The Surprising Real Names of 15 Celebrities

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi does not sound like an actual name someone would have, but most might have thought it was just a nickname. It turns out that Goldberg isn’t her real name either and she was born as Caryn Johnson. Her mother actually advised her to have a Jewish last name because she believed that it would boost her career. We don’t know if it actually did contribute to her success, but at least she’s a big star now.

(Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival)