Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Jean-Luc Picard
2. Again With The Names
So it turns out that we've been getting Patrick Stewart's name wrong this entire time. Boy, is there egg on our faces!
It's fairly well known that Stewart only took on the role of Picard to make a bit of money before returning to the stage, which was his first passion. Having spoken with his agent and friends, all of whom agreed with him that the show would fail quickly, he signed the standard six-year contract.
Well, things didn't quite go to plan.
What is less widely known is that for the first 18 months of his time in Hollywood, Patrick Stewart was attempting to negotiate the right to use his own name. Another Patrick Stewart had already registered their name with the Screen Actors' Guild, which meant that, professionally at least, Stewart was unable to use his given name.
He chose to give himself a middle name, something that he felt wouldn't affect his name overall. For just over a year and a half, he was Patrick Hewes Stewart, until he finally was able to revert back to his original, two-worded name.