Can DBAs contain names that's not my name?

Question

For example, let's say the legal name is Bob Ballad. Can a DBA be registered named Tom's Video Editing? And can a website be created named tomsvideoediting.com with the "About" page showcasing "Tom Thomas", implying that Tom Thomas is the owner of this business (sole proprietorship), even though Tom Thomas doesn't exist?

Of course, when registering the DBA itself and doing taxes and whatnot, the legal, real name is used.

Now, if that DBA of Tom's Video Editing is legally doable, then how far can that Tom Thomas profile go? When clients contact Bob, they'll be greeted by an email account named Tom Thomas who will ask for their requirements and eventually send the deliverable of the edited video. Payments will be sent to a PayPal business account where the Business Name (publicly shown) is Tom Thomas and the hidden, true registered account holder name is Bob Ballad. Even so, the profile picture of Tom's email account shows the picture of a human face that does not exist (and certainly not Bob's).

Note that there are no employee-employer relationships; everything is freelancing and/or contractors. If clients find out that they've been fooled and Tom doesn't exist and they want to fire Bob, that's fine, but can they sue Bob for this?

If all of the above is legally acceptable, then what should the registered DBA be - Tom's Video Editing or Tom Thomas?

Answer 1

Bubba Gump Shrimp

Yes - the above example uses two fictional names from the movie Forest Gump.

Answer 2

The main issue is whether an ordinary reader would understand the fake person information to be fake, or at least would have no material reason to care.

A detailed biography of a clearly fictional character even if this person is based on a real person to some extent (e.g. Forest Gump, or Colonel Sanders of KFC, or Wendy of Wendy's, or Ronald McDonald) is certainly allowed.

Pen names and stage names are likewise allowed if they don't deceive people in a material way, which they usually don't since readers only interact with a pen named author through their real work product, and since stage names don't conceal the human being using the name (and are similar to an actual name change for all purposes).

The crime procedural TV melodrama "Remington Steele" was an example of an initially permissible trade name persona getting out of hand, crossing over into the improper zone, and then being exploited by a third-party. In this TV series:

Remington Steele's premise is that Laura Holt, a licensed private investigator (Stephanie Zimbalist) opened a detective agency under her own name but found potential clients refused to hire a woman, no matter how qualified. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fictitious male superior she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events in the first episode, "License to Steele", Pierce Brosnan's character, a former thief and con man (whose real name even he proves not to know and is never revealed), assumes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, a power struggle ensues between Laura and Steele as to who is really in charge, while the two carry on a casual romantic relationship.

The things that made the trade name improper in that context was that clients relied upon the performance of future personal services by the fictional persona, and personal services are not assignable contractual obligations in that context.