Many Italian surnamed have "americanized" their names in order to avoid discrimination, or for "marque" acceptance, or as in the case of Madonna and Lady Gaga for "attention getting."

A more complete list of Notable Italian Americans can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Italian_Americans
It is both those who have changed their Italian Name and those who haven't.

Everybody's familiar with that old adage, "What's in a name?" It can mean anything to anybody. In the world of entertainment, literature, politics, the right name can open doors and can mean lots of money.
Years ago it was often mandatory, particularly in the entertainment world, to change your name to something the average person could pronounce and identify with and which would fit on a marquee.
If you had a multi-syllabic Italian name " unless it was Rudolph Valentino, a very simple, easy name to pronounce"  you had to change your moniker if you wanted to become a household name.
Thankfully for his career and the movie-going public's sanity, Rudy didn't use his real name: Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina.
He used part of it...the last name but changed the feminine "a" to the masculine "o."
Altering a person's name 50 or 60 years ago was also done in many cases because of the public's perceived prejudice against members of certain ethnic or religious groups. Sometimes, however, a celebrity kept his or her name against all odds, regardless of what it sounded like or, in some cases, simply replaced it with an easier-to-pronounce ethnic-sounding name.
Take the famous actor Robert Alda. The name sounds Mediterranean, right? It could be anything. His real name, though, was Roberto d'Abruzzo and his son's name is Alphonse d'Abruzzo, professionally known as Alan Alda, Hawkeye on "M*A*S*H".
And what about Louis Cristillo? Comedian Lou Costello to you and me.
The name Rocco Francis Marchegiano easily translates into Rocky Marciano, the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world.
And Thomas Rocco Barbella is better known as welterweight champ Rocky Graziano.
There are many celebrities out there who are Italian-Americans but you'd never know it by their stage names. And they never did anything extraordinary to publicize their ethnicity.
Have you ever heard of Robert Langford Modini? No? How about Robert Stack, who played Eliot Ness and was host of TV's Unsolved Mysteries? Don't forget Bernadette Lazzarra ? a.k.a. Bernadette Peters. Or Terry Bollea...the wrestler Hulk Hogan. Ashley Tyler Ciminella and Christina Claire Ciminella are Ashley and Wynonna Judd, respectively. The former is a fine movie actress and the latter was part of the famous mother and daughter country singing duo, The Judds.
Again, what's in a name?
Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage's real name is Nicholas Coppola, nephew to director Francis Ford Coppola. He changed his ID so he could get parts based on his merit, not because of his uncle's fame.
There are celebrities who are household names and you would never think they were Italian-Americans because they don't "look" Italian. They just do their jobs and they do them well.
Anne Bancroft was christened Anne Italiano but was Mrs. Mel Brooks for years. Chipper, cute, and pert Connie Stevens is Concetta Ann Ingolia. That famous TV and movie director Garry Marshall is Garry Kent Masciarelli, and his sister, Penny ? a fine film director in her own right ? was baptized Carole Penelope Masciarelli.
Let's not forget that sexy actress Morgan Brittany (Suzanne Cupito), the singer Connie Francis (Concetta Maria Franconero), actress Paula Prentiss (Paula Ragusa), or that great entertainer Sophie Tucker (Sophia Abuza).
In the world of fiction many people may not be familiar with the name Salvatore Lombino but he was the master of the police procedural novel. You may know him as Ed McBain, also as Evan Hunter, the author of Blackboard Jungle, among other books.
Italian-Americans have always excelled in the field of pop music, and they still do. Many singers came from the Philadelphia area. There's Bobby Darin (Walden Robert Cassotto), Frankie Avalon (Francis Avallone), Bobby Rydell (Robert Lewis Ridarelli), Lou Christie (Luigi Alfredo Giovanni Sacco), and Fabian (Fabian Forte). New Jersey native Jon Bon Jovi is actually Jon Bongiovi of Sayreville, Middlesex County.
Let's not forget Dean Martin (Dino Paul Crocetti) or Frankie Valli (Frank Castelluccio) or Tony Bennet (Antonio Dominic Benedetto) who changed his name reportedly on the advice of Bob Hope because Bennet, said Hope, would fit better on a marquee. By the way, Tony is an accomplished painter and his works appear under his real name and they sell for thousands of dollars.
And, of course, there's Frank Sinatra. What can you say about him except that he didn't have to change his name for any reason.

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whats-in-a-name-a-needed-change-for-these-italians
 

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