Does Billie Eilish have a different last name from her brother? Singer once revealed her parents almost named her "Pirate"

Despite the undisputed success of her music, Billie Eilish is a singer surrounded by curiosities. One such curiosity, which her fans can't seem to get over, is the fact that the Ocean Eyes singer has a different last name than her brother. While Finneas' last name is 'O'Connell', Billie goes by just 'Eilish'.

The 22-year-old hitmaker revealed in a 2017 BBC interview that she does share the same legal last name as that of her brother, which is 'O'Connell'. In fact, 'Eilish', which most people assume to be the singer's last name, is the middle name that she has adopted as her stage name as well.

In the interview, the Bad Guy singer revealed her complete name to be Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell. In other words, she has three middle names.

As a guest on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show in 2023, Eilish shared she didn't add her last name to her stage name because it made her sound "very Irish," which is not the image she was going for. The everything i wanted singer further said:

"It's like very, very Irish. Billie Eilish O'Connell, it doesn't get more Irish than that."

On the show, Finneas also confessed about not using 'O'Connell' in his stage name because it felt "clunky" to him, with both his first and last name being three-syllable-long.

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Billie Eilish's brother was going through a "pirate" phase right before her birth

In May 2021, Billie Eilish released an epynomous book. Published by Grand Central Publishing, the book was largely a collection of pictures from Eilish's childhood, featuring her as a newborn, being home-schooled, pursuing interests like painting and horse-riding. It also glimpses the early days of their music career — including her first tour and its BTS, shoots for her album covers, and memories shared by her family.

The photos in the book are also accompanied by Eilish's candid commentary about the tidbits and fun facts of her life before she became famous. One such fun fact talks about how she was almost named "Pirate" by her parents.

Sharing the story about the "weird" name, Eilish opened up about her brother, Finneas, going through a major pirate phase when Maggie was pregnant with her.

When Eilish was a newborn, Finneas would always call his baby sister "Pirate," which is how the name stuck in the family. The when the party's over singer also shared:

"They called me pirate for months, and they were kind of planning on naming me Pirate. And soon, before I was born, my grandfather died, and his name was William AKA Bill, Billie. And that's where my name came from."

It now makes sense why both Eilish and Finneas, despite sharing the same legal last name, do not use it in their respective stage names.

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Just like her name, Billie Eilish's upbringing was also unconventional

It's not just Billie Eilish's name that sounds unconventional, her upbringing, alongside that of her brother, was also equally unconventional. The siblings were home-schooled by their parents, who believed that it was a better way of encouraging them to pursue whatever ignited their passion.

Maggie Baird, Eilish's mother, echoed the same in an interview with the Your Teen magazine, saying:

"Homeschooling allows us to let them do things they really love to do and not have a giant academic schedule on top of it."

Baird also revealed about being part of a large homeschooling community in LA, which was very much like "going to college" where everyone was out doing things, meeting for classes, and organizing field trips.

Speaking about the same with Rolling Stone, Patrick O'Connell said:

"Our whole stance was, general knowledge is all. You need to know why the sky is blue, but you don't need to memorize a bunch of esoterica you'll never use."

The unconventional upbringing of Billie Eilish and Finneas helped them recognize their talents and pursue them early in life, with both siblings having started their musical careers in their teenage years. They've not only written and recorded songs that quickly became global favorites but also bagged several big-time awards, including the Grammys, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards.

Eilish, currently only 23, has already released two studio albums and is awaiting the release of her third album — Hit Me Hard and Soft- which is set to air on May 17.