Dylan Efron’s Real Name Isn’t Actually Dylan

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Don’t feel betrayed by this news. 

Dylan Efron, known for winning The Traitors and recently finishing fourth on Dancing With the Stars, shared on the Hot Goss podcast that his complete name is actually Nicholas Dylan Harrison Efron.

However, he said he’s “axed off” his first name and prefers just Dylan.

The 33-year-old explained to hosts Eyal Booker and Lonnie Marts that because ‘Harrison’ is his first name, everything else in his name has shifted up a position. He now thinks of Harrison as his real middle name.

Apparently, his nickname is a closely guarded secret – even his friend and former The Traitors co-star, Rob “Boston Rob” Mariano, didn’t believe him when he revealed it. They’re currently working together on a new web series called Everything’s A Competition.

Boston Rob said on the Hot Goss podcast that he’d never heard of it and didn’t believe it was true. He claimed the person in question had never mentioned it to anyone.

Dylan isn’t the only artist who presents a different side of themselves. What surprising thing might fans discover about Rob?

People often remember him as a fiercely competitive athlete, but they don’t always see the other side of him – how he is with his daughters. That’s what stands out to me,” Dylan explained. “I know I can always count on him as a friend, someone who’s there when I need him, especially when you see him interacting with his kids.

Indeed, Rob intentionally distinguishes his reality TV personality from his real-life self.

The Survivor winner explained that they can distinguish between the strategic, sometimes ruthless, gameplay and their everyday life. They’re willing to do whatever it takes to win the game, even if that means betraying others, but outside of the game, they are fiercely loyal to their friends and allies.

He’s so generous that he’ll even tell his friends how to win—and that applied to Dylan while he was competing on Dancing with the Stars.

Dylan admitted he called Rob before each show, and they discussed a lot of game strategies. Rob shared a specific tip that Dylan didn’t follow: he advised befriending the weaker contestants, figuring they’d eventually be eliminated. Then, Rob suggested recruiting those eliminated players to convince their remaining allies to vote for him.

Although Dylan didn’t win the Mirrorball Trophy, he’s not alone in changing his name for his Hollywood career. His brother, Zac Efron, was originally named Zachary David Alexander Efron, but he now uses his shorter nickname for professional purposes.

Find out who else in Hollywood has adopted stage 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 award for Best Collaboration for their song “Fortnight.”

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.

In a 2025 interview with TopMob News, Aubrey explained that ‘Frances’ is actually her middle name, given in honor of a close friend of her mother. She also mentioned she preferred it because it was shorter than her full, hyphenated last name, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons.

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

In an August 2025 interview with PopViewers, nine-season reality show veteran Carl explained, “My ID and passport both say William, but I’ve always gone by Carl – ever 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 decided he wanted a name of his own because ‘Sterling’ felt like a name for an older man.

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 because 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 turned sixteen, he started asking people to call him by that 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 forward, making Harrison his new middle name.

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, shared with Kylie Kelce on her podcast, Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce, that she prefers not to have her birth name publicly shown, like on a poster.

The actress chose her stage name by combining inspiration from two sources: Kat, the character Christina Ricci played 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 Lloyd 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 it, her mother replied, “Let me see!” Then, remembering her own experience after giving birth, she added, “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 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—hoping it would appeal more to pop music listeners.

Cardi B got the nickname “Bacardi” because people started calling her sister Hennessy. She eventually shortened it to the name we know today, 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 singing professionally, she decided she needed a stage name that didn’t sound quite like her grandmothers’ names – she’s named after both of them, Eilleen and Regina. She simply didn’t want to perform under a name so closely associated with 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 form of drag, which helps her create clear boundaries between her stage presence and her personal life, protecting her from the pressures of the music industry.

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

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 of her cheerful grin. 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 known as today – 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 avoid confusion with another Daniel 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 actor in the Screen Actors Guild.

Interestingly, Reese Witherspoon’s first name isn’t actually her middle name! She was named after her mother, whose family name is 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’s real first name is Elizabeth. She playfully honored her birth name by giving her iconic character on 30 Rock, Liz Lemon, a similar name.

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 – a deliberate feminization of the title ‘Lord’ by adding an ‘e’.

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!

People were surprised when Taylor Swift publicly thanked her boyfriend, Adam, during a speech, which then led to the realization that Calvin Harris isn’t his real name. Harris 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 reveal his background.

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2025-12-12 04:18