Do you know the real names of these celebrities?
Creating a stage name that sometimes has nothing to do with the original name is a common practice in Hollywood. Take Jennifer Aniston. Her real surname is Anastasakis, but it wasn't her who changed it. It was her father, who decided that Aniston was easier to develop his acting career. His daughter followed suit. Jennifer Anastasakis? Doesn't have the same ring, does it?
Michael Keaton is an interesting case, whose real name is Michael John Douglas. But of course, when he arrived in Hollywood there was already a very famous Michael Douglas who had already won an Oscar as a producer. Keeping his original name did not seem a viable option.
Olivia Wilde's real name is Olivia Jane Cockburn, but with a family full of writers and journalists, the actress wanted to pay homage to her favorite writer, Oscar Wilde.
People were amazed when the Australian actress revealed that her real name was Hokulani. The confession didn't stop there, as she also revealed that she is not Australian, but American, as she was born in Hawaii.
Why did good old Rachel Meghan Markle drop the Rachel from the front of her name? At the moment, no one knows and she hasn't told anyone, but even her family doesn't call her Rachel, but Meghan or Meg.
Abel Tesfaye, the person behind The Weeknd, never liked his name, as he has said in more than one interview. He opted for a stage name based on the weekend he dropped out of school and left home to make a living in the music business. He dropped the 'e' because, in his native Canada, there was already a band called The Weekend.
She's neither Helen nor Mirren; her real name is Ilyenia Lydia Minoroff. Although she grew up in London, her father was Russian.
Few people know that his real name is Joaquín Rafael Bottom. It was his own parents, after leaving a hippy cult , who decided to change the family name. They chose Phoenix as a symbol of rebirth as a family, just like the mythological bird.
Natalie Portman has Israeli roots as does her original name: Neta-Lee Hershlag. Portman is less of a mouthful.
Paul David Hewson is the name of U2's frontman. His legendary nickname was given to him by Gavin Friday, a friend, who was inspired by the Latin: Bono Vox (Good Voice), which was also the name of a hearing aid shop in Dublin, located near where they lived as children.
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson didn't want to be confused with a Kate Hudson who, when the singer was starting out, shone brightly in Hollywood. So Katy Perry borrowed her mother's maiden name. The rest is history.
Bruno Mars didn't want to be categorised as a Latin singer, and his real name, Peter Gene Hernandez, didn't help matters. He wanted to be recognised as a funk artist and thought he would need a different name. He was inspired by his favourite wrestler: Bruno Sammartino.
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta is Lady Gaga's real name. It was Rob Fusari, the singer's ex-partner, who gave her the nickname, inspired by 'Radio Gaga', one of Queen's best-known songs. Incidentally, the singer's ex-boyfriend sued her, claiming royalties as the creator of her stage name. He was asking for 30 million dollars. In case you were wondering, he didn't win.
Before becoming an actor and winning an Oscar (in 2004, for 'Ray'), Jamie Foxx made a living, and a very good one, as a successful comedian and stand-up comedian. He started out as Eric Bishop, the actor's real name, until he decided to change his name to Jamie Foxx in homage to Red Foxx, the comedian who inspired the actor in his early days.
Alicia Christian Foster is the real name of this actress and director. It was her brother who revealed that Jodie Foster was a nod to Josephine Dominguez and also to Jo D, her mother's partner, whom she considers a second mother.
When a young John Roger Stephens was starting out in music, the poet J. Ivy told him he sounded like "one of the legends," a statement that Kanye West reaffirmed. The unassuming appellation pleased the artist so much that he kept it as his stage name.
What do you mean Emma Stone is not called Emma Stone? No, her real name is Emily Jean Stone, but when she arrived in Hollywood, at the age of 16, there was already an Emily Stone in the actors' union, so she opted for Emma, which sounds similar to Emily. Besides, "everyone calls me Em," she told W Magazine.
This artist's real name is Destiny Hope Cyrus. However, her fun-loving and sparkling personality prompted her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, to start calling her Smiley. This is how she adapted her stage name, which became her real name in 2008.
Mark Sinclair Vincent is the actor's real name. A name that sounds a bit like a DJ. Diesel's nickname comes from his time as a bouncer in New York, where his energy never flagged. The name is an abbreviation of his middle name. As life would have it, Diesel would end up in a legendary car franchise.
Not everyone knows that Lea Michele is actually called Lea Safarti. This surname, of Sephardic origin, caused her some unpleasantness at school, and so she decided to skip it and change to her mother's surname: Michele.
Stacey Ann Ferguson knew she needed a shorter, more direct name to take the music world by storm. And so Fergie, the former frontwoman of Black Eyed Peas, was born.
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio chose his tremendous stage name thanks to a photo of himself as a child. In the photo, he appears angry at having to go to school disguised as a rabbit. This anger gave rise to the legend.
Susan Alexaner Weaver is her real name. However, at the age of 14 she decided to change it, inspired by Sigourney Howard, one of the characters in 'The Great Gatsby', the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Alicia Beth Moore is her original name and she changed it to Pink in homage to Mr. Pink, Mr. Pink from 'Reservoir Dogs', Quentin Tarantino's debut film.
Ashley Nicolette Frangipane told Rolling Stone she used to be a "weak, and sad" person. To remedy this, she took the New York street map and adopted the name of an Eastside street: Halsey Street.
Snoop Dogg's real name, Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr, is already interesting enough, but not as much as discovering that it was his admiration for Snoopy that led to his legendary stage name.
Yes, it was Iggy Pop who inspired the rapper's stage name, while her surname, Azalea, is the name of the street where she lived with her parents. Her real name? Amethyst Amelia Kelly.
Melissa Viviane Jefferson was known as Lizz among her friends. The final 'o' came from the street slang her group used to end all their names. That's how she got Lizzo.
Ella Yelich O'Connor spent her childhood obsessed with aristocracy and great historical families. Hence the nickname Lorde, to which she added the final 'e' to give it a more feminine feel. Incidentally, her first single, and the one that launched her to fame, was called 'Royals'.
Elizabeth Woolridge, an elegant name if ever there was one, is the name on Lana del Rey's ID card. Before she got to her well-known stage name, though, the singer went by Sparkle Jump Rope Queen or May Jailer. In the end, Lana del Rey came about as an "exotic name that reminded me of the Florida coast," specifically DelRay Beach, located in Palm Beach, she confessed in Vogue.
Cardi B's real name is Belcalis Marlines Almanzar, but her nickname goes way back, as she told Jimmy Fallon on'The Tonight Show.' "My sister's name is Hennessy, which is the name of a cognac, so they started calling me Bacardi. So I started calling myself Bacardi B on Instagram, but I was getting my account deleted because of rights issues, so I shortened it to Cardi B."
The reality of Jessica Ellen Cornish is that she has been Jessie J for so long that she doesn't even remember the origin of her famous J herself.
It is clear that Victoria Louise Lott has always been a beauty, hence her parents affectionately called her 'fairy' from an early age. When she embarked on a musical adventure, she chose to use this pseudonym to succeed.