From Bruno Mars To Lady Gaga: Ten Celebrities Who Have Changed Their Names
What’s in a name? Well for some celebrities things might have been very different if they hadn’t have changed theirs. Think Stefani Germanotta sounds like a star? What about Caryn Johnson? Things might have been very different for these 10 celebrities if they hadn’t found the perfect name to launch their careers.
Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, the aspiring singer was given the Gaga nickname by her then boyfriend music producer Rob Fusari, after the Queen song, ‘Radio Gaga’. Gaga later told Flybe magazine that she added the Lady “because Gaga is sort of crazy and Lady has such connotations. I went to a private school but now I was living in this trash glitter environment. So, for me, it was the perfect description of who I had become.”
Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn Johnson got her rather unusual moniker due to her, well, flatulence. Whoopi stated in a 2013 interview that she was given the name Whoopi after the whoopee cushion and that Goldberg was a “family name”.
Portia De Rossi
The elegant sounding De Rossi was actually born the less exciting Amanda Lee Rogers. The Australian actress felt she needed a better sounding name to reinvent herself and thus chose Portia after a character from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and an Italian last name which she thought sounded more exotic.
Nicolas Cage
You probably know that Cage is the nephew of famed _Godfathe_r director Francis Ford Coppola, but early on in his career Nicolas didn't want anyone thinking he was getting special treatment thanks to his famous relative. The actor decided to change his surname to Cage which was partly inspired by the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage.
Bruno was born with the much more down to earth name, Peter Gene Hernandez. Bruno was actually the singer’s childhood nickname, given to him by his father who thought his young son resembled legendary wrestler Bruno Sammartino. As for the ‘Mars’ part, Bruno said, “I felt like I didn't have [any] pizzazz, and a lot of girls say I’m out of this world, so I was like I guess I'm from Mars.”
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Would Lizzie Grant have made it as a star? Well she didn’t think so and thus Lizzie Grant became Lana Del Rey. The ‘Born to Die’ singer explained the name change by saying, “I knew that I wanted a name that sounded sort of exotic and reminded me of the seaside on the Floridian coast. ‘Lana Del Rey’ sounded beautiful.” In another interview she also stated her original name just never spoke to her and that she wanted a name which was “as beautiful as the music I was going to make.”
Action hero Vin Diesel started life with the much less heroic name, Mark Vincent. When choosing a name to launch his career he borrowed from his surname and then added Diesel after his childhood nickname which he earned thanks to his non stop energy.
Nicki Minaj
Rapper Nicki Minaj’s was born Onika Tanya Maraj. Her first choice of stage name was Nicki Maraj, with the Nicki coming from a childhood nickname, but the Minaj happened after a suggestion from former manager Big Fendi who felt she needed to shake up her surname.
Agyness Deyn
Aspiring model Laura Hollins thought she needed a more stand out name when launching her modelling career. The story goes that Laura settled on the name Agyness, after her grandmother, but consulted a numerologist on what was the best way to spell it. Deyn comes from the surname Dean which was already in her family, but the model adapted it so it had the numerological value of 21. Agyness and her family are big believers in numerology and her mother and sister are both said to have changed their surnames to Deyn.
Dita Von Teese
Who’d have thought that blonde haired California girl Heather Sweet would one day be famous as a raven haired burlesque star? Heather knew she need a new identity for her knew image so she chose the name Dita as a homage to silent film actress Dita Parlo. As for the surname, that came later when she was required one for her Playboy cover shoot. Dita chose Von Treese from a phonebook but a spelling error made her the Dita Von Teese we know today.