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The concept of the stage name is nothing new in entertainment. Since the beginning, some people would change their name if they thought their given name might make them sound less appealing. Keanu Reeves has said changing his name was suggested to him, though he declined. Today, actors also change their names to align with the rules of the Screen Actors Guild, which is why the actress we know as Emma Stone is actually Emily Stone. And if you ever get a chance to meet her, she’d love it if you’d call her by her given name.
SAG rules require that no two members may have the same working name. For many, this might mean adding a middle initial to their credited name, as with Michael J. Fox, or it might mean completely changing their first or last name. Michael Keaton had to change his name to prevent confusion with another star. Speaking with THR, Emma Stone says she only changed her name to comply with the rule when she started working. And recently she started asking people, especially friends like her The Curse co-star Nathan Fielder, to call her by her actual name. She explained…
When I get to know them, people that I work with do. It’s just because my name was taken [by another actress in SAG]. Then I freaked out a couple of years ago. For some reason, I was like, ‘I can’t do it anymore. Just call me Emily.’ Nathan calls me Em, which is easier.
As somebody who also goes by a first name that is not their own professionally, I know the experience of having people who call you by a name that is not your own, and how strange that can be. However, I find it an even stranger experience when different people call you different names. At this point, there are certainly more people who call Ms. Stone Emma than Emily. But Stone likes her actual name, and says that she would prefer being called Emily, even by fans asking for selfies. Fielder responds that he’ll use both her names…
- STONE: “No. That would be so nice. I would like to be Emily.”
- FIELDER “I’ll switch it up. I’m going to go back and forth.”
Many actors become so known by their chosen names that they end up legally changing their names, as Carmen Electra has done, and becoming the person they created for their careers. Emma Stone is not one of those people. She responds to Emma but it sounds like if she could just go back to being Emily Stone all the time, she would do so. So if you happen to meet her somewhere, I guess feel free to call her Emily or Emma.