Branding: A stage name can help you brand your performance persona, giving you a separate identity to develop as a brand. Separation of personal and professional life: A stage name will be a very public name, possibly a household name. While some people might still know your real name, keeping your real name separate from your stage name can afford you some level of privacy. Differentiation: If your real name is very common, a stage name can help you stand out and be more memorable. Prejudice considerations: Some people have used stage names in the past in order to decrease immediate reactions of racism, anti-Semitism or other forms of prejudice. Luckily, this is less often the case today. Similarly, some women may have avoided a hyphenated name because it might indicate they’re married, which unfortunately some consider to be detrimental to their careers.

Child performers should consider how their names will grow with them as they get older. Joe Yule called himself Mickey Rooney, a good name for a kid actor. But it was less useful as an adult actor. Similarly Lil’ Bow Wow had to drop “Lil” when he grew up. [2] X Research source Choose a name that you won’t get tired of quickly. If you think you might hate your stage name in six months, think of a different moniker.

Some performers may have started their careers with their full names – or with a stage first and last name. Reinventing your career may involve reinventing your name, but you might still want to hang onto some of the reputation or recognition that you already have. Drop your last name from your stage name and go with just a single name. Alternately, add your last name. If you’ve been using a single name, consider adding a last name to reinvent yourself. You might also change or alter your last name. Some performers add last names (with or without a hyphen), such as Courtney Cox adding Arquette to her last name when she got married (she dropped Arquette when the marriage ended).

For example, Carlos Irwin Estévez became Charlie Sheen in order to match his last name to his actor father Martin Sheen, whose real name is Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez. Another son, Emilio, kept the family last name.

Sometimes this isn’t a good idea, especially if you’re adding an extra letter where it is really unnecessary. You might just risk confusing people and making it difficult to pronounce your name.

The singer Prince changed his name to a symbol in order to get out of his contract with Warner Bros. in 1993. Since the symbol was unpronounceable, he was called The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. This really only works if you already have a well-established reputation and fan following, and ultimately would make things too complicated anyway. Prince reverted to being called Prince after his contract with Warner Bros. expired. [7] X Research source

Think of alternative spellings of your name that will facilitate people pronouncing it correctly. Once you are well-known, however, you will likely overcome this problem.

If you are not yet part of a union or guild, you may consider joining one sometime in the future. In this case, keep in mind that you should probably register with your real name and stage name in one membership.

Search a domain name registrar such as GoDaddy. com or Dotster. com to make sure your domain name isn’t already taken. Register your web name with a name registrar. Choose the length of time you want to reserve the domain name. You can reserve it in year increments for up to 10 years. You will need to pay a fee, which can fluctuate by registrar and by year to year. Typically, these run $10 to $15 for the initial registration. [10] X Research source