Leonardo DiCaprio Reveals the Surprising Name He Almost Went By

by

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Leonardo DiCaprio almost went by a different name. 

The Academy Award-winning actor almost changed his real name to a stage name, something that’s common in Hollywood.

Leonardo DiCaprio recently shared a story about early advice he received from an agent. Appearing on the ‘New Heights’ podcast with Benicio Del Toro and the Kelce brothers, DiCaprio explained that his agent told him his name, ‘Leonardo DiCaprio,’ was ‘too ethnic.’ The agent suggested he change it to ‘Lenny Williams,’ believing it would improve his chances of getting hired.

The man, now 50, said his agent suggested he change his last name when he was about 12 or 13 years old. The new name would come from his middle name, Wilhelm.

However, Leonardo’s father, George DiCaprio, strongly disagreed. Leonardo explained, “My dad saw the picture, tore it up, and told me, ‘You’re not doing this.’”

While the actor who played in *Titanic* still uses his original name, many other stars have chosen to change theirs. It’s become quite unusual to hear a celebrity use the name they were born with.

Many viewers were surprised along with Jennifer Aniston when she found out Reese Witherspoon’s full, given name is Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon. Aniston even jokingly asked during an interview with LADbible, “Who is Laura?”

Reese Witherspoon, 49, told her sister, 56, the story behind using “Reese” as her name-and it wasn’t a choice made for fame. She explained that she began using her mother, Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Witherspoon’s, birth name long before she became an actress.

“I didn’t change it,” the Big Little Lies actress clarified. “My name is just always Reese.”

It’s so weird, you know? Even when stars *do* keep their original names, people still end up saying them totally differently! Like, they’ll have one name on paper, but everyone calls them something else entirely. It drives me crazy trying to keep it all straight, but honestly, it’s just part of what makes being a fan so fascinating!

It turns out we’ve all been saying actress Kirsten Dunst’s name wrong, according to the star herself.

The 43-year-old explained in a TikTok video from August that they’ve stopped correcting people when they mispronounce their name. ‘I just don’t bother anymore,’ they said to *Town & Country*.

Kirsten shared that people often mispronounce her name, saying it as “criss-ten” or “ker-sten.” She explained that the correct pronunciation is “Keer-sten.”

“But again, who cares?” the Bring It On actress recalled. “It’s fine.”

For celebs who have changed their name, keep reading.

Congratulations to Post Malone! He chose to include his last name in his stage name, but he actually prefers his friends to call him by his given name.

At the 2024 MTV VMAs, Taylor Swift called her co-winner “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, a name she chose 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 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.

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 said he decided to go by a different name because ‘Sterling’ felt like a name for an older man and he wanted to establish his own identity.

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 to him.

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 simply wanted to hear the name again, so he started asking people to call him by it – Sterling.

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

Kat Dennings began 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 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.

As a lifestyle expert, I’ve always been fascinated by personal identity, and Cher’s story is a great example of how complex that can be. For over thirty years, she genuinely believed her full name was Cherilyn! It wasn’t until the late 70s, when she went to legally change her name to simply ‘Cher’, that she discovered a surprise – her birth certificate actually listed her as ‘Cheryl’. Can you imagine living with a name everyone *thinks* is yours, only to find out it’s not? It really highlights how important it is to know your own story.

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 told she was pregnant, her mother – who had her at 19 – reportedly said, “Let me see that!” She then remembered her own experience after giving birth, adding, “I was just a teenager myself, and I was in a lot of pain. Cut me some slack.”

The country artist, who goes by Shaboozey, got the nickname after his high school in Virginia mistakenly spelled his last name that way, and he eventually adopted 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-believing it would be more appealing to a wider, pop music audience.

Cardi B got the nickname “Bacardi” because people started calling her sister Hennessy. She later shortened it to the name we know her by today.

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 performing professionally, she decided she needed a stage name that didn’t sound so much like her grandmothers’, both of whom were named Eilleen and Regina. She didn’t want to be associated with their names on stage, so she chose Shania Twain. She had 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 kind of character creation. This allows her to clearly separate her personal life from her work and establish healthy boundaries within the music industry.

Interestingly, Gigi Hadid didn’t choose her stage name – it came about in school! Her teacher kept mixing her up with another student named Helena. Because her mom always called her “gigi” as a nickname, she asked the teacher to just refer to her as Gigi, 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 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 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 named him Daniel. However, to avoid confusion with another family member, 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 adopted ‘Reese’ to pay tribute to her mother, whose family name it was.

Every artist has a different side to their public image, and for Lana Del Rey, that persona is the one 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 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, adding a feminine ‘e’ to the traditional spelling.

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 a man named Adam, prompting many to realize that Calvin Harris wasn’t the DJ’s real name. Harris later explained to *Shortlist* magazine that he adopted the stage name because his first song had a soulful sound and he wanted a name that didn’t reveal his background.

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

Read More

2025-09-24 20:48