Did Beyoncé Change Her Name? What We Know

One social media user has gone viral after claiming Beyoncé had changed name.

The “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer is known eponymously, but was born Beyoncé Giselle Knowles in 1981. She occasionally would credit herself on projects a Beyoncé Knowles-Carter after her marriage to rapper, Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter. She also completed a world tour called the Mrs Carter tour in 2013.

But Carter is facing legal troubles after he was named in a lawsuit alongside fellow rapper and mogul, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. The pair are accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 at a MTV Video Music Awards after-party. Both have denied any wrongdoing. Carter has also been accused of sexually assaulting a boy, which he also denies doing.

One person noticed Beyoncé was referred to as Beyoncé Knowles by Forbes magazine in its recent “most powerful women list,” where she was ranked in the 35th place. They posted an image of Beyoncé on the list from Forbes in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in a viral post that has been viewed 6.5 million times.

“The soft launch name change,” @goldassring captioned the post, seeming to imply Beyoncé has started using her maiden name again as a means to distance herself from her husband’s legal battles.

Newsweek contacted Beyoncé’s representatives and Forbes by email on Friday morning for comment.

But other social media users, and X’s own fact-checking service, pointed out that Beyoncé never dropped her maiden name after getting married and only occasionally uses a hyphenated surname. It was also pointed out that Forbes usually only uses Knowles when writing about the singer.

“Beyoncé has always been listed on Forbes profile with her maiden name. This is evidenced by their update to her net worth in 2023,” read the X fact check.

“Nobody ever called her Beyoncé Carter…” wrote @yiiikxnggg.

“She’s literally the only one who ever called herself “Mrs.Carter”,” added @isthat_kt.

The Knowles-Carter family put on a united front at the Mufasa: The Lion King premiere on Monday, just one day after Jay-Z was named in the lawsuit and he issued a public statement denying culpability.

Beyoncé and the couple’s 12-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, star in the movie, which is a follow-up to the 2019 live-action remake of The Lion King.

Earlier that day, Jay-Z slammed the lawsuit as a “blackmail attempt” and took aim at the woman’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, in a statement issued via his Roc Nation social-media account and agent Jana Fleishman.

“My lawyer received a blackmail attempt, called a demand letter, from a ‘lawyer’ named Tony Buzbee. What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle,” Jay-Z said.

“I have no idea how you have come to be such a deplorable human Mr. Buzbee, but I promise you I have seen your kind many times over. My heart and support goes out to true victims in the world, who have to watch how their life story is dressed in costume for profitability by this ambulance chaser in a cheap suit.”

Specialists from the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) sexual assault hotline are available 24/7 via phone (1 (800) 656-4673) and online chat. Additional support from the group is also accessible via the mobile app.