17 Young Celebs Who Explained Their Stage Names

Stage names have been in practice since the Old Hollywood era. Oftentimes, a name change helps a talented performer stand out amongst a sea of other really talented people.

Here are 17 Gen Z celebs who use stages names and the meanings behind them:

1.Chappell Roan's real name is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz.

The inspiration for her stage name came from her late grandpa, Dennis K. Chappell, whose favorite song was the classic cowboy song "The Strawberry Roan."

2.Ice Spice is actually Isis Naija Gaston.

In 2023, she told Elle, "I chose Ice Spice because it literally rhymes, and I was 14 coming up with, like, a finsta name. And I was like, 'What rhymes with Ice? Spice.' Plus I love spicy food, so. I put hot sauce on everything."

3.Social media personality Tara Yummy prefers to keep her real last name private, and she's kept it offline since joining social media in middle school.

In 2022, she told Celeb Secrets, "When I was in, like, sixth grade, I was coming up with an Instagram name in, like, 2011, and I love tacos. So I was like, 'Oh my God, Tara Tacos, so funny!' I'm so glad I didn't go with that. And then I was like, 'Oh, tacos are yummy!' And then I said, 'Tara Yummy,' and then it just honestly stuck. It became my nickname in middle school, high school."

4.Billie Eilish's full name is Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell.

In 2017, she told BBC, "[Eilish] is my middle name. So I'm Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell. [Pirate is] pretty weird, right? Pirate was going to be my middle name, but then my uncle had a problem with it because pirates are bad. Then Baird is my mother's name."

5.Lil Nas X was born Montero Lamar Hill.

In 2021, he told The Tonight Show that Nas had been his "internet alias."

He said, "When I started doing music, I was like, 'I want to have fun with this. And every new rapper's name is Lil, Lil, Lil. 'What if I was Lil Nas? That'd be funny.' So I was like, 'Alright, bet. I'll be Lil Nas.' And I added the X later on."

6.Peach PRC's real name is Sharlee Jade Curnow.

Her stage name is inspired by the Nintendo character Princess Peach.

When she started working as a stripper, she used the name Peach Porcelain. She kept the name when she began her music career and altered it to Peach PRC when she joined TikTok.

7.Huddy (who's formerly known as Lil Huddy) is actually Cole Chase Hudson.

In 2020, he told The Dixie D'Amelio Show, "My dad actually grew up being called 'Huddy,' and once I was born, my dad's always wanted a son so he could call him 'Little Huddy. So I've been called 'Little Huddy' since I was young… My great grandpa started calling my dad 'Huddy.'"

Then, in 2022, he told Rolling Stone, "There was a thought that I was getting older and that I was sort of transcending into the music world a little bit and to feel like I'd be taken more seriously. It was time to drop "Lil" from my name just so I could show a different side from what people have seen of me so far. I want them to know me now as Huddy, the Artist. I'm trying to make that transition really easy for everybody."

8.Peso Pluma's real name is Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija.

In Spanish, Peso Pluma translates to "featherweight."

In 2023, he told Billboard, "[I chose that name] because we were all skinny when we began, and we were playing on a private party, and we we met [professional boxer] Marco Antonio Barrera, which he was champion in that in that way. At his time, and we knew from that moment, it was it was destiny. We have to we just have to go by that name."

9.Addison Rae's full name is Addison Rae Easterling.

She chose to use only her first and middle name professionally.

10.Tyla's full name is Tyla Laura Seethal.

She decided that, as a singer, she wanted to use a mononym.

11.The artist behind girl in red is Marie Ulven Ringheim.

As a teenager, she uploaded her original songs to platforms like SoundCloud under different aliases, such as lyfsuxx and Lydia X.

By the time "i wanna be your girlfriend" began gaining traction, she'd settled on girl in red, which was a phrase she'd once used to describe a friend she was trying to locate in a crowd.

12.Beabadoobee's real name is Beatrice Kristi Ilejay Laus.

In 2021, she told The Current, "I never really expected this to be a thing. So when my friend Oscar, who at the time was releasing my music on all the streaming platforms, he said, 'You need an artist name to go by.' At the time, I had a separate Instagram account just for me and my mates — it's called a finsta, and it was called Beabadoobee because none of the names were being accepted on the app. And I was like, 'No one's gonna listen to my music, Oscar, just use that name. Use my other Instagram name,' and now we're here."

13.Cavetown's real name is Robin Daniel Skinner (but he goes by Robbie).

In 2022, they told Pride Source, "I wish I had an interesting answer, but I came up with it when I was like 12 or 13, just because it sounded cool! I'm very grateful that it still sounds cool to me and didn't end up being something cringey."

14.Rapper Saint Levant's real name is Marwan Abdelhamid.

Saint Levant means "holy rising" in French.

However, in 2022, he told Rolling Stone that he's considered switching to the stage name Cheb Levant — inspired by singer Cheb Khaled — one day.

15.No Rome was born Guendoline Rome Viray Gomez.

In 2021, he told Nylon, "I had a different name before and I wanted a name change. I, and some others, gathered some ideas of other names to work and No Rome was there. And I think that one just kind of gravitated towards me. I really liked that. I just wanted something that had my name it and people could remember it easily."

He also said it was a subtle reference to the naysayers who were telling him that he shouldn't make music.

16.Rapper Young Miko is actually María Victoria Ramírez de Arellano Cardona.

Her stage name is inspired by her love of anime — specifically Avatar: The Last Airbender.  While looking up how the series got its name, she found an online Japanese dictionary that taught her "mi" means "beauty, "ko" is a popular name ending for girls, and "Miko" means "daughter of God."

Because of her religious upbringing, she decided it would be the perfect stage name.

17.And finally, Sexyy Red is actually Janae Nierah Wherry.

In 2023, she told Complex, "My name was already Red, because I used to wear red hair and red stuff all the time. That was my name from middle school, because I had red hair ever since then. When I was trying to upload my song that I had just recorded when I started rapping, I didn’t know what name I should use, and my cameraman was like, 'What about Sexyy Red, because you’re sexy and your name’s Red?' I’m like, 'Okay. I like that.' We was putting different stuff in front of Red at first, but then when he said Sexyy, I’m like, 'I like that.' It fits."