Performers names

[CHOOKA2]

I know many actors/singers have changed their real name in the past,but doesn't seem to happening these days.Not talking sports/opera/classical here but if I wanted my name up there in lights, I would want it to be easily pronouncable and not take up too many light bulbs.Is keeping your own name so family/friends can recognise you?

[henrikegerman]

Would Maria Callas be a household name if her professional name had been the one she received at her christening?

Anna Maria Sofia Cecilia Kalogeropoulou

[givesmevoice]

Nina Arianda's birth name is Nina Arianda Matijcio, so she's obviously a recent example of someone going with a name that's easier to pronounce.

[newintown]

I always wondered why Jenny-Lynn Suckling didn't change her name.

[StageManager2]

I always wondered why Jenny-Lynn Suckling didn't change her name.

I ask the same thing about the British actresses Samantha Barks and Imogen Poots. I can't see those names in print without laughing. Same goes for Meryl Streep's wannabe actress daughter, Mamie Gummer.

Opting for a stage name instead is not so common, but it happens on occasion, even if it's just one letter removed. Like Idina Menzel, for example. Her actual last name has a T in it -- Mentzel.

.

[newintown]

I didn't know that about Menzel - the real spelling would put the emphasis on the first syllable: MENT-zl. Much more Long Island than the vaguely Francophone men-ZELLE. Reminiscent of the famed LeFrak family (le-FRAK), who began as plain old Lefrak (LEF-rak).

[mikem]

Many performers changed their name in the past to hide or minimize their ethnicity, which doesn't seem to be as widespread an issue nowadays (fortunately).

There is also a trend more towards people going by their nicknames, like Bill or Bobby. I would agree about Mamie Gummer's name, which is a nickname (as is true for her mother). Mamie was a common name in the early 1900s, but nowadays it seems like a child's name, not an adult's, at least to me.

The version I heard about Menzel's name is that her family pronounces it the way she currently pronounces it, and part of the reason she changed it was because people were pronouncing it the "right" way rather than the way her family pronounces it.

Supposedly, Drew and Nick Lachey pronounced their last name as "LATCH-ey" before they became famous, when it got Francofied.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Jane Krakowski also removed a letter from her last name, but the pronunciation is the same. If I remember correctly, her family does the same thing...her name is spelled Krajkowski but the j is silent so she removed it because people kept pronouncing the j.

[givesmevoice]

I refuse to believe that someone was born with the name Stark Sands.

[Kelly2]

I will just say that some people change their names for legitimate reasons beyond just vanity and do not enjoy having things they paid money to make go away come back to life on message boards.

[StageManager2]

There is also a trend more towards people going by their nicknames, like Bill or Bobby. I would agree about Mamie Gummer's name, which is a nickname (as is true for her mother). Mamie was a common name in the early 1900s, but nowadays it seems like a child's name, not an adult's, at least to me.

I was referring to her surname, Gummer, which is also slang for a BJ given by toothless people. But Mamie doesn't do her any favors, either.

[AC126748]

If Mamie Gummer billed herself as Mamie Streep, people would probably accuse her of nepotism and trading in on a famous name more than they already do.

Her birth name is Mary Willa, btw.

[mikem]

Kelly2, what are you referring to? All of the stories so far seem pretty harmless.