John as a first name

[worbod]

During some corona downtime I have discovered many well-known male identities whose birth name was John who then later used a different name as a celebrity. Some of these men’s names I already knew about but many of these discoveries surprised me.

Perhaps it is the commonality of John which inspires or motivates some blokes to use another name.

Firstly there are people such as former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and former England cricket captain Mike Brearley who were christened as John but used their middle names as their preferred name. Then there are some Jacks such as Nicholson, Lemmon and Brabham who used Jack instead of John, which was for many decades a popular fad for men named John. Likewise, actor Jackie Gleason and racing car legend Jackie Stewart were also Johns. But not all Jacks from past eras were Johns. Golfing great Jack Nicklaus for example was actually christened Jack, as was actor Jack Klugman.


These are other discoveries whose birth name was John:

Australian talk show host Rove McManus was christened John Henry Michael McManus.

Aussie acting icon Chips Rafferty was christened John William Goffage.

Punk rocker Sid Vicious was christened John Simon Ritchie.

David Carradine from TV’s Kung Fu and the Kill Bill movies was christened John Arthur Carradine.

Guitar legend Jimi Hendrix was christened Johnny Allen Hendrix. I always thought his proper name was James Marshall Hendrix but this was an adopted name.

Wild West identity Doc Holliday was christened John Henry Holliday, though he was an actual doctor.

Hard rocker Ozzy Osbourne was christened John Michael Osbourne.

English singer Joe Cocker was christened John Robert Cocker.

Jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie was christened John Birks Gillespie.

English comedian Eric Morecambe was christened John Eric Bartholomew.

Brady Bunch father Robert Reed was christened John Robert Rietz.

Falco, the Austrian singer from the 1980s who had hits with Der Kommissar and Rock Me Amadeus was christened Johann Holzel.

John Lennon’s son was christened John Charles Julian Lennon, effectively making him John Lennon junior.



In addition the J in J. R. R. Tolkien stands for John, as does the J in J. Edgar Hoover. Also, the first J in singer J. J. Cale’s name stands for John.

 

[worbod]

There are also some fictional characters who many may not realise have the name John.


It is quite well known that Sherlock Holmes’ assistant Dr Watson is named John, as are two other doctors in Zoidberg from Futurama as well as Dr Dolittle. Ted Danson’s TV doctor Becker is another John.

JR Ewing from Dallas was named John Ross.

Rambo was a John and so was Shaft (yes I’m talking about Shaft). Professor Frink from The Simpsons is a John and don’t forget Hannibal from The A Team was actually John Smith.

Jigsaw, the villain from the first two Saw movies, had the full name of John Kramer.



Do other Big Footy users know of any more real or fictional people who were christened John but go by another name/pseudonym/stage name/nickname which is more commonly known?

 

[GROTTO]

 

[M Malice]

John Doe.

 

[PT Bar None]

Older generations going by their second name was pretty common. Back in the days before uneek names came into vogue, new parents would frequently have the naming of their child interfered with by family matriarchs and their requirement for family traditional names to be met.

So you regularly had the situation where a baby was christened "Agnes Patricia Smith" to satisfy the old bint, but the immediate family has already decided to call her "Pat".

When I was a wee lad surrounded by massive Catholic families, each one would usually have at least one family member in that circumstance.

 

[raskolnikov]

My second name is John. My parents wanted to christen me John but call me by my second name but decided to just use John as a second name.

 

[worbod]

Charlton Heston was christened John Charles Carter.

 

[Gough]

J.P.R. and J.J. Williams (not related) two stalwarts of the golden era of Welsh rugby where known by their initials but were both Johns. J.J. died only a couple of days ago.

 

[worbod]

 

[Caesar]

Older generations going by their second name was pretty common. Back in the days before uneek names came into vogue, new parents would frequently have the naming of their child interfered with by family matriarchs and their requirement for family traditional names to be met.

So you regularly had the situation where a baby was christened "Agnes Patricia Smith" to satisfy the old bint, but the immediate family has already decided to call her "Pat".

When I was a wee lad surrounded by massive Catholic families, each one would usually have at least one family member in that circumstance.

Yeah, this is very true. 3 of my 4 grandparents went by second or alternative names (one of whom was a John).

Both sides of my family have traditional names that were given almost every generation to the firstborn boys, which makes researching family trees absolute hell.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

BUMP!

Former Melbourne player Sean Wight was born John Phillip Wight.

 

[radiojake]

An old housemate of mine is called Jack - one day mail came for John and I was confused but saw the surname and passed it to Jack - "is this you? Are you John?"
"Yeah my folks always wanted Jack but my grandmother said that's a criminals name"
so named him John on certificate but always called him Jack - I do remember the absurd phone call I heard him ring his mother asking "mum what name is on my passport? Jack or John?" (Don't know why he didn't have it but anyway)

Story gets more absurd some time later when I meet his older brother Luke - and it turns out when he was born, parents called him Jack but same grandmother said no, and a week later gets changed to Luke

 

[Stratton_Gun]

You're either a 50+ white guy or an islander who has used it in lieu of their real name

 

[RedmanWasHere]

You're either a 50+ white guy or an islander who has used it in lieu of their real name

John Noble and John Butcher beg to differ.

 

[Engimal v3]

John Noble and John Butcher beg to differ.

John Butcher is 52 would you believe

 

[radiojake]

You're either a 50+ white guy or an islander who has used it in lieu of their real name

I remember enough John's from school for that to still be a decade off atleast

but probably not far away from that

 

[Shane Sheridan]

Guess I'm off to the things that make you feel old fred

 

[Rotayjay]

I'm yet to encounter a real John Smith. Imagine being called that.

 

[Gough]

I'm yet to encounter a real John Smith. Imagine being called that.

Leader of the British Labour Party prior to Blair was John Smith he died of a heart attack in 1994 and is a bit of a footnote in history now.

 

[Kram]

I'm yet to encounter a real John Smith. Imagine being called that.

I knew some bloke when I was kid that rang somewhere up and used 'John Smith' as a fake name. The guy on the end of the phone said "Hey, that's my name as well!"

 

[worbod]

I went to school with a John Smith during Year 7 and 8 in 1981 and 1982.

John Doe is another common John-name combination, though of course often used as a pseudonym. There was a Jon Dough who was an American porno actor who lived between 1962 and 2006. His real surname was Anuszak.