Is Lindsay better off without the 'Lohan'?

Lindsay is severing ties with her meddling father by dropping her last name altogether. Can she hope to compete with one-name wonders like Cher?

Lindsay Lohan in one of her recent court hearings: The actress is dropping her last name in a reported attempt to separate herself from her, arguably, more troubled father.
(Image credit: Getty)

Oprah, Beyonce, Cher... Lindsay? To further separate herself from her troubled father — who was charged this week with domestic violence against his girlfriend — tabloid favorite Lindsay Lohan is planning to shorten her name. "Lindsay is dropping the 'Lohan' and just going by Lindsay," her mother, Dina Lohan, told Rob Shuter at PopEater. The actress' mother and sister, meanwhile, will take the surname "Sullivan," Dina's maiden name. A family friend said that excising "Lohan" is "a way for them all to start over. No one in the family wants anything to do with Lindsay's father anymore, and that includes sharing a last name." Predictably, Michael Lohan is not happy with his daughter's decision. But does it make any sense for, well, Lindsay?

This is a terrible move: "Lindsay Lohan has packed a lot of mistakes into her 24 years," says Jemima Lewis at The Telegraph, but now "she has managed to come up with her most half-baked idea yet." If you want to be known by your first name only, you need two things: First, a very distinctive name ("Nice work, Oprah, Beyoncé, Britney, Nigella and Madonna"); second, a sufficient level of stardom that "there is no possible room for doubt" about which Lindsay you are. "Without wishing to be unkind," a starring role in 2005’s Herbie: Fully Loaded isn’t going to cut the mustard.

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