Lady Antebellum Drops Antebellum From Their Name

Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, and Dave Haywood of Lady A at the 53rd Academy of Country Music Awards in 2018. Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

On Thursday, country music group Lady Antebellum announced that they were dropping the word antebellum from their name “after much personal reflection, band discussion, prayer and many honest discussions with some of our closest friends and colleagues.”

The group’s new name is Lady A, which is a nickname fans and colleagues have been using for them from the start of their career.

The “Need You Now” trio says it’s “regretful and embarrassed” not to have accounted for the associations with the slavery area when choosing their name almost 14 years ago.

“When we set out together almost 14 years ago, we named our band after the Southern ‘antebellum’ style home where we took our first photos. As musicians, it reminded us of all the music born in the South that influenced us… Southern rock, blues, R&B, gospel, and of course country. But we are regretful and embarrassed to say that we did not take into account the associations that weigh down this word referring to the period of history before the Civil War, which includes slavery,” the band said in a public letter.

They also acknowledged that they regretted waiting this long to change their name and that they would be making donations to the Equal Justice Initiative.