Pamela Anderson Reveals What She Wants to Change Her Name to

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Turns out, Pamela Anderson is her showgirl name.

The actress from The Naked Gun wants to legally change her name to Pamela Hyytiäinen, a tribute to her family’s Finnish heritage.

Pamela Anderson recently shared with Vogue Scandinavia that she sometimes wishes she could escape her public persona. ‘I want to be just Pamela Hyytiäinen,’ she explained, revealing her desire to change her name, a request that has apparently been denied.

The 58-year-old shared that her grandfather, Herman Hyytiäinen, changed the family’s last name to Anderson when they immigrated to Canada, hoping it would help them fit in more easily.

She described her grandfather as the most important person in her life growing up, and he taught her Finnish. Sadly, after he passed away when she was about 11, she gradually lost her ability to speak the language fluently.

Despite everything, Herman shared his passion for folklore and optimistic outlook with Pamela. She explains that she’s been discovering more about herself and trying out different roles lately.

She explained that she’s always had a very active imagination. She described a process of constantly experimenting with different identities and perspectives, admitting it often meant starting from scratch multiple times to find her true self.

She’s always loved changing up her look, and her recent bright red hair is a perfect example. But she’s also made it clear that any transformation she makes will always feel true to herself.

Pamela recently addressed claims that she and Liam Neeson pretended to be a couple to promote their movie, Naked Gun.

Speaking at the Deauville American Film Festival in France last September, she stated she refuses to participate in publicity stunts, calling them ‘a death sentence’ to her authenticity. She explained that she’s driven by genuine feelings, is superstitious about love, and prefers to keep her personal romantic life completely private, as reported by People magazine.

Pamela, a mother to Brandon Thomas Lee, 29, and Dylan Jagger Lee, 27, with her ex-husband Tommy Lee, explained that it’s normal for her to feel chemistry with her partners when she’s working on movies.

As a huge fan, it’s always amazing to hear her talk about her craft. She explained that falling in love with her co-stars on screen is just part of the job, and honestly, that’s what makes a great performance! She believes that if she and her co-star truly connect, the audience will feel that connection too – and she says that feeling, that ability to draw the audience in, is the biggest compliment an actor can receive. It’s so true – when you really believe it, it’s magical!

Please try to stay positive,” she continued. “Thank you for your kind thoughts. I’m being completely honest and there’s no hidden agenda here.

While Pamela might not be planning to actually change her name, keep reading for stars who did…

Congratulations to Post Malone! He decided to include his actual last name when he chose his stage name. However, he prefers his close friends to use his given name.

At the 2024 MTV VMAs, Taylor Swift called Post Malone “Austin” after they won the award for Best Collaboration for their song, “Fortnight.”

Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, known for playing 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 gone by Carl since the beginning.

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

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

Years after his father’s death from a heart attack, the actor—known for his role in This Is Us—chose to go back to using his original 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 hear it again. That’s why he started asking people to call him by his father’s name, Sterling.

Brothers 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 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, explained to Kylie Kelce on her podcast Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce that she prefers not to have her full, given name publicly shown, like on a poster.

The actress chose her stage name by combining inspiration from two sources: Kat, the character played by Christina Ricci in the movie Casper, and the last name of Janine Denni, the French wife of Lloyd Alexander, the author of The Black Cauldron. She explained that Alexander was a close friend of her mother’s.

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 it, her mother exclaimed, “Let me see!” Then, remembering her own experience after giving birth, she said, “I was just a teenager myself, and I was really hurting. Cut me some slack.”

The country artist known as Shaboozey got the nickname—and later his stage name—from a simple mistake: his high school in Virginia misspelled his last name.

The singer first released music under her real name in 2001, creating a Christian album. However, she believed the name Katy Perry—taken from her mother’s family name—would be more appealing to pop music listeners and help her gain a bigger following.

Cardi B got the nickname ‘Bacardi’ because people started calling her sister ‘Hennessy.’ She later shortened it to the name Cardi B, which she felt was a better fit.

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

Shania Twain revealed the story behind her stage name during a recent interview on Apple Music’s Home Now Radio. Born Eilleen Regina Edwards, she was later adopted and became Eilleen Regina Twain. When she started her singing career, she realized her name sounded too much like her grandmothers’, both of whom were named Eilleen and Regina. She didn’t want to perform under a name so closely tied to family, 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 singer behind ‘Good Luck, Babe!’, has always approached performing as a distinct artistic persona—a kind of ‘drag project.’ This allows her to maintain clear boundaries between her stage presence and her private life, and to navigate the music industry on her own terms.

Surprisingly, Gigi Hadid didn’t choose her famous name herself! In school, her teacher kept mixing her up with a classmate named Helena. To clear things up, Gigi – who her mom affectionately called “gigi” at home – asked the teacher to just call her Gigi, and the nickname ended up staying with her.

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.

I’ve always been fascinated by how Bruno Mars got his stage name! From what I understand, he actually resembled his dad more than his uncle, Peter. Because of this, his dad playfully started calling him Bruno, and the name just stuck! That’s how the incredible Bruno Mars was born – a nickname that became a global superstar identity.

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’s name was Daniel, and he was originally named after him. However, to avoid having two people with the same name in the family, his mother began calling him by his middle name, Jason.

Emma Stone chose to use a stage name because her real name was already taken by another performer registered with the Screen Actors Guild.

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

Every artist creates a different public image, and for Lana Del Rey, that image is simply herself.

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

Many fans don’t realize that Tina Fey’s real name is Elizabeth. She playfully honored her given name by naming her iconic character on 30 Rock, 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 strong interest in nobility, which is why she decided on the name Lorde, but added a feminine ‘e’ to it.

Before becoming a world-famous singer, Ricky Martin 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 wasn’t his real name. The DJ later 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.

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2025-12-08 19:19