Ashley Tisdale Makes Name Change Official

Ashley Tisdale is breaking free from her former moniker.

After deciding to use her married name for professional purposes, Ashley Tisdale, who has been married to musician Christopher French since 2014, updated her Instagram username to @AshleyTisdaleFrench.

Moreover, her name is listed as Ashley French in her profile page on the photo-sharing platform.

So, why is Ashley starting something new?

For years, I’ve gone by Ashley French with family and friends,” the 40-year-old shared in an Instagram video on November 17th. “But I never officially changed my name because most people know me as Ashley Tisdale. I finally felt it was time for people to get to know me, beyond just a role I played or my public image.”

Ashley also wanted her social media to match her new website, By Ashley French, where she’ll be sharing her experiences as a mom to Jupiter, age 4, and Emerson, 13 months old.

As she put it, “I’ve never been this intimate before, but I have so much to talk about.”

People often have opinions, and they aren’t always nice. I’m not trying to ignore criticism, but I realized I needed to prioritize my own well-being, so I decided to stop sharing so much publicly.

Ashley recently shared on her blog that a few years ago, she went through a personal transformation—a “midlife awakening”—which inspired her to launch her beauty company, Frenshe. The name Frenshe is also a tribute to her and her husband’s family name.

It’s common to feel lost and unsure of what to do next, but people rarely admit it. Many of us act like we have everything figured out, when really we’re afraid we’ve let opportunities slip by.

Ashley shared, “I’ve realized it’s perfectly fine to not have all the answers right away. If you’re feeling lost or unsure of what to do next, remember you’re not falling behind – your story isn’t over. You’re still growing and evolving, and that’s exactly where you need to be.”

For more celebrities who’ve changed up their names, keep reading…

Congratulations to Post Malone! He actually added his last name to his stage name. But despite his fame, he prefers his close friends to call him by his given name.

At the 2024 MTV VMAs, Taylor Swift called her co-winner “Austin” after they won the Best Collaboration award for their song “Fortnight.”

Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, known as Lilly on Modern Family, now goes by Frances Anderson as she pursues a career in music.

In a 2025 interview with TopMob News, Aubrey explained that ‘Frances’ is actually her middle name, a tribute to a longtime friend of her mother. She also mentioned she shortened her name because ‘Aubrey Anderson-Emmons’ is quite long and hyphenated.

The Summer House star shocked Bravo fans by revealing his legally given first name isn’t actually Carl.

Carl, who has been on the reality show for all nine seasons, explained to PopViewers in August 2025 that his first name is William and his middle name is Carl. However, he’s always been known simply as Carl.

Sterling K. Brown went by his middle name Kelby until he was a teenager.

During an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show in April 2025, he explained that his father is Sterling Brown Jr. and his grandfather is Sterling Brown Sr. He said he wanted to establish his own identity and felt the name ‘Sterling’ sounded too old-fashioned for him.

Years after his father passed away from a heart attack, the actor—known for his role in This Is Us—chose to go back to using his given first name as a tribute to him.

He explained that since his father died when he was ten, and he hadn’t heard anyone say his father’s name in over five years by the time he was sixteen, he simply wanted to reconnect with that part of his life. That’s why he asked people to call him by his father’s name, Sterling.

Andrew, Matthew, and Joey Lawrence all decided to change their last names professionally. Joey, whose middle name is Lawrence, was the first to make the switch, prompted by feedback from a talent agent who didn’t like their family name.

Kat Dennings started using a professional name when she was just nine years old, long before she appeared on an episode of Sex and the City in 2000.

Kat Dennings, known for her role on 2 Broke Girls, shared on the March 13, 2025 episode of Kylie Kelce’s podcast, Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce, that she prefers not to have her birth name publicly advertised, like on a poster.

The actress chose her stage name by combining elements from two sources: the character Kat, played by Christina Ricci in the movie Casper, and the last name of Janine Denni, the wife of author Lloyd Alexander, who was a close friend of her mother.

For over thirty years, Cher thought her full legal name was Cherilyn. However, when she requested her birth certificate in the late 1970s to legally change her name to simply Cher, she found out she was originally registered as Cheryl.

In her 2024 memoir, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, the singer Cher wrote about how her mother, Georgia Holt, reacted when she found out.

When she told her mother – who had her at 19 – about the situation, her mother exclaimed, “Let me see!” Then, remembering her own experience after giving birth, she said, “I was just a teenager myself, and it was really painful. Cut me some slack.”

The country artist known as Shaboozey got the nickname from a misspelling of his last name in his Virginia high school yearbook, and eventually made it his official stage name.

The singer first released music under her real name in 2001, but she adopted the stage name Katy Perry—taken from her mother’s family name—believing it would be more appealing to pop music listeners.

Cardi B got the nickname ‘Bacardi’ because her sister was playfully called ‘Hennessy’ by friends and family. She later shortened it to the name we know today, which she felt fit her better.

Before she became the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle was briefly known as Rachel.

Shania Twain recently revealed how she came up with her stage name while on Apple Music’s Home Now Radio. Born Eilleen Regina Edwards, she was later adopted and became Eilleen Regina Twain. When she started singing professionally, she decided she needed a stage name that didn’t sound so much like her grandmothers’, as she shares the same names – Eilleen and Regina – as they did. She didn’t want to be called after them on stage, so she chose Shania Twain. She’d met someone named Shania and loved the sound of it, and that’s how her stage name was born.

Chappell Roan, the artist behind the song “Good Luck, Babe!”, has always approached performing as a form of drag, which helps her maintain clear boundaries between her public image and private life, and navigate the demands of the music industry.

Surprisingly, Gigi Hadid didn’t choose her stage name herself! When she was in school, her teacher kept mixing her up with a classmate named Helena. To make things easier, Gigi asked the teacher to just call her “Gigi” – a nickname her mom used at home – and the name stayed with her ever since.

If you’re looking for an explosive action-star name, how about Vin Diesel instead?

Miley Cyrus earned the nickname “Smiley” as a child because she was always so cheerful. Over time, the name was shortened to Miley, and that’s what everyone started calling her.

The singer resembled a Bruno more than a Peter, so his father began calling him Bruno, and that’s the name he’s been known by ever since – Bruno Mars.

Before the meat dresses and chart-topping music, Lady Gaga was just an everyday girl from New York.

Jason Sudeikis revealed on the Today show that his father named him Daniel. However, to avoid confusion with another family member, his mom began calling him by his middle name, Jason.

Emma Stone chose to use a stage name because another actor was already registered with the Screen Actors Guild under her given name.

Interestingly, Reese Witherspoon’s first name isn’t actually her middle name! She was named after her mother’s family name, Reese.

Okay, so everyone says artists have these different sides to themselves, right? But with Lana Del Rey… it’s like, she is that whole vibe. It’s not a character she plays, it is her. She fully embodies this persona, and honestly, that’s part of what I love about her so much!

In 2014, Frank Ocean legally changed his name because, why not?

Many fans don’t realize that Tina Fey, the creator and star of 30 Rock, was actually born Elizabeth. She playfully honored her given name by naming her iconic character on the show, Liz Lemon.

This pioneer of West Coast rap would later go on to be known as Snoop Dogg.

It seems the singer known for “Royals” has a fascination with nobility, which is why she chose the name Lorde, adding a feminine ‘e’ to it.

Before becoming the famous singer Ricky Martin, he was known by a different, more common name.

It’s hard to believe that Iggy Azalea was born Amethyst Kelly!

Fans were surprised when Taylor Swift publicly thanked her then-boyfriend, Adam, during a speech, which prompted many to realize that Calvin Harris isn’t his real name. The DJ explained to Shortlist magazine that he chose the name because his first song had a soulful sound and he wanted a name that didn’t clearly identify his background.

Before she became a household name, this was what erstwhile Friend Jennifer Aniston answered to.

2025-11-19 05:18

Read More