Days of Our Lives’ Josh Taylor opened up about having to change his name.

Fans of Days of Our Lives were saddened by the recent death of Wayne Northrop, who played the heroic Roman Brady from 1981 to 1994. It’s

very hard to replace a beloved character, but in 1998, Josh Taylor took over the part and made it his own. In his own right, Taylor became as

much a fan favorite as Northrop and continues to bring his best performance in each episode. The actor recently revealed that he had to make

some changes before he became the performer we all know and love.

He Had No Choice in the Matter

A video on the official DAYS Instagram page was posted with the caption, “We gave the cast a twist: they asked a mystery question, not knowing who would answer it! 🤫 Watch as cast members tackle each other’s surprise questions and keep the fun going! What would YOU ask the DAYS cast? What’s your answer to Eric’s questions?” Casey Moss (JJ) was first asked what his secret to aging backward was. He hysterically replied, “Lots of abuse, and then when you stop abusing your body, your body goes into hyper rejuvenation.

Moss then asked a question for the next cast member, which turned out to be Abigail Klein (Stephanie). And he asked, “What is your biggest fear?” She gave the obvious answer of “Fear itself” (thank you, Franklin D. Roosevelt). She then posed the next question: “What’s the story behind your name?” Taylor was up, and he responded, “The story behind my name is my original name was Tim Taylor…And when I went to join SAG, there was another Tim Taylor. So I couldn’t have that.”

His Hero Inspired His Name

SAG is the Screen Actors Guild, the union for actors, and when someone registers as part of it, they can’t use the same name as an already existing actor. For example, according to BuzzFeed, Michael Keaton’s original name was Michael Douglas. But because there already was a Michael Douglas who became famous on TV and then in the movies, he changed it to Keaton. Taylor went on to explain that “Josh came from: Steve McQueen had a character in Wanted Dead or Alive on television called Josh Randall. I love that character. I love Steve McQueen. That’s where Josh came from.”

If that wasn’t surprising enough, he went on to add, “Ironically, I actually wound up dating his daughter.” Who knew? Taylor went on to ask his question, “What’s your favorite sport?” Eric Martsolf (Brady) was the chosen one, and he answered, “It’s water polo now. My boys play it, and I’ve realized that it’s one of the most barbaric, interesting sports I’ve ever witnessed.” He then hysterically asked the fans what they thought of pickles, and the responses became all about pickles. Klein replied, “May have to change my biggest fear to pickles!!!!”