Emma Stone wants people to use her real first name

Emma Stone has revealed that she'd actually prefer if we didn't call her that - because it isn't her real name.

She said she would like people to use the name she was born with, adding: "That would be so nice. I would like to be Emily."

The 35-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter she gets "people that I work with" to call her Emily "when I get to know them".

Stone says she chose to change her name because Emily "was taken" by someone else in her actors' union before her.

Emma Stone's hero growing up was Emma Bunton and inspired her name change
But she said during an interview to promote her new show The Curse that she "freaked out a couple of years ago" about not using her real first name.

"For some reason, I was like, 'I can’t do it any more.'"

She said her co-star Nathan Fielder "calls me Em, which is easier", and he added: "That's a way of bridging it."

Back in 2018, the actress said the reason she chose the name Emma was due to her favourite Spice Girl, Baby Spice - or - Emma Bunton.

Stone isn't the only one to change their name because someone in the acting world was already using it.

Actor and former Doctor Who star David Tennant changed his stage name at 16, because someone in his actors' union already had his real name - David McDonald.

He got the name after flipping through a music magazine and seeing Pet Shop Boys' frontman Neil Tennant.

Meanwhile, Canadian singer The Weeknd changed his stage name by dropping the final "e" because there was a Canadian band already called The Weekend, and he wanted to avoid any "copyright issues".

US actress and director Elizabeth Banks also had to change her name because there was already an Elizabeth Mitchell - her real name - registered with the Screen Actors Guild.

She's reported to have said: "So I made a list and then alphabetised it, and Banks was the first one on the list. And I called SAG and they said it was available, so I said, 'I'll take it!' I just wanted it over with!"