Celebrities Who Changed Their Names Before Becoming Stars

Reese Witherspoon

No one was more stunned to learn that Reese Witherspoon’s first name is not Reese than Jennifer Aniston.

In a recent interview with LADbible, Witherspoon asked her costar to guess which of three names — Jane, Jeanne or Joan — was her middle name, and when Aniston guessed incorrectly, the Legally Blonde star said, “It’s Jeanne. That’s confusing. I’m Laura Jeanne.”

“Laura Jeanne?” Aniston asked, clearly confused. “That’s my real name,” Witherspoon responded.

“Who’s Laura? Who the hell’s Laura?” Aniston joked. “Wait, Laura Jeanne? I’m not calling you that from now on! Come on, Laura Jeanne.”

The Breakup star then asked where the name Reese came from, to which Witherspoon revealed it was her middle name.

“Yeah,” Witherspoon said. “I’m Laura Jeanne Reese.”

Rihanna

Rihanna is a household name worldwide. However, the moniker is actually the singer’s middle name. Her first name is Robyn, which her close family and friends still call her.

Keke Palmer

Keke Palmer’s family nickname accidentally became her stage name, but if she had it her way, the multi-hyphenate would prefer people call her by her given name, Lauren.

“[Keke] went from being just something that my family called me to being something that the whole world called me,” she told Glamour back in 2022.

The actress revealed that her manager at the time “heard my mom call me Keke ’cause I wasn’t listening. So she was like, ‘Keke. Keke!'”

“And he said, ‘That’s … that should be your stage name,’ ” she recalled. “I actually don’t prefer to go by Keke instead of Lauren,” she added.

Millie Bobby Brown

Millie Bobby Brown tweaked her stage name for “s—- and giggles.”

During an interview with her The Electric State costar Chris Pratt, Brown revealed she changed her middle name as she entered show business.

“My middle name is Bonnie,” she said in a BuzzFeed UK interview, prompting Pratt to ask if her name is actually Millie Bobby Bonnie Brown.

“No. It’s no Bobby,” she said. “It’s Millie Bonnie Brown … I’ve never told anyone that.”

Kat Dennings

Kat Dennings knew from a young age that her real name wasn’t going to work for her.

“My real last name is Litwack — that’s all you need to hear,” the actress told Kylie Kelce while on the Not Gonna Lie podcast.

“At 9, I was like, ‘This isn’t going to work for me. This is not going to work,'” she recalled. And she stands by that executive decision.

“She-slash-I was very ahead of her time. It was a CEO situation. I was like, ‘This can’t be displayed on a poster,’” the actress joked. 

Brandon Sklenar

After years of having his last name mispronounced, Brandon Skelnar decided to make a change. Born Brandon Feakins, the 1923 actor now uses his mother’s maiden name.

“I took it because growing up, everyone would always mispronounce my last name. And it drove me absolutely crazy,” he told PEOPLE. “So I also didn’t want to pick something completely arbitrary that meant nothing. So I took my mother’s maiden name because it was real.”

Emma Stone

If you ask us, Emma Stone couldn’t have picked a more perfect name. However, the La La Land star told The Hollywood Reporter back in 2024 that she’d prefer to go by her real first name, Emily.

In fact, when asked by the outlet whether she’d correct a fan who called her by her real name instead of Emma, the actress responded, “No. That would be so nice. I would like to be Emily.”

She previously revealed the name change came because there was already another Emily Stone who was a member of SAG-AFTRA before her.

Sam Neill

Like Dennings, Sam Neill knew from an early age that his birth name wasn’t right for him long before he made it to Hollywood. Born Nigel Neill, the actor revealed he was teased for his first name back in the day.

“You never want to be called Nigel. It’s also called ‘Nigel No Mates,’ you know, ‘Nigel No Friends,’ ” he joked, while on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

“When I was 10, my best friend was called Nigel Nut and I was Nigel Neill,” Neill said.

“Yeah, that was a disadvantage,” Neill continued. “So, but we liked Westerns, and we thought, ‘let’s not just call ourselves Nigel, let’s have nickname.’ So I was called Sam and he was called Bill, and that was the best decision I ever made.” 

Kirk Douglas

The late Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch in upstate New York, the son of poor and illiterate Russian immigrants Herschel and Bryna, who later went by Harry and Bertha.

He told PEOPLE in 2015 that, before pursuing a career in show business, he changed his name because his given name was too unwieldy and too Jewish for Hollywood at the time.

“I wish I had kept it,” he said, looking back on the decision. “It’s more interesting to keep your original name. But can you imagine that name on a marquee?”

The Douglas name carried over to Kirk’s son, Michael Douglas, whose name would force another actor on this list to adopt a name change.

Jennifer Aniston

No, Aniston’s real name is not secretly Rachel Green — it’s Jennifer Linn Anastassakis! Her Greek father, actor John Aniston, changed the family’s last name when he went into show business.

Jon Bon Jovi

Legendary rocker Jon Bon Jovi was born John Francis Bongiovi Jr. but when looking for a name for his band, a friend suggested they go by Bon Jovi, similar to Van Halen.

Keeping with the name of his band, the musician began going professionally as Bon Jovi as well.

Dove Cameron

Born Chloe Celeste Hoffman, the actress legally changed her name to Dove as a tribute to her late father, who called her that as a nickname.

“He called me Dove more than he ever called me Chloe,” she told StyleWatch. “He passed away when I was 15, and I decided to legally change it. So it’s on my passport — everything legal is Dove.”

However, she shared on Twitter in September 2017 that she responds to both names, and friends and family still call her Chloe.

John Legend

Born John Roger Stephens, the singer’s stage name comes from a childhood nickname that stuck.

“John Legend is a nickname that some friends started calling me, and it kind of grew into my stage name,” he told MTV in 2008. “It grew to the point where more people in my circle would know me by that name than by my real name.”

Meg Ryan

Ryan’s moniker might sound short and sweet, but her real name is quite a mouthful: Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra.

She began using her grandmother’s maiden name, “Ryan,” as a surname when she joined the Screen Actors Guild, Entertainment Weekly reported.

Audrey Hepburn

The origins of Hepburn’s true name are shrouded in mystery. Sources have disagreed on the exact birthname of the Belgian-born actress, but The New York Times reported she was born Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston.

The names Edda, Audrey (the English form of the Dutch name Edda) and Andrey (a feminine form of Andrew) can be found in different biographies, although Edda is found most frequently, according to Britannica.

Sources do agree, however, that Hepburn’s mother was the Dutch baroness Ella van Heemstra and that her British father’s surname was Ruston, though he went by the more aristocratic-sounding name Hepburn-Ruston, believing he was a descendant of Mary, Queen of Scots, the encyclopedia reports.

Vin Diesel

Apparently, the name Mark Sinclair didn’t sound tough enough for the actor when he worked as a New York City bouncer before his big break.

The action star shortened his mother’s maiden name Vincent to get his new first name. As for “Diesel,” he once revealed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien that he got the nickname from friends who said he was always full of energy.

Nicki Minaj

Trinidadian-born rapper Minaj’s stage moniker is a shortened version of her real name, Onika Tanya Maraj.

Calvin Harris

Fans might have raised an eyebrow when Taylor Swift thanked her then-boyfriend “Adam” at the 2016 iHeartRadio Awards — but Harris goes by Adam Richard Wiles when he’s not spinning records.

The Scottish musician told the Shortlist in 2009 that he decided to change his name “to exploit the racial ambiguity of his stage name,” according to Esquire.

“My first single was more of a soul track, and I thought Calvin Harris sounded a bit more racially ambiguous,” he said. “I thought people might not know if I was Black or not. After that, I was stuck with it.”

Martin Sheen

As the son of a Spanish immigrant father and Irish mother, the West Wing actor was born Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez. However, he never changed his birth name legally, revealing to Closer Weekly in June 2022 that the name change is one he “regrets.”

“That’s one of my regrets,” he said to the outlet. “Sometimes you get persuaded when you don’t have enough insight or even enough courage to stand up for what you believe in, and you pay for it later.”

He added, “I never changed my name officially. It’s still Ramon Estévez on my birth certificate. It’s on my marriage license, my passport, driver’s license.”

Charlie Sheen

Martin Sheen’s youngest son, Carlos Irwin Estevez, adopted his father’s stage name when he began acting using the name Charlie.

In contrast, Charlie’s siblings — Emilio, Ramón and Renée — who are all actors, continue to use their Spanish last name, Estévez.

Diane Keaton

Keaton’s real surname is Hall, as in Annie Hall, the character she played in the Woody Allen film of the same name, which won her an Oscar in 1978. Allen wrote the role specifically for the actress, whom he had previously dated, taking her real last name and combining it with her nickname, Annie, according to Stig Björkman’s Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation with Stig Björkman.

The Marvin’s Room star originally changed her surname to Keaton, her mother’s maiden name, because there was another actress named Diane Hall in the Actors’ Equity Association, according to Vogue.

Olivia Wilde

Paying tribute to Oscar Wilde, one of her favorite authors, actress Olivia Jane Cockburn legally changed her last name to Wilde when she began acting.

Katy Perry

The pop star was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson but changed her name so she wouldn’t be confused with actress Kate Hudson (though Perry released her self-titled first album under the name “Katy Hudson” in 2001). Perry is her mother’s maiden name.

Miley Cyrus

Cyrus legally changed her name from Destiny Hope to Miley Ray (a rendition of her childhood nickname “Smiley”) in 2008.

Nina Dobrev

Bulgarian actress Dobrev shortened her name from Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva.

Jamie Foxx

The Oscar-winning actor was born Eric Marlon Bishop but changed his name to the more gender-ambiguous Jamie Foxx during his stand-up days.

The actor-comedian chose the more feminine-sounding name because female comedians were often called to the stage first, Yahoo! reports.

He chose “Foxx” in honor of Sanford and Son star Redd Foxx.

Joaquin Phoenix

The actor’s parents changed the family’s last name from Bottom to Phoenix in the late 1970s to represent a new beginning.

Bruno Mars

Born Peter Gene Hernandez, he later told Latina magazine, “My dad nicknamed me Bruno since I was 2 years old.”

“I was going to go by ‘Bruno,’ one name. Mars just kind of came joking around because that sounds bigger than life. That was it, simple as that.”

Mars would later reveal that his father nicknamed him “Bruno” after professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino.

Michael Keaton

The actor was forced 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

He might be the only Tom Cruise in Hollywood, but not in his family! The actor’s birth name is Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. He began using his middle name as a surname at the behest of an agent.

Demi Moore

Sometimes less is Moore! Born Demetria Gene Guynes, the actress shortened her first name to just Demi. The star’s last name is a holdover from her first marriage to singer Freddy Moore.

Whoopi Goldberg

Born Caryn Elaine Johnson, the Oscar-winning actress explained that her stage name “Whoopi” comes from the whoopee cushion.

“If you get a little gassy, you’ve got to let it go. So people used to say to me, ‘You’re like a whoopee cushion.’ And that’s where the name came from,” she told The New York Times in 2006.

Goldberg is her mother’s maiden name, which she opted to use in the hope of being taken more seriously.

“My mother did not name me Whoopi, but Goldberg is my name, it’s part of my family, part of my heritage. Just like being Black,” she revealed to The Jewish Chronicle in 2011.

Marilyn Monroe

It’s hard to imagine the iconic actress by any other name, but Monroe went by several different monikers throughout her life, even before she landed in Hollywood.

Monroe was baptized Norma Jeane Baker, but the name on her birth certificate was Norma Jeane Mortenson. It changed again after she married James Dougherty and adopted his surname.

She didn’t legally change her name to Marilyn Monroe until 1956, although she had been publicly known by the moniker since 1946. Ben Lyon, a 20th Century Fox executive, gave her the name Marilyn because she reminded him of actress Marilyn Miller. She picked Monroe after her mother’s maiden name.

She later went by Marilyn Monroe Miller after marrying author Arthur Miller in 1956.

Natalie Portman

Born Neta-Lee Hershlag, the Israeli-American actress took her paternal grandmother’s maiden name, “Portman,” as her stage name for privacy reasons.

Alicia Keys

Turns out, the singer’s name and impressive piano skills are no coincidence! Keys changed her name from Alicia Augello Cook to reflect her love of music.

Winona Ryder

The actress changed her last name from Horowitz when asked how she would like to have her name appear on the credits of her first role. She suggested Ryder as Mitch Ryder’s album was playing in the background.

Elton John

Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, the singer started going by the name Elton John in honor of two blues legends: saxophonist Elton Dean and singer Long John Baldry. As he grew to “dislike” his birth name, he legally changed his name in May 1972, adding the middle name “Hercules.”

“When I became Elton John, it was like a new lease on life,” he said in a 1987 interview, The Daily Express reported. “I didn’t particularly like being Reg Dwight. It had too many unhappy memories.”

He added, “I hated the word ‘Reg,’ anyway. It was just a horrible name.”

Lily James

The Pam & Tommy star was born Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson, but she adopted the last name James in memory of her late father, James Thomson, who died of cancer in 2008.