Dave,
Sorry if I was oversensitive - it comes from over half a lifetime of trying to get people to look at MacColl's approach to singing rather than incidentals like, 'why did he change his name' or 'desert from the army' - it's called the 'Arthur 'two-sheds' Jackson syndrome (don't know if you were ever a Monty Python fan).
No, people didn't stop calling him Miller; rather it was used as a diversion away from discussion on his theories on singing.
I have never heard people refer to Robert Zimmerman, or Archie Leech, or Doris Kappelhoff, or Ethel Gumm (Dylan, Cary Grant, Doris Day, Judy Garland), rather, people have always respected the wishes of all those individuals by using the name they wished to b recognised by as performers.
Later this year there will be a biography on MacColl published which, I hope, will focus on his work as a singer, actor, director and playwrite - I hope these will be the subjects we will be discussing - I wonder!!
Best,
Jim Carroll