Bruno Mars Isn’t The Only Celebrity With A Made-Up Name


Bruno Mars may sound like a character fresh out of a vintage Walt Disney movie, but that’s because his name isn’t real. However, Bruno’s not the only one with a made-up name, the music and movie industry is full of, for want of a better description, fictional characters.

Bruno Mars! The very name conjures up all the glitter, glamor, and weirdly wonderful world of show-biz. In fact the name Bruno Mars lends itself to a multitude of uses.

Bruno Mars could be a piece of candy, a particularly fast bike, a planet, or even a technical term to describe a wrestling hold. The point is Bruno Mars has a definite ring to it.

In Bruno’s native home of Hawaii they’re fond of naming days after Mr Mars. In fact, to date, December 19 and, more recently, April 21 have been declared Bruno Mars days. Not bad for the boy they now call Bruno, who earned his chops as an Elvis Presley impersonator.

Yet would the powers that be in Hawaii be so quick to name days after Bruno Mars, if the plucky singer was still known as Peter Gene Hernandez? Doesn’t really have quite the same appeal and star quality as the otherworldly Bruno Mars now, does it?

The name Peter doesn’t really rock with the same roll, strut the streets with the same swagger and command the stage with the same authority as Bruno Mars. Bruno Mars is the sort of name destined to be lit up in sky-high neon.

Apparently Peter became Bruno, because it was the nickname given to him as a child by his father, as the young Bruno bore a striking resemblance to the legendary wrestler Bruno Sammartino.

Bruno added the Mars bit later and explained: “I felt like I didn’t have [any] pizzazz, and a lot of girls say I’m out of this world, so I was like I guess I’m from Mars.”

Bruno Mars isn’t the only celebrity to have changed his name for fame. Contactmusic.com recently published a list on others, similar to Bruno, who were born with a different identity.

Lady Gaga as many know was a product of a Queen song, but did you know that Whoopi Goldberg, who was born Caryn Johnson, was named after the whoopee cushion?

Does the name Lizzie Grant sound like someone who’s ‘Born to Die’ to you? No! but Lana Del Rey does right? Like Bruno Mars, Lizzie became Lana, because: “I wanted a name that sounded sort of exotic.”

So next time you ask yourself what’s in a name? Think if Bruno Mars had been called Bozo Neptune, would you still buy his record?

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