The Real Names of Top Pop Artists

At birth, most celebrities are given traditional, boring names by their parents. However some are given unique or international names that are difficult to remember. At the start of a pop star’s career, they choose, or are given, a more interesting, catchy name to separate them from the mundane. Here are some pop artists whose real names will surprise you! Source: Billboard

 

1. Lorde – Real name: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor

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Flickr Creative Commons: Constanza. CH

Well, Ella O’Connor is a pretty standard name.. however her middle name(s) are rather unique.

 

2. Pink – Real name: Alecia Moore

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Flickr Creative Commons: Erin Mc

Other than the fact that it is spelled in an nontraditional way, Alecia Moore sounds exceedingly normal!

 

3. Frank Ocean – Real name: Christopher Breaux

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Flickr Creative Commons: Rory

One question. Why Frank?

 

4. Iggy Azalea – Real name: Amethyst Amelia Kelly

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Flickr Creative Commons: Ralph Arvesen

Amethyst is not a typical name, but this artist managed to pick a name even less common!

 

5. Elton John – Real name: Reginald Kennith Dwight

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Flickr Creative Commons: David Shankbone

Can we blame him? Reginald, really?

 

6. Kid Cudi – Real name: Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi

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Flickr Creative Commons: seher sikandar

Kid Cudi chose his name based on his real name, which makes it more personal.

 

7. A$AP Rocky – Real name: Rakim Mayers

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Flickr Creative Commons: Chad Cooper

Was Rocky chosen from Rakim? Maybe, but as for A$AP, we have no idea.

 

8. Wiz Khalifa – Real name: Cameron Jibril Thomaz

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Flickr Creative Commons: Focka

According to the Free Dictionary, the general definition of Khalifa is “swayer of the universe.”

 

9. Lana Del Rey – Real name: Elizabeth Woolridge Grant

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Flickr Creative Commons: Jaguar MENA

Who came up with this one? “Rey” means king in Spanish, but who knows?!

 

10. Bruno Mars – Real name: Peter Gene Hernandez

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Flickr Creative Commons: Brothers Le

The name “Peter” definitely isn’t very interesting, but who the heck came up with name Bruno Mars?

What would your celebrity name be? Try out this celebrity name generator by BuzzFeed and let us know what you came up with! Our celebrity name is Lucida Grande 🙂

Photos used under this license.