Christina Aguilera reflects on being told to change her name

Christina Aguilera is a household name these days thanks to her numerous Grammy wins, those chart-topping albums, and an iconic run as a mentor for six seasons on The Voice. But long before her “Genie in a Bottle” days, businessmen who thought they knew better believed that “Aguilera” was just too complicated for a North American audience to grasp.“I remember when I was first coming up, there was a big debate around me on changing my last name because all the businessmen around me thought it was too long, too complicated, and too ethnic," the performer told Billboard recently for an article celebrating landmark 2000 female Latin pop albums. "'Christina Agee' was an option, but that clearly wasn’t going to fly. I was dead set against the idea and I wanted to represent who I really was. Being Latina, it is a part of my heritage and who I am."[video_embed id='5834509274001']RELATED: Christina Aguilera wants to work with Britney Spears[/video_embed]According to Aguilera that wasn’t the only time someone tried to convince her to drop her Ecuadorian name. When she was growing up and her stepfather wanted to legally adopt her, she faced pressure then to change her last name too. "I was again dead set against it," Aguilera added. "I've been fighting for my last name my whole life."As the Billboard article points out with a deeper dive into Aguilera’s second studio album, Mi Reflejo, she certainly has lived up to that name over the years. Although the 2000 compilation remains the singer’s only Spanish language album, it was No. 1 on both the Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums Chart and earned her a Latin Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. The 11-track offering also featured four special edition bonus tracks and included Spanish versions of hits like “Genie in a Bottle” and “Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You).”Those songs don’t just feature Spanish lyrics either; for Aguilera they represented creative freedom. "I was excited to bring a new life to [these songs] and reinvent some things," she added. "I was allowed to create and express new ad libs and vocal runs that I wasn’t given the freedom to do on the original record. Everything sounds better in Spanish. Let's be honest."Stars and performers changing their names for the purpose of appealing to a wider audience isn’t a new thing. Charlie Sheen’s birth name was Carlos Estevez, Ritchie Valens (of “La Bamba” fame) was born Richard Valenzuela, and Rita Hayworth’s real name was Margarita Carmen Cansino.Not only did Aguilera stick to her convictions and keep her roots intact with her last name, but she’s also releasing a second Spanish album in the near future. She confirmed as much last summer while kicking off her Las Vegas residency show Xperience, telling the audiences, “Let’s not forget: the Latin album is coming!” while she performed the song “Desnudate” from her Bionic album."I am getting back to my roots and exploring who I am now as a grown woman who doesn’t have to cover my own English material in Spanish, but as a woman who can draw from my own personal experiences and express that with honesty," Aguilera teased to Billboard. "Having survived decades in this business, I am proud to tell the truth about what that means to me."[video_embed id='1984962']BEFORE YOU GO: Child welcomes her dad home in the most adorable way[/video_embed]