Dido was born Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong at St. Mary Abbots hospital in Kensington, London on Christmas Day 1971. Because she was born on Christmas Day, she also celebrates an "official birthday" on 25 June, following the example of Paddington Bear. Her mother, Clare (née Collins) is a French poet and her father, William O'Malley Armstrong was an Irish publisher and former managing director of Sidgwick & Jackson. She has an older brother, Rowland Constantine O'Malley Armstrong who is better known as record producer Rollo. Despite their impressive birth names, the pair were known from childhood by the names that are famous now — Dido and Rollo. Dido has made it clear that "Dido" is now her real name and not simply a stage name or nickname.
Dido was named after the mythical Queen of Carthage. As a child, she had to deal with the ambiguous and unusual nature of her name, which led to her being bullied and even to her pretending to have an ordinary name. As she explains:
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