What is in a name?
 

Is it possible to become a famous portrait painter with only two names? I mean, what important client would want to pay a big fee to an artist with only two names? I think that something as small as the addition of an extra initial could justify a pay increase for an artist.

The biggies in the portrait business all seem to have THREE names: Everett Raymond Kinstler, Daniel E. Greene, John Howard Sanden, Margaret Holland Sargent. Even famous masters of the past had THREE names. Peter Paul Rubens, and John Singer Sargent are the first to come to mind. Michangelo Buonarotti sounds like three names even if spelled as two. Let's face it though, the biggest stars get by with only one name: PICASSO, RAPHAEL, REMBRANDT. It's the little guys that really need those three names in order to start on the road to immortality.

Are those of us with only two paltry names doomed to obscurity until we come up with a classy sounding third name, or at least an extra interesting initial to insert somewhere?

First thing, Monday morning, I'm going shopping for an extra name or initial to add to my collection.

How about if you were me?
 

Mary Smith-DOOMED! :o

Better yet, get a Russian name.

Harley Brown tells the story of painting as a a young man in Canada, unable to sell his portraits until he adopted a Russian pseudnym. As a result he had more business than he could keep up with, and way too much confusion to keep his identity straight. (Harley Brown worked out OK for him in the long run, though.)

Chris
(Christina Sapozhnikoff)

When I introduce myself as Stanka, not only do I have to articulate clearly and make sure no one calls me Stanka with a long A.. I invariably have to answer the question, "And what's your first name..?"

At least I can weed out the telemarketers when they ask for "Kordic Stanka".

Oh, then, I run into Italians who get a real hoot out of my name because in Italian Stanka means, "very tired." (Yes I am often.)

I opted not to add my married name to the equation. Maybe I should have, just to be even more foreign sounding, interesting and totally confusing to people. (I'm married to a good Lithuanian man.) Yes indeed, a valid reason to up the fees...

Okay, as you know, I'm not a painter, however...

I wasn't even given a middle name at all! I got cheated.

Then I got cheated again because, believe it or not, my last name Daniel was from my dear Egyptian husband who passed away. You'd think I would have gotten something more exotic. You would never think "Daniel" to be Egyptian. As I'm told, his family was from the Christian tradition and this was the reason...it came from the Bible.

Some people want to pronounce it Danielle, which I actually don't mind. But, I feel it would be too contrived to start telling people to pronounce it that way.

There's times I've thought of going back to my maiden name of Secunda, which came from Hungarian Szekunda! Do you think I might increase my chances of fame? Or does this just work for artists? :)

You can perhaps imagine the trials I've went through with my name! I actually toyed with the three part name. Mine is David Wayne Dowbyhuz . Quite the syllable-salad. For a time I opted for D.W. Dowbyhuz.

The notion of credibility being attached to a name extends even to first names. I'm really a "Dave", but felt people would take a "David" more seriously. "Dave" is OK to fix your computer or your car, but you'll expect "David" to immortalize your loved one.

Well, my name is Helen Charlotte Hill.
I ALWAYS use my middle name because "Helen Hill" sounds sooo daft!!

And I'm quite miffed that I have to use it here on this board. :(
Is this the type of community where members can 'gang up' on the administrator and get rules changed? ;)
Hi Cynthia! Heh heh heh... :D

Helen

The reason I made the rule was one or two people had such long names, 1st, middle and last all long...and it completely threw off the page format of the forum. But, fact is, yours is sufficiently short, it would probably be ok if you'd like me to change it. If it doesn't throw off the page format, we can keep it.

I have to thank my dear mom for my name, or rather, for me taking it from her! Her maiden name is Redstreake, so i took it as my middle name. When I sign my paintings I just sign them 'Redstreake', short and simple. Sounds like an artist name, doncha think? It is actually a Welsh name, the name of a type of Apple. Alot of people think it is Native American. At any rate, we are the only Redstreakes in the U.S., so it works out quite nicely! :-)

I was set up at an art fair between Candi, who dotted her "i" with a heart, and Bunny who signed her paintings with the Playboy bunny logo when I thought, "...Candi and Bunny and Peggy, there's no hope for me...."

I went home and immediately changed my professional name to Margaret (not my real name...it's Peggy), Carter (my maiden name), Baumgaertner (my husband's last name...note the cool extra "e" in the middle.) Three names, respectable sounding, does the job. I do sign my paintings "Baumgaertner", all three names are too too long for a signature....

Peggy

I'm troubled by my last name being BEG. In English it sounds like I'm really low on cash. Actually, the real pronunciation is BAYG (one has to say BAY but end with a G). Who in the English speaking world would ever want to pay any price for a painting if the last name on the signature made them wince. I'm seriously thinking of using the alternative spelling - many Begs spell their names as Baig.

Another problem is that one of my wife's American friends calls me TERIYAKEE instead of Tarique. Can you imagine a portrait signed by TERIYAKEE BEG !!!!

I have some work to do here.

You needn't worry about "Beg". It is a surname virtually unknown to me (an American), and so does not invoke the connotation you fear, despite its meaning in vernacular English. I would see it and assume nothing more than a foreign (to me) heritage, which would have no negative reflection at all. I would in fact regard it interesting and intriguing.

If you're troubled by "Beg", you would do very well, I think, to adopt a one-word professional name, and sign your work as, "Tarique". We should all wish to have such an exotic and unusual name in our market. (See "Margaret" Baumgaertner's recent post, re the Cindi-Peggy-Bunny clash.)

Steven (of the Ordinary English) Sweeney (of the Extraordinary Irish)

By the way, your "wife's American friends" are teasing you. Their names are John, Bob, and Fred, I suspect. They are jealous of a moniker of weight and substance. Humor them, as relatives, but ignore their taunts.

Tarique,

I think your name Tarique is absolutely beautiful and I like Steven's idea of just using that professionally!

There's a new artist from India who will be coming on Stroke of Genius and he has a son name Prashant! That's another beautiful name!

By the way, I mentioned you to him Tarique and it seems he has heard of your family.

Pet peeve
 

A pet peeve of mine is how we seem to be obsessed in this country with making a nickname out of almost every name. Yet, in every case I can find, I think the full name is more beautiful.

Catherine, Richard, William, Kenneth, Frederick, Candace are all more beautiful to me than Cathy, Rich or Dick, Bill or Billy, Ken or Kenny, Fred or Freddy, Candy. In fact, we seem to have an "ie" and "y" fascination in this country! :)

All my life, I was called Cindy, but at 35, I went to my full name of Cynthia...just didn't feel like a "Cindy" anymore.

How do you all feel about this? Or am I just being a snob?

Gee!

I hadn't given it much thought before but how does James Singer Riley sound?

James Singer Riley sounds very elegant!

All my life people have wanted to put an h in my name...Marta to Martha. Even the IRS! I do like the name in some ways....I mean if someone says "I ran into Marta yesterday", no one ever says "Marta who.?" It is not a name I run into very often.

I love the Prime name. It is my married name. I always kid my husband that I married him for his name! When I am introduced as a speaker in front of a group where I work, they say, "And now for a little Prime Time!" It works.

But as an Artist I don't know. My maiden name is Hamilton. Another good old English name. However, Marta Hamilton Prime does not roll trippingly off the tongue. So I sign them Marta Prime...should I just use one name?

Steven

I was having a little fun with my name, and though I might make a few spelling adjustments to it, so as to make it more presentable (purely for professional reasons), I'm too thick skinned to take offense at being referred to as Teriyaki. In fact, I thought it was a rather amusing, imaginative, and appetizing variation on my name.

In the same spirit, let me share with you all an anecdote I was told is true by a very honest looking gentleman from the old country. Apparently, the current Prime Minister of India was visiting New York in the old days when he was a Cabinet Minister, or perhaps a Member of Parliament. As his grace attempted to cross a street, he failed to see the "do not walk" traffic light. A New York cop quite unceremoniously herded his grace back to the curb. Infuriated, his grace yelled, "do you know you are talking to ATAL BIHARI BAJPAI !!!". The New York copy calmly replied, "Sir, I have no idea what kind of PIE you are, but if you get hit by a New York cab, you will surely be MINCE PIE". This is just another one of those instances where a name in one language is mistaken for an edible in another.


Cynthia.

I think Cynthia Daniel is definitely very elegant. It just sounds so famous. You're right about y and ie put on to names. I mean, it's hard to imagine when Fredie or Tommy won a war or lead their nation into a new era.

Prashant in Sanskrit means serene, tranquil, etc., so that is a beautiful name for sure. The female version is Prashanti. Sanskrit is about 4000 years or more old, from the time some Central Europeans (Aryans) migrated to India, so many of the ancient linguistic roots are surprisingly similar to those found in European languages.

In the early to mid 70's I went to the New Dehli College of Art in India, so it's possible that the Indian Artist you mention was in Delhi around that time.

Tarique

Tarique, I'm glad you said that...we have a friend named Yogesh that we fondly refer to as "Yogurt". Naturally his English is perfect and our Gujarati is pathetic. He frequently gives our names a foreign sounding tongue twist to tease us back and it is all in good fun.

I loved your story about Atal Bihari Bajpai and will pass it on!

Maybe you can join the elite by signing "B.E.G." to your paintings. This will allow your clients to assume that the letters represent the "classy-3-name-requirement" that will grarantee fame and fortune in this business.

Artists and others
 

Forgive for pointing this out but there is another group of people who are refered to with three names; famous criminals.

Artists and criminals are we to be forever grouped together?

Tarique,

The artist's name is Arul Raj and you can see his work at http://www.arulrajpaintings.com. Perhaps you know of him also.

and
 

I also use 3 names because i want to be distinct from the other "Tim Tylers" out there in the business. There are at least 4 pro artists with that name. I can't order art supplies with just my name there are too many. So if I pay for the promo, I want to be sure who gets the credit.

I sound defensive huh? Sorry. :sunnysmil

Karin,

Actually, in India my full name was Mirza Asadullah Tarique Beg. Likewise, my sister in India is Amina Razia Rafatnaaz Begum. Although, there is a lot of history behind these names if one gets into it, I felt mine was too sleep inducing for this part of the world. So, I shortened it.

On the other hand, if I ever got to paint some of them wealthy oil sheikh dudes, who are into Far Eastern history etc. I could get paid a couple of extra grand for each name, depending on how history crazy the Sheikh was.

By the way, your friend Yogurt, er..., I mean Yogesh is no less than a God. That's right, in Sanskrit Yogesh means "The GOD of YOGA". Hey, even "God of Yogurt" is not too bad as long as you're a God. If only Yogesh were into portraits, they could actually be signed by a God!. Wow, I'm sure a lot of people would cough up big dinero for that signature.

Tarique

Cynthia

I checked out Arul's site. It seems he was in Delhi around the same time I was there. From 1971 to 1980. Actually, our family was somewhat well known in New Delhi, because my dad was a Supreme Court judge there, who went on to become the Chief Justice of India in 1978. There was much controversy in New Delhi at that time, since Mrs. Gandhi appointed my dad over another senior judge who only had a month left for retirement. In 1978 when, our president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (who Arul painted) expired, my dad, being the fourth citizen of India, was summoned to the Parliament as a standby, in case something happened to the Vice President, who temporarily took over the president's office - the order of precedence is Prime Minister, President, Vice President, and Chief Justice.

We have a mixture of British Parliamentary and US Presidential democracy. The Indian President is the head of the armed forces, but otherwise is a figure head for the most part. The Prime Minister holds governing power. My dad, then swore in the next president of India, Gyani Zail Singh in 1978. So, for a while in those days we were in the news off and on, but not in a big way, because the Judiciary is expected to excercise a certain objective sobriety and isolate itself from political leanings and the general commotion that sometimes goes on in the House of Commons where some neophyte ministers settle differences by throwing slippers and shoes at one another.

Arul it seems also painted Mrs. Gandhi and other officials whom we occasionally met at official gatherings and have therefore known our family. So, it must have been in those days that he heard of us. Although I don't remember his name in The Delhi College Of Art (actually the best painters never went to Art School), I do once remember visiting a painter who had done an outstanding full length portrait of Nehru (Mrs. Gandhi's father). But again that artist was middle aged then which would make him in his seventies today.

My Dad (1913 - 1989)

Tarique,

Thank you for the link on your Dad. I will read it!

I shrieked with laughter about "throwing slippers and shoes". That's too much!

This is such a funny thread. Another great topic from Karin!..

Back to the nickname thing we Americans have a liking for..I've noticed that in my son's Kindergarten class there are names such as..Nathaniel, Alexandra, Jeffrey, Andrew, Victoria...and none of them go by nicknames at all. Can you imagine the signatures on their art projects? Just spelling their names take up the whole picture. ;) I think the "spell" might be broken by this generation.