This category encompasses all contestants who went by a stage name during their time on American Idol. (Artists who altered their names afterwards are excluded; Anoop Desai's alter ego TOTEM, Kayla Mickelsen's Personal Trainer, et al—they'd warrant a separate category.)
These examples include mononyms (those who went by a single given name — Chikezie, Mandisa, Trenyce); sobriquets (those who went by a nickname/pet name — HunterGirl, JAX, Uché); pseudonyms (those who went by a fictitious name, comprised as their music artist persona — Just Sam, Lady K, Sir Blayke); and other truncated monikers (such as those who drop either their first or last name, while using a middle name in lieu of… — Megan Danielle [Phillips], [Jeremy] Michael Sarver).
It does NOT include hypocorisms (often diminutive, established nicknames for given names — Betsy/Liz for Elizabeth; Jim/Jimmy for James; please note that colloquialism such as Johnny Keyser or Maddie Poppe in lieu of John or Madeline, respectively, are ALSO exempt); initialized/abbreviated names (usually paired w/ a true surname, such as A.J. Tabaldo, DJ Johnson, or J.D. Adams); nor simplified shortened names (the basically ubiquitous names, like Jess/Jessica, Mike/Michael, or Tim/Timothy). Anglicized versions of foreign language names are a dubious distinction, which depend on whether or not it is a direct translation or, well, a sobriquet of such!
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