In the true fashion of a musical icon, we’ve got a mystery to unpack.

Lana Del Rey is one of the superstars of the modern era, but did you know that “Lana Del Rey” was given a different name at birth?

Elizabeth Grant is her real name, thanks to her parents. There’s quite a story behind this –and other name changes she’s had over the years. If you’re a fan of Lana, you’ll be very interested in her reasons why.

The singer was formerly known as Elizabeth Woolridge Grant

Lana was born in Manhattan, New York City on June 21, 1985, as Elizabeth Woolridge Grant.

When she was a child, she used to go by “Lizzy,” but when she developed a flair for drama and music and became a performer, she decided that little Lizzy needed to be something more.

Her career began under the stage name May Jailer. If you’re lucky, you may have known her during her upcoming starlet days.

May Jailer became Lana Del Ray (as in, with an ‘a’ instead of an ‘e’) before she settled upon the household name, Lana Del Rey.

Lana got this name from mixing the name of her inspiration, the historically famous actress Lana Turner, and her favorite car model, the Ford Del Rey Sedan.

Actors and performers regularly take up stage names or nicknames to define their fame, but you would never know that such a superstar had such relatively humble beginnings.