A Brief History
On September 28, 1066, a warrior leader known as “William the Bastard” invaded England from Normandy in what is now France. You probably know him better as William the Conqueror, a much catchier name. William the Bastard was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy. His status as a bastard posed some difficulties for him as he succeeded his father, however, after he had consolidated his power and established control over his duchy, he also set his sites on England and set the invasion of the island country in motion. That move was the best thing he could ever have done for his reputation because from then on, he was no longer known as William the Bastard, but as William the Conqueror.
Digging Deeper
We have already written a few articles on goofy names and about rock stars who have changed their names. (Please also see our related articles from April 2 & April 23 and May 3 & May 4.) Here we examine more people with names that changed, mostly for the better. Who would you nominate to this list? Who would you nominate for a name change?
Let us start with US presidents. President Gerald Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. Another president with a name change was Ulysses S. Grant. He was formerly known as Hiram Ulysses Grant and apparently did not like his initials spelling “HUG.” Oddly enough, Millard Fillmore chose not to change his name. And now on to some musicians. Chubby Checker got his name when someone noticed he looked like a smaller version of Fats Domino (get it?). Engelbert Humperdinck, the suave British singer, started life with the decidedly un-suave name of Arnold Dorsey. History and Headlines Trivia: The name he picked was that of a German composer. Besides singers, actors are among the entertainers who most often change their names. Notable name changes include: John Wayne (Marion Morrison); Cary Grant (Archibald Leach); Edward G. Robinson (Emmanuel Goldenberg); Tony Curtis (Bernie Schwartz); Kirk Douglas (Issur Danielovitch); Nicholas Cage (Nicholas Kim Coppola); and Martin and Charlie Sheen (Ramon and Carlos Estevez). Contrary to popular belief, Marilyn Monroe was not born Norma Jean Baker. Do you know her real name? Sports stars are also not above name changes or somewhat goofy names. The National Basketball Association (NBA) player Lloyd Free changed his name to World B. Free in the middle of his career. Jesse Owens’ actual name is James Cleveland Owens. When a teacher asked him what his name was, he responded “J.C.” for James Cleveland. His teacher misunderstood him, and from then on, he was known as Jesse. History and Headlines Note: Though not born in Cleveland, Owens moved there as a tot and grew up with Cleveland as his hometown. Obviously, the O.J. in O.J. Simpson stands for something, and that something is Orenthal James. How many “Orenthals” do you know? (For that matter, how many “Wilts” as in Wilt Chamberlain do you know?) The great baseball relief pitcher known as Sparky Lyle was really named Albert Walter Lyle, whereas Sparky Anderson, 3-time manager of World Series champion teams, was born George Lee Anderson. Other sports “Sparkys” include Earl Adams who was a major league baseball player from 1922-1934 and Phillip Woods who is currently the football coach at Virginia Military Institute (VMI). Hey, if you want to call your kid “Sparky” just name him that in the first place!
Sometimes names are changed because of religious convictions. Examples of this include: Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay); Kareem Abdul Jabbar (Lew Alcindor); and Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens, who actually born Steven Georgiou). The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been born Michael King and changed his name (not legally) after his father had a vision that both of them should change their names to Martin Luther King. Catholic cardinals take on a new name upon election to the papacy, but for some reason they pick names like Leo, John, Pious, Innocent and the like. Why not take the opportunity to pick something cool like Kobe or Deerslayer? Of course, some people get neat names right off the bat, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, actors Shia LaBoeuf and Megan Fox and basketball great Lebron James. Some genuinely badass people do not have a tough-sounding name and apparently do not need one. Cases in point, U.S. Marine Corps General Smedley Butler, World War I hero Alvin York and World War II hero Audie Murphy. Question for students (and subscribers): Do you have a cool name? If you do, please share it with us in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Rosenkrantz, Linda and Pamela Redmond Satran. The Nameberry Guide to Off-the-Grid Baby Names: 1000s of Names NEVER in the Top 1000. Nameberry, 2013.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="5237 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=5237">32 Comments
Multiple Israeli statesmen have also adapted their original names after the founding of the state of Israel: David Grün, who became known as David Ben-Gurion; Golda Mabovitch-Meyerson as Golda Meïr: Yitzhak Jazernicki as Yitzak Shamir, and Szymon Perski as Shimon Peres, to name a few.
At second reading, I realize there are a lot more famous people known by different names.
Almost all the Russian Bolsheviks became known in history under either their cover names used during their underground period during the times of the Czar, or the nom de guerre they used after the revolution of 1917.
A few examples:
Lenin: real name Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
Alexander Bogdanov: born as Alyaksandr Malinovsky,
Trotski: Lev Davidovich Bronshtein
Stalin: Iosep Besarionis Dze Jugashvili
In addition, multiple European politicians and statesmen who were during the 1930-ties and onwards involved in the resistance against the Nazi’s, retained their war-time aliases after 1945:
Josip Broz, who became legendary as the partizan commander and leader of a unified Yugoslavia under his nom de guerre ‘Tito’.
After World War 2, Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm became, inter alia, Mayor of West Berlin and German (Vice) Chancellor. To the public and in the annals of history he is usually known as Willy Brandt, the cover name he adopted during his underground fight against the Nazi’s in the 1930-ties and which he retained after the war.
On the Asian continent there are also a few examples worth mentioning:
During the first half of the 20th-century, a man called Nguyễn Sinh Cung used the aliases of Nguyễn Tất Thành and Nguyễn Ái Quốc, until he finally settled on Ho Chi Minh.
Khmer Rouge leader, Brother Number One, Pol Pot was born as Saloth Sar. There is still speculation about the origins of this nickname, ranging from an abbreviation of ‘Political Potential’, a designation he claimed to have once received from his Chinese allies; to ‘Loyal Follower’ (Pol), with the second part ‘Pot’ just added because it alliterated nicely… .
I always find myself thinking about Game of Thrones when I read these articles. “The Bastard” reminds me of Jon Snow and how all bastards are given different names in the books.
It is very interesting to see how many famous people have had their name changed!
You see name changes today, but it is interesting that this happened during the Middle Ages as well.
If I was William I would have stuck with bastard…seems to be working for Jon Snow
A title such as “conqueror” does seem to get you more respect than a title such as “the bastard” as can be seen by how well it worked for William when he changed his title.
Names are so important especially when it comes to public appearances. It was very interesting to see some of the celebrities on that list with different names.
This kind of reminds me how United States immigrants in the 19th and 20th century had their names changed at Ellis Island to sound more “American.” Although a lot of these are due to religious convictions, it is interesting to see how this is not the only time in history where someone willingly or non-willingly changed their name. Also, I wonder at what point people started using last names. For a time in class, people did not have last names and there seems to have been a slow transition into historical figures with first and last names.
I don’t think my name is that cool, but I know a kid that is named Calvin Hobbes.
I did not have any idea that a lot of these people really didnt have those names legally. One that stuck out to me is in the NFL player Chad Johnson changed his name to Chad Ochocinco because his number is 85.
And let’s not forget the Chd Johnson of the Bengals switched to Chad Ochocinco. This wasn’t necessary but some people needed to change their names.
Loved some of the names in this article. I think William the Bastard is a fine name as it stands out, makes an impact, and, lets face it, accurate. From the first video, my favorite was Bud Light, I would love to know someone with that name. Brock Lee, Jurassic Park, and Chris P. Bacon could do with some changes though. Personally, I would not mind at all in my name was Donald Duck! As far as the second video, I believe a parent should be able to name their child Messiah if they would like, and a judge should not be allowed to make this decision months after the name was already placed. Separation of Church and State should come into affect here.
World B. Free is the most original name in my opinion. This article brought up an important point: We do not know many Wilts or Orenthals.
I literally had no idea that most of these people in the article actually changed their name. I also did not know that Marilyn Monroe’s actual name is Norma Jeane Mortenson. A few other ones that I discovered are that Nicki Minaj’s real name is Onika Tanya Maraj and Katy Perry’s birth name is Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson.
Like someone stated before I had no idea that most of the people in this article changed their names. It was quite a shocker, to be honest. I did know Marilyn Monroe’s actual name was Norma Jeane Mortenson. I knew this because my Grandpa shared that with me. I think my favotire name was William the Bastard, because it stood out for sure, I did get quite a laugh. I would never want a nickname like that. I was shocked to hear about Katy Perry’s birth name, because I honestly thought it was Katy Perry. It was interesting to learn about the President Ford’s real name was not Gerald Ford. This article was enterataining, but it was also really interesting to read, and learn about some famous people I knew about.
People in more modern history it seems tend to change their name in order to become more memorable to society, looking at their past names you can tell why they thought this.
People have always changed or added titles to their names to be remembered. For example, “The Great” being added or even celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe have even changed their names!
Wish she could still add titles to our names today.
Seems back in the day you were known better for that name like it meant more than it does today. Since today people do it beausce there famous or try to be remembered
I had heard William the Conqueror was a descendant of Rollo the Viking who carved Normandy out of France after his pact with the French Emperor had ended upon his death.
To me your name defines the first impression a person gets from you. Certain names make you picture certain people. Like someone with the title of queen or king you see jewels, crowns and very well dressed people. I feel many people change their names or try to add titles to them to not only make them memorable but to make the way people see them a better image.
Our names are a huge part of who we are. When you have a good strong name, or even an individual name people are going to remember you based on how you portrayed yourself. It is true that our names matter, at least to a certain point.
I believe that our names in a way reflect who we are
There are days that I wish I had a really unique name and then I remember how bad I feel for my friends who have to correct someone every time they try to pronounce their name and I remember how lucky I am.
Names are our identity, so it’s really cool to see how so many people earned or desired a way to be remembered, even if it wasn’t really necessary.
Alot of these are pretty cool but Chubby Checker was funny.
I never knew that about Jesse Owens, its funny how certain things just stick.
Sometimes names are believed to carry power. For example, the story of Rumplestiltskin taught us not to give our names out so freely.
i love uniqueness in a name, something original
he probably changed his name so he could be taken more seriously. I would to. some of these names are funny!
Some very unique names in history.