I know there are a ton of these lists out there, but this one had some that I didn’t know ([name]Dakota[/name] Fanning was born [name]Hannah[/name] Fanning? Good call on switching it up! Same with [name]Miley[/name] [name]Cyrus[/name]. [name]Destiny[/name] [name]Hope[/name]…eek)
Some of the names I prefer before though-- I love [name]Audrey[/name] more than [name]Faith[/name] ([name]Hill[/name]).
Not sure how I feel about [name]Olive[/name] [name]Osmond[/name].
[name]Elvis[/name] Costello is a [name]Declan[/name], a nameberry fave. I guess if you’re a musician, different rules apply.
[name]Tina[/name] [name]Fey[/name]'s name is beautiful, [name]Elizabeth[/name] Stamatina [name]Fey[/name], she could easily have gone by [name]Elizabeth[/name] [name]Fey[/name].
I prefer [name]Woody[/name] [name]Allen[/name] over [name]Allen[/name] Konigsberg, I think [name]Woody[/name] suits him better.
Same with [name]Michael[/name] [name]Caine[/name], I can’t imagine him as a [name]Maurice[/name] Micklewhite.
I think a lot of it is to make their names either more memorable if they have a common name or easier if they have a name that’s too uncommon. For most American movie-goers, [name]Natalie[/name] Portman would be more approachable than [name]Natalie[/name] Hershlag. And [name]Sigourney[/name] [name]Weaver[/name] is more attention-grabbing than [name]Susan[/name] [name]Weaver[/name].
They wanted [name]Ingrid[/name] Bergman to change her name to [name]Ingrid[/name] Berriman or [name]Ingrid[/name] Lindström, luckily [name]Ingrid[/name] refused.
[name]Ruth[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] [name]Davis[/name] was the real name of [name]Bette[/name] [name]Davis[/name]. I, for one, think that [name]Bette[/name] suits her much better (besides, [name]Ruth[/name] was her mother’s name and I never did like her mother).
You also have to take into account the Screen Actors Guild. I think there’s a rule that you can’t have two people working with the same name. So if there’s already an actor out there with the same name as you, you have to go by something different. [name]Even[/name] if that’s not an official rule, you wouldn’t want to have the same name as another working actor anyway, since you wouldn’t want them getting calls for jobs that were really meant for you (I think this is also why lots of actors include their middle name/initial, such as [name]Michael[/name] J. [name]Fox[/name]).
I think changing from [name]Cornelius[/name] [name]Chase[/name] to [name]Chevy[/name] [name]Chase[/name] was a good call, but [name]Ashton[/name] Kutcher looks just like a [name]Christopher[/name] to me.
I think the Ultimate Warrior (born [name]James[/name] [name]Brian[/name] Hellwig) really didn’t need to legally change his name to Warrior. No middle name, surname, nothing else. I mean, I know there are celebrities who go by one name (i.e. [name]Cher[/name], [name]Fabio[/name], [name]Prince[/name], etc.) but to my knowledge, they didin’t LEGALLY make it just one name.
I think you’re definitely right about the middle initials thing. Names that would otherwise be likely to be duplicated are made more unique that way. [name]Michael[/name] C. [name]Hall[/name], [name]Sarah[/name] [name]Michelle[/name] Gellar, [name]Jennifer[/name] [name]Love[/name] [name]Hewitt[/name]. I think some actors also alter the spelling of their names for SAG.
