Marilyn Monroe's birth name?

Ask most people today what Marilyn Monroe's birth name was, and they'll probably say "Norma Jean Baker". Some who know a little more might say it's "Norma Jean Mortenson". However, both are wrong.

According to todays records, she was born Norma Jeane Mortenson and baptised Norma Jeane Baker. In both cases, the Jeane ends with an "e" and is not spelt the way most remember.

In fact many people pronounce the name very differently. To them, it rhymes with "genie". Whilst the popular French derivative does sound like "Jean", it is odd that such a difference has only come to light recently. 

Goodbye Norma Jean

The historic confusion regarding the "Baker" surname has a possible explanation. The story goes her mother wasn't sure who fathered Marilyn, and "Baker" was the surname of one of her boyfriends at the time. Marilyn's mother actually changed her surname to Baker at the time

There is a great deal of residue showing the incorrect "Jean" spelling - check this movie, as listed on IMDb:

Famously "discovered" working in a weapons factory in California, she dyed her hair blonde, took her grandmother's last name, "Monroe", and the rest is history.

The other interesting thing about Marilyn Monroe and the Mandela Effect is how many other significant people from history she is connected to. These include President JF Kennedy,  Robert Kennedy, Joe DiMaggio, Art Aragon and Arthur Miller - several of which have their own Mandela Effects.

There's a different MMDE connected to Marilyn which seems to be easy to debunk, but still worth a mention. That's regarding her beauty spot - in particular, it seems to be in a different place on some photographs! However, whilst this does sound odd it's quickly explained that she didn't actually have one at all, and used to apply it each day with make-up.