13 Celebrities Who Regret Their Stage Names

Plenty of aspiring actors and singers choose a stage name before heading to Hollywood. When they finally make it big, that’s the name they’ll see in lights instead of the one they were born with.

While many celebrities strongly identify with their stage names, there are also some who wish they’d never chosen a fake name in the first place. Some are successful in changing their names, but others are stuck with a name they hate.

Here are 13 celebrities who regret changing their names for Hollywood:

1.

Martin Sheen was born Ramon Estévez, but he was convinced to use a stage name early in his acting career.

He told Closer Weekly, “Sometimes, you get persuaded when you don’t have enough insight or even enough courage to stand up for what you believe in, and you pay for it later…But, of course, I’m only speaking for myself.”

While his son and fellow actor, Charlie Sheen — whose birth name is Carlos Estévez — adopted a similar stage name, he’s grateful that he was able to influence his older son Emilio Estévez to act under his real name.

2.

Thandiwe Newton uses the real spelling of her name professionally now, but for 30 years, she acted under a slightly altered version — Thandie Newton.

The stage name began as a spelling error in the credits of her 1991 movie Flirting. Even though her character’s name was also Thandiwe, the actor was miscredited as Thandie — and it stuck.

However, in 2021, she reverted to the correct spelling of her name, telling British Vogue, “That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine.”

3.

Anne Hathaway goes by her birth name, but she hates being called Anne and regrets making it her professional name.

On The Tonight Show, she said, “When I was 14 years old, I did a commercial, and I had to get my SAG card and they asked me, ‘What do you want your name to be?’ And I was like, ‘Well, it should be my name. My name’s Anne Hathaway.’ So that seemed like the right choice, but it never occurred to me that for the rest of my life, people will call me Anne.”

She also revealed that she’d prefer for everyone to call her Annie instead, which is the name everyone in her personal life knows her by.

4.

Nicki Minaj was born Onika Maraj — and her stage name wasn’t even her choice.

She told the Guardian, “One of the first production deals I signed, the guy wanted my name to be Minaj and I fought him tooth and nail. But he convinced me. I’ve always hated it.”

To her, Nicki Minaj is a character she plays. She said, “I feel it’s like one big theatre piece. It’s a show.”

5.

Nicholas Leanos rose to fame under the name Lil Xan before changing his stage name to Diego, which is his legal middle name.

The “Lil Xan” name — short for Xanax — was a stark contradiction to the anti-drug stance the rapper took in his lyrics. Most notably, in his breakout hit “Betrayal,” he…