Kiss – Stage Name Origins

Seeing as how they hid their faces from the public behind their trademark greasepaint, it makes a lot of sense that all four original members of Kiss also used stage names to hide their identities.

Stanley Harvey Eisen moved his last name back a notch to become Paul Stanley, and Chaim Weitz introduced himself to the world as Gene Simmons. Paul Daniel Frehley made a slighter change, adopting his high school nickname "Ace," while George Peter John Criscuola trimmed a bunch of syllables to become Peter Criss.  Future members such as Vinnie Vincent (Vincent John Cusano) and Eric Carr (Paul Charles Caravello) also changed their name before joining the Kiss family.