# Why did actors stop using stage names? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783 "2016-07-24T17:29:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**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:** [July 27, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/121 "2016-07-27T19:41:15Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Gotcha. I’ll confine myself to contributing names to this thread that _don’t_ fit your book’s terms, like – Lily James? I don’t think anyone’s yet mentioned Lily James. Oh, toss in any that amuse you. I find it amusing that someone named Lily played someone named Rose. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/122 "2016-07-28T02:15:29Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Oh, toss in any that amuse you. > > I find it amusing that someone named Lily played someone named Rose. Well, ol’ Dirk Benedict (a) is living proof that stage names will never vanish so long as you have a real name like Niewoehner; but what amuses is that he (b) apparently got that _particular_ name because, hey, who doesn’t love Eggs Benedict? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/123 "2016-07-28T04:19:13Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I know there’s a million stories like this but no names were ever changed by officials at Ellis Island. There wasn’t even a procedure in which they could do so. ([One brief source](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ellis-island-isnt-blame-your-familys-name-change-180953832/?no-ist).) People often voluntarily changed their names to fit in, but claiming that they were forced to do so made put the blame elsewhere. > > The equally simple reason for why actors today keep their names is because they can. > > Besides the other good reasons listed, the classic studio system wasn’t far removed from the days when actors were the world’s trash and going into acting tarnished the family name. People changed their given names to hide their identities and protect their relatives. Probably not many people in western culture think that way any more. My five-great-grandparents, Matej and Katerina Poskocil, came to Baltimore from Bohemia in 1826. They chose to Anglicize their first names to Matthew and Katharine, but the family remained Poskocil until my grandfather decided to change it for reasons of his own. I still have second and third cousins with that name. ---
**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:** [July 28, 2016, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/124 "2016-07-28T13:04:01Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Well, ol’ Dirk Benedict (a) is living proof that stage names will never vanish so long as you have a real name like Niewoehner; but what amuses is that he (b) apparently got that _particular_ name because, hey, who doesn’t love Eggs Benedict? It sounds like even more of a joke, but Peter **Jeremy** William Huggins decided the makers of his suit ( **Brett** & Co.) made a fine stage name. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/125 "2016-07-28T13:16:29Z")
Hey, how about James George Janos acting under the stage name of Jesse Ventura? He also did other things under the stage name of Jesse Ventura. ---
**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:** [July 28, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/126 "2016-07-28T13:21:43Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Hey, how about James George Janos acting under the stage name of Jesse Ventura? > > He also did other things under the stage name of Jesse Ventura. Yeah, he’d run for president but he ain’t got time to tweet. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/127 "2016-07-28T13:28:38Z")
Come to think of it, various pro wrestlers arguably qualify on their own, but then go on to make it conclusive by getting billed in the credits of movies under their stage names, right? Hulk Hogan is still, legally, Terry Bollea; and Randy Savage wasn’t really “Randy Savage”, and Roddy Piper wasn’t really “Roddy Piper”, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/128 "2016-07-28T14:29:28Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Philip K. Dick was the one famous Dick who kept his real name Apart from Andy, although that’s the sort of association that would make _other_ people change their names. Back on track: **Susan Alexandra Weaver** decided at age 14 to adopt the first name of a character from _The Great Gatsby_, “Sigourney Howard” and kept it ever since. Her father, television executive Sylvester, went by “Pat”, while her famous uncle Winstead Sheffield Glenndenning Dixon Weaver went by the more easily-remembered “Doodles”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/129 "2016-07-28T15:10:05Z")
On PSYCH, Shawn Spencer – a character so blandly white that his parents were played by Cybill Shepherd and Corbin Bernsen – was played by James Roday. “James Roday” is the stage name of James David Rodriguez. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/130 "2016-07-29T13:44:50Z")
You know, that off-hand remark of mine about professional wrestlers getting credited in movies under their ring named reminds me that Richard Potash (a) performs magic under the stage name “Ricky Jay”, and also (b) gets credited as “Ricky Jay” in a fairly impressive number of film roles. (Likewise, IMDB has magicians from Max Maven to David Copperfield getting screen credits under their stage names instead of as Goldstein and Kotkin – and I’m not talking about a filmed performance “as himself”, I mean bona fide acting roles.) ---
**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:** [July 29, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/131 "2016-07-29T14:13:45Z")
After a couple of inquiries, I hope the PTB won’t mind if I post a link to my (newly updated) book on people who have changed their first names. After 17 years, a number of them paid, I can claim this one wooden nickel, right? **[AB’s book on name changes (Kindle)](https://www.amazon.com/Name-Droppers-Compendium-Notable-Individuals-Changed-ebook/dp/B00LMF0FZW)** ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/132 "2016-07-29T15:10:04Z")
I love it. And, to keep from stepping on your metaphorical toes while also not just using a post to metaphorically sing your praises, let me keep the thread going by mentioning an actress who doesn’t seem to fit your just-dropping-stuff criteria: ‘Kat Dennings’, aka Katherine Victoria Litwack. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/133 "2016-07-29T15:27:00Z")
Natalie Portman would be another. Her name is actually Neta-Lee Hershlag; her stage name was apparently an attempt to maintain some privacy. I don’t think “Portman” relates to any personal connection, but was just picked to be generic-sounding. ETA: I see she was referenced earlier in the thread, but her name was not correctly reported, so it didn’t show up in a search. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/134 "2016-07-29T15:31:43Z")
Calls to mind Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jiménez, who acts under the name Jean Reno. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/135 "2016-07-29T18:53:51Z")
Whoopi Goldberg was legally Caryn Johnson until quite recently, and may still be. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2016, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/136 "2016-07-29T20:36:40Z")
Katy Perry gets listed as, well, “Katy Perry” when she’s acting in movies or on television shows – but as I understand it, she was born with the last name “Hudson”, and she’s never legally changed it; her first album was even titled _Katy Hudson_ back when she was doing gospel music, and she simply (a) made a clean break with a new persona, and (b) didn’t want to get confused with, y’know, Kate Hudson. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/137 "2016-07-30T15:11:54Z")
As far as I can tell, “Heather Sweet” is still the legal name of the actress who’s racked up IMDB credits under the stage name of Dita Von Teese. ---
**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 30, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/138 "2016-07-30T16:34:16Z")
Kristen Bell is an unusual case. Her legal birth name is Kristen Anne Bell. But as a child she decided she didn’t like the name Kristen so she began using her middle name Annie as her name. So people who know her in real life often still call her Annie. But when she became an actress she decided not to use Annie Bell or Anne Bell. She went back to her original first name Kristen. So she’s essentially using her real name as a stage name. ---
**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 30, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/139 "2016-07-30T16:44:47Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > more than a few people think Madonna and Prince are fake names but they are their real first names. Frank Zappa is another example of a celebrity with a name that sounds made up but was his real birth name. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783/140 "2016-07-30T16:54:08Z")
You want an unusual case, how about Clare Woodgate? She earned acting credits under the name ‘Clare Woodgate’, because of course she did. And then, in her twenties, she got rejected at an audition to play a wide-eyed teen in AN AWFULLY BIG ADVENTURE, and so she dyed her hair and auditioned as a young unknown with no screen credits under the name ‘Georgina Cates’. She got the part, Hollywood ensued, and she eventually changed her legal name to match her stage name. (She also married actor Skeet Ulrich – and you don’t think he was born with the name ‘Skeet Ulrich’, do you?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-actors-stop-using-stage-names/760783.md?page=8)