Ariana Grande Pronounced Her Last Name Differently When She Was Growing Up, Find Out Why

Ariana Grande’s name is known by fans all across the world. So to find out that she pronounced her last name differently when she was growing up comes as a bit of a surprise. While she was on Apple Music’s Beats 1 show, she revealed that her last name has been pronounced differently in the past, thanks to her Italian grandpa.

Although the correct pronunciation is “Grahn-day,” as we all know it, her grandpa impressed upon her and her brother Frankie that they ought to pronounce it “Grandy” to make it more “American,” according to the Huffington Post. While they used “Grandy” as their pronunciation of choice for a long time growing up, Ariana and her brother eventually went back to the original version.

The topic came up when the host Ebro Darden was asking Ariana about what she’ll do about her last name when she gets married to Pete Davidson. The singer said that she’ll hyphenate her last name to Grande-Davidson, but doesn’t plan to change her professional name. In fact, she thought about going by just “Ariana,” detailed Elle.

The different pronunciation of Ariana’s last name reminds her of her grandpa, as she said that “I grew up saying Gran-DEE and I think of [my grandpa] and I wish I said Gran-DEE more.”

Ariana’s full name is actually Ariana Grande-Butera, the latter portion coming from the Italian side of the family. She poked fun at it, saying that “Literally, that’s my name. I’m like a pizza. I’m a f***ing meatball.”

In other news, the singer and her fiance were spotted heading to the 2018 MTV VMAs rehearsal together while holding hands. Pete sported a neon, vintage-inspired sports jacket, while Ariana looked chic in all black. Grande has plenty to be excited about, as she’s nominated for five awards for “No Tears Left to Cry.” The nominations are for Video of the Year, Best Pop, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Artist of the Year, reported Just Jared.

Meanwhile, Ariana’s newly released Sweetener is driving fans wild. Rolling Stone described it as “hard-bitten Southern hip-hop,” and described all of the trap playbook tricks that she uses in her tracks, including “God Is a Woman.” Billboard also only had praises for the album, calling it one of her most uplifting albums, which they credit to Pharrell Williams. He was brought on as producer and co-writer, who introduced an R&B edge to her music.