How Shania Twain Got Her Stage Name
Shania Twain became a household name in the 1990s thanks to hit singles like “You’re Still the One” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much.” The Canadian country singer was born Eilleen Twain and raised in rural Ontario, and only adopted her now-iconic Shania moniker when she secured a record deal.
Shania Twain performed as Eilleen Twain before she got a record deal
Eilleen Twain’s talent for singing was obvious from an early age. Her mother soon realized that her voice could be an asset for the family as they struggled to keep a roof over their heads. Her mom got her into performing at local clubs and bars as a child. Her love for music only grew as a teenager.
After her parents’ tragic death in 1987, Twain moved to a ski resort in Ontario named Deerhurst, where she spent the next few years providing for her siblings while getting to perform on stage every night. It was while working at this resort that she would find the inspiration for her future stage name.
She chose Shania as her stage name from a show crew member
In her 2011 memoir From This Moment On, Twain reflected on the process of releasing her 1993 debut album Shania Twain, and how she arrived at “Shania” as her stage name.
“That I agreed to the record company’s request for me to change my name should be sufficient evidence of my level of cooperation. To be honest, I had more qualms about the caliber of material being sent my way that I did about adopting a professional name. After all, even Mark Twain himself was born Samuel Clemens,” she said.
“The thought of picking out a stage name actually struck me as kind of fun. But I made it clear to everyone that under no circumstances would I change my last name, out of respect and loyalty to my father. He had sacrificed to raise me, putting gas in the car so that I could get to gigs when the money really should have gone toward groceries or paying the heating bill. To abandon our family surname would have made me feel like a traitor. But even I had to admit that Eilleen and Twain didn’t make for a dynamic combination for a performer,” she continued. “My first name was too soft sounding. Great stage names often have hard consonants in them, something catchy like Dol-ly Parton or Nat ‘King’ Cole. Alliteration also works well: Loretta Lynn (her married name) has a melodious quality to it and seems to roll right off the tongue. Or it is just unique, like Elvis Presley. That was a one-of-a-kind name.”
“What, then, to pair with Twain?” she wondered. “I tried a long list of combinations. Then I remembered a wardrobe mistress I’d met at Deerhurst Resort shortly before I left there. She was about my age and, like me, had been raised in a biracial family, only her mother was Native American, and her father was white. The first time she introduced herself as Shania, I had to ask her to repeat herself. I had never heard such a beautiful, unique, and exotic name, which unbeknown to me at the time, means ‘on my way.’ I just knew that the name had such a hopeful ring to it.”
The difference between Eilleen and Shania
After Shania Twain’s career exploded with her albums The Woman in Me and Come On Over, there soon grew a distinction between Shania Twain and Eilleen Twain.
“After a while, you start to develop two very different existences,” she said honestly. “The private world of me, Eilleen, is safe for her to be herself, to swear, to drink too much, to wear the wrong clothes, to sing out of tune, to be late, to behave regretfully — the list of imperfections that I’m allowed to display without being judges or criticized goes on and on.”
“As Shania, however, I’ve spent years being overly attentive to how people perceived me, at all times. I’m less concerned in this regard now than I was even five years ago, however,” she said. “But I am more relaxed about criticism and sense I’m less affected by the things I cannot control.”
