Celebrities' Real Names

[russkayatatu]

For fun, a list of famous celebrities and the names they were born with

Bobby Darin = Walden Robert Cassotto
Chubby Checker = Ernest Evans
Johnny Rivers = John Ramistella
Natalie Wood = Natasha Gundin
Troy Donahue = Merle Johnson
Michael Caine = Maurice Joseph Micklewhite [got his last name from "The Caine Mutiny"]

Alan Alda = Alphonso D'Abruzzo
Andy Williams = Howard Andrew
Anne Bancroft = Anna Maria Louisa Italiano
Anthony Franciosa = Anthony Papaleo
Al Jolson = Asa Yoelson
Woody Allen = Alan Stewart Koenigsberg
Yves Montand = Ivo Levy
Mike Nichols = Michael Peschkowsky
Milton Berle = Milton Berlinger
Jerry Lewis = Joseph Levitch
Joan Rivers = Joan Molinsky
Bob Dylan = Bobby Zimmerman
Danny Kaye = David Daniel Kaminsky
Irving Berlin = Israel Baline
Jack Benny = Benjamin Kubelsky
Fred Astaire = Frederick Austerlitz
George Gershwin = Jacob Gershowitz

Goldie Hawn = Goldie Jean Studlendegehawn
James Dean = James Byron
James Garner = James Scott Bumgarner
Julie Andrews = Julia Wells
Kirk Douglas = Issur Danielovitch Demsky
Lee J. Cobb = Leo Jacoby (or Amos Jacob?)
Marilyn Monroe = Norma Jean Mortenson, (later) Baker

Matt Monro = Terrence Parsons
Meat Loaf = Marvin Lee Aday
Mel Brooks = Melvin Kaminsky
Pat Benatar = Patricia Andrzejewski
Rex Harrison = Reginald Carey

Robert Goulet = Stanley Applebaum
Rock Hudson = Roy Scherer Jr. (later Fitzgerald)
Rodney Dangerfield = Jacob Cohen
Roy Rogers = Leonard Slye
Stockard Channing = Susan Antonia Williams Stockard
William Holden = William Beedle
Winona Ryder = Winona Horowitz
Whoopi Goldberg = Caryn Johnson
Kevin Spacey = Kevin Fowler [got it from combining SPencer and trACEY, from Spencer Tracey, the actor]

Cary Grant = Archibald Leach
Omar Sharif = Michael Shalhoub
Meg Ryan = Margaret Emily Anne Hyra
Demi Moore = Demetria Guynes
George Michael = Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou
Michael Keaton = Michael Douglas
Boris Karloff = William Henry Pratt
Audrey Hepburn = Edda Van Heemstra Ruston
Billie Holliday = Eleanora Fagan Gough
Judy Garland = Frances Gumm
Joan Crawford = Lucille Le Sueur
Tom Cruise = Thomas Mapother IV
Jennifer Aniston = Jenifer Anistonapoulos (Anastassakis?)

And my favorite ...

Humphrey Bogart = Humphrey Bogart

[QueenBee]

Andrzejewski

w00t.

[guesshoo]

i dunno about you guys but there are quite a few names mentioned that i don't know.
out of the few that i do recognize i understand why the change was neccessary; just look at Goldie Hawn.
but there are others like Whoopie that i just don't see the neccesity for.



interesting to know russkayatatu.
thanx.

[Unplugged]

Kirk Douglas = Issur Danielovitch Demsky

Michael Keaton = Michael Douglas

ha ha!

Billlie Holliday = Eleanora Fagan Gough

Actually I like Eleanora But Fagan Gough...

[luxxi]

Magnifico=Robert Pesut

[LenochkaO]

Alan Alda has acting brothers (and I think his father was an actor too) who still go by the name D'Abruzzo.

[Lux]

this thread is hillllllarious LMFAOOOOOO

Jennifer Anistor = Jenifer Anistonapoulos => LOOL Greek much?

thanks russkayatatu

[russkayatatu]

you're welcome

guesshoo, I think it was not so much 'necessary' as: why be Caryn Johnson when you could be WHOOPI GOLDBERG ?

Especially for a comic ... why not?

These are just ones I knew or read somewhere - some of them were more famous in the first half of the 20th century - some are actors, some composers, some singers ... for more details ... that's what Google is for

You know, before I complied this list I hadn't realized that so many people were still changing their names and especially obviously "ethnic" or Jewish names. But I guess not - oh well - let them have fun especially if their names are Frances Gumm or Archibald Leach and they'd rather be Judy Garland or Cary Grant

[coolasfcuk]

Just noticed this thread, thank Rach, this was interesting!

Originally posted by russkayatatu
You know, before I complied this list I hadn't realized that so many people were still changing their names and especially obviously "ethnic" or Jewish names.

exactly my thoughts!!!

So many Jewish-Eastern Euro names

blaaaaaaah - is proud of my Eastern Euro last name, which by the way is by no means that extreme anyway will NOT loose it.... then again on a second though... maybe for a very swedish sounding name as: fukola, pronaunced as: 'fuk - all - ahhhh"

Christina Fukola

[freddie]

OMG!! That would sound TERRIBLE in slovene!! Fukola (fukala) actualy means something!!! Something terrible. LMAO!!!!

Oh... my addition:

Freddie Mercury = Faroukh Bulsara

[coolasfcuk]

Originally Posted by freddie

Fukola (fukala) actualy means something!!! Something terrible. LMAO!!!!

OMG freds, now you gotta tell me

[kishkash]

Winona Ryder = Winona Horowitz

Power *makes fist thingie*

Dreams of pink thingies

LMAO!!

[luxxi]

Originally Posted by coolasfcuk

OMG freds, now you gotta tell me

Fcuking.

[ibgy]

lol...hehe.....intresting names

[russkayatatu]

Yeah, I know, funny - cause my last name is not Eastern European or foreign at all - but if I were going to change my name I might lose it for something more interesting

My name is kind of odd: two Hebrew given names and an Anglo-Saxon last name; I've been thinking on and off about changing my last name to my stepfather's, which is also Hebrew. Then everything would go well together No one in my family or extended family is Jewish, but somehow I managed to get two Hebrew names Although "Rachael" or "Rachel" is common in the US, it's only in Slavic and other languages that it sounds rare. I like my name and wouldn't want to lose it completely, but if I were to take a pen name, maybe - it might be fun

My mom's moving to LA, so we were talking about this last night, about my future career - she thinks I should come to Los Angeles and work on movies - and what I might change my name to

[coolasfcuk]

ah ha russkaya, you should move to LA ! and become a famous writer!

as to what you should change your name to: ... ha ha... Racho Slaveicho ..cause you know all the Bulgarians now know you as Racho anyway