Celebrities And Their Real Names

Pseudonyms aren’t very rare in Hollywood. Most celebrities, even the ones with normal-sounding names, use one. Whether it’s to protect their private life, the people around them or because they just have a name that doesn’t have a ring to it and their manager decided they needed something with a bit more “oomph” to it, most celebrities have decided at one point or another to change their original name into something else.
If you put the original name next to the pseudonym, it’s often very obvious to see the reason behind the name change. These people for example, changed their names simply to make it more pronounceable, American, short and/or recognizable:

Natalie Portman
Her real name is Neta-Lee Hershlag. It looks a lot weirder than it sounds, doesn’t it? Portman was the maiden name of her grandmother.

Brad Pitt
Yup, that’s not his real name. His actual name is William Bradley Pitt.

Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer’s real name is Jennifer Linn Anastassakis, which immediately reveals her Greek roots. Her family changed the name to Aniston when they moved to the US.

Mila Kunis
The Ukrainian Mila is actually named Milena Markovna Kunis.

Gigi Hadid
What? Gigi isn’t a real name? Oh the humanity! Her real name is Jelena Noura Hadid. “Gigi” just sounds more memorable.
And then there’s these people, who has a perfectly fine name (well, perfect-ish) and decided to use a pseudonym as a real “artist name”. It’s not as much creating a new name as it is creating a marketing brand and an icon along with it.