Jessica Alba Was Originally Named After a ‘Charlie’s Angels’ Character

Actor Jessica Alba wasn’t originally born with the name that many recognize her for. Initially, she was given the name of the star in a classic TV series.

But soon after her birth, it was thought that perhaps another name would fit the future actor better.

Jessica Alba has always been proud of being Latina despite accusations that she shunned her roots

Alba has always asserted that she’s felt nothing but pride for her background as a Latina. Earlier in her career, however, there were some who believed she’d turned her back on her heritage. In a 2008 interview with Latina (via People), Alba addressed the speculation that she attempted to cut loose from her Mexican background.

“I never said that,” Alba said. “Cut loose from what? Why would I want to cut loose from the only family I know?”

It was also because of her background that Alba wondered if she’d ever be truly accepted into mainstream Hollywood.

“I was always trying to figure out ‘How the hell am I going to be mainstream? How are people going to accept me? When are they going to get a clue that I am American, that this is what America looks like,” she added. “People like me who are mixed, have different blood, mixed with different ethnicities? When are the people who are hiring for these jobs and writing these screenplays going to realize that?”

She also felt it was ironic that other celebrities were getting plastic surgery to obtain features she felt were usually associated with Latinas.

 “I like that I look different; I like having flavor. I think it’s funny that women get their lips injected, butt implants – everyone wants to look like us now,” she said.

Jessica Alba was originally named after a ‘Charlie’s Angels’ character

Alba noticed that her heritage and the world of Hollywood began to clash a bit earlier in her career. But even far before her Hollywood stardom, the two worlds played an intriguing part in shaping her identity. The actor initially wasn’t born with the name Jessica Alba. Her mother was a fan of Farrah Fawcett’s character in the classic TV series Charlie’s Angels. Because of this, Alba’s mother had Fawcett in mind when naming her daughter.

“My name was Farrah Dawn Louisa Alba,” she once said on Lopez Tonight (via Contact Music).

But after seeing what Alba looked like when she was born, Alba’s father thought a change was in order.

“On my birth certificate, it was written out and I came out brown and my dad was like, ‘She’s not allowed to be Farrah,’ and so he scratched it and on my first birth certificate, it’s a scratch and then it’s Jessica Marie,” she said.

The name discrepancy was the result of the two different backgrounds her parents came from.

“My dad named me; he was like, ‘She looks like me. I can’t let her come out Farrah.’ But my mom’s white and she kind of looks like Farrah Fawcett, so she thought I was gonna look exactly like her and I don’t. So I’m marked for the rest of my life Jessica Marie, but it’s a good name,” she further explained.

Why Jessica Alba doesn’t like the word Hispanic

In an interview with Hispanic Executive, Alba spoke candidly about her experiences being a Latina. She confided that she saw herself as both Latina and a person of color. But there was one term the successful entrepreneur didn’t like hearing when describing her background and heritage.

“I hate the word ‘Hispanic’ because it feels like a white guy lumping together people who speak Spanish,” Alba explained. “‘Latinx’ feels the most modern now. I definitely feel like I’m part of the Latinx community. But I always probably identified with being Mexican more than anything else—just because, at the end of the day, this is how I look. It’s just how I operate in the world.”