9 Celebrities Who Faced Pressure to Change Their Names

Find out what these stars said about changing their names…

Nicki Minaj always thought she would use part of her real name, Onika Tanya Maraj, when she began her career in music. While she knew she wanted to use the name Nicki, which she was called at home, she also wanted to go by her last name Maraj. Unfortunately, her producer thought the name "Minaj" sounded better and pressured her to change it.

“Somebody changed my name. One of the first production deals I signed, the guy wanted my name to be Minaj and I fought him tooth and nail. But he convinced me. I’ve always hated it,” Nicki told The Guardian.

When Martin Sheen was just an aspiring actor, he was convinced to change his name from his birth name, Ramon Estévez. At the time, Martin said that having a Hispanic last name could make it hard to find work and was advised that it was hard for people to pronounce. While he did eventually agree to use a stage name, he now says he regrets the decision to not stand up for himself.

“That’s one of my regrets. I never changed my name officially. It’s still Ramon Estévez on my birth certificate. It’s on my marriage license, my passport, driver’s license. Sometimes you get persuaded when you don’t have enough insight or even enough courage to stand up for what you believe in, and you pay for it later. But, of course, I’m only speaking for myself,” Martin told Closer Weekly.

Before Zoe Saldaña made it big, her team suggested that she change her name. While Zoe now admits it was poor advice, she says her manager at the time believed it was just the way things worked in Hollywood. 

“When I did Center Stage, I remember being discouraged by my management at that time to use my name. But their intention was never for me to stop being who I am,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “But my manager at the time was a former singer and a ballroom performer, and she did change her name as well when she was a teenager back in the ’60s, I believe. And she said it’s what everybody does. That today is advice we consider poor, but that was her doing the best that she wanted for me. But I still knew that I liked my name.”

As a young actor, Harrison Ford was encouraged to use a stage name like many of his fellow entertainers. Harrison wasn’t into the idea of going by a different name so when the studio told him to come up with alternate monikers, he decided on the outlandish name Kurt Affair. While the studio tried to pressure him, they eventually dropped the idea and Harrison got out of his contract.

“They thought Harrison Ford was a pretentious name for a young man. I didn't agree with that. I thought it was a pretentious name for an old man. I still haven’t changed it,” Harrison shared.

Rita Moreno was born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano but as a young actress MGM Studios forced her to change her name in order to prevent being typecast in roles. While she altered part of her moniker, she was still able to pay tribute to a family name. 

“They didn’t know what to do with me because of my name. I didn’t like the name Rita, but they chose it because I liked the actress Rita Hayworth. Moreno was my stepfather’s last name, so I took that,” she told BBC.

Early in James Roday Rodriguez’s career, he had a negative experience while auditioning for the film Primal Fear. Looking back, James says a casting director told him he was confused that his Caucasian skin tone was out of sync with his last name. Instead of the role he had auditioned for, he was given the chance to read for a small role of a gang member -- and then was told he wasn’t Latino enough for that part. 

A few years later, just as he was about to graduate from NYU, he was given the chance to audition for a DreamWorks-produced TV pilot -- and he landed the role. But at the time, the team was concerned that the role wasn’t written for a Mexican person and it was suggested he change his name.  

“They were worried that casting a white guy with a Mexican name could be construed as their version of ‘diverse casting,’ and there could be a backlash. They said, ‘You might want to give some real consideration to changing your name,’” he told TVLine. “Now imagine someone giving that advice to an actor out loud today, with the climate and cancel culture. That’s it; they’re done. But this is the late ’90s. It was a different time and, frankly, my first two experiences kind of proved the point that they were making.”

He ultimately chose to go by James Roday, a name that he used for the majority of his career. In 2020, he decided to reclaim his last name and now goes now James Roday Rodriguez. 

When Michael Peña first got to Hollywood, it was recommended that he change his name. Despite the pressure, Michael declined, feeling that altering his name would erase some of his identity and his family’s history. Even though he saw actors who had changed their name getting more jobs than him, he wanted to become an inspiration to other Latino people.

“I saw that some people would change their name, and they would get commercials. I just thought it was a slap in the face…because I did deal with racism as a kid. So it felt like changing my name would be kind of like conforming. I’m not really down for that,” he told GQ.

He continued, “I know that my parents, they crossed the border to offer us a great life. And I didn’t want to turn my back on my dad working two full-time jobs, my mom working two full-time jobs, so me and my brother could go to private school. So I never considered it. It could’ve been easier, maybe. Maybe in the beginning.”

When Barbra Streisand was a young musician, she was told she should change her name to Barbara Sands. Looking back, she says she had no interest in going by a stage name -- but she did agree to remove an “a” from her birth name Barbara to make her moniker more unique.

“People wanted me to be called Barbara Sands. I thought, ‘What? No. Streisand is my name. I don’t want to change it,’” Barbra shared on The Tonight Show.

When Hasan Minhaj began his career in comedy, he was told he was going to have to change his name so the public would be able to pronounce it. At first he tried going by the name Sean during a few open mic nights but ultimately decided he wouldn’t be pressured into changing his name. 

“When I first started doing comedy, people were like, ‘You should change your name.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not going to change my name.’ If you can pronounce Ansel Elgort, you can pronounce Hasan Minhaj. There’s an actor just named Ansel Elgort and we all just walk around pronouncing it, completely normally,” Hasan said on The Ellen Show.