Surprising meaning behind Busy Philipps’ name and the common one she was actually given

Busy Philipps’ name has always been one to turn heads due to how unusual it is, but apparently, it’s not actually her name.

Over the years of following celebrities, it has become clear that a lot of the time, the name we know them as isn’t the one they were given at birth.

Like Katy Perry, whose real name is Katheryn Hudson. Or Lana del Ray, who was born Elizabeth Grant.

However, Busy’s name holds a special meaning for her and her family, which is why she’s always adopted the moniker as her own.

To be honest, if you could change your name to something nobody else had, wouldn’t you? Especially when your birth name is so popular, it charts at 33 in the most popular baby names this year, per Baby Center.

Busy Philipps revealed how she got her name (Photo by Natasha Moustache/Getty Images)

Born Elizabeth Jean Philipps on June 25, 1979, she was given the nickname Busy as a baby for one cute reason.

According to different sources, she was handed the name because she was so active.

She said on her late-night talk show, Busy Tonight, that her mother gave her the nickname, but whilst on her book tour for her memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little, said that her babysitter had given it to her.

Ultimately, she clarified who really gave her the name during an episode of Comedy Bang! Bang! where she confirmed to the host, Scott Aukerman, that it was her babysitter.

After that, she said she's been using it ever since.

Because of the unusual way she adopted her name, it also influenced how she and husband Marc Silverstein decided to name their own kids.

In the end, they chose Birdie and Cricket.

Busy explained the process behind it on the Today Show: "Since I grew up with a nickname — Busy being short for Elizabeth — when my husband and I started to have our babies, we decided that if we wanted to call our kids something, we would just name them that thing that we wanted to call them."

She said she got it from her babysitter because she was an active baby (Getty Stock Images)

Recently, the actress has been in the news for a less light-hearted reason, after revealing her brain tumor diagnosis.

The 47-year-old admitted the tumor was discovered after getting an MRI scan which tests more than 500 conditions.

She revealed on Instagram: "I didn’t know why I wanted to get this scan except for the fact that I just did.”

The mom-of-two shared she was diagnosed with a grade 2 oligodendroglioma, a rare and slow-growing tumor, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

She later underwent a five-hour procedure to remove the 2.6 centimeter mass in her brain.

Speaking with People, Dr. Alexandra Miller, Philipps' neuro-oncologist at NYU Langone, said of the mass: "It is considered malignant, but it has the best prognosis of all of the malignant gliomas.

"It’s sort of defined as a cancerous tumor based on the ability of the tumor to regrow over time, rather than it looking very malignant under the microscope."