One woman changed her name but didn't reveal it to anyone for five years, all because of her parents and their "weird" obsession.

Our name is something we're given at birth and don't have any control over, but luckily when we get older we can take matters into our own hands.

I'm not saying my name is outrageous - if anything it's really mundane, but I do wonder if I'd be happier if I called myself Max Power or Optimus Prime.

Probably not, and I'd probably get laughed at... but anyway, I digress.

One woman recently took to Reddit to ask for advice after she changed the name that she was given at birth.

The woman, referred to as OP (original poster), hinted at her parents' strong political affiliations, labeling them as "massive republicans and America lovers," suggesting that their name choices might have been influenced by patriotism.

She began the post: "My parents decided to name my sister and I after American states. I have permission to share her name (Arizona) and I was called Pennsylvania at birth. Yea, my parents are weird.

"I guess they thought geographical names were cool but I think there's a huge difference between calling your child Arizona or Dakota or Paris Vs Pennsylvania."

Despite her parents' insistence on using her full name, the woman confessed to facing ridicule and mockery throughout her childhood due to the unconventional moniker.

She recounted instances where her parents would reprimand her teachers for allowing her to go by the nickname "Penny."

However, the turning point came when she reached the age of 21 and legally changed her name to Penelope, a decision influenced by her college years where she predominantly went by "Penny."

Keeping her new identity under wraps for years, she decided it was time to reveal the truth to her family, especially with her wedding on the horizon.

Despite her efforts to break the news gently, her parents reacted negatively, accusing her of disrespect and criticizing her decision.

They refused to attend her wedding, leaving the woman's sister, who is also her maid of honor, caught in the middle.

"They think that I should've had the courage to be honest with them years ago so they would've had time to get used to it, instead of me dropping the news on them two months before my wedding and causing all this drama," she said.

People overwhelmingly supported the woman, with one person commenting: "What I've come to realize is that that generation sees respect as, respect me rather than we should all respect each other.

"They don't see that them demanding that you keep the name they pick, even to your detriment, is a form of disrespect. They don't see them choosing to skip your wedding as disrespect."

A second person said: "If your parents spent 13 years of your school life trying to force everyone to call you 'Pennsylvania,' I suspect they would have spent the past 5 making you miserable for changing your name. Hence, your silence."

Featured image credit: Witthaya Prasongsin/Getty

Grammy-winning singer Adele has reached a rare level of fame where she's known to millions by her first name alone.

However, it looks like most people have been pronouncing that name wrong all this time.

In a Q+A posted online last week, the 34-year-old songwriter shocked fans when she revealed the right way to pronounce 'Adele'.

During the event, the 'Hello' singer praised a fan for the way they said her name while asking a question.

The fan appeared via video link from London and - speaking with a thick north London accent - asked Adele: "On your journey to self-love while writing 30, did your perspective on how you saw yourself when you wrote 25 change at all, and how."

"Cheers babes, love ya," she added.

Overjoyed, north London-born Adele replied: "Love that. She said my name perfectly!"

She went on to tease host Benito Skinner for pronouncing her name 'ah-dell'. According to the singer her name is supposed to be pronounced 'uh-dale' instead.

The hour-long special event in Los Angeles was held to mark the release of the star's latest music video for her hit track 'I Drink Wine'.

Fans took to Twitter to share their astonishment over the new pronunciation. One person tweeted in shock: "We’ve been saying [Adele's] name wrong this whole time???"

Another wrote: "Adele saying her name is pronounced HUH-dele is throwing me off because why would that be correct?! Your name literally starts with an A?!"

Meanwhile, the 'Skyfall' singer isn't the first celeb to stun fans by revealing the proper way of saying their name.

Earlier this year, Mean Girls star Lindsay Lohan sent heads spinning when she implied that people had been pronouncing her surname wrong for years.

In her first-ever TikTok video, the star told fans: "Hey everyone, it's Lindsay Lohan, and guess what? Now I'm on TikTok!"

Rather than the way people have been saying 'Lohan' for years, Lohan herself stressed the "o" instead of the "a" - so the name sounded almost like "Lowen".

Featured Image Credit: Matt Crossick / Alamy.

Gigi Hadid is one of the biggest names in the celebrity world right now, but it turns out that that name... isn't actually real.

The 23-year-old model has shot to fame in the past five years by walking down the most esteemed catwalks in the world, starring in huge fashion campaigns and making her mark as one of the most influential people on social media, now with 42.2 million Instagram followers to her name.

So to find out that "Gigi Hadid" doesn't officially exist? That's pretty weird.

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The American model was actually born Jelena Noura Hadid, with Gigi purely coming about as a nickname she adopted in school. Jelena Hadid certainly doesn't have the same ring to it that Gigi does, and you've got to wonder how she came up with it. Is it simply because it sounds cool? Or maybe it's because "Gi" sounds like the start of "Jelena"?

Well, she actually spoke about her name and why she prefers Gigi in an interview with Vogue three years ago. She explained that her mother, Dutch model and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, Yolanda Hadid, had the same nickname when she was younger.

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"My mom was called that as a kid by her mother when she was younger, but only around the house," Gigi said. "I was called that around the house when I was really young."

“In first or second grade, there was a girl named Helena and it got confusing with the teacher who had to call out our names, and so the teacher asked my mom, ‘If I needed to call Jelena a nickname, what would it be?’ And my mom was like, ‘I call her Gigi sometimes,’ and the name stuck.”

Even though this might not exactly be new news, people are still pretty shocked right now after finding out what the model's real name is after all these years. Even though Gigi changed her name from Jelena because "it got confusing", it seems that people get just as confused upon learning that Gigi Hadid isn't actually Gigi Hadid.

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On that last point – it is lucky that she goes by the name Gigi, seeing as she got famous around the time when #Jelena was still a thing.

But Gigi isn't the only celebrity to go by a different name. Rihanna's real name is Robyn Fenty, with Rihanna actually being her middle name. Miley Cyrus was born Destiny Hope Cyrus, though she legally changed her name to Miley in 2009; apparently, it's because her family always called her "Smiley". Natalie Portman's birth name is Neta-Lee Hershlag, and she made it a little more conventional by turning Neta-Lee into Natalie, and taking her grandmother's maiden name of Portman.

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See? It's not that unusual for a celebrity to start going by a name that's a little more catchy.

Oh, and one more thing. Bella Hadid isn't actually Bella Hadid either. Her real name is Isabella Khair Hadid. Not that far off, but still fun to know, right?

1. The one name to avoid...

2. Now that's going to get confusing

3. This will raise a few eyebrows

4. What!?

5. Poor girl

6. 'Tad' for short?

7. A little pessimistic

8. Top marks for originality

9. A big fan of the social network

10. A lot to live up to