It may seem obvious, but I share my name with a famous Hollywood actress. The celebrity Emma Stone is known for her roles in films like La La Land, Easy A, Crazy, Stupid, Love, and The Help. Sharing the same name is a fun coincidence that brings on so many comments and references that I hardly notice them anymore. But, I recently came across an article published by Refinery29 titled, “Hollywood Stole Emma Stone’s Real Name & She Wants it Back” which made me start thinking again about what sharing my name with a celebrity means. A list of all of the random hurdles and curious questions about my name that I encounter almost daily immediately came rushing to the surface of my brain again. Basically, Hollywood has stolen my name and I would, indeed, like it back.
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Refinery29 explains that Emma Stone’s real name is not, in fact, Emma. Born Emily Stone, she adopted the working name of Emma as a young actress because the name Emily was already registered with the Screen Actors Guild. So, truthfully I am the OG of the name Emma Stone (at least as far as I know).
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Emma Stone’s captivating career as an actress has resulted in a rather devoted fan following. Unfortunately for me, the most invested fans have created social media accounts dedicated to Emma’s celebrity using every conceivable iteration of our name. Thus, my social media handles will forever remain the slightly less than ideal arrangement of initials and numbers that I chose in middle school.
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Hands-down the most frequent side-effect of sharing a celebrity’s name is the slew of silly questions I receive daily. For the sake of brevity I will answer some of the most commonly asked questions: Yes, I like the actress. No, my parents did not name me this on purpose. No, my parents are not superfans. Yes, she is very beautiful and I like seeing her in films. No, I haven’t seen all of La La Land. No, she is not my girl crush—too weirdly narcissistic.
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Of course, not everything about sharing a name with a celebrity has to be negative. The coincidence is just interesting enough to use as a fun fact. Every name game and round of introductions is made simpler with the automatic response to the “Fun Fact” question!
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Even more exciting and amusing is observing unknowing individuals trying to make sense of the famous name that they read on a roster. The volunteer reading off the winner of a raffle drawing exclaiming that “there must be a leading lady in the room,” or the new contact wondering how Emma Stone possibly got their number often provide a welcome source of comedic relief to the drone of day-to-day life.
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Some people can’t always put their finger on why my name seems so familiar to them, but once they do the Ah-ha! element never loses its charm. That little shock factor that most people experience after making the connection between Spiderman’s girlfriend and me certainly adds some liveliness to a conversation!
Despite the silly hiccups that go along with sharing a famous person’s name, I don’t hate the fact that I am sometimes associated with Emma Stone the actress. She is an accomplished and elegant woman in Hollywood who has set a strong example for women and girls in her industry. I certainly enjoy her performances in film and admire her for the hardwork and grace that she shows to her fans and audiences. Ultimately though, if she wants to reclaim her given name, Emily, like this interview suggests, I would be happy to represent Emma Stone with just as much poise and achievement all on my own.