1

Meghan Markle

Prince Harry’s famous wife wasn’t born with the name Meghan—that’s actually her middle name. Her given name is Rachel , which interestingly enough, matches her character’s name on Suits .

So while the world does indeed know her as Meghan Markle, her full birth name is Rachel Meghan Markle—a fun insider joke for fans of the hit television show.

2

Louis C.K.

The comedian’s real name is Louis Székely . He started using the initials "C.K." as a professional alias, simplifying the pronunciation for audiences.

3

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren – Having a first name as a last name might sound effortless, but it wasn’t always that simple. He was actually born Ralph Lifshitz , a name he later changed to achieve a smoother, more marketable sound.

4

Michael Kors

Meet the second designer on our list. The man we know today as Michael Kors wasn’t always called that—he was born Karl Anderson Jr. before changing his name later in life.

5

Muhammad Ali

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay on January 17, 1942, in Kentucky, Muhammad Ali went on to become a boxing legend, winning the World Heavyweight Championship three times.

The Greatest, as he was known in the boxing ring, decided to change his name in 1964 after converting to Islam and joining the Nation of Islam (NOI).

6

Bill Clinton

Born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946, he later took the surname Clinton after being adopted by his stepfather. He went on to become the 42nd U.S. president, serving from 1993 to 2001.

7

Malcolm X

Born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, he rose to prominence as an African-American Muslim minister, speaker, and civil rights leader before he died in 1965.

He adopted the name Malcolm X to symbolize the rejection of his family's "slave name" and the lost ancestral African name stolen during slavery.

8

Tiger Woods

The world-famous golfer was born Eldrick Tont Woods but is better known by his nickname, Tiger. The name was given in honor of a close friend of his father’s.

9

Larry King

Larry King was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger in Brooklyn, New York. Just minutes before his first live broadcast, a manager said his name was "too ethnic." Spotting an ad for King’s Wholesale, they chose "King" on the spot.

10

Sasha Obama

The Obamas' youngest daughter isn’t actually named Sasha. Her full name is Natasha —a fact that went viral after users spotted it on Barack Obama’s Wikipedia page.

11

Joan Rivers

It might be hard to picture this TV star as anyone but Joan Rivers. Born Joan Molinsky , she changed her name on her agent’s advice when starting out. That’s how Joan Rivers came to be.

12

Oprah Winfrey

Talk show host and author Oprah Winfrey was originally named Orpah , after a biblical figure. Since people often struggled to pronounce and spell it, her name gradually changed to Oprah—a name now so iconic that it’s recognized worldwide on its own.

1

Independence National Historical Park

A historic district in Philadelphia, this 55-acre national park—established in 1956—preserves several sites related to American Independence and the Revolutionary War. Among the main sites of this park, we can find Independence Hall—originally the Pennsylvania State House—where the Declaration of Independence was signed and proclaimed, the Liberty Bell, the Carpenters' Hall—the location of the First Continental Congress—and Congress Hall, the place of reunion of the U.S. Congress before its relocation to Washington, D.C.

2

National Mall

Located in Washington, D.C., this park, often called ‘America's Front Yard’, stretches from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial , and has been the location of many historical events. Across and around it, we can find several museums, art galleries, cultural institutions, and memorials, sculptures, and statues, including the Washington Monument, Union Square, the Botanic Garden, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

3

Freedom Trail

This 2.5-mile-long path stretches across Boston, linking 16 sites related to American history and the American Revolutionary War. Starting in the Boston Common, down to the Bunker Hill Monument in Charleston, this trail will lead you to sites such as the Massachusetts State House, the Boston Massacre Site, Paul Revere’s House, and the Old North Church.

4

Taos Pueblo

Located near the city of Taos, New Mexico, this settlement is believed to have been established around the 13th century, making it the oldest continuously inhabited place in U.S. territory . Famous for its red adobe, multi-storied buildings, the settlement has been home to the Puebloan people for nearly a thousand years. The site has been declared a National Historic Landmark and a UNESCO Heritage Site.

5

Ellis Island

Out of all the historic immigrant inspection and processing stations in America, Ellis Island is certainly the most well-known. Located in the New York Harbor, this station processed about 12 million immigrants in six decades before its closure in 1954. A source of territorial conflict between New York and New Jersey, the island is now part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, and works as a museum of immigrant history.

6

Gettysburg National Military Park

The Battle of Gettysburg, fought over three days across Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is widely considered to have been a turning point in the American Civil War and the key to the Union’s victory . The site of the conflict, as well as Gettysburg National Cemetery—the location of President Lincoln’s famous address—is preserved by the Gettysburg National Military Park—established in 1966—alongside thousands of war artifacts.

7

Cape Canaveral

One of NASA’s main space centers, Cape Canaveral has been the starting point of several history-changing space missions like the Apollo, Skylab, and Space Shuttle programs since the 1940s. Home to two different installations—the Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station—several firsts in space history were launched from Cape Canaveral, such as the first U.S. Earth satellite, the first U.S. astronaut in orbit, the first U.S. uncrewed lunar landing, and the Apollo 11 moon landing.

8

Pearl Harbor National Memorial

This memorial, included in the National Park System, commemorates the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 , an event that resulted in 2,400 American casualties and the subsequent involvement of the U.S. in the Second World War. The memorial, located at the site of the attack in O’ahu, Hawaii, and dedicated in 1962, includes memorials for three ships lost alongside their crews, a visitor center with information about the Pacific theater of World War II, and the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.

9

The Alamo

Known as the ‘Shrine of Texas Liberty’, the Alamo Mission was the site of key events of the Texan Revolution and of Southern history . Initially a Spanish Catholic mission and later used as a military fortress, the compound was sieged by the Mexican Army in 1836. The nearly 250 Texan soldiers garrisoned at the complex resisted the siege for 13 days before being defeated and slain by the much more numerous Mexican army, a resistance that fuelled Texan patriotism and its fight for independence.

10

Tombstone

A flourishing Arizona town during the silver mining boom of the late 19th century, Tombstone gained its place in history books as the location of the famous ‘Gunfight at the O.K. Corral’ . An archetype of the Wild West, this confrontation was the result of a long feud between U.S. marshals—Town Marshal Virgil Earp and his deputees Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp, and Doc Holliday—and an outlaw group known as the Cochise County Cowboys. Though the shootout lasted less than a minute, it remains one of the most famous events of the Old West, with the town of Tombstone designated a National Historic Landmark.

1

87 steps

In case you haven't counted them, there are exactly 87 steps leading up to the Lincoln Memorial. But why does that number matter? Although the National Park Service says it wasn’t intentional, many people connect it to the opening line of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: "Four score and seven years ago...", a coincidence that's hard to ignore.

2

Hidden underground chamber

The Lincoln Memorial is more than what you see at first glance; there’s an entire hidden world beneath it. That’s right! Underground lies a large chamber built as part of the monument’s foundation. Giant concrete columns support the structure above, and there are also narrow corridors where workers once walked. You can even find graffiti and markings left by those builders in the early 1900s. Although the public can’t visit this space yet, the National Park Service has said it hopes to open it in the future.

3

A pyramid?

Can you imagine a giant pyramid rising over the landscape of Washington, DC? It’s hard to picture, but it could have happened. Among the many design proposals for the Lincoln Memorial were some extravagant ideas, including a huge pyramid. In the end, the Greek temple design we know today won out.

4

The typo

To err is human, and the Lincoln Memorial is no exception. As you may know, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address are engraved on the interior walls. But the carver made a small mistake when transcribing the Second Inaugural Address, writing "euture" instead of "future" in the line "high hopes for the future." Although the error was corrected, people say that if you look closely enough, you can still see it.

5

Lincoln's friends made it happen

For years, several proposals to build a memorial to Abraham Lincoln failed in Congress. Fortunately, Senator Shelby Collum and Speaker of the House Joseph Cannon joined forces to get the final bill approved. These men had known Lincoln and felt that a memorial to Honest Abe was both fitting and necessary.

6

Who is Thomas Jefferson looking at?

It’s well known that the statue of Thomas Jefferson inside his memorial faces north toward the White House and the Washington Monument. But there’s another interesting interpretation. Also to the north is the statue of Alexander Hamilton on the south side of the US Treasury Building. Since Jefferson and Hamilton were once colleagues who later became political rivals, some like to imagine that Jefferson’s bronze likeness is keeping a cautious, almost "watchful eye" on Hamilton.

7

FDR specifically requested the Jefferson Memorial

Since the early 20th century, there had been talk of building a memorial to honor Thomas Jefferson. But nothing moved forward until Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933. An admirer of Jefferson, FDR pushed tirelessly for the project until Congress approved it. But he was not only the one who requested it; he even delivered the dedication speech when the memorial was completed in 1943.

8

10,000 pounds

We all know Jefferson was a great man, but do you know how big his statue is? It stands around 19 feet tall and weighs an astonishing 10,000 pounds; that’s a lot of bronze! Originally, the statue was a painted plaster model because, when it was dedicated in 1943, metal shortages from World War II made bronze unavailable. Four years later, in 1947, the bronze statue we see today was installed.

9

Once a popular beach

Before becoming the site of the Jefferson Memorial, the Tidal Basin Beach was a popular beach in Washington. That's right; at the beginning of the 20th century, the area was used for swimming, boating, and picnics. This, coupled with the need to cut down some cherry blossom trees for construction, sparked controversy and turned some people against the project.

10

Created by a landfill

Before the Jefferson Memorial could be built, the area had to be transformed. The Tidal Basin was originally shallow and surrounded by marshland, so workers filled it with material dredged from the Potomac River to create a stable foundation. Definitely a big effort.