Sometimes you need to change your name to make it as a star in Hollywood or the music business.
When Michael Keaton accepted his Best Actor Golden Globe for "Birdman," he told the crowd his birth name was actually Michael Douglas.
He changed his name early in his career to avoid confusion with the actor and TV host Mike Douglas. He is believed to have chosen Keaton because of comedian Buster Keaton.
Similarly, plenty of today's biggest stars don't go by their birth names, such as Reese Witherspoon, Mila Kunis, and Drake.
But you probably aren't familiar with how they ended up with their current monikers.
Here are 45 stars who have changed their names:
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Reese Witherspoon — Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon
The Oscar nominee traded her first and middle name in for her mother's maiden name, Reese.
Mila Kunis — Milena Markovna Kunis
At 7, Milena Markovna Kunis and her family moved from Ukraine to Los Angeles.
Mila's mother, Elvira, and father, Mark, soon enrolled her in acting classes and allowed Mila to shorten her name when she started booking her first roles on "Days of Our Lives" and "7th Heaven" and playing a young Angelina Jolie in "Gia."
Katy Perry — Kathryn "Katy" Hudson
Before she was a chart-topping singer, Perry was producing Christian music under her birth name, Kathryn Hudson. She released the gospel record "Katy Hudson" under the former label Red Hill Records before adopting her mother's maiden name to avoid confusion with actress Kate Hudson.
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