Names Archives

How to choose your stage name?

Derek asks the Merchant of Magic team:

‘When it comes to magicians names what is the best route for coming up with one?

My initial thought is take my inspirations and use those to form a name, for example, my son’s name as the first name, and then maybe someone who has inspired me with their performance or dedication to magic for the surname (Wayne Dobson or Jeff McBride for example).’

What should you call yourself as a magician? That’s a tough question to answer. Do you keep your own name or try to pick another as your magicians stage name?

Reasons to use a magicians stage name

The most crucial factor is that YOU are happy with the name you choose to use for your magic. Answer these questions:

Do you currently feel uncomfortable saying your name when you introduce yourself before performing, and at the end of your show?
Are people spelling your name incorrectly when they write it down or search for it online?
Is your name so common that you don’t come up on the first page of Google when people search for it like this: ‘your name magician’?
Is your name already being used by another entertainer?
Do you want to have a strong distinction between your personal life and your professional life online and in the media?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, then you may want to consider using a magicians stage name. Here’s a few tips:

Is your magicians name memorable?

A magicians stage name needs to be memorable. After all, it’s the most valuable thing you want your audience to remember once you have impressed them. If you have a particularly common name, it may be worth changing one part of it, to something easy to remember. Picking words that have a clear visual association can improve this. For example, surnames like Diamond, London, Paris, Star, Black all provide strong visual cues to memory.

Spelling mistakes.

Can any of the words in your magicians name be misspelled or pronounced easily? Are there variations on how they are written? You need to make it easy for people to type your magicians name correctly into Google when they search for you.

Short or long magicians names?
This doesn’t matter too much. Think about Engelbert Humperdinck (Arnold George Dorsey). Short names tend to be more common, so less unique, but a long name runs a greater risk of being mistyped more often.

Using another magician or entertainers name.

There are exceptions, but generally this is not a good idea. There was a trend in the last century to add a ‘dini’ after magicians names in honor of Houdini, but doing that can add a preconception about you and your magic that may work against you. Be unique. It’s OK to take a name from another aspect of your life or interests, but suggesting a comparison between you and a famous magician, suggests you are a clone, rather than something unique in your own right. Try to stay out of someones shadow.

Magic Stan, Magic Colin, Magic Mark…..

Hmm. The easy option, and tempting as it defines what you do. However, it depends on your target market. For close-up magicians, it can come across as a little ‘cheap’. For children’s entertainers, these names work well as they are uncomplicated and easy to remember, and you only compete in a local market. But do you truly want to be one of 20 other people using the same name.

It’s all about search.

It’s vital that you search Google to check out your new name. Look for a name that has little competition. An unusual name will make it easy for you to be the number one search result when people type in your name. That’s incredibly valuable to your magicians advertising!

Simplify your existing name.

For a magicians stage name, you could try simplifying your current name.

Yves Saint Laurent (Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent)
Rudolph Valentino (Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina D’Antonguolla)

Anglicize your magicians name.

This is controversial, but many entertainers decide to change their name to market towards a western audience. To do this, they edit any ethnic or hard to pronounce words into shorter and easy to remember versions.

Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara)
Charlie Sheen (Carlos Irwin Estevez)
Anthony Quinn (Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca)
Raquel Welch (Jo Raquel Tejada)

Use a single name.

This worked well for Dynamo. A good memorable single name can be extremely powerful. Single names run a risk of sounding contrived, so it’s essential that they do match you. Dynamo defused this by having a nice back story about how he was given the ‘nickname’ by a famous spectator that saw him perform. This communicates that he originally used his own name, and the tag was pushed onto him. This prevents him seeming egotistical, which would damage, his ‘up from the streets through hard work’ persona.

Morphing your magicians name to an image.

You could choose a magicians name that relates to the scene or culture you want to be identified with. For example, the name Carrot Top provides a decidedly different impression and image than Marilyn Manson.

Pick a negative word to feature in your magicians name.

For some personas, such as dark magic or mentalism, you could communicate an intimidating or dark persona. Using a word like “Night” or “Black” in your magicians name may do this.