The Stage Names of Polish Interwar Artists

• Authors: Walkowiak Justyna B.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Many performing artists in the interwar period in Poland assumed stage names, which were considered a tool of promoting one’s image, but also served other functions, such as the concealment of identity. Over two hundred such pseudonyms — together with the respective artists’ birth names — have been collected and analysed in the article. Approximately in the case of half of them was the original given name retained, and only the surname underwent a change. The comparison of the assumed names with the real ones shows that many names were shortened, and/or made to sound foreign or exotic. Minority surnames — Jewish/German, Russian, Ukrainian — were frequently made to sound Polish, while the Polish ones were foreignised (to make them look English, Italian, French) or vaguely exoticised.

Keywords

EN

Polish stage names; Polish artistic pseudonyms; interwar period; film actors; theatre actors

• Publisher: Instytut Języka Polskiego Polskiej Akademii Nauk
• Journal: Onomastica
• Year: 2018
• Issue: 62
• Pages: 225-241

Dates

printed

2018-12-09

Contributors

author

Walkowiak Justyna B.

• Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza, Poznań,

Identifiers

ISSN

0078-4648

DOI

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17651/ONOMAST.62.11