I have always been fascinated by pseudonyms, why people choose to use them and why they pick the ones they do. The word traces back through the French noun pseudonyme, which, in turn, is derived from the ancient Greek adjective pseudōnymos, meaning “bearing a false name” or “falsely named.”
Many famous persons have used pseudonyms for various reasons. Here are some of the main reasons:
- Marketability and catchiness
- Easier to remember – Birth names can be too long (to fit on a marquee), too plain, or hard to spell or pronounce.
- For performers a punchy, unique stage name creates a memorable brand that stands out in a lineup or on a marquee.
- Some performers adopt ambiguous first names to bypass gender-based assumptions or biases at “open mic” nights and auditions. Similarly, some female authors use initials in lieu of their first name to disguise their gender.
- A different name helps minority or ethnic performers avoid preconceived notions or industry discrimination from bookers and audiences. This was especially common in Vaudeville and in the early days of movies and tv.
- Many comedians used them to separate their personal life from their public persona.
- Keep these in mind as you read through the following list.
At first, I was going to publish this as a quiz, but I quickly realized that a majority of the names would be either too obvious and easy or too difficult for one to recognize. Therefore, I decided just to provide a list of famous people and their pseudonyms for information and entertainment purposes. As you peruse the list you will see that some of the birth names were very unusual, and one could understand why a pseudonym was substituted. On the other hand, some pseudonyms were very similar to the person’s birth name.
- Mark Twain -Birth name, Samuel Clemens
- George Orwell – Birth name, Eric Arthur Blake
- Dr. Seuss – Birth name, Theodore Geisel
- Lewis Carroll – Birth name, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
- Vin Diesel – Birth name, Mark Sinclair Vincent
- “Bono” – Birth name, Paul Hewson
- Leon Trotsky – Birth name, Lev Davidovich Bronshtein
- John Wayne – Birth name, Marion Mitchell Morrison
- “Whoopi” Goldberg – Birth name, Caryn Elaine Johnson
- Dutch Schultz – Birth name, Arthur Flagenheimer
- Estee Lauder – Birth name, Josephine Mentzer
- Jim McKay – Birth name, James McManus
- “Son of Sam” – Birth name, David Berkowitz
- Alan Alda – Birth name, Alphonse Joseph D’Abruzzo
- “Little” Anthony – Birth name, Jerome Gourdine
- Fred Astaire – Birth name, Frederick Austerlitz
- Cardi B – Birth name, Belcalis Amenzar
- Helen Mirren – Birth name, Ilyena Lydia Mironoff
- Jaime Foxx – Birth name, Eric Marlon Bishop
- “Pink” – Birth name, Alecia Beth Moore
- Chevy Chase – Birth name, Cornelius Crane Chase
- Mel Brooks – Birth name, Melvin Kaminsky
- Rodney Dangerfield – Birth name, Jacob Cohen
- “Soupy” Sales – Birth name, Milton Supman
- Natalie Portman – Birth name, Natalie Hershlag
- Marilyn Monroe – Birth name, Norma Jeane Mortenson
- Joseph Stalin – Birth name, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili
- George Burns – Birth name, Nathan Birnbaum
- Jack Benny – Birth name, Benjamin Kubelsk
- Connie Francis – Birth name, Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero
Conclusion
In my research I found thousands of pseudonyms of famous people. Even ordinary people change their names for a myriad of reasons. As I wrote in a previous blog many immigrants changed their name upon arrival in the US or had them shortened or changed inadvertently by a clerk at Ellis Island. Some took or were given the name of their home town in the “old country.” Quite possibly, your name was one of those.
We Built It Blog by Larry Jacob 