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Lady Gaga - Originally Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, Lady Gaga received her stage name from music producer Rob Fusari.

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Lady Gaga - When he was helping her with an album, he compared her sound to Queen's 1984 song 'Radio Ga-Ga,' giving birth to Lady Gaga.

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The Weeknd - Born Abel Tesfaye, The Weeknd's name was inspired by a weekend getaway with friends in high school.

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The Weeknd - He dropped the "e" in weekend because there was already a band with the name.

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Jamie Foxx - Born Eric Marlon Bishop, he changed his first name to Jamie when doing stand-up comedy because women were chosen to go first and "Jamie" seemed to be a gender-ambiguous name.

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Jamie Foxx - His last name, "Foxx," was in tribute to comedian Redd Foxx.

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Katy Perry - The singer's real name is Katy Hudson.

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Katy Perry - The reason she changed her name is pretty simple: she shared it with actress Kate Hudson.

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Bruno Mars - Peter Gene Hernandez was nicknamed Bruno by his dad because as a chunky kid, he resembled pro wrestler Bruno Sammartino.

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Bruno Mars - He changed his last name after thinking he'd get mistaken as wanting to make Latin records when his passion was funk and R&B.

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The Rock - The American-Canadian actor's first wrestling name was actually Rocky Maivia, which came from a combination of his father and grandfather's wrestling names.

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The Rock - Eventually, it was shortened to The Rock. His birth name is Dwayne Douglas Johnson.

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Whoopi Goldberg - Born Caryn Johnson, the actress-comedian had a tendency to pass gas when she was younger, and people allegedly said she was like a whoopee cushion.

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Whoopi Goldberg - She kept her first name as Whoopi but adopted a more serious last name after her mom told her no one would take her serious if she changed her name to "Whoopi Cushion."

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Shay Mitchell - This pretty little liar's name is actually Shannon.

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Shay Mitchell - She is a big fan of J.Lo, so her friends would call her "Shay Lo" after the Latin artist.

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MC Hammer - Singer Stanley Kirk Burrell got his nickname from a childhood job working as a batboy for an athletic club.

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MC Hammer - They called him "Little Hammer." It changed to "MC Hammer" when he picked up the mic and began singing.

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Miley Cyrus - Destiny Hope Cyrus legally changed her name to Miley Cyrus when she was 15.

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Miley Cyrus - Because she was always smiling as a kid, people called her "Smiley," which later became Miley.

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Snoop Dogg - Rapper Calvin Broadus was nicknamed "Snoopy" as a child.

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Snoop Dogg - His parents thought he looked like the famous cartoon dog.

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Jackie Chan - The martial artist's real first name is Kong-sang, but when working at an Australian construction site, a coworker couldn't pronounce his name, calling him "Little Jack" instead.

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Jackie Chan - The name ultimately evolved into "Jackie" and stayed that way.

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Portia de Rossi - De Rossi's real name is Amanda Lee Rogers.

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Portia de Rossi - She changed her name at age 15.

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Stevie Wonder - The singer's given name is Stevland Morris.

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Stevie Wonder - People called him "the little boy wonder" because of his talent when he showed up on the scene at age 10.

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Olivia Wilde - Born Olivia Jane Cockburn, the actress's mother suggested that she change her name when she first started her acting career.

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Olivia Wilde - She was a huge fan of writer Oscar Wilde and was inspired after starring in 'The Importance of Being Earnest.'

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LL Cool J - A semi-acronym for "Ladies Love Cool James," the rapper's real name is James Todd Smith.

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LL Cool J - The nickname came about when he was 16 and joking around with a friend about how to attract the ladies.

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Harry Houdini - Born Ehrich Weiss, "Harry" was the Americanized version of his first name.

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Harry Houdini - His last name was inspired by his idol, French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin.

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Nina Dobrev -

This Canadian beauty was born Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva. Now it's Nina Dobrev for short.

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Drake - Drake is actually Aubrey Graham's middle name!

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Alessia Cara - Alessia Cara's actual last name is Caracciolo, of Italian origin. Now it's Cara for short.

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deadmau5 - The Canadian electronic producer got his stage name after finding a dead mouse in his computer!

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K'naan - This Canadian poet and musician was born Keinan Abdi Warsame. His stage name means "traveler" in Somalian.

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Joan Crawford - Producer Louis B. Mayer made the actress change her name from Lucille LeSueur because he thought her last name sounded too much like "Le Sewer."

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Joan Crawford - MGM publicity held a contest to find her a new name, and she became Joan Crawford.

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PARTYNEXTDOOR - This Canadian musician took his stage name from a FL Studio audio filter setting.

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IISuperwomanII - This famous Canadian YouTuber, originally Lilly Saini Singh, got her username Superwoman even before she launched her channel.

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IISuperwomanII - She had a ring with the Superwoman "S" on it and has been the Superwoman everyone knows and loves ever since.

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Bif Naked -

Bif actually comes from her first name, Beth. Someone couldn't pronounce Beth and so everyone just began calling her Bif.

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Bif Naked - Naked came later when she was in college and her band needed a punk rock name.

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Kardinal Offishall - Hip-hop superstar Jason D. Harrow used to go by KoolAid. He then changed it to Kardinal Offishall after 17th-century French politician Cardinal Richelieu.

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Lights - This singer was born Valerie Anne Poxleitner, but legally changed her name to Lights at the age of 18. The name actually stems from her last name Poxleitner.

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Massari - R&B singer Massari's stage name means "money" in Lebanese Arabic and comes from his birth name Sari.

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k-os - Pronounced like "chaos," Kevin Brereton's stage name is actually an acronym that originally stood for "Kevin's Original Sound," which he then changed to stand for "Knowledge of Self."

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Classified - This rapper got his stage name by skimming the classified ads, according to Gig City.

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Shad - Shad is actually short for Shadrach Kabango, his birth name.

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Moka Only - Daniel Denton, member of hip-hop group Swollen Members (second from the right), got his nickname because he drank a lot of coffee!

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Tory Lanez - A friend actually nicknamed this rapper, born Daystar Peterson, Lanez because he used to run into the roads to play without checking for oncoming traffic.

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SonReal - Vancouver rapper Aaron Hoffman reportedly wanted a moniker that made him sound like he was from New York.

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Buck 65 - Canadian rapper Richard Terfry is known to use various stage names. However, his principal stage name comes from a car—a '65 Buick to be specific.

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Roy Wood$ -

Denzel Spencer enlisted the help of his high school peers when picking out his stage name. Roy Wood$ ended up being the most popular.

See also: Celebrities who were already rich before being famous

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