The Real Reason Leonardo DiCaprio Was Once Asked To Change His Name

Leo was only 6 years old when the request was made.

Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most recognizable actors in the world and he boasts an equally recognizable name to boot. After all, there aren't many DiCaprios in Hollywood—Leo's name certainly makes him stand out.

While it's difficult to imagine DiCaprio going by any name other than his own, in a 1995 interview with David Letterman the young star revealed that a potential agent nearly insisted that he swap out his "too ethnic" moniker.

DiCaprio explains, "I tried to get an agent, but I didn't succeed because they wanted to change my name to Lenny Williams. They thought my name was a little too ethnic, so they sort of dissected it and said hey, Leonardo, Lenny, my middle name's Wilhelm, so they changed that to Williams."

Obviously, DiCaprio didn't take the bait, and he and his family decided to move on to pursue agents who wouldn't make the same request.

DiCaprio's name has been a topic of interest throughout his career. In a 2014 interview with NPR, he told the story of how his parents settled on his first name—and said that he even had a role in choosing the name himself, despite not being born yet.

Related: How Leonardo DiCaprio Almost Lost Out on His 'Titanic' Role

He explained that his father, who is an artist, and his mother were on their honeymoon in Florence, Italy, when they stopped to look at a painting by Leonardo da Vinci. His mom Irmelin Indenbirken was already weeks into her pregnancy with her son by then and while they were taking in the art, DiCaprio apparently made his preference known.

He said, "They were looking at a da Vinci painting, and allegedly I started kicking furiously while my mother was pregnant. And my father took that as a sign, and I suppose DiCaprio wasn't that far from da Vinci. And so, my dad, being the artist that he is, said, 'That's our boy's name.'"

Next, See Inside the $7.1 Million Los Feliz Home That Leonardo DiCaprio Bought for His Mother!