At the difference of K-Pop idols, it is common that fans doesn't know the actors' real names. While some use their real names, some have a stage name.
Some of these stage names have quite interesting stories of how they came to light. Here are 5 of them.
1- Ha JiWon (real name: Jun HaeRim)
Ha JiWon was the name of her manager's first love at that time. She found the name pretty and confident and decided to use it.
2- Seo KangJoon (real name: Lee SeungHwan)
There was a rumor saying that if you use a celebrity manager's name as a stage name, you will become popular. Back in time when Seo KangJoon was in the same agency as actor Ha JungWoo, he decided to choose Ha JungWoo manager's name as his stage name.
3- Gong SeungYeon (real name: Yoo SeungYeon)
It was during the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Gong SeungYeon was watching soccer with people from her agency. They thought about "Gong" which means ball in Korean. In the end, they changed her last name from Yoo to "Gong".
4- Gong Yoo (real name: Gong JiCheol)
Gong Yoo decided to use the family name of his father "Gong" and of his mother "Yoo".
5- Yoo YeonSeok (real name: Ahn YeonSeok)
Yoo YeonSeok first hesitated to use his mother's last name "Jo" to do "Jo YeonSeok". However, someone already had this name.
He decided to go for Yoo YeonSeok because he is a "Yoo Yeon" -meaning flexible- and relaxed actor.
