# People who named themselves after a famous person - and then became more famous than the person they named themselves after **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 6, 2024, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207 "2024-05-06T22:28:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/1 "2024-05-06T22:28:26Z")
Harry Houdini named himself after a famous French magician named [Robert-Houdin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Eug%C3%A8ne_Robert-Houdin) - but today Houdini is far more famous. Are there other examples of this happening. Note: this has to be a self-given name - Martin Luther King, Jr. is more famous than his father, but that doesn’t count! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/2 "2024-05-06T22:29:04Z")
Engelbert Humperdinck is the first one to come to mind for me; the singer is starting to fade from memory, but I think he’s still more famous than the German composer whose name he stole. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/3 "2024-05-06T22:32:01Z")
Thank you. I should have recalled E. H. (the second one) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/4 "2024-05-06T22:32:08Z")
The same goes for David Copperfield the magician, who probably had much more name recognition at his peak than the Dickens character. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/5 "2024-05-06T22:39:18Z")
David Jones changed his last name to Bowie. I would say he’s probably more famous than James. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/6 "2024-05-06T22:57:38Z")
Except in Texas ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/7 "2024-05-06T23:21:16Z")
Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg changed her name to that of one of Henry VIII’s queens. I’m not sure which Jane Seymour is more famous these days, but during the run of _Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,_ I’m pretty sure the modern actress was more famous in America. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2024, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/8 "2024-05-06T23:48:29Z")
Tom Jones was a singer under his birth name (Thomas Jones Woodward) but after the 1963 film he adopted the stage name Tom Jones. While the film and the novel it was based on isn’t forgotten, I suspect most people would think of the singer first. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/9 "2024-05-07T00:02:40Z")
I think Bob Dylan is better known than Dylan Thomas these days. I imagine more people can name a Dylan song then a Thomas poem anyway. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/10 "2024-05-07T00:16:00Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Note: this has to be a self-given name - Martin Luther King, Jr. is more famous than his father, but that doesn’t count! Though he was not technically named for his father, they both changed their name to Martin Luther King when MLK Jr was five. So I think he does count ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/11 "2024-05-07T00:19:51Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > David Jones changed his last name to Bowie. He changed his name because of the popularity of Davy Jones of the Monkees. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/12 "2024-05-07T00:19:52Z")
Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night. But, yeah, a Dylan song would be easier…unless you’re a Millennial or younger? Seems that I see a lot of Millennials who don’t know his music at all. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/13 "2024-05-07T00:22:23Z")
Excuse me. That would be Arkansas. ★ I can’t decide if Davy Jones was more famous as a locker or a Monkee ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/14 "2024-05-07T00:26:45Z")
Very tenuous one. Just maybe, at the very height of his fame, Marilyn Manson was more famous in some circles than Marilyn Monroe or Charles Manson? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/15 "2024-05-07T00:32:07Z")
Also do regions count? I’d definitely say Jello Biafra is more famous than the break away region of Nigeria or the associated civil war. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/16 "2024-05-07T00:38:33Z")
Not more famous than Jello, though. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/17 "2024-05-07T00:47:21Z")
[Cassius Clay](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassius_Marcellus_Clay_(politician)) Franz Ferdinand? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/18 "2024-05-07T00:54:13Z")
This probably doesn’t count either, but the late Tupac Shakur, born Lesane Parish Crooks, was renamed at age 1 in honor of the 18th-c. Peruvian neo-Incan rebel leader Túpac Amaru II. I’m pretty sure the rapper was and even still is much better known than his namesake. Another mom-renaming that stuck: Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. was nicknamed “Snoopy” after the Peanuts cartoon character he loved, and he kept it in his stage name Snoop Dogg. Now, I doubt that the rapper is actually more famous than the original Snoopy, but I’m sure there are a lot of fans who are more familiar with the former than the latter. And another famous rapper, born Stanley Kirk Burrell, was nicknamed “Hammer” in his teens by the Oakland Athletics players he worked with, because he was thought to resemble renowned right fielder Hank Aaron (“Hammerin’ Hank” or “The Hammer”). I expect nowadays MC Hammer is better known than Hank Aaron. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/19 "2024-05-07T00:55:40Z")
Michael Caine took his stage name from _The Caine Mutiny_. He’s probably a bit more well known than the movie, now. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2024, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207/20 "2024-05-07T01:08:32Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Franz Ferdinand If bands count there are few contenders… Jethro Tull has at some point been more famous than their namesake inventor [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-named-themselves-after-a-famous-person-and-then-became-more-famous-than-the-person-they-named-themselves-after/1001207.md?page=2)