Beyoncé is one of the most famous names in the world today, but, apparently, this modern queen’s name has some pretty unusual roots.
Queen Bey’s full name is Beyoncé Giselle Knowles. When she married hubby Jay-Z, his surname, Carter, got hyphenated on her surname as well. But although she’s been a household name for decades, well, the origin of her unique name has been a mystery to many – until now.
Tina Knowles-Lawson, a.k.a. mom to Bey and her sister Solange – she shares her daughters with ex-husband Matthew Knowles – recently gave the lowdown on where her eldest daughter’s name came from.
“A lot of people don’t know that Beyoncé is my last name. It’s my maiden name,” Tina revealed on the In My Head With Heather Thomson podcast.
“My name was Celestine Beyoncé, which at that time was not a cool thing to have that weird name,” she continued, recalling her days as a single lady. “I wanted my name to be Linda Smith because those were the cool names.”
Here’s the thing though – not everyone on Bey’s mother’s side of the family carried the surname, which according to Ms. Tina, was because of typos on their birth certificate.
“All of us have a different spelling. I think me and my brother, Skip, were the only two that had B-E-Y-O-N-C-E,” Tina said.
The surname of her five other siblings – Ms. Tina is the youngest of seven kids – is spelled B-E-Y-I-N-C-E, which was something that actually confused her when she was younger.
“I said [to my mom], ‘Well, why didn’t you argue and make them correct it?’ And she said, ‘I did one time, the first time, and I was told be happy that you’re getting a birth certificate,'” Ms. Tina shared. “Because at one time Black people didn’t get birth certificates.”
According to The Name Meaning, “Beyoncé” has Creole origins and means “beyond others,” which arguably suits her larger-than-life persona perfectly.
