For those wondering the story behind Beyoncé‘s unique name can thank her mother Tina Knowles, who opened up on Tuesday about its history.

Speaking on the podcast In My Head With Heather Thompson, Knowles revealed that her daughter’s name is actually very near and dear to her.

“A lot of people don’t know that Beyoncé is my last name. It’s my maiden name,” the 66-year-old fashion designer revealed before going into the conflicted feelings she felt about it at the time.

“My name was Celestine Beyoncé, which at that time was not a cool thing to have that weird name,” Knowles confessed. “I wanted my name to be Linda Smith because those were the cool names.”

While many can agree that the name Beyoncé is one-of-a-kind, Knowles reveals just how true that statement is. 

She is one of the last remaining descendants to have that name due to clerical errors on her five other siblings’ birth certificates, which spell their surnames as Beyince.

“I think me and my brother Skip were the only two that had B-E-Y-O-N-C-E,” the House of Deréon mogul remarked. “Because we asked my mother when I was grown, I was like, ‘Why is my brother’s name spelled B-E-Y-I-N-C-E? You know, it’s all these different spellings. And my mom’s reply to me was, like, ‘That’s what they put on your birth certificate.'”

As for why her mother didn’t amend the birth certificates, Knowles explained that her mom tried, but was told to “be happy” that her children had any at all because “at one time, Black people didn’t get birth certificates.”

“[It] must’ve been horrible not to even be able to have her children’s names spelled correctly,” she sighed.

By Megan Stone
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