Why am I stuck in magician Hell?

What's in a name?

Well for starters all of your personality and pretty much the first impression. Going by my stage name has it's drawbacks but there is no pretense about what yer getting. Choosing something a tad more inconspicuous can be handy and not at the same time. If it sounds too normal you might be perceived as just another nameless/ faceless magician. Copperfield was an already known name from a book. Instilled curiosity what that might be about. Houdini was a conglomerate of two other names. It was unique and invited further investigation.

A name has to have a bit of pop or roll off the tongue gently. "Penn and Teller"; what do these names say to you? If you have never heard of them.. well nothing. If you know it you know it well. Had it been Charlie and Frank, well that would be a different story. They happened to be born with interesting names (First and last respectively.) Are you that lucky? If yer name is John, Bob, Mary, or some other sundry name.. possibly not. If yer first name is a bit bland you can try to spice it up with a last name. For example Misty of MistyLee.com added Lee to a name that was common in the 80's. It's a normal sounding name, buy also sounds like a bit more.

What spawned this post was another on the Ellusionist forums. Here is what was transcribed by me...

Performer names are all depending on the character you want to come across as. Bizzaro was created as a pure accident. I was 13 and said "That looked Bizzaro.. hmm that sounds kool." and voila. I didn't mean for it to be so fitting as the demented stuff came later (And later found out that Bizarro was a Superman villain AND comic strip. Luckily I was a public skool child and didn't know how to spell. When I found out the real spelling it was already too late.)

One of my associates developed his from his middle name and just putting a finger in the phone book.. he got Glenn Claxton. I know someone who liked wolves and became Kurtis Wolfe. (Curtis being his first name)

So inspiration can come from anywhere. If you chose a unique multi-word performing name it might get shortened. McBride, Copperfield, Blaine. They all have first names but it's the LAST name that sells it. Houdini, Keller, Dante. All dead. Also all one word names.

In the end it's not just yer name, it's if you can sell that name... but it helps to have one that is memorable and easy to spell.

Too bad I went to public skool hunh?