Here are some questions which are answered in 200 Celebrities Who Changed Their Names and How They Found Success. Maybe you can understand why some of these folks took pseudonyms.
What famous actor who was the son of impoverished Jewish immigrants spoke Lithuanian and Russian at home as a child and went to work in a coal mine at age 10 earning $1.00 for each ton of coal he mined to help his family survive?
What prominent 20th century Scottish author first married a captain and moved from the UK to Australia to legitimatize her name because her father was involved in a scandal involving the King of England, then later left her husband for another man, moved to the Caribbean and changed her name completely before writing two best-selling novels?
What famous actor when pressed on the phone for a stage name used a character from a movie showing at a nearby theater as his new surname?
What famous actor was credited under a stage name without permission and was forced to accept it?
What popular music singer changed her name to the name of a man at whose mailbox she has fallen off her bike as a child?
What well-known country music artist got his stage name as a child from the name of a donkey?
What famous actor’s real name was Albert Einstein?
What country music star traded rabbits he had trapped for his first guitar?
What famous American author was accused of embezzlement by the bank for which he worked and fled to Honduras where he took a pen name and wrote a best-selling novel; but when his wife became ill he returned, surrendered, and was sentenced, continuing to write best sellers in prison?
What popular singer cannot use his stage name in Germany because of objections from the family of someone who had the same name?
What famed American movie star’s father left her mother for another woman when she was small, then committed suicide?
What currently controversial rap singer and film star underwent great drama at age 12 when his sister was murdered by her boyfriend?
What popular modern American television talk show host was the son of a Jewish immigrant father who died when he was young causing his mother to go on welfare and him to go to work after high school to help support her, resulting in his never attending college and take a new name from a liquor store on the spur of the moment?
What award-winning actor was the son of an Indian doctor born in Kenya, and changed his name because it sounded to foreign?
What singer who later became a sensation was thought by a record company president to be too plain and dark to lead a group?
What popular actor and producer was so stressed as a child because of his mother’s suicide attempts that he wet the bed, then chose a stage name from a phone book listing?
What billionaire clothier designed a tie for his employer which was rejected causing him to make ties from rags and work out of a drawer until he could get his own company going?
What notable Italian actress waited tables in a pub in her grandmother’s living room as a young teen?
What World Heavyweight Boxing Champion had a speech impediment and was the son of former slaves who were sharecroppers?
What popular actress who was not Jewish took a Jewish surname to improve her career/
What well-known alternative rock singer was diagnosed with autism as a child, rejected for the Mickey Mouse Club, and then arrested for shoplifting?
What model and television host obtained her new name because of a clerical error?
What very well-known actor had both parents killed in separate accidents by his age one; then had a personal accident in college which ended his dreams for a football career?
What entertainer destined to become an all-time great was bullied in school because of his broken English; then dropped out of high school becoming a bootlegger and working in an illegal casino?
What famed female rapper got started by posting her songs on MySpace?
What multi award-winning British character actress is the granddaughter of a colonel in the Russian army?
What extremely popular 20th century actress was abused and made a ward of the state as a child, and then was convinced by her guardian that she would one day become a movie star?
What extremely successful restaurant owner took the name of a comic strip character and opened a restaurant under that name?
What popular Irish actor was expelled from Catholic school at age sixteen and raised in poverty by a mother who was a heavy drinker?
What outrageously popular current singer who dropped out of school at age 16 was the daughter of pastors who often had to use food stamps and supplies from church food banks to survive while she was growing up?
What popular American author changed her name the first day of Catholic school when a nun asked her what her name was, because her birth name was a male name?
What popular American singer/songwriter had a father who was a church deacon who sold bootlegged moonshine on the side and ran a nightclub?
What popular dancer, singer and film star was kidnapped twice by her father who was separated from her mother before her birth?
What famous 20th century movie star lived in a houseboat built from salvage lumber for several years as a child?
What famed 20th century movie star began his career at less than 1 ½ years old in a traveling vaudeville show?
What immensely popular modern actor regretted using a stage name because it upset his father, and never changed his name legally, his birth name still appearing on his legal documents such as driver’s license and passport?
What popular singer who went on to have her own TV show got her stage name when a DJ forgot her real name?
What currently popular musician and entertainer was a drug dealer and thief as a youth?
What popular television actress had an abusive father causing her to fear for her life as a child; then after getting pregnant in college, married the baby’s farther, then had an affair and divorced him, only to get pregnant again by a married man and have an abortion?
What hip hop artist deepened his appreciation for music while spending three years in jail?
What highly successful theater and film producer was expelled from sixth grade for running a craps game?
What award-winning actor hitchhiked to Hollywood from Texas to begin his quest for stardom?
What popular award-winning performer began singing in bars at age eight to help support her family?
What 20th century male sex symbol movie star before achieving stardom had an affair with a married heiress and after her divorce was arrested on vice charges, resulting in the heiress shooting her ex-husband over a custody dispute?
What top-selling pop singer began his career at age fifteen with a hastily assembled local group filling in for Buddy Holly immediately after he had been killed?
What popular movie star was forced to model as a young child by her mother to help pay bills because of her father’s death, causing a nervous breakdown at age nine, and a suicide attempt at age 12 after she was given a stage name when debuting on TV based on the way her young cousin mispronounced her name?
What wildly popular early star of stage and screen produced and directed a play titled Sex which was raided, leading to her arrest and conviction for corrupting the morals of youth?
What popular comedian who got his own TV show was abandoned by his mother at age seven and lied about his age to join the Air Force at age 16?
What multi-Grammy-winning musical artist, in spite of an absentee father and a huge natural handicap, was contracted at age eleven by a major record label?
What major motion picture star was taken to movies as a child and told by her mother that the cameraman at the end of the newsreels was pointing the camera at her; then believing this, was contracted as a child?
What child prodigy began his sports career at age two playing with one of the top athletes in his sport on national television; then went on to become one of the most winning players of all time?
What famed award-winning comedian and star of stage, television and motion pictures quit school and ran away from home at age fifteen, later adapting his middle name into a stage name to save his family the embarrassment of having “a lowly comedian” as a relative?