Emeli Sandé’s legal first name is Adele. She claims it isn’t a common name back in the UK.

“That’s why it was so weird,” she explained on “The Ralphie Show,” referring to her connection with THE Adele, surname Adkins. “Maybe three years ago someone said, ‘Oh there’s this new singer Adele and she’s getting bigger and bigger.’ That’s when I decided I should probably pick a different name.”

By this time, the buzz had already started around Adele with her album 19 and single “Chasing Pavement.” Sandé made the wise decision to use her middle name.

“I was featured on a rapper’s track,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘The name I pick here is going to have to be completely different.’”

Sandé went on to create her own name literally and figuratively in the UK. Her LP Our Version of Events was the highest selling album in the UK for 2012, moving over a million units. Now, she is making a splash across the pond with her hit single, “Next To Me.”

“I feel like a newcomer over here, which has been really fun,” she said. “It’s a massive country but we’re slowly kind of getting things rolling.”

For just beginning her U.S. run in January, Sandé has already accomplished quite a bit. “Next To Me” cracked the top 25 on six different Billboard charts, hitting number one at Hot Dance Club Songs. The singer performed at the “American Idol” finale, on “Dancing With The Stars,” “Today,” and at a special event in the White House. Sandé also covered Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love” for the Jay-Z produced “Great Gatsby” soundtrack.

“I was asked if I’d like to come and do a version,” explained Sandé of her involvement with the project. “Brian Ferry and his orchestra had put together the 1920’s version. So, I was just honored to be involved with the project.”

She also made sure to seek-out Jay at the red carpet premiere in New York.

“I think he liked it. He seemed really cool,” she said. “I think because I did my own thing on it, and it was more suited for the film, then it worked.”

For those keeping track at home – yes, that’s events with Jay-Z and President Barack Obama in a month’s span. You could say Sandé’s plan to switch her name as to not cause any confusion worked out just fine.