Lily Allen reveals she had a different name for 'the first few days' of her life and it rhymes with her chosen name (it's pretty on trend now too)

The singer nearly had a very different name until her mum changed her mind

Lily Allen
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Singer Lily Allen has revealed the baby name she was very briefly given for 'the first few days' of her life - and it's an incredibly trendy choice for today's parents. 

Choosing the right baby name is a momentous task for any soon-to-be-parents. You have unique baby names and spring-themed baby names and even Bluey baby names to give you inspiration. But all that choice sometimes makes the decision even harder. 

You're not alone when feeling the pressure to settle on the perfect name. Celebrities across land and time have too felt the struggle, from Kate Middleton's 'big pressure' naming her three kids, to now Lily Allen revealing her mum struggled so much to settle on a name that she actually had a different one for the first days of her life before her mum eventually changed it. 

Speaking to fellow singer and songwriter Billie Eilish on her podcast Miss Me?, Lily revealed, "My name was Billie for the first few days of my life.

"I was called Billie and then my mum was like 'nah she doesn’t really look like a Billie, she’s a Lily.‘ And the rest, as they say, is history." 

We love the original name which, while it does rhyme with Lily, has a completely different feel to the singer's settled on name. In fact, the unisex baby name is one that's growing in popularity as more and more parents use it for their kids, no doubt in some part inspired by the rising fame of Billie Eilish as musician-inspired baby names rise in use.  

According to baby naming experts Nameberry, the name Billie is of English origin and means 'resolute protection.' It's a trendy choice and currently sits as the 246th most popular girls name in their rankings.  

Lily is also a popular choice of name with Nameberry awarding it the title of most popular flower-inspired baby name. It's the 88th most popular girls name in their ranking, with many celebrity parents choosing it for their daughters including Chris O'Donnell and Johnny Depp. 

As for Lily's own children's names, she's clearly a fan of the growing old-fashioned baby name trend with her two daughters, whom she shares with her ex-husband Sam Cooper, being called Ethel Mary, who was born in 2011, and Marnie Rose, born in 2013. 

In other entertainment news, Daisy May Cooper welcomes third child after 'scary' labour and his sweet name plays into one of today’s biggest baby naming trends. Plus, James Norton’s Cbeebies Bedtime Story will teach kids about living with chronic illness - and a health expert says the story is ‘important’ for all kids to hear. And, Louise Thompson's heartbreaking admission that she didn’t feel ‘like a mother’ after traumatic labour - she thought she was 'dead'. 

News writer

Charlie Elizabeth Culverhouse is a news writer for Goodtoknow, specialising in family content. She began her freelance journalism career after graduating from Nottingham Trent University with an MA in Magazine Journalism, receiving an NCTJ diploma, and earning a First Class BA (Hons) in Journalism at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. She has also worked with BBC Good Food and The Independent.