Olivia Wilde has explained why she decided to use a different name after starting out in acting, and it stemmed from the surname she grew up with.
Using a professional name is fairly common in Hollywood. Some performers do it to avoid being linked to famous relatives, while others simply want something that is easier for audiences to remember. Nicolas Cage is one example, having been born Nicolas Coppola before adopting a different surname early in his career.
On a June 2026 appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Wilde reflected on her upbringing and spoke candidly about how her family name affected her when she was younger.
The topic came up while she was talking about her son, Otis, and how he sometimes makes himself look miserable in photos. That led Shepard to ask about Wilde’s own childhood and her parents, both of whom are journalists.
“The pictures thing could be a little telling because I have both envy and perhaps not envy,” he said, “because mom and dad, Andrew and Leslie, are gangsters, the Cockburns, they’re both journalists right?”
Shepard pronounced Wilde’s birth surname exactly as it appears in writing, which prompted her to step in and explain that it is said differently.
“I’ll tell you something – and there’s no way you would know this – it’s pronounced ‘Coburn’,” she said, adding: “Which I want you to imagine being a kid…”
Shepard then pointed out the obvious challenge of having a surname that looks very different from how it is actually spoken.
“Well of course I’m curious about what it’s like to be a young girl with a last name spelled Cockburn,” said Shepard.
Wilde said the name became an early lesson in resilience and humor, especially during childhood.
“It’s a Scottish name, and it’s very much like Boy Named Sue you know what I mean? Like it’s character building,” she said, referencing a Johnny Cash song.
She also made light of the experience, joking that an awkward name can almost function as forced preparation for growing up.
“We should all give our kids devastating middle names just so that you can grow up with like something to be totally bullied for.”
As the discussion continued, Shepard asked how much that surname shaped her when she was younger.
“I think it was an early important lesson in laughing along – not in a way that was, like, giving in to the bullies in a way,” Wilde explained.
She added that she was able to see the humor in it herself rather than only experiencing it as something negative.
“I don’t know – I thought it was funny too. I was like, ‘Oh, I get it. That’s funny’.”
When she entered the entertainment industry, she opted for the surname Wilde, inspired by one of her literary heroes, Oscar Wilde.
She has previously said she adopted the name while she was an 18-year-old theater student in Dublin. Her father, Andrew Cockburn, is a longtime journalist and Washington, D.C., editor of Harper’s Magazine, while her mother, Leslie Cockburn, built a career in investigative journalism and documentary work, including producing for television news programs and Frontline.