I think the issue is people getting hung up on the gender identity, not the name. I have known lots of people who go by preferred names, whether chosen themselves or given to them by friends as nicknames. Hell, there are a few people I knew for years only by their preferred name/nickname without realizing it wasn’t their given name.
And stage names make a lot of sense from a practical standpoint. Being famous by your given name can make it hard to separate professional life from personal life.
Don’t know if it’s the case in her situation, but there’s also the thing with stage names where Guild rules require names to be unique. Like Michael J. Fox’s middle name is actually Andrew. There was already a Michael Fox on the books so couldn’t use that, Andrew or Andy Fox didn’t feel right, and Michael A. Fox felt presumptuous (Michael, a fox. Fox having recently come into play as a synonym for attractive) or Canadian (Michael Eh? Fox)
This is why in The Simpson you will see David S. Cohen and in Futurama he is David X. Cohen. I think in a Futurama commentary he told about confusion in a guild or royalty payments that made him change how he was credited.
I think the issue is people getting hung up on the gender identity, not the name. I have known lots of people who go by preferred names, whether chosen themselves or given to them by friends as nicknames. Hell, there are a few people I knew for years only by their preferred name/nickname without realizing it wasn’t their given name.
And stage names make a lot of sense from a practical standpoint. Being famous by your given name can make it hard to separate professional life from personal life.
Don’t know if it’s the case in her situation, but there’s also the thing with stage names where Guild rules require names to be unique. Like Michael J. Fox’s middle name is actually Andrew. There was already a Michael Fox on the books so couldn’t use that, Andrew or Andy Fox didn’t feel right, and Michael A. Fox felt presumptuous (Michael, a fox. Fox having recently come into play as a synonym for attractive) or Canadian (Michael Eh? Fox)
This is why in The Simpson you will see David S. Cohen and in Futurama he is David X. Cohen. I think in a Futurama commentary he told about confusion in a guild or royalty payments that made him change how he was credited.
100% agree. If whoopi goldberg had chose their name for gender purposes, i could see them getting hate and being told it’s a stupid reason etc.