Editing Stage name (section)

== Ease of use ==
Another consideration in choosing a stage name is the ease of use. The [[Actors' Equity Association]] (AEA) advises performers to select a name that is easy for others to pronounce, spell, and remember. Some performers, while paying great attention to their skills and abilities, give little thought to the difference that a well-thought-out name can make to their career. Often a person or group decides on a different name only after they realize that a poorly chosen name gives a bad impression.

Actor [[Michael Caine]] was born Maurice Micklewhite and chose his new first name because he preferred the sound of it to the less glamorous-sounding "Maurice".{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}} He reputedly chose the surname "Caine" because, while deciding on a new surname, he looked across the street and saw a cinema advertising the film ''[[The Caine Mutiny (1954 film)|The Caine Mutiny]]''. He later joked that he would be called "Michael [[One Hundred and One Dalmatians|The One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]" if he had looked in the other direction.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/1998/nov/06/1|title=Michael Caine (I)|author=Guardian Staff|date=1998-11-06|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-07-05|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Actor [[Pete Postlethwaite]] was advised to change his surname by peers who quipped that it "would never be put [[Marquee (sign)|up in lights outside theaters]] because they couldn't afford the electricity", but he decided to keep it.<ref name="Postlethwaitename">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-jan-04-la-me-pete-postlethwaite-20110104-story.html|title=Pete Postlethwaite dies at 64; actor was nominated for an Oscar for 'In the Name of the Father'|author=McLellan, Dennis|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=January 4, 2011|access-date=June 25, 2013}}</ref> In a similar situation, [[Doris Day]] (born Doris Kappelhoff) was told by a bandleader that her name would never fit on the marquee, and she thus took the surname "Day" because the song "Day By Day" had become one of her signature tracks.