top of page

The Names You Know vs. The Names They Were Born With

Actors & Actresses 

  • Audrey Hepburn → Audrey Kathleen Ruston

  • Cary Grant → Archibald Alexander Leach

  • Charlie Sheen → Carlos Irwin Estévez

  • Dean Martin → Dino Paul Crocetti

  • Demi Moore → Demi Gene Guynes

  • Diane Keaton → Diane Hall

  • Donna Reed → Donna Belle Mullenger

  • Edward G. Robinson → Emanuel Goldenberg

  • Emma Stone → Emily Jean Stone

  • Joaquin Phoenix → Joaquin Rafael Bottom

  • John Wayne → Marion Robert Morrison

  • Judy Garland → Frances Ethel Gumm

  • Judy Holliday → Judith Tuvim

  • Kirk Douglas → Issur Danielovitch

  • Lauren Bacall → Betty Joan Perske

  • Lily James → Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson

  • Loretta Young → Gretchen Michaela Young

  • Marilyn Monroe → Norma Jeane Mortenson

  • Martin Sheen → Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez

  • Meg Ryan → Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra

  • Michael Caine → Maurice Joseph Micklewhite

  • Michael Keaton → Michael John Douglas

  • Natalie Portman → Neta-Lee Hershlag

  • Olivia Colman → Sarah Caroline Sinclair

  • Olivia Wilde → Olivia Jane Cockburn

  • Paul Muni → Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund

  • Reese Witherspoon → Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon

  • Sam Neill → Nigel John Dermot Neill

  • Shelley Winters → Shirley Schrift

  • Tom Cruise → Thomas Cruise Mapother IV

  • Tony Curtis → Bernard Schwartz

  • Troy Donahue → Merle Johnson Jr.

  • Vin Diesel → Mark Sinclair

  • Winona Ryder → Winona Horowitz

Musicians

  • Alicia Keys → Alicia Augello Cook

  • Bob Dylan → Robert Zimmerman

  • Bon Jovi → John Francis Bongiovi Jr.

  • Bruno Mars → Peter Gene Hernandez

  • Elton John → Reginald Kenneth Dwight

  • Freddie Mercury → Farrokh Bulsara

  • Iggy Pop → James Osterberg Jr.

  • Jay-Z → Shawn Corey Carter

  • John Legend → John Roger Stephens

  • Katy Perry → Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson

  • Lady Gaga → Stefani Germanotta

  • Rihanna → Robyn Rihanna Fenty

  • Snoop Dogg → Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.

  • Sting → Gordon Sumner

Writers 

  • Dr. Seuss → Theodor Seuss Geisel

  • George Eliot → Mary Ann Evans

  • George Orwell → Eric Arthur Blair

  • J. K. Rowling → Joanne Rowling (later writing as Robert Galbraith)

  • Joseph Conrad → Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski

  • Lewis Carroll → Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

  • Mark Twain → Samuel Clemens

  • Nathaniel Hawthorne → Nathaniel Hathorne

  • Voltaire → François-Marie Arouet

Artists & Designers 

  • Andy Warhol → Andrew Warhola

  • Coco Chanel → Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel

  • Karl Lagerfeld → Karl Otto Lagerfeldt

  • Mark Rothko → Markus Rothkowitz

  • Pablo Picasso → Pablo Ruiz

  • Salvador Dalí → Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech

Politicians & Revolutionaries 

  • Gerald Ford → Leslie Lynch King Jr.

  • Joseph Stalin → Ioseb Jughashvili

  • Leon Trotsky → Lev Davidovich Bronstein

  • Malcolm X → Malcolm Little

  • Ulysses S. Grant → Hiram Ulysses Grant

  • Vladimir Lenin → Vladimir Ulyanov


Sports Figures 

  • Babe Ruth → George Herman Ruth Jr.

  • Muhammad Ali → Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.

  • Catfish Hunter → Born James Hunter

  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar → Born Lew Alcindor Jr.

  • Sugar Ray Robinson → Walker Smith Jr.

  • Marvelous Marvin Hagler → Marvin Nathaniel Hagler

American History & Culture 

  • Annie Oakley → Phoebe Ann Mosey

  • Billy the Kid → Henry McCarty (also known as William H. Bonney)

  • Buffalo Bill → William Frederick Cody

  • Butch Cassidy → Robert LeRoy Parker

  • Calamity Jane → Martha Jane Canary

  • Doc Holliday → John Henry Holliday

  • Jesse James → Jesse Woodson James

  • Mother Jones → Mary Harris Jones

  • Sojourner Truth → Isabella Baumfree

  • Sundance Kid → Harry Alonzo Longabaugh

  • Wild Bill Hickok → James Butler Hickok

ADVERTISEMENTS

facts.png
FACTS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN
In New Mexico, Pluto is Still a Planet
SCIENCE & NATURE

In New Mexico, Pluto is Still a Planet

How the Aztecs Turned a Tiny Berry Into a Tomato
FOOD & DRINK

How the Aztecs Turned a Tiny Berry Into a Tomato

Sheep Used to Shed on Their Own. We Bred That Out of Them
SCIENCE & NATURE

Sheep Used to Shed on Their Own. We Bred That Out of Them

How Will the Next Dalai Lama Be Chosen?
PEOPLE

How Will the Next Dalai Lama Be Chosen?

The Surprising Way Children Shape Adult Brains
SCIENCE & NATURE

The Surprising Way Children Shape Adult Brains

You May Be Related to Charlemagne
HISTORY & INNOVATIONS

You May Be Related to Charlemagne

ADVERTISEMENT

popular.png
POPULAR NOW
Photo of white eggplant
FOOD & DRINK

Why is an Eggplant called an Eggplant

Photograph of Alma Mahler
People

She Married a Great Composer. Then Things Got Complicated.

Photograph of Labradoodle dog
FOOD & DRINK

Why Do We Call It "Hair of the Dog"?

Colored Engraving of Eaton Hall
PEOPLE

A 1677 Marriage Helped Create One of Britain’s Great Fortunes

Photograph of an antique brass doorknob
SCIENCE & NATURE

The Hidden Superpower of Brass

Photograph of a toddler bending over to look at something in the grass
SCIENCE & NATURE

Why Toddlers Have More Brain Connections Than Adults

ADVERTISEMENT

bottom of page