Share this story

FOX NEWS

An 80-year-old military veteran says he was surrounded by

E NEWS

E! Illustration/Amazon Stanley delivered on its Amazon Prime Day

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark is no stranger to

LISA Changed Her Name at Age 13 After Meeting Fortune Teller

Watch: LISA’s Tented Dress With 3D Arms Proves She’s a Fashion Rockstar at Met Gala 2026

What’s her name? What’s her name?

While the world knows LISA by her mononymous stage name, the BLACKPINK alum was born Pranpriya Manobal. But it wasn’t until she was 13 years old that the White Lotus alum legally changed her first name to Lalisa, which translates to “one who is praised” in her native Thai.

Although she eventually shortened her moniker professionally, the initial name change came at the behest of a fortune teller.

“I don’t know about the culture here,” LISA explained to Vanity Fair in an interview published June 23, “but in Thailand, it’s fun to go see a fortune teller.”

The trip came after the young K-pop hopeful had auditioned to join South Korean talent agency and record label YG Entertainment. Indeed, the “Money” rapper asked the fortune teller for guidance on her future.

After the woman suggested LISA change her name to something more auspicious, the singer recalled saying, “‘You know what? I’ll do anything.”

read

LISA’s Tented Dress With 3D Arms Proves She’s a Fashion Rockstar at Met Gala 2026

And it appears that the name change paid off, as LISA is indeed one who is praised these days. In addition to her rising solo career—which hit a new milestone after tickets for her upcoming Las Vegas residency sold out—the 29-year-old has seen massive success with BLACKPINK, the record-breaking girl group which also includes Jennie, Jisoo and Rosé.

“We’re really grateful,” she continued to Vanity Fair, “and we feel so lucky that we have a global fandom who always supports us.”

John Dorton/USSF/Getty Images

But even rockstars need their privacy too, which LISA sometimes struggles with. While most fans “respect that a lot more” in recent years, the “Rockstar” artist said that the fame isn’t always easy to manage.

“Sometimes it’s just a little too much,” she said, “and sometimes I just want to be normal.”

Read on to learn about some other celebs who have changed their names for the stage…

Steve Jennings/FilmMagic

Austin Richard PostCongratulations to Post Malone, who incorporated his surname into his stage name. However, the rapper does prefer his close friends to call him by his real name.During the 2024 MTV VMAs, Taylor Swift referred to him as “Austin” when they won the Best Collaboration award for their duet “Fortnight.”

Gilbert Flores/Penske Media via Getty Images

Aubrey Frances Anderson-EmmonsThough she portrayed Lilly on Modern Family under the name Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, the actress changed her moniker to Frances Anderson to mark her era as a musician.“Frances is actually part of my legal name—it’s my middle name, and it’s after my mom’s old family friend,” she explained in a 2025 E! News interview. “I thought, one, it was a bit shorter than ‘Aubrey Anderson-Emmons.’ I do have a long, hyphenated last name.”

Kevin Mazur/Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for W Magazine

Hannah Fanning & Mary FanningThe siblings grew up going up by their middle names, which they chose to use when they entered Hollywood: Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning. As Elle explained, because their mother went by her middle name, it made sense for the sisters to do the same. “It was awkward in school when they were calling roll call,” she recalled to Glamour in 2016, “because they’d go, ‘Mary? Mary?’ Kids would be like, ‘There’s no Mary here.’ I’d awkwardly raise my hand, like, ‘Uh, it’s me.’”

Clifton Prescod/Bravo

William Carl RadkeThe Summer House star shocked Bravo fans by revealing his legally given first name isn’t actually Carl.”My I.D. and my passport—my first name is William,” Carl—who has appeared on the reality show for all nine seasons—told PopViewers in August 2025. “So, my middle name is Carl, but I’ve always, since day one, been called Carl.”

Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup for Disney/Shutterstock

Sterling Kelby BrownSterling K. Brown went by his middle name Kelby until he was a teenager.”My dad’s name is Sterling Brown Jr., my grandfather is Sterling Brown Sr.,” he said during an April 2025 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “I wanted my own name and it felt like Sterling was an old man’s name.”But years after his dad died from a heart attack, the This Is Us alum decided to revert back to his first name as a way to honor his father.”Because he passed away when I was 10, by the time I turned 16 and I hadn’t heard his name for five, five-and-a-half years,” he continued. “I was like, ‘I kinda just want to hear that name again.’ So I asked people to call me Sterling.”

Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images

Nicholas Dylan EfronThe Traitors winner shared on E!’s Hot Goss that his real name is Nicholas Dylan Harrison Efron, but he’s “axed off” his first name and prefers Dylan. As he explained, “That’s my first name and everything gets bumped up,” making Harrison his middle name now.

Gerardo Mora/Getty Images

Andrew Mignogna, Matthew Mignogna & Joey MignognaAndrew Lawrence, Matthew Lawrence and Joey Lawrence adopted a new last name in their careers. Joey—whose middle name is Lawrence—was the first to do so after a talent agent criticized the family surname.

Amy Sussman/E! Entertainment/NBCU Photo Bank

Katherine Victoria LitwackKat Dennings adopted a stage name at age 9, years before she made her official onstage acting debut on a 2000 episode of Sex and the City.The 2 Broke Girls alum told Kylie Kelce on the March 13, 2025 episode of her podcast Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce that she didn’t think her real name name should “be displayed on a poster.”The actress drew inspiration for her stage name from Christina Ricci‘s character Kat in the film Casper as well as the surname of Janine Denni, the French wife of late The Black Cauldron author Lloyd Alexander, a writer she said was her mother’s best friend.

Emma McIntyre/WireImage

Cheryl SarkisianFor more than three decades, Cher was made to believe that her legal first name was Cherilyn. It wasn’t until the late ’70s, when she obtained her birth certificate in order to change her full name to just Cher, that she discovered that she had been registered as “Cheryl.”In her 2024 memoir, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, the pop icon recalled her mom Georgia Holt‘s reaction to this discovery.She said her mother, who gave birth to her at age 19, responded, “Let me look at that!” and then, recalling her postpartum experience, added, “I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break.”

Prince Williams/WireImage

Collins Obinna ChibuezeThe outlaw country star adopted Shaboozey as his nickname and later used it as his official alias as a music artist after his Virginia high school misspelled his surname that way.

(Disney/Eric McCandless)

Katheryn Elizabeth HudsonThough the singer initially released a Christian album under her birth name in 2001, she felt the stage name Katy Perry—inspired by her mom’s maiden name—might leave pop fans more in awe, awe, awe.

Mike Coppola/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

Belcalis AlmanzarCardi B took on the name Bacardi after family and friends started calling her sister Hennessy. Later on she shortened the name to something that suited her quite a bit more.

Tim Rooke/Shutterstock

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

Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Stagecoach

Eilleen Regina EdwardsShania Twain shared the origin story of her stage name during an appearance on Apple Music’s Home Now Radio: “In short, I was born, Eilleen Regina Edwards, and then I was adopted and I became Eilleen Regina Twain. Then I became a professional singer and I needed a stage name that sounded a little less like my grandmother’s name, because I’m named after my grandmother, both my grandmothers, Eilleen and Regina. I think, in my mind, I was just not really wanting to be called my grandmother’s name onstage, so I decided to change it to Shania Twain. I met somebody with the name Shania, thought it was beautiful, and Shania Twain was born.”

Christopher Victorio/Shutterstock

Kayleigh Rose AmstutzThe “Good Luck, Babe!” singer’s onstage persona—Chappell Roan—has always been a “drag project,” allowing her to set boundaries and separate her personal life from the industry.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Jelena Noura HadidOddly enough, Gigi Hadid got her stage name in school when the teacher would confuse her and a girl named Helena. Since her mom called her “gigi” as a term of endearment at home, she told the teacher to just call her Gigi and it simply stuck.

Monica Schipper/Getty Images

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

Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock

Destiny Hope CyrusMiley Cyrus‘ bright smile is what inspired her childhood nickname, Smiley. Eventually the name was shortened to Miley and it stuck.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Peter Gene HernandezApparently the singer looked more like a Bruno than a Peter, so one day his dad started calling him Bruno. Ever since, he has been known as Bruno Mars.

Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images for Live Nation

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

Rich Fury/Getty Images

Daniel SudeikisJason Sudeikis confirmed on Today that he was named Daniel after his father, but following some confusion, his mom started using his middle name Jason to avoid confusion.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Emily StoneEmma Stone ended adopting this stage name after finding out that the Screen Actors Guild already had a member registered under her birthname.

Jim Smeal/REX/Shutterstock

Laura Jeanne Reese WitherspoonTurns out Reese isn’t even Reese Witherspoon‘s middle name. The actress chose the moniker in honor of her mother, whose maiden name is Reese.

Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Elizabeth Woolridge GrantEvery artist has an alter ego, and Lana Del Rey just happens to be the persona of choice for the singer.

Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Christopher Edwin BreauxIn 2014, Frank Ocean legally changed his name because, why not?

Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival

Elizabeth Stamatina FeyA little known fact about 30 Rock‘s Tina Fey is that she is actually named Elizabeth. The comedian made a not so subtle tribute to her birth name by naming her character Liz Lemon.

Jason Merritt/Getty Images

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

Lester Cohen/Getty Images for NARAS

Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’ConnorTurns out the “Royals” singer is really into learning about the aristocracy, hence the reason why she chose the name Lorde, but with a feminine ‘e.’

Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images

Enrique MoralesBefore he started shaking his bonbon for the masses, music superstar Ricky Martin went by this everyday name.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

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

photos

View More Photos From Celebrities’ Real Names

For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App

THE BLAZE

The horrifying details from Britain’s grooming gang scandal have

NINTENDO LIFE

Get it? SHADOW-drops! Come on Well folks, it was

NASA NEWS

NASA is introducing a new funding opportunity to accelerate