Unlike many actors who changed their names (especially in the earlier days of Hollywood) simply to stand out or because their birth names sounded unappealing, actor Michael Keaton was initially resistant to changing his name, but was essentially forced to do it because his birth name was already in the spotlight. 

Like singer Katy Perry, who adopted her stage name because her birth name Katheryn Hudson was obviously already taken by actor Katy Hudson, Keaton has a famous real moniker. Born Michale John Douglas, the actor had to change his name because there was already more than one "Michael Douglas" in the industry; one being the famous son of Kirk Douglas, and the other being the eponymous host of the long-running syndicated daytime talk show, "The Mike Douglas Show." The Screen Actors Guild, at the time the largest labor union representing film and TV actors in America, prohibited its members from sharing screen names, which has led to many adopting stage names.

In a 2012 interview with Grantland, Keaton spoke about how the entertainment industry told him he needed to change his name after he got his first real gig. "I did talk to Michael Douglas about [the name change]," he said. "At the time I didn't think it would matter. I got the gig, and they said, 'You've got to have another name.' And I was like, 'No I don't.' And they said, 'Yeah, you do. To join the union.'"

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