11 Celebrities Who Use Different Names With Family and Friends

07/14/2024 10:53 AM

While we may know them as their professional name, these celebs go by a different name in their personal lives.

Fans may know celebrities by the names they use in the spotlight but behind the scenes, some stars actually go by a completely different moniker. Whether it's a nickname given to them by their family or a variation of their real name, these celebs prefer to go by something different with their inner circle. In fact, a few celebrities actually wish it was the name they used when they began their career -- and hope that fans can join in on using their preferred name too.

Find out what names these celebrities use with their friends…

1. Anne Hathaway

The world has known Anne Hathaway since she was just a teenager but it turns out that no one in her personal life calls her Anne. Instead they refer to her as Annie. Looking back, she says she's had the nickname her entire life but when it was time to get a SAG card, she figured she should use her proper name. She had no idea that the world would know her as Anne instead of Annie.

"That seemed like the right choice, but it never occurred to me that for the rest of my life people would call me 'Anne.' The only person who ever calls me 'Anne' is my mother, and she only does it when she's really mad at me, like really mad. Every time I step out in public and someone calls my name, I think they're going to yell at me," she said on The Tonight Show.

2. Elizabeth Olsen

Elizabeth Olsen may go by her full name while in the spotlight but it seems that most of her friends and family call her Lizzie. In interviews, her co-stars have often referred to her as Lizzie and while speaking to publications, she's used the same nickname. In fact, back in 2014, she told Marie Claire that she prefers to be called Lizzie and in 2022, she introduced herself as Lizzie to a reporter from Harper's Bazaar.

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3. Emma Stone

Emma Stone has faced a problem similar to Anne Hathaway since making her way in Hollywood. She says that she prefers to go by her given name Emily but got stuck with Emma when her real name was already registered with the Screen Actors Guild. She says most people in her life call her Emily or "M" and she'd love it if fans did that too.

"I changed it to Emma because, you know, it's closer to Emily, but most people call me 'M' that know me well," she told W Magazine. "But I miss Emily. I'd love to get her back."

4. Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle may have a lot of formal titles since she tied the knot with Prince Harry but to her friends and family, she's just Meg. When her longtime friend and makeup artist Daniel Martin showed up to the royal wedding, he asked Meghan what he should call her -- and she responded that she'll always be Meg.

"I asked her that. 'Do I bow to you? I don't want to disrespect you, but I've known [you] for almost 10 years. What's up?' She started laughing and she said, 'I'm always going to be Meg. Meg,'" he told People.

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5. Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock keeps it casual with her friends and family, preferring to go by the nickname Sandy. In an interview, her The Lost City co-star Daniel Radcliffe said that the actress asked to be called Sandy on set -- but he had a hard time getting used to her nickname.

"She asked you to call her 'Sandy' as well, which was a huge mental hurdle for me. Because I'm just like, 'But you're Sandra Bullock, like I can't just call you Sandy,'" he said on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

6. Allison Williams

Allison Williams says her family has referred to her by the nickname Mouse for most of her life. The name goes back to when she was just a little girl and her parents used to read her a bedtime story that involved a mouse. Eventually, it evolved into her entire family just calling her Mouse.

"They told this story every night before I went to bed that started out with listing a bunch of animals and the last animal was a mouse," Allison said on The Drew Barrymore Show. "As time went on and they got more and more bored of this pattern of animals, they just reduced it to mouse. So then it became 'Mouse and Allison went on a picnic.' Then it just became 'Mouse,' and I've been 'Mouse' ever since."

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7. Lorde

Most fans know that Lorde uses a stage name, which she says she picked as a teenager because she didn't think her real name was good enough to represent her as a performer. But as she's gotten older, she says she much prefers to be called by her given name, Ella.

"I much prefer being called Ella. I basically chose Lorde because I wanted a name that was really strong and had this grandeur to it. I didn't feel that my birth name was anything special. I always liked the idea of having, like, a one-named alias," she told ABC News Radio.

8. Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris also uses a stage name instead of his given name, Adam. He once said he chose the stage name because it was "racially ambiguous" but in his personal life, he notes that none of his friends refer to him as Calvin.

"No one calls me Calvin," he reportedly once said. "It's horrible and it's not my name. You might as well be calling me Mr. Blobby. At the start of my career people were meeting me for the first time and I let it slide. It was sort of a nickname…[When a girlfriend called me Calvin] I was like, 'I'm sorry this is ridiculous. You're speaking to my alter ego.'"

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9. Margot Robbie

Margot Robbie has been called Maggot by friends for much of her life. Fans discovered the nickname when a pal called the actress Maggot on a red carpet. Margot later explained that it had stemmed from a teacher accidentally mispronouncing her name when she was just a kid and it ended up sticking around.

"That has been my nickname since I was probably 6 years old or something at school," she said on The Project. "I think a substitute teacher may have read my name out wrong on the roll call or something and said maggot and everyone laughed. It's one of those things that you hope fades away by lunch time but here we are."

10. SZA

SZA may be known by her stage name to millions of fans but her real name is Solána. That's not what her friends call her though! She says the people closest to her actually call her Sos -- which was actually part of the reason she called her album SOS.

"My friends call me 'Sos' for short, because [it's] like Solána but just shorter and cuter," SZA shared with Hot 97.

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11. Olivia Colman

Many Olivia Colman fans may not know that she uses a stage name. She was actually given the name Sarah but when she entered the entertainment industry, her name was already taken by the Actors Equity Association. Instead, she chose Olivia, the name of one of her college friends. She says it wasn't a big deal to her because family and friends always called her by the nickname Colly.

"I was never Sarah; I was always called by my nickname, Colly, so it didn't seem so awful not to be called Sarah," she told The Independent.