Stage names

Comedians and actors have used alternative, professional names - or 'stage names', different from their real, legal names - for not just decades, but centuries.

For some, like Sarah Millican, it's a simple case of becoming famous and sticking with your previous real name after marriage and/or divorce. But for others it can be part of a whole adopted persona: one that can, in some instances, merge back into real life and even end up becoming the performer's real, legal name.

With the rise in comic talent originating in the nickname-orientated online spaces, from social media to gaming (some examples even having their own fun nick generator), there's a good chance the trend will only continue to grow in the coming years.

Here are a few notable comedy names, past and present, who've adopted a stage name for one reason or another:

Roy Chubby Brown

Blue stand-up Roy 'Chubby' Brown's real name was made famous by the sitcom-cum-sketch show The League Of Gentlemen, the eponymous comedy group adopting it for the name of their fictional and deeply odd northern town: Royston Vasey.

Shappi Khorsandi

Shappi's name is an interesting entry in the list, adopted as a shortened, Anglicised simplification of her Persian real name. She's now readopted that real name - Shaparak - professionally and uses it for all her endeavours, including recent book Scatter Brain.

Dan Leno

One of popular comedy's earliest stars, George Galvin was known throughout Victorian Britain and Ireland as the stage's premier comic and musical comedy actor. The origin of his adopted forename 'Dan' is unknown, but Leno was the surname of his step-father's own music hall act, William Leno. His biological father John and mother Louisa had themselves performed ion the halls, adopting the name of "Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Wild".

Morecambe & Wise

The greatest double act of all time were in fact largely concocted names: born Eric Bartholomew and Ernest Wiseman, Ernie's name is a simple shortening, whilst Eric's adopted surname is that of his home town, Morecambe, on the Lancashire coast. Both are believed to have changed their legal names to match their better-known stage identities.

Lee Mack

Stand-up comedian and sitcom star Lee Mack also hides behind a shortening: his real surname is McKillop.

Marie Lloyd

Another star of the Victorian music hall, Lloyd (1870 - 1922) was a comic, actress and singer noted in particular for her comedic - and often rather suggestive - musical ditties. Her full, real name was the somewhat intriguing 'Matilda Alice Victoria Wood', and although she used it for the very earliest performances in her long career, changed her professional name to Marie Lloyd in the summer after her sixteenth birthday. In the same year, 1886, she had a huge popular hit with The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery. 'Marie' was reportedly chosen for its slightly posh French sound, whilst 'Lloyd' was adopted from a newspaper of the time.

Vic Reeves

Unlike his erstwhile comedy partner Bob Mortimer - a very simple hypocorism of his real name, Robert - Jim Moir is the man behind the moniker. Moir has spent the last 15 years increasingly distancing himself from his stage name, embarking on other endeavours - such as straight acting, television presenting and establishing himself as a respected artist - under his real name.