14 Celebrities Who Had To Change Their Names Because Someone Else Was Already Using Theirs
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Some people who work in entertainment choose to go by stage names. Others, however, go by a stage name because it's a requirement, rather than an option, because someone else is already working under that same name.
Paramount+ / Via giphy.com
Here are 14 actors and musicians who had to change their stage names because someone else was already using theirs:
1.When Diane Hall registered for her Actors' Equity card, there was already a Diane Hall, so she cycled through a few options — Dorrie Hall (her sister's name), then Corry Hall, and finally Diane Keaton (her mother's maiden name).
In her autobiography Then Again, she wrote, "It dawned on me I could keep it all in the family by using Mom’s maiden name: Keaton. Diane Keaton."
2.Because of the Fatal Attraction actor, the union made Michael Douglas choose a stage name. After looking through "K" names, he decided Michael Keaton was "good enough."
On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, he said, "I’m trying to ease my name back in because I’m proud of my name. I’ll be going somewhere, and there will be a driver with a sign that says Michael Douglas, and then I show up. They look so confused!”
3.The Weeknd had to drop the "e" from his stage name because of copyright issues with a Canadian band called The Weekend.
His real name is Abel Tesfaye.
4.At first, David Jones went by Davie Jones, but he changed his stage name to Tom Jones because of The Monkees' Davy Jones. However, there was already a singer going by Tom Jones, so he settled on the iconic David Bowie.
His other onstage persona, Ziggy Stardust, took inspiration from "American street culture."
5.When her real name was already taken at SAG, Emily Stone registered as Riley Stone. However, six months later, she went back and changed it to Emma Stone.
Growing up, she wanted to be called Emma instead of Emily because of Baby Spice (Emma Bunton).
6.Because of an actors' union rule, 16-year-old David McDonald needed to choose a stage name, so he flipped through a music magazine until he settled on David Tennant — inspired by Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys.
On The Late Late Show with James Corden, he said, "At 16-years-old, I didn't know actors, I didn't know how you chose a name...I was just leafing through a magazine and thought, 'What am I going to call myself?'"
7.William H. Macy goes by his full name so that people don't confuse him with the late actor, Bill Macy.
His middle initial stands for Hall.
8.At first, Michael B. Jordan considered going by Michael Bakari (his middle name) to separate himself from the famous basketball player he shares a name with, but he ultimately decided to keep his real name and add his middle initial.
He told the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, "Since I was a kid getting bullied on the basketball court...I was gonna change to Michael Bakari... For like two seconds of weakness I had that thought and then I just kept it, and owned it.”
9.Because of the Lost actor bearing the same name, Elizabeth Mitchell decided to act under the name Elizabeth Banks.
She wanted a one-syllable last name, so she made a list, alphabetized it, then went with the first option on the list.
10.When 18-year-old Patricia Neal needed to join Actors' Equity, her name was already in use by the actor from The Day the Earth Stood Still. With only an hour to choose her new stage name, she called her grandpa, who told her, “Honey, I remember a lot of comediennes named Fannie who came through the vaudeville circuit, so maybe that would be a lucky name for you.” Then, her friend suggested the full name Fannie Flagg after their friend's grandmother.
Flagg told the Sacramento Bee, "So I went with that, never dreaming I would be stuck with it."
11.FKA Twigs added the acronym for "formerly known as" to her stage name because another artist who goes by Twigs asked her to change it.
Her real name is Tahliah Barnett.
12.Because her name was already being used by the Duel in the Sun actor, Jennifer Jones changed her name to Gemma Jones, after the female lead in her father's movie Escape Me Never.
In Escape Me Never (1935), Griffith Jones played Caryle Sanger, and Elisabeth Bergner played Gemma Jones.
13.Katheryn Hudson released a pair of gospel albums under her real name, but when she signed with Capitol Records as a pop artist in 2007, she decided to go by Katy Perry so people wouldn't confuse her with actor Kate Hudson.
Perry is her mother's maiden name.
14.And finally, even though she had registered with SAG as Vanessa L. Williams, to avoid such issues early in her career, several newspapers confused former Miss America-turned-actor Vanessa Williams for New Jack City actor Vanessa Williams.
New Jack City's Vanessa Williams told Entertainment Weekly that she didn't see an issue with it because "there’s enough work for both of us."
The confusion actually began before they were famous. In the '80s, they applied for the same musical theater program at NYU.
However, things got even more confusing when Vanessa L. Williams starred in the TV show version of Soul Food and Vanessa Estelle Williams starred in the movie version of Soul Food. As a result, SAG decided, since both women had established careers under the name Vanessa Williams, they could both be credited as simply Vanessa Williams.
