Carmen Electra has officially changed her name.

The 51-year-old actress was born Tara Leigh Patrick but adopted her stage name on the advice of late singer Prince and in January, she submitted paperwork to formally adopt the moniker she is known to millions as.

According to a decree obtained by 'Entertainment Tonight', there were no objections to the proposed change and the 'Baywatch' star's request was granted on 9 January.

Carmen previous how she first met the 'Purple Rain' singer when she auditioned for a female group he was putting together, and though she wasn't chosen, she was stunned to receive a phone call afterwards, in which Prince offered to give her a song she'd written - but urged her to change her name.

She told OWN: "I received a call from Prince saying I think you should be your own artist and not back up anyone else. I'm going to write you a song and if you like it, you can record it.

"The name of the song was 'Carmen on Top.' My name is Tara, so I was confused. I loved the song. I loved it, but he said, 'You're not a Tara. You're not Tara. You're Carmen."

The 'Scary Movie' star was happy to give up "control" to her mentor.

She told E! News: "He controlled everything, but I loved that about him. How I dressed, the music, hairstyles. He was genius at all that."

The pair dated but ultimately split in the early 1990s because Carmen wanted to stay in Los Angeles when Prince urged her to return to Minnesota.

She previously explained: "I told him I wanted to live in LA and he spent as much time here as he did in Minnesota. He wanted me to move back to Minnesota and I said no. I broke it off with him and stayed in LA.

"I gave up everything with him to live here and make my own career. It was a hard time. I ended up calling him and he hired me to dance at his club in LA. I made $90 a week.

"I wasn't his girlfriend anymore, but I was one of his girls. This was after we split."