Dua Lipa’s name made her feel different when she was younger.
During an interview with Vogue France, the pop star opened up about feeling different to other British children, particularly due to her name.
“Yes! My name used to immediately point out that difference,” the 28-year-old said when asked if she felt different from others as a result of moving around as a child.
“No matter how normal I’d try to appear, as soon as I would introduce myself, I would hear: ‘Oh, where is that from? What does it mean?'” the Levitating hitmaker recalled. “And that was when I didn’t have to repeat or spell out my name… From there, we’d end up discussing Kosovo, even if no one knew where the country was.”
Dua then noted that although she felt self-conscious about her name, she “managed to appreciate” the moniker in a professional sense.
“Thanks, but I only managed to appreciate it by imagining it as my stage name,” she said when the interviewer complimented her name. “I have always been proud of my Albanian roots, but as I’ve grown, I’ve learned to appreciate my history.”
Dua was born in London to Kosovo Albanian parents Anesa and Dukagjin Lipa. She relocated to Kosovo with her parents aged 11 but returned to the British capital at 15. She was granted Albanian citizenship in 2022.
