{"id":1877,"date":"2024-06-05T12:56:22","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T12:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=1877"},"modified":"2024-06-05T12:56:22","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T12:56:22","slug":"some-celebrities-you-never-knew-changed-their-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=1877","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0Some Celebrities You Never Knew Changed Their Names"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00a0Some Celebrities You Never Knew Changed Their Names<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Believe it or not, most aspects of show business aren\u2019t completely transparent. While many questions about celebrities surface, one intriguing mystery often remains hidden: the name they were given at birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of today’s stars were born with completely different names\u2014not just slight changes like Emily to Emma (we’re looking at you, Miss Stone), but dramatic transformations like Vin Diesel<\/a>‘s college-era makeover or the classic middle-to-first name switch, as seen with Meghan Markle and Reese Witherspoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of these name changes are so remarkable that they make us wonder: Does the name make the celebrity, or is it the other way around?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Demi Moore<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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PHOTO: KARWAI TANG\/GETTY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Less is\u00a0Moore\u00a0<\/em>according to Demi (formerly known as Demetria Gene Guynes).<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tom Cruise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Mission Impossible\u00a0<\/em>star once bore a fancy roman numeral at the end of his name: Thomas Cruise Mapother IV.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Courtney Love<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The punk icon was born Courtney Michelle Harrison.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mindy Kaling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The comedian was born Vera Mindy Chokalingam<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gigi Hadid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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STUART C. WILSON\/GETTY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gigi was born Jelena Noura Hadid, however, Yolanda Foster started calling the supermodel Gigi when she was just a child<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bella Hadid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Similarly to sister Gigi, Bella wasn’t born, well, Bella either. Her full moniker? Isabella Khair Hadid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Meghan Markle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Prince Harry’s leading lady wasn’t actually born a Meghan. That is the actress’s middle name \u2014 her given moniker is really Rachel \u2015 the same name as her character on\u00a0Suits<\/em>.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

John Legend<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Truth be told, John \u2014 the man, the myth, the LEGEND \u2014 did not bear such a show-stopping name at the time of his birth. The singer originally went by John Roger Stephens.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Louis C.K.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The comic’s real name is Louis Sz\u00e9kely \u2014 “C.K.” is a strictly professional suffix.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Meg Ryan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ryan’s real name is quite the mouthful: Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra. We don’t think that would have fit on the poster for\u00a0You’ve Got Mail<\/em>.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ralph Lauren<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first-name-as-a-last-name phenomenon is a gift bestowed upon the truly #blessed among us \u2014 but sometimes it isn’t quite that easy. Lauren was born Ralph Lifshitz (doesn’t really roll off the tongue, huh?)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Audrey Hepburn<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Much (read: all) of Hollywood’s Audrey-Katharine confusion could’ve been avoided had Audrey stuck to her original last name: Ruston.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Vin Diesel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve been wondering what sort of parents would willingly name their child Vin… well, not this guy’s! The\u00a0Fast and the Furious\u00a0<\/em>star was born Mark Sinclair. The rise of Vin Diesel came from his days as an N.Y.C. bouncer \u2014 obvs, you don’t mess with Vin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nicki Minaj<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The rapper’s\u00a0nom de plume<\/em>\u00a0is a truncated version of her original moniker, Onika Tanya Maraj<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

ALSO READ<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Calvin Harris<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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GETTY IMAGE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Offstage, the DJ goes by Adam Richard Wiles. Taylor Swift drew attention to Harris’s true name when she thanked her then “boyfriend Adam” at the 2016 iHeartRadio Awards in April of that year.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Some Celebrities You Never Knew Changed Their Names Believe it or not, most aspects of show business aren\u2019t completely transparent. While many questions about celebrities surface, one… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,88],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1894,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1877\/revisions\/1894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}