Idris Elba
This British hunky actor made it onto this list, not for a name change, but more of a shortening. Idris Elba chopped some parts out of his birth name, “Idrissa Akuna Elba”. You might think that this is a much more palatable name for non-African Europeans and Americans, but we would prefer to call him by his full name. Elba rocked the film industry with his no-nonsense, hyper-macho presence, bringing a suave and charismatic energy to his films.
Idris Elba
Bob Dylan
Perhaps the most legendary artist of all time, “Robert Allen Zimmerman” is the lesser-known original name that Bob Dylan went by as a child. Dylan began experimenting with “Robert Allyn” prior to being inspired by poet Dylan Thomas’s work. He then took the poet’s surname as his first and put the shortened version of Robert at the end. Few singer-songwriters are regarded as highly as Dylan is, who has been an incredibly influential figure for more than five decades.
Bob Dylan
