Billie Eilish‘s name may be iconic, but that doesn’t mean she loved it growing up.
The multi Grammy- and Oscar-winning singer-songwriter was recently asked questions by several of her famous friends, including Ariana Grande, Chappell Roan, SZA and Greta Gerwig, for British Vogue‘s May cover story. Among them was actor Idris Elba, who asked Eilish if she was ever “embarrassed” by her name and “who was the first namesake you ever came across and how did it make you feel?”
“I absolutely hated my name when I was a kid. ‘I thought Billie was a boy’s name.’ That’s all I ever heard every day of my life,” the “Birds of a Feather” artist admitted. “I remember just being so mad, and all I wanted was to have a girly name, like Violet or like Lavender, some sort of, you know, pretty flowery name.”
However, now the singer can’t imagine her name being anything other than Billie, and her millions of fans would probably agree.
“It’s so funny because now there’s no other name in the universe that could be my name besides Billie. I love my name so so so much,” Eilish said. “It really is the only possible choice for who I am. I just feel like it’s exactly perfect for me and who I am.”
The “Wildflower” singer noted that she was named after her grandfather, William, so “technically the first Billy I ever knew was my grandfather, but I never met him.
“The first female Billie I think I knew of was Billie Piper, from Doctor Who. I loved Doctor Who, so I was very, very excited about that,” she continued before adding with a laugh, “But then at the same time I was jealous and mad because I was like, ‘Why would anybody say my name and mean someone else? Unacceptable!’”
In addition to Piper and Eilish, there have been several other notable stars over the years with the same first name, including Billie Jean King, Billie Holiday, Billie Joe Armstrong, Billie Lourd, Billie Burke, Billie Whitelaw and Billie Dove.