The reason she changed her name…

Shania Twain is a household name, but some of the country icon’s fans might not know that the monker is not her real name. Twain was born Eilleen Regina Edwards, and when she was adopted by her stepfather, she took his last name of Twain. During a recent episode of her Home Now Radio show on Apple Music Hits, the Canadian star explained her decision to change her name, sharing that she wanted something that felt like her own when she was on stage.

“A lot of celebrities are born with a different name than they end up with as a stage name, and I’m one of those people,” Twain said. “It’s actually a long story. 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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