The life of Hannah Montana is one we all dreamed of having: normal girl by day, pop sensation by night. Even though Hannah Montana stopped new episodes a good nine years ago, the show is still being binge-watched around the world.

But did you know that Hannah Montana wasn’t always going to be called ‘Hannah Montana’?

Yup. The eponymous star was originally named Alexis Texas but after doing some Googling, writers found that there was a porn star with the same name. Awks. So they felt it was probably best to change it – they didn’t want kids looking up their favourite TV popstar and finding, ah, a different kind of star. And so, the name Hannah Montana was born.

This wasn’t the only name change Hannah Montana went through. According to the book Miley Cyrus: A Biography by Kim Dillion Summers, Miley Stewart’s name was originally going to be Chloe or Zoey. But when filming started the lead’s name was Kylie but because Billy Ray Cyrus accidentally kept saying “Miley” while filming, the name was changed for ease.

It also turns out Disney originally wanted Leave (Get Out) singer JoJo for the iconic role but she turned it down as she didn’t want to be a part of the cookie cutter corporate model Disney was running.

When asked if JoJo regretted turning down the role which has made Miley Cyrus a household name, JoJo told Extra:

“No regrets. No regrets at all. Yeah, Disney offered me the role but it’s not really what I see for myself.”

Hannah Montana name aside, JoJo also said another reason she turned down the role was because she didn’t want to move to Los Angeles, where the show was filmed.

“I still live in New England. I’m an east coast girl until I die and I still live with my mum.”

Then Gossip Girl’s Taylor Momsen made it to the final round of auditions for Hannah Montana but she just missed out.

Imagine what could have been…

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Image: Disney