It is greater than frequent for celebrities to take stage names, and simply this week Millie Bobby Brown revealed that she altered her actual identify for her skilled profession. So listed below are simply 13 celebrities, together with Millie, whose actual identify simply would possibly fascinate you:
Millie Bobby Brown’s center identify is not Bobby. It is Bonnie. “I’ve by no means instructed anybody that. You heard it right here first,” she instructed BuzzFeed UK earlier this month. She stated she modified her center identify for “shits and giggles.”
Emma Stone’s actual identify is Emily Stone. One other actor was already registered underneath the identify with the Display screen Actors Guild, so the Sorts of Kindness star selected the primary identify “Emma” and saved her final identify. In 2024, she instructed the Hollywood Reporter that she “freaked out” just a few years in the past about her stage identify and realized she could not “do it anymore.” When requested by the publication if her followers might name her Emily, she stated, “That may be so good. I want to be Emily.”
Jamie Foxx’s actual identify is Eric Marlon Bishop. “I went on as Eric Bishop [and] killed. Standing ovation,” Jamie stated on Angie Martinez’s radio present final 12 months of his early days doing stand-up in Los Angeles. “I come again the following weekend. You signal your identify. I do not get on. Subsequent week, I do not get on once more. Come to search out out, the comics are operating the record. So I might by no means get on.” He then tried out a unique comedy corridor, the place he had extra success by writing down “unisex names” as a result of the variety of male comics far outweighed the variety of feminine comics. One of many names he tried out was Jamie Foxx. It obtained him on stage, and he caught with it.
Michelle Yeoh’s Chinese language identify is Yeoh Choo-Kheng. Nonetheless, she instructed USA Right now that she adopted the extra Anglican identify “Michelle” at first of her profession when a producer questioned her identify. “I solely adopted the identify Michelle once I obtained into the movie business, as a result of my producer stated on the time, ‘Nobody goes to have the ability to say your identify,'” she instructed USA Right now in 2021. “What do you imply they can not say it? It is Yeoh as in Yo, that is straightforward proper? Choo as in ‘choo choo prepare’ and Kheng as in ‘king.’ Why cannot you set these three phrases collectively?”
Michael Keaton’s actual identify is Michael Douglas. As you may think about, he could not use his actual identify as his stage identify, contemplating there’s already a serious film star named Michael Douglas. He instructed Individuals final 12 months that he thinks he discovered the identify “Keaton” whereas wanting via a cellphone e-book. “I have to’ve gone, ‘I do not know, let me consider one thing right here.’ And I went, ‘Oh, that sounds cheap,'” he stated.
Whoopi Goldberg’s actual identify is Caryn Johnson. However Whoopi Goldberg was the primary stage identify she tried. “This is the factor. While you’re acting on stage, you by no means actually have time to enter the lavatory and shut the door. So when you get slightly gassy, you have to let it go. So individuals used to say to me, You might be like a whoopee cushion. And that is the place the identify got here from,” she instructed the New York Instances in 2006. She stated on Late Evening final 12 months that her mother satisfied her to evolve the identify past Whoopee Cushion to Whoopi Goldberg. Briefly, between the 2 names, she glided by a French pronunciation of Whoopee Cushion.
As a child, Will Ferrell was “embarrassed” by his first identify: John. “It is a minor factor when it comes to — it is probably not even trauma — however I keep in mind feeling so embarrassed as a result of my actual identify is John. John William Ferrell. So first day of faculty, I would be John,” he stated on Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s MeSsy podcast final 12 months. As for why he glided by his center? Nicely, that is as a result of it is the identify his mother and father referred to as him. “It wasn’t my alternative,” he stated. “My mother and father named me John. They referred to as me Will. I grew up as Will.”
Youngsters who grew up on Disney Channel would possibly already know the lore of Miley Cryus’s actual identify: Future Hope Cyrus. Rising up, her household referred to as her “Smiley” since she radiated happiness. This was ultimately shortened to Miley. “It’s pretty. It’s a lot,” Miley stated of her beginning identify on David Letterman’s Netflix discuss present final 12 months, per TODAY. “However I do assume that from the start it set an intention, which we do not all the time have.”
“For many who could also be curious, the identify I used to be born with is 김대현, pronounced ‘Geem Day Hyun.’ (If the automobile firm Hyundai simply change the syllables. 🙂 Like many different Asian immigrants, when my household got here to the US my mother and father added a western identify to make it simpler for non-Koreans to pronounce. The identify they selected was ‘Daniel’ as a result of they favored the which means and the truth that the ‘D’ sound in Daniel was the identical as my first identify in Korean, Dae Hyun. Each my names symbolize the very best of who I’m as a Korean and an American. I could not be prouder to be each. 🇺🇸🇰🇷,” he wrote on Instagram in 2022.
Tina Fey’s actual identify is Elizabeth Stamatina Fey. Based on Vogue, Tina comes from her center identify. Come to consider it, what is the identify of Tina’s 30 Rock character? Liz Lemon. Liz, quick for Elizabeth. You see the connection…
“When individuals name me Robyn, my head simply flies round as a result of I really feel like that particular person is aware of me,” Rihanna instructed Glamour in 2013. The singer and wonder mogul’s full identify is Robyn Rihanna Fenty. “However Rihanna, that tends to be individuals’s personal [creation]. Robyn is who I’m. Rihanna — that is an concept of who I’m.”
Reese is not the actor’s first identify. Reese’s actual identify is Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon. She revealed this in an interview on Ellen in 2004.