Jay-Z Reveals that He and Beyoncé Were Originally Going to Name Daughter Blue Ivy Something Totally Different

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published 28 October 2023

It’s hard to imagine Blue Ivy Carter as anything but, well, Blue Ivy Carter, but her dad, Jay-Z, revealed that she almost had a completely different moniker.

Speaking to Gayle King on CBS Mornings, Jay-Z said of his eldest daughter with wife Beyoncé that her name “was supposed to be Brooklyn,” he said, an homage to where he hails from. But, throughout Beyoncé’s pregnancy, “We was calling her Blueberry,” he said. “Like, ‘Look at the little blueberry.’ You know, it was like a nickname. It was just natural. We just took the berry off and called her Blue.”

Blue Ivy made headlines for appearing in nearly every performance of Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour, and Jay-Z said that, despite some early resistance, Blue has finally realized how cool her dad is, even turning to him for style advice: “She used to be frontin’ on me a little bit,” Jay-Z said, after King asked if Blue thinks he’s cool. “But [now] I catch her. I catch her in the corner, you know? Now she asks me, you know, if this is cool, if her sneakers [are cool].” King then asked “She wants your advice?” to which Jay-Z responded “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

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Of performing onstage for the Renaissance World Tour, Jay-Z said Blue “wanted to do it,” he said. “We was like, ‘Okay, if this is something you want to do, you can’t just go out there. You’ve got to go work with the dancers and go to work.’” The proud dad said he watched with “goosebumps” as his daughter faced the crowds, despite her nerves: “Blue’s been born into this world that she didn’t ask…she’s been born into a life she didn’t ask for,” he said. “So since she was born, she’s been in, like, scrutiny and public eye, and everyone having an opinion. I know how nervous she was. I know how frightened she was. And she wanted to do it.” Jay-Z recalled that Blue wanted to perform “the first night” and said “she worked every day, and we watched her work hard. She had a little icy pack thing on her back some days.” He added “So for her to be on that stage and reclaim her power, and the song [she performed on] is called ‘My Power’—you can’t write a better script.”

Blue Ivy and Beyonce at the Renaissance World Tour

Of his wife, he gushed, “For me, this was her best tour,” he said. “It’s hard to really compare them because they all have different things of genius. But this one, to me, felt like the most complete.”

In addition to Blue, Jay-Z and Beyoncé are parents to twins Rumi and Sir.

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.