It cracks me up when people think I named myself after a Toyota. Growing up, I spent my summers at the Jersey Shore…and Avalon is one of my favorite barrier islands south of Atlantic City, north of Cape May. Regardless, after I tell a customer my name is “Avalon” their immediate reaction is “So what’s your real name?” I have learned how to respond appropriately to push the Friendship Hot Button.
Other stage names I have used
1. Angel, at the Spearmint Rhino in Upland
2. Britney, at Mr Js in Costa Mesa
3. Ireland at Pleasures in Pasadena, Cheetahs, OG, and CH2 in Vegas. Don’t ask me how I came up with Ireland…it just sounded good at the time and it doubled up as my fake last name. So if Britney was taken, I could usually use Ireland
4. BritneyIreland, at Boys Toys and Hustler in San Francisco. Also my first website and StripperWeb handle. The two names just sounded good together.
5. Becky at OG…a couple of times both Britney and Ireland were being used that night.
6. Rebecca at Spearmint Rhino in Vegas. I told ‘em my real name was Britney when they didn’t believe me that my name was Rebecca.
7. Avalon since November 2002 at Christie’s, Treasures, and Babes. Online handle is AzAvalon on many social networking sites.
8. Avalon Vigglioti. I received a personal check one time to Avalon and I didn’t know how to cash it. So I opened up a business bank account under that name. The full story on Vigglioti is here.
9. Rebecca Avalon is the latest incarnation of my stage name. Adam Sternberg actually created that one when he put my bio on the old www.dancerwealth.com website. I liked it. And it follows the rules I discuss above and in today’s DancerWealth lesson.
So what’s the story behind your current stage name?
Makenzie was my name when I performed some internet modeling/adult films. It just stuck. EVeryone thinks I look like a Makenzie and loves my name because it’s unique. I wanted something that could be real (keeping with my vow to be real), not something stupid like Candy or Star.
10 years ago it wouldn’t have been believable….but “Makenzie” has definitely climbed the list of more popular girls names. Here is the 2009 List http://www.babycenter.com/popularBabyNames.htm?year=2009
“Madison” (the name on my first fake ID I picked when I was 17) and “Sapphire” are more popular than “Rebecca”
I always think of the Roxy Music song before the Jersey Shore. I bet you get the occasional guy singing to you.
I’ve had many stage names: Lucky (the original) followed by Rogue, Heather, Tuesday, Selkie, Gwynn, Bianca, Scarlett (followed by a reincarnation of Rogue in PHX which was followed by the release of the Nissan “Rogue”. It’s hard to find a stage name that ISN’T a car….I actually knew a “Camry” once…I didn’t get it…wouldn’t you pick a NICE car??? Anyway…) and now Sway. Sway was actually a girl I worked with in TX several years ago and I always loved the name. She got it from “Gone in 60 Seconds”. I figured after 8 years, the statute of limitations on stealing stage names was up. Most people say, “Sway…I like that.” I usually tell them my real name is Angela, because my actual real name is less believeable than Sway…(Lucretia)
I was Nadia when I first started because it was exotic and people thought I looked Russian. This lasted for about 2 weeks.
When I worked at Cheetahs most of the stage names I wanted were taken. I decided to use my middle name of Danielle and abbreviate it to Dani. I was Dani for 3 years
I then wanted to use my real name when I worked being that I like it, It’s who I have been for 25 years and it suits me so I am now Kristine. It’s also spelled differently so some people think it’s still a stripper name. This is who I am why be someone else?
I think it really does make a difference when you can establish that kind of trust and rapport from the start it lets the customer know that you are not going to take advantage of him something that sadly a lot of customers deal with in strip clubs these days.
I always liked the name Madison for some reason also.Annabelle too.
With Love,
Kristine
Doug Rogers is my stage and business name because my given name is too hard to pronounce. While I am very proud of my heritage, I felt that an anglocised stage name with three syllables is much easier to remember than a five syllable name that can be easily butchered.
I get the occasional guy who brings up Roxy Music (which I of course have on my favorite Sirius Satellite Radio list) Most of the time, they respond “Like the Toyota?”
I was Foxy when I first started because I had a necklace with the name on it but people kept calling me Roxy and Ive always hated the name Roxy so when I moved to a more upscale club I changed my name to Aspen after my favourite comic book character who I now have tattooed on my arm. After that, I have no idea, I think I was a Summer once because I lived in England and its cold and miserable there. Now, Im Toni, which is my second name, so when people ask me what my real name is, I can tell them that is my real name without lieing. I will never know why guys keep asking me what my real name is, it doesnt matter what it is. I get called Toni the Temptress, Toni the Tease, Toni the Torturer and Toni Pepperoni. I chose it because Im not a girly girl, so it suits my brash attitude.
Sandi is my flirt chat stage name (it was given to me). “Sandi like the Gold Coast beaches” <– hahaha.
Ultimately I’ve always stuck with my real name. It’s only my first name so I’ve never had a problem with stalkers or safety or anything. I must be one of the rare few strippers who has never have a stalker problem or any safety issues really.. and use my real first name. Vanessa.
C’mon. It’s perfect: Vanessa The Undresser
When I started to become a showgirl I wanted a last name so I’ve been Vanessa Stacy for ages. It almost feels like my real name even tho’ the Stacy part is completely made up!
I’ve also been briefly Nessie or Nessa (to get around someone else already using the name Vanessa), Trinity (even tho’ all the patrons called me Trudy so that got nixed pretty quickly!) and even using Stacy one time (felt too weird to use my stage ‘last name’ so I nixed that too).
My back up nowadays is to use a derivative of my real name: Vanna, Nessa, Nessie, Van, Vee
My burlesque stage name on the other hand doesn’t have to be anywhere NEAR real! Ah.. the joys of Burlesque… but I chose Lady Vee none-the-less! HAHAHAHA