The Real Story Behind Alicia Keys' Name

Singer Alicia Keys is very proud of her identity. The Grammy-winning artist famously went on a journey of self-acceptance when she stopped wearing makeup while in the public eye in 2017. Keys penned an essay about her personal choice through Lenny Letter in 2017, revealing, "I don't want to cover up anymore. Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing."

While Keys isn't shying away from showing audiences the real her, there are still elements to her identity that remain hidden to the average music listener. After all, she did captivate listeners in 2003 with the Kanye West-produced track, "You Don't Know My Name." Keys' birth name is in fact Alicia Augello Cook, according to Britannica. As her real name is quite the departure from the name she's known by today, folks are understandably curious to know the real story behind the change.

How did Alicia Augello Cook come up with her new identity as Alicia Keys? The R&B artist revealed to Gayle King on "CBS This Morning" that the stage name came from her own imagination. "It came from a dream, [with] a wonderful friend of mine named Michael Mauldin," Keys explained. "We were looking for a name and we couldn't find the last name. He was looking for the keys to his briefcase ... and he said, 'So what do you think, Alicia Keys?'" The singer then revealed the special meaning of the name that made it stick with her. "I was like, 'Keys' — I play the piano and that's keys, and keys open doors and I want to open doors ... And Keys it was."

It's only fitting that the Grammy winner would honor her skills on the piano in her stage name. The piano is an integral part of Key's success story, as she started playing the instrument at age 7 with the help of her mother. "She found me a piano teacher and she found the money to pay for it and she found even a piano," Keys said on VH1's "Dear Mama" special (via Rap-Up). "Who can fit a piano in a one bedroom apartment?" she inquired. Keys' family made it work, leading to her uber-successful career as one of the music industry's biggest names.

Alicia Keys revealed to Newsweek in 2007 that her famed stage name was almost something entirely different. When she was first getting started, the singer thumbed through the dictionary to find inspiration for a stage name. She landed on the word "wild" and considered becoming Alicia Wild. The singer asked her mother about the option, who gave her daughter a very memorable response. "She said, 'It sounds like you're a stripper,'" Keys recalled.

While Keys' mother's comment was mostly in good fun, the singer has been candid about what could have been her reality had she not gotten her big break in music as Alicia Keys. "I am that person," she told The Guardian. "The one that wasn't supposed to make it out of Hell's Kitchen, who was supposed to end up being a prostitute, a young mother at 16 years old, or addicted to drugs," she candidly noted. The singer added that fulfilling her dreams required a lot of strength. "All the songs I've ever written that have been considered empowering or uplifting, I've written them at my lowest point," she explained. "Because I needed to remind myself: don't forget that."

Alicia Keys ultimately lived up to the expectations of her stage name. Making a career through the power of positivity, not only has she used her "keys" to open doors, but she has also kicked them down with unfettered willpower and grace.