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Two voices have been all over the airwaves this year -- Beyoncé and Taylor.  Sunday night solidified that these two names aren't going anywhere, when at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards Beyoncé picked up six GRAMMYs, a record for a female artist, while Taylor Swift took home four golden awards of her own.  Taken together, these two ladies swept Song of the Year -- that'd be Beyoncé with Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) --  and Album of the Year (goes to Taylor for Fearless).  

For all we know about the lives and times of Beyoncé and Taylor, have you thought about their names before?

Beyoncé

The singer's full name is Beyoncé Giselle Knowles.  BabyNamesWorld reports the name Beyoncé is a modern creation, coming from the French surname Beyincé.  It is certainly a unique name.  No name starting in Bey-- has ever made it into the Social Security Administration's top 1000 names. As for Be--, we find Bertha, Bessie, Beulah, Betty, Beverly, Beatrice, Belinda, Bernice, Becky and others making an appearance over the last hundred or so years.  But none of these share the sounds of Beyoncé.  Do you think her career would have played out differently had she gone by Giselle Knowles?  

Taylor

Namipedia's entry for Taylor tells us it derives from the Anglo-French taillour, from the Old French taillier (to cut).  Initially an occupational name, tailor, the name made the switch to given name -- for both boys and girls.  Taylor as a girl's name entered the top 1000 names for girls in the 1980s, sky-rocketing to #9 in the 1990s.  Currently Taylor the is the 22nd most popular girls' name in America.   Taylor as a boy's name has been in top 1000 names since the 1880s, currently at #256.  Names that work for girls as well as boys are a hot trend these days. {For more info, check out an earlier Name Candy post: Taylor + Taylor: Do Androgynous Names and Romance Work?}

Taylor's not known to go by anything other than Taylor Swift. With Beyoncé, it's more complicated.  Her new double album I AM ... SASHA FIERCE brings up an interesting name question.  On her website Beyoncé says: "SASHA FIERCE is my alter ego and now she has a last name.  I have someone else that takes over when it's time for me to work and when I'm on stage, this alter ego that I've created that kind of protects me and who I really am.  That's why half the record, I AM..., is about who I am underneath all the makeup, underneath the lights, and underneath all the exciting star drama.  And SASHA FIERCE is the fun, more sensual, more aggressive, more outspoken side and more glamorous side that comes out when I'm working and when I'm on stage."  

So, the question -- if you were to create an alter ego name, what would it be?  Would your alter ego be the quiet internal lady/lad, or, like Beyoncé, is your alter ego the wilder one?  Do tell.

--D.J.