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Adult performer Jonah Wheeler reveals the unconventional origins of his stage name
Let's just say we should all be grateful we're living in the universe where we're thirsting over "Jonah Wheeler" and not "Zachariah Huntington" or "Moab Steubenville."
Jonah Wheeler is a unique talent in the adult film industry. Where so many gay porn stars have made a living off of being either large, muscular jocks or smooth, svelte twinks, Wheeler has carved himself a different niche, one where he can be "friendly, horny, goofy, hard" all at once — a niche where he's found wide success as both a social media personality and adult performer.
A distinctive performer needs a distinctive name. "Your pet's name + the street you grew up on" is a fine enough formula for testing out porn names with your friends, but if this is how you're trying to make a living, you might want to give it a little more thought. You also can't leave something that important to your business up to chance. If you're trying to get into the adult industry but can't think of a good name yourself, God help you if you're from Salt Lake City: "Yeah, I'm trying to get into porn, so I did the whole 'pet's name/street you grew up on' thing, but I don't know if 'Luna 1300 South' has a sexy ring to it."
Jonah Wheeler's a standout performer with a standout name, and he recently shared the route he took to get to it.
@dadsanddaddiespod From ‘Dads and Daddies,’ ep 30: Judson and Brian hookup with @Jonah Wheeler #dadsanddaddies #podcast #podcastclips #gaypodcast #gay #gaytiktok #queer #queertiktok #queertok #lgbtq #lgbtqtiktok #fyp #foryoupageofficial
Wheeler was interviewed on Dads and Daddies, which bills itself as "a podcast about the lives and times of adult gay men in the here and now." On Wheeler's episode, he talked about how he got into the adult entertainment industry, and how he ended up picking his performer name. It started well before Wheeler was ever in front of camera.
"Before I got into porn, I went to the AVNs and HustlaBall in Las Vegas, which are like, a like, circuit porn star meet-and-greet, and like, the porn awards," said Wheeler. He then added that he wasn't there to perform, but nor was he just a spectator. "I worked on the tech team, just to be like, 'Let me see what this industry is like and see if I want to get into it.'"
Wheeler was immediately popular. "I had a couple different director and scout people one night fight over who got my contact — which never went anywhere but was very, very personally exciting."
"They were drawn to this redneck vibe that I had on that day," Wheeler recalled on the podcast, while rocking a white undershirt tank top and thick mustache. The rest of the story goes, "And so as I was picking out a name I was like, 'What redneck quality is accessible to me?'" It's immediately understandable why scouts and directors picked up on Wheeler's approachable, blue collar aesthetic — if you can pull it off as Wheeler can, it's a very hot look.
It's surprising that Wheeler is so authentic in persona with such a rural influence, as it's so antithetical to how he said he grew up. "I'm from a bureaucrat Catholic Washington DC family," said Wheeler. So when trying to find a way to channel this part of himself that people were clearly interested in and attracted to, he asked himself, "What's the redneck I understand."
For Wheeler, "Central Appalachia, Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, is like, the thing that I have the most personal access to. I lived in Pittsburgh for a while. I have a little bit of internal understanding of that." Just as cities across the US vary so greatly, so do rural or "redneck" experiences. It's smart for Wheeler to try to hone in on what he knows, and comes across as decidedly more sincere than it would if he were playing some caricature of someone from Podunk Anywhere, USA. Wheeler's in touch with the root of his inspiration.
"So I took a weird Old Testament name, which I think of as being very Appalachian," Wheeler explained, adding for example, "Like the Ezekiels, the Zachariahs, and I took Jonah." Another good litmus test for picking a porn name is thinking about that scene from When Harry Met Sally — you know, the one where Harry's telling Sally she couldn't have had good sex with a guy named Sheldon because what are you gonna do? Be in the middle of things, screaming, "Do it to me, Sheldon! You're an animal, Sheldon! Ride me, big Sheldon!" Keeping that in mind, Jonah was the clear winner. Hands down.
And his last name? "I took Jonah, and then Wheeling, West Virginia, which is close to Pittsburgh, so I knew it, and I made a name for that." It's an unorthodox way to pick a name for certain, but it's worked out exceedingly well for Wheeler.
You can watch him explain it in the clip below, and his full episode of Dads and Daddies is available here.
Rowan Ashley Smith has often been described as "a multi-hyphenate about town." He loves work that connects him to his cultures as a gay, Jewish, multiracial trans man. Before breaking into journalism, the best days of his professional life were spent as a summer camp professional, a librarian, and an HIV prevention specialist. His work has been featured in GO Magazine, pride.com, and The Advocate. In what is left of his free time, Rowan enjoys performing stand up comedy, doing the NYT crossword, and spending time with his two partners, two children, and four cats.
Rowan Ashley Smith has often been described as "a multi-hyphenate about town." He loves work that connects him to his cultures as a gay, Jewish, multiracial trans man. Before breaking into journalism, the best days of his professional life were spent as a summer camp professional, a librarian, and an HIV prevention specialist. His work has been featured in GO Magazine, pride.com, and The Advocate. In what is left of his free time, Rowan enjoys performing stand up comedy, doing the NYT crossword, and spending time with his two partners, two children, and four cats.
