What's In a Name? Pen Names, Stage Names and Alter Egos

Juliet:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."


Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet centered around a Hatfield-and-McCoy type feud, that of the Montagues and the Capulets. What's in a name? Many actors, past and present, have reinvented themselves by changing their names. Pen names, stage names, noms de plumes - as you can see, pseudonyms abound!

Jennifer Anastassakis > Jennifer Aniston
Frederick Austerlitz > Fred Astaire
Krishna Pandit Bhanji > Ben Kingsley
Nathan Birnbaum > George Burns
Eric Marlon Bishop > Jamie Foxx
Terry Gene Bollea > Hulk Hogan
Anna Mae Bullock > Tina Turner
Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone > Madonna
Issur Danielovitch Demsky > Kirk Douglas
Elizabeth Stamatina Fey > Tina Fey
Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg > Jane Seymour
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta > Lady Gaga
Demetria Gene Guynes > Demi Moore
Frances Ethel Gumm > Judy Garland
Paul David Hewson > Bono
Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra > Meg Ryan
Anna-Maria Louisa Italiano > Anne Bancroft
Caryn Elaine Johnson > Whoopi Goldberg
Esther "Eppie" Pauline Friedman Lederer > Ann Landers
Virginia Katherine McMath > Ginger Rogers
Maurice Joseph Micklewhite > Michael Caine
Alecia Beth Moore > Pink
Dana Elaine Owens > Queen Latifah
Tara Patrick > Carmen Electra
Betty Joan Perske > Lauren Bacall
Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips and Jeanne Phillips > Abigail Van Buren > Dear Abby
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso > Pablo Picasso
Jerome Silberman > Gene Wilder
Yvette Stevens > Chaka Khan
Mark Sinclair Vincent > Vin Diesel
Brian Warner > Marilyn Manson
Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko > Natalie Wood

It should come as no surprise that authors use pen names, too - and some even have pen names for their pen names. For instance, did you know J(oanne).K(athleen). Rowling, author of the Harry Potter novels, also wrote a mystery under the name Robert Galbraith?

Here are more authors who use a literary alias or write under more than one name:

Peter Abrahams, aka (also known as) Spencer Quinn
Jennifer Ashley, aka Allyson James, aka Ashley Gardner
Donna Ball, aka Rebecca Flanders, Leigh Bristol
A. M. Barnard, aka Louisa May Alcott
Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto, aka Pablo Neruda
Jessica Bird, aka J.R. Ward
Eric Blair, aka George Orwell
Sandra Brown, aka Erin St. Clair, aka Rachel Ryan, aka Laura Jordan
Emily Bryan, aka Mia Marlowe
John Dickson Carr, aka Carter Dickson
Heron Carvic, aka Hamilton Crane
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain
Agatha Christie, aka Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, aka Mary Westmacott
Jeff Cohen, aka E.J. Copperman
Deborah Cooke, aka Claire Delacroix
David John Moore Cornwell > John Le Carre
Wendy Corsi Staub, aka Wendy Markham
John Creasey, aka J.J. Marric
Frederick Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, aka Ellery Queen
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll
Silence Dogood, aka Benjamin Franklin
George Savage Fitz-Boodle, aka William Makepeace Thackeray
L.L. Foster, aka Lori Foster
Paul French, aka Isaac Asimov
Erle Stanley Gardner, aka A.A. Fair
Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss
Colleen Gleason, aka Joss Ware
Kim Harrison, aka Dawn Cook
Jennifer Haymore, aka Dawn Halliday
Victoria Holt, aka Jean Plaidy, aka Eleanor Hibbert, aka Philippa Carr
Elizabeth Hoyt, aka Julia Harper
Beth Kery, aka Bethany Kane
Stephen King, aka Richard Bachman
Jayne Ann Krentz, aka Jayne Castle, aka Amanda Quick
Lexi Martin, aka Becke Davis
Elizabeth Linington, aka Dell Shannon
Cathie Linz, aka Cat Devon
Victoria Lucas, aka Sylvia Plath
Kathy Lyons, aka Jade Lee
Katie MacAlister, aka Katie Maxwell
Kinley MacGregor, aka Sherrilyn Kenyon
Elizabeth MacKintosh, aka Gordon Daviot, aka Josephine Tey
Evan Hunter, aka Ed McBain, aka Richard Marsten
Glenna McReynolds, aka Tara Janzen
Barbara Mertz, aka Barbara Michaels, aka Elizabeth Peters
Howard Allen Frances O'Brien, aka Anne Rice
Edith Pargeter, aka Ellis Peters
William Sydney Porter, aka O. Henry
Mary Florence Elinor Rainbow, aka Mary Stewart
Ruth Rendell, aka Barbara Vine
Lani Diane Rich, aka Lucy March
Nora Roberts, aka J.D. Robb
Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum, aka Ayn Rand
Donald E. Westlake, aka Richard Stark
Madeline Wickham, aka Sophie Kinsella

I'm a little brain dead right now - post the ones I've missed in the comments!



Sources: 
http://voices.yahoo.com/the-real-names-movie-stars-487433.html
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2093588_2093587_2093580,00.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-real-names-of-tk-actors--celebrities-2012-7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen_name
http://www.amazon.com/Favourite-Authors-Writing-Under-Revealed/lm/R1Z22N0YV6JGGP
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/249324-authors-with-numerous-pen-names
http://www.businessinsider.com/famous-authors-who-wrote-under-pen-names-2013-7#
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/04/the-strange-stories-behind-famous-writers-pen-names/255619/
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/04/the-strange-stories-behind-famous-writers-pen-names/255619/#slide4
http://www.11points.com/Books/11_Author_Pen_Names_That_We_Thought_Were_Their_Real_Names