Fans shocked after finding out Elle and Dakota Fanning's real names

Fans have shared their amazement after learning that Elle and Dakota Fanning's real names are.

The concept of celebrities altering or adopting a new moniker for a stage name isn't something that is unheard of, with Emily 'Emma' Stone, Julie Anne 'Julianne Moore' Smith, and John Christopher 'Johnny' Depp II being just a couple of well-known examples.

And were you aware that Nicolas Cage's surname is actually Coppola, as in a member of the famous Coppola filmmaking dynasty? Neither did a lot of people apparently.

As for why some choose a stage name, it could be for a multitude of reasons, such as having the same name as another actor or just to be more memorable.

However, the sheer number of A-listers who use a different name in public would actually surprise you, but did you know that Dakota and Elle are actually not their real names?

Did you know Dakota is actually Hannah? (Christopher Polk/2026GG/Penske Media via Getty Images)

What are Elle and Dakota Fanning's real names?

The sisters didn't go too far when deviating from the names on their birth certificates, simply opting to go by their middle names rather than their given names.

The sisters' full names are, in fact, Hannah Dakota Fanning and Mary Elle Fanning, which is kinda hard to imagine when the pair have been known as Dakota and Elle since they both played the role of Lucy in 2001's I Am Sam – so why the change?

Turns out that being known by your middle name is pretty common in their family.

"My mom goes by her middle name, and my sister goes by her middle name. Her first name is Hannah," Sentimental Value star Elle told Glamour back in 2016.

"It’s possibly a Southern thing, I don’t know. But since my mom goes by her middle name, we go by our middle names too."

And people on social media were quite surprised by the revelation, with one person writing: "Really?"

Another said that Dakota 'definitely looks like a Hannah,' but 'Elle suits her way better than Mary,' while someone else didn't even know they were sisters, commenting: "I was today years old when I found out they are biological sisters."

While Elle is actually Mary ( Jesse Grant/2026GG/Penske Media via Getty Images)

Why do some people go by their middle names?

While there are people around the world who prefer their middle names to their given ones, it turns out that it's pretty common in the US South.

There's no set reason why so many people from states such as Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia (the Fanning's home state) use their middle name; however, Country Living suggests it's a by-product of families recycling the same name across generations.

For example, one family could have a grandfather, father and son all named 'John Smith', meaning it makes sense for them to use a different name. The tradition has since been adopted by women in the south, despite girls usually not having the same names as their mothers.

And just like that, we got Elle Fanning and Dakota Fanning rather than Mary Fanning and Hannah Fanning.

However, using your middle name can often cause confusion, as 27-year-old Elle explained that being called Mary would cause chaos on the class register at school.

"It was awkward in school when they were calling roll call," she recalled, "Because they’d go, 'Mary? Mary?' Kids would be like, 'There’s no Mary here.’ I’d awkwardly raise my hand, like, ‘Uh, it’s me'."