Celebrities' REAL names before they were famous trends now

Roll call! Celebrities have taken on stage names since the beginning of Hollywood for a variety of reasons whether it's to stand out from the crowd, disguise their relation to a family member or just because they don't like their birth name.

For instance, Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill, 75, revealed in his memoir that he changed his name from Nigel to his current moniker as a child. 

'The one thing I resent about my parents, the only thing, is that they called me Nigel,' Sam writes in his book.

'Changing my name to Sam at the age of 11 was probably the best decision I made in my life.'

While some celebrity names are evidently made up, like Halsey or Jay-Z, fans may be surprised to learn that celebrities monikers Julianne Moore and Elton John were not the ones given to these stars at birth.

Here are the celebrities who have changed their names and why they decided to do it.

Iggy Azalea was born with an equally unique name - Amethyst Kelly - in Sydney, Australia, and grew up in Mullumbimby, a town more than 470 miles north of the city.

She started rapping with a girl group when she was 14. However, when she moved to Atlanta to pursue a solo career, she decided she wanted to create a new identity.

The 32-year-old's name came from two different aspects of her childhood. The first came from her dog's name.

'I had a dog called Iggy, who I loved very, very much,' she explained during a 2014 appearance on Vevo's original series "A.K.A. 

'I got a name-plate necklace made in his honor.' 

She added: 'Everybody started to think that my name was Iggy so it kind of became my nickname and I took it on board and started rapping with it.'

As per her grandfather's request, she decided to come up with another surname. 

'[He] said to me, "You can't have a one-word stage name,"' she recalled, 'So I had to think of a good last name.'

After giving it some thought, the Black Widow rapper settled on Azalea 'because that is a street name that my mom and family live on… and it sounds very feminine and I thought it would balance out Iggy being so masculine.'

She prefers for people to call her Iggy Azalea even off the stage and once announced that only the people closest to her can call her Amethyst Kelly. 

'Only a VERY select group of people in my life are allowed to call me Amethyst,' she tweeted. 'If I let you call me that you are elite.'

Jamie Foxx, 55, was originally known as Eric Bishop when he grew up in Texas.

It wasn't until he started doing comedy in 1989 that he decided to change his name to Jamie. 

The name change was strategic and inspired by his girlfriend at the time, as per Yahoo. 

At that time, to be equitable, women were often called up on stage to perform ahead of men. 

Tired of waiting, he changed his name to a unisex moniker, hoping that he would be mistaken for a woman.  

As for his last name, 'Foxx' was his way of paying tribute to one of his favorite performers, Redd Foxx.

Halsey's birth name is Ashley Nicolette Frangipane and her decision to change her name was rooted in a desire for a new identity. 

During an interview with Cosmopolitan, the 28-year-old singer, who uses she/they, revealed that she had no money and 'all the odds against me.'

Because they felt their dreams of making it were 'so far fetched' that they had the 'foresight to know that being me wasn't enough.' 

'I had to become somebody completely different,' she told the outlet.

'At the time, I felt that Ashley didn't deserve to be famous and successful because she wasn't that special, but if I made Halsey, maybe she could be,' they added.

She continued: '[Changing my name] gave me the opportunity to create a new persona that wasn't bound by the expectations I had for myself or the limitations that others placed on me because of my upbringing or my socioeconomic situation.'

Halsey felt they had 'created a person' that 'could do everything.'

'There was no way that Ashley was going to become a king, but I made a new name for myself and took her to paranormal, supernatural heights,' she stated.

They got the name 'Halsey' from rearranging the letters of their name 'Ashley.' 

Macklemore, 39, grew up with the name Ben Haggerty. He was 14 years old when he first started writing lyrics.

Ben didn't become Macklemore until he turned 17 years old while he was spending a summer in Brooklyn, NY - a time during which he claims he was 'young, creative, boney and drunk a lot of the time.' 

He explained to MTV that like in his famous song Thrift Shop, 'I use to go to thrift shops and buy the most flamboyant plaid outfits.' 

'When I'd go out in the city and kick it, I would dress up in these garments,' he explained. 'When I did this I was known as "Professor Macklemore."'

He took to that nickname and even used it for a high

read more from dailymail.....