Carmen Electra’s real name is Tara Patrick! Seems a bit like a Hilario Baldwin situation initially.

[RickiTarr]

Am I the last to know this?

She doesn’t even claim any Latina ancestry, according to Wikipedia. So it’s not like one of those situations where mum was Hispanic and Dad was Irish and she later changed her name to reflect her heritage.

I’m really taken aback.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Electra

What, you thought that was her real name?? I thought it was a stage one. Never mind.

Huh? She’s never even suggested she’s Latina, she doesn’t speak in an accent or anything like ‘Hilaria’ does. Carmen Electra is very obviously a stage name, Hilaria actually tried to claim she had a Spanish name when she didn’t.

It was a stage name given to her by Prince. Why are you taken aback? People in the industry do it all the time. Hilaria Baldwin is just an outright fake.

It's a stage name. How can you care about this?

I don’t think a thought about it very deeply at all, but I didn’t expect her to be English/Irish by descent with no claim made to South American ancestry.

You don’t think it’s a bit unusual?

Kelly Brook’s real name is Kelly Parsons.

And? Big Daddy was really called Shirley Crabtree, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t trying to disguise that he was really a woman.

@TheVanguardSix

It was a stage name given to her by Prince. Why are you taken aback? People in the industry do it all the time. Hilaria Baldwin is just an outright fake.

By Prince?

So this is a famous story that I just missed?

It shows a lot of progress, I suppose when you consider in old Hollywood actresses like Rita Hayworth had to change their names to hide Latina origins.

Just a stage name.

I feel sorry for Hilaria though. God knows what she was thinking but she's been so shamed, and nobody's perfect. She hasn't really harmed anybody.

I thought that was her real name

@kylie122

I thought that was her real name

Yes me too. I was really taken aback.

@RickiTarr I suppose the difference is that she never claimed that her parents were from anywhere other than where they were really from.

[quote WiseOwlOne]@RickiTarr I suppose the difference is that she never claimed that her parents were from anywhere other than where they were really from.[/quote]
Yes that’s fair and seems to be true (well it seems to be from what I’ve read).

There is a big difference in intent, and neither of them killed anyone anyway.

I was just very surprised, and maybe a little bit worried about cultural appropriation, but also just taken aback that she looks more South American than Irish, or is that the power of suggestion?

The Prince story for anyone else who is interested.

www.billboard.com/articles/news/7341607/prince-protege-carmen-electra-always-love-him

Cultural appropriation... Of what culture, the adult entertainment industry?

Is Carmen Electra a traditional Latina name then or

Carmen Electra has never presented herself as Latina, nor does her name suggest she is, nor does she look it

I guess the OP means the Carmen bit. I think it's a common enough name. My friend called her baby Erin, even though they aren't Irish and I know a Chloe who isn't French. I don't see it as cultural appropriation when a name is so widely used.

i was just very surprised, and maybe a little bit worried about cultural appropriation

?! Where is the cultural appropriation you’re ‘worried’ about?! 😂

Electra isn’t even a Spanish name - it derives from a Greek Goddess so technically it’s Greek. Obviously the name Carmen is but I never thought that she presented herself as being Latina, it’s very much a ‘stage name’ and the image of her that pops up in my head is busty blonde - a bit like Pamela Anderson’s twin.

Carmen is a girls name of Spanish origin linked to Mount Carmel totally normal in dozends of countries (though more among catholics or opera lovers).

@LaBellina

Electra isn’t even a Spanish name - it derives from a Greek Goddess so technically it’s Greek. Obviously the name Carmen is but I never thought that she presented herself as being Latina, it’s very much a ‘stage name’ and the image of her that pops up in my head is busty blonde - a bit like Pamela Anderson’s twin.

I suppose if I had thought about it much I might have concluded that Electra was a stage name but I had her pegged as Latina and the Carmen thing seemed to fit.

I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen her in anything, only gossipy news stories or hearing her mentioned as a pin up.

Somehow knowing Prince was involved suddenly makes it all makes much more sense though.

I also don’t know how she got famous in the first place - now that I think of it wasn’t she a Penthouse model?

I do remember her being in the news a few years ago because she appearently married Dennis Rodman (anyone remember him?) in Las Vegas I think and divorced him in no time.

I opened this thread thinking it was about Carmen Miranda and was quite surprised.

My grandfather used to show me Carmen Miranda films. I think she and Veronica Lake were his particular favourites.