10 Celebs Who Shared Exactly How They Got Their Uncommon Names

Find out how these celebrities got their names…

While some people may think Dua Lipa’s name is a stage persona, it’s actually her real name. The musician explained that her parents gave her an Albanian name and the word “dua” actually translates to love, which has special meaning to her grandmother.

“I guess when I was younger I didn’t really appreciate my name as much as I do now. Especially when I was living in London, I just wanted a normal name. I’m really proud of it and it has such a lovely meaning and it was my grandmother’s favorite name which is why my dad gave it to me. I never actually got to meet her -- she passed before I was born -- so I always feel like I get to keep a piece of her with me,” Dua shared.

Zendaya’s full name, Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman, is a special tribute to her family’s heritage. Her parents picked a first name of African origin and then she shares her middle name with her mother.

“I have my African first name, I have a middle name that is [my mom’s] middle name, which is French, but we did it African spelling, so it’s literally me in a name,” she said in a PSA for Welcome.us. “And then you have Stoermer, and then you have Coleman. I literally have, like, a timeline in history in my name.”

Chord Overstreet came from a musical family so it only makes sense he has a musical name. Looking back, he says his parents chose Chord for him because he was the third child and there’s three notes in a chord.

“It was probably my dad’s way of nudging me out the door with a guitar in my hand. I was the third one born into my family, and there’s three notes in a chord, so my dad and mom had names like that for everybody. My sister’s name is Harmony, like a four-part harmony, and a brother named Nash for Nashville, so everyone’s got a wacky name,” he shared with Flaunt magazine.

January Jones may have been born in January but that’s not how she got her name. The actress says her parents actually named her after a character from the book Once is Not Enough, partially because they liked how it sounded with their last name. Her sisters, Jacey and Jina, were also given “J” names.

“It comes from a book called Once is Not Enough by Jacqueline Susann, which, by the way, is not a good book. My mum read it, and she and my dad liked how January sounded with Jones…Actually, I found out recently that there was an old singer named January Jones. [Director] Richard Curtis sent me a picture from London. It was a poster from an old theatre and it said, ‘Singing tonight: January Jones,’” she told the Daily Mail.

Rebel Wilson was initially named Melanie when she was born but as a teenager, she changed her name to Rebel. She explained that her mother had always wanted to name her Rebel but her father thought it was “ridiculous,” so her mom agreed to pick something else. After her parents split, Rebel officially changed her name.

“Mum didn’t stand up to Dad that day, nor for almost 17 subsequent years,” she wrote in her memoir, Rebel Rising, about her mom’s decision not to use the name she wanted.

Keanu Reeves’ name was inspired by his Hawaiian ancestry. Early in his career, the actor explained that his name means “cool breeze over the mountains” and he was named in honor of his “great, great uncle.” While he was asked to change his name before making it big, he refused to go by anything else.

Lake Bell admits that many people believe she uses a stage name but she says it’s actually her “straight up bona fide birth certificate names.” She explained that when she was born, her parents chose to give her her mother’s surname -- and then just thought Lake sounded good.

“My dad’s last name, legally, is Siegel. He’s Harvey Siegel, one of the great names ever, and my mom is Robin Bell. When I was born, my mom was like, ‘I just think Lake Bell sounds better. It has a better ring to it,’” she shared on The Dinner Party Download. “I know, it’s very progressive. Well, they were on the verge of divorce, and he was like, whatever you want. He was like, I’m progressive/please don’t divorce me/it’s fine, we’re probably better off this way anyway.”

When Taran Egerton was born, his family intended to give him a more traditional name. In fact, he was supposed to be named Taran, which is Welsh for “thunder,” but his British mom misspelled it on his birth certificate. The family decided to keep it that way.

“My mom is not a Welsh speaker, so she misspelled it and she put an ‘o’ instead of the second ‘a’ so now it’s Taron. But I like it, it’s quirky,” he told Yahoo! UK.

Although many people may believe Rupaul is a stage name, it’s actually his real name which stems from his mother’s upbringing in Louisiana. He explained that “roux” means the base of a gumbo and while his mother decided to spell it differently, she wanted to include her culture in his name. On top of that, she had her son’s future career as a public figure in mind when naming him.

“When she was pregnant with me -- this is before ultrasound -- she went to a psychic who said, ‘You’re going to have a boy and he’s going to be famous,’” he said on Late Night With Seth Meyers.

Amandla Stenberg got her unique first name from the Zulu and Xhosa word for “power.” During the apartheid in South Africa, the phrase “amandla” served as a rallying cry against oppression. When Amandla was asked if having such a meaningful name put any pressure on her, she said she liked to look at it another way.

“I guess it’s like a prophecy. That’s the way I like to look at it,” she shared on Live With Kelly and Ryan.