People are only now discovering Tom Cruise’s true name and why he changed it.

The 63-year-old veteran Hollywood actor is regarded as an icon due to his long career in show business, including famously executing his own daring stunts in the numerous sci-fi and action films we know and enjoy.

However, many people appear to be unaware that Cruise was born with a completely different name.

His parents, Thomas Cruise Mapother III, an electrical engineer, and Mary Lee Pfeiffer, a special education teacher, welcomed their son into the world in 1962, along with his three sisters.

The family apparently grew up in near poverty and in a strict Catholic environment before the then-18-year-old celebrity chose to put his past behind and pursue a career in acting, which eventually propelled him to become one of the world’s most renowned and wealthy celebrities.

Part of his huge transfer to New York City was changing his birth name, Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, to the name we know him today.

Supporters, who believe his name makes him seem ‘like royalty,’ have been startled by the news, while others joke that it sounds ‘horrific.’

Another Twitter user joked, “Rolls off the tongue.”

A third claimed they were mind blown’ when they found out Cruise’s true name.

“No way, that’s wild!” said a fourth, while scores more acknowledged they had no idea.

The Mission: Impossible star supposedly opted to shorten his name, not only because it sounds more Hollywood-friendly, but also to dissociate himself from his father, whom he characterized as a violent ‘bully,’ ‘coward,’ and merchant of disaster.’

In a 2006 interview with Parade magazine, Cruise stated, “[My father] was the type of person who would kick you if something went wrong. It was a valuable lesson in my life: he’d lure you in, make you feel protected, and then, boom!

“I thought, ‘There’s something wrong with this guy.’ “You should not trust him. Be careful around him. “There’s that anxiety.”

His mother, who died of cancer in 1984, divorced his father ten years earlier, when Cruise was twelve years old.

A decade later, the Scientologist reconnected with his father at his hospital bed before his death, recalling the experience with regret.

He explained, “When I saw him in pain, I thought, ‘Wow, what a lonely life.'” He was in his late forties. “It was sad.”

Meanwhile, some of the father-of-three’s extended family members have retained the surname, including his cousin, William Mapother, a successful actor whose credits include the television series Lost and the film Zodiac.

Cruise is hardly the only celebrity to have discarded his name. The Duchess of Sussex was born Rachel Meghan Markle before electing to use her middle name.

Shania Twain was initially born Eilleen Regina Edwards, and she changed her last name to Twain when she was legally adopted by her stepfather at the age of four, before changing her first name to Shania because she believed it was ‘beautiful’ and more appropriate for the music industry.

Saturday Night Live writer Elizabeth Stamatina Fey also changed her name, settling on the middle part of her name, Tina, since elementary school.

Ricky Martin, like Cruise, wanted to change his name and was born Enrique Morales after his father, Enrique, after things apparently grew contentious between the two.