Billie Eilish Explains Why She ‘Absolutely Hated’ Her Name Growing Up

Billie Eilish says she used to be rather blue over her now-famous moniker.

In a new cover story for British Vogue, the singer was interviewed by fellow musicians and Hollywood stars like Ariana Grande and Jane Fonda about her life, and a question from Idris Elba led her to confess how much she used to hate her name.

After Elba asked her if she used to be “proud” or “embarrassed” by her first name when she was younger, Eilish didn’t hold back.

“I absolutely hated my name when I was a kid,” she said, noting that people would constantly say, “I thought Billie was a boy’s name” when she was growing up.

“That’s all I ever heard every day of my life. 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,” she continued.

Despite her initial distaste for her name, Eilish admitted, “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,” she explained in the story published Monday. “It really is the only possible choice for who I am. I just feel like it’s exactly perfect for me.”

Eilish went on to tell Elba that she was named after her grandfather, William, noting that he was “technically the first Billy” she ever knew, though she never met him.

The “Ocean Eyes” singer then detailed how she finally became “excited” about her name.

“The first female Billie I think I knew of was Billie Piper, from ‘Doctor Who,’” she shared. “I loved ‘Doctor Who,’ so I was very, very excited about that. 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!’”

Read Eilish’s full British Vogue interview here.