In the 80s, the actor was pressured to change his name. “She only adopted the name Michelle after she entered the film industry because a producer at the time said, ‘She’ll never let anyone say your name,'” she told USA Today.
The actor told Harper’s Bazaar that he only recently began correcting people’s pronunciation of his name. “For a long time I was ‘Aym-ritt’. It’s disgusting. It’s not nice to hear. Just three years ago I started telling my friends and family that my name was ‘Um-rith’.” You pronounce it like an a. you, no all. “I’ve been called ‘Aym-ritt’ all my life.”
“I don’t have a lot of influence because I’m new. But at the same time, it’s my little form of narcissism or activism. But at least we’re starting to be normalized as South Asians. We can pronounce ‘Saoirse’ like Saoirse Ronan, and have a white name. If you can make the effort to learn, you can also try to learn South Asian names.”
His father’s last name is Waititi and his mother’s last name is Cohen. His unmarried parents wrote Cohen on Taika’s birth certificate, but the filmmaker told Munhwa Ilbo that he went back and forth throughout his childhood. “Growing up, I did a lot of acting and other things. And because I had Cohen on my passport, I used Cohen in school and became known as Taika Cohen. Then I started living with my dad because of that. The name Waititi was known in my family. So I’ve used both names throughout my life, depending on where I live.”
“As a painter, I often felt it was closer to the Waititi side of myself. As a painter, I would be Taika Waititi. And because I made my first short film in that area, where I was known as Waititi, that’s what it is and that film is It went really well, and suddenly I was pursuing a career as a film director, and now everyone knows me as Waititi.”
In an interview with the Asia-Pacific Alliance for Entertainment Industry, the actor admitted that he had a “very Korean name” and considered changing it to an English name early in his career. Then I came across an interview with Uzo Aduba, where he recalled asking his mother to give him a name that would be easy for people to pronounce. “And she said, ‘If they can learn to say names like Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky, they can learn to say yours too.’ And that resonated with me.”
5.
Name change: Mindy Kaling
The actor told NHPR that when he got into comedy, he shortened his name because no one could pronounce it. Some people even joked about the name. “It’s a South Indian name and it’s a long name. As performers, these comedians would just butcher it and then say, ‘I don’t know what this is! Just this girl, Mindy.’
“When it comes to comedy… they’re all comedians and people who have changed their names, so I felt like it was the easiest thing for me to do, and in the end, it was really beneficial. It was something I did a lot. I had mixed feelings, but my parents talked about it and eventually we ended up talking about it. “It’s bittersweet, but I’d say having a name like that helped people pronounce it.”
to smart lease During his podcast, he recalled that when he first came to Hollywood, he was told his name was “too ethnic.” He was annoyed about that, but came up with a few other options that his agent didn’t approve of: Chuck Spadina and Templeton Page-Taylor. They agreed to try Casey Reeves, but Keanu couldn’t do it. He said, “I ended up going back to my agent and thinking, ‘I can’t change my name.'”
7.
Renamed: Jokoy
During Netflix special in his element, the comedian said that if he did stand-up early in his career, people would laugh at his name. He was mulling over various options when his aunt called him Jo Koy for a meal. For over 30 years he has used this name as his stage name.
“I say, ‘So what do you call me?’ She says, ‘I call you Jocko. That’s your nickname.’ And for all of you at home who don’t know what that means: ko in Tagalog is my name, my nickname is Jo ko.
8.
Rejected: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan
In an interview with Variety I’ve never seen it before The actor spoke about the importance of respecting names. “Obviously Tamil names are super long. My full name is Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. It has 20 characters. One of the biggest disrespects you can do to someone is not putting effort into someone’s name.”
9.
Name change: KJ Apa
In an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the TV show host asked what KJ meant. The actor responded, “KJ is short for the Samoan name Keneti James. He was named after his father.”
10.
Rejected: Nicole Scherzinger
The singer was born Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Valiente, but Scherzinger is not her stage name. Her biological father left when she was a few years old, and her mother remarried. Nicole’s stepfather adopted her and she took his last name. She told The Guardian: “That’s a crazy name, Scherzinger. It’s taken from my stepfather. Translated from Austrian, it means Jokester. Schamazeballs (her phrase is x factor).”
11.
Name change: Kal Penn
In 2008, the actor told Nirali Magazine that anglicizing his name resulted in a 50% increase in audition callbacks. “Partly as a joke to prove my friend wrong, and half as an attempt to see if what I’d been told would work (that British names are more appealing to a white-dominated industry), I put the name ‘Kal Penn’ on my resume and photo. “It increased the number of auditions and showed that there is a lot of racism (not only overt but also subconscious).”
After winning an Oscar Everything, everywhere, at once, he told reporters he got his start in Hollywood, using his real name. “When I was really struggling, my manager said, ‘It might be easier to have an American name,’ and I was so desperate for work that I would do anything.” he recalled. However, after he used the name Jonathan and took a long hiatus from his acting career, he said, “The first thing I wanted to do was go back to his real name.”
13.
Renamed: Awkwafina
“I thought it was really funny when people try to elaborate on a product like Neutrogena,” the actor told Galore, “because you imagine someone sitting there thinking about strange names, especially water names. But anyway, I just came up with it. “I thought it was really fun when I was 16 and ended up adopting it.”
“My rap name was Aquafina, and when I released the video, I think the person who made the video was like, ‘Well, you should change the spelling so you don’t get sued,’” she recalled. “So he spelled it so special. He spelled it so special. And I said, ‘I have a feeling people won’t understand this.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, but this is how I feel.’ It’s like it’s unique and people will look for it.’ But no one knows how to spell it, so it comes back and bites me in the ass.”
14.
Rejected: Hasan Minhaj
In 2019, the comedian went viral after he corrected the pronunciation of his name during Ellen DeGeneres’ show. He later explained patriot act When he first got into comedy, people pressured him to change his name. So he spent two months introducing himself as Sean at public mics.
But he soon realized that it did not fit his principles. Although many Asians are similarly pressured to change their names. “There will be people who say, ‘This is my Chinese name, this is my American name,’ but I say, ‘Hey, fuck that.’ Your name is your name.”
15.
Renamed: Bruno Mars
The singer revealed the story behind her stage name in an interview with Rap Up. “Bruno followed Bruno Sammartino, who was this big, fat wrestler. I guess I was this chubby kid, so my dad called me a nickname. Mars came about because I felt like I wasn’t there.” “It wasn’t noisy, and a lot of women said I was from this world, so I felt like I was from Mars.”
16.
And finally I said no: Jamie Chung
In an interview with Byrdie, the actor spoke about the racism she has faced in Hollywood and around the world. “I can never hide that I’m Asian, but I don’t want to either. I’ve been married for five years and I’m not changing my last name. I never will. I love my husband (actor Brian Greenberg), but that’s just “It’s just my identity. I will never change it.”
