25 celebrities whose real names will surprise you

BERLIN, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 20: Joaquin Phoenix attends the ‘Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot’ premiere during the 68th Berlinale International Film Festival Berlin at Berlinale Palast on February 20, 2018 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Joaquin Phoenix (Joaquin Bottom)

Joaquin Phoenix comes from a family of interesting names. His siblings are named Rain, Liberty, Summer and of course, the late River Phoenix.

After the birth of Summer, the family decided to change their surname to Phoenix. Joaquin’s actual surname is Bottom. For a long period of time, Joaquin didn’t even go by Joaquin! He was sick of people mispronouncing it so he started using a different name … Leaf.

Yes, Leaf Phoenix. It’s still not as great as River Phoenix, but that’s probably because we’re all used to hearing River Phoenix while Joaquin has since gone back to using his birth first name. (He’s also recounted having difficulties in Mexico due to going by Leaf as well.)

“I changed my name because no one in the states could pronounce ‘Joaquin’ and I used to get really embarrassed about it as a kid,” Joaquin said. “All kids in my family had gorgeous names & I got ‘Joaquin’. I said ‘This is not good’. Even I can’t say it.”