Are Luna and Celestia their real names?

[ManaMinori 4,145]

This is something that I don't think has been discussed by the fandom before, because I think that everyone assumed that Luna and Celestia are and always have been the birth names of the royal sisters. However, there seem to be episodes that directly throw a wrench into the naming process of ponies. For example, in the fan-favorite episode, "The Perfect Pear", it is revealed that all three of the Apple kids- Big Mac, Applejack, and Apple Bloom, have only ever known their mom's name to be "Buttercup", which they soon learn, was their father's nickname for her. All their lives, they've never known that her real name was "Pear Butter".

 

In the same episode, Mrs. Cake reveals that her name used to be "Chiffon Swirl", and that none of the Apple siblings new that, either, in spite of their family having been around since Ponyville's founding, and their mom and Chiffon having spent much of their fillyhood years together.

 

So, too, Cadance's own name, "Cadance" was a cover (or nickname) that, I assume, would be adopted by, or given to her, to prevent bad guys like Sombra from hunting her down, if they knew she had ties to the Crystal empire, had her full name "Mi Amore Cadenza" was known to the common pony, and showed her biological relations to Princess Amore. This is why  only Celestia seems to know and address her by her full name, after having adopted her, and why she referred to her by that name at Cadance's wedding, and had to be told by Cadance herself, to simply call her 'Cadance".

 

So could the same be said for Celestia and Luna's names? Are they truly the names assigned to them at birth? Are they nicknames, and no one but themselves actually know their real names? What do you guys think?

[Sepul-Coloratura 762]

Well, it could and could not. Because there is a 'destiny' thing in Equestria and in their cutie marks, some names are actually are as they are meant to be. Celestia and Luna are the rulers of Equestria and the most important being of the whole world where the sun and moon touches. They are not just any pony who becomes a baker, they control the sun and moon. So their actual name might be Celestia and Luna. Or as you suggested, maybe not. Maybe they are named after they discovered their destiny. Throughout human history, lots of kings are re-named after their coronation. So it's possible that they are not born names. But more importantly, who would have named them?

[Sparklefan1234 173,169]

No. Princess Celestia's real name is "Nicole" & Princess Luna's real name is "Tabitha". 

[ManaMinori 4,145]

9 minutes ago, Sepul-Coloratura said:

Well, it could and could not. Because there is a 'destiny' thing in Equestria and in their cutie marks, some names are actually are as they are meant to be. Celestia and Luna are the rulers of Equestria and the most important being of the whole world where the sun and moon touches. They are not just any pony who becomes a baker, they control the sun and moon. So their actual name might be Celestia and Luna. Or as you suggested, maybe not. Maybe they are named after they discovered their destiny. Throughout human history, lots of kings are re-named after their coronation. So it's possible that they are not born names. But more importantly, who would have named them?

but they didn't always. The unicorns, as confirmed in series (and Journal of the Two Sisters) canon originally raised the luminaries. Starswirl had to teach the sisters how to. Granted, according the the JotTS, their names were already what we know them as before that happened, but it also leaves much of their fillyhood and all birth details out of the picture.

[Jedishy 3,549]

If the names they are known by are nicknames I doubt that they would use further nicknames like Tia in the journal of the two sisters.