Emma Stone
Real name: Emily Jean Stone
The story behind the Stone’s name change is quite an entertaining one. “My real name is Emily. But it was taken at SAG,” she told W Magazine. “I was 16…. So to ask a 16-year-old to pick a new name is really an interesting process, because I was like, ‘I’m going to be Riley.’ And so my name was Riley Stone for about six months.” She said before adding that the name failed to stick so she changed it to Emma, because it was much closer to Emily. In November 2018, the actress also revealed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that she “wanted to be called Emma because of Baby Spice and guess what, now I am. So, that’s pretty messed up.”
Travis Scott
Real name: Jacques Webster
Travis Scott may be a famous rapper in his own right but now that he is the father of Kylie Jenner’s first child, it’s safe to say there is significant interest in the musician. Scott revealed in a 2014 interview with the name change was a tribute to his uncle. “My uncle’s name is Travis. He was like my favourite uncle. My favourite relative.” the singer told the publication. So yes, this means Stormi could be named Stormi Webster not Stormi Scott. Or maybe the parents decided on just one name, like Cher or Madonna? Only time will tell.
Cardi B
Real name: Belcalis Almanzar
Cardi B’s stage name originated from her nickname Bacardi, which she was comically referred to as her sister’s name is Hennessy.
Reese Witherspoon
Real name: Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon
While Reese was initially the actress’s mother’s maiden name, the Legally Blonde star legally changed it to Reese early on in her career.
Gigi Hadid
Real name: Jelena Noura Hadid
The model’s mother Yolanda Foster came up with the nickname when Gigi was first starting school. “My mom was called that as a kid by her mother when she was younger, but only around the house. I was called that around the house when I was really young,” she told Vogue US. “In first or second grade, there was a girl named Helena and it got confusing with the teacher who had to call out our names, and so the teacher asked my mom, ‘If I needed to call Jelena a nickname, what would it be?’ And my mom was like, ‘I call her Gigi sometimes,’ and the name stuck.”
Lady Gaga
Real name: Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
The singer told Flybe magazine the nom de plume came about after music producer Rob Fusari started calling her Gaga, after the Queen song Radio GaGa.
“He started to call me GaGa when I’d come into the studio. When we were getting ready to really start performing, I decided that I’d been playing under my real name for so long I wanted a new way to reinvent myself. So I said, what about Lady GaGa, because Gaga is sort of crazy and Lady has such connotations,” she said.
Iggy Azalea
Real name: Amethyst Amelia Kelly
Iggy was chosen as a tribute to a dog the rapper once owned and Azalea was the name of the street she and her mother lived on. Simple.
Michael Kors
Real name: Karl Anderson Jr.
Kors’s birth name is Karl Anderson Jr. but he changed it after his mother married his stepfather Bill Kors. “My mother said, ‘You’re getting a new last name, so why don’t you pick a new first name?'” Kors told People magazine in 1991. “Michael and David were her favourites. I chose Michael as my first name and David as my middle name.”
Mila Kunis
Real name: Milena Markovna Kunis
Kunis simplified her name upon beginning her acting career.
Calvin Harris
Real name: Adam Richard Wiles
The Scottish musician is said to have chosen Calvin Harris as his stage name due to its racial ambiguity. We wonder what Taylor Swift calls him?
Nicki Minaj
Real name: Onika Tanya Maraj
Minaj told Out magazine a former manager convinced her to change her name to Minaj, a name she hated.
Lana Del Rey
Real name: Elizabeth Woolridge Grant
“I wanted a name I could shape the music towards. I was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, speaking a lot of Spanish with my friends from Cuba,” the singer told British Vogue. “Lana Del Rey reminded us of the glamour of the seaside. It sounded gorgeous coming off the tip of the tongue.”
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Elle Macpherson
Real name: Eleanor Nancy Gow
The Australian model’s name change came about after her mother remarried.
Ralph Lauren
Real name: Ralph Lifshitz
Lauren once explained to Oprah the pseudonym came about as a result of the sound of his last name.
“My given name has the word sh*t in it,” he said. “When I was a kid, the other kids would make a lot of fun of me. It was a tough name. That’s why I decided to change it. My cousins who lived in California had changed their last name to Lawrence. So I just thought, ‘I’m going to pick a nice last name’ — it wasn’t particularly connected to anything or anyone,” explained Lauren.
Katy Perry
Real name: Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson
Perry reportedly changed her name to her mother’s maiden name to avoid being confused with actress Kate Hudson.
Agyness Deyn
Real name: Laura Michelle Hollins
The model’s name change came about after her agency at the time insisted there were too many Lauras around. “I started modelling, and they said, ‘there are loads of Lauras – you can change your name.’ I was like, OK, and then I thought about it and said, ‘OK, I’ll be called Agnes; my grandmother was called Agnes,’” Deyn explained to The Guardian.
Lorde
Real name: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor
The New Zealand born singer told Interview magazine the stage name came about from her love of aristocracy. “Ever since I was a little kid, I have been really into royals and aristocracy, so to make Lord more feminine, I just put an e on the end! Some people think it’s religious, but it’s not.”
Miley Ray Cyrus
Real name: Destiny Hope Cyrus
The singer legally changed her name to Miley Ray when she was 15 years old. The first name is widely known to have come from her nickname smiley.
Coco Rocha
Real name: Mikhaila Rocha
The moniker was given to Rocha by her mother who called her Mon petit Coco.
Alicia Keys
Real name: Alicia Augello Cook
The singer’s alias is said to come from her love of the piano and its keys.
Meghan Markle
Real name: Rachel Meghan Markle
The actress, who revealed her first name was in fact Rachel, is known by her middle name Meghan. She was referred to as “Rachel Meghan Markle” in Queen Elizabeth II’s official announcement of consent to the royal wedding, but as “Ms. Meghan Markle” on the engagement announcement.
Drake
Real name: Aubrey Drake Graham
The artist took the stage name Drake as it was his middle name and decidedly a far more fitting name for a rapper than Aubrey Graham.
Julianne Moore
Real name: Julie Anne Smith
The actress decided to change her name as it was too common within the industry. “My father’s middle name is Moore; my mother’s name is Anne,” she told The New York Times. “So I just slammed the Anne onto the Julie. That way I could use both of their names and not hurt anyone’s feelings. But it’s horrible to change your name. I’d been Julie Smith my whole life, and I didn’t want to change it.”
Real name: Robyn Rihanna Fenty
The singer’s middle name became her stage name, however her friends and family still refer to her as Robyn.
Prince Harry
Real name: Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales
Prince Harry’s real name is Henry Charles Albert David, referred to as Prince Harry as Harry is his nickname.
John Legend
Real name: John Roger Stephens
Legend was at first merely a nickname for the artist, which originated during his time at the University of Pennsylvania, before he decided on transforming it into his stage name. “‘Legend’ is something that I never would have chosen for myself originally. It grew to the point where more people in my circle would know me by that name than by my real name. I had to make a decision,” the artist told MTV.
Bruno Mars
Real name: Peter Gene Hernandez
The singer was nicknamed Bruno after the wrestler Bruno Sammartino as he was quite the chubby baby and the name seemed to stick.
Jamie Foxx
Real name: Eric Marlon Bishop
Foxx admitted to changing his name so that he were more likely to score a spot on the stand-up comedy circuit—as females were typically chosen as there were far less. “So I went to the list and wrote down unisex names,” he said on the Late Show with David Letterman. “Stacy Green, Tracy Brown…Jamie Foxx! And I’m the first guy called. He goes, ‘Jamie Foxx, is she here?’ I said, ‘No, brother, that’s me.’ And then I go onstage and I get a standing ovation.”
Billie Eilish
Real name: Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell
The 17-year-old pop phenomenon has not one but three middle names. “[Eilish] is my middle name. So I’m Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell. Pretty weird, right?” she told BBC in 2017. “Pirate was going to be my middle name, but then my uncle had a problem with it because pirates are bad. Then Baird is my mother’s name.”