The Full Stories Behind Famous Stage Names

What's in a name? For an actor, actress, or pop star, that name is a brand, identity, and image - so, to answer the question, a lot. Perhaps that's why there are so many celebrities with stage names. And the surprising stage name stories behind those famed monikers can be fascinating. The stories behind famous stage names reveal personal details about difficult childhoods, or reflect the fear that a narrow-minded public would not accept an actor's ethnicity. Of course, there are funny stories, too, involving wordplay and comic book superheroes.

How do celebrities pick their names? In some cases, how stars got their stage names is the stuff of Hollywood lore. Plenty of fans know that Nicholas Cage was born a Coppola - but have you heard the wonderfully geeky inspiration for his professional moniker? And then there's Katy Perry; she shares her birth name with another notable celeb. The stories behind these famous stage names shed new light on some of your favorite stars, whether their new identities are more practical or downright silly.

Sir Michael Caine is a world-renowned actor famous for his distinctive accent and range of talents. The actor was born Maurice Micklewhite, but changed his name after the premiere of the 1954 film The Caine Mutiny. But the new name wasn't legal until 2016, when Caine was 83 - he finally got tired of being asked why the name on his passport didn't match his picture.

Albert Brooks is a comic genius, so in a way he lived up to the standard set by his namesake: Albert Einstein. Albert Lawrence Einstein never knew why his parents chose the name, and was sometimes teased in school. He changed his surname in his teens when he entered show biz.

Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Bhanji, but feared that a foreign-sounding name would hurt his ability to get roles in the 1960s theater scene. His father was a Kenyan doctor with Indian ancestry and his mother was an English actress. Kingsley followed his mother to a career on the stage, and adopted the name "Ben" in honor of his father, who was called by that nickname in college.

One night at a comedy show, Eric Morlon Bishop walked up to the signup sheet and wrote "Jamie Foxx," thinking that a unisex name would get him chosen to perform. It worked, and the rest is Oscar-winning history.

Joaquin Phoenix was born Joaquin Rafael Bottom in Puerto Rico to American parents working as missionaries. Over the years, the family moved to different countries in the Americas, and changed their last name to Phoenix to symbolize their new start. Joaquin and his siblings entered Hollywood with the new surname.

Louis C.K. was born in Washington, D.C., to an American mother and a Mexican-Hungarian father. Of course, he wasn't born with initials for a last name: his real surname is Szekely. The super-successful comedian adopted the two-letter moniker to spare people from struggling with the pronunciation of his birth name.

Nicolas Kim Coppola is probably unknown to most people, because he goes by the screen name Nicolas Cage. The actor didn't want the fame of his uncle, director Francis Ford Coppola, to influence his career, so he picked a pseudonym. He chose Cage as a last name in honor of Luke Cage, the Marvel hero.

Actress Portia de Rossi was born Amanda Rogers and grew up in Australia. When she was 15, she did what she called "the most daring thing" she had done and changed her name to Portia de Rossi. "Portia" came from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, while "de Rossi" sounded exotic to the star.

Action star Tom Cruise was born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV in Syracuse, NY. He decided to become an actor at the age of 16, and changed his name, too - his parents got divorced, and his new name reflected how he didn't identify with his father. Whether due to the name change or not, Cruise has seen tremendous success in his career; he's worth nearly half a billion dollars.

Katy Perry was born Katheryn Hudson, but changed her name for an obvious reason: she didn't want to be confused with the actress Kate Hudson. The new name trick seems to have worked, as Perry has played everywhere from the Super Bowl to Saturday Night Live, and has earned record-setting numbers of hits.