Lorde Explains Why She Actually Prefers Being Called By Her Real Name

Lorde has been famous for more than a decade, but the name most fans know her by is not actually the one she prefers people to use in real life.

The New Zealand singer, who broke through with Royals in 2013, is one of those stars whose stage name became bigger than her birth name. Still, when she is not performing or promoting music, she seems happy for people to call her Ella instead.

That approach is not the same for every celebrity. Chappell Roan, for example, previously made headlines after explaining that she did not want fans coming up to her and calling her Kayleigh, which is her real name.

Roan’s reason was simple: fans know her stage persona, but they do not know her in the same personal way as friends or family.

Lorde appears to feel a little differently. Her view is closer to Rihanna’s, as the Rude Boy singer has also been described as finding it sweet when people call her Robyn outside of work.

It is an interesting split between artists. Some use a stage name as a clear boundary, while others see their real name as something warm, familiar, and less tied to the business side of fame.

Lorde has revealed why she liked people calling her by her name Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Why stage names can feel so personal

A stage name can do a lot for an artist. It can create mystery, protect privacy, or help someone build a public identity that feels separate from who they are at home.

For Lorde, the name gave her music a strong and dramatic feel when she was still a teenager. But as with many artists, the name fans see on album covers does not tell the full story of the person behind it.

That is why real-name preferences can become such a talking point. Similar conversations have happened around other stars too, including Anne Hathaway explaining why she prefers being called Annie instead of the name most people know from her movies.

For Lorde, who is now 29, being called by her real name is something she has openly welcomed before.

When she was 17, the Grammy winner told ABC News Radio: "I much prefer being called Ella."

Born Ella Yelich-O'Connor, she admitted that she once felt a bit disconnected from her birth name. That was part of the reason she created a separate identity for her music in the first place.

That does not mean she dislikes the name Ella. Instead, it sounds like Lorde was more interested in building a stage identity that felt bigger and more striking than the name she had grown up with.

The singer explained: "I basically chose Lorde because I wanted a name that was really strong and had this grandeur to it. I didn't feel that my birth name was anything special. I always liked the idea of having, like, a one-named alias."

The name Lorde clearly worked. It was short, memorable, and dramatic enough to match the moody pop sound that helped her become one of the most talked-about young artists of the 2010s.

Lorde made the admission at 17 Photo by: Lloyd Bishop/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

Still, fans do not have to panic if they call her Lorde. She has also made it clear that using her stage name is fine too.

In recent times, though, another nickname connected to the singer has been floating around social media for a very different and very NSFW reason.

Musicians often talk about revealing personal truths through their songs, but Lorde took the idea of being exposed in a more literal direction with the photography around her album Virgin.

The album was released on June 27 last year, arriving after a long wait following her previous record Solar Power, which came out in 2021.

But instead of only sparking conversation about lyrics, production, or the gap between albums, one visual detail in the vinyl packaging got a lot of attention online.

That detail led fans to joke that Lorde had flashed her so-called 'Lordeussy'.

The vinyl package included a selection of cover images, and one of them showed a vagina covered by see-through plastic trousers.

Lorde did not publicly confirm who the genitalia belonged to, but that did not stop fans online from quickly claiming the image as hers and giving it the nickname.

Reacting to the reveal, one fan wrote: "Just got the virgin vinyl, I opened it and first thing I saw was Lorde's hairy ***** hun I wasn't ready for that jumpscare lmaooo."