Most celebrities who choose a stage name make it something short and snappy. A few go for something longer than what they were given at birth.

This graph shows that effect quantitatively. The median change in length among these 47 celebrities is a shortening by four letters.

Julianne Moore has the longest increase from Julie Smith (her middle name at birth was Anne). The most significant decreases belong to those who chose single stage names: Florian Armstrong to Dido and Ella Yelich-O’Connor to Lorde.

Data source: Wikipedia