13 Celebrities Who Changed Their Real Names Before Becoming Famous

Sometimes we are given names that are either too hard to pronounce or too long to keep in their entirety. And if you are someone with a normal 9-5 job, that is completely fine. But, if you are someone in the entertainment industry who wants your name to be known by everyone, this may not be the best thing. That’s why many people choose to either shorten their full names or completely change them.

1. Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus legally changed her name back in 2008 from Destiny Hope Cyrus to Miley Cyrus. The name Miley is a rendition of her childhood nickname “Smiley” in honor of her paternal grandfather.

2. Victoria Beckham

Prior to becoming known as the fashion diva, Victoria Beckham, back in the early days of the iconic group we love, Victoria Adams was the name used for her records. However, when the Spice Girls became rising stars, she changed her name to Posh Spice. Years later, she become the famous Victoria Beckham we know today.

3. Vin Diesel

At the age of 17, Mark Sinclair was a rather big guy. He even used to work as a bouncer at a nightclub called The Tunnel. Around that time he took the name Vin Diesel and started to shave his head regularly.

4. Rachel Weisz

Early in her career, she changed her name to Rachel Vyce, but when people told her that it was too difficult to pronounce, she changed it to Kenya Campbell. She decided to keep it that way for a while, but she soon realized that it sounded unpleasant. The actress then decided to stay with Rachel Weisz and made a lot of iconic movies.

5. Natalie Portman

It was in 1994 when a very young Neta-Lee Hershlag auditioned for Leon and landed her first role in a major production. While filming, the actress changed her name to “Natalie” and took her mother’s maiden last name. Apparently, she wanted to maintain her privacy because some scenes in the movie were polemical.

6. Alicia Keys

Her real name is Alicia Augello-Cook, but she changed it and decided to have her own different stage name with a special meaning behind it. She explained, “It’s like the piano keys, and it can also open a lot of doors,” and she ended up with the name Alicia Keys and broke multiple records in her career.

7. Jamie Foxx

Eric Marlon Bishop, now known as Jamie Foxx, tried out a couple of different names when he first started doing open mic nights. When he’d sign up to the open mic lists, he used the names Tracy Brown and Stacy Green but eventually landed on Jamie Foxx.

8. Iggy Azalea

Her birth name is Amethyst Amelia Kelly, and she ended up with Iggy Azalea because she has a dog named “Iggy,” and it became her nickname. She came up with the surname Azalea, as she explained, “Because that is a street name that my mom and family live on, and it sounds very feminine, and I thought it would balance out Iggy being so masculine.”

9. Lana Del Rey

The singer’s real name is Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, but she’s now known as Lana Del Rey. When she began singing, she went by the name, “Lizzy Grant,” and also performed as “Sparkle Rope Jump Queen” until she landed on Lana Del Rey.

10. Tom Hardy

Before becoming Tom Hardy, his birth name was Edward Thomas Hardy, and he only used his first name before deciding to go by his middle name instead. Even though the Internet was aware of his true identity, it was not widely publicized.

11. Blake Lively

After Blake became an actress she decided to take the surname of her mother, Elaine Lively as her stage name.

12. Aaron Paul

His full name is Aaron Paul Sturtevant, but when he went to auditions, no one could pronounce his surname, “Sturtevant,” so he had to change it so that everyone could say it, and then he shortened it when he entered Hollywood.

13. Lorde

Lorde changed her original name at the age of 12 when she was signed to a development contract with the Universal Music Group after an agent of theirs saw footage of her singing at a middle school talent show. Her real name is Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor. The royalty hidden in the name Lord encouraged her in changing her original name, but she also added an “e” because she felt that Lord would be too masculine for a girl.

Preview photo credit Laurent VU/SIPA/Sipa Press Russia/East News, mileycyrus / Instagram

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At the time the public learned of then-prince Charles’ affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, she became the most hated person in Britain. At one point, she was even afraid to go out in public.

However, as time passed by, the people of Britain learned to love Camilla, and today, she’s a very important part of the family. What’s most, she’s loved by many.

Charles and Camilla were introduced to each other by a mutual friend, Lucia Santa Cruz, the daughter of the Chilean ambassador, at a polo match. They started dating in 1972, but the relationship didn’t last long as Charles left to serve in the Royal Navy. When his duties there came to an end and he returned home, Camilla was already engaged to her now-ex husband Andrew Parker Bowles.

However, they never stopped being close. Even when Charles married Diana, he and Camilla stayed in touch.

Prince Charles chats to Camilla Parker-Bowles at a polo match, circa 1972. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Royal author Penny Junior claimed that Charles was aware he wasn’t in love with his future wife Diana, but it was already too late for him to call off the wedding.

“Charles was not convinced he was doing the right thing in marrying Diana but there was no way out and, bolstered by the hope that things would be different once they were married, he put a brave face on it,” she wrote, as reported by the Mirror.

What’s most, Camilla and Diana knew each other and got along, but then things changed.

“I met [Camilla] very early on. I was introduced to the circle, but I was a thrеаt, I was a very young girl, but I was a thrеаt,” Diana explained in the book Diana: In Her Own Words.

The love affair between Charles and Camilla started in 1986, according to Prince Charles’ authorized biography, as quoted by Town & Country. At the time, Charles was still married to Princess Diana and she eventually became aware that her husband was cheating on her.

Diana even confronted Camilla once, but nothing changed.

Express Newspapers/Archive Photos

Speaking of the troubles in her marriage and the reasons for its failure, Diana told Martin Bashir during a televised interview, “Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.”

Charles and Diana separated in 1992 and their divorce was finalized four years later.

Just months after Charles and Diana formally separated, the press published a full transcript of a telephone call between the then-future King and Camilla.

The phone call revealed an intimate and sexual exchange between the couple, which became known as Tampongate.

Despite the mistreatment from the press, the bond between Camilla and Charles prevailed. On April 9, 2005, the couple exchanged vows in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall.

Later, at the wedding reception, the late Queen Elizabeth offered a toast to the newlyweds. However, she had other plans in mind, as she briefly stepped into another room to catch a horse race.

“I have two important announcements to make. The first is that Hedgehunter has won the Grand National,” the queen said.

“They have overcome Becher’s Brook and The Chair and all kinds of other terrible obstacles. They have come through, and I’m very proud and wish them well. My son is home and dry with the woman he loves,” Queen Elizabeth II continued as she made a comparison with her horses.

Gareth Davies/Getty Images

When she was married to her first husband, Camilla had a regular job. According to the Mirror, she worked as a secretary at several firms in London’s West End area and later as a receptionist at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler in Mayfair. She studied at Dubrells School in Sussex and Queen’s Gate School in South Kensington before finishing school at Institut Britannique in Paris, where she studied English and French Literature.

In the book On The Fringe—A Life In Decorating, designer Imogen Taylor, who was a colleague at the interior design firm Colefax and Fowler, where the queen used to work, remembered a time when a young Camilla arrived late to work after a night of partying.

Taylor claimed Camilla was then yelled at and fired.

In 2016, she told the Sunday Times: “There were lots of debutantes working for us, even Camilla. She worked for us for a moment but got the sack.”

“He would shout and bellow so the whole building heard every word. The Duchess of Cornwall was one assistant who fell victim to one of tantrums. I think she came in late, having been to a dance,” Taylor recalled their boss’s temperament.

Finnbarr Webster – WPA Pool / Getty Images

Today, Camilla is a vital part of the Firm.

Speaking of the current role Queen Camilla has taken upon herself, royal expert Angela Levin said Camilla is “holding the royal family up.”

“I mean, to wait till you’re 73 is a long time before you can take the crown. I think obviously, at his age, it’s very difficult, but he’s very determined, and he’s only really just started to be king,” Levin said while appearing on GB News. “Supporting him very much, absolutely by his side, is Queen Camilla, who is going to all the engagements that they would have gone to together on her own.”

“And so that way he will feel it’s still moving, it’s still running, and they can discuss it and talk about it. And I think that’s marvelous. I mean, she is holding the Royal Family up and being strong. If you imagine 30 years ago, people were saying the whole Royal Family would absolutely disintegrate, and she would be of no use.”

Although it is known that Camilla doesn’t want to be under the spotlight, she’s doing an excellent job while meeting with the public.

“To support her husband. She understands him very well because they’ve been together for over 50 years, before they even got married. it’s a long time and they make each other laugh,” Levin added.

LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 17: King Charles III and Queen Camilla leave St Paul’s Church also known as Actors’ Church, during a visit to Covent Garden on May 17, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Daniel Leal – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Royal expert and former royal correspondent Charles Rae praised the queen for supporting King Charles and Kate Middleton in this troublesome time, calling her a “remarkable asset,” adding that Camilla is “one of the best things to happen to the Royal Family” in a “good number of years.”

“There’s no question about it, she stepped into the breach. She’s got everything on her shoulders with what’s going on, and she’s taking on even more work,” royal expert Charles Rae said.

“Everywhere she goes, she has got a cheery smile on and a happy face. She says the right things. She has proved to be a remarkable asset to the Royal Family, given the allegations that at one time she had bread rolls thrown at her in a supermarket car park.”

Rae concluded, “I remember her when she was the most hated woman in Britain. I’ve met her several times and she’s charming, she’s witty, she’s really nice to chat to, and certainly when she’s chatting to people, she has done her homework as to who she’s chatting to.”

MALTON, ENGLAND – APRIL 05: King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort visit Talbot Yard Food Court on April 05, 2023 in Malton, England. The King and Queen Consort are visiting Yorkshire to meet local producers and charitable organisations. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Daily Mail’s royal correspondent, Rebecca English, told Town & Country Magazine there was a “very different situation” when Camilla joined the royal family and the present.

“They decided the way to do it wasn’t to ‘sell her’. They concluded that the best way to move things forward was to just let her be herself and let people see for themselves what she is actually really likе.”

We believe Camilla is doing an amazing job for the royal family during these tough times when both King Charles and Kate Middleton are battling cancer.

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