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Celebrity

25th Aug 2018

Turns out we’ve been pronouncing Ariana Grande’s name wrong this whole time

Keeley Ryan

Ariana Grande

Wait, what?!

Ariana Grande is one off the biggest names in music at the moment.

But it turns out that we’ve been pronouncing her last name wrong this whole time – and our minds are blown.

During an interview with Beats 1 last week, the singer spoke about…well, a lot.

Host Ebro Darden asked her about a new album – as well as her whirlwind relationship with Pete Davidson and her plans for her wedding.

She initially confirmed that she would be hyphenating her name after saying ‘I do’, but wouldn’t rule out another moniker.

When talking about her future professional name, she said:

“I don’t know, I feel like I’d eventually just like to be ‘Ariana’. Isn’t that sick? I feel like it’s got a ring to it.”

But she soon backtracked on that idea, admitting she probably would keep ‘Grande’ because of her beloved late grandpa.

She added:

“Also Grande… I have to keep Grande, because my grandpa, I think of him with everything I do, and he was so proud of our name.

“I should keep it. I’mma keep it. Never mind. We’ll talk later. I have a lot of decisions to make.”

The sweetner singer admitted it will be awhile until she made any kind of decision like that, as she was going to be finishing up a tour and “making her fans a priority” before making any wedding or personal decisions.

But, as it turns out, there was something else that fans were noticing: the way she pronounced her surname.

We had been pronouncing Grande as Grahn-day or Grahn-deh – but the 25-year-old says it a different way – as Gran-dee – after the way her grandad did.

She explained:

“My grandpa said Gran-dee. … Gran-dee was kind of the, I guess, Americanized version of it, you know?

“Made it more chill… And then my brother was like, ‘We should say Grahn-day. It’s so fun to say it. It’s funny. It’s a funny name’.

“I grew up saying Gran-dee and I think of my grandpa, and I wish I said Gran-dee more.”

It’s not totally clear who changed the sound of her last name back to the Italian version when it came time for her professional career – whether it was her brother’s suggestion sticking or simply the rest of the world slowly changing it back.

Either way, though, we’re still baffled.