Results: Celebrity Name Changes (Part 1 of 2)
Published on 05/25/2023
Many performers have changed their names, especially in the past. For example, Cary Grant was born Archibald Leach and Judy Garland was originally named Frances Gumm.
QUESTIONS
GO to COMMENTS
Comments
1.
1.
There are several reasons an actor might feel the need for a stage name. Which of these reasons do you feel are legit?
The person's birth name is already listed in the actors' union registry.
37%
769 votes
The name is too common.
33%
692 votes
The name is associated with someone else.
40%
842 votes
The ethnicity of the name could impact being cast in roles.
23%
479 votes
The birth name is hard to spell or pronounce.
43%
895 votes
The name is simply too long.
31%
646 votes
The actor wants to shield his family from publcity.
40%
841 votes
N/A
23%
482 votes
2.
2.
Bet you didn't know that Albert Einstein had featured roles in films including "Broadcast News", "Private Benjamin" and "Drive". He is pictured here in a scene from the James Spader movie, "Critical Care". Did you know that Albert Einstein was the birth name of actor/writer/director Albert Brooks?
Yes
8%
177 votes
No
56%
1170 votes
I never heard of Albert Brooks.
17%
353 votes
I never heard of Brooks or Einstein.
2%
37 votes
N/A
17%
363 votes
3.
3.
Actor Michael Keaton, known for "Mr Mom", "Beetlejuice", "Batman"; and Oscar-nominated for "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)", changed his birth name of Michael Douglas to abide by union rules and to avoid confusion with more established actor Michael Douglas ("Romancing the Stone", "Fatal Attraction", "Wall Street"). Keaton picked his new name randomly from a phone book. Whose work do you prefer?
I prefer Keaton's films.
15%
321 votes
I prefer Douglas's films.
13%
272 votes
I don't have a preference.
46%
962 votes
I don't know Keaton.
1%
29 votes
I don't know Douglas.
1%
26 votes
N/A
23%
490 votes
4.
4.
Many of us are aware that Elton John was formerly named Reginald Kenneth Dwight. Less known is that he assumed the middle name Hercules. No, he did not name himself after the hero of mythology, but after a horse on the British sitcom, "Steptoe and Son". (That show was remade in the US as "Sanford and Son". The star of the latter, Redd Foxx, was originally named John Sanford.) What do you think of the origin of Elton's middle name?
It's an amusing story.
22%
465 votes
It's a bizarre idea.
15%
318 votes
It's a fine name, regardless.
8%
170 votes
I don't care what he calls himself, he's an outstanding musician and performer!
22%
457 votes
N/A
25%
525 votes
I dislike the name Hercules.
8%
165 votes
COMMENTS