Christina Milian Shares Why She Really Changed Her Last Name

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Christina Milian is recalling the early years of her acting career. 

As someone who’s seen a lot of young performers navigate the industry, I can tell you branding is everything. When I think back to Christina Flores—that’s her birth name, by the way—it’s interesting to hear her talk about why she decided to go by Milian when she first started auditioning. It was a really strategic move for her career, even as a teenager!

Christina shared on the January 20th episode of the Richer Lives by SoFi podcast that her career choices were practical ones. As an Afro-Cuban woman, she noticed a lack of representation on television. She often tried to present herself as Latina for auditions, but her skin tone didn’t align with the typical expectations for that ethnicity at the time, and she wasn’t given opportunities to audition as a result.

She wasn’t alone in experiencing this. The actress, known for Love Don’t Cost A Thing, noticed a friend also struggled to get auditions until she changed her last name. The actress shares a 15-year-old daughter, Violet, with her ex, The Dream, and has two younger children – Isaiah, 6, and Kenna, 4 – with her husband, Matt Pokora.

Christina considered several stage names before choosing Milian, her mother’s family name. Like her friend, she quickly began to experience success.

She remembered using the same photo for headshots and sending it to the same casting directors. But after making one small adjustment, everything changed. She started booking television roles right away, and that single shift completely altered the course of her career.

The singer of “Dip It Low” says she’s proud of her work, but it was upsetting that she felt she had to keep part of herself hidden.

She admitted she wasn’t thrilled with how things used to be, but she’s glad to see more Black and Latina women represented on TV now. She feels people are more focused on talent and less on superficial things, which allows performers to be judged on their skills.

Christina uses a similar method with her children—who currently live with her and Matt in France—to help them connect with and appreciate their culture while adjusting to a new life there.

She told Parents magazine last October that her family is very close. She described her mother as the heart and leader of their family. Growing up with music, her daughter Violet is familiar with the legacy of Celia Cruz. Like many Latino families, music, food, and culture are central to their lives.

We still occasionally use Spanish when we talk to each other, but we’ve also started learning other languages, including French.

Keep reading to see more stars reveal their real names…

Congratulations to Post Malone! He chose to include his family name as part of his stage name, but he actually prefers his close friends to use his given name.

As a huge Taylor fan, I was so thrilled when she and Post Malone won Best Collaboration at the 2024 VMAs for ‘Fortnight’! It was such a sweet moment, and she actually called him ‘Austin’ when they accepted the award. It felt really personal and special, like we were all getting a little peek into their friendship.

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

You know, a lot of people ask about my name, and I always explain that ‘Frances’ is actually my middle name! It’s a sweet nod to a dear friend of my mom’s from years ago. Honestly, ‘Aubrey Anderson-Emmons’ is a bit of a mouthful, and I figured a shorter name felt a little more streamlined. Plus, with a hyphenated last name, sometimes simplicity is best!

Oh my gosh, can we talk about the Fanning sisters for a minute? It’s so cool how they both decided to go by their middle names when they started acting! Dakota and Elle… it just sounds more glamorous, doesn’t it? I always knew they were destined for stardom, and even choosing their names felt like a statement. I’ve followed their careers since they were little, and it’s amazing to see how far they’ve come!

Elle explained that since their mother used her middle name, the sisters decided to follow suit.

She remembered feeling embarrassed during roll call at school. People would call out ‘Mary?’ and classmates would respond that there wasn’t a Mary present. She’d then have to hesitantly raise her hand and say, ‘It’s me.’

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

“My driver’s license and passport both say William,” explained Carl, a veteran of all nine seasons of the reality show, in an August 2025 interview with PopViewers. “But my middle name is actually Carl, and I’ve gone by Carl since the beginning.”

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 as a tribute.

He explained that after his father died when he was ten, he hadn’t heard anyone say his father’s name in over five years. By the time he was sixteen, he just wanted to hear it again, so he started asking people to call him by his father’s name, Sterling.

The winner of Traitors revealed on TopMob’s Hot Goss that his full name is Nicholas Dylan Harrison Efron, but he goes by Dylan. He explained that because Nicholas is his first name, everything else shifts up a position, making Harrison his middle name now.

Andrew, Matthew, and Joey Lawrence all decided to change their last names professionally. Joey, whose middle name is also Lawrence, was the first to make the switch, after a talent agent pointed out the family name wasn’t ideal.

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 with Kylie Kelce on her 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 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 was surprised to find 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 something surprising.

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 after a simple mistake: his high school in Virginia misspelled his last name, and he ended up embracing it as his stage name.

The singer first released music under her real name in 2001, but she decided to use the stage name Katy Perry—taken from her mother’s family name—because she thought it would appeal more to pop music fans.

Cardi B got the nickname “Bacardi” because her sister was playfully called “Hennessy” by those close to them. She later decided “Cardi” was a better fit for her stage name.

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

Shania Twain revealed how she got 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 decided she needed a stage name that didn’t sound so much like her grandmothers – she’s named after both of them, Eilleen and Regina! She didn’t want to perform under a name so closely associated with family, so she chose “Shania Twain.” She had 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 ‘drag project’ – which helps her maintain clear boundaries between her personal life and her career.

Interestingly, Gigi Hadid didn’t choose her stage name herself! When she was in school, her teacher kept mixing her up with another student named Helena. Because her mom always called her “Gigi” at home, she asked the teacher to just refer to her as Gigi, and the name ended up sticking.

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

Oh my gosh, you won’t BELIEVE this! Even as a little girl, Miley had the most radiant smile – seriously, it lit up a room! Everyone started calling her ‘Smiley’ because of it, and then, naturally, it just shortened to Miley. It’s the perfect name for her, don’t you think? It just fits!

The singer resembled a Bruno more than a Peter, so his father began calling him Bruno, and that name stuck – he’s now known as 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 given first name is Daniel, after his father. However, his mother began calling him by his middle name, Jason, to prevent confusion with another Daniel in the family.

Emma Stone chose to use a stage name because her birth name was already taken by another member of the Screen Actors Guild.

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 side is the persona she presents to the world.

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 strong interest in nobility, which is why she decided on the name Lorde, but added 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!

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2026-01-22 00:18