Jay-Z Reveals the True Inspiration Behind Blue Ivy’s Name — and It Isn’t What Fans Speculated

Contrary to popular belief by Jay-Z and Beyoncé fans, Blue Ivy Carter’s name was not derived from her father’s critically acclaimed Blueprint album series. In Hov’s latest interview with CBS Mornings, which aired Friday (Oct. 27), the rapper revealed that Blue’s name was meant to be something else altogether, but changed after they saw the sonogram.

“Her name was meant to be Brooklyn. That was the name we had in theory, but when we got the sonogram, it was super small and we was calling her blueberry,” he told Gayle King. “Like, ‘Look at the little blueberry!’ It was a nickname. For nine months, we were like, ‘Look at the little blueberry,’ so it was natural. We just took the ‘berry’ off and called her Blue.”

The “Encore” rapper, however, did not explain Blue’s middle name, Ivy. Fans of the couple have speculated that it comes from Bey and Jay’s shared birthday number four, as the “Alien Superstar” singer was born on Sept. 4, and the rapper was born on Dec. 4.

Elsewhere in the interview, Jay gushed about his daughter performing onstage alongside her superstar mother for “My Power,” and said seeing the 11-year-old perform has made him “super proud.” He continued, “I still get goosebumps seeing her walk on stage ’cause Blue’s been born into a life she didn’t ask for. Since she was born, she’s been in scrutiny, in public eye and having an opinion of even a little girl how she keeps her hair, so for her to be on that stage to reclaim her power and the song is called ‘My Power,’ you can’t write a better script.”

Watch Jay’s CBS Mornings interview in the video above.