Get ready—Meghan Markle has finally clarified how her name and surname work after years of confusion.
In her latest appearance on Bloomberg’s The Circuit, Meghan explained that although people often refer to her as “Sussex,” that’s not technically a last name: “It’s a dukedom,” she said, adding that her legal name is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
It all started during the first season of her show With Love, Meghan, when the actress corrected Mindy Kaling for calling her Meghan Markle.
“You know I’m Sussex now,” Markle told Kaling.
The idea, she shared, came from wanting to share the same last name as her children, Archie and Lilibet. “You have kids and you go, ‘No, I share my name with my children,’” she explained, noting that this detail has taken on deeper meaning since becoming a mother.
Meghan also spoke about how confusing royal naming traditions can be for Americans. She admitted that when she returned to her home country, “I’m so confused,” and acknowledged that Sussex functions more like a family name than a formal title. For her, it represents her family identity and connection to Harry and their children.
“It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognized how meaningful that would be to me until we had children,” she said. “I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me.”
Ultimately, what stands out most is the importance Meghan places on family coherence. Regardless of what people call her, she affirms: “No matter what my name is or what people call me, I’m still the same person.”