-15T21:54:49Z")
Maria Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines George Edward ‘Eddie’ Arcaro, jockey Donald Richard ‘Richie’ Ashburn, baseball player Freda Josephine Baker, dancer Jose Antonio Banderas, actor Henry Warren Beatty, actor Ernst Ingmar Bergman, director Winifred Jacqueline Bisset, actress Troyal Garth Brooks, singer Clyde Jackson Browne, singer/songwriter Mary William ‘Billie’ Burke, actress Eleanor Rosalyn Carter, US First Lady Isaac Sidney ‘Sid’ Caesar, comedian Malcolm Scott Carpenter, astronaut George Richard Chamberlain, actor Avram Noam Chomsky, linguist, author and political activist Leroy Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther leader/author William Roger Clemens, baseball pitcher Harvey Lavan ‘Van’ Cliburn, classical pianist Edward Montgomery Clift, actor Virginia Patterson ‘Patsy’ Cline, singer Alfred Alistair Cooke, broadcast journalist Leroy Gordon Cooper, astronaut Harold Hart Crane, poet William Broderick Crawford, actor Ellen Tyne Daly, actress Ruth Elizabeth ‘Bette’ Davis, actress Achille Claude Debussy, composer Hillare Germain Edgar Degas, artist Mary Elizabeth Dole, US Senator Dorothy Faye Dunaway, actress Robert Anthony Eden, British Prime Minister William Blake Edwards, director Clarence Leo Fender, guitar manufacturer Jacob Nelson ‘Nellie’ Fox, baseball player William Clark Gable, actor Eugene Henri Paul Gauguin, artist Henry Louis ‘Lou’ Gehrig, baseball player Arthur John Geilgud, actor Irwin Allen Ginsburg, poet Ruth Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Grable, actress Henry Graham Greene, novelist Pearl Zane Grey, author Samuel Dashiell Hammett, author Mary Patricia Highsmith, author Audrey Faith Hill, singer Philip Anthony Hopkins, actor Mary Laurence ‘Lauren’ Hutton, model John Donald ‘Don’ Imus, radio talk show host Nelust Wyclef Jean, singer Arthur John ‘Jack’ Johnson, boxer Diana Naomi Judd, singer Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo, artist Alfred Joyce Kilmer, poet Joseph Rudyard Kipling, poet Edward Charles ‘Chuck’ Knoblauch, basketball player Jesse Donald ‘Don’ Knotts, actor Mary Leta Dorothy Lamour, actress David Jude Law, actor Frederick Carlton ‘Carl’ Lewis, track and field athlete Harry Sinclair Lewis, author Clarence Malcolm Lowry, novelist Rosalie Anderson ‘Andie’ MacDowell, actress Maurice Harold MacMillan, British prime minister Vera Jayne Mansfield, actress Terence Stephen ‘Steve’ McQueen, actor Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn, composer Oliver Burgess Meredith, actor Alton Glenn Miller, bandleader Robert Joan ‘Joni’ Mitchell, singer/songwriter James Arthur ‘Art’ Monk, football player Vernon Earl Monroe, basketball player Jean Iris Murdoch, novelist Keith Rupert Murdock, publishing and broadcasting magnate Morna Anne Murray, singer Frederic Ogden Nash, poet John Byron Nelson, golfer George Robert ‘Bob’ Newhart, comedian Carson Wayne Newton, singer Patrick Ryan O’Neal, actor Olive Marie Osmond, singer Eldred Gregory Peck, actor Maria Eva Peron, Argentine First Lady Matthew Ryan Philippe, actor William Bradley ‘Brad’ Pitt, actor Paul Jackson Pollock, artist Helen Beatrix Potter, author/illustrator Frederick Tyrone Power, actor Mary Violet Leontyne Price, opera singer William Claude Rains, actor Philip St. John Basil Rathbone, actor Charles Robert Redford, actor Robert Oliver Reed, actor Michael Trent Reznor, rock musician Joseph Henri Maurice Richard, hockey player Wesley Branch Rickey, baseball executive Jean Nicholas Arthur Rimbaud, poet Margaret LeAnn Rimes, singer Granville Oral Roberts, televangelist Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, US First Lady Alfred Damon Runyon, author Ahmed Salman Rushdie, novelist Ernestine Jane Russell, actress H. Norman Schwarzkopf, general Edith Norma Shearer, actress Marvin Neil Simon, playwright Michael Sylvester Stallone, actor Fernande Danielle Steele, author William Payne Stewart, golfer William Oliver Stone, director Johan August Strindberg, playwright Newton Booth Tarkington, novelist Joseph Philippe Pierre Trudeau, Canadian prime minister Mary Kathleen Turner, actress Robert Edward ‘Ted’ Turner, media mogul Stanley Robert ‘Bobby’ Vinton, singer Wilhelm Richard Wagner, composer Marie Dionne Warwick, singer George Orson Welles, actor/director Karola Ruth Westheimer, sex therapist Jacques Dominique Wilkins, basketball player Walter Bruce Willis, actor Mary Debra Winger, actress Jon Steven ‘Steve’ Young, football quarterback ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/73 "2014-06-15T22:10:44Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Geddy Lee. He dropped his last name (Weinrib), not his first. “Geddy” is just a nick for his real name, Gary (based on how his Polish mom pronounced it). > [@42fish](#): > > Robert Joan ‘Joni’ Mitchell, singer/songwriter If she was born Robert, she must have dropped something besides her name! ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/74 "2014-06-15T22:14:09Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > If she was born Robert, she must have dropped something besides her name! Typo. Should’ve been Roberta Joan ‘Joni’ Mitchell (Although Howard Allen O’Brien managed to become Anne Rice without changing anything but her name. But I digress.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658/75 "2014-06-16T14:57:35Z")
Singer and songwriter Mimi Fariña was born Margarita Mimi Baez, younger sister of Joan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-have-dropped-their-first-names/690658.md?page=3)