The stage names of famous people, which we use in our crosswords, are often not the names our stars were born with. There are many reasons why their original names are not used. In Stewart Granger’s case, his birth name was James Stewart, which was already being used by that other fine actor. Singer Katy Hudson felt her name was too close to actress Kate Hudson so she called herself Katy Perry, using her mother’s maiden name.

David Robert Jones changed his name to David Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees and Ray Charles, who was born Ray Robinson, did the same because of the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.

Sometimes, a name doesn’t have a good ring to it or doesn’t project the right image. Archibald Leach wisely became Cary Grant and Frances Gumm changed her name to Judy Garland. Michael Caine was originally Maurice Micklewhite but chose Michael because it sounded more glamorous than Maurice and Caine because at the very instant he decided to change his name, he saw a cinema with the sign The Caine Mutiny. He later said that if he had looked the other way, he might have been named Michael One Hundred And One Dalmatians.

Some celebrities made their new name official – both Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman) and Elton John (Reginald Dwight) legally changed their names.

Sometimes a name is too long or too hard to pronounce. Doris Kappelhoff was told her surname wouldn’t fit on the marquee. Her signature song was Day By Day so she called herself Doris Day.

Actor Peter Lorre was originally Laszlo Lowenstein; Connie Francis was Concetta Franconero and Marion Morrison felt that Marion didn’t suit his macho image as a cowboy – so he became John Wayne. The name Marilyn Monroe sounded more glamorous than the original Norma Jeane Baker.

Another reason for changing names was for fear of racial discrimination, more prevalent in the past than it is today. Farrokh Bulsara was born in Zanzibar to Parsi parents, went to school in India, and when he needed a stage name, he called himself Freddie Mercury.

Agents often advised their clients to anglicise their names – hence Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca became Anthony Quinn and Sofia Villani Scicolone became Sophia Loren.

Can you tell the stage names of the following?

Stevland Judkins

Mary O’Brien

Henry John Deutschendorf Jr

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta

Stephen Georgiou

Happy Puzzling!