First posting here

[Ocelotl]

Greetings,

I stumbled onto this site while searching for any magic forums that are active. I was a member of Ellusionist for a long time, and their forums were very active in the early 2000's, but started to become less and less lively, eventually shutting down altogether and becoming archived.

I am a mentalist and magician (probably in that order), but see no conflict at all between the two, even within the same act as the case may be. I am aware a lot of performers do not share this opinion, but at the end of the day, it is my experience that people just want to be entertained. I began doing magic and mentalism in highschool, stopped doing it for a while, and picked it up again after a long period of dormancy. Then, going through tricks I had done over a decade ago, I looked upon them with new eyes seeing all sorts of things I never noticed before, particularly in the way effects are presented. My main influences are Max Maven for mentalism, and Shoot Ogawa for magic, the latter of which suits my close up performance style, where in mentalism I am more comfortable in close up, parlor, or stage.

My question is one of how to choose a suitable stage name if your real name is not suited to the task (see Banachek's story on how and why he chose his name). My real name is Ben Sackenheim, but I have decided to go with the name "Ocelotl", which is a Nahuatl name meaning "jaguar." I wanted something that sounds odd enough to most ears for people to remember, but also not too long like my actual name. I'll be posting here and look forward to getting some great advice from fellow mentalists and magicians, who will help me bridge that gap between a hobbyist and a professional. Thank you all.

-Ocelotl

 

[Peter Slim]

Welcome to the community! There are many talented and helpful people here.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

My advice for choosing a stage name: Something memorable, easy to spell, and easy to pronounce. Also, something that won't ever feel silly or awkward when introducing yourself to new people/potential clients.

Do you perform with a heavy Central American/Aztec theme?

 

[Ocelotl]

My advice for choosing a stage name: Something memorable, easy to spell, and easy to pronounce. Also, something that won't ever feel silly or awkward when introducing yourself to new people/potential clients.

Do you perform with a heavy Central American/Aztec theme?

Not particularly... I do speak Nahuatl conversationally, and for Max Maven's effect "Kurotsuke" I changed the name to "Macuiltetl" (five stones game), explaining the meaning to the audience. I feel a bit weird though about actually making up a fake ethnic attribution to the origins of the game as Maven does. It seems like cultural appropriation where the thing being appropriated isn't even from that culture, making it doubly questionable and in poor taste. One could even argue that it turns a legitimate ethnic culture into a token for people's amusement, and I wish to steer clear of this. So it suffices to say something to the effect of "Now we are going to play a game called Macuiltetl, which means five stones in the Aztec language..." and then go on to explain the object of what is to be done. I chose Ocelotl because it is unique and I am interested in Mezoamerican culture, and that the jaguar embodies cunning, which is very much a part of my performance style.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Again, this is only my perspective and you're free to take it or leave it as you wish.

Your profile says you're in Ohio. If you said, "I'm Ocelotl" when you begin your performance, how many people are going to know how to spell that? If you hand a card with an introduction written on it to an MC, are they going to pronounce "Ocelotl" correctly? Is it going to be anything more than a slightly odd pronunciation of "ocelot" to the crowds you'll be working?

Personally, and this is purely from your profile pic here, I would be really curious why a white dude doing magic tricks is calling himself the Aztec word for jaguar. If it was a completely themed performance it would make perfect sense. But it seems like you have one loosely Aztec themed trick and that's it? It would be like if I painted my face with Pictish Wode designs, and called myself Cú Chulainn. I'm thoroughly interested in Irish myths and culture, and even feature a little bit of those myths in my performances, but it's not a central theme in the least.

Again - you do you. It's not my place to dictate how you perform or anything. I'm just giving my perspective.

 

[Ocelotl]

Again, this is only my perspective and you're free to take it or leave it as you wish.

Your profile says you're in Ohio. If you said, "I'm Ocelotl" when you begin your performance, how many people are going to know how to spell that? If you hand a card with an introduction written on it to an MC, are they going to pronounce "Ocelotl" correctly? Is it going to be anything more than a slightly odd pronunciation of "ocelot" to the crowds you'll be working?

Personally, and this is purely from your profile pic here, I would be really curious why a white dude doing magic tricks is calling himself the Aztec word for jaguar. If it was a completely themed performance it would make perfect sense. But it seems like you have one loosely Aztec themed trick and that's it? It would be like if I painted my face with Pictish Wode designs, and called myself Cú Chulainn. I'm thoroughly interested in Irish myths and culture, and even feature a little bit of those myths in my performances, but it's not a central theme in the least.

Again - you do you. It's not my place to dictate how you perform or anything. I'm just giving my perspective.

I do appreciate that and I am by no means set on Ocelotl. It is just that my real name is just as hard for people to pronounce as Ocelotl so I am going to need a performing name. I thought of Ocelotl because it is only one word, it is unique sounding, and in my mind at least it is challenging to pronounce, which means people will be less likely to forget it, much how Banachek chose his performing name.

 

[Timewise64]

When choosing a stage name, don't think like a magician....think like a Marketing Agent! You have to get and hold the audience with that name, before and after each performance. Your name is your 'Brand'.....

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Difficult to pronounce = quickly forgotten because it's meaningless. What they will probably remember is, "You know that guy with the weird name?"

I use a stage name as well, because my last name is not easy to pronounce or spell. So I use a name that is easy to remember, easy to spell, and easy to pronounce.

 

[JakeTay10r]

Alright, so this is in no way saying my name is perfect or whatever, and I don't want to change it or anything like that, this is just my personal experience.
OK, so i have never really had the opportunity to perform magic from a stage, and I might never get the chance, which is sad. But that is besides the point here. I really don't have a stage name that I've used for anything. In a certain sense. Im an actor and musician, and when an MC or announcer or director or friend or anyone at all says anything about me, they always say "Jake Taylor". Not just, "Jake". You see, my real name is Jacob Taylor. And as a little kid, everyone called me Jacob. But when I got to about middle school, I wanted kind of a fresh start (and I moved at that time) so I starting introducing myself as Jake. Well, it didn't take too long before people started noticing that Jake Taylor just kinda has a certain ring to it. So now, I say something along the lines of, "Whats up! I'm Jake Taylor". Sometimes I get some laughs, cuz its not exactly normal to introduce yourself with both names but I do find I can usually (90% of the time) introduce myself once, and people generally don't forget my name. So I would say think of something that just sounds good to the ear. Something that people go, "Oh yea! Jack Richards!" (thats a bad example but I think you might get my point). People remember the little things that resonate well, and feel good to say, ya know?

 

[RealityOne]

Welcome to the forums. There is a good group of magicians and mentalists here.

As for a name, how about Benjamin Sachs? There is a sophistication for using a longer first name and Sachs is an easy last name to remember.