Lauryn Hill's Real Name: Lauryn Noelle Hill

Quick answer: Lauryn Hill's full name is Lauryn Noelle Hill. She was born on May 26, 1975, in New Jersey. Lauryn Hill is her real name, and Noelle is her middle name. She broke through with the Fugees and released the landmark solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), which won five Grammy Awards, including album of the year (Biography.com; Britannica).

Real name and early life

Biography.com and BlackPast.org both give her full name as Lauryn Noelle Hill. Biography.com says she was born in East Orange, New Jersey, to Valerie, a teacher, and Mal, a computer consultant. It adds that the family later lived in New York and Newark before settling in South Orange. The Library of Congress and Britannica give her birthplace as South Orange, New Jersey. All sources agree on the May 26, 1975, birth date. The LOC authority record files her simply as "Hill, Lauryn," and she often bills herself as "Ms. Lauryn Hill."

Career highlights

According to Britannica, Hill and her high school classmate Prakazrel "Pras" Michel performed as Tranzlator Crew and were soon joined by Wyclef Jean. As a teenager she also acted on the soap opera As the World Turns and opposite Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. Britannica says she used her acting earnings to help finance the group, which was renamed the Fugees in 1993.

The Fugees' debut, Blunted on Reality (1994), drew modest reviews. Their second album, The Score (1996), featured a remake of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly with His Song," sold more than 18 million copies, and won two Grammys. Hill left her history studies at Columbia University. In 1996 she founded the Refugee Project to aid underprivileged youth.

She recorded her solo album partly at the Bob Marley Museum Studio in Jamaica, and it was released in August 1998. Fueled by "Doo Wop (That Thing)," The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill went multiplatinum, and in 1999 she won five of her 10 Grammy nominations, including best new artist. A live album, MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, followed in 2002.

Legal matter

Britannica reports that in 2012 Hill pleaded guilty to failing to file federal tax returns for 2005–07. She was sentenced to three months in prison and an additional three months of home confinement.

Britannica also notes that Hill appeared at the 2026 Grammy Awards to pay tribute to Roberta Flack and D'Angelo.

Name notes for searchers

Lauryn is her given first name, Noelle her middle name, and Hill her family surname. "Ms. Lauryn Hill" is a professional styling, not a different name. Sources differ on whether she was born in East Orange or South Orange, New Jersey.