25 celebrities whose real names will surprise you

NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 11: Olivia Wilde attends the 2017 Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 11, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

Olivia Wilde (Olivia Cockburn)

At the risk of sounding childish, this might be one of the worst birth names on this list. It’s pretty obvious why.

Funny enough, it doesn’t seem like Olivia changed her lewd-sounding last name because of the innuendos. Born Olivia Cockburn, the actress decided to head down a different road than the rest of her family, including a different name.

Even though she’s the daughter of acclaimed journalists, Olivia opted for a career in acting and a more literary last name after appearing in a school play. According to PEOPLE, she switched from Cockburn to Wilde “after playing Gwendolen in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest in high school.”

That’s not a bad inspiration — although we wouldn’t mind hearing about Olivia Fairfax, either. (Fairfax, of course, is the last name of the character Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest, but we can’t blame her for wanting one more step of removal.)