The Unusual Origin Of Beyonce’s Name

By Bright Azuh

Beyonce’s mum Tina Knowles has just revealed the unusual origin of her name.

In a recent interview on ‘ In My Head’ With Heather Thomson podcast, Tina said the name ‘Beyonce’ is her maiden name, which she thought was very ‘uncool’ to have as a name at the time.

“A lot of people don’t know that Beyoncé is my last name. It’s my maiden name. My name was Celestine Beyoncé, which at that time was not a cool thing to have that weird name. I wanted my name to be Linda Smith because those were the cool names."

Beyonce’s mum who is the youngest of her six siblings, said her siblings had different spellings of the name.

"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."

The businesswoman and fashion designer said her other siblings had the name spelled as "B-E-Y-I-N-C-E." When she asked their mother why there were several versions of the name, her mum said it is what is on their birth certificate.

"So I said, '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.Because at one time Black people didn’t get birth certificates.”

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