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While there are some stars who have only changed a couple of letters on their names – like how Barbara Streisand, made herself recognized as Barbra Streisand, simply omitting the extra-‘A’ from her first name, there are others who basically opt for completely new names, that are not even remotely related to their original ones.
So here is a list of some of the most popular Hollywood celebs who aren’t really popular by their original names
Destiny Hope Cyrus – AKA Miley Cyrus
Born as Destiny Hope Cyrus in 1992, Destiny replaced her first and middle names with something more easy on the tongue – ‘Miley’. Do you think Miley would have been able to carry a succesful image if her stage name was Destiny Hope Cyrus?
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Katheryn Hudson – AKA Katy Perry
You can’t deny Katy Perry sounds more fun, young and more vibrant and colorful like her music videos, as compared to Katheryn Hudson. The candy-pop singer actually started of as a gospel artist during her teens, after learning how to sing in her church.
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Amanda Lee Rogers – AKA Portia de Rossi
We have heard Ellen DeGeneres call her name more than a dozen times with love. But Portia isn’t really Portia. She was born as Amanda Lee Rogers, and chose the name taking inspiration from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, before venturing into acting.
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Elizabeth Grant – AKA Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey’s fancy name isn’t really her own. Elzabeth Grant chose to represent herself as Lana Del Rey, after an unsuccesful stint in music with her original name
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Aubrey Graham – AKA Drake
Aubrey Graham performs ‘Hotline Bling’ – do you like the sound of that? The Canadian rapper did not go that far to find a name that would represent him and his music – as Drake happens to be his middle name.
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Amethyst Kelly – AKA Iggy Azalea
It isn’t just the accent Iggy Azalea tries to put on. The Aussie born rapper started going with her popular name as performing teenager. Her Inspiration? Iggy was the name of her dog and Azalea was the street she grew up on.
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Peter Hernandez – AKA Bruno Mars
This actually might make your head hurt. Bruno Mars actually does sound like a legit regular name, but Mars was born as Peter Hernandez, and took up his first from his father constantly telling him he looked like wrestler Bruno Sammartino. His chose his second name, as he would constantly hear people compliment him saying he’s “out of this world”, to which he would respond saying, “I guess I’m from Mars.”
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Caryn Johnson – AKA Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn’s reason for choosing ‘Whoopi Goldberg’ as her celebrity name wasn’t really that ‘inspiratinal’ so to speak. The Oscar winning actress, was quite a bit “gassy” around friends which lead her to be called “Whoopi” eventually. Her second name was suggested by her mother.
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Krishna Bhanji – AKA Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley was born as Krishna Bhanji, a name originating from her Indian descent, but chose to be represented by ‘Ben Kingsley’ as he ventured into acting.
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Eric Bishop – AKA Jamie Foxx
Starting off as a stand-up comedian, Eric Bishop decided to give himself a name that was more neatral in terms of gender, so he would be called on stage as sooner as his fellow female comediannes.
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Eileen Edwards – AKA Shania Twain
Country/Pop superstar Shania Twain, was born as Eileen Edwards and recieved the second name simply due to her mother’s second marriage with Jerry Twain. Her first name was picked by the songstress as she signed her first record deal. Shania has admitted that her first name actually bears no meaning.
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Reginald Dwight – AKA Elton John
There have already been enough jokes about Elton John’s name as people have jokingly pointed out why it isn’t ‘John Elton’, as ‘John’ is more commonly used as a first-name. What they don’t know, is that ‘Elton John’ isn’t his real name at all. Though Reginald performed with his own name as a teenager, he later adopted ‘Elton John’ as his stage name – inspired by the names of his former band mates.
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Adam Wiles – AKA Calvin Harris
The EDM hitmaker, record-producer and DJ is known worldwide with his popular name. which he chose as he wanted a name that was more racially ambiguous as compared to Adam Wiles. However, he’s still called with his real names among close friends and family.
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Enrique Martin Morales – AKA Ricky Martin
So basically we would have had two hot latin male hitmakers with the name ‘Enrique’ had ‘Martin Morales’ not decided to be called as Ricky Martin instead. However that is not the reason why the pop-star chose to change his name, but it was more so due to the bitter reasons surrounding his parents separation.
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Christopher Breaux – AKA Frank Ocean
The RnB sensation, was born as Christopher Breaux, a name he kept initially while making music as a youngster, but later changed to ‘Frank Ocean’ inspired by his admiration for singing legend ‘Frank Sinatra’ and one of his favorite movies, ‘Ocean’s 11’
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Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta – AKA Lady Gaga
You didn’t actually think Lady Gaga was her real name did you? Gaga was born Stefani and performed for several years with her real name as a budding artist. It was when she chose to do an image makeover as a more glamorous pop-star she chose Lady Gaga, inspired by ‘Queen’s classic rock song, ‘Radio Ga Ga’ – a band Gaga takes major inspiration from.
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Onika Tanya Maraj – AKA Nicki Minaj
The flamboyant rapper, was born as ‘Onika Tanya Maraj’ in Trinidad and Tobago goes by her stage name Nicki Minaj, partly derived from her original surname ‘Maraj’. Originally choosing the name “Nicki Maraj”, she later changed it to Nicki Minaj stating that “My real name is Maraj. Fendi flipped it when he met me because I had such a nasty flow! I eat bitc**s!”
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Anna Mae Bullock – AKA Tina Turner
To every one who wasn’t really around when the loosely based biographical film on her life, ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It?’ hit the theaters back in the early 90’s, the iconic Rock n’ Roll singer was born ‘Anna Mae Bullock’ and her stage name was given by her ex-husband Ike Turner, who she started out with as a performer back in the 1950’s.
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Mark Sinclair Vincent – AKA Vin Diesel
The lead superstar of The Fast and The Furious series was born Mark Sinclair Vincent and opted for the shorter version of his name while working as a bouncer. ‘Diesel’ was a name given to him for “running on Diesel” in reference to to the fact that Diesel had so much energy.
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Stevland Hardaway Judkins – AKA Stevie Wonder
The legendary singer and songwrter was born Stevland Hardaway Judkins, a name later changed by Motown Records into a shorter and easier one. As a young performer Stevie was known as ‘Little Stevie Wonder’, however he dropped the ‘little’ part later on as he got older.
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So how many of these took you by real surprise and how many did you already know?