50+ Celebrities' Real Names

Long before these famous musicians and actors took the stage their parents called them something other than what we know them as.

The reasons why a celebrity chooses to change their name ranges from looking for one with a unique sound such as Susan Alexandra Weaver changing her name to Sigourney Weaver or looking for street credibility such asCalvin Broadus changing his name to Snoop Dogg. There are others that are looking for a decidedly more American sound like Marco Antonio Muniz who we know as Marc Anthony or maybe they just needed a name that we, the general public, could pronounce such as WalterMatuschanskayasky who became Walter Matthau. Whatever the reason, there are many more celebrities who have changed their name than you may realize. Here are just a few of them:

1. Jennifer Aniston - Jennifer Annasstakis
2. Flavor Flav - William Drayton
3. Bono - Paul David Hewson
4. Mos Def - Dante Terrell Smith
5. Taylor Dayne - Leslie Wonderman
6. Tom Cruise - Tom Mapother.
7. Ben Kingsley - Krishna Banji
8. Lou Diamond Phillips - Lou Upchurch
9. Charlie Sheen - Carlos Irwin Esteves
10. Tori Amos - Myra Ellen Amos
11. Billie Holiday - Eleanora Gough
12. Elton John - Reginald Dwight
13. MC Hammer - Stanley Burrell
14. Marilyn Manson - Bruce Warner
15. Pink - Alecia Moore
16. Woody Allen - Allen Stewart Konigsberg
17. Antonio Banderes - Jose Antonio Dominguez Bandera
18. Nicolas Cage - Nicolas Coppola
19. Akon - Aliuane Badara Thiam
20. Ice Cube - Oshea Jackson
21. John Denver - John Deutschendorf
22. 50 Cent - Curtis Jackson
23. Joan Jett - Joan Larkin
24. Ricky Martin - Enrique Jose Martin Morales
25. Ozzy Osborne - John Michael Osborne
26. Lou Reed - Louis Firbank
27. Trey Anastasio - Ernest Joseph Anastasio III
28. Erykah Badu - Erica Wright
29. Ray Charles - Ray Charles Robinson
30. Rob Zombie - Robert Cummings
31. Fred Astaire - Frederick Austerlitz
32. Jack Black - Thomas Black Jr.
33. Mel Brooks - Mel Kaminsky
34. Danny DeVito - Daniel Michaeli
35. David Bowie - David Jones
36. Julie Andrews - Julie Wells
37. Michael Landon - Eugene Orowitz
38. Adam Ant - Stuart Leslie Goddard
39. Patsy Cline - Virginia Patterson Hensley
40. Alice Cooper - Vincent Furnier
41. Dr. Dre - Andre Young
42. Flea - Michael Peter Balzary
43. Faith Hill - Audrey Faith Perry
44. Tom Jones - Thomas Woodward
45. Queen Latifah - Dana Owens
46. k.d.lang - Katherine Dawn Lang
47. George Burns -Nathan Birnbaum
48. Sally Fields - Sally Mahoney
49. Hulk Hogan - Terry Jene Bollea
50. Demi Moore - Demetria Gene Guynes

A few names surprised me such as those of American Idol fame like Clay Aiken and Bo Bice whose real names are Clayton Holmes Grissom and Harold Elwin Bice respectively. For a show that would have us believe that anyone can be the next superstar, I was amazed to learn that a number of them manufacture stage names long before we ever hear of them.

Although it seems obvious now, I was also a little disappointed to learn that names like Macy Gray and Charlotte Church were made up by stage managers. These two singer's real names are Natalie McIntyre and Charlotte Reed. I should have realized that their names roll off the tongue a little too easily.

There are literally hundreds of celebrities out there who no longer go by their birth names. Can you spot the fakes?