After decades in the spotlight, the other 'Michael Douglas' is ready to make a huge change

It's probably time the world recognise the selfless act of the Screen Actors Guild when it decided to prohibit people from registering using an existing member's professional name.

Because if the organisation had never made that rule, we would have been in for a world of confusion. Starting with the fact there would have been two Michael Douglases thriving in Hollywood at the same time.

That's right – Michael Keaton's real name isn't Michael Keaton at all, but rather Michael Douglas.

READ MORE: Single sentence sparks aggressive eye-roll from Daniel Craig

But now, Keaton wants to go back to the way things were... kind of.

Speaking with People, Keaton revealed he feels it's time to change to a hybrid of both his real and professional names, hoping to soon be known as Michael Keaton Douglas.

The actor was hoping to get his preferred name in the credits of his recent directorial project, Knox Goes Away, however says he "forgot" amid the stress of the project.

"I said, 'Hey, just as a warning, my credit is going to be Michael Keaton Douglas.' And it totally got away from me," he told the publication.

"I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create that. But that will happen."

Now, you may be wondering where Keaton got his professional last name from.

READ MORE: Katy Perry explains 'tough' year-long split from Orlando Bloom

Unlike stars such as Emma Stone who chose to just slightly alter their names to register with SAG – Stone's real name is Emily Stone, which was already registered by an existing SAG member – Keaton decided to go in a completely different direction.

"I was looking through – I can't remember if it was a phone book," he told People of the day he picked his stage name.

"I must've gone, 'I don't know, let me think of something here.' And I went, 'Oh, that sounds reasonable.'"

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.