How 22 Celebs Got Their Stage Names

Magazine covers may try to persuade readers that celebrities are just like them, even though we all know the truth there. For one thing, they can't go food shopping in ordinary clothes and without appearing in fashion magazines. As if that weren't horrible enough, some celebrities are forced to conceal their backgrounds once they achieve stardom. Actors alter their surnames for a variety of reasons, ranging from people with exotic identities who wish to sound more mainstream to those that want to stand out in a homogenous crowd of superstars.

It's not unusal, even though Cruise sounds cooler than Mapother, that superstars end up with different names than the ones they started with. A lot of the time, a renowned person's stage name has a fascinating, and sometimes salacious, backstory.

Burritomouth deserves credit for coming up with this concept, even though the roots of his name are unknown. Want to know what we’re talking about? Be a dear and scroll on down…