Since the dawn of popular entertainment, artists—whether in film, theater, music or other disciplines—have decided a stage name would suit them better than the name their parents bestowed upon them. That’s certainly been true in rock, from Antoine Domino calling himself “Fats” and Richard Penniman becoming “Little” Richard to hippie era artists and punkers going for something more colorful (Sly Stone, meet Cheetah Chrome).

Some performers just want a different public image, or a name that would stand out; others change their names to something that rolls off the tongue more easily than their given name; still others don’t want to be identified by an obvious ethnic name—hence Dino Paul Crocetti transforming into Dean Martin and Allan Stewart Konigsberg morphing into Woody Allen.

Here are 22 rockers who became famous after they left the name on their birth certificate behind.

Bob Dylan—Perhaps the best known name change in all of rock history; he just didn’t think Robert Allen Zimmerman sounded very poetic.

Gram Parsons—That name sounds country enough to get the Byrds to change musical direction. Ingram Cecil Connor III, not so much.

Elvis Costello—Newly signed to Stiff Records in the U.K., Declan Patrick MacManus was told by label founders Jake Riviera and Dave Robinson that he needed a new name. He chose Elvis from some other guy who made music, and Costello from his greatgrandmother’s maiden name.

Ringo Starr—Richard Starkey was already using his flashier stage name before he met John, Paul and George. Reason: He wore several rings. His new name had more of a ring to it.

Related: How many songs did Ringo sing with the Beatles?

Freddie Mercury—Born in Zanzibar, the mercurial singer just couldn’t see making it in show business with his birth name of Farrokh Bulsara. He had a point.

Joe Strummer—John Graham Mellor of the Clash? Nah. Now, Joe Strummer, that’s a musician’s name!

Pat Benatar—Imagine the poor worker who’d have to put the name Patricia Mae Andrzejewski on a theater marquee. Many got her chosen name wrong anyway, mistakenly spelling it Benetar.

Meat Loaf—Maybe he could have gotten away with Marvin Lee Aday, but, come on, look at the guy: he had to be Meat Loaf (and yes, he changed it legally).

Iggy Pop—At first, the lead singer of the Stooges went by Iggy Stooge. Then he switched it to the name we all know. Either way, someone named James Newell Osterberg Jr. could not have gotten away with the things he did.

Bono—There have been many mono-monikered performers in the music world: think Dion, Cher, Madonna, Prince, Beyoncé. But most of those were simply shortened versions of a given name. U2’s Paul David Hewson blew off his entire birth name and took his new tag in tribute to Cher’s late partner Sonny Bono. Just kidding: We don’t know if he’s even heard of the guy.

Sting—Speaking of easily remembered, catchy single names, Sting was born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner. Try to imagine him being introduced onstage: “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Gordon Sumner!” Now you know why he changed it. (Apologies to the late Gordon Lightfoot, who was most definitely a Gordon Lightfoot type of guy.)

Marty Balin—The late co-lead vocalist of Jefferson Airplane had a brief solo career before he formed the San Francisco band. A manager suggested that the name his parents gave him, Martyn Jerel Buchwald, wouldn’t cut it. Said manager owned some theaters in California, one of which was called the Bal. “How about Balin?” he asked the aspiring artist. Sure, why not?

Mama Cass Elliot—As Ellen Naomi Cohen, the Baltimore-born vocalist possibly borrowed her new first name from actress Peggy Cass and took Elliot in tribute to a friend who’d died. Sometimes these decisions are simple. Mama came later.

Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious—What, you thought that John Lydon and John Simon Ritchie’s parents named them Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious?

Gene Simmons—None of the original members of Kiss used the names they were born with. Paul Stanley was originally Stanley Bert Eisen. Ace Frehley was another Paul. Peter Criss was George Peter John Criscuola. And the Israeli-born Gene Simmons started out as Chaim Witz, changed his name to Gene Klein when he moved to the States and altered it once again when he became a rocker, borrowing his permanent stage name from a rockabilly singer known as Jumpin’ Gene Simmons.

Cat Stevens—Steven Demetre Georgiou came from Greek and Swedish heritage but was born in London. When a girlfriend told him his eyes looked like those of a feline, he had his stage name. Stevens was more of a random pick. When he later converted to Islam, he changed it again, to Yusuf Islam, usually just billing himself as Yusuf.

Steven Tyler—You probably don’t think of the Aerosmith frontman as being semi-Italian, but part of Steven Victor Tallarico’s dad’s family was from the boot.

Dusty Springfield—Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien? Yikes, that’s a mouthful.

David Bowie—There was already a David Jones in the rock world, one of the Monkees, so this other same-named Englishman became Bowie, reportedly because he was fond of the character Jim Bowie in the American Western film The Alamo.

Marilyn Manson—If your name was kind of generic, like Brian Hugh Warner’s was, and you wanted to get noticed, you might look to Marilyn Monroe for a new first name. But would you go to a notorious murderer for your surname? Brian did, and it seems to have worked.

Elton John—Like many of the other names in this grouping, Reginald Kenneth Dwight just didn’t think his name had the rock vibe. Reggie lifted his new first name from Elton Dean, the saxophonist in an early band he was in, and John from British bluesman Long John Baldry.

Ramones—So many people, even avowed fans, believed that they were brothers. But singer Jeffrey Hyman, guitarist John Cummings, bassist Douglas Colvin and drummer Thomas Erdelyi (originally Tamás Erdélyi) were unrelated. They decided to use a common surname and went with Ramone because Paul McCartney had often used Paul Ramon as a stage name in the Beatles’ early days. Hey ho, let’s go!

Watch Ramones live in London on 12/31/77

Let us know some other prominent artists that you think should be featured in a sequel to this story.