Laurel and Hardy "nutty burglar" or as a Charlie Chaplin imitator. Oliver Hardy (January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia. By his late teens, Hardy was a popular stage singer and he operated a movie house in Milledgeville, Georgia, the Palace Theater, financed in part by his mother. For his stage name, he took his father's first name calling himself "Oliver Norvell Hardy" while offscreen his nicknames were "Ollie" and "Babe". The nickname "Babe" originated from an Italian barber near the Lubin Studios in Jacksonville, Florida who would rub Hardy's face with talcum powder and say
Stage name (Vanessa A. Williams) is arguably less notable. Similarly, David Walliams changed one letter in his surname due to there being another "David Williams". Terry O'Quinn of "Lost" fame changed his surname from Quinn to O'Quinn as another registered actor already had the name Terrance Quinn. Long time writer for "The Simpsons", David X. Cohen changed his middle initial from S to X because there was already a David S. Cohen registered with the Writer's Guild of America. In other cases, a middle name may be adopted in preference to changing a name. Examples include comedian Hugh Dennis born Peter Hugh