The Secret Meaning Behind Sir and Rumi, the Names of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s Twins

    Elise Solé

    Hello, Rumi and Sir Carter!

    Beyoncé and Jay-Z have finally confirmed the names of their twins, after weeks of speculation. Early Friday morning, Beyoncé posted the first image of the twins on Instagram in celebration of their one-month birthday.


    “Sir Carter and Rumi 1 month today,” Beyoncé said, captioning a beautiful image in which she’s holding the twins under a gauze veil and surrounded by flowers, mimicking Botticelli’s famous painting The Birth of Venus, which some on the Internet were quick to point out.


    According to Pamela Redmond Satran, co-founder of the naming website Nameberry, the names Rumi and Sir are both unique but have deep meaning.

    “Each of those names was given to 50 babies in the U.S. last year — Rumi was chosen for 26 baby girls and 24 baby boys and Sir was used for 50 baby boys,” Redmond Satran, tells Yahoo Beauty. “Selecting two names that are equal in popularity is one subtle way to unify the twins.”

    Yes, it’s a seemingly obsessive detail, but Beyoncé and Jay-Z are into numerical themes, incorporating their favorite number, four (4), into life events such as their wedding date (04/04/08), music ( Jay’s new song, which he claims is his all-time favorite, is called 4:44), and even Blue Ivy’s name (there are four letters in Blue’s name and IV is Roman numeral 4).

    “Rumi is a Japanese female name meaning beauty and flow and it represents a blue gemstone called lapis lazuli — which also relates to her big sister,” says Redmond Satran, adding that the most famous Rumi is a 13th century Sufi mystic and poet.

    And Sir is a name of honor and respect, much like King, Bishop, or Mister, she adds. Plus, according to People, it’s the moniker of one of Jay-Z’s favorite hip-hop artists, Sir the Baptist.

    The names were first reported in late June by TMZ, which obtained trademark documents that the power couple had filed for both names on June 26 — the same week Jay-Z was photographed leaving Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, where Beyoncé reportedly gave birth. Per the filing, the trademarks secure the rights for teething rings, strollers, rattles, playing cards, water bottles, and other items. When big sister Blue Ivy, 5, was born in 2012, her parents did the same. This report squelched initial rumors that Bey and Jay had named the twins Shawn and Bea (the former is Jay’s real name, and the latter is a cute nod to Beyoncé and her fan base the Beyhive).

    Read more from Yahoo Style + Beauty:

    Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and @YahooBeauty.