I don’t normally watch TV during the day simply because there usually isn’t anything on and it’s proven to be more of a distraction but today I turned it on and with it on I was flipping the channel and heard someone say they named their daughter Shaneekwa. This of course caught my attention. Turns out the show on the Tyra Banks show today was about names and how people who give their kids stupid fucking names like Tyneka, Moneeka, Rayshalona or Diededra.
This was interesting that I would happen to see a show about names when this very subject would arrive in my email box today. The other day I asked why Teagan Presley was no longer using her full name. It annoyed me but not as much as people like August Night doing it. Marketing wise, it just doesn’t make sense to do something like that as it’s much easier to market someone with a first and last name. Teagan Presley however may be the rare exception to that simply because her first name is so extremely unique as it is. She told me in her email that she a) owns her own name, full Teagan Presley and not anyone else. She is on very good terms with Digital Playground and that she is the one who chose to rename herself based on how many other stars are now using the same last name. She was trying to avoid any confusion.
It’s sort of like Beyonce. Sure you know she has a last name but if you just say her first name you know who people are talking about just the same. That isn’t really the case with most other first name actresses like Peaches or Princess.
Porn Stars tend to pick similar names for some reason. For example there is Carly Parker, Charlie Parker and a Casey Parker. There is a Lacey Love of the Love Twins and a Lacey Luv. Why the fuck would you do this? This makes bad marketing sense. If there is already a girl named Casey Parker, why name yourself Carly Parker? And even worse if there is already a Devon, why the fuck would you name yourself Devon? Here is a great example of this very issue. There is Devon who is a former Vivid Girl and Penthouse Pet and star of movies like Club Devon, Commercial World or Devon Sent, who’s a hot little blonde who’s been in the business some 10 years now. And then there is some new chick. Well not “new”, as by the looks of her she’s about a full decade older than the real Devon and a brunette. She’s in the movie Her First Lesbian Sex 13 and also Housewife Bangers 8 which includes a photo of her on the box cover and you can at least see that the Devon in this movie isn’t THE Devon. However that is not the case in the other movies she is in and those fans of the real Devon looking to buy a new movie with their favorite porn star will get their hands on this and go WTF? Where the fuck is Devon? They might be a little pissed and then return it to where they bought it and then the vendor who sold it will be a little pissed that they have used product they can’t resell but had to fucking take it back because the box said one person starred in it but that person wasn’t in it. In reality it was some nobody, brunette chick and not the famous porn star Devon. So now they return it to their wholesaler who is really fucking not happy about this shit and it goes on and on. Now people are more and more hesitate to book girls with similar names because the people buying the movies are saying we won’t stock movies with <insert fake namer here> in it because it costs us to much money in restocks. So now the girls are getting less and less work because of the issue of their name. Sure some companies may book them but eventually it will become more of a problem.
So again, who’s really benefiting from this name issue? The girls who may get less work? Their managers or booking agents who now get less money because they can’t book them on as many jobs? How to fix this? USE FUCKING LAST NAMES ALREADY. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST HOW COMPLICATED IS THIS?
So back to Teagan. You may remember from earlier she said she stopped using the name Teagan on her own because to many other pornstars were using it. So how many porn stars really use the name Presley? Well as it turns out, quite a few. There is Dragana Presley, Francine Presley, Heather Presley, Jenna Presley (who besides Teagan seems to be most active), Mia Presley, Presley Maddox, Susan Presley, Teagan Presley, Texas Presley, Bob presley, Daisy Presley, Dale Presley, Franklin Presley, Presley Snait and Seth Presley, That’s just insane.
I think it’s just crazy how many girls don’t stop and think when it comes to picking a name and even more insane that porno companies, booking agents, managers or PR reps don’t take the time out to teach these new girls what it takes to be a porn star and by that I mean the business side of things. They should teach them about how to pick a good name, why it’s important to have a unique name, how to secure your name as a domain name before others do.
I really like your site. I especially like the advice you gave to new actresses. One thing you might want to remind them that when choosing a name not to use any registered trademarks like Lexus Locklear did.
That right, I completely forgot about that. When picking a name don’t use a name that someone else already owns such as Lexus, Merdeces, Toyota, Bratz or Barbie. If a company and / or popular product uses the name best not to risk it.