Who was Emma Stone before she was Emma Stone? Someone a little different. She might have found fame in teen comedies like Superbad and Easy A – and gone on to win two Oscars for La La Land and Poor Things – but the one thing the actor wants most is to be called by her real name: Emily.
After her co-star in The Curse Nathan Fielder revealed that the actor considers Emma to be her professional name and goes by Emily or Em between takes, Stone was asked how she’d react if fans called her her real name. ‘That would be so nice. I would like to be Emily,’ she said, explaining that she initially chose Emma as her stage name because there was another Emily Stone registered with the actors’ union SAG.
Initially, she went by Riley Stone and Emily J Stone. According to Emma, a childhood fan of the Spice Girls, Baby Spice Emma Bunton played a big role in the name change. ‘When I get to know them, people that I work with do [call me Emily],’ she said. ‘Then I freaked out a couple of years ago. For some reason, I was like, “I can't do it anymore. Just call me Emily.” Nathan calls me Em, which is easier.’
However Emma isn’t the only star with an unexpected name change. Some of them are predictable, but some are downright shocking. Here are 10 celebrities you might not know have very different names IRL.
Katy Perry
Most of us know ‘I Kissed A Girl’ singer Katy Perry for her fun and camp pop. But prior to stardom, Perry was a less successful gospel singer using her real name, Katy Hudson (short for Kathryn Hudson). Given the similarities to a certain How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days star, she later changed it to Katy Perry.
Bruno Mars
Let’s be real: Bruno Mars was never going to be the singer’s real name, was it? But did you know that his real name is Peter Gene Hernandez, and that the nickname Bruno came because his dad thought he looked like the wrestler Bruno Sammartino. In 2012, he said that he added Mars because ‘I felt like I didn't have no pizzazz, and a lot of girls say I'm out of this world, so I was like I guess I'm from Mars’. The name change had another impact, in that it stopped people from stereotyping Bruno and asking him to sing in Spanish.
Miley Cyrus
Given the power of an on-stage persona, pop stars tend to think about their names the hardest. Born into a celebrity family, it’s a whole other ball game. As the child of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, pop star Miley was named Destiny Hope Cyrus. Sounds like a pretty famous name, but her parents nicknamed her ‘Smiley’ due to her sunny disposition as a kid, and it stuck.
Natalie Portman
Black Swan star Natalie Portman was actually born Natalie Hershlag, taking her stage surname from her grandmother's maiden name. But despite making her film debut when she was just 13, Natalie hated being known by her stage name at school. ‘I got very protective of it very early on,’ she told Vanity Fair. ‘I would get upset if someone at school called me Natalie Portman. I was like, if you know me, you know me as Natalie Hershlag at school.’
Olivia Wilde
Before she was Olivia Wilde, the actor and director was Olivia Jade Cockburn. However, the Don’t Worry Darling filmmaker took her stage name from the legendary writer Oscar Wilde. ‘My mother thought it was a good idea for me as well, so I could have my own identity outside of my family. She suggested I pick something Irish and something that I’d always be inspired by… Oscar Wilde is someone who I respect for so many reasons – a revolutionary, a comedian and a profound thinker,’ she said.
John Legend
It’s probably not that surprising to learn that John Legend wasn’t actually born John Legend. No, the musician and husband of Chrissy Teigen is actually the far more normal John Roger Stephens. In this case, legends are made, not born.
Lana Del Rey
You know when someone just looks like their name? Lana Del Rey, looks so much like her, but the far more normal Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, AKA Lizzy Grant. Initially produced music under her real name, then put out her debut album in 2010 as ‘Lana Del Ray AKA Lizzy Grant’ spelt differently. The name was even referenced on her recent album Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd in a song titled ‘The Grants’ about her family.
Meghan Markle
She’s one of the most talked-about women in the world, but did you know that Meghan Markle is actually Rachel Meghan Markle. It's not uncommon to go by your middle name (who doesn’t love alliteration?), but particularly interesting as her character in Suits was also called Rachel. Meghan revealed this during an interview on The Rachel Ray Show, saying, ‘Did you know my first name is Rachel in real life? Did you know that?’
Gigi Hadid
Sweet reason – there was another girl called Helena in her class at school, and she wanted to sound a bit different. It was her mother, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Yolanda Hadid, who suggested Gigi as an appropriate nickname and it stuck. Her sister Bella, meanwhile, is Isabella Khairiah Hadid.
Jamie Foxx
Like John Legend, Jamie Foxx is a name too smooth to be real. But when Eric Marlon Bishop (yes, really) was starting out his career in stand-up comedy, he went for it for rather Jamie Foxx for a rather unusual reason. As there were so few female comics around, he felt that they tended to get booked on more line-ups, so wanted a unisex name. Jamie Foxx was born.