Plenty of celebrities have changed their names for Hollywood. From picking catchier monikers on the advice of their agents to trying to avoid confusion during casting calls, there are plenty of reasons why celebs swap names.
For Emma Stone, though, the story behind why she changed her name is a bit different than most. Though the redhead, who isn't exactly a natural redhead, to begin with, has long been known as "Emma," her birth name was Emily. Her reasons for changing her title are two-fold, but it does sound like she regrets the decision today.
The story starts, Yahoo! Finance explained, with Emma's early school experience. The star, who's 32 now, grew up in the '90s of course. And at that time, there was at least one famous Emma that every little girl... well, perhaps every little blonde girl... wanted to be.
As Emma recounted years ago, she was born Emily Jean Stone but fluctuated between a couple of options before officially taking Emma as her stage name.
The initial inspiration for changing her first name came from the Spice Girls. Emma Bunton was then-blonde Emily Stone's idol. So, the second-grader decided she wanted to be called Emma rather than Emily, and even asked her teacher to address her as such, reported Yahoo! Finance.
But as she entered the acting industry at age sixteen, Emily felt like she may not be able to pull off Emily J. Stone, despite its similarity to Michael J. Fox. Going with Emma was close enough, she reasoned, that people who already called her Em wouldn't have trouble with the switch.
But there was another reason why the name change became permanent, related Stone. When she opted to sign up for the Screen Actors Guild, her own name wasn't available. At age sixteen, Stone noted, she thought she may as well pick another title. So for a short time, during her appearance on 'Malcolm in the Middle,' Emily Jean was called Riley Stone.
It lasted about six months, the actress confessed, before she realized that an entirely new name wouldn't do. She couldn't remember to answer to the name of Riley, and that presented a problem.
So back to Emma it was, and that's what stuck over the course of her career, including a handful of highly-rated projects that made her a household name. Emma is not entirely thrilled about the permanent name change, though.
Yahoo! Finance quoted Stone as saying that she wishes she could get Emily back. The thing is, fans know her by the nickname of Emma, so it may just be too late to switch it now, at least in public forums.