25 celebrities whose real names will surprise you

NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 08: Julianne Moore attends the Tom Ford Women’s Fall/Winter 2018 fashion show during New York Fashion Week at Park Avenue Armory on February 8, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Julianne Moore (Julie Anne Smith)

Julianne Moore isn’t a huge departure from Julie Anne Smith, so why the change? Like Emma Stone, the names “Julie Smith” and “Julie Anne Smith” were just too common and already taken by other actors in their union. So Julianne got a bit creative.

“My father’s middle name is Moore; my mother’s name is Anne,” she told the New York Times. “So I just slammed the Anne onto the Julie. That way, I could use both of their names and not hurt anyone’s feelings.” That’s actually pretty diplomatic when you think about it — a bit like a Father’s Day or Mother’s Day gift that keeps on giving, although her mother has since passed away.

Also like Emma Stone, Julianne struggled with the new identity, saying “it’s horrible to change your name. I’d been Julie Smith my whole life, and I didn’t want to change it.”

But, as Julianne Moore, she’s won an Oscar and had several other nominations. That’s a little less horrible, right?