The Heartwarming Reason Dove Cameron Changed Her Name When She Started Acting

Disney Channel fans are probably already familiar with Dove Cameron's name. The 23-year-old actress and singer first got her start playing twins on Liv and Maddie and Mal in the Disney Channel original movie Descendants. Since then, she has gone on to have roles on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., in Netflix's Dumplin', and even off-Broadway as Cher in Clueless.

While her name is certainly becoming more recognizable in the industry, what you might not know is that her birth name isn't actually Dove. The actress was born Chloe Celeste Hosterman but decided to legally change it when she got into acting. She explained the heartbreaking backstory on social media, saying that "Dove" was actually a nickname her dad, Philip Hosterman, used to call her.

"My father always called me dove," she explained to a fan on Twitter back in 2017. "he took his own life when i was 15, i didn't get to say goodbye, so i changed it in honor of him."