National Name Yourself Day: Celebrities Who Changed Their Names

Today is National Name Yourself Day! You can rename yourself for the day or get it permanently changed, it’s completely up to you. Take a look at these celebrities who changed their name.

1. John Legend

John Legend was born John Rodgers Stephens. The “Legend ” part of his name came from a childhood nickname that turned into his stage name. (AP)

2. Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne’s real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (AP)

3. Bruno Mars

Bruno’s real name is Peter Gene Hernandez. He changed his name so that he wouldn’t become a stereotype in Latin music. (AP)

4. Alicia Keys

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Alicia Keys real name is Alicia Augello Cook. She’s an amazing piano player no naturally she changed her name to Keys. (AP)

5. Jamie Foxx

Foxx’s real name is Eric Marion Bishop. When he was first starting out as a comedian, Foxx noticed that female comedian would get called first so he chose a gender-neutral name. (PR Photo)

6. Nicki Minaj

Nicki’s real name is Onika Tanya Maraj. (AP)

7. Drake

Drake’s real name is Aubrey Drake Graham. I think you can guess why he goes by Drake, however, Aubrey is a great name. (AP)

9. Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi was born Caryn Elaine Johnson. That’s nowhere near close to her stage name. In the pass, she’s said that her name comes from whooppee cushion. (AP)

10. Jay-Z

Jay-Z’s real name is Shawn Carter. As a kid he was called Jazzy but when he got older he wanted to pay tribute to Jay-O so he choose Jay-Z. (AP)