16 Stars Whose Real Names Will Surprise Even The Most Dedicated Fans

A teacher in a small German town, as a joke, decided to give his student a nickname. As a result, he came up with a brilliant stage name for the future star — the lead singer of the band Scooter. And he worked very well: after all, the singer’s real name was much simpler than we could imagine.

We, from awesome.club, we decided to research the real names of some celebrities. At the same time, we discovered some interesting details of their lives, which we are pleased to share with you.

The actor’s full name is Christopher Ashton Kutcher, and all of his close friends and family in his Iowa hometown simply call him Chris. His wife Mila Kunis confessed that she also calls him by this name “home” when they are with the actor’s family in his hometown. But once they get back to California, he stops responding to Chris’ name, and Mila calls him Ashton again.

After his debut in Letters from Frank, young Michael Andrew Fox decided to register with the Actors Guild. It turned out, however, that there was already a Michael Fox on the roster. At the same time, there is a strict rule in this organization: do not put people with the same name to avoid confusion when sending checks to them. Michael didn’t like his middle name, Andrew or Andy, so he changed the second initial to the letter “J” in honor of another actor – Michael J. Pollard.

Alecia Moore started performing in clubs at the age of 14. And around the same time she adopted the stage name Pink, which she chose in reference to Mr.Pink, one of the thieves in the film.
Reservoir Dogs, by Quentin Tarantino.

The mother of HP Baxxter, the lead singer of the German band Scooter, calls him Hans Peter, or just HP (by the first letters of his two names). The musician admitted that to this day he is grateful to his chemistry teacher, who came up with the idea to call him “HP” in the 11th grade. Later, this nickname became part of the singer’s stage name.

Michael Caine had to officially renounce his real name as he became too well known by his stage name. It turns out that whenever he showed his documents to airport security, they were confused, as they knew the actor by a different name than the one on his passport – Maurice Micklewhite. Michael says he used to be detained for an hour while they checked his documents.

As you can guess from her last name, actress and singer Cher is of Armenian origin. It is curious that in her youth she did not even suspect that she had any talent, besides she considered herself unattractive. But she wanted to become famous, at all costs.

Hans Lundgren, an ordinary Swedish boy, could have become a mechanical engineer if, with the help of a friend, he hadn’t gotten a job as a security guard. He was once invited into the dressing room by singer and actress Grace Jones, who liked him so much that she introduced him to the world of showbiz. As a result, he abandoned his studies to pursue an acting career. And after the release of Rocky IV, Lundgren instantly became a star and changed his name to Dolph after one of his mother’s relatives.

When Sarah Colman (that was the birth name of the future celebrity) took up acting, she faced the same problem as many other artists — there was already an actress with the same name. So she decided to use the name of her best friend from university — Olivia. As for the last name Sinclair, it belongs to her husband (adopted after marriage). However, among friends, the actress is not called Olivia or even Sarah, but Collie, which is her childhood nickname.

Translated from English, Sting means “sting”. The nickname, which became his stage name, was given to the musician for his habit of wearing a sweater with black and yellow stripes, which made him look like a wasp or a bee. According to the singer, this nickname stuck so much that even his own mother and children call him Sting, not Gordon.

This surname, so difficult for our ears, is due to the singer’s Icelandic origin. She found success very early — at age 11, when her teachers sent a recording of her song “I Love to Love” to the only radio station in Iceland at the time. Then Bjork received a proposal to record an album and sign a contract.

Ronald Walken’s future seems to have been predestined: his mother dreamed so much of fame that she placed her expectations on her children. Everyone, including Ronald, was sent to work in television. Even the name of the boy was chosen in honor of the movie star of the first half of the 20th century — Ronald Colman. However, when Walken became an adult and started working as a dancer, one of his colleagues advised him to change the delicate Ronnie for a more “artistic” name – Christopher.

The American actor of Chinese origin Lee Jun-fan, better known as Bruce Lee, started acting since childhood, thanks to his father. At the age of 18, the future star had already participated in 20 films. It is believed that his birth name, Bruce, was given by a doctor.

The Canadian-Belgian singer was named Lara after the heroine of Boris Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago. And the surname Fabian was a slightly modified form of his uncle Fabiano’s name.

That’s the full name of the famous actor, whose father is of Hawaiian descent. The more ethnic part of the name, Namakeaha, translated from Hawaiian, means “all-seeing eyes” or “eyes that know everything”.

For his acting career, William Zane adopted the short version of his name — Billy. As for the last name, Billy’s parents also worked on its reduction. Because they were Greek, the name originally sounded like Zanetakos. And Billy’s parents turned him into Zane, simplifying him.

Before becoming successful in the field of music, Mylène Gaultier tried her luck in the film industry and fashion. At the age of 17, she attended theater courses, then participated in projects as a model. She adopted the stage name in honor of her idol — 1930s Hollywood actress Frances Farmer. However, Mylene Farmer’s real success came in 1984 after the release of her first song.

What stage name would you choose for yourself? Did you have a nickname as a child or teenager?