Do you think artists and performers and actors/actresses, etc. lose or gain credibility through using assumed 'stage names'?

Example currently in the news - Amanda Ghost who is really Amanda Louisa Gosein-Cameron.

Why do people create 'fake' names for themselves? It seems like almost a standard thing in the film/tv/music/etc. and everything associated with the entertainment industry at large.

Lady Gaga - Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta

Chappell Roan - Kayleigh Rose Amstutz

the list is endless.

Online it's pretty normal for people to create names that are different from their real ones for purposes of anonymity, obfuscation, etc.

Top | New | Old

zonavar68 · 56-60, M

Lana Del Rey is another common one - she's really Elizabeth Woolridge Grant

rinkydinkydoink · M

John Wayne was once Marion Morrison... and Ronald Reagan had his last named pronounced as Raygen instead of Reegan when he entered politics.

bijouxbroussard · F

I evaluate what they offer in terms of talent. I don’t need their birth name unless that’s what they also choose to provide. For example, I was a fan of the late Billie Holiday. I would’ve loved her voice no less or more had I known her as Eleanora Fagan.

uncalled4 · 56-60, M

I always thought it was easier to remember, from both a public as well as business standpoint. If anything, there are some people who should have acquired an easier name to pronounce but haven't.

Is that really that hard to understand? Stefani Germanotta took the title of Queen's "Radio Gaga" and assumed not only a persona but also something that rolls off the tongue. Stage names have been around for probably 100 years.

bijouxbroussard · F

@uncalled4 At least. Would Harry Houdini have been as renown for this long had he remained Erik Weisz ?

uncalled4 · 56-60, M

@bijouxbroussard Or Cary Grant versus Archie Leach?

HikingMan · 51-55, M

It’s done for brevity and easier name recognition. Sometimes done to obscure ethnicity or in the case of many authors, to protect anonymity.

Add a comment...