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Birth Names

We give you the birth name. You give us the name they are more commonly known by.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: July 22, 2020
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First submittedJanuary 4, 2012
Times taken45,529
Average score45.0%
Rating4.26
4:00
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Birth Name
Born
Answer
Norma Jeane Mortenson
1926
Marilyn Monroe
Robert Zimmerman
1941
Bob Dylan
Dwayne Johnson
1972
The Rock
Stacy Ann Ferguson
1975
Fergie
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov
1870
V.I. Lenin
Stefani Germanotta
1986
Lady Gaga
William Jefferson Blythe
1946
Bill Clinton
Gaius Octavius Thurinus
63 BC
Augustus
Cassius Clay
1942
Muhammad Ali
Edson Arantes do
Nascimento
1940
Pelé
Birth Name
Born
Answer
Carlos Estevez
1965
Charlie Sheen
Siddhartha Gautama
c. 563 BC
Buddha
Malcolm Little
1925
Malcolm X
Karol Wojtyla
1920
Pope John Paul II
Temüjin
c. 1155
Genghis Khan
Kal-El
?
Superman
Eric Arthur Blair
1903
George Orwell
Charles Dodgson
1832
Lewis Carroll
Cherilyn Sarkisian
1946
Cher
Samuel Langhorne
Clemens
1835
Mark Twain
+1
Level 64
Jan 4, 2012
GOT ALL!!! Few! I almost got times up!
+5
Level 79
Jul 25, 2020
Phew* 😊
+2
Level 77
Jan 4, 2012
Wow that was difficult. I recognised the previous names but couldn't think who they were now. Only got 4.
+1
Level 28
Jan 6, 2012
100% with :03 to spare. Totally guessed on Cher
+4
Level 32
Jan 8, 2012
Should also accept Clark Kent for Superman
+2
Level ∞
Jul 7, 2015
Clark Kent will work now.
+2
Level 41
Mar 16, 2012
The quiz is about famous people. It doesn't say they have to be real. Superman is plenty famous enough to be here.
+2
Level 70
May 18, 2012
I typed Dwayne the Rock Johnson and it wasn't accepted. I thought that that was what he was called.
+1
Level 19
Dec 1, 2012
you forgot Barry Sotero President Barack Obama
+20
Level 60
Apr 11, 2014
Um, the birth certificate name is actually B-rock "The Islamic Shock" Hussein Superallah Obama. Get it right.
+4
Level 82
Jul 25, 2020
that's not his birth name, dork
+1
Level 79
Jul 25, 2020
You spelt Soetoro wrong, buster.
+5
Level 72
Jan 15, 2014
V.I. Lenin. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov!
+5
Level ∞
Jan 16, 2014
I am the walrus.
+1
Level 37
Apr 18, 2014
Coo-coo cachoo.
+11
Level 78
Oct 8, 2019
No, I am
+3
Level 37
Apr 18, 2014
If there is an expansion or a part 2 - consider Leslie Lynch King, Jr., Marion Robert Morrison, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, and Farrokh Bulsara.

You'll be surprised who some of these are!

+3
Level 55
Jul 20, 2015
No I won't. :P
+1
Level 82
Dec 3, 2016
Issur Danielovitch!
+1
Level 37
May 15, 2019
^ Spoiler Alert: Kirk Douglas
+1
Level 58
Dec 11, 2016
Knew all of those except Leslie Lynch King.
+1
Level 37
May 15, 2019
^ Second Spoiler alert: Gerry Ford (the late President Gerald Ford)
+2
Level 83
May 19, 2014
I never knew Lewis Carrol was a pseudonym.
+1
Level 69
Jun 20, 2014
Kal-El should be Clark Kent instead of Superman - Sure, it's all fictional, so could be argued to suit any point, but Superman was the nickname given him by the Daily Planet because they didn't know his identity, like Boston Strangler or Jack the Ripper. His pseudonym was actually Clark Jerome Kent.
+2
Level 67
Jul 20, 2015
It says "the name they are more commonly known by." I'd bet anything that if you ask 100 people who Kal-El is (assuming they have any idea), many more will say Superman than will say Clark Kent.
+1
Level 46
Dec 6, 2015
I would say Nic Cage's son.
+1
Level 71
May 1, 2017
If it was his nick-name why did he have a big S on his chest?
+3
Level 63
Dec 1, 2022
Originally the S stood for Superman however that was retconned when the writers decided it's a bit egotistical for a supposedly humble hero to proclaim himself as a "Superman". It's usually now the case that the S is his family's coat of arms which coincidentally looks a bit like an S, which then inspires someone to give him a nickname beginning with that letter.
+2
Level 55
Aug 1, 2014
Now I realise, if you don't know who "Cherilyn Sarkisian" is, just type "Cherylin Sarkisian" as the answer.
+1
Level 48
Jul 27, 2020
Hah!
+1
Level 79
Dec 1, 2022
Typing 'Cherilyn Sakisian' would also work!
+1
Level 67
Dec 1, 2022
Now it won't recognise ylin Sarkisian The Rock!
+1
Level 74
Oct 20, 2014
You'll have to update this quiz as soon as Nicholas Cage's son is old enough to change his name...
+2
Level 67
Jul 20, 2015
Hahaha. At least he can just go by "Cal" if he wants. Jason Lee named his son "Pilot Inspektor." There's nowhere to run from a name like that.
+3
Level 58
Dec 11, 2016
Nicholas Cage is not Nicholas Cage's real name.
+2
Level 75
Jul 25, 2020
Yes, Nicholas Kim Coppola would be a good addition.
+1
Level 70
Jul 25, 2020
Nick Cage is still making movies so he can afford to eject his son into space. There just can't be any other reason at this point. In the implausible world of Nick Cage, it's the only plausible explanation.
+2
Level 44
Jan 31, 2015
lol didnt know that was Bill Clinton's name lol
+3
Level 75
Jul 20, 2015
His father died in a car wreck before he was born, and his name was later legally changed to that of his stepfather.
+2
Level 88
Jul 20, 2015
Yeah, I saw William Jefferson Blythe and actually thought, "hmm, that's weird, Bill Clinton's name is William Jefferson," but didn't think to try it because I had no idea his last name had ever been Blythe.
+3
Level 75
Jul 25, 2020
It's reported that W.J. Blythe Jr., a traveling salesman, was still legally married to another woman when he married Clinton's mother, but she had no idea of his lengthy and "interesting" marital history. Blythe died near Sikeston, MO, which is coincidentally about 80 miles north of Blytheville, AR.
+4
Level 91
Jul 20, 2015
expected to see Lew Alcinder - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
+2
Level 60
Jul 20, 2015
Leslie Lynch King Jr. (Gerald Ford) would be a good addition.
+1
Level 68
Jul 20, 2015
9/20 - tough quiz! I did get Temujin because my undergrad is in Chinese history and guessed correct on Cher because most names that end in -ian or -yan are Armenian, which I know she is.
+3
Level 88
Jul 25, 2020
I got Temujin mostly thanks to playing Civ V.
+1
Level 65
Jul 20, 2015
George Orwell's original name was cooler.
+2
Level 50
Jul 23, 2015
My aunt's name is Sheryl Sarkissian...I had no idea that was so close to Cher's name
+1
Level 63
Jul 8, 2016
Why doesn't Vladimir Lenin work?
+9
Level 71
May 1, 2017
He's on welfare.
+1
Level 78
Oct 8, 2019
I think you mean Sarah Fergusson
+1
Level 29
Jul 25, 2020
Kal-el was born in 1980

https://dccomicsextendeduniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Kal-El

+1
Level 70
Jul 25, 2020
Maybe in the most recent reboots, but the vast majority of the other material out there warrants keeping that ? right where currently it is. DC has been all over the map with Superman except for being able to make him a compelling and complex character. That's just not in his Kryptonian DNA no matter how his story gets spun.
+2
Level 82
Jul 25, 2020
Then how was he an adult in the 1940s?
+2
Level 76
Jul 25, 2020
That can't be right, I'm certain I watched a movie about him from 1978.
+2
Level 78
Jul 25, 2020
ł is a different letter in Polish than l, so it should be Karol Wojtyła.
+1
Level 77
Jul 25, 2020
So glad I spent five minutes of my life trying to think who Kal-El might be.
+1
Level 74
Jul 25, 2020
I was sure we would see Lew Alcindor and Leslie Lynch King.
+2
Level 19
Jul 25, 2020
Was half expecting to see Archibald Alexander Leach/Cary Grant on here.
+2
Level 76
Jul 25, 2020
I was expecting to see Marion Michael Morrison AKA John Wayne. Nice quiz though.
+2
Level 83
Jul 28, 2020
wonder how all the people who ask for birth names to be accepted on other normal quizzes just to show off did on this quiz .
+1
Level 66
Jul 29, 2021
Please accept John Paul II. Pope is a title, not a name.
+1
Level ∞
Nov 27, 2022
It is accepted.
+2
Level 82
Dec 1, 2022
some would say it's a state of mind
+1
Level 67
Dec 1, 2022
Nice, didn't do very well. Only got the obvious ones and the cover picture.

Another one for another series Reginald Dwight.

+1
Level 66
Dec 1, 2022
Wasn't Augustus known as Caesar Augustus? I tried that and it wasn't accepted.
+1
Level 71
Dec 1, 2022
Off topic but can you add a section which shows the quizzes that are worth points which the user hasn't taken yet?
+1
Level ∞
Dec 1, 2022
You can see that from your stats page.
+1
Level 72
Apr 18, 2023
17/20, thanks for the quiz!
+1
Level 82
Jan 10, 2024
Please consider accepting JP2 for Pope Saint John Paul II, it's a very common shorthand! Wikipedia auto-redirects JP2 to his page.