Name-Droppers: A Compendium of Notable Individuals Who Changed Their Given Names

Updated yet again, with now almost 1,000 entries This amusing encyclopedia of names lists those individuals who have changed their given names - not last names, or entire names, and especially not stage names and pseudonyms, but the more interesting and quirky changes of first names, nicknames and initials that become the person's best-known identity.

From Buzz Aldrin to Steve Young, from Jacqueline Bisset to Frank Lloyd Wright, from no fewer than six US Presidents to a dozen hockey players born "Joseph," Name-Droppers tracks, lists and explains the journey from birth name to famous name for over 970 people. No other reference sifts out these strange and unusual given-name choices and changes from mundane stage and pen names

You'll never watch one of Tom Connery or Bill Pitt's movies the same way again, or listen to Troyal Brooks or Audrey Hill sing your favorite country song... much less forget that there's only one Roger in Pink Floyd, and it's not Mr. Waters. And who's hiding behind D.H., E.E., E.G. or even J.R.R.? (Sometimes... nobody )

Discover the power given-name changes have to shape our perception of performers, writers, politicians and sports figures... and scratch your head over some of the more unusual choices famous figures have made for their public names.

Now includes lists by category so you can search for these unusual name changes by group