Stars Who Switched Names: Why and How?

Some changed them for career reasons, while others did it for personal ones. Let's look at why and how they did it.

Actresses and Actors

Reese Witherspoon

• Real Name: Laura Jeanne Reese
• Stage Name: Reese Witherspoon
• Note: Uses her middle name, Reese, as her first name. Surprised Jennifer Aniston, who didn't know her real name until recently.

Rihanna

• Real Name: Robyn
• Stage Name: Rihanna
• Note: Uses her middle name, Rihanna, as her first name. Close family and friends still call her Robyn.

Keke Palmer

• Real Name: Lauren
• Stage Name: Keke Palmer
• Note: Got her stage name, Keke, from her family. Prefers to be called Lauren.

Millie Bobby Brown

• Real Middle Name: Bonnie
• Stage Name: Millie Bobby Brown
• Note: Changed her stage name for fun. Revealed this in an interview with Chris Pratt.

Kat Dennings

• Real Last Name: Litwack
• Stage Name: Kat Dennings
• Note: Changed it when she was nine years old. Stands by this decision.

Brandon Sklenar

• Real Last Name: Feakins
• Stage Name: Brandon Sklenar
• Note: Changed it to his mother's maiden name because people always mispronounced Feakins.

Emma Stone

• Real First Name: Emily
• Stage Name: Emma Stone
• Note: Changed it because there was already another Emily Stone in the actors' union. Wishes she could be called Emily.

Sam Neill

• Real First Name: Nigel
• Stage Name: Sam Neill
• Note: Changed it to Sam because he was teased for his name. He and his best friend both changed their names to avoid being teased.

Kirk Douglas

• Real Name: Issur Danielovitch
• Stage Name: Kirk Douglas
• Note: Changed it because his given name was too Jewish for Hollywood at the time. Wishes he had kept his original name.

Jennifer Aniston

• Real Last Name: Anastassakis
• Stage Name: Jennifer Aniston
• Note: Her father changed the family's last name to Aniston when he went into show business.

Jon Bon Jovi

• Real Name: John Francis Bongiovi Jr.
• Stage Name: Jon Bon Jovi
• Note: Changed it because his band was named after him. Kept the name Bon Jovi as his stage name.

Dove Cameron

• Real Name: Chloe Celeste Hoffman
• Stage Name: Dove Cameron
• Note: Changed her name as a tribute to her late father, who called her Dove. Responds to both names.

John Legend

• Real Name: John Roger Stephens
• Stage Name: John Legend
• Note: Got his stage name from a childhood nickname that stuck. More people in his circle know him by that name than by his real name.

Meg Ryan

• Real Name: Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra
• Stage Name: Meg Ryan
• Note: Began using her grandmother's maiden name, Ryan, as a surname when she joined the Screen Actors Guild.

Audrey Hepburn

• Real Name: Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston
• Stage Name: Audrey Hepburn
• Note: Her name is shrouded in mystery, but sources agree that her mother was the Dutch baroness Ella van Heemstra and that her British father's surname was Ruston.

Vin Diesel

• Real Name: Mark Sinclair
• Stage Name: Vin Diesel
• Note: Changed his name because he thought Mark Sinclair didn't sound tough enough. Got the nickname Diesel from friends who said he was always full of energy.

Nicki Minaj

• Real Name: Onika Tanya Maraj
• Stage Name: Nicki Minaj
• Note: Uses her middle name, Nicki, as her first name. She is a Trinidadian-born rapper.

Calvin Harris

• Real Name: Adam Richard Wiles
• Stage Name: Calvin Harris
• Note: Changed his name because he thought it sounded more racially ambiguous. He is a Scottish musician.

Martin Sheen

• Real Name: Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez
• Stage Name: Martin Sheen
• Note: Never legally changed his name but regrets not standing up for what he believed in. He is the son of a Spanish immigrant father and Irish mother.

Charlie Sheen

• Real Name: Carlos Irwin Estevez
• Stage Name: Charlie Sheen
• Note: Adopted his father's stage name, Martin Sheen, when he began acting. His siblings continue to use their Spanish last name, Estévez.

Diane Keaton

• Real Surname: Hall
• Stage Name: Diane Keaton
• Note: Changed her surname to Keaton, her mother's maiden name, because there was another actress named Diane Hall in the Actors' Equity Association.

Olivia Wilde

• Real Last Name: Cockburn
• Stage Name: Olivia Wilde
• Note: Legally changed her last name to Wilde as a tribute to Oscar Wilde, one of her favorite authors.

Katy Perry

• Real Name: Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson
• Stage Name: Katy Perry
• Note: Changed her name so she wouldn't be confused with actress Kate Hudson. Perry is her mother's maiden name.

Miley Cyrus

• Real Name: Destiny Hope
• Stage Name: Miley Ray
• Note: Legally changed her name from Destiny Hope to Miley Ray in 2008. Got her nickname "Smiley" from her childhood.

Nina Dobrev

• Real Name: Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva
• Stage Name: Nina Dobrev
• Note: Shortened her name from Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva. She is a Bulgarian actress.

Jamie Foxx

• Real Name: Eric Marlon Bishop
• Stage Name: Jamie Foxx
• Note: Changed his name to the more gender-ambiguous Jamie Foxx during his stand-up days. Chose "Foxx" in honor of Sanford and Son star Redd Foxx.

Joaquin Phoenix

• Real Name: Joaquin Bottom
• Stage Name: Joaquin Phoenix
• Note: His parents changed the family's last name from Bottom to Phoenix in the late 1970s to represent a new beginning.

Bruno Mars

• Real Name: Peter Gene Hernandez
• Stage Name: Bruno Mars
• Note: Got his nickname "Bruno" from his father, who nicknamed him after professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino. Added "Mars" because it sounded bigger than life.

Michael Keaton

• Real Name: Michael Douglas
• Stage Name: Michael Keaton
• Note: Had to change his last name from Douglas to Keaton to enter the actor's union since his birth name, Michael Douglas, was already taken by a future Academy Award-winning actor.

Tom Cruise

• Real Name: Thomas Cruise Mapother IV
• Stage Name: Tom Cruise
• Note: Began using his middle name as a surname at the behest of an agent.

Demi Moore

• Real Name: Demetria Gene Guynes
• Stage Name: Demi Moore
• Note: Shortened her first name to just Demi. Her last name is a holdover from her first marriage to singer Freddy Moore.

Whoopi Goldberg

• Real Name: Caryn Elaine Johnson
• Stage Name: Whoopi Goldberg
• Note: Got her stage name "Whoopi" from the whoopee cushion. Goldberg is her mother's maiden name, which she opted to use in the hope of being taken more seriously.

Marilyn Monroe

• Real Name: Norma Jeane Baker
• Stage Name: Marilyn Monroe
• Note: Went by several different monikers throughout her life. She was baptized Norma Jeane Baker, but the name on her birth certificate was Norma Jeane Mortenson. She didn't legally change her name to Marilyn Monroe until 1956.

Alicia Keys

• Real Name: Alicia Augello Cook
• Stage Name: Alicia Keys
• Note: Changed her name to reflect her love of music. She is a singer with impressive piano skills.

Winona Ryder

• Real Name: Winona Horowitz
• Stage Name: Winona Ryder
• Note: Changed her last name when asked how she would like to have her name appear on the credits of her first role. Suggested Ryder as Mitch Ryder's album was playing in the background.

Elton John

• Real Name: Reginald Kenneth Dwight
• Stage Name: Elton John
• Note: Started going by the name Elton John in honor of two blues legends: saxophonist Elton Dean and singer Long John Baldry. Legally changed his name in May 1972, adding the middle name "Hercules."

Lily James

• Real Name: Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson
• Stage Name: Lily James
• Note: Adopted the last name James in memory of her late father, James Thomson, who died of cancer in 2008.