William Shakespeare questioned the importance of names in Romeo and Juliet but The Bard may have been wrong. Names are an important way to signal to the world who you are and what you stand for. Celebrities know this firsthand.
Many famous figures have chosen to change or alter their names over the years. Each individual has a different reason for the switch. Some wanted more privacy and others had to do it for professional reasons. Names seem to be pretty useful after all.
Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan's actual name is Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra. She decided to adopt a stage name because her name was so long. Meg is a nickname for Margaret and Ryan honors her grandmother. The moniker was grandma's maiden name.
Olivia Wilde
The official story is Olivia Wilde changed her last name to set herself apart from her journalist parents. It was a tradition in her family to use a pen name. But when you discover her last name used to be Cockburn, it's natural to wonder if there were other motives. Olivia chose the name Wilde to honor Irish writer Oscar Wilde. She made the change while in a high school's production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
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Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen was born Ramón Estévez. He changed his name because of racism in the industry. He knew he could get more roles if his moniker sounded more Caucasian. He admitted later in life he regretted making the change. His sons, who both followed in his footsteps, spilt on the moniker. Emilio Estévez kept his birth name. Carlos Estévez changed his name. You might know him better as Charlie Sheen.
Reese Witherspoon
The woman you know as Reese Witherspoon's actual moniker is Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon. Reese Witherspoon is her full surname, which combines her mother's maiden name and her father's last name. Reports speculate that she made the change to sound more "Hollywood." Whatever the reason, she has used the stage name since her first feature film role at age 14 in The Man on the Moon.
Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx started using this moniker for a sly reason. It sounds more feminine than Eric Marlon Bishop, his real name. When he was starting out as a comedian, he noticed female comics were rare and always got a slot. So he wrote a bunch of gender neutral names down on a list. Jamie Foxx got picked and it stuck around.
Katy Perry
This Firework singer's real name is Katheryn Hudson. She worried people would confuse her and Kate Hudson so she made a change. Perry is her mother's maiden name, so she kept things in the family.
Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars uses a stage name. His given name is Peter Gene Hernandez. Bruno was a childhood nickname because as a baby he looked like wrestler Bruno Sammartino. When he was trying to break into the music industry, people kept trying to pigeonhole him into only playing Spanish music. He got around that by using the last name Mars, which is out of this world.
Julianne Moore
This name change came about because of SAG-AFTRA, the actors union. No two members are allowed to have the same name. So when Julie Anne Smith went to join, she had to choose another name. She went with Julianne Moore because her mother's name is Anne and her father's middle name is Moore. She wanted to honor both of them.
Emma Stone
Julianne and Emma Stone have something in common because they both had to change their monikers because of SAG-AFTRA. Emma's real name is Emily Jean Stone. At first, she tried to go by Riley Stone, but that didn't work so well because she didn't respond to it on set. Emma was closer to Emily, so it worked out better. Her close friends call her Em.
Tina Fey
The Mean Girls creator is actually named Elizabeth Stamatina Fey. Her middle name honors her mother's Greek ancestry. She shorted it and started going by Tina in elementary school. Liz, her character on 30 Rock is a reference to her real name.
