# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [August 1, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/41 "2012-08-01T17:50:10Z")
> [@denquixote](#): > > If she had accomplished anything as Nancy Reagan. Compared to Victoria Beckham, I think she accomplished at least 375 kiloPoshes after she was married. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/42 "2012-08-01T18:06:59Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > 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. Rosanne had her name legally changed to one name only. I heard her say the she got sick of explaining herself in airports (particularly overseas) so she decided to go back to Rosanne Barr. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/43 "2012-08-02T04:10:29Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > Did you know you posted this on her birthday? yep that’s what prompted the sudden recall! ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/44 "2012-08-02T05:20:58Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > To be fair, he saddled her with “the Pink Lady” first… Actually Gahagan won a primary against the owner of a Los Angeles newspaper who coined that term. Nixon saw no reason not to use it. But that was not enough. He also referred to her as the conduit between Joseph Stalin in the Kremlin and the U.S. Congress. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/45 "2012-08-02T08:31:41Z")
Cherie Booth/Blair apparently goes back and forth between both her maiden and married name. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/46 "2012-08-02T08:48:35Z")
John Ono/Lennon? (“Ono-Lennon”? I remember they took each other’s names.) ---
**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:** [August 2, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/47 "2012-08-02T20:49:01Z")
John Winston Lennon legally changed his middle name to “Ono,” but got his green card under the name of John Winston Ono Lennon. Yoko Ono has always been Yoko Ono. Linda Eastman was a very successful rock photographer before becoming Linda McCartney of Wings. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/48 "2012-08-02T20:54:24Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Ronnie Bennett was one of the original “bad girls” of rock & roll and the lead singer for the girl group the Ronettes. After the Ronettes broke up, she married their frequent producer Phil Spector (yes THAT Phil Spector) and took his name. After literally escaping confinement by Phil, Ronnie Spector didn’t have huge success, but was very in demand as a backup vocalist, including a very prominent part on Eddie Money’s top 5 hit “Take Me Home Tonight.” (“Just like Ronnie sang…be my little baby…”) She’s since gone back to being Ronnie Bennett. > > And now for something completely different. While marriage didn’t have anything to do with it, at least one male singer had successful career using different surnames: > > John Cougar (“Cougar” being a stage-name some producer convinced to use - hey, it was the early 80s.) > > John Cougar Mellencamp > > John Mellencamp. Not to mention his hardcore band’s name John Cougar Concetration Camp 🙂 Ronnie Spector had a minor hit “Try Some, Buy Some.” Good tune, thats worth a download. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/49 "2012-08-02T21:25:08Z")
Pamela Anderson/Lee comes to mind. And I don’t know if Jack Gillis was particularly well-known before he took his wife’s name, but he’s done pretty well as Jack White. Can we count performers changing their names for reasons other than marriage? Because if we can, Cassius Clay/Muhammed Ali and Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam would both qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/50 "2012-08-02T21:39:15Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > 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. More or less true. She was only famous as HRC but Hilary Rodham, pre-Bill, had an excellent reputation as an attorney in the Watergate investigations. Not a public name but one known as highly competent to those “in the know.” Honorable mention, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/51 "2012-08-02T22:20:49Z")
Clare Booth Luce was a well known writer who married the editor of Time Magazine. As Clare Booth she wrote “The Women” and other plays and books as well as political essays. As Clare Booth Luce she campaigned for every Republican candidate from Eisenhower to her death ands served as Ambassador to Italy among other posts. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/52 "2012-08-06T15:11:55Z")
Christie Perfect was well known as a member of Sugar Shack before she married John McVie, and became Christie McVie, which led to supergroup Fleetwood Mac ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/53 "2012-08-07T01:50:53Z")
Linda Day George Sharon Marie Tate Polanski Farrah Fawcett Majors ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/54 "2012-08-07T02:14:55Z")
Harriet Nelson first gained fame as Harriet Hilliard, singer with Ozzie Nelson’s band. They actually worked together for several years before their marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/55 "2012-08-07T05:52:57Z")
Mary I of England was pretty renowned both before and after her marriage to Philip of Spain, although of course surnames as such were not such a big issue for her. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984/56 "2012-08-07T06:12:06Z")
Also, the popular journalist [Nellie Bly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly) (the pen name of Elizabeth Jane Cochrane) became the noted industrialist and inventor Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman in her widowhood, before going back into journalism after her company’s bankruptcy. Not sure if she counts as literally known under her “maiden” name, since the name in question was a pen name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-known-under-both-maiden-and-married-name/629984.md?page=2)