The Real Birth Names of the World's Most Infamous Serial Killers

Names identify us as the people who were are... and although some of the world's most infamous serial killers are known by their nicknames (Yorkshire Ripper, BTK Killer, Dr Death or the Milwaukee Cannibal); some use an alias to escape capture, kept their names as on their birth certificate, or they changed their name for reasons which gives us an interesting insight into their private life and personal demons.  

What follows is a small sample list of 54 of the UK & USA's most infamous serial killers, complete with their full birth name, a biography (click the link in red) and the reason for their name change. ​

• Aileen Wuornos - born Aileen Carol Pittman (Pittman was her birth father's surname, but she took her mother's maiden name after her parents divorced)
• Albert DeSalvo - born Albert Henry DeSalvo 
• David Berkowitz - born Richard David Falco (he was abandoned by his mother at an early age and raised by Pearl & Nathan Berkowitz)
• Dennis Rader - born Dennis Lynn Rader
• Edmund Kemper - born Edmund Emil Kemper III
• Jeffrey Dahmer - born Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer
• Joel Rifkin - born Joel David Rifkin
• John Wayne Gacy - born John Wayne Gacy Jr (named after his father who physically and mentally abused him since he was a child, and scarred him for life)
• Richard Ramirez - born Ricardo Leyva Muñoz Ramírez
• Ted Bundy - born Theodore Robert Cowell (born illegitimate; Ted Bundy discovered in his teenage years that his sister Eleanor Louise Cowell was his mother and that his "parents" were actually his grandparents, Louise later married a hospital cook called Johnny Culpepper Bundy and Ted took his surname). 
• Rodney Alcala - born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor (of Mexican parentage but living in Texas, Buquor is his mother's maiden name, used as his father abandoned him aged 3). 
• Ed Gein - born Edward Theodore Gein
• Ted Kaczynski - born Theodore John Kaczynski
• H H Holmes - born Herman Webster Mudgett (known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, as well as a range of other nom-de-plumes including Henry W. Howard, Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, Henry Gordon and Alexander Bond)
• Albert Fish - born Hamilton Howard Fish (nicknamed "Albert" in honour of his dead brother, and to escape the nickname of "Ham & Eggs" that he was given at an orphanage)
• Faye Copeland - born Faye Della Wilson (married co-serial killer Ray Copeland)
• Janie Lou Gibbs - born Janie Lou Hickox (married name)
• Judy Buenoano - born Judias Welty (also known as Judias Goodyear, Judy Morris, Judias Buenoano, Judy Goodyear and Judias Morris, names taken from the various husbands and boyfriends she murdered)
• Kristen Gilbert - born Kristen Heather Strickland (married name)
• Mary Elizabeth Wilson - born Mary Elizabeth Cassidy (surname taken from the fourth and final husband she murdered)
• Dorothea Puente - born Dorothea Helen Gray (married name with her third husband)
• Velma Barfield - born Margie Velma Bullard (married name with Jennings Barfield, who she was married to for just one month, before he "died")
• John Reginald Christie - born John Reginald Halliday Christie
• Graham Young - born Graham Frederick Young
• Michael Lupo - born Michele de Marco Lupo
• Patrick MacKay - born Patrick David Mackay
• Robert Maudsley - born Robert John Maudsley
• Donald Neilson - born Donald Nappey (later changed his name to Donald Neilson, as his original surname "Nappey" let to bullying and abuse from childhood up to his Army Service)
• Dennis Nilsen - born Dennis Andrew Nilsen (to a Scottish mother Elizabeth Duthie Whyte and his father who was a six-foot-tall Norwegian soldier called Olav Magnus Moksheim, who later changed his name to Nilsen to blend in). 
• Ian Brady - born Ian Duncan Stewart (to unmarried single mother Maggie Stewart, he was later fostered by Mary & John Sloan and was known as Ian Sloan, but aged 17 years old his mother married an Irish fruit merchant named Patrick Brady, and Ian took his surname)
• Fred West - born Frederick Walter Stephen West
• Rose West - born Rosemary Pauline Letts (later marrying Fred West)
• Harold Shipman - born Harold Frederick Shipman (known as "Fredddy")
• Peter Sutcliffe - born Peter William Sutcliffe (also known as Peter Coonan and Peter William Coonan; his mother's maiden name being Kathleen Frances Coonan)
• Anthony Hardy - born Anthony John Hardy
• Levi Bellfield - born Levi Rabetts (he is of Romani descent, to Jean & Joseph Rabetts; his mother's maiden name being Bellfield, although - having converted to Islam in prison - Levi Bellfield is now known as Yusuf Rahim
• Steven Grieveson - born Steven John Grieveson
• Stephen Griffiths - born Stephen Shaun Griffiths (although at his trail and against his lawyer's advice, he gave his name as the "Crossbow Cannibal", even though there is no evidence that he ate his victims, or even that he even owned a crossbow)
• Trevor Hardy - born Trevor Joseph Hardy
• Stephen Port - born Stephen John Port
• Raymond Morris - born Raymond Leslie Morris
• Robert Napper - born Robert Clive Napper 
• George Joseph Smith - born George Joseph Smith (although he bigamously married under the aliases of Oliver George Love, Charles Oliver James and George Rose Smith)
• Peter Tobin - born Peter Britton Tobin (although Tobin used up-to 40 alias including Peter Wilson, James Kelly, Paul Semple, John Tobin, Peter Proban and Pat McLaughlin)
• Peter Manuel - born Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel
• Beverley Allitt - born Beverley Gail Allitt
• Steve Wright - born Steve Gerald James Wright
• Henri Desire Landru - born Henri Desire Landru (although, during the four years he lured, robbed and killed 11 widows, he used a variety of aliases - including Monsieur Diard and Dupont - keeping meticulous notes on each fake identity he used, so as not to slip up). 

Serial killers whose names never changed, include: Cynthia Coffman, John George Haigh, Myra Hindley, Kenneth Erskine, Peter Bryan, Robert Black (taking his mother's name - Jessie Hunter Black - as his father was unknown), and Colin Ireland (who was born illegitimate, Colin Ireland never knew his father and neither was it listed on his birth certificate). 

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If you "enjoyed" this blog post, why not take a peek at my other articles: such as serial killers and their diets, favourite drinks, height, IQ, star signs, lunar cycles, dates of birth, reasons for killing, music, nicknames, last meals and whether they're alive or dead... to name but a few. 

No plans this weekend? Looking for a curious & quirky treat for that certain special? Book onto Murder Mile Walks.

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Michael J Buchanan-Dunne is a writer, crime historian and tour-guide who runs Murder Mile Walks, a guided tour of Soho’s most notorious murder cases, hailed as “one of the top ten curious, quirky, unusual and different things to do in London” and featuring 12 murderers, including 3 serial killers, across 15 locations, totalling 75 deaths, over just a one mile walk.