Getting someone’s name wrong can be quite embarrassing.
But what if there’s no way to know how to pronounce it correctly?
To clear all of the misunderstandings around her name, Ariana Grande decided to teach us how to pronounce her name correctly and not to make her sound like a ‘pizza’ or a ‘meatball.’
Contrary to the popular belief, Ariana’s surname isn’t named after a supersize Starbucks drink or Italian foods. However, it wasn’t until recently that she spoke out about her surname.
The singer is currently encouraging the promotion of Sweetener, her new album that she discussed when she stopped by Beats1 Radio.
During the interview, Ariana talked about the record, her relationship with Pete Davidson, and her own surname.
“Will your professional name be Ariana Grande-Davidson?” Ebro Darden, the host, asked the singer.
“I don’t know, I feel like I’d eventually just like to be ‘Ariana,’” the pop star replied.
She continued by explaining why her surname is important to her. “I have to keep Grande because [of] my grandpa – I think of him with everything I do. He was so proud of our name,” Ariana said.
Then, all of a sudden, Ariana dropped the unexpected pronunciation of her surname as ‘Gran-dee’ and not as ‘Gran-day’ as most people believe.
“My grandpa said ‘Gran-dee’ […] my brother kinda changed it to Grande because ‘Gran-dee’ was like the Americanized version of it […] and my brother was like ‘we should say Grande, it’s so fun to say, it’s like a funny name,’” she continued.
While the name may be strange, it definitely hasn’t done any harm. At the age of 24, the singer delivered three albums and exceeded 18 billion streams. On top of that, she was also nominated for 4 Grammy Awards.
What do you think of Ariana’s surname? Have you been saying it wrong all this time as well? Let us know in the comments below and don’t hesitate to SHARE this post!