MGK Reveals Who Picked His and Megan Fox’s Baby Name

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What’s in a name?

In a delightful turn of events, Machine Gun Kelly is celebrating success. At the tender age of 35, this dynamic rapper shared that his idea for naming their 4-month-old child, Saga Blade, was chosen – an achievement that wasn’t earned through naming his 15-year-old daughter Casie with his ex, Emma Cannon.

In simpler terms, MGK said in an interview with Today on July 24th that he initially lost a situation but later won it. He also shared a funny story about when he was 18 and proposed to name their future child “Kid” to his partner’s mother. Understandably, she wasn’t too keen on the idea!

As a lifestyle enthusiast, I find myself drawn to unique and meaningful monikers, much like the artist formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly (born Colson Baker). In his words, “One of the names I considered was Kid. I thought, ‘If her name was Kid, that would be amazing.’

Although Machine Gun Kelly’s initial attempt at naming his first child failed, he has openly shared the reasons behind choosing the name Saga.

He stated on the morning show in June, ‘She is like a grand tale,’ explaining that ‘saga’ signifies such a narrative.

The singer, known for his hit about “my ex’s best friend,” further elaborated by expressing that as he pondered on her name, he contemplated her path, the five-year cycle of her arrival, vanishing, reappearance, then vanishing once more, and finally returning again.

Absolutely, Megan – mother of children Noah (age 12), Bodhi (age 11), and Journey (age 8) from her previous relationship with Brian Austin Green – has been forthright about enduring a miscarriage prior to her pregnancy with Saga.

Additionally, MGK mentioned that his daughter’s name is connected to his Norwegian heritage since he explained, “She represents the Nordic tale-weaver deity. Consequently, she is destined for a future in storytelling.

Apart from Saga, it’s not just this alias that the rapper has contemplated. In truth, Machine Gun Kelly shared reasons for his recent choice to shorten his stage name to merely mgk.

Machine Gun Kelly explained during his interview on July 24th with Today that the name Machine Gun Kelly wasn’t actually his given name. Instead, it originated from a gangster, making it more of an alias.

He stated, “I believe that in the end, it was about creating a character, and I’ve blended the artist with my true self. Therefore, I am Machine Gun Kelly, and machine gun kelly, all lowercase, feels more authentic to who I am today.

Read on to learn about other stars who have adopted stage names throughout their careers.

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

In a 2025 interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, I shared that my father is none other than Sterling Brown Jr., while my grandfather goes by Sterling Brown Sr. Growing up, I felt that the name Sterling seemed more fitting for an older gentleman, so I decided to choose a different one for myself.

After several years had passed since his father’s heart attack-related death, the former star of “This Is Us” chose to go by his original name once more, as a tribute to his late dad.

Since he had passed away when I was ten, by the time I turned sixteen and it had been over five and a half years since I last heard his name, he said, “I felt like I just wanted to hear that name once more.” So, he requested that people address him as Sterling.

The brothers Andrew, Matthew, and Joey Lawrence (with Joey being known as “Lawrence” due to his middle name) changed their last name for their careers. Joey was the pioneer in this change following criticism from a talent agent about the family’s surname.

At just nine years old, Kat Dennings chose to use a stage name, long before she first appeared on stage for an acting role in a 2000 episode of “Sex and the City”.

On the March 13, 2025 episode of the podcast “Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce”, the former star of “2 Broke Girls” expressed to Kylie Kelce that she felt uncomfortable about her real name being publicly displayed.

The actress derived her stage name from two sources: firstly, the character Kat portrayed by Christina Ricci in the movie “Casper”, and secondly, the surname of Janine Denni, who was the French wife of late author Lloyd Alexander, a close friend of the actress’s mother.

For over thirty years, it was thought that Cher’s legal first name was Cherilyn. However, it wasn’t until the late ’70s when she obtained her birth certificate to legally change her full name to simply “Cher,” that she found out she had actually been registered as “Cheryl” at birth.

In her 2024 memoir titled “Cher: The Memoir, Part One,” the renowned pop star reminisced about her mother’s response upon learning this fact. (Here, “this discovery” refers to Cher learning that she was adopted.)

She mentioned that when her mother, the one who had her at the age of 19, reacted with, “Let me take a look at that!”, she reminisced about her own postpartum period, saying, “I was just a teenager, and I went through a lot of pain. Cut me some slack.

In a twist of events, the outlaw country musician took on the nickname Shaboozey, which originated from a misspelling of his last name in his Virginia high school records. Later on, he officially adopted this alias as his stage name in his music career.

Post Malone, our congratulations! He creatively used his last name in his stage name. Interestingly, though, he prefers his pals to address him using his birth name instead.

At the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, I had the privilege of sharing a stage with Taylor Swift. We were awarded the Best Collaboration for our duet “Fortnight,” and in her heartfelt speech, she affectionately referred to me as “Austin.

Initially, the singer put out a Christian album using her birth name in 2001. However, she thought adopting the stage name Katy Perry (named after her mother’s maiden name) would be more appealing to pop music fans, generating greater admiration.

As a lifestyle connoisseur, I’d like to share an intriguing anecdote about Cardi B, whose moniker bears a fascinating tale. Initially, her loved ones nicknamed her ‘Bacardi,’ reminiscent of the popular rum brand, after they found a resemblance with her sister, who was fondly called ‘Hennessy.’ Over time, she decided to shorten it to something more fitting, which ultimately became her stage name.

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

During an interview on Apple Music’s Home Now Radio, Shania Twain explained the origin of her stage name: “Originally, I was named Eilleen Regina Edwards at birth, but after being adopted, I became Eilleen Regina Twain. As a professional singer, I felt my grandmother’s names, Eilleen and Regina, were too similar and didn’t want to be called them on stage. So, I decided to change it to Shania Twain. I encountered someone named Shania and found the name beautiful, and thus, Shania Twain was born.

The performer known for singing “Good Luck, Babe!” has consistently portrayed her stage character, Chappell Roan, as a drag persona. This allows her to establish clear boundaries and maintain a distinction between her personal identity and her professional life within the entertainment industry.

It turns out that Gigi Hadid‘s stage name originated in school when her teacher often mixed her up with a classmate named Helena. As her mother affectionately referred to her as “gigi” at home, she asked the teacher to just use that name instead, and it eventually became her recognized moniker.

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

Miley Cyrus’s radiant grin was the reason behind her childhood moniker, Smiley. Over time, this name got abbreviated to just Miley, which eventually became her permanent name.

It seems that the singer bore a stronger resemblance to a Bruno rather than a Peter, leading his father to nickname him Bruno. From then on, he has gone by the name of Bruno Mars.

Before the meat dresses and chart-topping music, Lady Gaga was just an everyday girl from New York.

It was revealed on Today that Jason Sudeikis was given the name Daniel after his father. However, due to some mix-up, his mother began referring to him by his middle name, Jason, in order to prevent confusion.

Emma Stone opted for her stage name following the discovery that the Screen Actors Guild already had someone signed up with her birth name.

It turns out that “Reese Witherspoon” doesn’t actually use “Reese” as her middle name. Instead, she selected this name as a tribute to her mother, whose birth surname was also Reese.

Each artist typically has a secondary identity, and Lana Del Rey is the preferred persona for this particular singer.

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

An interesting tidbit about the actress Tina Fey from the show 30 Rock is that her real name is Elizabeth. As a nod to her given name, she cleverly named her character on the show Liz Lemon.

This pioneer of West Coast rap would later go on to be known as Snoop Dogg.

It turns out that the singer known as “Royals” has a strong interest in studying the nobility. This is likely the explanation behind her unique choice of the name Lorde, which includes a feminine ‘e’ to make it distinctive and personal.

As a lifestyle enthusiast, I’d like to share an interesting fact: Before the world knew him as a music sensation, shaking his “bonbon” on stage, the well-known artist, Ricky Martin, was simply known by his everyday name.

It’s hard to believe that Iggy Azalea was born Amethyst Kelly!

Fans were puzzled when Taylor Swift expressed gratitude to Adam, her then-boyfriend, during an acceptance speech. This revelation ultimately led people to learn that Calvin Harris is just a stage name. The DJ explained to the Shortlist magazine that he selected this pseudonym because his debut single had a soulful vibe and he wanted something slightly more “multiracial.

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

Alicia Keys didn’t always have such a musical name.

Before he became arguably the biggest movie star in the world, Tom Cruise went by this name.

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2025-08-01 17:19