What Does Beyoncé’s Name Mean?
Beyoncé is known by her nickname “Queen Bey” for a reason. The 37-year-old Texas native is not just a triple-threat, she’s an infinite threat. Best known as a singer, Beyoncé can also call herself a songwriter, dancer, actress, record producer, and entrepreneur … not to mention wife and mother.
Speaking of being a mother, fans everywhere have reveled in the thought placed in the names Queen Bey gave her kids, which all have significant meaning. But what about the queen’s name? Is there significance behind that as well? What does Beyoncé’s name mean, and how did she come to receive it? Here’s what we know.
Why was she named Beyoncé?
The singer’s full name is Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter. Her mother, Tina Knowles, chose the name because of her own French maiden name, Beyince. Tina felt as though there weren’t enough men to carry on the family’s surname, and chose instead to adapt it so that her daughter could take it as her first name.
Little did Tina Knowles know that she’d be starting a trend. According to the Social Security Administration (which tracks the popularity of baby names with at least five occurrences a year by gender), Beyoncé first appeared on the charts in 1999 with 18 baby girls. In 2001, however, Destiny’s Child released their third studio album, Survivor, and the popularity of Beyoncé as a name for baby girls skyrocketed with 353 occurrences that year.
What does Beyoncé’s name mean?
While the name was adapted from her mother’s surname, Beyoncé does have a meaning behind it like many other names, according to The Name Meaning. The website states
The singer’s middle name, Giselle, also has a meaning to it. According to the same website referenced above, Giselle means “hostage” or “pledge.” Put together the name references a pledge above all others, which is also very suitable. Beyoncé has pledged herself to the betterment of women and ethnic minorities throughout her career.
What does Blue Ivy’s name mean?
Blue Ivy is the name of Beyoncé’s oldest daughter with her rapper husband, Jay-Z. Beyoncé shared an excerpt from a book written by Rebecca Solnit a short while after her daughter’s birth that referenced how powerful the color blue was. The passage in whole was beautiful, but the final sentence sums it up perfectly: “…the light that gets lost, gives us the beauty of the world, so much of which is in the color blue.”
Ivy is thought to be representative of the Roman numeral IV, which stands for four. That number has a lot of significance to both Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Both of their birthday’s fall on the fourth day of the month, and so does their wedding anniversary. Beyoncé entitled her fourth studio album simply 4, while Jay-Z’s was called 4:44.
What do the Carter twin’s names mean?
In 2017, Beyoncé gave birth to boy-girl twins after a five-year age gap between them and Blue Ivy. The pregnancy and delivery were troublesome, but well worth it when Queen Bey brought her youngest children into the world.
Rumi is the name of their girl twin. She was so named after her parent’s favorite lyricist, Rumi, who was also known to be a Sufi mystic, well-respected theologian, and an Islamic scholar.
Sir is the name of Rumi’s twin brother. According to Jay-Z, their son came out of the womb demanding respect and with a swagger already, like a grown man. Like someone you should call “Sir,” and so that became his name.
