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.
