Check out this amazing list of celebrities who don’t actually use their real names! (5 of 8)

The Weeknd

Birth name: Abel Makkonen Tesfaye

It’s quite obvious that one simply doesn’t have a first name “The”, and last name “Weeknd”! The singer’s real name is actually Abel Makkonen Tesfaye.

During a recent Reddit Ask Me Anything session, the singer was asked the reason behind choosing this particular name. He shared the story of how he as a seventeen-year-old boy dropped out of his high school and convinced one of his friends (now crew member) to do the same. He goes on to share how he grabbed a mattress and left his home one weekend – never to return again. Finally, he wanted a stage name after the same, but couldn’t do, so there was already a Canadian band with the name The Weekend, so he decided to drop an “e”. And as they say, the rest is history!

Irina Shayk

Birth name: Irina Shaykhlislamova

Irina Shayk actually has the last name Shaykhlislamova, which was revealed when one person caught a glimpse of a legal deed she was carrying for her apartment in Manhattan. While we don’t know the story behind her name change, it is most probably because she felt it was too long and could make people mispronounce her name.

Lorde

Birth name: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor

This New Zealand-born musician uses her stage name Lorde only while performing on stage, she revealed at a recent interview. She shared that she prefers being called Ella, instead of Lorde by her friends and family. The reason behind choosing this name? She said that rationale behind choosing Lorde as a stage name was that she needed a name that had more grandeur and strength to it, which her birth name didn’t have – according to her.

Mindy Kaling

Birth name: Vera Mindy Chokalingam

Mindy Kaling wasn’t given birth name Mindy. In fact, the actress shared that she has roots in India, and her parents wanted her to have a Hindu name, but she always wanted her middle name. She jokingly adds that Vera isn’t the name of some eighty-year-old Russian lady, it is the name of a Hindu goddess. So, this actress decided to choose her middle name as her first name. To shorten her surname, she changed it to Kaling and has stuck to it since then.

Tina Fey

Birth name: Elizabeth Stamatina Fey

This famous actress and comedian at birth name isn’t Tina Fey, but Elizabeth Stamatina Fey. The actress shared in an interview that Tina is actually a shortened version of her middle name, Stamatina.