Lost in the recycling of stage names.

A lot prodommes newer to the scene have taken stage names already in use.

Odd that so many people didn't think to Google on a stage name first. On the other hand, the ones who have I wouldn't have noticed.

Aside from creating confusion among active prodommes and clients, recycling stage names makes retired prodommes fade away into invisibility.

There are all these people I used to know from the old Hang, who posted there a lot, and who I had many conversations with.

Several times a year a newer prodomme will post with the stage name of a retired prodomme. I will get excited only to discover it is someone else.

It feels like the retired prodomme gets erased from existence. Partly my fault for never having gotten to know those people aside from The Hang.

On the other hand, I am sure many retired prodommes would find the recycling of stage names to be a GOOD thing. Many want their past careers to fade into invisibility as they have moved on to bigger and better things.

Ha ha, maybe it is something they would want to make happen when they retire. In addition to deleting as much online content as they can they would find a rising prodomme and slip her a few dollars to take her old stage name. When someone Googles on "Baroness Berta" they would find the active prodomme instead of references to the retired one who wants her privacy.

Names can only be so unique without being too weird or, contrived. It happens that people end up with the same ones.

Doms move on to bigger and, better things? What could be better, bigger or, more fun than being a prodom? I'm retired now. It is the appropriate time in my life to spend more time with family and, fiddle around with pet projects. But...for someone's livelihood, as long as they are loving it, FemDom is a fabulous career.

The problem with most newbie Dommes (and even some who have been around for a long time) is that they try to use a first name only... which leads to 10 different active Dommes of the same name in different cities and 50 who have retired.

Seriously, your name is all about marketing your services... You should go out of your way to make it unique.

Airline pilots, doctors, professors ( just thinking of some examples I know ).

Most of my dom friends have higher educations and, a lot of options in the professional realm. Some change directions and, that is good for them, if it is what they want. It is just that a lot of us love the femdom world, have six figure annual incomes, tons of fun, meet great people and, see nothing that is "Bigger or, better." How can any kink loving person not love dressing up in fetish gear and, playing with good people all day?

I agree that newer Dommes should try to come up with a different name. First names can’t cut anymore. Having two names would be better. Although sometimes it’s the first part of the name that can get confusing like Goddess, Lady, Mistress. If a lady uses more than one over time gets a little confusing when a new Domme uses it too.

I really don't know how I would feel if someone adopted my name after I retired. Unlike many, I don't plan to "move on to other things". I did everything in reverse order to most. The traditional career is behind me and I don't plan on running for public office, so . . .

My guess is I wouldn't like it.

Around 1998 or 1999 when I joined Max Fisch print was still king so in the NY tristate area if a domme tried to use an existing name the ad in the S&M magazines it wouldn’t run. Or the Max Fisch members would call out the new domme for it. Today it is a worldwide situation.

About a Domina leaving the scene and erasing most or all of her content to move to another career... that is tough. I helped one Domina to do that. Luckily she never really showed her face in pics or videos, but even now, ten years later, I can still stumble upon three or four of the videos she used to sell. She had two names and they were kinda appropriated so she is covered there.

Is it really all that problematic? Like the few times I've mixed up two Mistresses with the same name it's been an incredibly minor issue that affected nothing and was easily cleared up. Most of us want to be googleable and achieve that fairly effectively via last names and/or unique titles.

There's a Colorado escort who goes by Mya Midnight -- I honestly think it's a coincidence and I doubt she stole it from me on purpose -- and that's never caused me any problems. She even looks a little bit like me. And while I would have chosen a different name if anyone had warned me that there was a very established Mistress Maya in Chicago, I don't think we've ever been mixed up with each other either, at least not in any way that caused inconvenience.

I've known loads of Veronicas and Victorias and none of them complain much about this particular problem.

It's either this or you get a bunch of really kree8yve spellings, so.

I want to point out that is because she is Maya Sinstress and you are Maya Midnight. That is the power of a 2nd name. I definitely agree with you the honorific of Mistress, Goddess, Lady, Domina, etc... really makes no difference since it is just as likely that the same Domme is using different honorifics on different platforms as it is that there is one Goddess X and a different Mistress X.

Obviously that helps a lot, but I will note that I didn't have a second name til I'd been around for a little while. Even in the case of two Dommes going by the exact same name and title, you can still click through to a website or ad and see photos that generally make it very clear it's not the same person.

What I'm curious about is whether mixing up two dommes with the same name has ever caused anyone here actual inconvenience.

I know what you mean. I saw the name of a retired mistress I was thinking very highly of reappearing on the other side of the country. I did my due diligence to make sure it was not her.

As a matter of fact this happens because there is no barrier. If I will start tweeting like TheRealDonaldTheDuck nobody will be able to stop me (I hope).

Btw having a Godess Cheyenne making videos on Club Dom was confusing.

If you change your mind and run for public office I will vote for you.

My guess is it's more of an irritation than a serious problem. There was a domme in the area that had a similar name as mine. I have gotten emails from prospective clients stating that they had seen me before when I was pretty certain I hadn't. Eventually we would figure out they had me confused with her. Which is insane because we look nothing alike.

Then again sometimes the name doesn't matter. I recently got a call from a guy that went on and on about how we had sessioned together multiple times - that I had even been to his house. At this point I knew for certain he had me confused with someone else. We finally figured out who it was and our names were not similar and we didn't look anything alike. Our commonality was that we worked in the same town and were of a similar age. Go figure.

I think most dommes starting out don't plan on a long term career. Heaven only knows that when I started out to pay for law school "Mistress Morgan" would have been taken and really popular when I arrived in Los Angeles in 2000. I thought shortening it to one letter was cool and literary like JD Salinger, ee cummings, TS Elliot, ect. I wasn't thinking it would end up being a little generic and not work for google searches and I would then be confused with Mistress M in San Diego, Empress M in Connecticut, Lady M in New York, and so on.

Most of us start out as dabbling as a pro and rarely have a global strategy spanning 10+ years. I doubt most dommes are thinking of riding someone else's coattails by "stealing" their name. (That may happen, but it is not the norm.) I am pretty sure most every domme is thinking they are going to have some fun and pick up some extra money.

Domina M, I think you hit the nail on the head. About your name I always thought it was unique since (1) I've seen your pics for years; and (2) I never heard of the other Mistresses you mention.

Well aren't you sweet.

I am surprised you have not heard of Empress M or Lady M (Who became Lady Magenta later on). There was another Domina M in New York for some time and while she was blonde, and I am not, well, model thin, I am pretty sure no one confused us.

The point being, very few women pick their names before coming on the scene. It is usually the first line of protection to start networking. I had a friend ask for help to enter the world of gay escorting and I told him to get a separate phone, email and name. I could not tell him what name in the gay escort world, because I do not move in those circles. I only told him that he needed to keep his personal life personal.

Domina M, the one-letter names can be a problem. I'm reminded of serving a Mistress V who I served in the early 2000s in a dungeon in the Financial District near Wall Street. She originally came from San Francisco and was (in heels) a rather tall, busty and full-figured lady with gorgeous porcelain skin and a short, shaved at the sides, blonde haircut. Very memorable. She loved my role play and we really hit it off splendidly. I saw her twice. I was going to see her a third time, but she went to Philly to be a guest domina at a dungeon there. We kept in touch for a bit but she never came back.

For a few years every once in a while I'd search online for "Mistress V" and never found her... but I did find a couple that had the same name.

Yep.

I got handed a copy of The Vault (RIP) and told to pick a name that wasn't in it.. I was nineteen, it was my first day at the dungeon and I had no idea if I was going to stick with the gig.

I have heard of dungeons giving actual guidance to new hires choosing names, but that seems to be somewhat unusual.

I recently gave some advice about this sort of thing to a new Domme on FetLife. She was using the same name as an established Domme, who was still active and also happened to join in the conversation. Ha!

I don't know why anyone would want to use a name someone else used. I wouldn't want to be confused for someone else.

I think some people don't get branding.