{"id":979,"date":"2016-12-16T15:42:56","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T15:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/?p=979"},"modified":"2026-03-25T18:18:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T18:18:05","slug":"your-spotlight-name-and-faqs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/help-and-faqs\/your-spotlight-name-and-faqs\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing a Unique, Professional Name for Spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Professional Name Advice<\/h2>\n

When beginning a career as an artist, it is very important to make sure that you have a unique professional name. This is your personal ‘brand name’ and you never want it to be confused with other performers. You may miss out on work or royalties!<\/p>\n

My account has expired on Spotlight, what happens to my name?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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If you are a Performer member on the site, your name will be saved for 12 months from the day your account expires with us. After this time, it would be possible for someone else to use the name.<\/p>\n

When transferring from the Young Performer membership to the performer membership, you will have been emailed directly if your name is not available. If you have received this email, please\u00a0contact us<\/a>\u00a0to change your name as you won’t be able to reactivate your account until this has been resolved.<\/p>\n

If you are a Young Performer member, your name cannot be saved or reserved. This is only applicable to our Performer membership.<\/p>\n

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I am new to Spotlight, what should I be considering when it comes to my name?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Most performers keep their own name, but many choose or are required to change their name for professional purposes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Always decide on one professional name, across the board.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In other words \u2013 use the same name for your Spotlight membership, your Equity card, any other organisations \/ unions, and on all professional documentation pertaining to your career.<\/p>\n

Check with both Spotlight and Equity to see if they already have members with your name.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For Spotlight use our free actor name checker<\/a>\u00a0and type in the name in the ‘Check your name’ section. If a performer comes up that means there\u2019s already a Spotlight member with that name and you will be required to choose another. Please note however, if a name does not come up in the search it does not mean a name is immediately available. Please see below for information about diminutives and initials etc.<\/p>\n

When joining Equity, names are reserved on receipt of a full or student membership form, which can be obtained from 020 7379 6000 or\u00a0Equity<\/a>. Equity receives applications on a daily basis and cannot guarantee the availability of names over the phone or web. Equity also represents singers, designers, stage managers, stunt performers and variety artists (amongst a wide range of performers), so it may be that another member will already have your chosen name.<\/p>\n

Neither Spotlight nor Equity is able to hold or reserve names for future use, or for performers whose membership expire. If your membership lapses a current or new member may successfully apply to use same name in the meantime.<\/p>\n

Young Performer members please note<\/strong>: if you are 18+ and are moving from our Young Performer to our Performer membership, you will need to use our name checker further down in the FAQ section to make sure your name is not the same as an existing member. To date, Young Performers aged 4 -17 have not been included in our unique names policy.<\/p>\n

Check spellings and abbreviations<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You should always double-check different spellings and abbreviations of a name, since neither Spotlight nor Equity will accept similar names, even if they are not identical. Examples are below.<\/p>\n