HAVE you ever heard of the model Helen Davies?
Well, back in 1987, she was one of the biggest names in the fashion industry, and so famous that one agent suggested to his client Helen Daly that she changed her similar-sounding name to avoid any mix-ups.
So, Helen became Tess – and quickly established a successful career for herself under the stage name Tess Daly.
Nowadays, the only person who ever calls Tess by her birth name is her mum, so fans were left stunned when the Strictly Come Dancing host was awarded an MBE at Windsor Castle this week and introduced as “Miss Helen Daly from Beaconsfield”.
But the mum-of-two isn’t the only celebrity with a “secret” real name – here’s nine more we bet you didn’t know.
Jessie Wallace
The EastEnders star is arguably most well known for playing Kat Slater, but has another name she went by before she took on the role.
Back in 2023, Jessie took to her social media pages to share a newspaper clipping from 1985, in which she was photographed and referred to as “Karen Wallis”.
It’s believed the surname in the article was misspelt, but she changed her first name from Karen to Jessie as a tribute to her grandmother.
Greg James
He’s the voice millions hear to start their day, thanks to his breakfast show on Radio 1.
But before he was known as Greg James, the DJ was actually Greg Milward.
However, he decided to change his name – and use his middle name as his surname – because thought his given moniker sounded “too much like a headteacher”.
“My dad was a headteacher and I was like, ‘Well, it’s probably not that cool. I don’t really like it that much’,” he previously explained.
“So I chose Greg James.”
And while he never intended for the name change to be a permanent one, he realised once he started finding success in the radio industry that it was too late to change his mind.
Helen Mirren
Her incredible career has seen her become a national treasure, and earn countless industry awards including an Oscar back in 2007.
But Helen Mirren’s Academy Award should really have her born name on it rather than her stage one.
As the screen star was actually born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov.
While many famous faces choose their own stage name, Helen’s was actually chose by her Russian father Vasiliy Mironov, who made the decision to change his families’ name in 1951 in a bid to help them assimilate into British society.
“One minute I was called Mironov, and then, Mirren!” Helen said.
Louis Walsh
Rarely would a Saturday night go by that you wouldn’t hear his name belted out over the microphone on The X Factor. But Louis Walsh’s actual name isn’t, in fact, Louis – it’s Michael.
However, he decided to change the moniker because he “didn’t think Michael was very showbiz”.
He instead decided to use his middle name, Louis, as his first.
His real name was largely kept quiet, so people in the audience at The X Factor in 2007 were left stunned when his mum Maureen revealed it during a chat with the warm-up man in a commercial break.
According to a source at the time, Louis was a “bit red-faced” after his mum’s slipup, while “nobody could believe his real name was so ordinary”.
Alex Jones
Another famous face who decided to go by her middle name rather than her Christian name is Alex Jones.
The One Show host was actually born Charlotte Alexandra Jones.
She revealed her secret real name during an Instagram video as she packed to move house.
In the clip, she showed a hospital wristband from one of her children, which referred to the “female infant of Charlotte Alex Jones”.
She then told fans that Charlotte is her real name.
When she married husband Charlie in 2015, Alex took his surname Thompson, but still goes by Jones professionally.
Dermot O’Leary
People are often surprised to learn that Dermot O’Leary’s official first name is Sean – with even his This Morning co-host Cat Deeley stunned into silence by the revelation during an episode of the show in 2024.
But the moniker change wasn’t a ‘stage name’ type situation.
In fact, Dermot was christened Sean Dermot O’Leary, but has always been referred to as Dermot – a common practice in Irish families, where a child is given one name at birth and then referred to by another.
As O’Leary is a fairly common Irish surname, Dermot’s wife Dee opted not to take it when they got married, and instead stuck to her surname Koppang, which names “to shop” in Norwegian.
When they had their son Kasper, they merged their two surnames, so he’s called Kasper Koppang O’Leary.
Denise Welch
Another on-screen revelation that left people open-mouthed happened when Denise Welch announced that her first name is actually Jacqueline.
She told her fellow Loose Women panellists in 2022 that she’s always been referred to as Denise, rather than Jacqueline, as she explained: “My mother, according to dad, was going through a French phase and loved the idea of Jacqueline Denise.
“She’d been there once on a ferry and she thought Jacqueline Denise flowed better than Denise Jacqueline, which is so annoying because I’ve been brought up with that!”
Denise added that the name confusion “drives me mad”, and said: “I have actually taken it off my passport but it is on certain things, and it is just really annoying.”
Graham Norton
He’s got a whole TV show named after him. But Graham Norton hasn’t always been called that – and it’s not his first name that he changed.
In fact, he was born Graham Walker.
However, when he joined the Equity union as a young actor, he discovered there was already a Graham Walker represented by the organisation.
So, he opted to take on Norton – his great-grandmother’s maiden name – as his surname instead.
Darcey Bussell
Ballet dancer and former Strictly Come Dancing judge Darcey was born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle.
She decided to change her surname when her mother remarried, and instead took on her new stepfather, Philip Bussell’s, last name.
Darcey has never spoken publicly about the reasons behind her decision to use one of her middle names as her first during her career.
Outside of the public eye, she’s known as Darcey Forbes – which became her surname when she married Angus Forbes in 1997 – but she continues to go by Bussell for work.
