Featured Image Credit: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images/Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Topics: Billie Eilish, Celebrity
Kya Buller
Topics: Billie Eilish, Celebrity
Billie Eilish has a very unique middle name and she has her brother Finneas O'Connell to thank for it.
The 22-year-old singer-songwriter has been on a roll lately after releasing her critically acclaimed album Hit Me Hard and Soft earlier this year.
She also took home the Oscar for 'Best Original Song' for the Barbie tear-jerker 'What Was I Made For' - her second Oscar overall.
Billie was also hailed as a queer icon after coming out in an interview with Variety in 2023.
She said at the time: "I love [women] so much. I love them as people. I’m attracted to them as people. I’m attracted to them for real.
Advert
"I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”
This was followed up with the inclusion of 'Lunch', a song about 'exploring her queerness', on her latest album.
But it seems the intense interest also extends to her family.
Advert
People were surprised to learn that her mum, Maggie Baird, was actually featured in an episode of Friends in 1999, or that her brother Finneas appeared in the iconic film Bad Teacher alongside Cameron Diaz in 2006.
She and Finneas have a close bond - with Billie calling her brother her 'best friend forever', and in her birthday message to him in July last year, she said he is 'the best thing I have'.
It seems they've been close since the beginning, as Finneas chose his sister's middle name before she was born.
I'm sure we've all heard some unusual middle names in our time - but this one is a contender for one of the most unpredictable middle names ever, surely?
Advert
Drum roll...
Billie's full name is Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell.
Yep!
Advert
It was a then four-year-old Finneas who played a major part in the swashbuckling moniker.
He called her Pirate when she was in her mum's womb - and it just stuck.
While it was shot down as a concept for her first name, mum Maggie thought it would be a good middle name.
In her upcoming book, Grand Central, Billie wrote: "They called me pirate for months, and they were kind of planning on naming me Pirate."
Advert
She continued: "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's quite sweet really.