Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname

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Brianna LaPaglia Hints at Possible Engagement With Zach Bryan Before Breakup

Brianna LaPaglia’s nickname has been around for longer than you might think.

In fact, the social media starcan trace her “Chickenfry” moniker—which made headlines amid her romance with now-ex Zach Bryan—back to the days of Vine, the beloved yet short-lived, short-form video app that was officially sunset in 2017.

“I made a Vine where I thought my leg looked like a Burger King chicken fry,” she told Joe Vulpis on his Lightweights podcast last year. “And then it went viral, and I’m like, “I’m gonna stick with the chicken fry name.’”

From there, as they say, the rest is history. Because when Brianna attached the nickname to her TikTok username and her hangover videos on the platform began to go viral, she attracted the attention of Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy.

“Barstool DMed me one day,” she remembered. “And I’m from Boston, so Barstool is like Mecca in Boston. It’s like Dave Portnoy’s God where I’m from. So I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh this is so scary.’”

Brianna continued, “They DMed me to come into New York, and I went into the office—I got drunk before because I was so nervous—and they gave me an internship while I was at school.”

The now-25-year-old, however, had a decision to make: does she stay in school in Cleveland on her pre-med track or does she pivot to a career in social media?

Brianna LaPaglia/Instagram

“I dropped out,” she explained. “I was like, I gotta pick—I can’t be a doctor if I’m drunk online—I kind of got to pick one of the two and I dropped out and it’s worked out.”

She added, “I got a U-Haul and drove across the country by myself and moved to New York.”

This is not to say, though, that the decision came lightly.

“I cried,” Brianna admitted. “It’s just so weird, because you don’t know if it’s gonna work out, so I was really intimidated and scared. Like I think I only had 80,000 followers when I dropped out.”

Instagram/Brianna LaPaglia

A far cry from the 1.3 million she boasts on Instagram today, in addition to the 2.3 million she has on TikTok.

And her gamble on Barstool turned out to be a safe one, as it led her to become one of the co-hosts of the podcasts PlanBri Uncut as well as the BFFs podcast with Dave and Josh Richards.

And the latter two have become some of Brianna’s biggest supporters amid her tumultuous breakup with Zach, whom she’s accused of emotional abuse throughout their yearlong relationship.

In addition to sharing a diss track about the country artist, Dave and Josh both sat with Brianna as she recounted the ups and downs of her time with Zach on BFFs.

As Dave shared on X, formerly Twitter, on Nov. 7, “I really had no idea how hard @BChickenfry last year was until we recorded tonight’s episode of @BFFsPod.”

“I know people have lots of strong opinions on Bri,” the 47-year-old continued, “but after tonight’s episode there can’t be anybody who doesn’t respect the s--t out of her.”

Brianna isn’t the only star who rose to fame using a nickname. Keep reading to learn more celebrities’ real names.

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Cher

For more than three decades, Cher was made to believe that her legal first name was Cherilyn. It wasn't until the late '70s, when she obtained her birth certificate in order to change her full name to just Cher, that she discovered that she had been registered as "Cheryl."

In her 2024 memoir, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, the pop icon recalled her mom Georgia Holt's reaction to this discovery.

She said her mother, who gave birth to her at age 19, responded, "Let me look at that!" and then, recalling her postpartum experience, added, "I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break."

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Shaboozey

The outlaw country star's real name is Collins Obinna Chibueze. He adopt Shaboozey as his nickname and later used it as his official alias as a music artist after his Virginia high school misspelled his surname that way.

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Austin Richard Post

Congratulations to Post Malone, who incorporated his surname into his stage name. However, the rapper does prefer his close friends to call him by his real name.

During the 2024 MTV VMAs, Taylor Swift referred to him as "Austin" when they won the Best Collaboration award for their duet "Fortnight."

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Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson

Though the singer initially released a Christian album under her birth name in 2001, she felt the stage name Katy Perry—inspired by her mom's maiden name—might meet pop fans more in awe, awe, awe.

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Belcalis Almanzar

Cardi B took on the name Bacardi after family and friends started calling her sister Hennessy. Later on she shortened the name to something that suited her quite a bit more.

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Rachel Meghan Markle

Before she became the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle was briefly known as Rachel.

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Eilleen Regina Edwards

Shania Twain shared the origin story of her stage name during an appearance on Apple Music's Home Now Radio: "In short, I was born, Eilleen Regina Edwards, and then I was adopted and I became Eilleen Regina Twain. Then I became a professional singer and I needed a stage name that sounded a little less like my grandmother's name, because I'm named after my grandmother, both my grandmothers, Eilleen and Regina. I think, in my mind, I was just not really wanting to be called my grandmother's name onstage, so I decided to change it to Shania Twain. I met somebody with the name Shania, thought it was beautiful, and Shania Twain was born."

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Kayleigh Rose Amstutz

The “Good Luck, Babe!” singer’s onstage persona—Chappell Roan—has always been a “drag project,” allowing her to set boundaries and separate her personal life from the industry.

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Jelena Noura Hadid

Oddly enough, Gigi Hadid got her stage name in school when the teacher would confuse her and a girl named Helena. Since her mom called her "gigi" as a term of endearment at home, she told the teacher to just call her Gigi and it simply stuck.

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Mark Vincent

If you're looking for an explosive action-star name, how about Vin Diesel instead?

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Destiny Hope Cyrus

Miley Cyrus' bright smile is what inspired her childhood nickname, Smiley. Eventually the name was shortened to Miley and it stuck.

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Peter Gene Hernandez

Apparently the singer looked more like a Bruno than a Peter, so one day his dad started calling him Bruno. Ever since, he has been known as Bruno Mars.

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Stefani Germanotta

Before the meat dresses and chart-topping music, Lady Gaga was just an everyday girl from New York.

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Daniel Sudeikis

Jason Sudeikis confirmed on Today that he was named Daniel after his father, but following some confusion, his mom started using his middle name Jason to avoid confusion.

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Emily Stone

Emma Stone ended adopting this stage name after finding out that the Screen Actors Guild already had a member registered under her birthname.

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Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon

Turns out Reese isn't even Reese Witherspoon's middle name. The actress chose the moniker in honor of her mother, whose maiden name is Reese.

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Elizabeth Woolridge Grant

Every artist has an alter ego, and Lana Del Rey just happens to be the persona of choice for the singer.

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Christopher Edwin Breaux

In 2014, Frank Ocean legally changed his name because, why not?

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Elizabeth Stamatina Fey

A little known fact about 30 Rock's Tina Fey is that she is actually named Elizabeth. The comedian made a not so subtle tribute to her birth name by naming her character Liz Lemon.

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Calvin Broadus

This pioneer of West Coast rap would later go on to be known as Snoop Dogg.

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Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor

Turns out the "Royals" singer is really into learning about the aristocracy, hence the reason why she chose the name Lorde, but with a feminine 'e.'

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Enrique Morales

Before he started shaking his bonbon for the masses, music superstar Ricky Martin went by this everyday name.

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Amethyst Kelly

It's hard to believe that Iggy Azalea was born Amethyst Kelly!

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Adam Richard Wiles

Fans were confused when Taylor Swift thanked then-boyfriend Adam in an acceptance speech, which lead people to the discovery that Calvin Harris is simply a stage name. The DJ told Shortlist magazine he chose the name because his first single was more soulful and wanted something a bit more "racially ambiguous."

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Jennifer Anastassakis

Before she became a household name, this was what erstwhile Friend Jennifer Aniston answered to.

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Alicia Augello Cook

Alicia Keys didn't always have such a musical name.

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Thomas Mapother IV

Before he became arguably the biggest movie star in the world, Tom Cruise went by this name.

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Natalie Hershlag

Back when she was born in 1980, this was how the future bigtime actress Natalie Portman greeted the world.