After it was recently revealed that the Duchess of Sussex, along with her husband and children, share a ‘secret’ last name, many royal watchers were shocked to learn that ‘Meghan’ isn’t even her actual first name.
As it turns out, the mother of two was given a completely different name at birth by her parents, Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle, back in 1981. However, she chose to go by ‘Meghan’ as she rose to fame.
The nickname eventually became her identity, with even Prince Harry and the British royal family using it when she officially joined the monarchy in 2018.
It wasn’t until the 43-year-old made an appearance on The Rachael Ray Show that same year that many fans finally realized what her real birth name is.
The conversation revolved around Meghan’s long-running role in the legal drama Suits, where she portrayed paralegal Rachel Zane for seven seasons.
“The character’s name is Rachel, which is great,” host Ray said as she introduced the segment.
Meghan then surprised viewers by revealing, “Did you know my first name is Rachel in real life? Did you know that?”
The host quickly admitted she had “no idea” that Meghan was actually using a stage name.
Just as Meghan was about to explain why she chose to go by Meghan instead of her birth name, the conversation was abruptly cut off—leaving audiences at home wondering.
“Meghan was just about to reveal why she goes by Meghan instead of Rachel,” one viewer noted at the time.
One person reacted with excitement, saying: “Oh, my days! I really wanted to hear what she was going to say about her parents and her name.”
However, Meghan has remained tight-lipped about her birth name and hasn’t addressed the topic since.
What she has shared recently, though, is that she, Prince Harry, and their children—five-year-old Archie and three-year-old Lilibet—have been using a new surname as a family.
In a conversation with People earlier this week, the former Suits actress revealed that they’ve been going by ‘Sussex’ as their official last name for quite some time.
She explained that the title was granted to her and Harry by his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, on their wedding day.
“It’s our shared name as a family,” Meghan told the publication. “And I guess I hadn’t recognised how meaningful that would be to me until we had children. I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together.”