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“What’s in a name,” a famous poet once asked. “A rose by any other would smell as sweet?” You guys know me not to be all philosophical, but I think that there is something to be said about this nugget of wisdom.
So, do names in porn matter that much?
You might be surprised, but, yes, they absolutely do. In fact, picking and sticking to a smut name is crucial to being able to establish a brand and sell yourself as a porn performer.
Yes, there are those in the business who just have their names given to them or work out a name with the help of their agent or director. Then there the tradition of picking a porn name based on a simple formula: the first name is your childhood pet; the last name is the street you grew up on.
I have found more often than not, that the best babes in the business know why they want to go into porn and how they are going to label their character. And these days, with tens of thousands of models performing these days, it is more important than ever to pick a standout name.
After all, even if you are the living embodiment of sex on a stick, it is going to be hard to stick out from the competition if your name involves something like Love, Sweet, Kandy, or Star? Besides, just as porn is all about versatility and individuality, I think that a stage name should be a reflection of this.
Performers these days seem to be aware of this and have some interesting, not to mention funny backstories.
Leya Falcon
This moniker is surprisingly straight forward. The first comes from Princess Leia referring to the Star Wars character with the spelling changed to avoid a suit from The Mouse.
(You guys know who, or rather what organization I’m talking about.)
Anyway, her surname is based on the icon spaceship from the same series. Strangely, I have not been able to find her doing any sci-fi parody porn. But if you wankers are aware of any, send me a link, please, and thank you.
Trillium
It takes one helluva a personality, not to mention other visually delectable assets, to be able to perform under and get famous with a single name. This is especially true when that name, or rather title, sounds like an element that would power a starship or something.
However, women like Ms. Trillium prove that is indeed possible.
When getting into doing adult movies, she asked her mom for a “performers name” – I don’t think she knew it was for porn XD – and she got a fat stack of potential names. When looking through it, they decided to go with Trillium.
April O’Neil
Speaking of nerdy names, O’Neil picked her name based on the one female character of note in the Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. Not only is this name based on the actress’s own interests but also to stand apart from the cum-petition. To paraphrase April’s position, why be a Kandy Hart when you can be named after a hot reporter who hangs out with dope-ass, diapsid ninjas?
Belle Knox
The stage name of the (in)famous Mariam Weeks is a mix of cuteness and craziness. Belle comes from Miriam’s two favorite movie characters from the children’s cartoon Beauty and the Beast and the UK drama Diary of a Call Girl.
Knox refers to one Amanda Marie Knox was the prime suspect in the murder of Meredith Kercher. I’m not sure what that says about this sexy starlet, and other people have wondered why she named herself after an exonerated murder suspect. When asked in interviews, Weeks has said that she finds Amanda Knox’s story to be “so fascinating.”
Levi Karter
This world-famous performer, in some ways, picked his name a bit randomly. When getting into the industry, he picked a porn name while smoking with his friends. The only constraint they worked under: the letters had to match the L and K tattoos he already had, which led to Levi Karter.
Nina Hartley
This legendary lady was arguably one of the first to put the thought into her name so she could market herself to a global audience.
I say this because ‘Nina’ was a name ending in a vowel, and therefore easy for Japanese tourists to pronounce. For context, Hartley started out as a stripper in San Francisco, which in the ’80s had a lot of Japanese tourists.
Further, her first name is apparently an homage to a region of Germany which har family is from. Speaking of family, rather than try to shy away from her ‘real’ family name, Hartley is based on her legal surname Hartmann.
Jenna Jameson
Being perhaps one of the most recognizable porn names ever – which is surely one of the reasons it is so memorable – Jameson’s name has a short but neat story behind it. Like other performers, Jenna mixed parts of her legal name and added an aspect about herself when making her adult moniker.
She was born Jenna Marie Massoli, The Queen of Porn to-be was originally adopt the last name James, but considered it to be too porn-y. Instead, she picked Jameson because it was still alliterative and is also the same name as her favorite whiskey.
Need a laugh? Here are some of the funniest fap film star names
If it not already obvious, to be successful, most porn stars brand themselves with a name which fits their personality, or at the very least their porn persona. However, there are plenty of people who pick some porn-y, and certainly funny names. Here are my favorite comedic porn monikers…
Ginger Vitis
I was not able to find a reason why this woman decided to name herself after a vicious form of tooth decay. However, don’t let that put you off this red hot redhead’s work. She is not as famous as some of the other girls on this list, but her cavity-free videos are worth looking up.
Ben Dover
Yes, such a porn name actually exists (surprised?) but has been used by a few different performers. Currently, this alias is being used by a gay-for-pay performer who has and continues to be working since 2016.
However, I am sure you would be more interested in the two famous heterosexual performers. One of whom was doing adult films from the ’90s until 2017. The other veteran Dover, also known as Ray Wells, has done 172 videos starting in 1974 and has worked with industry legends like Hyapatia Lee and Laurie Smith. If you like the vintage smut, look up his work.
Anita Softwood
I’m sure it’s obvious to most of you, but those for whom it is not, this name is meant to be hilarious and ironic. Again her work is a bit more obscure, but if you do enough digging, you should be able to find some decent fap material of this dark-haired girl working hard to get firm flesh poles.
Those are just a few of my favorite names, and I know there are more out there. If you feel like sharing some of yours, send me a message, and I might do a follow up on the funniest porn alter egos.
If you are starting in the porn industry here’s how to pick one
I already brought up one of the typical formulas used when picking a name, but there are a few other things you should consider if you are thinking about getting into the business. For one ignore common names, so you do not have to worry about competing with established pros in the memory of consumers and on search engines.
Speaking of search engines, you are also going to want to make sure that your name is not too difficult to spell. I’ll also add that you are not going to make a name too long, either. This can be hard for viewers to remember, and as Kagney Linn Karter has pointed out, it can become tiring to signing autographs.
To make doing all of these things easier, I would use iadf.com as a resource that has nearly every adult performer who has been on screen in the last forty years. Another thing you can do is type your prospective name into your favorite search engine ‘+porn’ to see if anyone has already taken it.
But if you have not noticed a larger theme here, a good porn name is a reflection of the kind of performer you are.
Need more advice about getting into porn?
Obviously, there is a helluva lot more to it when it comes to making it big in the adult entertainment industry. There are tons of planning that you have to do, other ways to brand yourself, and health and safety concern to be, well, considered.
But don’t let that stand in the way of getting your start in the smut business. Fortunately for all of you aspiring fap film stars, I have written extensively about how to get into the business and succeed in another recent blog post.
ThePornDude’s final words
When it comes to studios to work for, there are so many these days. In fact, there are almost too many to mention. However, if I had to give a list of a few, or rather, several dozen, here are the premium sites which you gals should apply to first.
If you get work with any of them, let me know include some links to your work. As usual, if I am impressed, I’ll give you a shoutout on my blog.
