Why Did Joan Rivers Change Her Name? Melissa Rivers Opens Up About the Family Mystery Victoria EdelFri, June 26, 2026 at 9:35 PM UTC 2 Melissa Rivers (left) and Joan Rivers in 2014Credit: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Melissa Rivers opened up in a new video about the mystery of why her mother, Joan Rivers, changed her name Joan was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky Melissa also changed her name to Rivers after initially using the last name of her father, Edgar Rosenberg Joan Rivers changed her name decades ago, and her daughter Melissa isn&x27;t exactly sure where her new last name came from.
Why Did Joan Rivers Change Her Name? Melissa Rivers Opens Up About the Family Mystery
Victoria EdelFri, June 26, 2026 at 9:35 PM UTC
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Melissa Rivers (left) and Joan Rivers in 2014Credit: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty -
Melissa Rivers opened up in a new video about the mystery of why her mother, Joan Rivers, changed her name
Joan was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky
Melissa also changed her name to Rivers after initially using the last name of her father, Edgar Rosenberg
Joan Rivers changed her name decades ago, and her daughter Melissa isn't exactly sure where her new last name came from.
Melissa, 58, opened up about her mom's chosen last name in a video she posted to Instagram on June 25.
“A lot of people ask me where the name Rivers comes from. And I'm going to tell you the true and official story,” Melissa said.
The answer? “We're not really sure,” Melissa admitted. According to Melissa, her mom Joan, who died in 2014 at the age of 81, once told her, “It was the last name of one of her managers, or that one of her managers suggested it. And it just sounded good and stuck. So there's the big story.”
Joan Rivers in 1971Credit: CBS via Getty
Joan herself told the story of why she changed her name from Joan Alexandra Molinsky to Joan Rivers in a 2007 interview with the Television Academy.
“I changed it to Joan Rivers because I wanted to be an actress,” she said. Her friends would spend “hours” thinking about changing their own names.
“I thought, ‘Just get me some work, I'll change my name,' ” she said. “The first agent that sent me out was a man named Larry Rivers and I said, ‘Okay I'm Joan Rivers.' ”
According to Joan, that “got him so scared he never sent me out again.”
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Still, with her new name, Joan began working as an actress, appearing in an off-Broadway play called Driftwood alongside Barbra Streisand. By the early ‘60s, Rivers was performing at various comedy clubs and her acting career was mostly forgotten. She eventually became one of the defining comedians of the late 20th century. She won Emmy and Grammy Awards and, in later years, became known especially for her red carpet interviews. She was also nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in 1994's Sally Marr ... and Her Escorts.
As for Melissa, her legal name is Melissa Rosenberg, after her father, producer Edgar Rosenberg. In 1990, in her early 20s, she decided to take her mother's surname. “Everyone knows my last name is Rosenberg and I think that it's time my mom has gotten a lot of credit for what she has done,” she said on an episode of Geraldo, per UPI.
Edgar died by suicide in 1987, at age 62, and Joan and Melissa barely spoke in the year after he died. But they ultimately repaired their bond. "It took therapy. It took time," she told PEOPLE in 2024. "I went into a full crisis situation where I ended up in an abusive relationship, and when I called her for help, she came through. It took another major crisis for us to heal from the other crisis." She said that she and her mom lent their names to suicide prevention at a time when people thought it was “still shameful.”
Joan Rivers (left) and Melissa Rivers in 2012Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/E/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
In June 2018, Melissa opened up to PEOPLE about how her son, Cooper, is Joan's greatest legacy.
“The best legacy that I can give my mother — that everyone can give their parent — is to raise a good and decent child,” she said. “One who gives back, and has a clear understanding of the understanding of not just being good, but doing good, as well. Cooper is my mom's greatest legacy.”
She said that she and Cooper, 26, often talk about “our family legacy.”
“And I feel like our legacy is to live a life that you can be proud of on many levels. Giving your best professionally and personally. Giving back to others,” she said. “Cooper and I always try to remember how fortunate we are, just by rite of birth. We can never lose sight of that. We're not entitled to anything. We work for what we have. That's how my mother lived.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.
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Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: June 27, 2026 at 05:00PM on Source: RED MAG
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