Ashley Tisdale Reveals Why She’s Publicly Changing Her Name

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Ashley Tisdale is bop, bop, boppin’ her new moniker to the top. 

The star of High School Musical, who is married to Christopher French, has announced she’s now using French as her professional last name as she grows her wellness brand, Frenshe.

Ashley French, 40, shared in a TikTok video on November 17th that while her family has always known her as Ashley French, she’s been known publicly as Ashley Tisdale. She decided it was time for people to get to know her, not just a character or celebrity persona.

The singer of “Be Good to Me” has a lot to share about her life, including navigating her 40s and raising her two children, Jupiter, 4, and Emerson, 13 months. While she’s touched on family life before, she wants to use her wellness brand, and especially her new website, By Ashley French, as a supportive place to share her experiences as a mother.

She didn’t create the site for just one reason. The former Disney Channel star also explained that changes happening in social media motivated her to create her own platform.

You know, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about social media lately, especially Instagram. It feels so different now than it used to. It’s hard to tell what’s authentic and what’s not, with all the bots and everything. And honestly, there’s just a lot of noise – a lot of opinions flying around, and not all of them are kind. While I don’t want to completely shut out constructive criticism, I realized I needed to prioritize my own well-being. So, I’ve decided to shift how I share things online to better protect my peace of mind.

Ashley has often discussed her complicated feelings about social media. Earlier this year, the singer behind “He Said She Said” even announced she was taking a break from it.

She shared on Instagram in February that she’s been wanting to share less online, explaining that it’s hard to feel positive when the world feels so negative. She added that she’s been enjoying disconnecting and being present, noting that while social media can be great for connection, it can also be overwhelming with criticism and assumptions.

Ashley is now creating her own online presence, using a more personal nickname. Here’s a look at other celebrities’ actual names…

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

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

Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who played Lilly on Modern Family, now goes by Frances Anderson to reflect her new career as a musician.

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, a nine-season veteran of the reality show, 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 decided he wanted a name of his own because ‘Sterling’ felt like a name for an older man.

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 original first name to pay tribute to him.

My father died when I was ten, and by the time I was sixteen, it had been five or six years since anyone had said his name. I just wanted to hear it again, so I started asking people to call me 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, after a talent agent pointed out that the family name was unremarkable.

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 Kylie Kelce’s podcast, Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce, that she prefers not to have her full birth name publicly shown, 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 French wife of Lloyd Alexander, who wrote The Black Cauldron. She explained that Alexander was a close friend of her mother’s.

Oh my god, can you believe it? For over thirty years, Cher thought her name was Cherilyn! She genuinely believed that’s what she was born with. But then, in the late seventies, she decided she just wanted to be known as Cher, so she got a copy of her original birth certificate… and it said Cheryl! Can you even imagine? All that time, she was Cheryl, but everyone just knew her as Cher! It’s mind-blowing, honestly. She had to legally change it to just ‘Cher’ because that’s what she always felt she was meant to be, but the fact that it was a mistake on her birth certificate for so long… it’s just so Cher!

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 it was really painful. Cut me some slack.”

I’ve been following Shaboozey for a while now, and it’s a pretty amazing story how he got his name! Apparently, when he was in high school in Virginia, his last name was misspelled as ‘Shaboozey’ on some official documents. He ended up liking it so much, he adopted it as a nickname, and now it’s his official artist name! It’s just cool how something like a simple mistake can become a signature part of who you are, and he really owns it.

The singer first released music under her real name in 2001, creating a Christian album. However, she believed the name Katy Perry—which she chose as a nod to her mother’s family name—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 eventually 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 revealed how she got her stage name while on Apple Music’s Home Now Radio. She was originally born Eilleen Regina Edwards, and later became Eilleen Regina Twain after being adopted. When she started singing professionally, 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 their name, so she chose “Shania Twain.” She’d met someone named Shania and loved the name, 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 ‘drag project’ – which helps her maintain personal boundaries and keep her private life separate from the demands of her career.

Interestingly, Gigi Hadid didn’t choose her stage name – it came about in school! Her teacher kept mixing her up with a classmate named Helena. Since her mom always called her “gigi” at home, she asked the teacher to just call her that, and the name stuck.

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 as 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’s name was Daniel, and he was originally named after him. However, to prevent confusion with another Daniel in the family, his mother began calling him by his middle name, Jason.

Emma Stone chose her stage name because someone else 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.

Every artist has a different side to their public image, and for Lana Del Rey, that persona is simply herself.

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

Many people don’t realize that Tina Fey, the creator 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 as Lorde developed an interest in nobility, which inspired her stage name. She intentionally added a feminine ‘e’ to the title, creating ‘Lorde.’

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!

People 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. Harris later explained to Shortlist magazine that he chose the name because his first song had a soulful sound and he wanted a stage name that didn’t clearly define his background.

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

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2025-11-18 21:18