Lorde's Real Name is Ella Maria Lani Yelich-O'Connor and 10 More Celebrity Name Changes

First, a quick apology for getting “Royals” stuck in your head after having read the title to this article. Lorde’s debut album, Pure Heroine, has skyrocketed to the top of the U.S. charts and in her home country of New Zealand. The 16-year-old musician’s star is about to rise even further, as Pure Heroine went to No. 1 within a few hours of it being released for download. Cue massive curly-haired worldwide takedown.

So who is the young woman behind “Royals"? Her real name is Ella Maria Lani Yelich-O'Connor and Lorde is a stage name she crafted as a purposefully feminine nod to her interest in royal history. She’s been in the business for a few years now, having been signed to Universal at the age of 12. Considering the depth and success of her work thus far, she well deserves the royal title.

Need further proof that at 16 Lorde is way cooler than all of us? Here’s a quote from a recent article in Interview Magazine; "As a young teen, I went to a lot of David Lynch films, I read a lot of strange books, I loved to go to the museum all day. I was that kid."

Lorde joins a long list of female celebs whose birth names are far from their stage names. Here’s our list of the real names of some of our favorite famous women.