Former "Eastenders" star Patsy Palmer recently shocked many as she revealed her real name was Julie and she had adopted her mother’s full name as her stage name.
The 52-year-old actress is currently in Celebrity Big Brother and made the admission during a conversation with comedian Donna Preston.
Viewers took to social media expressing their shock at learning Patsy Palmer was a stage name and her real name was in actual fact Julie Anne Merkell.
It’s quite common for celebrities to use their mother’s maiden name as their stage name, but it got us thinking…. What Irish celebrities are using different aliases?
There are many Irish stars who use stage names that everyone just knows about — there’s never a doubt that Bono is Paul Hewson and Hozier is Andrew John Hozier-Byrne, but did you realise that Martin King and Aidan Gillen use different surnames?
Martin King
Ireland AM weekend presenter Martin King uses a pseudonym surname and it dates back to his teenage years when he was on pirate radio.
The Virgin Media star got his start on Dublin-based pirate radio, Big D, when he was just 15 years old with fellow big names such as Dave Fanning, Gerry Ryan, and Marty Whelan all at the station at the time.
Despite loving his job there was a slight conflict in the fact that Martin’s father Martin Snr worked for the Ports & Telegraphs, who went around shutting down pirate radio stations.
Martin told the Sunday World how his father had urged him not to use his real name if he ever got on air due to the threat that he could be suspended from his own job.
When a young Martin eventually got his break on air, his bosses asked him who his heroes are — with George Best, Pelé, Johan Cruyff being among the names Martin recalled.
Martin Best or Martin Pelé didn’t really have a ring to it, and the next name Martin "blurted out" was Martin Luther King.
"That was the moment I became Martin King," he told Sunday World.
Aidan Gillen
Dublin actor Aidan Gillen has been in a host of well-known Irish productions as well as movies and shows further afield. "The Wire," "Love/Hate," "Peaky Blinders" are just some of the shows Aidan has appeared in with the IFTA award-winning actor also appearing on Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018.
Aidan is the youngest of six children born to Patricia Gillen and Denis Murphy.
Simply put, the actor took his mother’s maiden name due to an Aidan Murphy already being registered in the Actors’ Guild.
Irish actor Aidan Gillen. GETTY IMAGES
Rick O'Shea
This one might be a big shock for some, but RTÉ broadcaster Rick O’Shea is not his real name. In fact, it’s not even similar to his birth name!
Rick has been with RTÉ since 2001, having worked with East Coast Radio, South East Radio, and FM104 during his broadcasting career.
He got his break with Atlantic 252, an Irish longwave radio station which broadcast to Ireland and the United Kingdom from 1989 to 2002.
Atlantic 252 was also where a 20-year-old Paul Crossan was given the name Rick O’Shea, which is a brilliant play on the word ricochet.
"I was given it whether I liked it or not," the broadcaster told The Irish Times, "When you’re a 20-year-old kid playing pop music, it’s a perfectly acceptable stupid name to have."
Louis Walsh
Irish talent manager Louis Walsh is only half the Mayo man’s name, which is actually Michael Louis Vincent Walsh.
Similar to Patsy, Louis revealed his name was a stage name during his stint on Celebrity Big Brother in 2024 leaving fans surprised his name was actually Michael.
Louis previously told the Standard that he didn’t feel Michael was "very showbiz" so he adopted his middle name for professional purposes when he was trying to make his big break.
Irish talent manager Louis Walsh. GETTY IMAGES
Aisling Bea
Actress and comedian Aisling Bea was born Aisling Clíodhnadh O’Sullivan but, similar to Aidan Gillen, there was already an actress called Aisling O’Sullivan.
Speaking to Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally on their podcast My Therapist Ghosted Me, Aisling explained: "Being an actor is like having your own business."
The comic went on to explain how she paid tribute to her late father Brian in her stage name, "I took Bea from the start of Brían Ó’Súilleabháin."
Aisling was just three years old when her father Brian took his own life, with Aisling joking that she was "just carrying a bit of that trauma with me at all times, lest I forget."
Storm Keating
Storm Keating was born Sharyn Storm Uechtritz, with EVOKE reporting that she went by her first name before making it as a designer and TV personality.
Her parents had given her the name Storm in reference to a character of the same name in a Wilbur Smith novel but then grew concerned she may be mocked for her unconventional name, so added Sharyn.
* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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