I’ve always assumed that his surname is “Conan Doyle,” but according to his Wikipedia entry, that is incorrect.
Good point. Perhaps I should remove those from the list.
There’s a point where someone’s fame is such that just using a single name is sufficient to identify them. Some people are in this category who would otherwise be a three name person. Thoreau, for example. I debated adding him to the list and decided he was a single name person. Those three there may also be single name persons. Although probably not Alcott, she just isn’t that famous.
That’s a pretty arbitrary standard IMO. I think it would be simpler (and more interesting) to use the either one name/three names standard. Some very famous people aren’t referred to by just a single name simply because their last name is too common. And Wikipedia can be used as a standard for the most common form of the name. For example, it lists Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley in those respective forms. If you Google someone by first name/last name and most results are the three name form that would be another indicator.
No argument. I’m not sure I could find a good non-arbitrary standard.
Wikipedia is not a good standard for these things. For example, Einstein is definitely a one-name person, yet his Wiki article is under a two-name heading. Yes, you can get there by just typing Einstein, but you can also get to Percy Bysshe Shelley by just typing Shelley. On the other hand, Washington and Lincoln get you to disambiguation pages rather than those of the very famous presidents. Which one you get to for the single name of a very well known person is something of a crapshoot.
Google may be a better standard, but it has problems too.
I would also exclude contemporary actors, who are under a restriction of using a professional name that is not shared by any other member of their union. They often use their third names because they have to come up with a way to make their names unique on a particular list of names.
I believe Jong-Il, Jong-Eun, and Il-Sung are actually one name, but you’re “supposed” to omit the hyphen when writing the name in English.
This reminds me of a child named Justin-Trudeau Adam Bilal (the first name is usually not hyphenated, however).
I wonder if married names violate the rules. Hillary Clinton is usually referred to without the maiden name, but then there’s Sophie Grégoire Trudeau (I heard she added her husband’s name after her surname for political purposes, which is kind of sad).
Broadcaster Van Earl Wright.
Why, though? Regardless of the reasons people like Sarah Michelle Gellar use three names, they’re always known by the three names. When referred to later in an article they will usually default to Gellar, but that goes for every famous person with three names, so it would mean that nobody counted except those with two surnames, who are already excluded under the OP’s rules.
Surely just George Washington?
No, someone like Henry Cabot Lodge would still count.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
And Arthur Conan Doyle is always a three-namer in our house.
Yes, he’d be someone who was using his mother’s maiden name as a middle name rather than a double barreled surname. (I had to look him up). But an awful lot of the examples would be discounted.
And why would he count and modern actors wouldn’t? I don’t understand the difference.
Just remembered another while looking up Henry Cabot Lodge - John Maynard Keynes. Again, obviously the Wiki article and any articles would refer to Keynes after they’re said his name the first time, but when linked to he would be John Maynard Keynes, not John Keynes. It would be slightly strange to see him referred to as John Keynes.
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the first commissioner of Major League Baseball
Carol Higgins Clark and Mary Jane Clark both write mystery novels, like their mother and ex-mother-in-law Mary Higgins Clark.
Andrew & Julian Lloyd Webber are an odd case. When their father William Webber was in school, there was another “Bill Webber” in his class, so he started using his middle name and became William Lloyd Webber. He liked it so much he gave the same middle name to his two sons, who now use it as a two word last name, as do their children. Andrew’s son original went by Nick Webber, but he is now known as Nicholas Lloyd Webber,
The further complication being that Andrew Lloyd Webber took the title Lord (or Baron) Lloyd-Webber when he became a peer.
But George Washington is not the guy who didn’t invent peanut butter.
I first learned his name as A. Conan Doyle, which is the name his books were published under. It was years before I learned what the A stood for.
Many infamous assassins and killers.
Harley Quinn Smith.
Who were mentioned in the OP.
I got one!
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
{Bubbadog counts silently too himself - using his fingers}
Dammit!
Sorry, I just like that name. He’s a friend of mine and everybody shouts at us when we hang out together in public.