Lana Del Rey

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.”

Lana Del ReyThe beautifully named, Lana Del Rey

Vin Diesel

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 TeeseFrom Heather Sweet to Dita von Teese

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.

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