27 Celebrities Who Changed Their Names

The late Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch in upstate New York, the son of poor and illiterate Russian immigrants Herschel and Bryna, who later went by Harry and Bertha.

He told PEOPLE in 2015 that, before pursuing a career in show business, he changed his name because his given name was too unwieldy and too Jewish for Hollywood at the time.

“I wish I had kept it,” he said, looking back on the decision. “It’s more interesting to keep your original name. But can you imagine that name on a marquee?”

Born Chloe Celeste Hoffman, the actress legally changed her name to Dove as a tribute to her late father, who called her that as a nickname.

"He called me Dove more than he ever called me Chloe," she told StyleWatch. "He passed away when I was 15, and I decided to legally change it. So it's on my passport – everything legal is Dove." However, she says, she responds to both, and friends and family still call her Chloe.

Born John Roger Stephens, the singer's stage name comes from a childhood nickname that stuck.

"John Legend is a nickname that some friends started calling me, and it kind of grew into my stage name," he told MTV in 2008. "It grew to the point where more people in my circle would know me by that name than by my real name."

The actress' moniker might sound short and sweet, but her real name is quite a mouthful: Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra.

She began using her grandmother's maiden name "Ryan" as a surname when she joined the Screen Actors Guild, Entertainment Weekly reported.

The origins of Hepburn's true name are shrouded in mystery. Sources have disagreed on the exact birthname of the Belgian-born actress, but The New York Times reported she was born Edda van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston.

The names Edda, Audrey (the English form of the Dutch name Edda), and Andrey (a feminine form of Andrew) can be found in different biographies, although Edda is found most frequently, according to Britannica.

Sources do agree, however, that Hepburn’s mother was the Dutch baroness Ella van Heemstra and that her British father’s surname was Ruston, though he went by the more aristocratic-sounding name Hepburn-Ruston, believing he was a descendant of Mary, Queen of Scots, the encyclopedia reports.

Apparently the name Mark Sinclair didn't sound tough enough for the actor when he was working as a New York City bouncer before his big break.

The action star shortened his mother's maiden name Vincent to get his new first name. As for "Diesel," he once revealed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien that he got the nickname from friends who said he was always full of energy.

The Trinidadian-born rapper's stage moniker is a shortened version of her real name, Onika Tanya Maraj.

Fans might have raised an eyebrow when Taylor Swift thanked her then-boyfriend "Adam" at the 2016 iHeartRadio Awards last April — but the deejay goes by Adam Richard Wiles when he's not spinning records.

The Scottish musician told the Shortlist in 2009 that he decided to change his name "to exploit the racial ambiguity of his stage name," according to Esquire.

"My first single was more of a soul track, and I thought Calvin Harris sounded a bit more racially ambiguous," he said. "I thought people might not know if I was black or not. After that, I was stuck with it."

The actor simplified his name from Carlos Irwin Estevez, adopting his dad Martin Sheen's stage surname.

Her real surname is Hall, as in Annie Hall, the character she played in the Woody Allen film of the same name, which won her an Oscar. Allen wrote the role specifically for the actress, whom he had previously dated, taking her real last name and combining it with her nickname, Annie, according to Stig Björkman's Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation with Stig Björkman.

The actress originally changed her surname to Keaton, her mother's maiden name, because there was apparently another actress named Diane Hall in the Actors' Equity Association, according to Vogue.

Paying tribute to Oscar Wilde, one of her favorite authors, the actress changed her last name from Cockburn when she began acting.

The pop star was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson but changed her name so she wouldn't be confused with actress Kate Hudson.

Cyrus legally changed her name from Destiney Hope to Miley (a rendition of her childhood nickname "Smiley) in 2008.

The Bulgarian actress shortened her name from Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva.

The Oscar winner was born Eric Marlon Bishop but changed his name to the more gender-ambiguous Jamie Foxx during his days performing stand-up comedy.

The actor-comedian chose the more femine-sounding name because female comedians were often called to the stage first, Yahoo reports.

He chose "Foxx" in honor of Sanford and Sons' star Redd Foxx.

The actor's parents changed the family last name from Bottom to Phoenix to represent a new beginning.

Born Peter Gene Hernandez, he later told Latina magazine, "My dad nicknamed me Bruno since I was 2 years old.

"I was going to go by 'Bruno,' one name. Mars just kind of came joking around because that sounds bigger than life. That was it, simple as that."

The actor was forced to change his name in order to enter the actor's union since his birth name, Michael Douglas, was already taken by another future Academy Award nominee.

He might be the one and only Tom Cruise in Hollywood, but not in his family! The actor's birth name is Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. He began using his middle name as a surname at the behest of an agent.

Sometimes less is Moore! Born Demetria Gene Guynes, the actress shortened her first name to just Demi. The star's last name is a holdover from her first marriage to singer Freddy Moore.

Born Caryn Elaine Johnson, the Oscar winner has explained that her stage name "Whoopi" comes from whooppee cushion.

"If you get a little gassy, you've got to let it go. So people used to say to me, 'You're like a whoopee cushion.' And that's where the name came from," she told The New York Times.

Goldberg is her mother's maiden name, which she opted to use in the hope of being taken more seriously, stating in 2011 that: "My mother did not name me Whoopi, but Goldberg is my name, it's part of my family, part of my heritage. Just like being black."

It's hard to imagine the iconic actress by any other name, but Monroe went by several different monikers throuought her life, even before she landed in Hollywood.

Monroe was bapitized Norma Jeane Baker, but the name on her birth certificate was Norma Jeane Mortenson. It changed again after she married James Dougherty and adopted his surname.

She didn't legally change her name to Marilyn Monroe until 1956, but she had beem publicly known by the moniker since 1946. Ben Lyon, a 20th Century Fox executive, gave her the name Marilyn because she reminded him of actress Marilyn Miller. She picked Monroe after her mother's maiden name.

She later went by Marilyn Monroe Miller, after marrying author Arthur Miller in 1956.

Born Neta-Lee Hershlag, the actress, who has dual American and Israeli citizenship, took her paternal grandmother's maiden name "Portman" as her stage name for privacy reasons.

Turns out, the singer's name and impressive piano skills are no coincidence! She changed her name from Alicia Augello Cook to reflect her love of music.

The actress changed her last name from Horowitz when she was asked how she would like to have her name appear on the credits of her first role. She suggested Ryder as Mitch Ryder's album was playing in the background.

No, her real name is not secretly Rachel Green — It's Jennifer Linn Anastassakis! Her Greek father, actor John Aniston, changed the family last name when he went into show business.

Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, the singer started going by the name "Elton John" in honor of two blues legends: saxophonist Elton Dean and singer Long John Baldry.