In the '80s, the actress was forced to change her name, as she told USA Today: “When I got into the film industry, a producer said, 'No one will be able to say your name,' so I decided to go by the name Michelle.”
The actress told Harper's Bazaar that she only recently began correcting others on the pronunciation of her name: “For a long time, people called me 'Aimrit.' It's gross. It doesn't sound right. It was only about three years ago that I started telling friends and family that my name is 'Umrith.' you, isn't it aAll my life, people have called me 'I'm Lit.'”
“I'm new here, so I don't have much influence, but at the same time, this is my little bit of self-love and activism. But at least we're starting to normalize being South Asian. If we can pronounce Saoirse Ronan's 'Saoirse,' if we can make an effort to remember white people's names, surely we can make an effort to remember South Asian names too.”
His father's surname is Waititi and his mother's is Cohen. His parents, who were never married, listed Taika's name as Cohen on his birth certificate, but the filmmaker told Cultural Daily that Taika alternated between their surnames throughout his childhood. “Growing up, I did a lot of acting and stuff. I had Cohen on my passport, so I used Cohen at school. I was known as Taika Cohen. Then when I came to live with the father of that family, I was known as Waititi. So I've always used both names depending on where I was living.”
“As a painter, I've often felt more strongly about the Waititi side of me. As a painter, I am Taika Waititi. And I made the first short film in the area where I'm known as Waititi, so that film also had the name Waititi on it. And that film was really successful and all of a sudden I had a career as a filmmaker and now everyone knows me as Waititi.”
In an interview with the Asia Pacific Entertainment Alliance, the actor admitted that his name is “very Korean,” and he considered anglicizing it early in his career. But then he came across an interview with Uzo Aduba, who recalled asking her mother for a name that was easier to pronounce. “And she said, 'When I can say Dostoyevsky and Tchaikovsky and all those names, I can say yours.' And that resonated with me.”
Five.
Name changed to: Mindy Kaling
The actress told NHPR that when she became a comedian, she shortened her name because no one could pronounce it, and some people would joke about it: “It's a South Indian name, a long name. As a performer, comedians would mess it up and say, 'I don't know what that is! This girl, she's just Mindy.'”
“When you do comedy… there are all these comedians who have changed their names. It felt like the easiest thing for me to do and in the end, I'm really glad I did it. I had very mixed feelings about it, but my parents didn't mind. After talking it through with me, we decided to shorten my name. It's bittersweet, but I have to say that having a name that people can pronounce has really helped my career.”
upper Smartless During the podcast, Keanu recalled that when he first arrived in Hollywood, he was told his name was “too ethnic.” Annoyed, he listed several candidates his agent didn't approve: Chuck Spadina and Templeton Page-Taylor. They agreed to try Kacey Reeves, but Keanu couldn't. “I ended up going back to my agent and saying, 'I can't change my name.'”
7.
Changed name: Jo Koy
Netflix special program His greatnessComedian Joe Koy said that when he was doing stand-up early in his career, people laughed at his name. As he was weighing his options, his aunt called him out to dinner and gave him the nickname Joe Koy. For over 30 years, he has used it as his stage name.
“I said, 'So what do you call me?' And she said, 'I call you Joe Ko. That's your nickname. Joe Ko.' For those at home who don't understand, 'Ko' means my in Tagalog. My nickname is my Joe. Joe Ko. How sweet is that?”
8.
Rejected: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan
In an interview with Variety magazine, never done it before The actor spoke about the importance of respecting names, saying, “Needless to say, Tamil names are very long. My full name, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, has 20 letters… I think one of the biggest disrespects you can do to someone is to not put any effort into someone's name.”
9.
Changed name: KJ Apa
Episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!The show's host asked what KJ stood for, to which the actor replied, “KJ stands for Kenety James, which is my Samoan name. I was named after my father.”
Ten.
Rejected: Nicole Scherzinger
The singer was born Nicole Prascovia Elicolani Valiente, but Scherzinger is not her stage name. Her biological father left when she was a few years old, and her mother remarried. Nicole's stepfather adopted her and she took his surname. She told The Guardian: “Scherzinger is a crazy name. It comes from my adoptive father, and in Austria we tell jokes, so Scherzinger was born. [her phrase coined on the X Factor]”
11.
Name changed to: Kal Penn
In 2008, the actor told Nirali Magazine that he received 50% more audition offers after anglicizing his name: “I wrote 'Kal Penn' on my resume and photo as a joke to prove my friends wrong and to see if what I'd heard (anglicized names are more appealing in a white-dominated industry) would work. I was surprised to see that I did get more audition offers. It made me realize just how much racism really does exist (not just overt, but subconscious as well).”
After winning an Oscar Everything, everywhere, at onceIn the 1960s, he told a reporter he started out in Hollywood using his real name: “When things got really tough, my manager said, 'Maybe it'll be easier with an American-sounding name,' and I'd do anything because I wanted the work,” he recalled. But after taking a long break from acting, using the name Jonathan, “the first thing I wanted to do was go back to my birth name.”
13.
Name changed to: Awkwafina
The actor told Galore magazine, “I thought it was really funny to see people trying to cleverly describe a product like Neutrogena, because I can picture someone sitting there thinking up all these weird names, especially for water. But anyway, I came up with the name when I was 16 and thought it was really funny, and we ended up going with it.”
“My rap name was Aquafina, and when I came to release the video, the guy who made the video was like, 'You better spell it differently so you don't get sued,'” she recalled. “So he spelled it super extra. The most extra spelling ever. And I was like, 'I feel like people aren't gonna get it.' And he was like, 'Yeah, but I think it's unique, so I think people will get it.'” [will] “They said, 'Look it up,' but no one knew how to spell it. So I ended up regretting it later.”
14.
Vetoed: Hasan Minhaj
In 2019, the comedian made headlines after correcting Ellen DeGeneres' pronunciation of her name on her show. He later Patriot Act Early on in his career as a comedian, he felt pressured to change his name, so for two months he introduced himself as Sean at open mics.
But he quickly realized that it didn't align with his beliefs, even as many Asian people face similar pressure to change their names: “Some people will say, 'This is my Chinese name, this is my American name,' and I'm like, 'Hey, who cares. Your name is your name.'”
15.
Changed name: Bruno Mars
In an interview with Rap-Up, the singer explained the origins of his stage name, saying, “Bruno, I got my name from Bruno Sammartino, who was a big, fat wrestler. I was a chunky baby, so my dad used to call me that as a nickname. Mars, I thought I was from Mars because I felt I was unattractive and girls would often tell me I was out of this world.”
16.
And finally, the one who got rejected: Jamie Chung.
In an interview with Birdie magazine, the actress spoke about the racism she's experienced both in Hollywood and globally: “I can't hide the fact that I'm Asian, but I don't want to hide it either. I've been married for five years and I'm not going to change my last name. I never will. I love my husband.” [actor Bryan Greenberg]But it's my identity. I'm never going to change it.”
