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What I mean by this is not the alias they use when they do H-Games. What I mean is whether they use a stage-name when doing anime works.

It all started from a little question I had in mind, "Is Hanazawa Kana really Hanazawa Kana?" Usually people in the entertainment industry use a stage-name to avoid mixing up their personal life and their public life. An example for this is the actor Hiro Mizushima, who is not really Hiro Mizushima by birth. His birth name is Saito Tomohiro. Does the same hold true with the seiyuu profession?

I also noted that Mizuki Nana's birth name is Kondo Nana. But is she just a rare case or are most seiyuu like that (that is, using a stage name)?

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  • This is a pretty interesting question indeed, the only one I actually know from the top of my head (Yiu Itsuko) just uses her given name when she does Seiyuu work. I am however curious to see what answers will pop up
    – Chen Orihara
    Commented Jun 11, 2015 at 11:15
  • I read somewhere (thought it was Wikipedia, but it's not there anymore) that Hanazawa Kana goes by her real name. But other seiyuu (e.g. Horie Yui) go by stage names. It seems like it varies.
    – Torisuda
    Commented Jun 12, 2015 at 1:46

1 Answer 1

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I looked up each of the listed "major" and "popular" male and female seiyuu at Hitoshi Doi's Seiyuu (voice actor) Database (Doi's database has been collecting seiyuu information since 1994 and hit 50,000 entries in 2001).

Although this is not a representative sampling of all seiyuu, out of these 20 individuals recognized as "major" and "popular" by Doi, 4 (or possibly 3) are using a stage name (if 4, that comes out to 20%):

Based on this small sample, 1) seiyuu can choose stage names and change stage names after debut, but the majority go by their real name, and 2) those who do adopt a stage name may likely adapt their real name (change only the surname or given name but not both).

To check for more individual cases, the Japanese Wikipedia page of each seiyuu lists the real name under 「本名」 (honmyou = real name) in the profile box on the right side, if the person has a different real name.

花澤香菜 (Hanazawa Kana) is her real name.

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