My love for keeping up with the lives of famous people makes me curious about the origins of their stage names.
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One such article I read recently was about Emma Stone, or Emily Jean Stone as she is officially known. According to this source, she has expressed wanting to go back to her birth name and this got me thinking about how much weight names carry in show business.
First off, I do not blame her for wanting to go back to being called Emily. Names are important because they are our identity. It must have been difficult for her to choose another name when she began acting since there was already an Emily Stone actress then.
However even now as Emma Stone is successful, she still wants people to call her by the first name she was given ‘Emily’. This only proves how much attachment we have with what is bestowed upon us at birth; otherwise a portion of us would be missing.
I also got interested in reading about celebrities or famous people who have changed their names. For instance, Cardi B took her stage name from Bacardi
(Drink company) which her sister was part of, but just tweaked it a little bit after her sister Hennessy's nickname.
Meghan Markle also went by the name Rachel Zane before becoming the Duchess of Sussex. This just shows how creative and meaningful stage names can be.
But one of my favorite stories has got to be Shania Twain’s explanation on why she chose “Shania” as her stage name. Born Eilleen Regina Edwards, she decided to change it because it sounded too much like her grandmother’s and she wanted something different for herself in the music industry while still keeping true to where she came from.
I found it surprising and endearing when I learned where Gigi Hadid got her name from. She actually took on her stage name as a child after being called that by her mom, who would mix her up with another girl in school named Helena. This just goes to show you how much nicknames can mean to people even professionally speaking.
Also, finding out the reasons why celebrities choose their stage names is really interesting because it gives us an insight into their personal lives and what they aspire towards.
Like for example Miley Cyrus who went with “Miley” instead of “Smiley” which was what everybody use to call her back when she was younger, because she always had this bright and bubbly personality. Another good case would be Bruno Mars who decided to go by that name after his dad’s way of referring to him, thus portraying how family ties can shape one’s sense of self.
The more I got into it, the more I understood that stage names have many uses for famous people. Some want to make a different personality or brand, others try to keep alive their own culture or family tradition. All in all, public image and professional identity are greatly affected by the name one chooses to go by.
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Regarding my name, I like how easy and well-known it is. Although not having any celebrity-like pseudonymes as those mentioned above, I am still proud of my true name’s individuality, and deep historical meaning attached to it which always reminds me about my beginnings and those individuals who influenced my life path so far.
