Her real name is Caryn Elaine Johnson, she didn't marry a "Goldberg" to get the surname either. According to kikepedia, her mother changed it to help here gain success in Hollywood:
About her stage surname, she claimed in 2011, "My mother did not name me Whoopi, but Goldberg is my name—it's part of my family, part of my heritage, just like being black," and "I just know I am Jewish. I practice nothing. I don't go to temple, but I do remember the holidays." She has stated that "people would say 'Come on, are you Jewish?' And I always say 'Would you ask me that if I was white? I bet not.'" One account suggests that her mother, Emma Johnson, thought the family's original surname was "not Jewish enough" for her daughter to become a star.
Apparently the "Whoppie" bit was due to her considerable flatulence.
(post is archived)