We may know them by their on-stage monikers, but many of the world's beloved stars were not born with their flashy monosyllabic titles.
Before they were household names, they were just people with ordinary names dreaming of a career in music, film, and art.
Coming up with the perfect, catchy name to encompass their personal brand identities, iconic personas such as Madonna, Cher, Prince, and Sia were born out of a necessity to jazz up the celebrities' given names.
Here are some of the real titles behind the one-name stars we've come to know and love…
© Variety via Getty ImagesCher
The 'Believe' singer rose the ranks as Cher; however, she was born Cherilyn Sarkisian to her parents in El Centro, California.
In 1979, she legally shortened her full name to just Cher and soared to fame as an artist under that moniker.
She has chopped and changed her official surname across the decades as she entered and left her own marriages, and received a new name after her mother remarried. These include LaPiere, Bono, and Allman.
© SOPA Images/LightRocket via GettMadonna
Hitmaker Madonna's real name is indeed Madonna; however, her full name is Madonna Louise Ciccone.
The star was named after her own mother, who was also called Madonna Louise Ciccone and in 2004, she adopted the additional Hebrew name Esther after studying Kabbalah.
© WireImagePrince
Like Madonna, singer Prince's real name was actually Prince Rogers Nelson. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and named after his father, John Lewis Nelson, whose jazz group stage name was Prince Rogers.
During his lifetime in the spotlight, he also went by a plethora of other names, including The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.
© WireImageSia
The Chandelier singer's real name is Sia Kate Isobelle Furler. For her public persona, she decided to drop her surname and also hide her face from the public using wigs and performing facing walls and the back of the stage.
© Getty ImagesPink
American pop singer Pink's real name is Alecia Beth Moore, and it is rumoured that she chose the unique stage moniker after seeing the film Reservoir Dogs' character Mr Pink in action.
The star adopted her alter-ego name when she was around 14 years old and found fame underneath it in 2000 and 2001.
© FilmMagicStormzy
Rapper and former partner of presenter Maya Jama, Stormzy's formal name is Michael Omari.
The star has spoken about his name choice in the past and revealed he settled on the moniker when he was 12 or 13 years old.
He explained he was chatting with his cousin on MSN and decided to change his screen name to Stormzy because he simply believed it sounded "really cool".
© Getty Images for The Met Museum/Rihanna
Born in February 1988 in Saint Michael Parish, Barbados, Rihanna's real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty.
She chose to go by her middle name Rihanna as she embarked on her music career and later named her beauty brand after her surname. She has said in the past that her friends still call her by her actual title, Robyn.
