It seems as though every celebrity has a fitting name. Whether it's short and sweet like Brad Pitt or highly memorable like Emma Stone, these names have become synonymous with Hollywood. However, these A-list stars aren't using their actual real names.
Several celebrities have chosen to use stage names or shorten their real names because it sounds more attractive in the entertainment world. A star would change their last name if it's too hard to pronounce or change their name entirely so that they can uniquely stand out. These movie stars below are all going by a different name from the real names they were given at birth.
10 Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva AKA Nina Dobrev
Believe it or not, several celebrities were born with way longer names than the names they use today. One example is The Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev, whose real name is Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva.
The actress was born in Bulgaria and lived there until the age of two, until her family move out to Canada. While given a beautiful name, it's a tough one for fans to remember and might be difficult for some people to spell, so she simply shortened it.
9 Amanda Lee Rogers AKA Portia De Rossi
Actress Portia de Rossi wanted to stand out from other stars and she certainly did so with a name like that. However, it isn't her birth-given name, which is Amanda Lee Rogers.
According to Biography, the Arrested Development star legally changed her first name to Portia at the age of 15, which is the name of the heroine in the Shaksperan play The Merchant of Venice. She took her Italian surname, "de Rossi" because it sounded "exotic."
8 Elizabeth Stamatina Fey AKA Tina Fey
Actress Tina Fey is known for her Saturday Night Live skits and several comedic movies, including Mean Girls, Baby Mama, and Date Night. She's pretty much a household name, but it is exactly her real name.
The star's real name is Elizabeth Stamatina Fey, and she was born to Greek parents, Constatine Xenakes and Vasiliki Kourelakos. Like many other Hollywood stars, Fey kept it nice and short for fans to easily recognize her.
7 Ilyena Lydia Mironoff AKA Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren is an iconic actress who is most known for her portrayal of royalty, including Queen Elizabeth I and II. According to Hello! Magazine, while her name is synonymous with Hollywood films, her real name is unknown to many fans.
Mirren was born Ilyena Lydia Mironoff, the daughter of a Russian taxi driver and a British mother. Anyone who watches The Office would remember Dwight Shrute mentioning Mirren's "real name" when the office discusses her "hotness" in one episode.
6 Norma Jean Mortenson AKA Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe is as popular as she was when she was making movies in the 50s and 60s. However, the actress was born Norma Jeane Mortenson, but she admitted that she couldn't relate to her real name.
According to CheatSheet, the actress saw her real name as "unwanted" and even described it as "a little servant girl." By 1956, she would ultimately change her name to Marilyn Monroe.
5 Caryn Elaine Johnson AKA Whoopi Goldberg
The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg has an interesting story behind her name. Her birth name is Caryn Elaine Johnson, but as she got older and worked various odd jobs, one name ended up sticking more than her actual name.
According to the star, her co-workers noticed that she passed gas frequently, giving her the nickname, "Whoopi Cushion." However, her mother wasn't too pleased with the name and said that Hollywood would better recognize her with a Jewish surname, and so, "Cushion" was changed to "Goldberg."
4 Jennifer Linn Anastassakis AKA Jennifer Aniston
Like Tina Fey, Friends star Jennifer Aniston was born with a Greek name and it was a lot longer than the surname she is known for today. Aniston's real name is Jennifer Linn Anastassakis, however, her father, John, decided to change it to Aniston.
Her father insisted that they change their surname to Aniston because it was easier to pronounce, spell, and he wanted something memorable when he got into the entertainment business.
3 Nicolas Kim Coppola AKA Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola, and as a young man pursuing a career in Hollywood, wanted to stand out from his famous uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, who is most recognized for directing The Godfather.
So where did the surname Cage derive from? The actor apparently paid tribute to comic-book superhero Luke Cage, and it stuck.
2 Eric Marlon Bishop AKA Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx knew exactly what he was doing when he came up with his own unique name. The Django Unchained actor went by his real name, Eric Marlon Bishop before Jamie Foxx would forever stick to the Hollywood star.
Before he became the actor he is today, Foxx was on the stages of comedy clubs, but he noticed that female comedians were called to perform way more than men. So, he came up with the first name Jamie because it could be male or female, and his surname, Foxx, is a tribute to one of his heroes, comedian Redd Foxx.
1 Lea Michele AKA Lea Michele Sarfati
Glee star Lea Michele admitted that she had to change her real surname, which is "Sarfati," because she would get picked on in school.
The star told Jay Leno, "Sarfati. That's my real last name. I don't use it a lot because I got 'Lea So-fatty,' 'Lea So-farty' at school.'" She also shared that when she went into her first audition, she simply said, "Lea Michele," and that stuck.