You Probably Don't Know The Real Names Of These Historical Figures

Joseph Stalin

Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili A revolutionary turned Soviet leader turned brutal dictator known as Joseph Stalin. He first began to use the name, which was inspired by the Russian word for steel and which meant it, after publishing his better work, Marxism and The National Question, which had previously been under other pen names such as Soselo and Koba. was published under

Bill Clinton

It probably comes as no surprise that Slick Willie's first name is William, but you will be shocked to learn that his real surname is Blythe. He was born as William Jefferson Blyth III, who was named after his father, but never got his name from him, who died in a car wreck a few months before the future president was born. . His mother remarried a few years later, and Clinton took the name of her new stepfather as a teenager, even though she described the man as disrespectful to the family.

Gerald Ford

Another politician whose birth name has changed due to remarriage is Leslie Lynch King, Jr., a.k.a. Gerald Ford. As the story goes, Mr. King was a violent man who stabbed his wife and infant son to death just days after the birth, so Mrs. King immediately filed for divorce and sought greener pastures. A few years later, she met a man named Gerald Rudolph Ford, and when they married, she decided to rename young Leslie after her new boyfriend.

Anne Rice

The famous author of vampire fiction had "bohemian" parents from his own account, who apparently thought it was a good idea to name his newborn daughter Howard Allen Frances O'Brien after her father. Her mother thought the name would give her a leg up in the world, and her father was happy to have a junior, but the young girl introduced herself as Anne on the first day of school and never shook. Her name was legally changed soon after, although she did not acquire the surname Rice until she married painter Stan Rice in 1961.

John Wayne

Arguably the most confusing name of the bunch is the ever-evolving name of silver screen megastar John Wayne. She was born as Marion Robert Morrison in 1907, but according to Wayne, her parents decided they really liked the name Robert enough to pass it on to their next son and changed his name to Marion Mitchell Morrison. Turned out, although some accounts say it was actually Michael. No record of an official name change has ever been found, but either way, Marion Morrison didn't seem like a Western star to the people in Hollywood. Initially, Wayne first performed small parts under the name Duke, the same name as his beloved dog, but upon receiving his big break, director Raoul Walsh named him John Wayne after Revolutionary War general Anthony Wayne. . The film did well and the name went down in the history of cinema.