Los Angeles, Feb 19 (IANS): Actress Kristen Bell says she was an “awkward” child and used to hate her name as a youngster.

The 34-year-old disliked her name so much that she ordered her family to call her something entirely different and only reverted to Kristen when she was 16, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Speaking on the late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, she said: "I was very a good girl and a goody-goody but I was also entirely awkward. I used to want to eat my food next to the dog but like with my face and that was the only way I was going to eat dinner and my parents just kind of put up with it."

“I hated the name Kristen when I was little. When I was about three and a half, I said, 'No more, you will call me Smurfette (a female character from the 'Smurfs') or nothing at all.' And my parents were like, 'We'll see.'... And they sat me down and said, 'This isn't gonna fly'. And I said, 'Fair enough, my name is now Matthew.' And they said, 'That's not gonna work.'

“We settled on Annie and I was called Annie by my whole family until I was 16," she added.

The “Veronica Mars” star, who has 22-month-old Lincoln and eight-week-old Delta with her husband Dax Shepard, is sure her children will inherit some of her “stubbornness”.

Talking about her eldest child, she said: “We're both very bullheaded yet rule followers and that's what I was like as a kid.”