# Successful/ known under both maiden and married name. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984 "2012-07-31T19:31:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/1 "2012-07-31T19:31:08Z")
Needing to keep reputation earned with the original name has long been cited as a reason not to change your name after marriage. How many women have found success with both names? Victoria Beckham, as Victoria Adams. Cannot think of any others. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/2 "2012-07-31T19:34:18Z")
Farrah Fawcett for a while went by Farrah Fawcett Majors. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/3 "2012-07-31T19:36:22Z")
Patty Duke was Patty Duke Astin when she was married to John Astin. She was a child star/Oscar winner who never really became as big as an adult as she was in her teens, but she’s worked steadily. She has said that she saw Astin as very much a father-figure as well as husband and that’s one reason she wanted his name even though she was already famous (and in fact had already been married and divorced twice when she married him). She dropped Astin when they divorced and she remarried but never took her current husband’s name professionally. Dee Wallace- bka as the mom on E.T. but a very busy actress before/since/still, became Dee Wallace Stone and occasionally Dee Stone after her marriage to Christopher Stone. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/4 "2012-07-31T19:39:47Z")
Roseanne Barr/Arnold/Barr Courtney Cox Arquette ---
**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:** [July 31, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/5 "2012-07-31T19:40:44Z")
Some more not-quite answers: Shirley Temple -\> Shirley Temple Black (maybe double names don’t count) Jackie Kennedy -\> Jackie Onassis (famous under two married names) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/6 "2012-07-31T19:41:09Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ] Courtney Cox Arquette [/QUOTE] There was an episode of _Friends_ in which every actor added Arquette to their name in the credits (_Lisa Kudrow Arquette_, _Matthew Perry Arquette_, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/7 "2012-07-31T19:45:01Z")
Meredith Baxter Birney was successful under that name, and also as Meredith Baxter after her divorce. Roseanne Barr became famous under her first married name, was also successful under her second married name, Roseanne Arnold, and then got tired of it all and was successful as Roseanne. Deborah Hunter had a successful soap opera career under her first married name, Deborah Morehart; when she remarried, she had even more success under the name Hunter Tylo. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/8 "2012-07-31T20:41:58Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Meredith Baxter Birney was successful under that name, and also as Meredith Baxter after her divorce. Ziggy says 42.9% odds her next professional name will be Meredith Baxter Navritilova. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/9 "2012-07-31T20:58:22Z")
Rebecca Romijn Stamos ---
**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:** [July 31, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/10 "2012-07-31T21:20:28Z")
Actress [Odette Yustman](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0951148/) married David Annable in 2010 and changed her name to Odette Annable. As Odette Yustman: Kindergarten Cop Remembrance Dear God Quintuplets (TV series) South Beach (TV series) Monk (TV series) The Holiday Transformers Reckless Behavior: Caught on Tape Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Cloverfield October Road (TV series) Life on Mars (TV series) The Unborn Operation: Endgame You Again And Soon the Darkness Brothers & Sisters (TV series) Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 The Double As Odette Annable: Breaking In (TV series) House M.D. (TV series) Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva La Fiesta! ---
**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:** [July 31, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/11 "2012-07-31T21:28:59Z")
Jessica Hynes, who used to be [Jessica Stevenson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Hynes). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/12 "2012-07-31T21:32:02Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Meredith Baxter Birney was successful under that name, and also as Meredith Baxter after her divorce. Like Patty Duke and Dee Wallace, Meredith Baxter was first successful under a single name, then added her husband’s name, then went back to a single name. Which leads me to a related question. Has there ever been an actress who was known _first_ under her married name, then got divorced, took back her birth name, and changed her professional name accordingly? ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/13 "2012-07-31T22:38:55Z")
Robin Wright Penn didn’t have any blockbusters while she went by that name, but she worked plenty. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/14 "2012-07-31T22:58:28Z")
Jada Pinkett. Jada Pinkett-Smith. I thought of Meredith Baxter-Birney too. Is she dating Natrovilova? ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/15 "2012-07-31T23:07:22Z")
Hillary Rodham Clinton? ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/16 "2012-07-31T23:18:51Z")
Babe Didrikson was a pretty good track and field athlete in the 1930’s winning gold medal in Hurdling and Javelin and silver medal in the high jump in the 1932 Olympics. Babe Zaharias was a pretty good Hall of Fame Golfer, winning at least 48 tournaments Babe Didrickson was also All-American in Basketball in her spare time. Same person. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/17 "2012-07-31T23:18:59Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Needing to keep reputation earned with the original name has long been cited as a reason not to change your name after marriage. How many women have found success with both names? > > Victoria Beckham, as Victoria Adams. Cannot think of any others. Wasn’t she much better known by the nickname Posh Spice prior to her marriage to David Beckham? I mean, she was certainly a celebrity before she took his name, but I couldn’t have told you what her maiden name was and I’m not even sure I knew her real first name before she married. Someone who actually liked the Spice Girls probably would have known, and maybe her full maiden name was better known in the UK, but over here I don’t know that there was any reputation associated with the name “Victoria Adams” among the general public. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/18 "2012-08-01T01:11:13Z")
Evonne Goolagong and the Evonne Cawley [AO, MBE] comes to mind. Pretty famous Aussie Aboriginal tennis player, you know won 7 grand slams, finaled in 18 and all that… ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/19 "2012-08-01T01:15:50Z")
> [@Farmer\_Jane](#): > > Hillary Rodham Clinton? She wasn’t really well-known until she married Bill Clinton in 1975. Although she was successful as a law student and a lawyer, she probably wasn’t known until she was the first lady of Arkansas. So she’s only really been “known” as Hillary Rodham Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/20 "2012-08-01T01:18:05Z")
Marie Blake was a mildly successful supporting actress in the 30s and 40s, enough to have a career. She married Clarence Rock and, using her middle name, she became minor TV icon as Blossom Rock – Grandmama Addams of **The Addams Family.** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984.md?page=2)