" I put [ the raw name ] on my résumé and exposure . tryout did increase , and I was amazed . "
It’s pretty common knowledge that celebrities often adopt stage names for various reasons. However, one particular reason that celebrities and non-celebrities alike often change their names is for the sake of “Americanization” (or more generally, “Anglicization”) — adopting English names or names that are more easily pronounceable for English speakers.
Without further ado, here are 14 celebrities who have either adopted English names or simplified their real names before they became famous — plus, what their real names are, and why they chose to Americanize them:
1.Kal Pennwas born Kalpen Suresh Modi inNew Jersey. He originally anglicized his nameas a joketo prove his friends wrong. However, after noticing his audition callbacks increase by 50 percent, he decided to keep it.
2.John Chowas born Yo-han Cho — or, rather, Cho Yo-han since Korean names follow Eastern name order, in which your surname comes before your given name — in South Korea. His father, who was a minister,named himYo-han (like Johan) after John the Baptist. When John was 6 years old, their family immigrated to the US.
4.Mindy Kaling was born Vera Mindy Chokalingam in Massachusetts the same year her family immigrated to the US. However, Mindy revealed she’s never been called Vera. “I’ve been Mindy since I was born,” sheexplained. “When my mom was pregnant, my parents were living in Nigeria and wanted a cute American name — because they were moving here — and they knew Mindy fromMork & Mindy.” After emcees constantly butchered her last name at comedy shows, Mindy decided toshortenit (with her parents' OK).
5.Lana Condor was born Lan Đồng Trần — or, more accurately, Trần Đồng Lan, as Vietnamese names (last name, middle name, first name) follow Eastern name order — in Vietnam. Her parents, Mary and Bob Condor,adoptedher at 4 months old and renamed her Lana as avariation ofher birth name, Lan.
6.Steven Yeun was born Sang-yeop Yeun — or Yeun Sang-yeop in Korean — in South Korea. When he was 4–5 years old, Steven’s family immigrated first to Canada for a year and then to the US, where his parents ultimately opened a beauty-supply store in Detroit, Michigan. “My first name is Sang-yeop originally,” Stevenonce toldConan O’Brien. “Then [my parents] changed it to Steven because we met a doctor, and his name was Steven.”
7.Simone Ashley was born Simone Ashwini Pillai in England to first-gen Indian Tamil parents andoften spenther childhood summers with relatives in California. After being cast as Kate in Season 2 ofBridgerton, the show’s writers changed Kate’s surname from Sheffield (as the character is named in the books) to Sharma to reflect Simone’s Indian heritage.
8.Michelle Yeoh was born Choo Kheng Yeoh — again, that’s actually Yeoh Choo Kheng — in Malaysia. In the mid-1980s, Michelle began her acting career in Hong Kong. In hopes of making her more marketable to Western audiences, the film production company she worked withcredited heras Michelle Khan. However, when Michelle did debut in the West in the 1997 James Bond film,Tomorrow Never Dies,she changed her stage name to Michelle Yeoh.
9.Tia Carrere was born Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo in Hawaii. She got the nickname “Tia"fromher younger sister, who was unable to pronounce Althea, and took the last name Carrere after actor Barbara Carrera.
10.Jimmy O. Yang was born Man-sing Au-yeung — Au-yeung Man-sing — in Hong Kong. When Jimmy was 13, his family immigrated to the US for him and his brother to have access to a better education. Though his parents named him Man-sing because it means “10,000 successes” in Cantonese, Jimmy jokinglyrevealedthat they picked Jimmy because it was an arbitrary English name that was easy to pronounce.
11.Sir Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Pandit Bhanji in England. As a boy, his friends called him Krish. When he began auditioning for roles, Ben used his real name, but it was often mispronounced, so his fathersuggestedhe use a more English name. Together, they came up with the surname Kingsley from King Clove, the nickname of his grandfather, a successful spice trader from India. He eventually played the titular role inGandhi(1982) andremarked, “The irony is, of course, I changed my clunky, invented Asian name to a more pronounceable and acceptable, universal name in order to play Mahatma Gandhi.”
12.Aasif Mandvi was born Aasif Hakim Mandviwala in India before his familyimmigratedto England when he was 1 year old. In the early 1980s, when Aasif was 16, his family then moved to Florida. “I think it’s often the journey of the immigrant to assimilate and then go, ‘Who the fuck am I?'” hetoldthe Tampa Bay Times.
13.George Takei was born Hosato Takei in California in 1937. His father later gave him his English name after King George VI, who was coronated less than a month after George’s birth. In his autobiography, Georgeexplainsthat Hosato is Japanese for “Village of the Bountiful Harvest,” and that when choosing an English name, his father — an avid reader and Anglophile — was between George and Neville, after UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain who took office a few weeks after King George VI’s coronation. “To them, this baby was as great as a prime minister, even a king,” hedescribes.
14.Bruno Mars was born Peter Gene Hernandez in Hawaii. When Bruno was 2 years old, his father nicknamed him Bruno after professional wrestler and WWWF (now WWE) World Heavyweight ChampionBruno Sammartino. Though Bruno has said his father called him Bruno because he was a chubby child, his older sister hassaidit’s because he was a confident, strong-willed, independent, and brutish kid. His stage surname, Mars, comes from a joke he made in the studio one day after telling people he was “out of this world.”
For more reading about the Americanization of names , see :
· The Economic Payoff of Name Americanization
· Americanizing Asians : The genial toll of being enquire to change your name
“I put [the new name] on my résumé and photos. Auditions did increase, and I was amazed."
· American Immigrants and the Dilemma of ‘ white-hot - Sounding ’ Names
