Stage name "h" from his original name, Stumph. It was still pronounced "stump," but the change ensured his audience wouldn't think to pronounce it "stumf." Singer Jason Derulo uses the phonetic spelling of his given name, Jason Desrouleaux. Andy Warhol dropped an "a" from his original name, Warhola, while couturier Yves Mathieu-Saint-Laurent dropped the first of his two surnames. Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Piero Filiberto Guglielmi adopted the stage name Rudolph Valentino in part because American casting directors found his original surname difficult to pronounce. Singer George Michael (the son of a Greek Cypriot restaurateur in North London) was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou.
Mike Smith (basketball, born 1963) Mike Smith (basketball, born 1963) Mikel Smith Gibbs (born 10 September 1963) is a retired American-Spanish professional basketball player. Born in New York City, Smith played college basketball for USC–Spartanburg, beginning in 1982. Smith played for twelve years in Spain, notably for Joventut Badalona and Real Madrid. He was the Spanish League's Finals MVP in 1992. With Joventut Badalona, he won the EuroLeague championship of the 1993–94 season, by winning the 1994 EuroLeague Final Four. During Smith's tenure playing professional club basketball in Spain, he acquired Spanish citizenship, and he played for the Spanish national team at two EuroBasket tournaments,