Summer House’s Carl Radke Reveals His Real Name & It May Surprise You
Summer Houseâs Carl Radke Reveals His Real Name
Carl Radke just dropped a summertime shocker.
In fact, the Summer House star recently revealed his real first name isn’t actually Carl.
“My middle name is Carl,” he told PopViewers in a video published Aug. 8. “My family, we always, for whatever reason, we always went by your middle name. My brother even went by his middle name.”
As for what the 40-year-old’s legal name really is?
“My I.D. and my passportâmy first name is William,” Carlâwho has appeared on the Bravo reality show for all nine seasonsâshared. “So, my middle name is Carl, but I’ve always, since day one, been called Carl.”
And it turns out he still doesn’t totally comprehend his own name change.
“It’s a family thing,” he added. “My mom has a different explanation for it, which I don’t understand. But yeah, my full name is William Carl.”
Carl’s real name isn’t the only change Summer House fans will need time getting used to. That’s because longtime star Paige DeSorbo recently left the show after seven seasons in the Hamptons.
But, as Carl previously teased, the cast has been trying to get the Giggly Squad podcast cohost to make a cameo on season 10.
“The ask has been put out,” he exclusively told E! News last month. “I was like, ‘You got to come take a visit.’ Amanda [Batula] and Ciara [Miller] are trying to get her, but she was in Italy and doing some other stuff. So, we’ll see. Fingers crossed.”
As for what Carl will miss most amid Paige’s absence, he shared, “I’m gonna miss her witty comments and her funny banter, because she’s so funny. I’m sad I don’t get to hang out with her all summer, because that was kind of the only chance we did get to hang out with her.”
Clifton Prescod/Bravo
Regardless, Carl is happy for all of Paige’s professional success outside the series.
“Her hotness and her fashion is definitely a tough one to lose,” he added. “But I love Paige. We’re sad to see her not be a part of it, but understanding that she had a lot going on this summer.”
Keep reading to find out more celebrities’ real names.
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Aubrey Anderson-Emmons
Though she portrayed Lilly on Modern Family under the name Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, the actress changed her moniker to mark her era as a musician.
âFrances is actually part of my legal nameâitâs my middle name, and itâs after my momâs old family friend,â she shared in an exclusive interview with E! Newsâ Francesca Amiker. âI thought, one, it was a bit shorter than âAubrey Anderson-Emmons.â I do have a long, hyphenated last name.â
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William Carl Radke
The Summer House star shocked Bravo fans by revealing his legally given first name isn’t actually Carl.
“My I.D. and my passportâmy first name is William,” Carlâwho has appeared on the reality show for all nine seasonsâhe told PopViewers in August 2025. “So, my middle name is Carl, but I’ve always, since day one, been called Carl.”
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Sterling Kelby Brown
Sterling K. Brown went by his middle name Kelby until he was a teenager.
“My dad’s name is Sterling Brown Jr., my grandfather is Sterling Brown Sr.,â he said during an April 2025 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “I wanted my own name and it felt like Sterling was an old man’s name.”
But years after his dad died from a heart attack, the This Is Us alum decided to revert back to his first name as a way to honor his father.
“Because he passed away when I was 10, by the time I turned 16 and I hadn’t heard his name for five, five-and-a-half years,â he continued. âI was like, âI kinda just want to hear that name again.â So I asked people to call me Sterling.”
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Andrew Mignogna, Matthew Mignogna & Joey Mignogna
Andrew Lawrence, Matthew Lawrence and Joey Lawrence adopted a new last name their careers. Joeyâwhose middle name is Lawrenceâwas the first to do so after a talent agent criticized the family surname.
Amy Sussman/E! Entertainment/NBCU Photo Bank
Katherine Victoria Litwack
Kat Dennings adopted a stage name at age 9, years before she made her official onstage acting debut on a 2000 episode of Sex and the City.
The 2 Broke Girls alum told Kylie Kelce on the March 13, 2025 episode of her podcast Not Gonna Lie With Kylie Kelce that she didn’t think her real name name should “be displayed on a poster.”
The actress drew inspiration for her stage name from Christina Ricci’s character Kat in the film Casper as well as the surname of Janine Denni, the French wife of late The Black Cauldron author Lloyd Alexander, a writer she said was her mother’s best friend.
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Cheryl Sarkisian
For more than three decades, Cher was made to believe that her legal first name was Cherilyn. It wasn’t until the late ’70s, when she obtained her birth certificate in order to change her full name to just Cher, that she discovered that she had been registered as “Cheryl.”
In her 2024 memoir, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, the pop icon recalled her mom Georgia Holt’s reaction to this discovery.
She said her mother, who gave birth to her at age 19, responded, “Let me look at that!” and then, recalling her postpartum experience, added, “I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break.”
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Collins Obinna Chibueze
The outlaw country star adopted Shaboozey as his nickname and later used it as his official alias as a music artist after his Virginia high school misspelled his surname that way.
Steve Jennings/FilmMagic
Austin Richard Post
Congratulations to Post Malone, who incorporated his surname into his stage name. However, the rapper does prefer his close friends to call him by his real name.
During the 2024 MTV VMAs, Taylor Swift referred to him as “Austin” when they won the Best Collaboration award for their duet “Fortnight.”
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Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson
Though the singer initially released a Christian album under her birth name in 2001, she felt the stage name Katy Perryâinspired by her mom’s maiden nameâmight meet pop fans more in awe, awe, awe.Â
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Belcalis Almanzar
Cardi B took on the name Bacardi after family and friends started calling her sister Hennessy. Later on she shortened the name to something that suited her quite a bit more.
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Rachel Meghan Markle
Before she became the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle was briefly known as Rachel.Â
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Stagecoach
Eilleen Regina Edwards
Shania Twain shared the origin story of her stage name during an appearance on Apple Music’s Home Now Radio: “In short, I was born, Eilleen Regina Edwards, and then I was adopted and I became Eilleen Regina Twain. Then I became a professional singer and I needed a stage name that sounded a little less like my grandmother’s name, because I’m named after my grandmother, both my grandmothers, Eilleen and Regina. I think, in my mind, I was just not really wanting to be called my grandmother’s name onstage, so I decided to change it to Shania Twain. I met somebody with the name Shania, thought it was beautiful, and Shania Twain was born.”
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Kayleigh Rose Amstutz
The âGood Luck, Babe!â singerâs onstage personaâChappell Roanâhas always been a âdrag project,â allowing her to set boundaries and separate her personal life from the industry.
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Jelena Noura Hadid
Oddly enough, Gigi Hadid got her stage name in school when the teacher would confuse her and a girl named Helena. Since her mom called her “gigi” as a term of endearment at home, she told the teacher to just call her Gigi and it simply stuck.Â
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Mark Vincent
If you’re looking for an explosive action-star name, how about Vin Diesel instead?
Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock
Destiny Hope Cyrus
Miley Cyrus’ bright smile is what inspired her childhood nickname, Smiley. Eventually the name was shortened to Miley and it stuck.Â
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Peter Gene Hernandez
Apparently the singer looked more like a Bruno than a Peter, so one day his dad started calling him Bruno. Ever since, he has been known as Bruno Mars.
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Stefani Germanotta
Before the meat dresses and chart-topping music, Lady Gaga was just an everyday girl from New York.
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Daniel Sudeikis
Jason Sudeikis confirmed on Today that he was named Daniel after his father, but following some confusion, his mom started using his middle name Jason to avoid confusion.Â
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Emily Stone
Emma Stone ended adopting this stage name after finding out that the Screen Actors Guild already had a member registered under her birthname.Â
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Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon
Turns out Reese isn’t even Reese Witherspoon’s middle name. The actress chose the moniker in honor of her mother, whose maiden name is Reese.
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant
Every artist has an alter ego, and Lana Del Rey just happens to be the persona of choice for the singer.Â
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Christopher Edwin Breaux
In 2014, Frank Ocean legally changed his name because, why not?Â
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Elizabeth Stamatina Fey
A little known fact about 30 Rock’s Tina Fey is that she is actually named Elizabeth. The comedian made a not so subtle tribute to her birth name by naming her character Liz Lemon.
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Calvin Broadus
This pioneer of West Coast rap would later go on to be known as Snoop Dogg.
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Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor
Turns out the “Royals” singer is really into learning about the aristocracy, hence the reason why she chose the name Lorde, but with a feminine ‘e.’
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Enrique Morales
Before he started shaking his bonbon for the masses, music superstar Ricky Martin went by this everyday name.
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Amethyst Kelly
It’s hard to believe that Iggy Azalea was born Amethyst Kelly!
Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock
Adam Richard Wiles
Fans were confused when Taylor Swift thanked then-boyfriend Adam in an acceptance speech, which lead people to the discovery that Calvin Harris is simply a stage name. The DJ told Shortlist magazine he chose the name because his first single was more soulful and wanted something a bit more “racially ambiguous.”
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Jennifer Anastassakis
Before she became a household name, this was what erstwhile Friend Jennifer Aniston answered to.
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