Category Archives: Entertainment

Top 10 Celebrity Name Changes

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Top 10 Celebrity Name Changes

…FEATURING ALBERT EINSTEIN (NOT THAT ONE)

There are 100s of celebrities who have changed their names because they needed something easier, shorter, more exotic, less ethnic.

These are the ones whose stories I love:

Miley Cyrus – born Destiny Hope Cyrus

A happy kid, she was given the nickname “Smiley Miley.” It stuck. She officially changed her name in 2008.

Geddy Lee – born Gary Lee Weinrib

Gary had a friend who—upon hearing his mother calling his name with her heavy Polish accent—thought she was saying Geddy. His friends all started calling him Geddy, and eventually, even his mother called him Geddy on purpose. That is how the leader of Rush got his name.

Albert Brooks – born Albert Einstein

When asked about why he changed his name, his answer is simply “Do I even have to answer that?” In January 2011 he told Esquire magazine, “I was on the defensive as soon as I got to the first class where they took roll. ‘Albert Einstein?’ All the kids would be snickering. It’s one of the three most famous names on the planet. You might as well be called Jesus Christ. Or Moses. The thing is, I liked the name Albert. I just couldn’t use it with Einstein. So I changed the last name when I thought I could really accomplish something, and I didn’t need that name to be funny.”

Ann Rice – born Howard Allen

In a question and answer session with fans on her website, the author answered the question about her name, “My birth name is Howard Allen because apparently my mother thought it was a good idea to name me Howard. My father’s name was Howard, she wanted to name me after Howard, and she thought it was a very interesting thing to do. She was a bit of a Bohemian, a bit of mad woman, a bit of a genius, and a great deal of a great teacher. And she had the idea that naming a woman Howard was going to give that woman an unusual advantage in the world.” She became Ann when asked by a nun on the first day of school what her name was and first the first thing that came to her was Ann.

Cary Grant – born Archibald Leach

When he arrived in Hollywood from England in 1931, he changed his name to Cary Lockwood based on a character he had played on stage. Upon signing with Paramount Pictures he was told that his chosen name was too close to another actor. They gave him a list of surnames to choose from. Legend has it that he chose Grant based on what his initials would be—C.G. He thought them to be lucky given the success of Clark Gable and Gary Cooper.

Michael Caine – born Maurice Micklewhite

When choosing his stage-name he first settled on Michael because he liked the way it sounded. Rumour has it that he settled on Caine when he saw a cinema marquee for “The Caine Mutiny” and he liked the way it sounded. He has joked that had he looked in the other direction, his name might have been Michael 101 Dalmations.

Judy Garland – born Frances Ethel Gumm

She and her two sisters used to perform vaudeville shows at which they received muffled laughter from audience when their names were announced.  Judy chose her name based on a song that she favoured at the time. There are several stories about how Garland came to be: the trio were hailed as being more beautiful than a “garland of flowers” or that it was chosen to flatter a drama critic, Robert Garland, hoping to receive good reviews.

Elvis Costello – born Declan Patrick MacManus

Costello was his great-grandmother’s maiden name that his father adopted as a stage name for himself.  In his early career, he went by DP Costello. Upon signing his first record contract, his management team decided to drop the “DP” in favour of rock ‘n’ roll’s most famous icon.  For a newly signed artist, no matter how talented, that is a lot to live up to.

Elton John – born Reginald Kenneth Dwight

Early in his music career he chose his new name by combining the names of two bandmates of first group—Bluesology—sax player Elton Dean and frontman Long John Baldry. Really, not the most dramatic story for one of the most dramatic and colourful performers in music history. It does, however, say a lot about honouring relationships that are meaningful to him.

Alicia Keyes – born Alicia Augello Cook

Undoubtedly one of the most talented R&B peformers of her genereation, she started piano lessons at the age 7, was accepted at the Professional Performing Arts School at 12 and graduated as valedictorian at 16.  Her chosen surname, is a tribute to her passion and first love—her piano.

 

Originally published at Yummy Mummy Club

Name Dropping with The Bachelorette’s Trista Sutter

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I love names that are unique when they hold special meaning. I recently sought out Trista Sutter, of The Bachelor and  The Bachelorette, to talk names. Trista was the runner-up on the first season of The Bachelor and was the first Bachelorette the following year. Ryan was the lucky guy to win her heart on the popular reality show and the two are happily married with two children, Maxwell and Blakesley, living in Vail, Colorado.  While finding your spouse on a TV reality show is not the most conventional, you’ll find that Trista and Ryan honour tradition in building their family and life together.

Candace:  Let’s start with you…Trista is an unusual name. Tell me how your parents chose it for you and why. Did you love it or loathe it growing up? Did your feelings about it change or grow as you grew up?

Trista: They actually just saw it in a baby book and liked it…as unspecial as that sounds.  :)  I was okay with it.  Of course I got lots of nicknames, and I never got to just buy a magnet or cup or preprinted name off those silly displays at gift stores.  I was okay with it, but definitely learned to love its uniqueness more, the more I got older.

Candace:  Maxwell Alston – what a great name. When I look it at it looks cool, powerful and serious all at the same time. Can you tell what went into choosing it for him. Is there special meaning or honor behind it?

Trista: Ryan and I both loved Maxwell from the get-go of name planning.  Alston is Ryan’s father’s middle name as well as his great great (maybe another great) grandfather’s name and we both wanted to honor our families through the kids names.

Candace:  Blakesley Grace – you know I love this. Can you tell me the story and how it felt to give her your mother’s name? Does Grace come from something special too?

Trista: Ever since I was little, I wanted to include the name “Rose” in one of my children’s names.  My mother’s name is Roseanne and my grandmother’s name is Rosemary.  The only name that Ryan REALLY liked for a girl was Grace.  We didn’t think that Grace Rose or Rose Grace sounded that great together, so in the interest of letting Ryan have the name he absolutely loved, I put more thought into it.  I really wanted to honor my side of the family, since we had honored Ryan’s by naming our son, Maxwell Alston, and one day was just throwing around names and stuck on Blakesley Grace.  We both thought it sounded perfect together.  Many people love the name, especially when they learn that it was my mother’s maiden name, but many were outspoken (and actually pretty cruel) about their dislike for it.  No matter what any critics say, we think it’s beautiful and I am thrilled to be able to honor my mom.

Candace:  Did you and Ryan agree on the names? What was the process of choosing and deciding for you?

Trista: We did. We couldn’t have gone about naming our children until we both truly loved the names, and luckily we did.

Candace: I’ve been having some great conversations with people about taking your husband’s surname when you got married. A lively dialogue on Facebook earlier this week. You took Ryan’s name. Was it an easy decision or did you debate it?

Trista: Even though I was married on television, I am very traditional in terms of that sort of thing and knew from my days as a little girl that I wanted to take on the name of the man that I married.  I love the romance and honor of it and I actually like Trista Sutter better than Trista Rehn. (Sorry dad!).

 

Originally published at Yummy Mummy Club

Baby Names and Band Names

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MY CONVERSATION WITH 2012 JUNO AWARD NOMINEES, SLOAN AND F**CKED UP

It’s Juno weekend in Canada and we’re getting ready to honour and celebrate our country’s diverse and talented music community. Last week was Canadian Music Week and I had the chance to talk with two musical Dads. Chris Murphy, father of two boys, is from Toronto-based Sloan, who won Best Alternative Album in 1997 for One Chord To Another, and is nominated this year for Best Rock Album forDouble Cross. Josh Zucker, father of one little girl, is from the Toronto-based hardcore punk band, F**cked Up, whose band’s very name is problematic. They are up for the Juno for Best Alternative Album this year, for David Comes To Life. I asked them about their kids’ names and, of course, I had to talk to them about the interesting choices for the names of their bands.

What are your children’s names? What inspired their names? Did you honour a special person, place, thing, or memory?

Chris: Francisco and Santiago. My grandfather’s name was Frank, and my wife Rebeccca’s father is from Mexico City, so Francisco is the Spanish Frank. I felt we couldn’t have a kid named Frank Murphy—it would be beyond boring—”Frank Murphy…CBCNews…Glace Bay.” We were frankly relieved to have the Spanish option, as there seemed to be a reason to rule out every regular old name we could think of. Rebecca’s father campaigned hard for Arturo. By the way, his name is Arturo.

Francisco was a compromise. It felt a little goofy having such an exotic sounding name attached to Murphy. Everyone who asked his name couldn’t seem to believe it when I told them. By the time Santiago was born, I was used to Francisco’s Spanish name, so it rolled off my tongue a little easier.

Josh: My daughter’s name is Lior Isadora (paternal last name) (maternal last name).

Lior is Hebrew for “I have light.”  We thought the name had a nice ring to it and had some magnitude, while being obscure enough not to sound hippyish, like “Mountain” or “Eclipse.” My grandfather’s name was Isidore and her middle name comes from him.  He had my mother and three other daughters who were all very close with him, and we knew they would play a big role in Lior’s life, so we chose to honour him by naming her after him. Everyone remembers him as kind, humble, and generous—all values we want to instill in our kid.

Both our last names are in there too, with my partner’s name getting the ever-important final position. I’m not a fan of the hyphenation thing, because it has no future to it—like two generations down the line, those names are going to start getting a bit monstrous – but I wanted her to carry both of her parents’ names. In the end, we thought my partner’s last name following “Lior” just sounded better, but I’m also in favour of just bringing back the matriarchy for last names as a rule, because it’s simple and obviously makes way more sense.

Chris, why did you choose to name your band Sloan? Is there a story there?

Chris: Our friend worked in a factory, and his French boss called him ‘the slow one,’ and his nickname became Sloan and we stole his nickname. It’s not a great story, but I will say that I am thankful that the name is maybe not cool, but at least inoffensive. Bands who think their name is hilarious—like Toad The Wet Sprocket, or Haulin’ Oats, or JFKFC, to name but a few – might be awesome, but I will never know, because their band names are too dumb.

Josh, the obvious big question is for you, since we’re here talking about names. Fucked Up —how, why did you choose to name your band?  Did you anticipate problems getting media using your name? What has the reaction been?

Josh: The band name was chosen ten years ago, way before we ever considered this a band that could get nominated for a Juno, and way before I ever could’ve conceived that I would be answering questions about how I chose my daughter’s name, on a blog called the Yummy Mummy Club. That being said, we wanted to choose a name that millions of people a day would be inadvertently exclaiming, because back then, we believed in the power of repetition and magic and the collective consciousness. From the start, people either thought the name was pure idiocy or pure genius, or that they just heard wrong. We didn’t anticipate much media commentary of any kind, but it has been fun to see the hemming and hawing and the contortions different media have resorted to over the years—from heavy use of the asterisk to the New York Times just calling us, “The band with the unprintable name.”

***
It will be interesting to see how CTV announces them in their category. The Juno Awards, after all, is a nationally broadcast event.


Originally published at Yummy Mummy Club

Robert Downey Jr.’s New Baby Boy: Exton Elias

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Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan welcomed their baby boy into the world on Tuesday February 7th in Los Angeles. He surprised his wife earlier this year when he revealed the baby’s gender on Jay Leno’s night show.  But he managed to keep the name to himself until after he was born: Exton Elias Downey. The couple have yet to reveal the meaning behind the unique name choice. It could be that the Downeys are fans of Shakespeare and chose the name based on Sir Pierce of Exton from his Richard II.

Elias is Hebrew, Greek and English in origin and means My God is the Lord. Robert Downey Jr. Has an 18-year-old son who also has a unique name: Indio.

If you love Shakespeare, here are some names that are a little more (ahem) mainstream than Exton:

Adam – As You Like It

Angus – Macbeth

Anne – Henry VII

Anthony– Henry VII

Antonio – TheTempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Merchant of Venice

Ariel – The Tempest

Audrey – As You Like It

Beatrice – Much Ado About Nothing

Bianca – Othello

Bianca – Taming of the Shrew

Brandon– Henry VII

Cassio – Othello

Charles – As You Like It

Claudio – Much Ado About Nothing

Corin – As You Like It

Curtis – Taming of the Shrew

Dennis – As You Like It

Duncan – Macbeth

Emilia – Othello

Francisco – Hamlet

Frederick – As You Like It

Helena – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Henry – Henry VII

Iris – The Tempest

Jessica – Merchant of Venice

Joseph – Taming of the Shrew

Julia – The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Juliet – Romeo and Juliet

Katherina – Taming of the Shrew

Katherine – Henry VII

Lennox – Macbeth

Leonardo – Merchant of Venice

Malcolm – Macbeth

Margaret – Much Ado About Nothing

Miranda – The Tempest

Nathanial – Taming of the Shrew

Nerissa – Merchant of Venice

Nicholas – Taming of the Shrew

Nicholas – Henry VII

Oliver – As You Like It

Ophelia – Hamlet

Orlando – As You Like It

Patience – Henry VII

Peter – Taming of the Shrew

Phillip – Taming of the Shrew

Portia – Merchant of Venice

Romeo – Romeo and Juliet

Rosalind – As You Like It

Ross – Macbeth

Sebastian – The Tempest

Siliva – The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Stephano – Merchant of Venice

Thomas – Henry VII

William – As You Like It

 

Originally Published at Yummy Mummy Club.

More Musings about Blue Ivy

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As you get to know me, you’ll understand that I’m less interested in the celebrityishness and more about the meaning behind a name. In my previous post on Beyonce and Jay-Z’s new baby girl, Blue Ivy, I gave more attention to the significance of Ivy amid much confusion online on whether her name was Ivy Blue or Blue Ivy. Beyonce herself might both started and stopped the debate with the following Tweets.

First there was this:

And hours later, this:

Now, I’m feeling Blue.

They are not the first to use the name—that one goes to David Evans, better known as The Edge of U2, who named his daughter Blue Angel in 1989. Actress Maria Bello named her son Jackson Blue McDermott in 2001 and Alicia Silverstone named her son Bear Blu last year.
At Name Your Tune, I can tell you that we have the name Blue recorded in our catalogue which means that we have made personalized CDs for little Blues before.
Back to the newest Blue—her name likely comes from her Daddy’s affinity for the colour. He has 3 albums titled “The Blueprint” and the debut of his daughter makes 4. Yes, 4 as in IV and in Ivy. A stretch maybe…maybe not.
And what else might Blue mean? Here are 4 things:
Blue is the colour of the sky and water, it is peaceful and seemingly without end
Blue is the colour of the 3 Chakra, the Throat Chakra—it governs communication, creativity and self-expression
Blue is said to represent trust, dignity, wisdom, peace, calming and serenity
Blue is the most popular answer for people’s favourite colour
New daddy Jay-Z has already released a song on his website for his baby girl, called Glory, feat. B.I.C. (yes, Blue Ivy Carter) Here are some of the lyrics:

You’re a child of destiny
You’re the child of my destiny
You’re my child with the child from Destiny’s Child
That’s a hell of a recipe
The most amazing feeling I feel
Words can’t describe what I’m feeling for real
Baby I paint the sky blue
My greatest creation was you

What do you think?

 

Originally Published at Yummy Mummy Club.

It’s Blue Ivy for Beyonce and Jay-Z

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Beyonce announced her pregnancy at the MTV Video Awards with a not-so-subtle rub of her belly, garnering the most tweets about a specific subject in the history of Twitter. That record may have been shattered late last night when she gave birth to her daughter. An on-again, off-again insomniac, I was online when it started and within minutes it was a trending topic and was soon hailed as the youngest trending topic to date. Quite a fitting entrance for the offspring of  “The Queen of Everything” and “Hova.”

There has been much anticipation, speculation, and suggestion waiting on the announcement of the name of the baby of the entertainment world’s most successful couple.  Would her name be as “one-of-a-kind” as Beyonce or her sister Solange? Today, we have it—Blue Ivy. Not necessarily a “one-of-a-kind” name, but certainly rich with unique and very personal meaning.  Here’s the breakdown.
Ivy, as in IV, as in the Roman number 4.
“We all have special numbers in our lives and 4 is that for me. It’s the day I was born, my mother’s birthday and a lot of my friend’s birthdays; April 4th is my wedding date,”  she recently told Billboard Magazine. It’s also husband Jay-Z’s birthday, December 4th and the name of her 4th album as a solo-artist—’Four,’ released on June 4th.
The concept of naming after special numbers is not new to those who follow the trends of celebrity baby names. In July 2011, Victoria and David Beckham welcomed their first daughter, Harper Seven to their family. She weighed 7 pounds, was born in the 7th hour of the 7th month on the 7th day. The number 7 was David’s jersey number for Manchester United and the English national team.
Also in July 2011, actress Natalie Portman gave birth to her son named Alef—a name with much significance for the Jerusalem-born actress who feels a deep connection to Israel. Alef is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Soul singer Erykah Badu named her son (with Outkast’s Andre 3000) Seven, now 13 years old, explaining that 7 is a divine number and cannot be divided.
I have a soft-spot for names that are this rich with meaning.  I love that some names have legacies, traditions and sentiment to pass on.

Originally Published at Yummy Mummy Club

Happy Birthday Theo! (AKA Dr. Seuss)

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14 FACTS ABOUT DR. SEUSS’ NAME. 14 FACTS AND NONE ARE THE SAME.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Of course I’ve found some interesting facts about his name for you:

  • His name is Theodor Seuss Geisel. Theodor is his father’s name too.
  • He was known as “Ted” to his family and friends.
  • Seuss is his mother’s maiden name.
  • Seuss, as we all say it, “Seuss” is the anglicized pronunciation of the German surname that he has noted rhymes with ‘voice.’ Zoyce.
  • He, himself, switched to the anglicized pronunciation, because most people said it this way and because it rhymes with goose as in “Mother Goose.”
  • He has also written under the pen name “Theo LeSieg,” which is his last name, Geisel, spelled backwards.
  • He started using “Seuss” as a pen name in college after he was caught drinking gin in his dorm room and the Dean forced him to abandon all of his extra-curricular activities, including the college magazine that he wrote for. To get around this, he started to use “Seuss.”
  • He added the “Dr.” before he actually became one (a Doctor of Philosophy in English Literature).
  • Ted was asked why he added the title “Dr.” to his pseudonym. He replied that his father had always wanted a doctor in the family.
  • He said that he adopted the name “Dr. Seuss” because he was saving his real name for the Great American Novel that he would one day write.
  • As a cartoonist for Jack-O-Lantern, the college’s humour magazine, he began to sign his work under the mock-scholarly title of “Dr. Theophrastus Seuss.”
  • He had no children of his own although he did have an imaginary daughter that he named Chrysanthemum-Pearl. As the story goes, he made her up with a mind to silence his friends who would endlessly brag about their children. He used to include her when he signed his Christmas cards and he even dedicated his second children’s book to her “The 500 Hats of Bartholemew Cubbins (1938) “To Chrysanthemum-Pearl (aged 89 months, going on 90).
  • Ted and wife Helen made up a “code” that was a phony law firm named Grimalkin, Drouberhannus, Knalbner and Fepp, and used it for secret messages.
  • One of NASA’s deep space explorers, the Data Relay Solar Electric Utility Spacecraft (DRSEUS) is called the “Dr. Seuss.”

So…

be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray

or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,

you’re off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting.

So…get on your way!

 

Happy Birthday Theo!

 

Originally published at Yummy Mummy Club

Naima – an exotic flower in a rose garden… and on stage

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Wednesday and Thursday nights at our house are all about American Idol.

Eric makes his famous popcorn as Hannah cheers on for her favourite Idols.
This week the Idol stage was missing perhaps one of it’s most dynamic
and passionate performers of Season 10 – Naima.

My daughter, Hannah, is 8 years old and has been watching American Idol with
us for the past couple of years. If there is a common thread in the
contestants that she roots for, it is that they are parents. Last year her
pick was Crystal Bowersox, mom to a toddler. This year, from the very
start, she favoured mom of 2, Naima Adedapo.

Her personal life aside, we loved to watch her take to the stage to “make it
her own”. She put all of herself into each song and she was a joy to watch
because it was more than a song, it was a performance. Everytime, she was
undeniably “Naima”.

Being an avid connoisseur of all things to do with names, my most memorable
Naima moment came from an interaction between her and Idol judge, Jennifer
Lopez.

“You’re like an exotic flower in a rose garden,” J-Lo told her. Naima’s
surprised and proud response: “That’s what my name means!” Jennifer
responded, “that’s exactly what you are.”

In an interview Naima shared that she was named after a ballad by jazz
composer John Coltrane. He wrote the song Naima for his daughter and
named it for his wife, Juanita Naima Grubbs. Additional searches for the
meaning of her name found that her name is of Arabic origin and means
delight and contentedness.

When parents choose names for their babies, they often consider the origin
and meaning behind them. When you choose a name based on what it means, you hope that in some small way, it has an impact on who they become. For Naima Adedapo, it clearly did.