Celebrities changing their name to something less 'foreign sounding'

[800caloriesofwine]

I'm at that point in lockdown where I'm scrolling through lists of stage names on RankerSo many celebrities have changed their surnames to anglicised ones, so many! I mean there's the obvious like Freddie Mercury and Martin/Charlie Sheen, but so many others, why?
Would we really not have gone to see a film with Winona Horowitz in? Or Margarita Cansino? Or Lea Sarfati?
Why do some actors stick to their actual names and some change theirs? The trouble is by taking a Hebrew name and replacing it with something Anglicised is obvious.

Fun to find out Shania Twain is actually called Eileen though

@whatshebininagain

@whatshebininagain

Saxe-Coburg-Gota? Battenburg?

Mic dropped!

It's all about the brand really. A celebrity's name is part of their package, how they present themselves. Obviously ethnicity is an important part of that but not the only element.

@AlovelybitofsquirrelJackie

Some actors (in the UK anyway) had to change their name as theirs was already registered for an Equity card (I think I'm right on this). The only examples that jump to mind are David Walliams and David tenant

Yes, this is true.

[quote Pangur2]@Gwenhwyfar you might like this (Irish equivalent)

(Great idea, slightly grating production values)[/quote] I do like that and have already seen it. I will say though that Irish is MUCH less phonetic than Welsh so when people make comments like 'your name is not spelt as it's pronounced' I get pretty angry because my name is completely phonetic, it's just not English.

"It is shocking to me that people are dismissive of non British common names"

Non-English, not just non-British. I live in Wales and have a Welsh name and that is still hard. (not saying I experience racism like people of colour, just that the name thing can be a hard cross to bear).

Have any of you watched Staged? There's a particularly funny bit about David Tennant considering changing his name back to MacDonald, mainly to piss off Michael Sheen.

I have a foreign surname. No one can ever pronounce or remember it. I’d assume the celebrities need names that are easy to remember and easy to spell.

What about Peggy Hookham then?

Would she have been as famous if she hadn't changed her name to Margot Fonteyn?

correct about David Tennant - originally David Macdonald, had to change as in Equity there can be only one of any name. And then had to do it legally to be able to work in America.

and yes, the royal family - German names not terribly popular in WW1 Britain...

German names not terribly popular in WW1 Britain

No - as my ancestors found out also.

"What about Peggy Hookham then?

Would she have been as famous if she hadn't changed her name to Margot Fonteyn?"

Indeed and Dame Ninette de Valois is more balletically romantic sounding than Edris Stannus. Or is their also anti Irish bias to that decision?

Spangler Arlington Brugh changed his name to Robert Taylor which doesn't seem to be for reasons of ethnicity?

Sorry to be pedantic but I worked with DT at the time he changed his name, and it wasn’t to work in America. He’d already worked loads in America and there’s absolutely no reason an actor can’t work under their stage name, in fact SAG encourages actors to not work under their legal names. DT changed his name when he got married because he his wife wanted for her and her two children to all be Tennants, which is absolutely fair to want your kids to have the same name as their dad, and DT told a white lie about the reason in interviews to protect his wife from some of his nastier fans.

And how about Marion Michael Morrison?

@SouthernComforts

I suppose one perk of this is that when they are famous under an alias they can still book holidays/flights/buy piles cream in their real names without attracting attention

This. You'd be surprised. I used to work for a firm of chartered accountants whose client base was mostly well-known individuals from the entertainment industry. People very often go by both names, their 'stage' name, and their original one in day-to-day life.

@tobee

"What about Peggy Hookham then?

Would she have been as famous if she hadn't changed her name to Margot Fonteyn?"

Indeed and Dame Ninette de Valois is more balletically romantic sounding than Edris Stannus. Or is their also anti Irish bias to that decision?

Spangler Arlington Brugh changed his name to Robert Taylor which doesn't seem to be for reasons of ethnicity?

Quite a few ballet dancers changed their names to something more French or Russian-sounding.

I honestly can't see the difference between this and the other examples mentioned by other posters on the thread. They changed their names to further their careers.

Certainly in music I think there is an element of it needing to sound glitzy, and also be easy in English as a foreign language if that makes sense as lots of things are still done in English even abroad. Imagine being at a concert in the Netherlands (generically chosen example) it is a hell of a lot easier for a compere to get your name right in his second language if it’s Donny Rock (also generically chosen example) than if it’s long, non phonetic, has a lot of traditionally non English letter combinations like Welsh or Irish might. It also rolls off the tongue better. I have a very non special and very easy to say traditional English name. I’d change it to something glam if I was a performer and my income was based on my stage persona tbh.

@TheEmpressMatilda

Sorry to be pedantic but I worked with DT at the time he changed his name, and it wasn’t to work in America. He’d already worked loads in America and there’s absolutely no reason an actor can’t work under their stage name, in fact SAG encourages actors to not work under their legal names. DT changed his name when he got married because he his wife wanted for her and her two children to all be Tennants, which is absolutely fair to want your kids to have the same name as their dad, and DT told a white lie about the reason in interviews to protect his wife from some of his nastier fans.

That’s quite bizarre isn’t it? If my husband had a stage name then I’d be happy for that to be his stage name but for us as a family unit to share his real name with his family!

Nowt so queer

A lot of actors had to change a lot of things for the studio systems in Hollywood. The aforementioned Rita Hayworth had hideous "beauty" treatments to to fit their ideal.

Private lives were notoriously guarded and fabrications about those publicised including "lavender marriages"

Its not nec that we wouldnt have seen a film with them in with their original name, but they may bot have been cast in it with their original name.
And yes sometimes it is just down to pronounciation. And not by the viewer, casting directors can be harsh and petty and if its down to a name they cant pronounce, they wont bother with that one.

Some people changed their names after the war because they wanted to forget the country they came from, my MIL was Russian and came to Britain aged 5 after being set free from the German camps, the family just wanted to be British.

Lana del Rey is actually Elizabeth Grant. I presume she wanted to appear more exotic and to be fair to her she never made it as Elizabeth Grant,

Because their real name isn't exciting enough.
So people don't recognise them and sell past stories.
To market themselves as a brand.
Would you have kept the name Diana Mary Fluck.

I think we can all guess why Eric Clapp became Clapton and Frances Ethel Gumm became Judy Garland.

As someone who used to have the most comman male first name in the world and Pakistans commonest surname it’s fairly obvious.

I have a few friends in the industry, one is known as MNEK as that is his surname phonetically, he had too many problems going by his first name Uzoechi as despite it being phonetic people insisted on mispronouncing it despite being corrected.