Check out this amazing list of celebrities who don’t actually use their real names! (2 of 8)

Lana Del Rey

Birth name: Elizabeth Woolridge Grant

Lana Del Rey was actually known as Lizzy (Elizabeth) Grant before she turned twenty-five years of age when she developed an alter ego, Lana Del Rey.

Olivia Wilde

Birth name: Olivia Cockburn

We often wonder if Olivia Wilde’s name was actually an ode to the famous Irish poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde. And we were right, indeed! In a recent interview, she confessed how her stage name is actually an ode to the famous poet Oscar Wilde. She decided to change her surname after she donned the role of Gwendolen in her high school play on Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”.

Erykah Badu

Birth name: Erica Abi Wright

This famous American singer and songwriter wasn’t really known as Erykah at birth. Instead, she was named Erica, but because she believed that the original spelling was actually a slave name, she changed it into “Erykah”. She also explained in a recent interview that “Kah” meant the inner self. She also chose the surname “Badu”, as it reminded her of jazz scat sound, and which is also an African name used for the tenth child born to Akan people.

Halsey

Birth name: Ashley Frangipane

Most fans believe that Hasley made up her stage name using her first name as an anagram. However, Ashley was actually quite inspired and impressed by a quiet street in Brooklyn, where one of her friends lived. She revealed that this place was close to her heart as she would often come to her friend’s place to create music away from her New Jersey home.

Spike Lee

Birth name: Shelton Lee

This famous Hollywood director wasn’t always called Spike. He was, in fact, named Shelton at his birth, but because he was always a tough baby, his mother named him “Spike” – and it stuck.