How Did We Not Know Where Beyoncé’s Name Came From?

Due to clerical errors, specifically misspelled birth certificates, Knowles-Lawson is one of only a handful of family members to have this spelling of the Beyoncé last name.

“A lot of people don’t know that Beyoncé is my last name. It’s my maiden name,” Knowles-Lawson said.

On a podcast, business mogul and mother to Queen Beyoncé Knowles, Tina Knowles-Lawson, casually dropped that “Beyoncé” is actually her maiden name.

Knowles-Lawson dropped this bomb on the first episode of the In My Head with Heather Thomson podcast, hosted by the entrepreneur and stylist, who has worked with Beyoncé.

“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.”

Due to clerical errors, specifically misspelled birth certificates, Knowles-Lawson is one of only a handful of family members to have this spelling of the Beyoncé last name.

When her mother tried to have the misspelling corrected, she faced backlash from the hospital because she was Black.

“So we all have different spellings,” Knowles-Lawson said. “People don’t even put the two together and know that’s the same name.”

When Knowles-Lawson married Beyoncé’s father Matthew Knowles in 1980, she changed her name, and then did so again in 2015 when she remarried Richard Lawson.