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10 Famous People Whose REAL NAME Will Surprise You

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Ten of the biggest names in music and movies aren’t the names their parents actually gave them.

Stefani Germanotta. Elizabeth Grant. Chloe Hosterman. None of them sound like household names — until you learn they belong to Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey and Dove Cameron. TheThings Celebrity’s rundown, 10 Famous People Whose REAL NAME Will Surprise You, breaks down the birth certificates behind ten of entertainment’s biggest brands, and the reasons range from union paperwork to a father’s nickname.

• Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta; producer Rob Fusari coined “Gaga” after hearing Freddie Mercury in her voice and riffing on Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga.”
• Emma Stone was born Emily Jean Stone but had to change her name for Screen Actors Guild registration because an Emily Stone was already on the books — she briefly tried “Riley Stone” before settling on Emma.
• Dove Cameron, born Chloe Celeste Hosterman, legally took the name her late father used to call her.

Screen Actors Guild Mandates Script Revisions

Emma Stone’s case is the clearest example of bureaucracy dictating a brand. Born Emily Jean Stone, she found out upon joining SAG that another actress had already claimed “Emily Stone” in the union’s registry. According to Parade’s rundown of celebrity birth names, Stone experimented with “Riley Stone” as a placeholder before landing on Emma — the name that ended up on posters for Easy A, La La Land and her Oscar.

Dove Cameron’s story runs on sentiment rather than paperwork. Born Chloe Celeste Hosterman, she legally adopted “Dove” as a tribute to her father, who had died and who called her by that nickname growing up. It’s the rare name change on this list that has nothing to do with marketability and everything to do with memory.

Music’s Reinvented Identities

Lady Gaga’s transformation from Stefani Germanotta started in the studio with producer Rob Fusari, who told her she sang with a Freddie Mercury-like flair and started calling her “Gaga” after Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga.” The name stuck through her 2008 debut, The Fame, and never came off.

Lana Del Rey took a longer road. Born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, she recorded under names including Lizzy Grant before settling on Lana Del Rey, a persona built from actress Lana Turner and the Ford Del Rey sedan. Katy Perry made a simpler swap — born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, she dropped her surname because Katy Hudson was too easily confused with actress Kate Hudson. Miley Cyrus, born Destiny Hope Cyrus, and Vin Diesel, born Mark Sinclair, both traded birth names for stage identities built to stick in a marquee.

Emily Stone was already taken on the SAG roster — so Riley Stone got a tryout before Emma won the part for good.

Classic Hollywood’s Name-Change Playbook

The rebrand game is nothing new. Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight and legally became Elton Hercules John in 1967, borrowing “Elton” and “John” from his bandmates’ surnames. Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar and renamed himself after moving to England, pulling “Mercury” from a lyric in his own song “My Fairy King.” Michael Caine, born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, grabbed “Caine” off a cinema marquee advertising The Caine Mutiny.

Jamie Foxx, born Eric Marlon Bishop, built his stage name in two pieces — “Foxx” as a nod to comedian Redd Foxx, and “Jamie” after watching a female comic named Jaime King work a stand-up stage. Bruno Mars, born Peter Gene Hernandez, and Olivia Wilde, born Olivia Jane Cockburn, made similarly clean breaks for careers that needed names easier to market than the ones on their birth certificates. Bella Thorne, born Annabella Avery Thorne, simply trimmed her first name down to something punchier for marquees, while Normani has performed under just her given first name, Normani Kordei Hamilton, letting one word do the branding work. For more on performers whose public image doesn’t match the person behind it, Musicians That Are Nothing Like They Seem covers similar ground, as does Celebrity Doppelgängers Who Look Freakishly Alike for the flip side of celebrity identity.

None of these swaps were required by law — SAG’s Emma Stone rule is the closest thing to a mandate on this list — which is what makes Dove Cameron’s choice stand out. Everybody else on this rundown picked a name to sell tickets. She picked one to keep her father’s voice in the room every time someone says it.