Nicolas Cage explains decision to legally change name: 'I am Nick Cage'

Nicolas Cage has confirmed he legally changed his name to Nick Cage last year.

Earlier on in his career, the Oscar-winning actor opted to ditch his birthname - Nicolas Kim Coppola - and go by Nicolas Cage as means of avoiding nepotism claims due to him being the nephew of legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.

Cage was inspired by the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage and composer John Cage when selecting his new moniker.

Reflecting on the decision in an interview for Variety published on Wednesday, the National Treasure star recalled how he wanted to differentiate himself from his famous relatives.

"No. I am Nick Cage. I changed my name legally last year. I'm Nick Cage in life, and I'm Nick Cage on camera. 'Tis better to be the patriarch of my own little family than the clown cousin on the margins of someone else's, so I decided I'm going to bring it on and be 'Cage,'" he declared. "'Cage' is a name that I liked coming across in the comics - I just thought he had a cool name - and I grew up in a very avant-garde, artsy family and there was talk about John Cage and the experimental compositions that he did. I was looking for something like 'James Dean.'"

Cage went on to note that he liked the "short and sweet" nature of the name.

"You think I should've shaved it off and just made it 'Nick?' I'm both! I think people know me as both," the 62-year-old mused.

Cage is currently promoting the TV series Spider-Noir, in which he plays Ben Reilly/The Spider.

The show is now streaming via Prime Video.