Check Out How Your Favorite Musicians Stumbled Into Choosing Their Now-Iconic Names

Lana Del Rey Isn’t Her Real Name

Photo Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Before she was Lana Del Rey, she was Elizabeth Grant. But for Grant, she wanted her music to evoke specific feelings, and her name had to evoke those feelings too. So, the “Summertime Sadness” singer envisioned a name to shape her music around.

“I wanted a name I could shape the music towards,” Grant told Vogue magazine. “I was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, speaking a lot of Spanish with my friends from Cuba – Lana Del Rey reminded us of the glamour of the seaside.”