Instead of Dishes and Laundry : Name Players

Celebrity Names. We're pretty much all aware of celebrities who have changed their names for the sake of stardom. Marilyn Monroe was Norma Jean Mortenson Baker. Mohamed Ali was Cassius Clay Jr. And how can I not mention Chad Johnson, er Chad Ochocinco, er Chad Johnson???

If you don't follow football or celebrity news for that matter, there's this guy, born Chad Johnson, who legally changed his last name to Ochocinco because his NFL football number was/is 85 and he wanted to honor his Spanish heritage. (That's not even how you properly say 85 in Spanish.) He even took it upon himself to change his football jersey and was fined $5000 because of it. There's more to this story, but basically he claimed he couldn't change his name back to Johnson for financial reasons. He even made news again saying he was going to change his last name to Hachi Go, which is 85 in Japanese, but never went through with it. He did legally go back to Johnson when he moved to the Miami Dolphins last summer.

Then there's simpler changes like Topher Grace (Eric, from That 70's Show) His real first name is Christopher. Instead of shortening it to the plain ol yawn Chris, he chose to use the latter part of his name.

On a side note: Topher Grace was the only teenage cast member Ashton Kutcher did not Punk during the show's run.
One another side note: Ashton is Mr. Kutcher's middle name. His real first name? Interestingly enough is Christopher.
On another extra side note: That 70's Show was originally named Teenage Wasteland.

Then there's 'necessary' changes like Olivia Wilde (House, Tron:Legacy, The Change Up) Her birth name is Olivia Cockburn. Try becoming a Hollywood starlet with that last name...

If you missed it the other night and the replay the next night, Niki Minaj professed on Idol her name is Onika Tonya Miraj. And if Kree ain't singing on the country music awards next year??? Then I guess she'll change her name again?

Let's go a little old skool, blast from the past here:

Walter Matthau?
Walter Matuschanskayasky
(After the Matus, just start making some cha sounds followed by a couple skis)

Whoopi Goldberg?
Caryn Johnson
(Really? Of ALL the names you could have used for yourself, you chose Whoopi?)

Conway Twitty? Harold Lloyd Jenkins (Hal Jenkins would have worked just fine, I'm thinking.)

More on Ms. Goldberg....

So, she literally renamed herself after the Whoopie Cusion. I'm not shitting you. She thought they were funny and she was trying to break into comedy. And no, she's not Jewish. Her mother thought she should choose a Jewish surname so she sounded successful.

Names in the Music Industry:

Prince- His given first name at birth was actually is Prince. And of course there was that whole Artist Formerly Known As symbol crap he pulled.

I'm not sure what people are calling him these days- Sean John Combs? Diddy? P Diddy? Puff Daddy? Tator Puff? One day there will be a gangsta back alley bar brawl between him and Ron White for the name Tator line of names.

Speaking of...

Larry the Cable Guy? NOT EVEN LARRY!
Daniel Lawrence Whitney

Silly names: