Maika Monroe Explains Why She Changed Her Name When She Was a Child

Maika Monroe is looking back at her decision to change her name.

While appearing on Josh Horowitz‘s Happy Sad Confused podcast on Monday (March 9), the 32-year-old actress, best known for her roles in Longlegs and Reminders of Him, revealed that her real first name is “Dillon,” but she decided to change it when she was in elementary school.

Keep reading to find out more…“My mom was deciding between naming me Maika or Dillon if it was going to be a girl,” Maika explained. “She was like, ‘If I have a girl, it’s Maika or Dillon.’ A week before I was born, she had some dream and it was like, ‘It’s going to be Dillon.’ So, I came out a girl and she named me Dillon.”

For the first seven years of her life, she went on by “Dillon,” but that all changed when she found out she was almost named “Maika.”

“Around 7 years old, which I think is like first grade, I was just curious, like, ‘What other names were you going to name me? What were you thinking?’” the actress recalled. “And she said, ‘Maika.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, I love that name.’”

“I also think at that age there were boy Dillons and other Dillons, and I think Maika felt very unique,” she continued. “So I was like, ‘I’m gonna be named Maika. I’m not gonna listen if you call me Dillon. I won’t pay attention.’ And I have literally been Maika since then.”

Maika noted that she didn’t complete ditch “Dillon” altogether, and instead decided to adopt it as her middle name.

Reminders of Him – which also stars Tyriq Withers, Rudy Pankow, Lauren Graham, and Bradley Whitford – hits theaters on March 13. Watch the trailer here!