Only One Name: Difference between revisions

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* [[Mr. T|Mister T]] was born Lawrence Tureaud, but had his name legally changed. 'Mister' is now his first name.

* Wrestler Jim "Ultimate Warrior" Hellwig (of [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] fame and [[WCW]] infamy) has legally changed his name to "Warrior".

* Cher's full name was Cherylinn Sarkisian until she legally changed it to her single name.

* [[Cher]]'s full name was Cherylinn Sarkisian until she legally changed it to her single name.

* Madonna. But unlike Cher, Madonna is only mononymous in terms of her "stage name"; she has not legally changed her name.

* [[Madonna]]. But unlike Cher, Madonna is only mononymous in terms of her "stage name"; she has not legally changed her name.

* Radio talk show host "Lionel". "Mononymous, like God," he says. It isn't either of his real names, though.

* Renaissance artists often fall into this. Have you ever heard of the painters Senzio, Buonarotti or van Rijn? Yes, you have. {{spoiler|Their first names are Raphael, Michelangelo and Rembrandt, respectively.}}

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* Two Disney actresses, Lalaine Vergara-Paras and [[Zendaya Coleman]], are credited as just Lalaine and Zendaya respectively.

* In French-speaking countries it is a quite common phenomenon for people working in the arts and literature to use made-up names of this type, e. g. playwright [[Moliere]] (born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), writer and philosopher [[Voltaire (philosopher)|Voltaire]] (Francois-Marie Arouet), novelist [[Stendhal]] (Henri Beyle), the architect Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris), actors Fernandel (Fernand-Joseph-Désiré Contadin), Arletty (Léonie Bathiat), Bourvil (André-Zacharie Raimbourg), and Capucine (Germaine Lefebvre), and comics artists Moebius (Jean Henri Gaston Giraud), Morris (Maurice De Bevere) and Tibet (Gilbert Gascard). Among Francophone comics creators there is a particular fashion to use noms-de-plume that are phonetic representations of their initials, a fashion probably started by Hergé (Georges Rémi) that includes Achdé, Peyo, Jijé, Jidéem, etc. Marvano (Marc van Oppen) is a borderline case.

* Before people started making proper armies and ~~the~~ urbanization everyone ~~where~~ Only One Name. Last names ~~where~~ pretty much invented to stop fifteen people ~~show~~ up whenever someone screamed 'Tom'; ~~wich gives~~ us the poor imagination when it comes to some of the more common last names (Tom the Baker = Tom Baker; John the Smith = John Smith etcetera.)

* Before people started making proper armies and urbanization, everyone had Only One Name. Last names were pretty much invented to stop fifteen people showing up whenever someone screamed "Tom"; it shows the poor imagination when it comes to some of the more common last names (Tom the Baker = Tom Baker; John the Smith = John Smith etcetera.)

* And now the Welsh, due to a shortage of distinct surnames, are repeating the process, to distinguish, e.g., Tom Jones the baker from Tom Jones the singer.

* Chukchi (Russian Eskimos) traditionally have only one name, but can add Russian names for census purposes, so their Chukchi name could be considered their truest name. For example the true name of Yuri Sergeyevich Rytkheu is simply Rytkheu ("unknown" in Chukchi). He added "Yuri Sergeyevich" when Soviet officials asked him to have a Russian-style name. Other one-name Chukchi include Tenevil (herdman who developed a crude writing system) and Kytymval (officially Antonina Alexandrovna Kytymval, a poetess).

* The nobles of the Heian era of Japan ~~was~~ only known by one name. Even then, those weren't even their real names. Surnames for the common folk in Japan were later introduced and were based after the person's occupation or the area they lived in.

* The nobles of the Heian era of Japan were only known by one name. Even then, those weren't even their real names. Surnames for the common folk in Japan were later introduced and were based after the person's occupation or the area they lived in.

* The Dutch had no formal system of last names until Napoleon annexed the Kingdom of Holland into his empire in the early 19th century. French officials overseeing Holland insisted on family names, and the Dutch obliged by [[Troll]]ing them with jokes, veiled insults and [[Line-of-Sight Name]]s -- which their descendants were then stuck with.

* One of the authors of the legendary [[Mega Crossover]] fan work ''[[Undocumented Features]]'' legally changed his name to his nickname, which was originally his login ID on the Worcester Polytechnic Institute computer system: [[Megazone 23|MegaZone]]. He now has a nickname based on his nickname, "Zoner".