What Is the Meaning Behind Blue Ivy Carter’s Name?

Blue Ivy Carter’s name has been synonymous with success since day one. As the daughter of Beyoncé and JAY-Z, the 11-year-old has navigated inherited fame like a pro. At 8 years old, she was nominated for a Grammy for her contributions to Beyoncé’s “Brown Skin Girl.” More recently, Blue Ivy guest starred as a backup dancer on her mom’s “Renaissance” Tour, showcasing her mastery over the complex choreography. On Oct. 27, however, JAY-Z rocked the internet when he revealed that his oldest daughter’s name — the same name fans have come to know and love — was almost completely different.

“We just took the ‘berry’ off and called her Blue.”

“It was supposed to be Brooklyn,” JAY-Z told Gayle King in a “CBS Mornings” interview. “That was the name we had in theory.” Say again? Brooklyn Carter? Though Brooklyn also starts with a B, it’s a far cry from Blue, a unique name that has allowed the preteen to go mononymous just like her mom. Of course, if the couple had opted to name their daughter Brooklyn, it likely would have been a nod to the New York borough where JAY-Z grew up.

As it stands, her actual name also has a pretty sweet meaning. “When we got the sonogram, we was calling her Blueberry. Like, ‘Look at the little blueberry,'” the dad of three said. “You know, it was like a nickname for nine months.” After referring to their firstborn as Blueberry the entirety of Beyoncé’s pregnancy, the adorable nickname stuck, and Blue Ivy was born. JAY-Z added, “It was just natural. We just took the ‘berry’ off and called her Blue.”

Prior to the revelatory interview, many fans speculated Blue Ivy’s name was derived from a quote in Rebecca Solnit’s 2005 novel, “A Field Guide to Getting Lost,” which Beyoncé shared to her Tumblr account in 2012. “The world is blue at its edges and in its depths,” the piece reads. “This blue is the light that got lost. Light at the blue end of the spectrum does not travel the whole distance from the sun to us. It disperses among the molecules of the air, it scatters in the water.”

The piece continues, “Water is colourless, shallow water appears to be the colour of whatever lies underneath it, but deep water is full of this scattered light, the purer the water the deeper the blue. The sky is blue for the same reason, but the blue at the horizon, the blue of the land that seems to be dissolving into the sky, is a deeper, dreamier, melancholy blue, the blue at the farthest reaches of the places where you see for miles, the blue of distance. This light does not touch us, does not travel the whole distance, the light that gets lost, gives us the beauty of the world, so much of which is in the colour blue.”

As for Ivy, her middle name, the moniker was reportedly inspired by Beyonce’s deep personal connection to the number four and the Roman numeral IV, which equates to four.

Brooklyn Carter. Blueberry Carter. Blue Ivy Carter. In the multiverse of celebrity baby names, the possibilities are endless. Whether she’d been born Brooklyn or not, though, one thing is clear: Blue Ivy is a star just like the rest of the Carter-Knowles family.