Stop what you're doing: We've all been pronouncing Ariana Grande's name wrong

21/08/2018
Monika Barton

Ariana Grande has revealed she has her own way of pronouncing her last name, and it's almost certainly not the way you've been saying it.

During an interview with Beats 1, the 'Problem' hitmaker was asked if she would change her last name after she marries fiancé Pete Davidson.

Grande initially said she'd hyphenate her name to Grande-Davidson, then decided she'd prefer to one day just be known as 'Ariana'.

She quickly changed her tune again, however, when she thought of her grandfather, who she said was always proud of their name.

"No, no no, I have to keep Grande because of my Grandpa, I think of him with everything I do. I should keep it. Nevermind!"

Despite her indecision, the real point of interest was how Grande pronounced her own last name: "Gran-dee".

"My grandpa said Gran-dee," she said.

"Gran-dee was kind of the Americanised version of it, made it more chill."

So how did we all end up knowing the pop princess as Ariana Grande, with a last name pronounced the same way as a large coffee at Starbucks? Turns out, it was down to Grande's brother Frankie.

"And then my brother was like, 'we should say Gran-day. It's so fun to say it'."

Of course, 'Gran-day' is a more accurate representation of the Dangerous Woman's Italian roots, so it makes sense for her to pay homage to her heritage.

While that may be true, the singer also finds her full name hilarious and ridiculous, calling it "a joke".

"Literally, my name is like 'Ariana Grande-Butera!'" she said with a strong Italian accent.

"I'm like a pizza. I'm a f**king meatball."

So, what's an Arianator to do? Which is it - Dee or Day?

"I grew up saying Gran-dee and I think of [my grandpa] and I wish I said Gran-dee more," she continued.

It seems that for now, we can all carry on as we were.

But we'll be holding out to see if Grande graduates to single name status à la Madonna and Rihanna once she's a married lady.

Newshub.