Celebrity Original Names: Famous people’s names before they were changed

Here are the original names of celebrities and famous people who changed their name.

Here are the original names of celebs and other famous people. Most changed their name to make a more “user friendly” name for people to remember. Many were foreign names changed to sound more American. Others just wanted a more memorable hook. Here is a list, in alphabetical order, of the original, first names of celebrities who changed their name.

(If you know of some that I missed, please feel free to email me at mail @ innocentenglish.com)

Alan Alda – Alphonso D’Abruzzo

Albert Brooks – Albert Lawrence Einstein

Alice Cooper – Vincent Damon Furnier

Alicia Keys – Alicia Augello Cook

Andr̩ 3000 РAndr̩ Benjamin

Anne Bancroft – Anna Maria Italiano

Ashok Kumar – Kumudlal Kanjilal Ganguly

Babyface – Kenneth Edmonds

Barry Manilow – Barry Alan Pincus

Bela Lugosi – Be’la Ferenc Dezso Blasko

Big Boi РAntwan Andr̩ Patton

Billie Holiday – Eleanora Fagan

Billy Idol – William Michael Albert Broad

Billy Ocean – Leslie Charles

Bo Diddley – Elias Bates

Bob Dylan – Robert Zimmerman

Bob Hope – Leslie Townes Hope

Bobby Darin – Walden Robert Cassotto

Bonnie Tyler – Gaynor Hopkins

Bono – Paul Hewson

Boris Karloff – William Henry Pratt

Boy George – George Alan O’Dowd

Buddy Holly – Charles Hardin Holley

Burt Holiday – Bonaldo Bonaldi

Cary Grant – Archibald Alexander Leach

Cat Stevens – Stephen Demetre Georgiou. He later changed his name to Yusuf Islam

Chaka Khan – Yvette Stevens

Charlie Sheen – Carlos Irwin Estevez

Charlton Heston – John Charles Carter

Che Guevara – Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna

Cher – Cherilyn Sarkisian

Chuck Norris – Carlos Ray

Cilla Black – Priscilla White

Conway Twitty – Harold Jenkins

Coolio – Artis Ivey, Jr.

Danny Kaye – David Daniel Kaminski

David Bowie – David Robert Jones

David Copperfield – David Seth Kotkin

Dean Martin – Dino Crocetti

Demi Moore – Demetria Guynes

Diane Keaton – Diane Hall

Donna Summer – Ladonna Andrea Gaines

Doris Day – Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff

Dr. Dre – Andre Young.

Dusty Springfield – Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien

Elton John – Reginald Kenneth Dwight

Elvis Costello – Declan Patrick Aloysius McManus

Engelbert Humperdinck – Arnold Dorsey (why the hell would he change it to THAT????)

Ernest Borgnine – Ermes Effron Borgnino

Ernie Wise – Ernest Wiseman

Frankie Valli – Francis Castelluccio

Fred Astaire – Frederick Austerlitz

Freddie Mercury – Faroukh Bulsara

Gale Storm – Josephine Owaissa Cottle

Gary Glitter – Paul Francis Gadd

Gene Simmons – Chaim Witz

Gene Wilder – Jerome Silberman

George Michael – Georgios Panayiotou

George Orwell – Eric Arthur Blair

Ginger Rogers – Virginia Katherine McMath

Greta Garbo – Greta Lovisa Gustafsson

Groucho Marx – Julius Henry Marx

Harry Houdini – Ehrich Weiss

Hulk Hogan – Terry Jean Bollette

Ice Cube – O’Shea Jackson

Ice T – Tracy Morrow

Jamie Foxx – Eric Bishop

Jean-Claude Van Damme РJean-Claude Camille Fran̤ois Van Varenberg

Jerry Lewis – Joseph Levitch

Joan Crawford – Lucille Fay LeSueur

Jodie Foster – Alicia Christian Foster.

John Denver – Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.

John Ford – Sean Aloysius O’Fearna

John Wayne – Marion Michael Morrison

Johnny Rotten – John Joseph Lydon

Jon Stewart – Jonathon Leibowitz

Joni Mitchell – Roberta Joan Anderson

Joseph Stalin – Iosif Vissarionovich Djugashvili

Judy Garland – Frances Gumm

Judy Holliday – Judith Tuvim

Kirk Douglas – Issur Danielovitch Demsky

Lauren Bacall – Betty Joan Perske

Leon Trotsky – Lev Davidovich Bronstein

Les Paul – Lester Polfuss

Little Richard – Richard Wayne Penniman

LL Cool J – James Todd Smith

Madonna – Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone.

Mariah Carey РMaria Nu̱ez

Marilyn Manson – Brian Warner

Marilyn Monroe – Norma Jean Mortenson. Then Norma Jean Baker

Mark Twain – Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Martin Sheen – Ramón Estévez

Meat Loaf – Marvin Lee Aday

Meg Ryan – Margaret Mary Emily Ann Hyra

Mel Brooks – Melvin Kaminsky

Michael Caine – Maurice Micklewhite

Michael Keaton – Michael John Douglas

Moby – Richard Melville Hall

Mother Teresa – Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu

Mr. T – Lawrence Tero

Muddy Waters – McKinley Morganfield

Natalie Portman – Natalie Hershlag

Natalie Wood – Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko

Jack Palance – Volodymyr Palahniuk in Ukraine.

Patti Page – Clara Ann Fowler

Pel̩ РEdson Arantes do Nascimento

Pink – Alecia Moore

Prince – Prince Rogers Nelson. (According to reliable internet sources, he later changed it a record 743 times, including “the artist formally known as the artist formally known as Prince”. Some sources indicate he is in the process of changing it to “Bob”.)

Queen Latifah – Dana Owens

Ray Charles – Ray Charles Robinson

Ringo Starr – Richard Starkey

Ritchie Valens – Ricardo Valenzuela

Rock Hudson – Roy Harold Scherer Jr.

Seal – Sealhenry Samuel

Shania Twain – Eileen Regina Edwards

Snoop Dogg – Calvin Broadus

Sophia Loren – Sofia Villani Scicolone

Stevie Wonder – Steveland Morris

Sting – Gordon Sumner

Sugar – Stephanie Beard

Sugar Ray Robinson – Walker Smith Jr.

Susan Hayward – Edythe Marrenner

Susan Sarandon – Susan Abigail Tomalin

T-Bone Walker – Aaron Thibeaux Walker

The Edge – David Evans

The Notorious B.I.G. – Christopher Wallace

The Rock – Dwayne Douglas Johnson

Tina Turner – Anna Mae Bullock

Tom Cruise – Thomas Cruise Mapother IV

Tony Curtis – Bernard Schwartz

Totò – Antonio de Curtis Gagliardi Griffo Focas Comneno

Vangelis – Evangelos Odyssey Papathanassiou

Vanilla Ice – Robert Van Winkle

Vivien Leigh – Vivian Mary Hartley

Voltaire РFran̤ois-Marie Arouet

William Holden – William Franklin Beedle Jr.

Winona Ryder – Winona Laura Horowitz

Whoopie Goldberg – Caryn Johnson

Woody Allen – Allen Stewart Konigsberg

 

 

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