Tina Knowles Says Solange Was 'Conceived on the Nile in Egypt' and Shares How She Got Her Name

"I thought I was having a boy, and I wanted to name him Niles," Ms. Tina revealed.

May 29, 2024

Johnny Nunez / Getty Images for Patti's Good Life

Tina Knowles revealed some little-known family stories on the podcast The Run-Through With Vogue.

The matriarch of the Knowles family, and mother to Beyoncé and Solange, shared the stories behind her daughters' names. After sharing at the 43-minute mark of the podcast that Beyoncé's name stemmed from "Boyoncé" and "Beyincé" from her maternal line, Ms. Tina detailed that Solange wasn't originally supposed to be the name of her second and youngest daughter.

“I went to Paris when I was about 32—well, when I got pregnant with her. I bought a baby name book in Paris for my girlfriend, and she was going to have a baby, and then the next year I wound up having a baby, so I pulled that old book out," Ms. Tina said.

The book was in French, and Ms. Tina discovered the name Solange while flipping through the pages.

"But actually Solange was conceived on the Nile in Egypt, and I thought I was having a boy, and I wanted to name him Niles," the 70-year-old Ms. Tina continued. But little did I know, here came this girl, and so yeah, that's where I got her name. ... Names are important."

Beyoncé, as some fans have pointed out in the aftermath of these comments, recorded a Kendrick Lamar-featuring song called "Nile" for her Lion King companion album The Gift.

Solange has spoken about her connection to Egypt and Egyptology before, even tattooing the Orion constellation on her right arm. Her 2017 tour, following the release of her 2016 album A Seat At the Table, was also titled Orion's Rise.

"I had some revelations, in terms of my parents finding out they conceived me in Egypt after visiting the Giza pyramids, and connecting to that and the constellation of Orion that aligns with Giza," the now-37-year-old told the Evening Standard in 2017.