MONONYMS: why are so many female singers known by a single name?

It's true though, isn't it? Melanie, Sonia, Sabrina, Estelle, Adele, Maureen, etc etc. Of late, we can add Cheryl to the list.

Whereas far fewer male singers known by a single name. Why? Is there anything sexist about it? (my suspicion: yes). What's the deal?

Discuss....

gee hmm i wonder

grandpoint genie had a correct suspicion

OK, but why? Why do the record company bosses / impresarios whatever think it is desirable for surnames to be dropped by the women on their roster?

Who are Sonia, Sabrina, Estelle, Maureen, and Cheryl?

Sonia, 30th anniversary of this in June.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/52/You%27ll_never_stop_me_loving_you.jpg

Don’t know Maureen, am guessing Cheryl has been known by two surnames.

More for the pile: Madonna, Cher, Sia, Shakira, Sade, Jewel, sometimes Kylie.

Counterpoints: Fabian, Sylvester, Donovan, Prince, Liberace, Morrissey, Usher, Beck.

Rollo and Dido cancel each other out.

Bono
Sting

Selena

This was really common in Europe in the 1960s, for example in Italy you had Mina, Milva, Nada, Christy et al... and in Spain you had Karina, Rosalía, Massiel, Jeanette and so on. Not uncommon for guys either though, e.g. Raphael, Adamo, Antoine...

Bono
Sting

GG appears to be only referring to using one of your birth names; if stage names are in, male rappers are going to crush his theory immediately.

jaymc to thread

More for the pile: Madonna, Cher, Sia, Shakira, Sade, Jewel Selena

These are the familiar-in-the-U.S. ones that come to mind for me (plus the aforementioned Adele and Melanie). "Sade" is a stage name derived from her birth name, I guess?

They seem to be somewhat distinctive/unique names, and work well as stage names; same with the male counterparts that sic also lists. ("Melanie" is the outlier, as a somewhat common name.)

The only example I can think of a very common name used as professional name for a U.S. artist is "Jill" -- the performer behind of one of my fave freestyle tracks, "Match Made Up in Heaven": http://musicrareobscure.blogspot.com/2009/06/jill.html

(I wouldn't be surprised there are a few others along the same lines, tho.)

I feel like this only works when you have a unique first name. "Janet" never worked for me because there are many Janets

Nico

(not her birthname)

I've assumed that "Sade Adu" was what Helen Folosade Adu went by generally IRL before the music career, but I might be making an ass out of me and du

Sade is the band. The singer is actually Sade's monster.

There's a probably terrible old TV comedy sketch I vaguely recall where an aspiring singer wants to be known by a single as the ultimate marker of fame, "like Madonnna, Ciccone."

(xxposts: Adamo is his last name btw)

Sade is the band. The singer is actually Sade's monster.

The scientist was Dr Alice Cooper.

Weird argument... Half of these might not be their real names but I feel there’s more popstars that use last names than a single one:

Ariana Grande
Miley Cyrus
Carly Rae Jepsen
Katy Perry
Taylor Swift
Lana del Rey
Kacey Musgraves
Kelly Clarkson
Nicki Minaj

The argument isn’t that few female singers go by a forename/surname, it’s that more female singers than male singers go by only one of their given names

cuz most of the big male ones are named Michael or George

sometimes even George Michael...whoa

I feel like this only works when you have a unique first name. "Janet" never worked for me because there are many Janets

Sometimes I see Selena Gomez referred to as simply "Selena," and I am momentarily confused (unless the context is crystal clear), for obv reasons

sometimes even George Michael...whoa

No stage names!

weird thing is the number of eurovision song contest winners where this applies:

massiel
salome
lulu
dana
severine
nicole
carola
ruslana
lena
loreen
jamala
netta

(went by “Yog” irl, which would have been valid)

all the male winners though had their surnames included xp

So seems like this is mainly a Euro thing.

If you have a common first name you must double it, like Lisa Lisa or Debbi Deb

Although there was a hi-nrg dance singer named just Lisa come to think of it

There's also the thing where certain legendary/iconic "divas" become popularly known by just their first name; maybe some performers try to take a bit of a shortcut getting there?

Def true of Mariah.^

otoh it makes me sad that whenever someone mentions Kylie these days, they're usually referring to Jenner rather than Minogue.

perhaps you cld say in a patriarchal society women don't own their surnames, their surnames own them. are there any women in music who just go by their surname?

Are there any male artists who do (besides Morrissey)?

Banks is female

Liberace was male

Duffy (the Rockferry hitmaker) is female, Duffy (the former Duran Duran singer) was male

perhaps you cld say in a patriarchal society women don't own their surnames, their surnames own them.

aiui Icelandic ppl do not "use" patronyms as names per se, so I didn't list her above

I’ve decided that taking this thread seriously is sexist.

in many cases i figure it's meant to confer some (youthful) everygirl quality upon the artist, as if she's that classmate who sits a few desks up from you in history class

or as mentioned previously an established artist dropping the surname to emphasize how well-known she is, like what other janet would you be talking about anyway?

turns out I was assuming the same Cheryl, but outwith my paying attention she’s actually been through three surnames and is back to the first IRL, having released records with both of the first two, and then mononymically.

Still no idea who Maureen is.

Maureen Walsh - UK hits with covers of 'Thinking Of You' and 'Say A Little Prayer' (with Bomb The Bass) 30 years ago.

Unless it's Maureen from Driving School?

There’s also the obvious Drake !
Anyway I agree it’s mostly feminine and probably for the various reasons mentioned.
That said I don’t think the « diva » examples count because their official artist names are not just Mariah, Whitney, etc.
Otherwise you can count Elvis too !

There are a bunch of examples from the last 25 years in RnB-Pop (Beyonce, Aaliyah, Rihanna (middle name at least), Ciara, Cassie, Kelis, Kelela) that might make it seem more of a thing among solo women artists. Or are there as many or nearly as many male equivalents, regardless of fame level, to those to suggest an insignificant ratio? Could be!

There are so many other factors in what determines what acts call themselves based on what the singer sounds like, looks like or identifies as (calling your act Blondie, Heart or Kitten, being a woman but calling your act Grimes or Halsey, being male or intially male but calling yourself Fatima Yamaha or SOPHIE) or even the genre they're mostly operating in and the perceived rules around them but maybe the actual ratios are reducing. It might be just as good to see MORE male acts like Maxwell and Miguel using just a real first (or middle) name regardless and boring though it may be, as much as an increase in women using names without gender connotation which seems like it's increased or just become more accepted over the last ten years or so (St. Vincent, Nite Jewel, Fever Ray, Little Boots, Ikonika to list more personal faves).

Maureen Walsh - UK hits with covers of 'Thinking Of You' and 'Say A Little Prayer' (with Bomb The Bass) 30 years ago.

Ha, I actually thought of “featuring Lauraine” from the single before that, yesterday, but thought it way too obscure to cite

There’s also the obvious Drake !

GG appears to be only referring to using one of your birth names; if stage names are in, male rappers are going to crush his theory immediately.

oh wait derp, it’s his middle name

Why have all Guns 'N' Roses lead guitarists gone by one name? (referring to Slash, Buckethead and Bumblefoot)

aiui Icelandic ppl do not "use" patronyms as names per se, so I didn't list her above

That’s interesting, and I’m def. not very familiar w/the Icelandic conventions; but I recalled she was billed as “Björk Guðmundsdóttir” in The Juniper Tree and that the other members of the Sugarcubes used their full names, so I assumed she made a conscious decision at some point to perform under her first name only(?)

I'm assuming Scott Weiland only went by his last name on the 1st STP album because of a boardroom marketing decision.

Thread is focusing on the ladies tho so I will go mad 1988 & add Martika, Tiffany, & T'Pau to the pile.

Also why did Miranda from Lizzie McGuire only go by Lalaine?

She was Jackée on 227 but on Sister Sister she started using her last name? What's up with that?

That said I don’t think the « diva » examples count because their official artist names are not just Mariah, Whitney, etc.
Otherwise you can count Elvis too !

My point about the “divas” was just that adopting a first-name-only stage name may in some cases be kind of an attempted shortcut to that “diva” status.

This is tangential, but it occurs to me that very famous male artists tend to be commonly referred to by their surnames, when distinctive (Dylan, Springsteen, Mellencamp); or both names, when not distinctive (Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Neil Young, Michael Jackson).

Elvis is the exception that proves the rule, as he seems to be the rare case of a famous male artist with a distinctive first name. I bet if Prince has recorded under his full name, we’d still be colloquially referring to him as “Prince”!

The fact that famous women artists (the “divas”) tend to be known by their first names may involve cultural/gender conventions in part, but it may also be due to the fact that their first names seem to be kind of distinctive anyway (Aretha, Mariah...). And this may be true of female names in general, in the English-speaking world? As you may have experienced when considering baby names, female names seem to have a slightly greater variety within the range of cultural “acceptability” than male names (cf. the comment above about most male singers being named George or Michael).

If Aretha’s name had been “Jane Franklin,” would she be referred to as “Jane” as commonly as she’s referred to as just “Aretha” today?

“Janis” = possible counterpoint; female artist commonly referred to by her not-very-distinctive first name (though I guess the spelling is kind of distinctive).

OTOH, see “Jimi” (tho referred to just as often by his last name) and “Jerry” (tho also “Phil,” “Bob,” etc.; may be just a Deadhead thing).

Thread is focusing on the ladies tho so I will go mad 1988 & add Martika, Tiffany, & T'Pau to the pile.

LOL do you only know them from that one Beavis & Butthead episode ("This chick's name...is T'Pau")?

Oh ok I agree with your point regarding the « divas » (and « divos » !) then !

And regarding french singers, I don’t think that issue exists since I feel there are as many women as men with only their first name as an official name : Barbara, Dalida, Christophe, Dave, Sheila, Jacno, Renaud, Raphael, Zazie, Louane, Amir, Elsa...

xp I suppose I do because I really thought her name was T'Pau lolol

lately this is more a UK thing -- Adele (as mentioned), Duffy, Delilah, Mabel, Betsy...