The Real Reason Kate Winslet's Husband Changed His Name Twice

It's no secret that celebrities often change their names to something more ... commercial, but it's rare someone changes their name more than once. However, Kate Winslet's husband, born Edward Abel Smith, is in the small group of people who have switched up their monikers a time or two. 

The happy hubby, who is actually mogul Richard Branson's nephew, changed his name to Ned Rocknroll in 2008, per The Atlantic. "The whole thing was about having fun with your name. He thought we all took ourselves too seriously, so it was about reacting against it," Rocknroll's ex-wife, Eliza Pearson, told the Daily Mail in 2011. 

"He looked into just being 'Ned', with no surname at all but, apparently, that's illegal so we couldn't do it,'" she added. Although it seems like his ex was on board with his new name, it looks like Winslet wasn't a big fan. Keep scrolling for more details about her husband's name.

With a name like Ned Rocknroll, the moniker definitely raised a lot of question. Kate Winslet addressed her husband's unique name and why he decided to change it during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in January 2021. 

"So his birth name is Abel Smith and as time went by and Ned became Ned — who is quite an original personality — he just decided at one point in his life to just change his name to Rocknroll. Ned Rocknroll. So when I met him, his name was Ned Rocknroll. This is completely true," she explained. "When he changed his name to Rocknroll, I don't think he had anticipated what might happen if he should have a girlfriend whose name was Kate Winslet and who was quite well-known and therefore the press might kind of not react so well to the fact that she had this boyfriend called then Rocknroll. So, it was a little tricky."

The couple, who wed in 2012, decided it was best for their son, Bear Blaze, if his dad had a more traditional name. "I got to the point where I'm like, you know, I'm filling in doctors' forms and it says ' mother's name' and 'father's name,' and I'm like, 'Honey...are we going to keep going?'" Winslet recalled. "And he's like, 'Yeah, you're right. I'll just change it back.' So, he changed it back." 

At least he didn't change his name to Princess Consuela Banana Hammock this time around.