Blue Ivy Almost Had a Very Different Name

I remember the very first time we heard Blue Ivy's name when music royal couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z announced the arrival of their first daughter. At the time, the unique name was unlike anything we had ever heard, leaving fans slightly puzzled. But nearly 12 years later, Blue Ivy Carter has become a household name and has solidified herself as somewhat of a prodigy; she's already become a Grammy-award-winning artist and toured with her mom this year, resulting in many viral dancing videos.

In a new interview with Gayle King for CBS Mornings, Jay-Z revealed that he and Bey almost chose a totally different name for their firstborn. "It was supposed to be Brooklyn," Jay-Z said, which would have been a nod to his hometown. During Beyoncé's pregnancy, though, the couple naturally came up with a nickname that just stuck.

"We was calling her Blueberry. Like, 'Look at the little blueberry.' You know, it was like a nickname," he explained in the second part of the interview. "It was just natural. We just took the berry off and called her Blue."

Blue Ivy was born in January 2012, and in 2017, the couple welcomed two more kiddos, twins Rumi and Sir. The parents have kept their kids' lives private for years, that is until Blue started working alongside her mom for her Grammy-winning visual album Black is King. The twins even made their modeling debut in a 2021 Ivy Park campaign.

In the first part of the interview, King asked Jay-Z if his kids think he's cool. While the rapper joked that Blue used to be more embarrassed of him, she clarified that she has since come around.

“She used to be frontin’ on me a little bit,” he laughed. “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 responded, “She wants your advice?” and the rapper said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."