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It’s common knowledge that celebrities often change their names because they want a more memorable moniker or a name that will look great on a marquee (or movie poster, these days). But why did they pick the names they would be known by for the rest of their lives? Let the Q10 fill you in…
1. Joan Crawford’s real name was Lucille LeSueur. Louis B. Mayer had her change her name because he thought the latter half of it sounded too much like “Le Sewer.” Instead of letting her choose her own name, MGM publicity head held a contest in Movie Weekly that allowed fans to give her a new name. Lucille hated “Joan Crawford,” thinking that “Crawford” sounded too much like “crawfish.”
2. Cyd Charisse started life as Tula Elice Finklea. Despite the less-than-glam name, studio execs didn’t exactly have to rename Cyd because “Sid” was her childhood nickname. It came about when one of her younger siblings was trying to pronounce “Sis” and it came out “Sid” instead. MGM changed the spelling to “Cyd” just to make her seem more exotic and mysterious. As for her last name, she came by that the usual way too: she married Nico Charisse and took his last name.
3. Jamie Foxx was born Eric Marlon Bishop. He changed his name when he started doing standup because he found that female comics often got to perform first – he thought “Jamie” was ambiguous enough that they wouldn’t know if he was male or female and would at least put him mid-list somewhere. “Foxx” was in tribute to Redd Foxx, who also picked his own name…
4. Redd Foxx, AKA John Elroy Sanford (yup), got his first name because of the reddish tone in his hair. In fact, he was friends with Malcolm X, who used to call him “Chicago Red.” When Redd started working in the entertainment business, he chose his new last name because of MLB power hitter Jimmie Foxx.
5. Lady Gaga was known by a considerably longer name just a few years ago: Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. When music producer Rob Fusari was helping her develop an album, Queen’s 1984 song “Radio Ga-Ga” came on the radio. He immediately made a connection between their old hit and her new sound, saying, “You are so Radio Gaga.” Thus, Lady Gaga was born.
6. Judy Garland was also born with a decidedly unglamorous name: Frances Ethel Gumm. She and her siblings used to do vaudeville shows together as “The Gumm Sisters,” but the audience would laugh every time their name was announced. Vaudeville veteran George Jessel eventually suggested that they change their names for that very reason, and Frances chose “Judy” based on a Hoagy Carmichael song. How the surname came about is really unknown – at least four versions of why it was chosen exist. One is that it came from Carole Lombard’s character Lily Garland in the movie Twentieth Century. Another is that George Jessel once declared the sisterly trio was “prettier than a garland of flowers.” And still another is that they chose it to flatter drama critic Robert Garland. So, take your pick. I like the garland of flowers story, myself.
7. Nina Simone used to be Eunice Kathleen Waymon, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it? When she started playing at the Midtown Bar & Grill in Atlantic City, she started going by the name we know her as today. The “Nina” was adapted from the Spanish “niña,” meaning “little girl,” because it’s what an old boyfriend used to call her. “Simone” was for French actress Simone Signoret.
8. Stevie Wonder’s real name was Steveland Morris, but because of his insane talent, people started calling him the little boy wonder when he first showed up on the Motown scene at the age of 10. Berry Gordy, Jr. capitalized on this and named him Little Stevie Wonder for his first Motown contract.
9. Dita Von Teese was born Heather Renee Sweet, which also sounds like a totally made up name. She took “Dita” from German actress Dita Parlo and wanted to just do a one-name kind of a thing, but when she landed the cover of Playboy, the execs at the magazine insisted that she use a last name. Not wanting to be “Dita Sweet,” she randomly picked a name out of the phonebook. It was Von Treese. Playboy typoed it, and she ended up liking that version even better.
10. Nikki Sixx has a not-very rockstar name: Frank Carlton Serafino Ferrana, Jr. When he first started touring with a band, he called himself Nikki London because the band he was in was called London, but eventually he decided that was maybe not the best idea. He was considering new last names when he stumbled across his then-girlfriend’s scrapbook; she had documented a time when she dated a musician from a band called Jon and the Nightriders. The musician’s name was Niki Syxx. “I stole his name,” Nikki admits. “I just liked it.”
If you could pick your own stage name, what would it be? I can’t think of anything that doesn’t make me sound like a porn star, so I’ll defer to you guys. Inspire me!
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Well, Rails Lawson is my ReCaptcha…
posted by Meg on 6-9-2009 at 6:46 pm
According to a Paul Harvey story, Stevie Wonder got his name in grade school because of his remarkable ability to hear.
Off the top of my head, I am picking Beau Wonder for my stage name, because I wonder which of the two stories I have heard about Stevie is correct.
posted by Beau on 6-9-2009 at 7:15 pm
As a stage name I would one-name it using my real first name, Augustus. I am in the bottom 25% for name usage. That is from a Facebook quiz.
As for Porn Star names, take the name of your childhood pet combined with the street on which you lived. Mine is Blackie Rivers. It works most of the time. A friend of mine, a guy, was Fluffy White. It does not always work!
posted by gus on 6-9-2009 at 7:16 pm
So if I go by the formula gus mentions my porn name would be Smudge Ida Spence. Ick.
posted by Cynthia on 6-9-2009 at 9:24 pm
My porn name would be No-No Belaire
posted by Amanda on 6-9-2009 at 9:28 pm
LOL…mine would be Tippi Steele…interesting
posted by Moody on 6-9-2009 at 9:55 pm
My stage name would be Olivia Kimball.
Olivia because facebook says that should have been my name. Kimball because I grew up on that street.
posted by Ashley on 6-9-2009 at 10:08 pm
Just call me Princess Elmhurst.
posted by Beth on 6-9-2009 at 10:21 pm
Prince Towerwood for my porn name. I am not making that up! I lived on Towerwood Street
posted by marty on 6-9-2009 at 10:52 pm
my stage name IS Gin Korrigan
my pornstar name would be… Corey Harding XD LOL
PS: I like my recaptcha… Wichita Might!!
posted by Gin on 6-9-2009 at 11:15 pm
using the formula listed above, my stage name would be Bear Main. hahah sweet.
posted by Jill...NOT Jillian on 6-10-2009 at 12:48 am
Porn name, Suzie Q DuBois
Stage name, Sally Rainer, a great-great-aunt’s name and I always thought it was cool.
ReCaptcha, Victoria Slakes (best name)
posted by lame name on 6-10-2009 at 2:11 am
This is going to sound pretty silly, but when I was in high school I played a LARP game from the White Wolf series called Mage: The Ascension. My character’s name was ‘Merydeth Locke’. Kind of Dark. If I were to ever get into Porn, I think I’d change my name is ‘Busty St. Claire’, just because I’ve always been a little ‘blessed’ and I might as well make some money off of it.
posted by Kate on 6-10-2009 at 6:52 am
I always hated that porn star name thing, though not for any substantial reason, just because mine would be Bill the Cat Eastern… just doesn’t work.
Stage name: Virginia Hepburn because Virginia was my grandmother’s name and I always thought it sounded so old-school glamorous, and Hepburn, because, well, both Audrey and Katherine were magnificent, who wouldn’t want to share that name?
posted by AbenaC on 6-10-2009 at 8:24 am
I live in Houston and a VERY popular local show just this morning they did a story on this (without crediting Mental Floss though). They pretty much read off all the people on here with the exact stories.
I thought it was pretty cool that even THEY read Mental Floss, but sad because they didn’t mention you guys.
posted by Pink Coat on 6-10-2009 at 9:34 am
My Porn Star name is Lady Kensington.
My Soap opera name is Nicole Kensington.
I think my stage name would be Belle (since that is what lots of my friends call me.)
And my recaptcha is bimbo 11.20 Somehow, that fits….
posted by Michelle on 6-10-2009 at 10:33 am
Ha! As I was reading over the comments, this is the new recaptcha:
7:00 madame
Love it!
posted by Michelle on 6-10-2009 at 10:35 am
My Captcha name is Rooney 235. That must be my science fiction name.
posted by airship on 6-10-2009 at 11:02 am
Crunch Beefsteak!
posted by Scotty A on 6-10-2009 at 11:21 am
I’ve always liked my first name.. it’s just a bit unusual… but not much. I’ve been told that my last name before I was married made me sound “too Jewish” (I had someone say to me that I sounded like a character’s name for a Woody Allen film).. so I came up with Blacke… which is just the English translation of my last name with an “e” at the end. I had a friend who wanted me to just be Minderella for my stripper name. He used to come up with all sorts of full names for me .. said Mindy sounds like a nickname.. but what could it be short for? My favorite was always Mindimere…
My best friend in high school was Toni.. her name was Antoinette Champagne.. so she never needed a stripper name.. it was already built in. The funniest part is this .. her FULL name was Antoinette Marie Champagne and her mom almost switched the first and middle names at birth. How’d you like to go through life with a name like THAT?
Had another friend back then named Christopher Pleaburnt…no shit… he was Chris Pleaburnt.. and he was.. trust me.
posted by Mindy on 6-10-2009 at 11:54 am
my recaptcha: Carey Seething
posted by Jaime on 6-10-2009 at 12:59 pm
haha my reCaptcha is
Yakima Villanova!
posted by Becca on 6-10-2009 at 1:21 pm
Mindy-
Your friend is right about Mindy sounding like a nickname. Mindy is a really common shortened nickname for folks named Melinda.
As for my stage name, as a musician, I’ve given the matter considerable thought. For many years I planned on using Starr Jones, until Starr Jones that was on The View became famous. I’ve always loved the name Starr (and liked the outlawe association with Belle Starr, who’s from my hometown) and wanted to honor a teacher who was dear to my heart and very influential in my life by taking his last name. But since the other one is using it, I don’t want to have to share a stage name with a big celebrity. So I’m thinking maybe if I had to use a stage name I’d use Ginger Jones, taking my first name from Ginger on Gilligan’s Island instead.
posted by Melissa on 6-10-2009 at 1:43 pm
Hmm…one of my middle names actually is Valentine(from the actual Christian rescuin saint, not the fake day) and my last name sounds and looks similar to Heart.
I wouldn’t try for Valentine Heart though…maybe either Saturday or July Valentine (day and month of my birth)
Or possibly May something, my maternal Grandmother was called May.
posted by Nadine on 6-10-2009 at 2:03 pm
I always liked George Costanza’s suggestion… Buck Naked
posted by Dave on 6-10-2009 at 2:51 pm
My stage name is Georgia Rue. Georgia from George Washington, who I share a birthday with and my Dad wanted to name me. Rue for regret and remorse, which I will cause you. Ha!
Following the formula mentioned above, it would be Teddy Bear Evergreen or Pudge Case, which don’t really have the same cachet.
posted by IslandBlue on 6-10-2009 at 2:59 pm
Stage name: Ellis Bibi (My band–a solo act, mind you–is Lead Singer and the Backup Band, LSBB for short. LSBB Ellis Bibi, geddit?)
Porn name: Via Gus’s criteria, I have three possibilities:
Chuck Murray (too game show hosty)
Chuck Alward (getting warmer)
Chuck Ridgeview (bingo!)
posted by erak on 6-10-2009 at 3:06 pm
Lady Gaga and I share the same two first names. I’m also blonde. And I also walk around in my underwear… just not in public.
Yay?
Also, my porn star name is Speedy Avonmore. My ReCaptcha name is Enamels Vances.
posted by Cuno on 6-10-2009 at 6:29 pm
I still like the idea of an “NPR” name, where you stick your middle initial somewhere inside your first name, then add the name of the smallest town you’ve ever been to. This is Mitchael Tobermory, at the top of the hour.
posted by MB on 6-10-2009 at 7:11 pm
MB, mine is: Gecilia Yuritzy
Porn name: Rainbow Seward
Stage name: Alice Greenwood (Alice because I always liked that name and Greenwood because of the great Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead.)
posted by Cecilia on 6-13-2009 at 12:23 pm
Porn name: Rainbow Lenox
posted by Marie on 6-14-2009 at 12:55 pm
Following the formula my porn name would be Strider Hudson. Not too bad.
posted by earwig on 6-14-2009 at 2:16 pm
My porn name would be Tiger Chaudron.
posted by Sara in AL on 6-14-2009 at 8:26 pm
My porn name would be HunnyBunnyPongo 43rd…
posted by Teehee on 9-20-2009 at 4:27 pm
My recaptcha is Webster Blinn. Even though i’m a girl, it could work.
posted by isabelle on 11-21-2009 at 1:11 pm