Famous Celebrities that use stage names completely different

[roadman65]

Stars that don't use names even close to their name

Peter Marshall ( Host of Hollywood Squares 1966-1981) Real name Ralph Pierre LeCock
Charley Weaver ( Old Time Commedian) Real name Clifford Arquette
Tony Curtis- Bernard Herschel Schwartz
Tony Randall- Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg

There are plenty out there, I know.  What are ones you can think of.

[Rothman]

Cary Grant --> Archibald Leach

[jp the roadgeek]

Marilyn Monroe- Norma Jean Mortenson
John Denver- Henry John Detchendorf Jr
Dennis James- Demie James Sposa

[1995hoo]

Elton John–given name Reginald Dwight (hence the 1988 album Reg Strikes Back)

Speaking of Elton John, Kiki Dee's given name is Pauline Matthews.

[hbelkins]

Gene Simmons -- Chaim Vitz.

Geddy Lee -- Gary Weinrib.

Aleksandar Živojinović  -- Alex Lifeson. (Had to look that one up).

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Freddie Mercury <- Farrokh Bulsara

[In_Correct]

Whoopi Goldberg Is Caryn Elaine Johnson. However, Peter sounds similar to Pierre.

[KeithE4Phx]

Jack Benny -- Benjamin Kubelsky
Mary Livingstone (Jack's wife) -- Sayde Marks
Dennis Day -- Eugene McNulty
Fred Allen -- John Sullivan
John Wayne -- Marion Morrison

[KeithE4Phx]

Related to The Three Stooges:

Ted Healy -- Ernest Lea Nash
Moe Howard -- Harry Moses Horwitz
Curly Howard -- Jerome Horwitz
Shemp Howard -- Samuel Horwitz
Larry Fine -- Louis Feinberg
Curly Joe DeRita -- Joseph Wardell

(Joe Besser was the only Stooge who used his real name.)

[Takumi]

Marilyn Manson - Brian Warner
Lana Del Rey - Elizabeth Grant

[abefroman329]

Elvis Costello - Declan McManus

[KeithE4Phx]

Ringo Starr -- Richard Starkey
Conway Twitty -- Harold Jenkins
Lady Gaga – Stefani Germanotta
Charlie Sheen -- Carlos Estévez
Rita Hayworth -- Margarita Cansino
Harry Caray -- Harold Carabina
Iron Eyes Cody -- Espera de Corti
Muddy Waters -- McKinley Morganfield
Howlin' Wolf -- Chester Burnett
Meat Loaf -- Marvin Aday
Alice Cooper -- Vince Furnier
Acquanetta -- Mildred Davenport
Rodney Dangerfield -- Jacob Cohen

I'll leave out the rappers, because I'm not sure any of them use their real names.

[Scott5114]

Fred Allen -- John Sullivan

This one is kind of silly, since he just went from one extremely boring white guy name to another. Most of the rest of them make sense (they're hard to remember or spell or obviously belonging to an ethnicity, so they were changed to avoid discrimination). I can only guess that there was already a John Sullivan in the union or something.

[Rothman]

Fred Allen -- John Sullivan

This one is kind of silly, since he just went from one extremely boring white guy name to another. Most of the rest of them make sense (they're hard to remember or spell or obviously belonging to an ethnicity, so they were changed to avoid discrimination). I can only guess that there was already a John Sullivan in the union or something.

Discrimination against the Irish.

[oscar]

Danny Thomas -- Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz a/k/a Amos Jacobs Kairouz

[ftballfan]

Related to The Three Stooges:

Ted Healy -- Ernest Lea Nash
Moe Howard -- Harry Moses Horwitz
Curly Howard -- Jerome Horwitz
Shemp Howard -- Samuel Horwitz
Larry Fine -- Louis Feinberg
Curly Joe DeRita -- Joseph Wardell

(Joe Besser was the only Stooge who used his real name.)

Were Moe, Curly, and Shemp legitimate brothers?

Some more examples (from the world of pro wrestling):
Triple H - Paul Levesque
CM Punk - Phil Brooks
Hulk Hogan - Terry Bollea
Lex Luger - Lawrence Pfohl
The Ultimate Warrior - James Hellwig (he'd later legally change his name to Warrior)
Superstar Billy Graham - Eldridge Coleman
Sting - Steve Borden

Speaking of the singer Sting, his real name is Gordon Sumner.

[Takumi]

Related to The Three Stooges:

Ted Healy -- Ernest Lea Nash
Moe Howard -- Harry Moses Horwitz
Curly Howard -- Jerome Horwitz
Shemp Howard -- Samuel Horwitz
Larry Fine -- Louis Feinberg
Curly Joe DeRita -- Joseph Wardell

(Joe Besser was the only Stooge who used his real name.)

Were Moe, Curly, and Shemp legitimate brothers?

Some more examples (from the world of pro wrestling):
Triple H - Paul Levesque
CM Punk - Phil Brooks
Hulk Hogan - Terry Bollea
Lex Luger - Lawrence Pfohl
The Ultimate Warrior - James Hellwig (he'd later legally change his name to Warrior)
Superstar Billy Graham - Eldridge Coleman
Sting - Steve Borden

Speaking of the singer Sting, his real name is Gordon Sumner.

Dwayne Johnson's nickname "The Rock"  also came from his former pro wrestling alias of Rocky Maivia.

[KeithE4Phx]

Were Moe, Curly, and Shemp legitimate brothers?

Yes, Shemp (1895-1955), Moe (1897-1975), and Curly (1903-1952) were brothers.  They also had two non-actor brothers, Irving (1891-1939), and Jack (1893-1976).

[jlam]

Mark Twain: Samuel Clemens

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I'll leave out the rappers, because I'm not sure any of them use their real names.

At least one rapper famously does, Obie Trice - his "Obie Trice, real name no gimmicks" line was sampled by Eminem in "Without Me".

[Henry]

Fred Allen -- John Sullivan

This one is kind of silly, since he just went from one extremely boring white guy name to another. Most of the rest of them make sense (they're hard to remember or spell or obviously belonging to an ethnicity, so they were changed to avoid discrimination). I can only guess that there was already a John Sullivan in the union or something.

David Bowie was born David Jones, but changed his last name to Bowie because there already was a Davy Jones who played in the Monkees.

There also have been many instances of stars with really long names intentionally leaving out certain parts when they perform, such as Harry Lillis Bing Crosby, who never used Harry or Lillis in public, and William Martin Joel, who is better known as Billy Joel but also went by Bill Martin early on in his career.

Fred Allen -- John Sullivan

This one is kind of silly, since he just went from one extremely boring white guy name to another. Most of the rest of them make sense (they're hard to remember or spell or obviously belonging to an ethnicity, so they were changed to avoid discrimination). I can only guess that there was already a John Sullivan in the union or something.

Discrimination against the Irish.

Or against the Italians, as was the case with Dean Martin, whose real name was Dino Paul Crocetti.

[catch22]

David Bowie was born David Jones, but changed his last name to Bowie because there already was a Davy Jones who played in the Monkees.

Two more examples of using a stage name to avoid confusion with an existing actor and/or the SAG:

Michael Keaton, real name Michael Douglas
old-time actor Stewart Granger, real name James Stewart

[KeithE4Phx]

David Bowie was born David Jones, but changed his last name to Bowie because there already was a Davy Jones who played in the Monkees.

Davy Jones, the future Monkee, came first, so he had rights to his name.  He had been on the London stage and British TV since 1961.  He first appeared in the US on The Ed Sullivan Show on 2/9/1964.  Yes, the same show that introduced The Beatles to America.  His post-Monkee career was up and down, not including Monkees reunions.  He died in 2012.

Davy Jones, the future Bowie, came along a couple years later, fronting such bands as Davy Jones and the King Bees before changing his name and having his first hit with Space Oddity in 1967.  He had a much better career, putting out his last original album two days before his death in 2016.

[hbelkins]

There also have been many instances of stars with really long names intentionally leaving out certain parts when they perform, such as Harry Lillis Bing Crosby, who never used Harry or Lillis in public, and William Martin Joel, who is better known as Billy Joel but also went by Bill Martin early on in his career.

Peter Crisscoula. Pretty easy to figure out that one. Also Steven Tallarico. You know him, he taught you how to walk this way.

In one of the predecessor bands to Chicago, drummer Danny Seraphine and saxophonist Walter Parazaider were known as Danny Sera and Walt Perry respectively.

[1995hoo]

The one I've always found kind of cool is that Neil Diamond is NOT a stage name–it's his real name.